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Operating hours: Monday - Thursday: 8.30 - 6.00 pm Friday: 8.30 - 5.30 pm (Closed on Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays) Address: Southeast Asian Studies Programme Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences 3 Arts Link Blk AS3, #06-18 Singapore 117570 Tel: 6516 6338 Fax: 6777 6608 |
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| Seminars and Conferences - 2001 |
| 2000 | 2001 |2002 |2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007| Southeast Asian Studies Programme Hydraulic Systems at Angkor and Wittfogel's Ghost by Dr Christopher Pottier Tuesday, 20th November 2001, 3.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. Abstract This presentation will tackle some questions relating to the ponds, reservoirs, and hydraulic features located in the Angkor region and their possible connection to land use during the ancient Khmer period. Dr Pottier, who conducted research on Angkorean territorial planning, especially in the south area of Angkor, from 1993 to 1999, will present some data relevant to the Hydraulic City debate, first by pointing out some dubious aspects of arguments raised against the hydraulic thesis, then by providing an overview of unpublished data which appreciably modify our understanding of ancient Khmer hydraulic features. Among them are some elements which provide evidence of a relationship between hydraulic features and rice field patterns at Angkor during ancient times, suggesting that they were parts of the same general system. The Speaker Dr Pottier is Director of the French-Cambodian Archaeological Mission on Angkorian Regional Planning (MAFKATA) for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He received his Ph.D. in History and Archaeology of the Indian World from the Sorbonne University, Paris III, in 1999. Dr Pottier has been working in Angkor since 1992, when he was given the task of re-establishing the École Française d'Extrême-Orient offices in Siem Reap. He also supervised the restoration of the northern staircase of the Elephant Terrace and Terrace of the Leper King in Angkor Thom, and was a consultant architect for the restoration of Prah Kô in Roluos. Before working in Angkor, he worked as an architect on the restoration of Prasat Hin Phanom Wan (Thailand). Chair and Convenor: Assoc. Professor John Miksic Enquiries: 874 5008 / 874 6337/6338 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme “Myanmar Archeological Database” by Dr Bob Hudson Tuesday, 30th October 2001, 4.00 p.m. to 5.15 p.m. ABSTRACT This talk will outline some recent research into Burma/Myanmar's Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages, and into the transition in habitation patterns from the enclosed settlements of the Pyu through to the foundation, expansion and decline of the gigantic Buddhist urban centre of Bagan. Using numerous visual examples, we will also discuss how the computer mapping techniques used in this research program can go beyond merely displaying data to analyzing it, either at a nationwide or regional scale, or at the level of a single archaeological dig. The Speaker Bob Hudson is an Australian archaeologist who is involved in investigating the settlement patterns of first and early second millennium AD Myanmar (Burma). He works with the Archaeological Computing Laboratory at the University of Sydney, an organization that prides itself as being on the cutting edge of the application of computer technology to archaeology. He is also a member of the Southeast Asian team for ECAI, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, a joint project of the University of Sydney and the University of California at Berkeley. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 8745181 / 8746588 / 8746337/6338/5203 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme “Jakarta and the Pagan Urbanism” by Dr Stephen Cairns Tuesday, 9th October 2001, 4.00 p.m. to 5.15 p.m. Abstract As any Jakarta taxi driver will tell you, on any one day in that city, someone confidently heads for an address across town only to find that on arriving no such address exists. The buildings at the designated spot either have yet to be built, have been demolished, or have been transformed in some unrecognizable way. The material fabric of such cities, it seems, is out of step with the available means for conceptualizing them. Maps, plans, timetables, or schedules represent an ideal that is routinely found to be either premature or late with respect to material conditions, so much so that re-aligning one to the other always involves a certain distortion or stretching. As they also say in Jakarta when an appointment is missed, a rendezvous goes awry, or an event begins at the time it was scheduled to end: “jam karet” ... “elastic time”. Urban myths of this kind hint at the difficulty of conceptualizing cities in the Third World. The very shape of everyday life there - plotted as it is against such fluid ratios of time and space - is a persistent reminder of the fundamental mismatch between what might be thought of as the material and conceptual registers of their particular urban conditions. This paper will explore this dilemma with reference to contemporary postmodern accounts of urbanism and to empirical material drawn from fieldwork conducted in Jakarta. The Speaker Stephen Cairns is a Senior Lecturer and the Associate Dean (International) of the Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, the University of Melbourne. He was awarded his PhD in 1998, and taught in the graduate program in architecture at the Pratt Institute in New York. His work is published in UME, UTS Review and Postcolonial Studies and in a collection on cross-cultural theory in architecture titled Postcolonial Space(s) (Princeton Architectural Press, 1997). He is currently editing a book for Routledge's Architext Series on architecture and migrancy. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 8745181 / 8746588 / 8746337/8/5203 (Gen. office) ALL ARE WELCOME "Moving In, Moving Out: Issues of Migration in Contemporary Southeast Asia" The SIF/NUS Southeast Asian Studies Society 2001 ASEAN Student Forum Date: Saturday, 29 September 2001 Jointly organised by the Singapore International Foundation, the SIF
Southeast Asian Studies Programme "Indonesian Corruption in Context - A Discourse Analytical Approach" by Dr Heinzpeter Znoj Monday, 1st October 2001, 4.00 p.m. to 5.15 p.m. ABSTRACT Since the 1990's, corruption ranges among the central topics in Indonesian politics and there is an overt consensus that it is a plague for the country. My research looks specifically at competing public discourses about corruption and how they relate to its practice. In these discourses, fine distinctions are drawn between more and less corrupt practices, and various moral and legal models are referred to in a public negotiation and construction of what corruption is and means for Indonesia and what changes have to occur in order to overcome it. My critical analysis starts from the theoretical assumption that competing discourses and the social reality they refer to have to be treated as an analytical unit. I argue that the ways various groups represent corruption are variously related to its practice in reformatory, compensatory, and legitimatory ways. Contributing to the critical awareness of the complex practical implications of various discourses about corruption is a timely task for the social sciences. THE SPEAKER Dr Heinzpeter Znoj is an assistant professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. He was the visiting fellow at the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University in 1994-95 and later at the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University. Dr Znoj‘s recent publication is entitled "Sons Versus Nephews: A Highland Jambi Alliance at War with the East India Company, ca. 1800", appeared in Indonesia 65 (1998):97-121. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 8745181 / 8746588 / 8746337/8/5203 (Gen. office) ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme The Image of Southeast Asia: Viewing from the Vietnamese Pre-university Textbooks by Dr Nguyen Van Chinh Abstract There has been a rising demand for a better understanding of Southeast Asian countries in Vietnam, particularly since the country became an official member of ASEAN in 1995. As a result, institutions of academic research and dissemination of knowledge on Southeast Asia have been expanded to a large scale. Publications on Southeast Asia issues are increasing while a number of departments specializing on the Southeast Asian Studies have been opened in various universities. In the general education curriculum, basic knowledge of Southeast Asia is introduced as an integral part of pre-university textbooks. This paper will review the entire pre-university textbooks currently circulating in Vietnamese school system, including teacher's manuals, with a view to examining how Southeast Asia is featured in the curriculum and how it is represented in the school textbooks. Opinions of textbook authors are also consulted to support the analyses that follow. The paper starts with an introduction of the current system of pre-university education in Vietnam. An attempt will be made to analyze the representations of Southeast Asia in pre-university textbooks. The paper concludes with several suggestions in view of improving the current situation. The Speaker Nguyen Van Chinh is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Southeast Asian Studies Programme, the National University of Singapore. He worked as a lecturer in social anthropology and as the deputy director of the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies at the College of Social Sciences, Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi. He obtained a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Netherlands (with distinction and honorable mention awarded by the Netherlands Association of Social and Cultural Sciences [NVMC]). For years, Chinh has worked as a senior consultant for various international organizations based in Vietnam, involving in the projects for sustainable development in ethnic groups and impacts of NGOs on poverty reduction in mountainous regions (DFID, WB, ADB), and for safe motherhood and comprehensive development of children (SC/USA; ILO). Currently, he is working with a group of researchers on a book, (tentative) title Highlanders and the state in Vietnam and Cambodia. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme “The Indonesian Economy Under Megawati” by Dr J. Soedradjad Djiwandono Tuesday, 28th August 2001, 4.00 p.m. - 5.15 p.m. Abstract It seems to be a pattern in the crisis countries of Asia that a turning point, which ends the deterioration process, is associated with a political stability that comes out from the change of an incumbent government with a new one. Indonesia just experienced a change of government from Mr Abdulrachman Wahid (Gus Dur) to Megawati Sukarnoputri (Mega). The market, as well as the public, has positively received the election of President Megawati and the inception of the new cabinet that followed. In spite of the new enthusiasm from the market on the new economic team of President Megawati, it is still too early to expect a reversal of the deterioration process into a virtuous cycle for recovery and beyond. The Indonesian economic, financial and political crises have been lingering on for several years due partly to policy inconsistencies. The previous governments had missed making a mark for recovery at the time the world economy was more robust. At present, the new government has to face bigger and more complex problems domestically with a less promising economic environment internationally. An assessment of the new government will be offered, in particular how the new economic team would fare in facing daunting challenges. Speaker Dr J. Soedradjad Djiwandono is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the ISEAS, working on an English version of his book on ‘Managing Bank Indonesia during the Crisis'. Previously he was a Development Associate at the Harvard Institute for International Development, HIID (1998-2000). He taught Principles of Economics and Monetary Economics as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia (1980-1998) while serving various posts in the Indonesian government, including Bureau Chief for Monetary and State Budget, the National Planning Board, Assistant Minister to Coordinating Minister for Economy and Finance. He served in two cabinet posts as Junior Minister of Trade (1988-1993) and Governor of Bank Indonesia, the central bank (1993-1998). His fields of interest are Monetary Economics, International Trade, Public Finance and Development Economics. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-5181 / 874-6588 / 874-6337/8 (Gen. Office) ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme The Puzzle of Philippine Economic Development by Professor Hal Hill Tuesday, 24th August 2001, 3.30 pm to 5 pm The presentation is based on the Philippine economy book which Professor Hal Hill is currently editing. The book consists of several aspects of the Philippine economy, including political economy, macroeconomic and international dimensions, internal production sectors, and social dimensions. The Speaker Hal Hill is Professor of Economics and Head of the Southeast Asia Economy Program in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies and the Asia-Pacific School of Economics and Management, Australian National University. His main research interests are the economies of ASEAN, especially Indonesia and The Philippines; industrialization and foreign investment in East Asia; and Australia's economic relations with the Asia-Pacific region. He is also an occasional op-ed contributor to several Australian and Asian newspapers and magazines. He has worked as a consultant for the Australian Government, the Indonesian Government, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and several United Nations agencies, in addition to participating in conferences/seminars in some 25 countries. He has held visiting appointments at Gadjah Mada University, the University of the Philippines, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the University of Oxford, the Tinbergen Institute, and Columbia University. He is also on the editorial board of nine academic journals. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme Responses of Islamic Parties to Democracy in Post-Soeharto Politics Dr Abubakar Eby Hara Wednesday, 11th April 2001, 3.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Abstract This paper is an attempt to examine responses of Islamic groups and parties to democracy in the post-Soeharto era. It is often argued that within an open and democratic system, some militant Islamic groups and political parties have opportunities to emerge. In a fragile democracy such as Indonesia, they are now aggrandizing their power slowly but surely to take over and transform Indonesia into an Islamic State. This claim is valid to the extent that some current Islamic parties and groups formally use Islam as their base. However, as this paper argues, such a formalistic approach to Islam politics distracts academic attentions from emerging compatibilities between Islamic interests and the state in Indonesian politics. By following Alfred Stepan’s concept of ‘twin tolerations’, this paper will show that the debates on Islam in Indonesian politics seem to switch from issues related to the ‘Islamic State’ to a persistence to participate in political decision making processes. The Islamic struggles for power occurring since the New Order till now, relate to the extent to which the state can interfere in Islamic (religious) matters and the extent to which Islamic parties or groups can play roles in the state. The Speaker Dr Abubakar Eby Hara is a political scientist currently working as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. He is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Jember University, East Java, Indonesia. He obtained a Ph.D degree from the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University (ANU), Australia, in 2000 and wrote a Ph.D thesis entitled The Claims of ‘Asian Value’ and ‘Asian Democracy’: Some Implications for International Society, with special reference to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. His research interests include the Indonesian foreign policy, democratization trends in Southeast Asia and Islamic politics in Indonesia. