This book charts the progress of ASEAN-Japan relations from their difficult wartime legacy to postwar moves at diplomatic and economic rapprochement through successive governments.

A brief overview of some facts about multinational banking; tax evasion, global money, and capital market banking; welfare effects of international banking; and implications for public policy.

Non-Traditional Security in Asia examines the critical security challenges faced by states and societies in Asia including health, food, water, natural disasters, internal conflict, forced migration, energy, transnational crime, and cyber security. Through the development of a comprehensive analytical framework that establishes the key ingredients to policy evaluation, the editors draw on a wide variety of experts to collaborate in investigating these crucial issues. This inclusive framework ensures that all voices are heard including those oftentimes under-represented and marginalized in society to ensure that academic and policy debates are well informed about the often complex and nuanced nature of these non-traditional security challenges.Through an investigation into these specific non-traditional security threats, Non-Traditional Security in Asia documents and evaluates many of the most pressing challenges faced by Asia today. The authors analyse the ways in which particular issues are addressed by the many stakeholders involved in the policy-making process, both within governments and across societies. The question of how these challenges are addressed across and between the different levels of global governance highlights the strengths and weakness that are directly attributable to policy successes and failures. It is through this layered and comprehensive approach, together with an evaluation of the role of stakeholders, which binds together the chapter contributions to this collection. The book undertakes an issue-specific chapter study of how Asian states and societies address these non-traditional security concerns from environmental adaptation and mitigation measures to conflict resolution. For each issue area, it identifies and explains the concerns of various policy communities, identifying the motivations behind some of the key decisions made to affect change or stabilize the status quo. Essentially it questions not only what a security issue is but also for whom the issue is important and the interaction this has with policy outcomes. With a focus on regional and global institutions as well as national and local ones, this collection illustrates the variety of stakeholders involved in non-traditional security concerns, and reflects on their relative importance in the decision-making process. Through a systematic evaluation of these non-traditional security issues by employing a comprehensive analytical framework, critical appreciation of the dynamics of the policy-making process surrounding issues of crucial national, regional and international significance in Asia are made. As a result of sharing these insights, the contributors provide the tools as well as a selection of issue-specific stakeholders to illuminate the key but complex characteristics of non-traditional security in Asia.

Spanning 20 years of history, the achievements of APEC may seem uneventful in the eyes of some observers. Yet careful deliberation will point to APEC's many remarkable high points as well as some of the challenges. The foundations of APEC were set in place about 40 years ago based on the achievements of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC). One of the cornerstones of APEC's vision is to achieve a free and open trade area among its member economies. This vision is anchored in the Bogor Goals that remain the centrepiece of the APEC process. The Bogor Goals represent a cause for celebration as well as angst. Celebration because the region has moved towards achieving a much more liberalized environment of trading and investment since 1989, angst because the deadlines for achieving the goals have not yet been fully realized. Today, APEC embraces many of the world's dynamic developed and developing economies that are better poised to meet the new challenges of this century. For those seeking to get a quick sweep of APEC, this book recalls, reflects and provides enough food for thought on the possible remake of APEC. The chapters are carefully written by experts who have been directly involved in the APEC process one way or another. The invaluable insights serve to place the whole APEC process in a balanced perspective, yet with candid deliberations.

This book is written in an easily understood style. It explains the background of the origin of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) of which there are 10 member-countries. The author looks at the progress made, as well as the problems that the association faces.

This occasional paper focuses on international shipping in Southeast Asia, reviewing fleet ownership and control in ASEAN and examining the extent of public and private sector ownership in the ASEAN fleets.

This timely report by two specialists on Asia-Pacific affairs at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore surveys the history of links between Australia-New Zealand and ASEAN, assesses the current state of relations between the two regions, and recommends ways to strengthen ties. With the leaders of ANZ and Southeast Asia to meet at the ASEAN summit in Laos on 30 November 2004, for the first time since 1977, ISEAS commissioned the report to find out whether there was a firm basis for reinvigorating the ANZ-Southeast Asia relationship and, if so, to make proposals that might interest policy-makers.This report finds that despite past differences and periodic setbacks, the relationship between ANZ and Southeast Asia has become increasingly solid and multi-faceted, as successive Australian, New Zealand and Southeast Asian governments have taken steps since the early 1970s to facilitate mutual ties and interaction in a wide range of areas. What is most striking is that in recent years much of the real substance in the relationship between ANZ and Southeast Asia has developed without the direct assistance or guidance of governments as private business, education and travel have mushroomed. From being largely government-fostered in the 1970s, the links between the two regions have become more broadly based and oriented towards closer contacts between people. This is the "soft power" of the new relationship between ANZ and Southeast Asia.

