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A clear guide to current EU institutions, practices, and policies, this is also an informed insider's account of how they have emerged in their present form, with clues on future change. The mixture of analysis and history, description and prescription, works well, because the author has had a ringside seat, but retains a cool Nordic non-partisan detachment. The hints he offers to those, for example in Asia, considering following a similar path to regional integration, represent the distilled wisdom of a career in balancing economic benefits and national sensitivities. As his story shows, it can be done. - Lord Kerr, Former Head of the UK Diplomatic Service, now Chairman of Imperial College, London and Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell.
"This is an excellent and rare exploration of a sensitive religious issue from many perspectives legal, cultural and political. The case studies from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand portray the important and exciting, yet very difficult, negotiation of Islamic teachings in the changing realities of Southeast Asia, home to the majority of Muslims in the world. Interreligious marriage is an important indicator of good relations between communities in religiously diverse countries. This book will also be of great interest to students and scholars of religious pluralism in a Southeast Asian context, which has not been studied adequately." -Zainal Abidin Bagir, Executive Director, Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS), Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia
"Maritime power has been a key defining parameter of economic vitality and geostrategic power of nations. The first decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed the rise of China and India as confident economic powers pivoting on high growth rates and exponential expansion of science, technology and industrial growth. Sequel to their steadily growing economic clout has been the emphatic resurgence of their maritime power evident in maritime shipping, port development and the concomitant expansion of naval power.Dr Vijay Sakhuja, a former Indian Navy officer, in this pioneering study has splendidly elucidated and examined the resurgence of Asian naval power and its political-diplomatic, economic-commercial, science-technological-industrial, grand-strategic and operational-doctrinal dimensions. Using a neorealist framework, the author provides robust and insightful analysis of how China and India as great powers, using their maritime military capabilities, would evolve and act in global affairs."— Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi, Centre for the Study of Geopolitics, Punjab University, Chandigarh
With the disappearance of the imperial structures that had dominated Southeast Asia, newly independent states had to develop foreign policies of their own. But so far few if any of these states have been willing to allow the public to explore any documentation of their activities. Building on his earlier work that drew on U.K. records, the author incorporates material from New Zealand archives - which also contain reports from Australian and Canadian diplomats - to provide an historical analysis of the foreign policies of Southeast Asian nations from a New Zealand perspective.
Most scholarly works conducted within the period of post-New Order Indonesia have underlined the fact that Indonesian Islamists reject the notion of democracy; no adequate explanation nonetheless has been attempted thus far as to how and to what extent democracy is being rejected. This book is dedicated to filling the gap by examining the complex reality behind the Islamists' rejection of democracy. It focuses its analysis on two streams of Islamism: the two Islamist groups that seek 'extra-parliamentary' means to achieve their goals, that is, MMI and HTI, and the PKS Islamists who choose the existing political party system as a means of their power struggle. As this book has demonstrated, there are times when the two streams of Islamism share a common platform of understanding and interpretation as well as an intersection where they are in conflict with one another. The interplay between contested meanings over particular theological matters on normative grounds and power contests among the Islamists proves to be critical in shaping this complexity.
The Different Voices: Singaporean/Malaysian Novel, focuses on the challenges that face a novelist in the literary representation of a multilingual environment. The early writers used strategies like vernacular transcription and mimetic translation. However, the close readings of twelve selected novels by non-European writers from 1980 to 2001 indicate the increasing use of strategies like lexical borrowings, code mixing, code switching and varieties of Singapore-Malayan English, instead. Puthucheary asserts in her book that the methods of language appropriation have a direct connection to how the writer conveys the multilingual nature of the Singapore-Malayan society through the speaking person while developing the central theme of the novel. The book maps out the verbal artistic representation of the speaking person and the correlation between speech and character in a multilingual environment.
The fall of President Soeharto in May 1998 and the introduction of multi-party democracy by President BJ Habibie have unleashed religious parties (both Islamic and Christian) in Indonesian politics. This study shows that the Islamist agenda of the Islamist parties is overshadowed by their political pragmatism. This book is a must-read account on the rise and failure of the Islamist struggle in Indonesia's emerging democracy. Platzdasch's work is without a doubt a significant and timely contribution to a better understanding of Islamic politics in contemporary Indonesia. - Professor Azyumardi Azra, Professor of History & Director, Graduate School, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta, Indonesia.