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme Tourism and the Search for Culture in Manggarai, Western Flores, Indonesia Abstract This presentation will discuss how tourism, along with a number of other historical processes such as colonial and post-colonial nation building, have affected Manggaraians' perception of their culture. In Manggarai, western Flores, during harvest and marriage rituals, men play a game with whips to display their skills, trying not to be wounded by each other's whips. This game has recently attracted attention from tourists, as a fascinating, "gruesome", display of "traditional culture". For Manggaraians this game holds increasing importance as a means of promoting their culture, both for tourism, but also for national and regional identity construction. How the game is used in various contexts will be explored, as well as what Manggaraian people think about the playing of this game in ritual, as opposed to playing it for tourism and nationalistic displays. By examining these whip games, this presentation will look at how the idea of "culture" has been constructed in Manggarai, and what role tourism has had in this process. The Speaker Dr Maribeth Erb is an anthropologist currently teaching in the Department of Sociology. She obtained her Ph.D from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1987. Her research interests include the sociology of tourism; mythology and ritual; kinship, self and personhood and the ethnography and history of Eastern Indonesia. Her book, entitled The Manggaraians: A Guide to Traditional Lifestyles, was published by Times Editions (Singapore: 1999). Other of her recent publications are to be found in Annals of Tourism Research, Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, Antropologi Indonesia, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography and Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme "Hooligans in the East? Southeast Asia and Vietnamese Boat People" by Dr Andrew Hardy Wednesday, 28th March 2001, 3.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. Abstract Events in Saigon of 30th April 1975 saw the departure of 150,000 Vietnamese, who felt unable to live in the newly reunified Vietnam. After reunification numerous others found followed suit, taking boats or walking to countries around Southeast Asia. The total number of arrivals in countries of first asylum from 1975-1997 amounted to more than one million. How may we explain this twenty-year refugee phenomenon? What was the motivation of the people who felt themselves so marginalised from the newly constituted Socialist Republic of Vietnam? How did the Vietnamese state construe the problem, and react to it, over the two decades of boat people departures? And what was the effect of these arrivals on the countries and peoples of Southeast Asia, themselves caught between humanitarian concern and resettlement pressure from western countries, and the ethnic and economic challenges the boat people presented? The Speaker Andrew Hardy is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Southeast Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore. His PhD, which he obtained in 1999 from the Australian National University, was a twentieth century history of migration to Vietnam’s highlands, soon to be published under the title Red Hills. Since arriving in Singapore, he has broadened his research to include Vietnamese labour migration to the former Soviet Union, the Vietnamese in Thailand, as well as issues of ethnic contact arising from migration into the Central Highlands. His most recent publication, in the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, is entitled "The Road to Bo Ra: Travel, Settlement and Contact on a Vietnamese Upland Frontier". His work on the Vietnamese boat people is part of an ongoing research interest in the origins of the Vietnamese communities overseas. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan and Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Indonesia by Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Wednesday, 21st March 2001, 3.