KUBO, Koji 2014. "Deposit Dollarization in Myanmar." JETRO-IDE Discussion Papers No.473.
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Download/Dp/473.html.
Abstract
Myanmar has peculiar conditions of deposit dollarization that were shaped by administrative controls. On the one hand, restrictive controls encouraged the accumulation of foreign currency deposits (FCD). On the other hand, foreign currency loans (FCL) were not practiced officially; therefore, FCD was not utilized for credit. Given the adverse effects and persistence of dollarization in other dollarized economies and the recent recovery of local currency deposits in Myanmar, this paper opts for the prohibition of FCL and offers policy measures for de-dollarization.
SUZUKI, Sanae 2014. "Chairship System and Decision Making by Consensus in International Agreements: The Case of ASEAN." JETRO-IDE Discussion Papers No.471.
http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Download/Dp/471.html.
Abstract
How are different positions reconciled under decision making by consensus in international agreements? This article aims to answer this question. Consensus rule provides each participant a veto, which risks resulting in non-agreement. Taking ASEAN as a case study of international organizations that have adopted consensus rule as the main decision-making procedure, this article presents the chairship system as an analytical scheme to examine how different positions are or are not reconciled under consensus rule. The system is based on conventional knowledge regarding the chair in international conference, which can be defined as an institution where the role of the chair is taken by one member state in an international organization and plays a role in agenda-setting. The agenda-setting power given to the chair varies across organizations. This article assumes that the chair in ASEAN is given a relatively strong agenda-setting power to enable the chair to reach agreements and bias such agreements in its own favor.
UEKI, Yasushi 2014. "Trade Obstacles, Inventory Level of Inputs, and Internationalization of Enterprise Activities: A Comparison between Southeast Asia and Latin America." JETRO-IDE Discussion Papers No.474. http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Download/Dp/474.html.
Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of trade barriers such as customs clearance, subjective trade obstacles (customs and trade regulations), and inventory of inputs on the internationalization of enterprises in Southeast Asia and Latin America, using the World Bank’s enterprise surveys. Empirical results show a negative association between the internationalization of enterprises and subjective trade obstacles, while the impact of subjective trade obstacles is not significant on enterprises already internationalized. An international comparison between Southeast Asia and Latin America suggests that enterprises in Latin America face unfavorable conditions that discourage them from becoming more closely inserted into international production networks.
Chinh, Nguyen Van. 2014. "Chinese Labour Migration into Vietnam’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction Sectors." ISEAS Perspective 2014/46.
http://www.iseas.edu.sg/documents/publication/ISEAS_Perspective_2014_46.pdf.
Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- The profile of new Chinese immigrants into Vietnam from the 1990s onwards has become more diverse than that of those who had arrived from the turn of the 20th century. Propelled by China’s “go-out strategy”, Chinese investment, economic aid, trade and cultural expansion into Vietnam have increased Chinese labour migration into the country.
- In particular, the increasing number of Chinese-managed projects in Vietnam’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) sectors have contributed to the increasing inflow of Chinese contract labour migration. Chinese state-owned companies are partners in many such major EPC development projects.
- Dependence on Chinese investments, economic aid, and EPC contracts in the country’s key national defence and security sectors have resulted in the Vietnam government’s slow and passive reaction to new Chinese migration into the country.
- There are four broad categories of new migrants: (i) contract labourers brought into Vietnam by Chinese contractors and enterprises; (ii) professionals, business people and students who are studying at educational institutions or staff at Chinese representative offices; (iii) independent migrants who assume the risks of making their way to Vietnam to engage in business; and (iv) legal and illegal cross-border migrants.
- Vietnam needs a coherent national immigration policy that takes into consideration its social and economic development interests to better benefit from foreign workers and to avoid social problems. In addition, the management of labour migration should be institutionalised with clear objectives and mandates. Other policy issues to consider include the revi- sion of governmental ordinances on foreign labour management, and the need to establish a MOU between China and Vietnam on employment issues.
Grunsven, Leo van, and Francis E. Hutchinson. 2014. "20 Years On: The Electronics Sector in the SiJoRi “Growth Triangle”." ISEAS Perspective 2014/44.
http://www.iseas.edu.sg/documents/publication/ISEAS_Perspective_2014_44.pdf.
Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the early 1990s, Singapore, the Malaysian state of Johor, and the Indonesian island of Batam sought to leverage their proximity, differing comparative advantages, and good logistics connections to market themselves as an integrated unit. Despite the initial enthusiasm surrounding the so-called SIJORI Growth Triangle, there is little recent research on how and whether these territories continue to be linked economically. Focusing on the electronics sector, this paper looks at the two ‘non-core’ regions of Johor and Batam to see how they are faring and where their investment come from.
Salient findings include:
- Following an initial period of parallel growth, Batam and Johor are on very different trajectories - negative in the former and positive in the latter.
- While Batam is clearly losing ground to Johor for investment from firms based in Singapore, both locations have been hit by a decline in investment from Japan. In Johor’s case, this has been compensated for by more Singaporean firms setting up operations. In Batam, this has not been the case.
- Batam’s decline appears to be linked to periods of labour unrest and bureaucratic dysfunctions that have accompanied Indonesia’s decentralization reforms.
- In Johor’s case, the increase in Singaporean investment pre-dates the launch of the Iskandar Malaysia region and appears to be occurring spontaneously.
- While the outlook for Johor is relatively positive, investment from Singapore tends to be in lower-tech products than had been the case with earlier Japanese operations, indicating a potential decrease in complexity and value-added.
Lee, John. 2014. "Chinese Capital a Minor Player in Singapore." ISEAS Perspective 2014/47.
http://www.iseas.edu.sg/documents/publication/ISEAS_Perspective_2014_47.pdf.
Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- China is a relatively minor source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Singapore and on this front pales in comparison to advanced economies in North America and the European Union. This will remain the case for the foreseeable future despite recent agreements facilitating Chinese firms and capital entering into Singapore, and which reduce the transaction costs of doing so.
- In Singapore’s critical ‘Financial & insurance Services’ sector, firms from China are also a relatively small investor.
- When it comes to the foreign portfolio investment (FPI) which helps provide liquidity and capital for Singaporean listed firms, China is also a miniscule player.
- Assets of Chinese banks make up a very small percentage of the assets of the very open banking sector in Singapore. Additionally, ‘stress tests’ confirm that uniform financial distress in ten other countries - all advanced economies with the exception of India - will have a more profound effect on the financial system in Singapore than if such distress occurred in the Chinese banking system.
- The bottom line is that Singapore’s standing and status as one of the world’s leading financial centres prevents Singapore from being over- reliant on any one financial partner; and Singapore is certainly not over- reliant on China.
Pawakapan, Puangthong. 2014. "The Thai Junta’s Interim Constitution: Towards an Anti-Electoral Democracy." ISEAS Perspective 2014/45.
http://www.iseas.edu.sg/documents/publication/ISEAS_Perspective_2014_45.pdf.
Abstract
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Two months after the coup d’etat, the military junta in Thailand has promulgated an interim constitution that promises to bring reform and genuine democracy to Thai society. It also provides sweeping powers to the military leader General Prayuth Chan-Ocha.
- The interim constitution is generally perceived as being unfavourable towards politicians and electoral politics, and being biased towards rural- based voters.
- Negativity towards politicians, electoral politics and rural-based voters is widespread among the urban middle class and the mainstream media, the bulk of which are supporters of royalist anti-Thaksin movements.
- The objectives of the interim charter will almost certainly be carried into the new permanent constitution.
- The political system the military junta wishes to create will not only strengthen check-and-balance mechanisms on politicians, but also attempt to reduce the electoral power of majority voters. The principle of one-man-one-vote will be in question.