What is being done to counter threats of maritime terrorism and how effective are the safeguards? The author presents evidence that Al-Qaeda aims to disrupt the seaborne trading system, the backbone of the model global economy, and would use a crude nuclear explosive device or radiological bomb to do so if it could obtain one and position it to go off in a port-city, shipping strait or waterway that plays a key role in international trade. Improving maritime trade is especially important for the US and Canada, member states of the EU, Australia and New Zealand and for China, Japan and South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and other East Asian economies that have extensive direct seaborne trade. It is doubly vital for places like Singapore, Hong Kong and Rotterdam that are not only very large global seaports but also giant giant container transshipment hubs. This book discusses some major threats to seaborne trade and its land links in the global supply chain, their potential impact and the new security measures in place or pending for ships, ports and cargo containers, and recommendations for preventing or handling a catastrophic terrorist attack designed to disrupt world trade.
This book provides insight into Indonesia's system of government and elections. It focuses on the roles of the 1945 Constitution, the Pancasila, the DPR (Legislative Assembly) and the MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) - and the ways they have functioned during elections since Independence. The development of democracy and the roles of Islam and the military through the presidencies of Sukarno, Soeharto, Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, and Megawati are examined. The book includes a most comprehensive and detailed listing of the results of the 1999 general election, considered Indonesia's first free and democratic election for over thirty years.
This study of the national parliaments of India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand is inspired by four major theoretical discourses: neo-institutionalism, parliamentarianism versus presidentialism, majoritarian versus consensus democracy, and transition theory. The book examines the specific role of parliaments in political decision-making, regime change, democratization, and consolidation of democracy in a comparative perspective. It argues that parliaments play a greater part in the political decision-making than is often asserted and that there is no cogent causal relationship between parliamentary performance and system of government.
This volume examines different ethnic configurations and conflict avoidance and resolution in five different Southeast Asian countries. Tin Maung Maung Than traces the history and impossibility of the current Myanmar regime's quest to integrate the various ethnic groups in the border regions while insisting on a unitary state with all real power kept to themselves.Rizal Sukma divides conflicts in Indonesia into horizontal (Kalimantan, Maluku and Sulawesi) and vertical ones (the Madurese versus the Dayaks) and assesses the prospects for peaceful resolution if the country's fledgling democracy does not properly address them.Miriam Coronel Ferrer examines the conflicts in Mindanao against the apparent lack of willingness of Manila to come to terms with the root causes as well as the infusion of arms and ideology from outside.Zakaria Haji Ahmad and Suzaina Kadir analyse Malaysia's relatively successful handling of an ethnically divided society, which has permitted impressive stability since 1969. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti focuses on the non-Thai border peoples of northern Thailand, noting the legacy of the government's policy of selective citizenship. Ethnic Conflicts in Southeast Asia will be an invaluable resource for scholars of contemporary Southeast Asia as well as in other regions, policy-makers and others, who wish to assess and develop strategies to prevent, modulate and resolve such conflicts.
This book analyses the process of modernization of health and healing practices, and documents in detail the current trend among people who use both traditional and modern medicine. It has two unique and important features. One is the focus - five nations in Asia (China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand) which are at different stages of social and economic development, are studied and compared, providing a current and detailed picture of the combination of traditional and modern ways of healing. The second unique feature is that each chapter is written by scholars who not only have the advantage of firsthand knowledge of the situation in their respective countries but also bring into their analyses their extensive research experience in the areas of medical sociology and medical history. Moreover, as a book written in English, it offers valuable up-to-date information on the Chinese, Japanese and Thai health care systems, which is usually not accessible to readers unfamiliar with these languages.
This book explains the relationship between Islam and the state and politics in contemporary Indonesia. President Soeharto's departure from office in May 1998 brought tremendous and far-reaching impacts to Indonesia's political landscape. At least 181 new political parties came into being, a sizeable portion of which use Islam as their symbol and ideological basis.