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. This seminar is based on the author’s recent field research in Indonesia. It aims to answer three questions: How is the Abdurrahman Wahid government responding to public demand for investigation into the gross human rights violations that happened in the past? Why is the culture of impunity still strong in Indonesia? To what extent will the distribution of power in Indonesia’s fragile democratic transition influence the reconciliation process? The presentation is primarily focused on the plan to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Komisi Kebenaran dan Rekonsiliasi) with a mandate to investigate the gross human rights violations that happened in the past. As the reconciliation process in Indonesia is shaped by many factors such as personal, legal, and also political, and therefore the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will generate public debate and political controversy among political players and civil society in Indonesia. In this respect, the basic dilemma of delivering justice and maintaining political stability in the new democratic political climate in Indonesia will be the main focus of this presentation. The Speaker Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto is a Fellow at the Southeast Asian Studies Programme, National University of Singapore. He is a political scientist and obtained a Ph.D. from Department of Politics, University of Adelaide, Australia. His research interests focus primarily on contemporary Indonesian and Southeast Asian politics. He published his works in Current Affairs Bulletin, Inside Indonesia, Prisma and Third World Quarterly (forthcoming). He is currently researching the politics of reconciliation in Indonesia in the post-Suharto era. Convenor: Dr Niti Pawakapan Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme The Future of Military Rule in Burma Donald M. Seekins, Ph.D. Thursday, 15th March 2001, 3.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. Abstract The year 1988 witnessed a nationwide pro-democracy movement in Burma and the establishment of a martial law regime known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council, or SLORC. When the democratic opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory in the general election of May 27, 1990, it seemed that democratic change was imminent. But 11 years after the election, the Burmese military remains in power, headed by a junta renamed the State Peace and Development Council in 1997. Although there has been evidence of a softer line by the SPDC toward the opposition in early 2001, few observers doubt that Burma will remain under military rule over the medium if not long-term. Nineteen eighty-eight marked not only a revival of Revolutionary Nationalism, but also the beginning of a transition period for the Army-State: from personalistic leadership centered on Ne Win to a collegial, "institutionalized" dictatorship in which different factions within the SPDC high command jostle for power and turf, but coexist with each other symbiotically in order to ensure regime survival. The result is a consensus-building process that is slow, indecisive, and careful not to alienate major (military) interests. As long as the Army-State remains in power, true democratization, the tolerance of competing power centers outside the Tatmadaw (armed forces), is unlikely, though liberalization measures that can be easily rescinded may be adopted to gain international financial support. The Speaker Donald M. Seekins, Ph.D. is Professor at College of International Studies at Meio University, Okinawa, Japan. He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in 1980. He published his works widely in various journals such Asian Perspectives, Asian Survey and the Journal of Burma Studies. His forthcoming book entitled The Disorder in Order: the Army-State Burma since 1962, will be published by White Lotus (Bangkok). He taught at the University of Malaya, Malaysia, in 1995 and at University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan from 1989 to 1995. Convenors: Drs Niti Pawakapan and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme Issues in Philippine Democracy by Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta Tuesday, 13th March 2001, 3.30 p.m.-5 p.m. Abstract The seminar will examine the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the Philippines, taking into consideration the social and economic environment of the political system. Among the concerns to be discussed are: political and bureaucratic recruitment, costs of the electoral contest, patronage and popularity as factors in the electoral process, and the character and implications of "People Power". The Speaker Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at De La Salle University, the Philippines. He is also the President of the Yuchengco Center for East Asia, a research center based at De La Salle University. He was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission which framed the present Philippine constitution. He was Dean of Liberal Arts of De La Salle University from 1983-1986, and was its Senior Vice-President from 1987-1992. He was a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies in Japan in 1993 and at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore in 1994. He was visiting professor at universities in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Thailand and the United States. Last year, he was one of the trainors in a training program for Lao officials sponsored by the European Union. Dr. Villacorta’s scholarly works have been published locally and internationally. Convenors: Drs Niti Pawakapan and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme The Decentralization Debate in Indonesia: by Professor Anne Booth Thursday, 8th March 2001, 3.