ROYAL TREAT FOR ASF

Over dinner at Sra Pathum Palace last May 18, 2007 HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn placed the Asian Scholarship Foundation officially under her royal patronage.
The two Ford Foundation Asia representatives, Dr. Charles Bailey, Representative for Vietnam and Thailand and Dr. Ganesan Balachander, Representative for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka led the courtesy call. The ASF Board Management Committee were in full force for the affair. The Bangkok staff joined them, along with Dr. Barbara Watson-Andaya, Professor, University of Hawaii at Manoa, who chaired the ASF External Review Committee.
They honored their Royal Host with Thai puang malai garlands. Dr. Juree Vichit-Vadakan, ASF Board Chair, led the reception line in honoring the Princess. The BMC Chair, Dr. Wang Gungwu introduced those present at the dinner reception to the Princess. Dr. Lourdes Salvador, Executive Director also handed over abstract folios of ASF-funded projects.
Royal patronages recognize local institutions attending to Thai public welfare. The royal family takes them gladly as public-service partners. ASF notes the exception with tremendous pride since there are only a handful of transnational organizations to be granted such privilege.
Receiving the ASF entourage was another Board Management Committee member, Dr. Prapod Assavavirulhakarn, royal classmate and good friend. He led the group in meeting with the Princess.
The Princess was curious to find out about ASF hectic calendar and program activities. Dinner was a spirited exchange, as some in the Board were long-standing royal acquaintances. The Princess enthusiastically went after a personal favorite, China’s intellectual and cultural history. Then it was time for magisterial photographs. At dinner’s end, she sent off each one with a keepsake—a book of age-old daily and festive palace recipes. *