"As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Partnership, the essays in this book remind us, and amplify the ASEAN-Japan relations. The complexities of this relationship, including the external influences which have impinged on its development over the years, are cogently discussed and recorded for the younger generation and students of ASEAN-Japan ties. The intricacy and spread of ASEAN-Japan cooperation mechanisms are also well highlighted in this book, while several thought-provoking commentaries on the future of this four-decade old partnership give pause to the readers. Many of the challenges that exist in this relationship originated from domestic political dynamics in the ASEAN countries and Japan, as well as from the neighbouring states and key trading partners."Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Former ASEAN Secretary General"The monograph on ASEAN-Japan relations is the intellectual highlight of the 40 years anniversary of ASEAN-Japan cooperation. ASEAN has become an indispensable partner and friend of Japan and its role as the hub of cooperation, development and stability in the region will without doubt become even more important after the establishment of the ASEAN Communities in 2015. The monograph containing contributions of the most renowned and respected experts on ASEAN provides us with enlightening overview, inspiration as well as guidance for our future common path. I would like to recommend this monograph to everybody interested in the further deepening of the ASEAN-Japan relations."Ambassador Yoshinori Katori, Ambassador of Japan to Indonesia,Former Ambassador in charge of ASEAN
America is drifting towards another collision with Asian countries. This book sets the situation in perspective by tracing the development of relations between them during the last two centuries. No longer needing allies as it did during the Cold War, the United States is now using its economic power to force them to open their markets to its exports and to move towards Western democracy. American pressure is making Asians appreciate what they have in common, and helping to overcome the divisions that have kept them dependent on outside powers. But collision is not inevitable. America has played a critical part in the transformation of East Asia. It still has much to teach, and it now has much to learn as well. By studying Asian experience, Americans can re-learn the importance of self-discipline, and face Asian competition without relying on their power and resorting to protectionism. APEC shows the way for the United States and other Western countries to benefit from the fast growth of Asian economies, and make the whole of the Pacific area more prosperous.
In Indonesia, as elsewhere in Asia, education will inevitably play a key role in the national development experience as the twenty-first century unfolds. Not much international attention is paid to how the education sector is faring in Indonesia, but that is not because nothing is happening. The past decade has seen major changes in the structure of the education system and in the schooling trajectories of Indonesian children and adolescents. The administration of primary and secondary education has been decentralized to the regions. A new paradigm of school-based management has been introduced. Public spending on education has finally reached one-fifth of total government spending, as required by law. But although enrolment rates at all levels continue to increase, the quality of education remains low and has not improved, and the tertiary sector continues to experience problems of autonomy and unsatisfactory performance.This book delves into the major developments in education in Indonesia. Drawing on the expertise of some of the most knowledgeable people in the field, it identifies the challenges facing the sector and offers recommendations on how these challenges could be overcome.
"Amitav Acharya has written a splendidly ambitious book. Travelling from the discipline of International Relations to the historiography of Southeast Asia and back again, it draws upon a range of methodologies to analyse the issue of identity in the configuration of Southeast Asia. But it provides more than an academic assessment. With this book, Acharya must be judged to have contributed not just to the study of Southeast Asian regionalism, but to the process itself."–Anthony Milner, Basham Professor of Asian History, Australian National University
This book is a macro-study of Indian business communities in Singapore through different phases of their growth since colonial times. It goes beyond the conventional labour-history approach to study Indian immigrants to Southeast Asia, both in terms of themselves and their connections with the peoples' movements. It looks at how Indian business communities negotiated with others in the environments in which they found themselves and adapted to them in novel ways. It especially brings into focus the patterns and integration of the Indian networks in the large-scale transnational flows of capital, one of the least-studied aspects of the diaspora history in this part of the world. The complexities and overlapping interests of different groups of traders and businessmen form an interesting study of various aspects of these trading bodies, their methods of operation and their trade links, both within and outside Singapore. The book also charts their mobility and progress, in terms of both business and social status. The research aims to construct linear threads of linkages through generations and situate them in the larger framework and broader paradigms of business networks in Singapore. In shedding light on aspects of Indian connectivities to Southeast Asia, the narrative is particularly relevant in the context of India's economic rise. This study raises economic, social and cultural issues regarding the transition.
This compilation of biographical data on the military officers in the National Administrative Reform Assembly (1976–77), the National Legislative Assembly, and/or the Senate (1979 to the present) is meant to provide base-line data for further study of military intervention in Thai politics. It also provides the officers' social background, military rank and position at the time they were appointed to their political positions.
To celebrate Anthony Reid's numerous and seminal contributions to the field of Southeast Asian history, a group of his colleagues and students has contributed essays for this Festschrift. In addition to introductory essays which provide personal and intellectual histories of Anthony Reid the man, there is a range of original scholarly contributions addressing historical issues which Reid has researched during his career. Divided into sections which examine Southeast Asia in the world, early modern Southeast Asia, and modern Southeast Asia, these works engage with issues ranging from the Age of Commerce and comparative Eurasian history, to nationalism, ethnic hybridity, Islam, technological change, and the Chinese and Arabs in Southeast Asia. The authors include some of the foremost historians of Southeast Asia in our generation.