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. Abstract The implementation of Laws 22 and 25 has clearly not gone according to the plan of the original drafting team. Indeed it seems clear that powerful groups around Gus Dur and the army do not want to implement any sort of decentralization programme for Indonesia, or at most, they only want to make minor changes to the Soeharto system. I argue that Indonesia now has an historic opportunity to continue a process of democratic decentralization which was aborted in 1958. If this opportunity is missed, the consequences for the future of the country could indeed be catastrophic. The government should not be deterred by the current tragic events in Maluku, and in Kalimantan from continuing with the process outlined in Laws 22 and 25, however, imperfect those laws might now appear. The Speaker Professor Anne Booth is currently Professor of Economics with reference to Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She has been there for 10 years. Prior to that she was at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. She taught at the former University of Singapore from 1976 to 1979. Convenors: Drs Niti Pawakapan and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto Enquiries: 874-6337 ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme Political Economy of Myanmar: Myths, Misconceptions and Mysteries by Wednesday, 28th February 2001, 3.30 p.m. - 5 p.m. Myanmar officially discarded the practices of a restrictive command economy and socialist ideology soon after the military regime came to power in September 1988. This was followed by a spurt of reforms in the areas of trade, finance, banking and investment, that included a rather attractive foreign investment law, that arrested the negative economic growth within a few years and set it back on the road to recovery. In fact, B. Gen. David O. Abel, then minister of planning, finance and trade, publicly stated in mid-1989 that "changes effected in economic policy have now reached the right path" and "thus, the country which is rich in natural resources, could become an economically developed nation within 5-10 years". Apparently, that vision is yet to be realized, a dozen years after an "open door policy" was adopted to embrace the "market-oriented" approach to economic development. During those years of frustration and elation (depending on which section of society one represented) there had been no shortage of doomsayers as well. Recently, the Country Commercial Guide for Fiscal Year 2000 asserted that "economic mismanagement is the chief cause of the continuing downward spiral in Burma’s [Myanmar’s] economy". In contrast, the junta’s influential Secretary-1 Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt claimed that "despite the negative impacts caused by the financial crisis that hit the region … economy was able to grow due to … correct and timely policies and their vigorous implementation". In the "real economy", however, people manage to muddle through and on the ground there appear no signs of imminent collapse nor breathtaking take-off. The speaker will try to reconcile the macro and micro perspectives so as to throw some light on the "black box" of Myanmar’s political economy that has been the source of many myths, misconceptions and mysteries. The Speaker Tin Maung Maung Than is a Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS). Dr Tin obtained a Ph.D. in Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research interests focus primarily on Myanmar political and economic developments and also cover issues relating to regional security, democratization and civil-military relations. He is the Associate Editor of the journal Contemporary Southeast Asia. He has contributed over two dozens of papers in regional and international publications. His recent publications include, among others, "Myanmar: The Dilemma of Stalled Reforms", Trends in Southeast Asia, No. 10 (September 2000); "Myanmar’s Golden Anniversary: Economic and Political Uncertainty" in Southeast Asian Affairs 1999 (1999), and "Myanmar: Myanmar-ness and Realism in Historical Perspective" in Strategic Cultures in the Asia-Pacific Region (1999). Convenors: Drs Niti Pawakapan and Priyambudi Sulistiyanto ALL ARE WELCOME Southeast Asian Studies Programme An open panel discussion on The panelists: Dr Dominique Dwor-Frecaut Tuesday, 30th January 2001, 3.30 pm to 5 pm Abstract It is almost a month since Thailand held its election (6 January), but the election is not yet over. There are a number of would-be members of the parliament being disqualified by the Election Commission on fraud and corruption charges. Some of these candidates are of the Thai Rak Thai Party, which won a surprising landslide election by making many promises to the Thai people. What remains to be seen, therefore, is whether the new government will fulfill its promises, how it will solve the country’s economic problems (especially unemployment and bank’s non-performing loans) and what other economic and political reforms it will introduce. The panelists include a financial-market analyst and academics in various fields who specialise in Thailand and Southeast Asian countries. Convenors: Dr Niti Pawakapan (8745181), Dr Priyambudi Sulistiyanto (8746588) Enquiries: 874-6337 |
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