- Meanwhile mechanisms to curb rights and freedoms are likely to continue to ensure stability for the new authoritarian political system.
Endres, Kirsten W. 2014. "Making Law: Small-Scale Trade and Corrupt Exceptions at the Vietnam–China Border." American Anthropologist 116 (3):611-25. doi: 10.1111/aman.12119.
Abstract
In Vietnam's postreform era, the proliferation of profiteering opportunities have, in addition to creating new forms of corruption, transmuted previously prevailing types of corrupt acts in multiple ways across different levels of state–society relations. Everyday corrupt practices have thus become an essential means of economic survival for many. Starting from the metaphorical framing of petty bribery as “making law,” I propose the notion of what I term “corrupt exception” as a conceptual tool to explore the power dynamics of petty corruption between state agents and small-scale traders at the Vietnam–China border. Whereas bribery is felt by local traders to create better profit opportunities, the corrupt exception likewise pushes them into a de facto illegality where they remain subjected to arbitrary “lawmaking” and excluded from legal protection. I show that the metaphors employed by small-scale traders to negotiate complicit relationships with corrupt state officials both contest and reinforce the exercise of a localized form of sovereign power in a permanent state of corrupt exception in which “law” is “made” in exchange for bribes.
Mee, Wendy. 2014. "Beyond The Personal In Sambas, Indonesia: Women Working across Borders." Critical Asian Studies 46 (3):405-32. doi: 10.1080/14672715.2014.935134.
Abstract
ABSTRACTSambas, a regency in Indonesia's West Kalimantan Province, on the border with Sarawak (Malaysia), provides a distinctive borderlands perspective from which to evaluate the economic and social transformations that accompany Indonesian women's labor mobility. Drawing on village surveys and case studies about women's cross-border activities in Sambas, this article examines the complex intersection between women's working lives and economic sectors, including those conventionally labeled formal, informal, subsistence, and capitalist. The increasing involvement of young Indonesian Malay women in labor migration has also fostered new marital and familial patterns, which may in turn generate further shifts within the organization of cross-border work and family in the future. These changes illuminate issues of agency and precedence that arise out of local economic histories and family patterns of labor and labor migration. This analysis of both continuities and transformations in women's cross-border labor leads us to attend to women's creative engagement with the opportunities and constraints they face in reaching their personal and economic aspirations. One opportunity, this study shows, was women's proximity to an international border. This location they turned into an economic asset, one that harnessed the productive power of the border.
Thompson, Mark R. 2014. "The Politics Philippine Presidents Make: Presidential-style, Patronage-based, or Regime Relational?" Critical Asian Studies 46 (3):433-60. doi: 10.1080/14672715.2014.935135.
Abstract
ABSTRACTIn political systems with a powerful chief executive, such as in the Philippines, an essential element in the analysis of politics is a clear understanding of the impact of presidential politics. Two analytical theories have tried to understand this phenomenon: (1) a voluntarist, actor-centered, presidential-style approach, and (2) a structuralist, patronage-based approach. This article shows that neither approach provides a satisfactory account of the country's presidency. A more useful approach, the author argues, is the relational one developed by U.S. political scientist Stephen Skowronek to analyze the presidency in the United States. Skowronek studies whether presidents attempt to govern in accordance with, or in opposition to, an existing presidential regime?a prevailing set of ideas, interests, and institutional arrangements. This approach allows for the assessment of the choices presidents make within structural constraints while differentiating the performance of presidents from their role as patron-in-chief. In order to apply this theory to the Philippine presidency, however, it must be modified to take into account campaign narratives, strategic groups, and institutional instability. Post- Marcos presidents, the author concludes, can best be evaluated based on how close their association was, or is, with the dominant reformist regime, which employs a narrative of good governance and democratization.
Acri, Andrea, and Arlo Griffiths. 2014. "The Romanisation of Indic script used in ancient Indonesia." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 170 (2-3):365-78. doi: 10.1163/22134379-17002005.
Abstract
The paper calls the attention of Javanists, and Indonesianists at large, to theoretical as well as practical issues connected with conventions for the Romanisation of Old Javanese, Old Malay, Old Sundanese and other Indonesian languages which were traditionally written in Indic scripts, and underscores the difference between transliteration, on the one hand, and transcription or orthography ('spelling') on the other. In doing so, it replies to the points of criticism raised by Dick van der Meij in his review (2012) of From Lanka Eastwards, edited by Acri, Creese & Griffiths (2011). © Copyright 2014 by Andrea Acri and Arlo Griffiths.
Ali, Mohammad Mahbubi. 2014. "Challenges and opportunities for development of islamic stockbroking in Malaysia." Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis 95:89-102. doi: 10.1108/S1569-3759(2014)0000095013.
Abstract
Purpose - The chapter aims to examine the challenges and the opportunities for the development of Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia. Methodology - The chapter adopts library research to discuss the concept of Islamic stockbroking. It also employs a semi-structured interview with industry players to prognosticate the future development of Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia. Research Findings - The study concludes that the future of Islamic stockbroking in Malaysia is very promising, triggered by drivers on both the supply side and the demand side. The large Muslim population, wealth and economic growth are among the key factors for the development of Islamic stockbroking from the demand side. On the other hand, the Shari'ah compliance of 89% of Malaysian stocks, Malaysia's position as an Islamic finance hub and the natural progression of Islamic finance are all factors underpinning the future of Islamic stockbroking from the supply side. However, lack of qualified human resources, political inconsistency, information technology infrastructure, product innovation as well as public perception are obstacles to its development. Value - This chapter will add new literature in contemporary Islamic finance, as not many studies have been done on the subject. © 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Apergis, Nicholas, and Arusha Cooray. 2014. "Tax revenues convergence across ASEAN, Pacific and Oceania countries: Evidence from club convergence." Journal of Multinational Financial Management 27:11-21. doi: 10.1016/j.mulfin.2014.06.007.
Abstract
The goal of the present paper is to investigate the degree of convergence in tax revenues for a panel of 11 ASEAN, Asia Pacific and Oceania countries spanning the period 1990-2012. We apply the methodology of Phillips and Sul (2007) to various categories of tax revenues to assess the presence of convergence clubs. We consider four alternative categories of tax revenues. Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that all countries converge to a single equilibrium state in such tax revenues. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Arli, Denni, Tania Bucic, Jennifer Harris, and Hari Lasmono. 2014. "Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Among Indonesian College Students." Journal of Asia-Pacific Business 15 (3):231-59. doi: 10.1080/10599231.2014.934634.
Abstract
Ethical consumption studies in developed countries suggest consumers are becoming more ethically minded, as manifested in the shift toward purchasing ethical products. However, little is known about ethical consumption in developing countries, which is problematic because these countries host the greatest share of the world's youth population. In this study, the authors examine the perceptions and motivations of Indonesian college student consumers toward corporate social responsibility (CSR). The authors find that despite the country-based differences, Indonesian college students express perceptions of CSR similar to those of consumers in developed countries. Furthermore, female consumers have stronger intentions to support ethical products than their male counterparts. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Aulino, Felicity. 2014. "Perceiving the social body: A phenomenological perspective on ethical practice in Buddhist Thailand." Journal of Religious Ethics 42 (3):415-41. doi: 10.1111/jore.12064.
