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15200 results in ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Page 168 of 760

Towards Realizing an ASEAN Community. A Brief Report on the ASEAN Community Roundtable
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    04 November 2017
    Print publication:
    19 November 2004
  • ASEAN has produced a plan of action on ASEAN Economic Integration, which is annexed to the Bali Concord II. To kick-start the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the plan of action provides numerous policy recommendations to be implemented over the next 1 to 2 years. At the track-two level, research institutes/think-tanks such as ASEAN-ISIS, ISEAS and CSIS (Jakarta) have contributed concept papers on the AEC and the ASEAN Security Community (ASC).Against this backdrop, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) organized the ASEAN Community Roundtable in Singapore from 4 to 5 June 2004. The main theme of the Roundtable was entitled "Towards Realizing an ASEAN Community".This Roundtable provided the opportunity for scholars and experts on ASEAN to "brain-storm" in a more comprehensive and integrated manner, the different ideas and proposals underpinning the process of community building that ASEAN is embarking upon. This report reflects the conclusions that emerged from the ASEAN Community Roundtable.

Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa
  • Reflections on the Chola Naval Expeditions to Southeast Asia
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    16 December 2009
  • The expansion of the Cholas from their base in the Kaveri Delta saw this growing power subdue the kingdoms of southern India, as well as occupy Sri Lanka and the Maldives, by the early eleventh century. It was also during this period that the Cholas initiated links with Song China.Concurrently, the Southeast Asian polity of Sriwijaya had, through its Sumatran and Malayan ports, come to occupy a key position in East-West maritime trade, requiring engagement with both Song China to the north and the Chola kingdom to its west. The apparently friendly relations pursued were, however, to be disrupted in 1025 by Chola naval expeditions against fourteen key port cities in Southeast Asia. This volume examines the background, course and effects of these expeditions, as well as the regional context of the events. It brings to light many aspects of this key period in Asian history.Unprecedented in the degree of detail assigned to the story of the Chola expeditions, this volume is also unique in that it includes translations of the contemporary Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions relating to Southeast Asia and of the Song dynasty Chinese texts relating to the Chola Kingdom.

Islam in Southeast Asia
  • Political, Social and Strategic Challenges for the 21st Century
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    21 March 2005
  • This book looks at Islam and its strategic implications for Southeast Asia. Part I outlines Islamic doctrine and traces the history and growth of Islamic economic institutions in the region. In Part II, politics, governance, civil society and gender issues are examined in the context of Southeast Asian Islam. Part III devotes itself to the impact of modernization and globalization on Muslim society. Part IV examines and evaluates the impact of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the icons of the American superpower. The Conclusion offers some perspectives on the challenges and prospects for Islamic doctrine and practice in the context of Southeast Asia.

Transnational Dynamics in Southeast Asia
  • The Greater Mekong Subregion and Malacca Straits Economic Corridors
  • Edited by Nathalie Fau, Sirivanh Khonthapane, Christian Taillard
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    12 November 2013
  • Since the 1990s, regional organizations of the United Nations and international financial institutions have adopted a new dynamic of transnational integration, within the framework of the regionalization process of globalization. In place of the growth triangles of the 1970s, a strategy based on transnational economic corridors has changed the scale of regionalization.Thanks to the initiative of the Asian Development Bank, Southeast Asia provides two of the most advanced examples of such a process in East Asia with, on the one hand, the Greater Mekong Subregion, structured by continental corridors, and on the other, the Malacca Straits, combining maritime and land corridors. This book compares, after two decades, the effects of these developing networks on transnational integration in both subregions.After presenting the general issue of economic corridors, the work deals with the characteristics and structures peculiar to these two regions, followed by a study of national strategies mobilizing actors at different levels of state organization. There follows a study of the emergence of new urban nodes on corridors at land and sea borders, and the impact of these corridors on the local societies. This approach makes it possible to compare the effects of transnational integration processes on the spatial and urban organization of the two subregions and on the increasing diversity of the stakeholders involved.

