Australia Urged to Intensify Efforts to Help Jailed Academic in Myanmar

SYDNEY - Australia is facing renewed calls to introduce fresh sanctions on the military government in Myanmar to help free a Sydney academic. Sean Turnell, an economic adviser to the Southeast Asian nation’s ousted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in prison after being arrested earlier this year.

Colleagues and associates regard Australian academic Sean Turnell as a devoted friend to the people of Myanmar.   He grew up in Macquarie Fields, a working-class suburb of Sydney. His first job was at the Reserve Bank of Australia at age 19. He said his “great passion was money and banking.” He later became an academic at Macquarie University, specializing in research on the Myanmar economy.   He is a professor of economics and the highly regarded author of Fiery Dragons, a history of the financial sector in Myanmar. He has also advised the United States Congress on the Southeast Asian nation.