Abstract
This essay develops the concept of the "social body" as a metaphorical representation of hierarchical relationships in Thailand, as well as the physical embodiment of social, religious, and political structures. To do so, I trace the symbolic coordinates of groups that correspond to conceptions of individual bodies, along with the habituated means of perceiving as part of a collective. I argue that conventional Thai social interactions involve active attention to and care of the "social body," in which differential roles are necessary for group functioning. Ethnographic descriptions of social interactions in public and semi-private arenas depict the spontaneous and embodied root of moral action in these contexts. The values thus enacted, however, challenge normative ideals of distributive justice and open up questions about "care" for a social body that validates unequal power and resource distribution. © 2014 Journal of Religious Ethics, Inc.
Azman, Norzaini, Morshidi Sirat, and Abdul Razak Ahmad. 2014. "Higher education, learning regions and the Malaysian transformation policies." Higher Education Policy 27 (3):301-21. doi: 10.1057/hep.2013.26.
Abstract
The process of globalisation has undoubtedly impacted countries, bringing about different challenges for each country, region and locality. Many countries have responded positively to the demands and challenges through a societal transformation process with an emphasis on developing tertiary education, research and innovative capacities. Drawing upon our experience with two cases of newly developed learning regions, Kuala Lumpur city-region and Iskandar Malaysia region, we examine Malaysia's effort at transforming its higher education system in the context of learning region objectives. Key government policies, namely, the Tenth Malaysia Plan, the National Higher Education Strategic Plan 2007-2020, the Economic Transformation Programme as well as documents of the learning regions' master plans were included in the document analysis. Although it remains to be seen how the learning regions will emerge, the experience in transforming higher education based on the learning region concept is highly relevant to developing countries that are attempting to shift their traditional economy to a more knowledge-intensive economy. © 2014 International Association of Universities 0952-8733/14.
Bai, Rui, Guangwei Hu, and Peter Yongqi Gu. 2014. "The Relationship Between Use of Writing Strategies and English Proficiency in Singapore Primary Schools." Asia-Pacific Education Researcher 23 (3):355-65. doi: 10.1007/s40299-013-0110-0.
Abstract
This article reports on a questionnaire-based investigation of writing strategies used by Singapore primary school pupils. A sample of 1,618 pupils from two local primary schools participated in the study. A number of one-way ANOVA analyses were run to measure the relationship between the participants' use of writing strategies and their English language proficiency. The findings show that Singapore upper primary school pupils used a wide range of writing strategies at a medium frequency. Planning, text-generating, revising, monitoring and evaluating, and resourcing strategies were found to be significantly correlated with the participants' English language results. However, local variations were also detected. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are then discussed. © 2013 De La Salle University.
Berger, Joseph B., Gerardo Blanco Ramírez, and Katherine Edmund Hudson. 2014. "Multi-layered cross-cultural challenges: The case of a new American for-profit college in the Philippines." Journal of Further and Higher Education 38 (5):690-708. doi: 10.1080/0309877X.2013.831034.
Abstract
Higher education is rapidly expanding and diversifying across all regions of the globe. Much of that growth has been absorbed by the expansion of the private and for-profit sector, a trend that is particularly prevalent in Asia. Higher education is not only expanding but is also becoming increasingly global, with a mix of different corporate, academic, national and ethnic cultures influencing and becoming embedded within post-secondary institutions. Thus far, few studies have focused on developing nuanced descriptions of the organisational and cultural challenges involved in the development of new for-profit institutions within rapidly expanding higher education systems. This qualitative case study utilised individual and group interviews among members of the academic staff and administration to provide an in-depth look at a newly created for-profit institution of higher learning in the Philippines. Following a modified grounded theory analysis process, findings illustrate how different and sometimes conflicting layers of culture impact efforts to create a new for-profit higher education institution. © 2014 © 2014 UCU.
Bhattacharyya, R., and A. Mandal. 2014. "Estimating the impact of the India-ASEAN free trade agreement on Indian industries." South Asia Economic Journal 15 (1):93-114. doi: 10.1177/1391561414527050.
Abstract
This study shows that intermediate goods will be more affected (both adversely and favourably) than final goods due to ASEAN-India FTA. Other interesting conclusions include tariffs do not matter at all for a major part of the industries and for them the agreement has no significance. In fact, some of the most debated commodities fall in this category. For them though tariff rates have steadily increased over time, so has imports imparting a wrong sign to the tariff elasticity which means that reasons other than tariffs determine their imports and there is no point in putting them in the sensitive or exclusion list. © 2014 Research and Information System for Developing Countries & Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.
Biddulph, Robin. 2014. "Can elite corruption be a legitimate Machiavellian tool in an unruly world? The case of post-conflict Cambodia." Third World Quarterly 35 (5):872-87. doi: 10.1080/01436597.2014.921435.
Abstract
Elite corruption may have a significant role in ending conflicts and shaping post-conflict development. This article enquires into the legitimacy accorded to such corruption. It reviews literature on post-conflict Cambodia, seeking evidence that academic commentaries, public opinion or elites themselves regard elite corruption as a legitimate Machiavellian tool for achieving other ends. Corruption has been an element of the style of government adopted by the dominant party in Cambodia, shaping both the achievement of peace and the uneven economic development that followed. Academic commentaries provide some implicit and explicit legitimation of corruption as a means to secure peace and to resist neoliberal policy settings by affording government discretionary resources and power. Meanwhile, public dissatisfaction with elite corruption appears to the most likely source of renewed violent conflict in Cambodia. How elite actors rationalise and legitimise corrupt behaviour remains poorly understood, and is deserving of more attention. © 2014 © 2014 Southseries Inc., www.thirdworldquarterly.com.
Bilsland, C., H. Nagy, and P. Smith. 2014. "Planning the journey to best practice in developing employability skills: Transnational university internships in Vietnam." Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education 15 (2):145-57.
Abstract
Currently, there is little research into how Western universities can establish and implement effective WIL (Work Integrated Learning) in their offshore campuses. Given global concern with university graduates' general work-readiness, combined with a need for foreign universities to deliver relevant outcomes to its offshore students, greater insight is needed. This paper examines WIL in an offshore education context. It reports results from work supervisor evaluations of interns in a foreign university that delivers its WIL/internship program to undergraduate business degree students in Vietnam. Although preliminary results indicate that work supervisors are generally satisfied with intern performance on employability skill measures, the authors propose further research that would enable universities to deliver locally relevant WIL programs. The paper concludes by proposing WIL research initiatives aimed at incorporating richer communication and involvement with the company representatives/frontline supervisors; understanding relevant factors of importance held by industry; and building closer connections with industry. © 2014 New Zealand Association for Cooperatives Education.
Bin Edrak, Bahrulmazi, Behrooz Gharleghi, Benjamin Chan Yin Fah, and Marianne Tan. 2014. "Critical success factors affecting Malaysia' SMEs through inward FDI: Case of service sector." Asian Social Science 10 (16):131-8. doi: 10.5539/ass.v10n16p131.
Abstract
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is not new to the Malaysian economy. Malaysia's GDP growth rate has increased annually for the past three decades thanks to the emergence of inwards FDI into Malaysia. One sector that has attracted the attention of FDI into Malaysia is Malaysia's growing services sector. This paper will analyze secondary researches that are related to Malaysia's Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), FDI inflow and services sector. The authors managed to get 182 top managers of selected Malaysia' SMEs in the services sector to take part in this research via questionnaire. The results from the questionnaires were then analyzed using descriptive statistics, as well as a statistical software of SPSS. Using SPSS, the authors managed to identify and analyze the reliability of the data collected using Cronbach's alpha, and to analyze the level of significance for each data using Pearson r Correlation Coefficient. The empirical result shows that the reliability based on Cronbach's alpha is acceptable. Furthermore, the levels of significance for selected variables are positive and significant which resulted in the hypothesis being null rejected and alternative accepted.