ASEAN Beyond the Regional Crisis
  • Challenges and Initiatives
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    19 March 2001
  • As the regional financial and economic crisis has bottomed out and the ASEAN countries are on the recovery path, this volume seeks to carry out a post-mortem on the crisis to evaluate the sustainability of the recovery and the long-term direction of the ASEAN economies. It also examines the challenges and competitiveness of these economies which have become significant issues in the post-recovery process. Since it is not sufficient to address the economic and financial aspects, the volume also looks at the human and social dimensions, such as food security, poverty, and cross-border pollution. Furthermore, in the wake of the regional crisis, ASEAN has been criticized as being ineffective. This has prompted a re-examination of the relevance of the regional grouping in its present form, evaluating ASEAN's performance, challenges and opportunities and assessing whether there is a need for change.

Media Fortunes, Changing Times
  • ASEAN States in Transition
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    30 October 2002
  • This book examines how media have brought about or paced dramatic political events in Southeast Asia over the last two decades. It highlights a situation where media dynamics are no longer a simple formula of state control versus media resistance. The state can propel its own media-liberalizing programme; civil society can be an enemy of press freedom; market forces and cultural mindsets are sometimes more potent agents of change than state-appointed media custodians. Practitioners, scholars and activists have come together in this volume to provide a diversity of narratives on subjects as varied as powerful politicians and marginalized transsexuals.

ASEAN Economic Co-operation
  • Transition and Transformation
  • Edited in consultation with ASEAN Secretariat
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    07 September 2000
  • Significant changes have taken place in the major areas of ASEAN economic co-operation. In trade, AFTA has replaced PTA; in industry, AICO replaces AIC and AIJV; while in agriculture an enhanced Food Security Reserve Scheme is being developed. At the same time, new areas of economic co-operation, notably in services and intellectual property, have been mandated. This book will enable the reader to monitor ASEAN's development with better insight and clearer understanding. It will also give policy-makers a clearer perspective of the issues relating to regional economic co-operation and help chart future directions.

Civil Society in Southeast Asia
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    03 November 2017
    Print publication:
    29 November 2004
  • What is the relevance of civil society to people empowerment, effective governance, and deepening democracy? This book addresses this question by examining the activities and public participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the areas of religion, ethnicity, gender and the environment. Examples are taken from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. State regimes' attempts to co-opt the concept or reject it as alien to "Asian values" have apparently not turned out as expected. This is evident from the fact that many Southeast Asian citizens are inspired by the civil society concept and now engage in public discourse and participation. The experience of civil society in Southeast Asia shows that its impact -- or lack of impact -- on democratization and democracy depends on a variety of factors not only within civil society itself, but also within the state.

  • 7 - Ta Mok Shwe-Gu-Gyi Temple Kyaukse and Bagan

    • By Elizabeth Howard Moore, Professor in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and Visiting Researcher at the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore, Win Maung (tampawaddy), traditional architect and an independent scholar
  • Edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, Michael Aung-Thwin
  • Book:
    Bagan and the World
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    01 February 2018
    Print publication:
    30 October 2017, pp 122-152

  • Summary

    The processes by which Buddhism was introduced and mediated in the culturally specific context of Kyaukse are exemplified by the Ta Mok Shwe-gu-gyi temple complex. While to some degree its development was stimulated through its relation to Bagan, Ta Mok's principal identity is local. In this context, it deepens our understanding of the complex interrelationships and definitions that constituted Bagan and questions normative concepts of centre and periphery. The archaeology of Ta Mok authenticates national traditions of the founding of the eleven khayaing of Kyaukse by King Anawrahta (1044–77 CE) (Than Swe 1994, p. 19). Pyu (2nd to 9th century CE) pottery, burnished wares, and bones possibly dating to 3000 bce from Ta Mok highlight earlier connections to other regions. Thus, in both its prehistoric and historic dimensions, the Ta Mok evidence demonstrates the nuanced manner in which global ideas and styles were used to address issues of active local concern.

