Dear Members of the AIT Community,
In line with my continuing commitment to communicate critical
developments involving our AIT community, I am writing to share with
you news from the Board of Trustees meeting that was organized today at
the premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)of Thailand. The
meeting was chaired by Mr. Nopadol Gunavibool, Deputy Permanent
Secretary of MFA Thailand and Chairman of the Board. The minutes of the
meeting will be prepared by the Secretariat.
Importantly, the Board this afternoon outlined a way to help move AIT
forward. We should all welcome this.
In a significant and welcome decision, and in line with my Open Letter
dated 11 December 2012, the Board has agreed to establish a fact
finding committee that will look into all of the issues that have
created significant conflicts which started immediately after the
flood. I welcome this decision of the Board, which will help to clarify
many outstanding issues and also build back the reputation of AIT and
help AIT to move forward. While still to be finalized, the fact finding
committee will be comprised of five members, who are yet to be
nominated and chosen by the Board based on their neutrality,
independence, impartiality, internationality and qualifications. It
will be critical that these criteria are strictly followed to ensure
the credibility of the findings. I am pleased to also report the
Board?s commitment to ensure the work of this committee will be
comprehensive, thorough, fair and transparent. The fact finding process
will look into all complaints and allegations against all parties
involved in the conflicts, and should be made public and lead to
recommendations to help AIT to move forward.
I assure the Board of my full support to a strong, qualified and
independent fact finding committee. I encourage all stakeholders to
join me in supporting this fact finding even if it might surface some
difficult truths. In order to ensure that the fact finding committee
can work independently and transparently, and that there are no
conflicts of interest or even appearances of conflicts of interest, I
will take a leave of absence from the Office of the President during
the period of fact finding. However, during this period I will be
available to the fact finding committee whenever required. It is
expected that the Terms of Reference and members of the fact finding
committee will be finalized by the end of the month. The fact finding
committee is expected to complete its work by end of February
2013.
Only after the whole truth surfaces, we will be able to move
forward.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Said Irandoust
President
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)