Dr Milton Osborne is an independent writer and consultant on Southeast Asian issues with particular reference to the Mekong region. He has been associated with this region since 1959 when he first went to Cambodia as a young Australian diplomat. Subsequently he held academic positions in both Australia and overseas and was a senior official in The Australian government’s Office of National Assessments. He is the author of eleven books on the history and polities of Southeast Asia, including ’The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future’, and 'Southeast Asia: An Introductory history’, now in its 12th edition.