    Chronology of the Site

    The Shwe-gu-gyi temple complex, 9.65 kilometres west of Kyaukse, is located inside the Ta Mok fort, the only one of the nine Pan Laung Shwe-gu (“golden cave”) located within the khayaing fort wall. Based on the plan, brickwork and iconography, five features of the complex are dated here to the reign of Anawrahta: the central temple, two gu or small caves on the southwest of the complex, the thein or ordination hall, the innermost of the encased images of the Buddha in the southwest gu, and a row of three images of the Buddha in the thein and the palin or thrones of these images.

    Based again on stylistic grounds, we argue that Myit-taw Narapatisithu (1174–1211 CE) enlarged the central temple and added an upper storey. The interior and upper storey of the main temple and other buildings such as the ordination hall and images of the Buddha were repeatedly encased and redecorated from the 11th to 14th century ce. However, as described below, the many unique aspects of the temple set out new parameters for the art, patronage and chronology of wider Bagan.

    The earliest structure that has been unearthed is located on the northeast of the two-storey temple: a square building provisionally dated to the 8th to 10th century ce late Pyu period, with burial urns at the foundation level.

  • 5 - The Viṣṇu on Garuḍa from the Nat Hlaung Kyaung Temple, Bagan

    • By Olga Deshpande, art historian in the Oriental Department, State Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, Pamela Gutman, Honorary Associate with the Department of Art History, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, Michael Aung-Thwin
  • Book:
    Bagan and the World
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    01 February 2018
    Print publication:
    30 October 2017, pp 66-87

  • Summary

    From Bagan to St Petersburg

    For nearly seventy years, four Burmese stone sculptures dating to the 11th–12th centuries have been in storage at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. They arrived in Russia after World War II, part of a large group of Asian art objects (from India to Japan and Indonesia) from two institutions in Berlin, the Museum für Volkerkunde and the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst. It was only after the radical political changes in the Soviet Union in the early 1990s that, after a long period of obfuscation regarding their background, Russia and Germany were able to begin to work together, and with other specialists, on these collections.

    The Burmese sculptures comprise three images depicting events from the life of the Buddha: the cutting of the hair in preparation for his life as an ascetic; the Naga King Mucalinda sheltering him from a storm in the sixth week after the Enlightenment; and the taming of the raging elephant Nālāgiri. We discussed these images at the EURASEAA 14 Conference in Dublin in September 2012 and our findings will be published in the conference proceedings. The fourth image, examined here, represents Viṣṇu on Garuḍa, Viṣṇu Garuḍāsana.

    These sculptures were sent to the Museum für Volkerkunde between 1894 and 1896 by a German geologist and palaeontologist, Friedrich (Fritz) Wilhelm Nötling (1857–1928), who at the time was employed by the Geological Survey of India and was working at the Yenangyaung oil fields near Bagan. Nötling studied geology and related subjects before graduating in 1885, after which he worked as a private docent (tutor) at the University of Königsberg. In the same year, he was assigned by the Berlin Academy of Sciences to go on a mission to Palestine, and he subsequently published his first paper for the Geological Survey of Prussia in 1886. Until the University Reforms of the late 1900s, palaeontology was not taught at English universities, and the Geological Survey of India from time to time found it necessary to resort to Germany to find suitable people to fill palaeontological posts. In January 1887 Nötling sailed to Calcutta and served in the Geological Survey until 1903. He became a prolific researcher on geological, paleontological, prehistoric and ethnological subjects and published over forty papers and three books (Struwe 2006, p. 33).

  • 9 - Positioning Bagan in the Buddhist Ecumene: Myanmar's Trans-Polity Connections

    • By Goh Geok Yian, Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, Michael Aung-Thwin
  • Book:
    Bagan and the World
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    01 February 2018
    Print publication:
    30 October 2017, pp 179-197

  • Summary

    This chapter starts with the assumption that Bagan of the 11th through the 14th centuries was a religious hub for monks and pilgrims and constituted one of three important nodes in a Buddhist common world or commonwealth, or what I have elected to call “Buddhist ecumene”. The Buddhist ecumene demarks a common world within which exchanges and interactions between the different nodes shared a religion: Buddhism. Buddhism represents an overarching principle for all the polities which belonged to the same ecumene, but it is by no means the only linking principle. Within this ecumene, ideas, texts and items travelled and were exchanged among the different nodes of the same network that were also connected via commercial trade. Polities waged wars, sometimes on the pretext of religion, but in other times to obtain more people, more resources and to assert supremacy over another. The ecumene refers to a network of centres which is marked by a common shared religion under the “one house” (oikos) of Buddhism.