The rapid pace of economic development in Southeast Asia has involved a changing and often volatile relationship between traditional structures and values, and new structures associated with state and administrative power. In this volume, a variety of original perspectives is offered on crucial subjects, including region, the bureaucracy, the state and non-governmental organizations.

The detailed results of the computation of population projections for Singapore by sex and for time-intervals of five years from 1980 to 2070. Two plausible future courses of population trends are put forward.

Southeast Asian Affairs 2007 provides an informed and readable analysis of the events and developments in the region in 2006. In the regional section of this volume, the first two articles provide the political and economic overview of Southeast Asia, while the third and fourth examine the character of political development in the region. Eleven country reviews as well as five special theme articles follow, delving into domestic political, economic, security, and social developments during 2006 and their implications for countries in the region and beyond.

This is an important and timely volume: important because ASEAN is an increasingly significant and influential regional and global actor; and timely because, as the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community target approaches, what is needed is a sympathetic yet arms-length survey of the issues and challenges. ASEAN will miss some of the targets laid out in its AEC Blueprint, but the reader is left in no doubt that the ASEAN spirit is alive and well. The editors include a distinguished former Secretary General of ASEAN and the leading academic analyst of ASEAN economic cooperation. They and their co-editors are to be congratulated for soliciting contributions from an outstanding and diverse group of authors, and then adding their highly authoritative commentary and analysis. A must read for anybody seriously interested in ASEAN.

"In 1511, a Portuguese expedition under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque arrived on the shores of Malacca, taking control of the prosperous Malayan port-city after a swift military campaign. Portugal, a peripheral but then technologically advanced country in southwestern Europe since the latter fifteenth century, had been in the process of establishing solid outposts all along Asia’s litoral in order to participate in the most active and profitable maritime trading routes of the day. As it turned out, the Portuguese presence and influence in the Malayan Peninsula and elsewhere in continental and insular Asia expanded far beyond the sphere of commerce and extended over time well into the twenty-first century.Five hundred years later, a conference held in Singapore brought together a large group of scholars from widely different national, academic and disciplinary contexts, to analyse and discuss the intricate consequences of Portuguese interactions in Asia over the longue dure. The result of these discussions is a stimulating set of case studies that, as a rule, combine original archival and/or field research with innovative historiographical perspectives. Luso-Asian communities, real and imagined, and Luso-Asian heritage, material and symbolic, are studied with depth and insight. The range of thematic, chronological and geographic areas covered in these proceeding is truly remarkable, showing not only the extraordinary relevance of revisiting Luso-Asian interactions in the longer term, but also the surprising dynamism within an area of studies which seemed on the verge of exhaustion. After all, archives from all over the world, from Rio de Janeiro to London, from Lisbon to Rome, and from Goa to Macao, might still hold some secrets on the subject of Luso-Asian relations, when duly explored by resourceful scholars.”—Rui M. LoureiroCentro de Historia de Alem-Mar, Lisbon“This two-volume set pulls together several interdisciplinary studies historicizing Portuguese ‘legacies’ across Asia over a period of approximately five centuries (ca. 1511-2011). It is especially recommended to readers interested in the broader aspects of the early European presence in Asia, and specifically on questions of politics, colonial administration, commerce, societal interaction, integration, identity, hybridity, religion and language.”—Associate Professor Peter BorschbergDepartment of History, National University of Singapore

Thailand is a society in political, economic and social transition. Change is happening to varying degrees -- at the national level and at the regional level where there are contrasting issues. Changes are positive, some are negative. This book looks at the various aspects of change as it impacts on business and the lives of the people.