Bowie, Katherine. 2014. "The saint with Indra's sword: Khruubaa Srivichai and buddhist millenarianism in Northern Thailand." Comparative Studies in Society and History 56 (3):681-713. doi: 10.1017/S0010417514000292.
Abstract
Despite a growing literature revealing the presence of millenarian movements in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist societies, scholars have been remarkably reluctant to consider the role of messianic beliefs in Buddhist societies. Khruubaa Srivichai (1878-1938) is the most famous monk of northern Thailand and is widely revered as a tonbun, or saint. Although tonbun has been depoliticized in the modern context, the term also refers to a savior who is an incarnation of the coming Maitreya Buddha. In 1920 Srivichai was sent under arrest to the capital city of Bangkok to face eight charges. This essay focuses on the charge that he claimed to possess the god Indra's sword. Although this charge has been widely ignored, it was in fact a charge of treason. In this essay, I argue that the treason charge should be understood within the context of Buddhist millenarianism. I note the saint/savior tropes in Srivichai's mytho-biography, describe the prevalence of millenarianism in the region, and detail the political economy of the decade of the 1910s prior to Srivichai's detention. I present evidence to show that the decade was characterized by famine, dislocation, disease, and other disasters of both natural and social causes. Such hardships would have been consistent with apocalyptic omens in the Buddhist repertoire portending the advent of Maitreya. Understanding Srivichai in this millenarian context helps to explain both the hopes of the populace and the fears of the state during that tumultuous decade. © 2014 Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History.
Chesoh, Sarawuth, and Apiradee Lim. 2014. "Investigation of aquatic environment and social aspects of thermal power plant operation in southern of Thailand." Asian Social Science 10 (16):168-75. doi: 10.5539/ass.v10n16p168.
Abstract
Community acceptance and public participation play essential role in sustainable energy development. This study aimed to investigate the current situations of the aquatic environment and social aspects of Chana thermal power plant operation in Songkhla province of Thailand. Water quality, plankton, macro benthic fauna and fish larvae in the Na Thap River were monthly examined from January 2013 to December 2013. Moreover, 410 of villager households were selected to interview. The results revealed that water quality index can be classified as fairly clean fresh surface water resources used for consumption, but requires special water treatment process before using and for industry. Change of river's flow direction will be increased potential of saltwater intrusion into the freshwater zone in dry season, and about 3% of annual upstream fish catch decrease, was identified. Of the 410 sampled households, most of the respondents were farmers (48.6%), employees (21.1%), local traders (17.8%) and fishermen (5.1%). Most of them (61.4%) had a monthly income 500 USD. About 77.8% of respondents complained that they and family members got sick annually. The majority of 86.6% expressed that they agreed to the power plant operation because of increasing economic growth and community development enabling. Only 13.4% have protested against the project because of environmental impact concerns and livelihood deterioration issues. Our findings indicated that aquatic environmental quality range suitable for the protection of aquatic life and sustaining biodiversity. Overall EGAT's community service programs were highly satisfied. Establishing guidelines for collaboration among the authorities and community's acceptance for reaching countryside happiness are our suggested.
Chua, Daniel Wei Boon. 2014. "Revisiting Lee Kuan Yew's 1965-66 Anti-Americanism." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):442-60. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.927418.
Abstract
The first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, set for the fledgling state a non-aligned foreign policy, and amplified Singapore's non-alignment by making harsh anti-American comments in the media from late 1965 to early 1966. Lee's vitriol against the US administration was interpreted as an attempt to gain the acceptance of the non-aligned Afro-Asian camp, and also as calibrated to cause Whitehall to think twice before planning a military withdrawal from British bases in Singapore. Beyond these two reasons, which are part of standard analysis, Lee's understanding - derived from the Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman - that US President Johnson had pledged to support Malays against Chinese in the event of a communal conflict in Malaysia and Singapore also drove Lee to project a hostile attitude towards the US in August 1965. After meeting US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, William Bundy, in March 1966, Lee accepted that the Johnson-Tunku agreement did not exist and US-Singapore relations then improved significantly. Based largely on archival sources from the US and the UK, this article revisits the period of Lee's anti-American press campaign and draws new conclusions about the factors contributing to Lee's strong criticisms of the US. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Chua, Lawrence. 2014. "The city and the city: Race, nationalism, and architecture in early twentieth-century Bangkok." Journal of Urban History 40 (5):933-58. doi: 10.1177/0096144214533082.
Abstract
This article examines the racialization of urban space in early twentieth-century Bangkok. After a general strike in 1910, the Siamese monarchy represented itself in urban space as the leaders of a sovereign nation with a racial Other in its midst. Rather than create a separate, walled enclave to contain this population, the monarchy drew on a material and rhetorical campaign to develop two interdependent cities with distinct racial identities. One city was a national capital under the authority of the absolute monarchy. The other was a thriving port city populated mostly by "Chinese" migrants and governed by extraterritorial law. Juxtaposing the built environment against its discursive representations, this article argues that the monarchy sought to endow the dual city of Bangkok and its inhabitants with racial characteristics to clarify national belonging, control the political power of the region's migrant population, and cultivate support for royal urban investments. © 2014 SAGE Publications.
Chung, You-Jin, and Jayashree Mohanty. 2014. "Between two worlds in Asia: Korean youth in Singapore." Journal of Population Research 31 (3):219-35. doi: 10.1007/s12546-014-9130-8.
Abstract
Migration within Asia has increased dramatically in recent years; however, very little is known about how Asian immigrant adolescents adapt to their new Asian environments. The present study explores the processes of acculturative stress and identity formation among Korean adolescents living in Singapore. Using focus group discussions among 17 Korean adolescents, the study finds five overarching themes on acculturative stress and identity formation: feeling superior but separated; peer pressure to keep being a Korean; less stress in speaking English; more stress in learning another language; Chinese, pride that 'I am a Korean', and multiculturalism. The study findings emphasize the role of context of reception as important in understanding the acculturative stress and identity development of Korean adolescents in Singapore. The implications for quantitative research are discussed. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Crawshaw, Lauren, Sonia Fèvre, Lampheuy Kaesombath, Bounlerth Sivilai, Sayvisene Boulom, and Fongsamouth Southammavong. 2014. "Lessons from an integrated community health education initiative in rural laos." World Development 64:487-502. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.06.024.
Abstract
This mixed-methods study examines annual community events promoting integrated health in Laos using an Ecohealth approach. A Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices survey of 218 rural households indicated that attendees valued "Community Health Days" and had greater recall of human health topics, but not of animal or environmental health topics, than non-attendees. The survey and organizational observations suggested that such events are opportunities for multi-sector collaboration in the region, yet delivery may be enhanced by refining the vision, topics, and facilitator roles. Research on transdisciplinary education programs is limited, so this study could inform similar initiatives about potential directions and challenges. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Dahlan, Nuarrual Hilal Md. 2014. "Issues in the rehabilitation of failed residential projects in Malaysia: Clash between the interests of purchasers and secured creditor chargee." Journal for Global Business Advancement 7 (2):139-50. doi: 10.1504/JGBA.2014.063868.
Abstract
One of the main problems in the Malaysian housing industry is the failed residential projects. It is evident that Malaysian laws are inadequate to protect the interests of the stakeholders, especially the purchasers, in failed residential projects. This paper analyses the liquidation law and issues in one of the failed residential projects in Malaysia, particularly the position of the secured creditor chargee and the purchasers. This paper finds that the secured creditor chargee of the liquidated housing developer company enjoys priority over the assets and moneys of the liquidated housing developer company, even at the expense of the aggrieved purchasers' interests. Owing to this, the rights of the purchasers are marginalised. Thus, following some analyses over the liquidation legal provisions and the housing law, this paper suggests certain proposals to improve the current state of law governing rehabilitation of failed residential projects in Malaysia to preserve the interests of the purchasers. Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
De Silva, Indunil, and Sudarno Sumarto. 2014. "Does Economic Growth Really Benefit the Poor? Income Distribution Dynamics and Pro-poor Growth in Indonesia." Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50 (2):227-42. doi: 10.1080/00074918.2014.938405.