    Bagan represents one of the three key nodes of this Buddhist ecumene. The Buddhist ecumene begins with the reign of Anawrahta, an 11th-century king of Bagan whose exploits are recorded in the Burmese chronicles of the 18th and 19th centuries, the northern Thai chronicle(s) of the 15th century and the Sri Lankan chronicle, Cūlavaṁsa. The Cūlavaṁsa dates from the 13th century but contains updates through the 19th century. The chronicles present the view that Bagan, northern Thailand and Sri Lanka had close interactions with one another, which began as early as the 11th century. These accounts emphasize the king's importance and the position of the kingdom's capital, Bagan, within the context of a regional Buddhist commonwealth or network, characterized by the idea of a Buddhist ecumene (for detailed discussions, see Goh 2007 and 2014).

    Chronicle Accounts

    Textual accounts of Anawrahta and Bagan characterize the king making great efforts to obtain Buddhist texts and relics. His endeavours to take religious texts and relics to Bagan resulted in the sending of a number of expeditions to foreign countries such as Tarup-China, Sri Lanka and India. According to the textual accounts, most of these missions were carried out without the outbreak of wars.

  • 4 - Religious Symbols as Decorations on the Sikhara of Ancient Monuments in the Late Bagan Period

    • By Pyiet Phyo Kyaw, lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, University of Yangon, Myanmar
  • Edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, Michael Aung-Thwin
  • Book:
    Bagan and the World
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    01 February 2018
    Print publication:
    30 October 2017, pp 57-65

  • Summary

    Bagan iconography displayed syncretic traits from the 10th to the 13th centuries. Southeast Asian classic art combined traits from India, China and indigenous sources, disseminated through maritime trade. The Bagan period can be divided into three phases: early (10–11th centuries), middle (12th century) and late (13th century). The late phase of the Bagan period can plausibly be dated from the end of the reign of King Narapatisithu or Cañsū II (1165–1211) to that of King Narasihapate or Tayokpyay Min (1256–87). The successors of King Narapatisithu were patrons of Buddhist cultural heritage, evident in many monuments of various sizes, big, medium and small.

    Despite the short span of the late Bagan period, many monuments were constructed during this time. They can be dated by stone inscriptions and ink glosses concerning donations and Buddhist religious matters.

    The significant features of the later Bagan monuments include:

  • The construction of pagoda complexes consisting of several structures;

  • The evolution of monastic complexes in the vertical dimension;

  • More complex stucco reliefs on the temple exteriors;

  • An increasing frequency of geometric items in the interior mural decorations;

  • Stone inscriptions providing factual information about donations (mostly written in Myanmar language);

  • Monumental complexes built at greater distances from the banks of the Ayeyarwady River;

  • An increasing tendency to build complexes consisting of a large number of smaller individual monuments rather than single massive structures.

    • In the late Bagan period, many small monuments were built in the form of complexes of stupas or monasteries. Important groups of small buildings built during this period include complexes at Winīdo, Sambūla, Sin Phyū Shin, Su ton Pyit monastery and Tāmani. Despite the large number of small buildings, some larger buildings, such as temples at Tayokpyay, Pyatthatgyī, Tha Htay Mote Gu and Thitsāwaddy, were also erected. Additionally, there are medium size buildings such as the temples of Thambūla, Phayāthons and Thetkyamuni. The large number of 13th-century buildings in Bagan suggests that the population grew more rapidly in late Bagan than in earlier periods.