Musical Worlds in Yogyakarta is an ethnographic account of a vibrant Indonesian city during the turbulent early post-Soeharto years. The book examines musical performance in public contexts ranging from the street and neighbourhood through to commercial venues and state environments such as Yogyakarta's regional parliament, its military institutions, universities and the Sultan's palace. It focuses on the musical tastes and practices of street workers, artists, students and others. From street-corner jam sessions to large-scale concerts, a range of genres emerge that cohere around notions of campursari (“mixed essences”) and jalanan (“of the street”). Musical worlds addresses themes of social identity and power, counterpoising Pierre Bourdieu's theories on class, gender and nation with the author's alternative perspectives of inter-group social capital, physicality and grounded cosmopolitanism. The author argues that Yogyakarta is exemplary of how everyday people make use of music to negotiate issues of power and at the same time promote peace and intergroup appreciation in culturally diverse inner-city settings.

This volume honours, and reflects on, the life and work of the Australian Indonesianist, Charles A. Coppel. His interests -- reflected in this volume -- are broad, ranging from history, politics, legal issues, and violence against the Chinese, through to culture and religion. The chapters in the volume, contributed by scholars from Australia, Indonesia, Europe, and Singapore, also all reflect a theme, inspired by Charles Coppel's expression, 'remembering, distorting, forgetting', by which he drew attention to misrepresentations of the Chinese, seeking to locate the realities behind the myths that form the basis for the racism and xenophobia the Chinese have often experienced in Indonesia.

Written in a format and style that is easily readable, Regional Outlook provides succinct yet substantive overviews and insights into the current geopolitical and economic situations in the individual countries as well as the region, together with the likely trends over the next year or so. This year's issue also includes an expanded overview of the Asia-Pacific setting with a special focus on the 1997 transition in Hong Kong. Regional Outlook serves as a useful and handy guide to the region's aspirations and prospects each year, in addition to casting a look ahead.

"A welcome and timely volume that realistically considers the challenges that the rapid increase in older persons pose for the family, community and society at large in the context of Southeast Asia. Most importantly, it shifts the focus from viewing older persons simply as liabilities to one that recognizes their value as an asset that can be enhanced through appropriate actions at each of these levels, especially ones that take into account the rapidly changing socio-economic and technological environment in which population ageing is taking place." - Professor John Knodel, Research Professor Emeritus, Population Studies Center and Professor Emeritus, Sociology, University of Michigan

The large market size and abundant resources of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), including a large, motivated and cheap workforce, a rich agricultural base, extensive timber and fisheries resources, considerable potential mineral resources, and vast energy resources have seen the subregion increasingly recognized as a new frontier of Southeast Asian economic strength. This book aims to assess the recent economic, social and political developments in the GMS and identify emerging opportunities and challenges facing the successful transition towards a market-driven economy. The countries of the GMS are at a critical juncture where subregional efforts and cooperation must be made to fully address the rapidly evolving issues that are vital to appropriate policy formation, yet which remain widely debatable. The deliberations here shed light on the development stages and offer policy recommendations for pushing forward subregional cooperation.

This book documents the trends and challenges that are taking place in the more important sectors of Malaysia. The chapters, written by specialists with an intimate knowledge of the country, cover major topics such as population trends and patterns, Islam Hadhari, Bangsa Malaysia, politics and the 2004 general election, civil service reforms, corporate governance, educational reforms, the impact of globalisation on the economy, and Malaysia's relations with Singapore. Recent developments in these areas are likely to have a profound bearing on Malaysia and its neighbours in the years ahead. The book provides readers with a greater appreciation and a deeper understanding of Malaysia, which is undergoing significant changes and challenges.

This volume focuses on the theme of Human Security - a phenomenon increasingly in the news in Asia. The issues revolve around the security of the individual as opposed to the security of the state. They encompass some of the latest developments affecting or having implications for the well-being of the Asian individual since January 2010. Among them are Japan's triple calamity; Wikileaks; the Arab uprisings; and the death of Osama bin Laden. Issues discussed range from climate change and natural disasters; energy security; health, food, and water security to issues of internal challenges such as governance, politics and identity. The role of diplomacy in non-traditional security, as the larger conceptual framework within which human security resides, is also covered. This is the third volume of Strategic Currents, which publishes essays and commentaries first written for RSIS Commentaries by scholars, academics and associates of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.