Abstract
We explore the nexus between poverty, inequality, and economic growth in Indonesia between 2002 and 2012, using several pro-poor growth concepts and indices to determine whether growth in this period benefited the poor. Our regression-based decompositions of poverty into growth and redistribution components suggest that around 40% of inequality in total household expenditure in Indonesia was due to variations in expenditure by education characteristics that persisted after controlling for other factors. We find that economic growth in this period benefited households at the top of the expenditure distribution, and that a 'trickle down' effect saw the poor receive proportionately fewer benefits than the non-poor. If reducing poverty is one of the Indonesian government's principal objectives, then policies designed to spur growth must take into account the possible impacts of growth on inequality. © 2014 © 2014 Indonesia Project ANU.
Dosch, Jörn. 2014. "Mahathirism and its legacy in Malaysia's foreign policy." European Journal of East Asian Studies 13 (1):5-32. doi: 10.1163/15700615-01301003.
Abstract
The foreign policy style of Malaysia's fourth prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad (1981-2003), was controversial in many instances, but the country's influence and leverage in regional and global affairs had been remarkable for a country of its size. Despite initial outcries within Malaysia's neighbourhood, Mahathir's contributions to a wider East Asian regionalism are a lasting legacy. In the decade that has passed since Mahathir stepped down, Malaysia's international relations have rarely made the global headlines. Does the legacy of Mahathirism live on in Malaysia's foreign policy, or does the seeming absence of bold and pro-active initiatives indicate a substantive change of style and direction? The prime ministers since 2003, Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak, have lacked Mahathir's hegemonic status in policy-making, and this has inevitably led to a de-personalisation and institutionalisation of foreign affairs. At the same time both administrations have continued Mahathir's practice of keeping foreign affairs out of the public domain as much as possible, in order to reduce the influence of domestic interests and debates on foreign policy matters. © 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.
Eidse, Noelani, and Sarah Turner. 2014. "Doing resistance their own way: Counter-narratives of street vending in Hanoi, Vietnam through solicited journaling." Area 46 (3):242-8. doi: 10.1111/area.12107.
Abstract
This paper explores the strengths and complexities of using solicited journals/diaries with a marginalised, itinerant population in Vietnam's capital city Hanoi. We draw on journals completed by Hanoi street vendors to better understand the everyday lived experiences of a population targeted by state officials for fines and retribution. Since 2008, street vending has been banned on a number of streets and public spaces in Hanoi. Yet concurrently, livelihood options for those without formal education or skills are increasingly limited. Based on solicited journals kept by street vendors during 2012, we find that journals provide a channel for everyday politics and subtle resistance measures to be reflected on by research participants, and for detailed understandings of state-society relations to emerge. Moreover, from an analysis of participants' journal entries as well as de-briefing interviews, we consider the strengths and complexities of this qualitative method, situated within a context of state-induced fear among an itinerant and sometimes non-literate population. While the strengths of the approach became quickly apparent in the detailed and insightful narratives we received, literacy limitations, vendor feelings of inadequacy regarding journal entry style and complications regarding a sense of obligation to us as researchers raise a number of concerns. Researchers must therefore reflect carefully on the practicalities, ethics and power relations involved with this method. Nonetheless, we also note how participants became inspired to rework the journaling process to meet their own needs and were empowered to circumnavigate state controls to voice counter-narratives of their rights to the street. © 2014 Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).
Franck, A. K., and J. Olsson. 2014. "Missing women? The under-recording and under-reporting of women's work in Malaysia." International Labour Review 153 (2):209-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1564-913X.2014.00201.x.
Abstract
Common methods to collect data on women's labour force participation frequently result in under-reporting and under-recording of their work. Based on fieldwork in Malaysia's Penang state, this article presents some of the difficulties associated with recording women's informal work. It contributes to theorization on the under-reporting of women's remunerative activities in official surveys by arguing that while women's work is often devalued, under-reporting may also be the result of women making strategic and pragmatic choices. By reporting themselves as "housewives", for example, they may avoid questioning their society's gendered norms while securing their own interests in work outside the home. © International Labour Organization 2014.
Gorodzeisky, Anastasia, and Moshe Semyonov. 2014. "Making a living in two labor markets: Earnings of Filipinos in the global and the domestic economy." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 37:77-89. doi: 10.1016/j.rssm.2013.07.001.
Abstract
The present research examines earnings differentials between Filipino overseas global labor migrants and Filipinos employed in the domestic labor market (i.e. the Philippines) as well as income differentials between households of overseas workers and households without overseas workers. Data were obtained from the survey of households conducted during 1999-2000 in the four primary sending areas of overseas migrant workers. The data set for the present analysis consists of 4393 domestic workers and 1176 global migrant workers. The findings demonstrate that the average earnings of those employed in the Philippines is not only lower than the average earnings of Filipinos employed in the global market (regardless of region of destination) but their earnings distribution is also much more condensed than earnings distribution of Filipinos working in the global labor market. The multivariate analysis reveals that earnings returns in absolute terms (to education and occupations) are considerably higher among migrants employed in the global labor market than among those employed in the domestic labor market. By contrast, earnings returns in relative terms are lower for global labor migrants than for those employed in the domestic labor market (despite some variations across regions of destination). The results also suggest that earnings generated in the global labor market form a new source of economic inequality between households in the Philippines. Specifically, income of households with labor migrants tends to be considerably higher than that of households without labor migrants. The findings imply that global migration should be understood within the framework of 'household theory of migration'. © 2013 International Sociological Association Research Committee 28 on Social Stratification and Mobility.
Grundy, J., E. Hoban, S. Allender, and P. Annear. 2014. "The inter-section of political history and health policy in Asia - The historical foundations for health policy analysis." Social Science and Medicine 117:150-9. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.047.
Abstract
One of the challenges for health reform in Asia is the diverse set of socio-economic and political structures, and the related variability in the direction and pace of health systems and policy reform. This paper aims to make comparative observations and analysis of health policy reform in the context of historical change, and considers the implications of these findings for the practice of health policy analysis. We adopt an ecological model for analysis of policy development, whereby health systems are considered as dynamic social constructs shaped by changing political and social conditions. Utilizing historical, social scientific and health literature, timelines of health and history for five countries (Cambodia, Myanmar, Mongolia, North Korea and Timor Leste) are mapped over a 30-50 year period. The case studies compare and contrast key turning points in political and health policy history, and examines the manner in which these turning points sets the scene for the acting out of longer term health policy formation, particularly with regard to the managerial domains of health policy making. Findings illustrate that the direction of health policy reform is shaped by the character of political reform, with countries in the region being at variable stages of transition from monolithic and centralized administrations, towards more complex management arrangements characterized by a diversity of health providers, constituency interest and financing sources. The pace of reform is driven by a country's institutional capability to withstand and manage transition shocks of post conflict rehabilitation and emergence of liberal economic reforms in an altered governance context. These findings demonstrate that health policy analysis needs to be informed by a deeper understanding and questioning of the historical trajectory and political stance that sets the stage for the acting out of health policy formation, in order that health systems function optimally along their own historical pathways. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Hamid, Mohamad Shukri Abdul, Rafikul Islam, and Abd Manaf Noor Hazilah. 2014. "Malaysian graduates' employability skills enhancement: An application of the importance performance analysis." Journal for Global Business Advancement 7 (3):181-97. doi: 10.1504/JGBA.2014.064078.