    The 13th-century buildings are characterized by informative stone inscriptions, ink glosses and rich decoration, but these decorative touches were not intended as static and massive sculptural forms and shapes; rather, they comprise many items or thematic objects related to the use of Buddhist Jataka and canonical motifs to decorate interior walls for didactic functions.

  • 2 - Analysis of Construction Technologies in Pyu Cities and Bagan

  • Edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, Michael Aung-Thwin
  • Book:
    Bagan and the World
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    01 February 2018
    Print publication:
    30 October 2017, pp 15-44

  • Summary

    A remarkable fact about Bagan is that presently over three thousand monuments are found concentrated in an area of forty-two square kilometres (sixteen square miles). An Inwa dynasty king, Moe-Nyin- Thado, recorded 4,474 structures there in the 15th century. There are presently 3,122 monuments and mounds in the list of the archaeological department. If there were over 4,400 monuments in the 15th century, it is possible that approximately a thousand monuments are no longer standing, either in scattered ruins, rebuilt into new structures not listed in the inventory, or possibly eroded away by the Ayeyarwady River over the past five centuries.

    This chapter examines the construction techniques utilized at the Pyu sites such as Sriksetra and Bagan and compares these construction techniques with selected historical sites in Southeast Asia from the period between the beginning of the first millennium ce and the 14th century. This period starts with incipient urbanization and concludes with the end of Bagan in Myanmar history.

    Overview of Ancient Civilizations in East Asia

    The earliest complex societies in Asia were found in the Indus Valley and the Yellow River and Yangtze River valleys. These societies developed parallel to the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Crete.

    The Yellow River and Yangtze River valleys were two core regions from where the Shang dynasty drew influences. Traditional records mention a series of legendary pre-Shang rulers, such as the Yellow Lord (Huang Di), who invented the key features of civilization like agriculture, the family, boats, carts, bows and arrows, and the calendar. It is believed that these rulers existed before the 22nd century bce. They were superseded by the Shang dynasty (1570–1045 bce), which coincided with the beginning of written and archaeological records. Chinese accounts of the Shang rulers match inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells that date from the 20th century bce at the city of Anyang in the valley of the Huang He (Yellow River) (Lawler 2009; Long and Taylor 2015).

  • Preface

  • Edited by Goh Geok Yian, John N. Miksic, Michael Aung-Thwin
  • Book:
    Bagan and the World
    Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    01 February 2018
    Print publication:
    30 October 2017, pp vii-viii

  • Summary

    This book was inspired by a conference in Bagan, sponsored by the Nalanda- Sriwijaya Centre, ISEAS, in 2012. Participants in the conference were invited to submit chapters for a book about ancient Bagan's connections with the rest of Asia. This book contains ten chapters, each by a respected expert in early Myanmar history. The publication of this volume marks an important step forward in reintroducing scholarship on Myanmar and Myanmar scholars to the rest of the world. Four of the authors are Myanmarese academics, and one of the three author-editors is of Myanmar ancestry.

    The conference sought to gather evidence with which to dispel the myth that Myanmar has always been a hermit kingdom or nation. This book presents abundant evidence that the kingdom of Bagan, which flourished from around 1000 to 1300, played a major role in the development of the economy, religion, art and technology in the area which stretches from India to China.

    At the time the conference was conceived, Myanmar was just reestablishing contact with the outside world. The publication of this book demonstrates that Myanmar's growing integration into the international community does not signify a new relationship; Myanmar has more often been a catalyst for development and communication between West Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia than a passive bystander. Buddhism formed one of the major contexts in which Myanmar exerted considerable influence over early Asian civilization. Bagan was also an economic power, and one of Southeast Asia's oldest and largest urban cultures. Myanmar is now resuming its role as an integral part of Asia which it played a thousand years ago.

    The editors and authors would like to pay tribute to the late Pamela Gutman, who passed away during the interval between the conference and the publication of this book. She is greatly missed by all scholars with an interest in Myanmar. Her publications will long remain important contributions to the study of this fascinating nation. We would like to dedicate this volume to her memory.

Page 168 of 760