2011

In November 2011, there was a tribute to Dr. John Bartlett by all of his orthopedic fellows (66 of 86 fellows attended) from all over the globe to honor their mentor at his retirement party in Melbourne. It was a 3-day event – A whole day of scientific meeting where all the fellows had his turn to introduce themselves and present a special case or a study they have published and 2 days of social gatherings and tour of Melbourne.

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The idea of ASSA started during this gathering by a few ASEAN fellows. A few were hesitant but there were also some who were very enthusiastic about it.

ASEAN fellows present at John’s Retirement.

Andre Pontoh (Indonesia)          Charanjeet Singh (Malaysia)

Rich Pasion (Philippines)           Lingaraj Krishna (Singapore)

Mui Hong Lim (Singapore)         John Butarbutar (Indonesia)

A specific need for a sports and arthroscopy group in these Southeast Asian countries was identified.  This group, namely John Bartlett, Enrique “Rich” Pasion, Charanjeet Singh, and Andre Pontoh agreed upon the following:

To have their own Sports and Arthroscopy group within the Southeast Asia region

To have a close-knit relation among the Orthopedic Sports surgeons in the ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam)

To have a better understanding of the different cultures and practices in the respective countries