Abstract
In an era of globalisation and competitiveness, employers are looking for versatile graduates who are able to drive their organisations to compete successfully in the market place. Now-A-days, obtaining a good degree is no longer sufficient to get a job. Graduates should equip themselves, not only with technical skills, but more importantly, with soft skills. The main objectives of this study are to identify Malaysian graduates' employability skills, to identify the priority of each skill and to highlight the gap between the importance of graduates' employability skills to employers and their level of satisfaction on those skills. In general, the results of the gap analysis showed that employers perceive graduates' employability skills performance as being lower than the importance assigned to those skills. The widest gap was found in communication skills, especially the skill of the English language usage. Using the importance-performance analysis (IPA), 13 attributes fell into the improvement quadrant. © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Haron, Razali. 2014. "Firms' speed of adjustment and rational financing behaviour: Malaysian evidence." Journal for Global Business Advancement 7 (2):151-62. doi: 10.1504/JGBA.2014.063869.
Abstract
Malaysian firms which are examined based on a dynamic framework appear to practise target capital structure and take into account certain firm characteristics in their capital structure decisions. These firms readjust instantaneously when they are off the target indicating low adjustment cost while the pecking order hypothesis seems to influence the financing decisions. Found to be over-levered most firms behave rationally by cutting down the amount of debt in their capital structure to reach the target. In terms of the proximity to the target, under-levered firms are found to be much closer to target than over-levered firms. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the rational financing behaviour and the proximity of Malaysian firms to target leverage. This indication of firms' proximity to target can help managers to outline and set the next steps to be taken in order to reach the target capital structure to maximise firm value. Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
Hinderliter, Beth. 2014. "An international alliance of "colored humanity": Robert Williams in Asia." Journal of Postcolonial Writing 50 (4):437-51. doi: 10.1080/17449855.2014.925698.
Abstract
In 1965, the African American civil rights leader Robert Williams left Cuba to live in China as an invited guest of Mao Tse-Tung. After several trips to Hanoi and personal meetings with Ho Chi Minh, he authored a pamphlet titled Listen, Brother! (1968), which deemed the war in Vietnam "a Honky trick worked up against the other oppressed colored people". Filled with scenes of total devastation of "colored humanity" where bodies burned with napalm, Listen, Brother! urged African American soldiers to realize that participation in the war made them part of a "big mob of savage klansmen who maim and kill in the name of Christian democracy". Critiquing the dominant cold war ideology of a bipolar power struggle as well as a perceived crisis in representative democracy, Williams hoped to turn cold war violence back against itself. He saw the war in Vietnam as a model for minority revolution in the US, where "black saboteurs" and "guerilla enclaves" were a second front in the war for a lasting world black revolution. While he was criticized for advocating unpredictable revolutionary violence, Williams was also profoundly affected by the Cultural Revolution in China and turned increasingly to art and culture as a means to sustain the coming revolution. In Chinese propaganda, Williams found a model in which he could imagine the African American man and woman of his future nation, the Republic of New Africa. © 2014 Taylor and Francis.
Hoang, Trung X., Cong S. Pham, and Mehmet A. Ulubaşoğlu. 2014. "Non-farm activity, household expenditure, and poverty reduction in rural Vietnam: 2002-2008." World Development 64:554-68. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.06.027.
Abstract
Diversifying into non-farm activities has been suggested as an effective way out of poverty for rural households in developing countries. Using the Vietnamese Household Living Standards Surveys of 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, we test this claim, and investigate the effect of non-farm sector involvement on poverty and expenditure growth. Our endogeneity-corrected estimates show that an additional household member involved with non-farm activity reduces the probability of poverty by 7-12% and increases the household expenditure by 14% over a two-year period. Our findings also indicate that non-farm involvement reduces the hours worked on farm but not the household agricultural income. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Holmes, John. 2014. "Responsibility to protect: A Humanitarian overview." Global Responsibility to Protect 6 (2):126-45. doi: 10.1163/1875984X-00602003.
Abstract
Where does the humanitarian community sit in relation to continuing debates about the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)? The third pillar of R2P is often seen as the practical manifestation of an older idea of humanitarian intervention, given much attentionafter the Rwandan genocide and Srebrenica. Many humanitarians have long been reticentabout the idea of so-called humanitarian intervention and, thus, of R2P. Thisarticle examines the logic behind this reticence and explores the practical relationshipbetween R2P and humanitarian action. In particular, it focuses on three major crisesduring Holmes's time as Emergency Relief Coordination - Darfur, Sri Lanka andMyanmar - and goes on to consider briefly how and why R2P has been invoked, or not, in the more recent crises of Libya and Syria. It concludes with reflections about implications for the future.
Howes, Stephen, and Robin Davies. 2014. "Survey of Recent Developments." Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50 (2):157-83. doi: 10.1080/00074918.2014.938403.
Abstract
Outgoing Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's second-term record is creditable, measured against the targets he set himself in 2010, but deficient in key areas: economic reform, infrastructure investment, and anti-corruption. Indonesia's 2009-14 parliament has been active in economic policymaking, and will leave as its legacy a raft of protectionist legislation. Both presidential candidates, Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, have appealed to nationalism in their campaigns, calling for Indonesia to assert its sovereignty and increase its self-sufficiency, but Jokowi's economic platform is more moderate and economically literate than Prabowo's. The incoming president will inherit an economy that continues to slow. Growth is now not expected to approach 6% until 2015 at the earliest. Having engineered a reduction in the current account deficit, Indonesian policymakers now face the more difficult problem of structural fiscal adjustment. Energy subsidies are the most immediate problem, but fiscal reform more generally will emerge as an overriding and unpleasant imperative for whoever wins the presidential election on 9 July. Unless difficult fiscal policy measures are taken, Indonesia will face major trade-offs between deficit control and investment in social programs and economic infrastructure. The new president will struggle to restrict the deficit to the cap of 3% of GDP: a balanced budget will likely not be feasible for several years. He will need to increase the ratio of revenue to GDP and eliminate fuel subsidies-through a more systematic approach than the infrequent price increases of the past. He will need to choose carefully between competing expenditure priorities, such as infrastructure and defence. The new president would also be well advised to tread cautiously in implementing the legal mandates he will inherit, and to work with parliament to avoid further and unwind current earmarking of public expenditure. © 2014 © 2014 Indonesia Project ANU.
Hüwelmeier, G. 2014. "Performing intimacy with god: Spiritual experiences in Vietnamese diasporic pentecostal networks." German History 32 (3):414-30. doi: 10.1093/gerhis/ghu062.
Abstract
This article seeks to contribute to the dialogue between the history and anthropology of Christianity by addressing the emotional practices of Vietnamese Pentecostals in present-day Berlin. Particularly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Vietnamese migrants, former contract workers in the former GDR, and 'boat people' whose flight from Vietnam led them to West Germany, founded Pentecostal churches and connected their old and new homes via transportable religious practices. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork carried out among Vietnamese migrants in Berlin who converted to charismatic Pentecostal Christianity after arriving in Germany, this article explores the allure of charismatic Pentecostal Christianity for people living in the diaspora, arguing that emotions as cultural practices represent a substantial part of religious rituals in Vietnamese Pentecostal charismatic networks. In the context of migration, emotions are transformed, transmitted, and performed in different ways, and at the same time, the migration experience generates specific emotions that are dealt with in religious practices. © 2014 The Author.
Jacob, Cecilia. 2014. "Practising civilian protection: Human security in Myanmar and Cambodia." Security Dialogue 45 (4):391-408. doi: 10.1177/0967010614535831.
