FEATURE
2016 | SEMESTER 3
Mr Bat Tsedevdamba
A NEW LEAGUE OF JUSTICE
AFTER being jailed for blowing the whistle on corruption in Mongolia’s aviation industry, aircraft engineer Bat Tsedevdamba was not ready to give up the fight for aviation safety upon his release. Determined to continue his fight, Mr Bat is currently studying a Juris Doctor (JD) on an International Student Scholarship. In his 20-year career, he has played a vital role in developing Mongolian aviation law. He used previous visits to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority office in Brisbane, as well as Civil Aviation Authority in New Zealand in 1996 as inspiration to implement new regulations in his own country. To stay at the forefront of advancements in the industry, Mr Bat had the opportunity to complete a Graduate Certificate in Air and Space Law from McGill University in Canada followed by graduating with a Master of Aviation Management at Griffith University in Brisbane in 2009. His experience abroad not only sparked aspirations to study law one day, but opened his eyes to unethical behaviour in Mongolian politics. He started a blog and Twitter account to expose the truth, which has amassed hundreds of thousands of page views and more than 40,000 followers. “I began to notice things, which I didn’t notice before,” Mr Bat says. “I simply couldn’t ignore the inequality, unethical and corrupt conduct of politicians and I started to write about it.” “This was a very handy tool for people like me, who stutter and struggle speaking out publicly. I was not afraid of criticising things that are wrong or unfair.”
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www.arch.bond.edu.au
Laying the foundations in urban planning BOND University’s Dr Bhishna Bajracharya has built a dynamic academic career around architecture and urban planning that has taken him to unique destinations across the world. The Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Bond University Sustainability Committee chair completed his Bachelor in Architecture at Delhi School of Architecture in India, before pursuing postgraduate studies in urban planning at University of Hawaii.
In 2013, Mr Bat tweeted about how a Mongolian minister and his political cronies were ‘ignoring the safety culture in aviation’. The minister complained to the head of police and his political ally to launch an investigation against Mr Bat accusing him of criminal libel. He was sentenced to three months in prison, but was released after 22 days following an appeal and public outcry. “I found out that the minister, police chief, prosecutors and judge were all closely connected,” he says. “Mongolian Parliament has since removed the criminal libelling offense from the criminal code, which was almost an unattainable dream for many journalists and whistleblowers for a very long time.” “The ex-minister is under heavy investigation over money laundering and corruption charges, and some of his aides have been arrested by the Anti-Corruption Agency.” After suffering abuse at the hands of law enforcers, Mr Bat decided to defend his right to knowledge and applied to law schools across Australia. He was accepted into several universities, including Bond, but almost had to decline his admission offers as he was unable to afford tuition fees. Bachelor of Laws graduate and this year’s Bond University Alumni Achievement Award for Community recipient Allyson Seaborn also lives in Mongolia and reached out to Mr Bat after hearing his case. “She was very excited and curious about my story and wanted to help me,” he says.
“She was very supportive of my application and provided a strong reference.” “I think that generous scholarship at Bond is the sign of real support of free speech and democratic values.” “I am here thanks to many good people. I find the JD program very challenging, but I am determined to complete it on time and within budget.” “I think I can help my country with its legal reforms by bringing fresh ideas from Bond law.”
Dr Bajracharya honed his craft in Nepal as an architect designing residential, commercial and educational buildings. It was here he also launched his teaching career in a local Architecture program. He says the diversity of staff and students in Bond helps put the University on the map.
Dr Bajracharya seized an opportunity to teach at Bond and develop the framework of the urban planning program in 2008. He has carried out research on diverse topics such as master-planned communities, smart cities, disaster management, transit oriented development and sustainable campus. Prior to this he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra, before teaching urban planning at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane for 12 years. “I have been supervising both domestic and international PhD students at Bond on topics including peak oil and cities, transit oriented development in Australia, the role of airports in economic development, planning for climate change in Cambodia and smart cities in India,” he says.
“Many academic staff at Bond have strong international work experience, which is our major asset to promote the global orientation of Bond University,” Dr Bajracharya says.
“In my own urban planning program, I have had students from countries such as Australia, US, Canada, Germany, China, India, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Cameroon, Nigeria, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and the Maldives.”
“I myself was born in Nepal, undertook studies in India and the US and have had a diverse work experience as an architect in Nepal, researcher in the US and urban planning academic in Australia.”
“I use this student diversity as an opportunity for my students to share experiences of cities from different parts of the world and develop a global perspective in urban planning and design.”
Mr Bat is currently residing on the Gold Coast with his wife and younger son and daughter, while their two eldest sons are studying aerospace engineering at University of Kansas.
BRAND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON RULES OF LAW PROFESSOR William Van Caenegem was educated in the law in Belgium and the UK and now teaches students from all over the world at Bond University. The reactions of new Bond Law students today are the same as his own when he arrived as a teacher in 1989 – excitement at the opportunity to be taught law in a different way. Professor Van Caenegem says the Bond method sits in bright contrast to his own experience learning in Europe, and many of the University’s international students are similarly impressed. “Many of our students already have a Law degree and they are coming from jurisdictions such as continental Europe, China, Scandinavia, Japan, and they are all used to a very formal education,” says Professor Van Caenegem. “All they have done is gone to lectures where there are hundreds of students who sit and listen to the professor for two hours and then go home, then have an exam at the end of the semester.” “When they come here and experience the small group tutorials, it is a real eye opener.” Professor Van Caenegem did his undergraduate Law degree at University of Louvain in Belgium, followed by a Master of Laws and Doctor of Philosophy at University of Cambridge. However, when he arrived in Australia, he was not able to practice law as his qualifications were not recognised.
“I simply couldn’t ignore the inequality, unethical and corrupt conduct of politicians and I started to write about it.”
When Bond University opened in 1989, it gave Professor Van Caenegem the opportunity to work in the world of law academia. “It was very exciting in the beginning; a very exciting new initiative,” he says of Bond. “It was aimed at teaching the law in a completely different way that involved much more interaction with the students.” Even from day one, there was a strong international presence at the University.
Dr Bhishna Bajracharya
“We have always had a good number of students in law coming from other jurisdictions … and that really enhances life here at the University,” says Professor Van Caenegem.
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