Abstract
Inspired by the practice turn in the field of international relations, this article contributes to the growing interest in the sociological and potentially transformative nature of the concept of human security, with a specific emphasis on the protection of civilians affected by armed conflict. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Cambodia and Myanmar on the protection of children affected by armed conflict, it argues for a fresh analysis of human security through the lens of a 'politics of protection'. By mapping the work of international, government, and non-governmental actors involved in the protection of conflict-affected populations, the article shows that the distinction between welfare/development-oriented approaches and security-oriented approaches creates a protection gap for vulnerable populations in practice. This brings into question the salience of a security-development nexus conceptualization of human security. Instead, a politics of protection lens offers an alternative starting point for the study of security practices in conflict-affected societies, and facilitates a reconceptualization of human security as a transformative approach to contesting the politics and practice of civilian protection. © The Author(s) 2014.
Jonsson, Michael, and Elliot Brennan. 2014. "Drugs, Guns and Rebellion: A Comparative Analysis of the Arms Procurement of Insurgent Groups in Colombia and Myanmar." European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 20 (3):307-21. doi: 10.1007/s10610-013-9228-0.
Abstract
Several insurgent groups have financed their arms procurement through drug trafficking, explaining in part the long duration of conflicts in drug producing countries. Incomes generated from this trade do not however automatically translate into improved military capabilities, since access to military-grade weapons typically requires tacit or active state support. Hence, two groups with similar types of funding can still have access to very different types of armaments, impacting their operational capability. This paper compares the arms procurement of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Myanmar. Both insurgent groups have procured arms through networks and with finances from the drug trade. The UWSA's 20,000-strong force and significant armaments, including Man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) believed to be provided by China, is largely supported by these illicit activities and the networks they provide. FARC has ample access to small arms, the acquisition of which has been financed by taxation of the drug trade. In spite of significant incomes, FARC however until very recently lacked access to MANPADS, a fact which has significantly hampered its ability to withstand the Colombian counterinsurgency campaign, specifically targeted aerial assaults. The exploratory comparisons drawn in this paper offer insights into how insurgent groups can pass a crucial threshold of arms procurement, funded by illicit activities, that renders their dissolution far more difficult, while also highlighting the continued importance of state support in explaining rebel group resilience. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Kaartinen, Timo. 2014. "How a travelling society totalizes itself: Hybrid polities and values in Maluku, Eastern Indonesia." Anthropological Theory 14 (2):231-48. doi: 10.1177/1463499614534117.
Abstract
This article applies Dumont's view of ideology to an Eastern Indonesian society with intense trade connections to other ethnic groups and the larger political economy. In spite of their commercial importance, these connections are framed as long-distance kinship. My question is whether this encompassment of economic by social values is part of a totalizing ideological order. I discuss the values of personhood and exchange to show that long-distance commerce is the source of social differentiation expressed in them. Ultimately, however, the test of Dumont's methodology is not whether it helps explain the resilience of local social orders, but whether it can deal with historical complexity and change. I argue that Dumont's answer - hybrid ideology - is a good description for the encompassment of both kin-based totalities and political-economic stratification by universalizing, Islamic values in my ethnographic context. © The Author(s) 2014.
Katircioğlu, Salih Turan. 2014. "Testing the tourism-induced EKC hypothesis: The case of Singapore." Economic Modelling 41:383-91. doi: 10.1016/j.econmod.2014.05.028.
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between tourism development and carbon emissions in Singapore through testing Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis, which is a major tourist destination state and whose economy is linked with diverse energy resources, high-level urbanization, and rapid industrialization. Results reveal that tourism development and carbon emissions are in long-term equilibrium relationship; carbon dioxide emission converges to its long-term equilibrium level by 76.0% speed of adjustment through the channels of tourism, energy consumption, and output growth. Tourist arrivals have a negatively significant effects on carbon dioxide emission levels both in the long-term and the short-term periods. Finally, results of the Granger causality tests reveal that there is unidirectional causality that runs from tourism development to carbon emission growth in the long-term of the economy of Singapore. Therefore, the tourism-induced EKC hypothesis is confirmed in the case of Singapore. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Kaur, Amarjit. 2014. "Managing Labour Migration in Malaysia: Guest Worker Programs and the Regularisation of Irregular Labour Migrants as a Policy Instrument." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):345-66. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.934659.
Abstract
Malaysia was built on immigration and, like other labour-importing countries, acknowledges the case for temporary labour migration as a solution to labour shortages in the country. The government has endorsed guest worker programs that are typically short term, and that include a range of restrictions to regulate the movement of low-skilled foreign workers. Most exclude explicit reference to labour protections. The State's low-skilled labour policy essentially vacillates between ensuring a continual supply of cheap labour and instigating crackdowns on undocumented migrants. Although the State originally imposed higher levies on skilled migrants, it has recently amended this policy and currently offers skilled migrants pathways to permanent residence and citizenship. Nevertheless, the sustained reliance on cheap labour and the way the policy is managed are preventing Malaysia from moving up the value chain. Additionally, the activities of labour brokers, disparities in the foreign labour levy system, and demand for labour have contributed to the expansion of irregular migration. Like other countries, Malaysia also relies on the regularisation of irregular migrants as a policy tool to extend legal status to undocumented economic migrants. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Knight, Roger. 2014. "Rescued from the myths of time: Toward a reappraisal of European mercantile houses in mid-Nineteenth Century Java, c. 1830-1870." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 170 (2-3):313-41. doi: 10.1163/22134379-17002002.
Abstract
According to a still-lingering scenario, it was not until late in the nineteenth century that 'private' European commercial (and plantation) enterprise gained any real traction in the Netherlands Indies. As a number of scholars have noted over the last few decades, this needs to be heavily revised on several major counts. Nonetheless, the implications of such revision for an understanding of European mercantile activity in mid-nineteenth century Java have been slow to seep through. Building on the work of other scholars and exploiting a variety of original sources, in a preliminary fashion this paper sets out to repair this deficiency. © Copyright 2014 by Roger Knight.
Lee, Sang Kook. 2014. "Security, Economy and the Modes of Refugees' Livelihood Pursuit: Focus on Karen Refugees in Thailand." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):461-79. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.931345.
Abstract
This article is a case study of Burmese Karen refugees residing in refugee camps in Thailand. It examines how the relations between a host government and international relief agencies are shaped by the issues of security and economy and how these issues consequently affect the livelihoods of refugees. The study divides the history of Karen refugees into three periods: 1984 to 1995, 1995 to 2005, and 2005 to 2011. The influences on the government's attitude toward refugees and toward the international relief agencies are identified for each period and the modes of the refugees' livelihood are examined. The study contends that the host government's concerns about security and economy are key factors shaping the government's refugee policies, relations between the government and international relief agencies, and the mode of refugees' pursuit of a livelihood. When security issues are dominant, the attitude of the government toward international relief agencies is negative and consequently the refugees' options are restricted. In contrast, when economic issues are dominant, the government takes a positive stance toward international relief agencies, which play a bigger role, and the welfare of refugees improves. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Lindawati, Johan van Schagen, Mark Goh, and Robert de Souza. 2014. "Collaboration in urban logistics: Motivations and barriers." International Journal of Urban Sciences 18 (2):278-90. doi: 10.1080/12265934.2014.917983.
Abstract
Urban logistics activities, while essential to the development of cities, also contribute to congestion and pollution if poorly managed. Synchronizing the last mile of delivery is critical, but challenging to implement. Collaboration between the stakeholders is thus needed and timely to improve the efficiency of last mile delivery in a growing city while advancing environmental sustainability. This paper is an exploratory study undertaken in Singapore, to identify the motivations and barriers to collaboration in urban logistics, which may influence a stakeholder's decision to participate. Our initial results suggest that the expected benefits (motivation) and the competitive intelligence risks (barrier) influence the participation decision. © 2014 © 2014 The Institute of Urban Sciences.
Lukas, Martin C. 2014. "Eroding battlefields: Land degradation in Java reconsidered." Geoforum 56:87-100. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.06.010.
Abstract
Land degradation has been a major political issue in Java for decades. Its causes have generally been framed by narratives focussing on farmers' unsustainable cultivation practices. This paper causally links land degradation with struggles over natural resources in Central Java. It presents a case study that was part of a research project combining remote sensing and political ecology to explore land use/cover change and its drivers in the catchment of the Segara Anakan lagoon. Historically rooted land conflicts have turned the land into a political battlefield, with soil erosion being the direct outcome of the political struggles. Starting from an analysis of environmental changes using satellite images and historical maps, the research explored a history of violent displacements in the frame of a series of brutal insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in the 1950/60s. In these struggles over national political power, entire villages were erased, and peasants' land was appropriated by the state. This political history is 'inscribed' in today's landscape. The contested land comprises some of the most erosion-prone sites in the entire catchment of the lagoon. The landscape of erosion is a landscape of conflict and a symbol of historical violence and injustice. In line with our research in other parts of the catchment, the case study presented here challenges dominant political discourses about the nature of upland degradation in Java. It provides insight into still unresolved and underexplored chapters of Indonesian history and presents a strong plea for combining land use change science and (historical) political ecology. © 2014 The Author Elsevier Ltd.
Mahathanaseth, Itthipong, and Loren W. Tauer. 2014. "Performance of Thailand banks after the 1997 East Asian financial crisis." Applied Economics 46 (30):3763-76. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2014.937036.
Abstract
The performance of commercial banks and government-owned specialized banks in Thailand is estimated after the 1997 East Asian financial crisis. Commercial banks exhibit increasing returns to scale, whereas government-owned specialized banks exhibit decreasing returns to scale, implying further increases in bank size and market concentration in the commercial bank sector but not for government specialized banks. Cost inefficiency varies by bank and is a function of the ratio of nonperforming loans (NPLs) to total loans, equity to total assets and liquid assets to total assets, as well as the number of branches. On average, banks with fewer NPLs, that are well capitalized and with adequate liquidity are efficient. Thus, stricter rules to regulate credit risk management and ensure capital and liquidity adequacy would enhance efficiency in the banking sector. Although estimated input substitutability appears to be low, labour and loanable fund are substitutes. However, labour and physical capital as well as physical and loanable funds are complements in commercial banks. All the three inputs of labour, physical capital and loanable funds are substitutes for the government specialized banks. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.
Maletin, N. P., E. S. Juravleva, and L. G. Rudykh. 2014. "Particularities of relationship between Russia and Asean." World Applied Sciences Journal 30 (10):1326-9. doi: 10.5829/idosi.wasj.2014.30.10.14157.
Abstract
The article is devoted to analysis of relationship between Russia and ASEAN countries from late 90s to present time. The efficiency of cooperation between the parties in the sphere of policy, security, economy and socio-cultural relationship is assessed. The author emphasizes that during 2 last decades its components become undeveloped and this prevents from transition to comprehensive and dialogue partnership of the parties. © IDOSI Publications, 2014.
Marquardt, Jens. 2014. "How sustainable are donor-driven solar power projects in remote areas?" Journal of International Development 26 (6):915-22. doi: 10.1002/jid.3022.
Abstract
Since the 1980s, donors already support solar power projects in the Philippines. Reports and documentations provide a positive image on project success, but field trips to earlier project sites tell an opposing story. This field report shows that even in an area with only little donor fragmentation problems like a lack of coordination, communication and learning lead to unsustainable projects. It confronts official project reports with the latest experiences from the field and provides qualitative information to an ongoing debate about potentials and problems of donor diversification. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Martin, Dahlia. 2014. "Gender, Malayness and the Ummah: Cultural Consumption and Malay-Muslim Identity." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):403-21. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.929635.
Abstract
Anxieties over the position of Malay identity have often spilled over into locally-produced popular materials. Such anxieties are reflected particularly in portrayals of Malay-Muslim womanhood. Malay-Muslim women are a significant target audience for these concerns, specifically in their assumedly natural roles as nurturers of a family unit. Despite this focus on Malay-Muslim women, however, theirs is a voice that is rarely heard as Malaysia advances towards an Islamic modernity. This article examines how urban Malay-Muslim women negotiate these tensions in their consumption and interpretation of local popular culture. Borrowing from Michel de Certeau's framework on everyday resistance, this article argues that these practices are in turn indicative of the interviewees' desire to be a part of a forward-looking Islamic modernity narrative and global community or ummah, and ultimately leave behind anxieties over Malay identity by choosing to construct their subjectivity in religious rather than ethnic terms. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Martynova, Elena S. 2014. "Strengthening of Cooperation Between Russia and ASEAN: Rhetoric or Reality?" Asian Politics and Policy 6 (3):397-412. doi: 10.1111/aspp.12117.
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to analyze current Russian policy toward Southeast Asian countries and to examine prospects for the future development of Russia-(ASEAN) relations. This article is structured around three issues, discussed in three parts. The first part examines the evolution of Russia-ASEAN political relations from the establishment of the "dialogue partnership" to the present time and Russia's participation in the multilateral cooperation structures under the ASEAN umbrella. The second part concentrates on the achievements and the problems of economic and technical cooperation between the countries. Special attention is paid to the recent initiatives of the Russian government to foster the economic development of Far East territories. The third part is devoted to the analysis of Russia-ASEAN relations from the point of view of cultural interaction. It argues that despite optimistic official rhetoric, Russian policy in the Asian dimension is not balanced and there is no clear strategy to improve Russia's place in the region. © 2014 Policy Studies Organization.
McCarthy, John F. 2014. "Using community led development approaches to address vulnerability after disaster: Caught in a sad romance." Global Environmental Change 27 (1):144-55. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.05.004.
Abstract
A reading of the social capital literature suggests that the networks and the social relationships which enable collective action can be used to address critical livelihood needs, even in disaster contexts. Yet even when such community-led approaches are combined with substantial resources, too often these interventions (re)produce vulnerabilities without recovering prior levels of development. Examining the outcomes of community-led approaches in post-tsunami Aceh after the gaze of the aid industry has moved elsewhere, this paper finds that in a few cases, interventions worked with social networks to revive livelihoods successfully, albeit in complex, contingent ways. Yet, given the nature of post-disaster contexts and the exigencies driving NGO and donors actions, the research concludes that the capacity for community based approaches to address the underlying drivers of vulnerability remains limited. The paper calls for a rewriting of intervention narratives and a reworking of intervention practices, to address the deeper determinants of disadvantage and vulnerability. © 2014.
Menchik, Jeremy. 2014. "Productive intolerance: Godly nationalism in Indonesia." Comparative Studies in Society and History 56 (3):591-621. doi: 10.1017/S0010417514000267.
Abstract
Since democratization, Indonesia has played host to a curious form of ethnic conflict: militant vigilante groups attacking a small, socially marginal religious sect called Ahmadiyah. While most scholars attribute the violence to intolerance by radicals on the periphery of society, this article proposes a different reading based on an intertwined reconfiguration of Indonesian nationalism and religion. I suggest that Indonesia contains a common but overlooked example of godly nationalism, an imagined community bound by a shared theism and mobilized through the state in cooperation with religious organizations. This model for nationalism is modern, plural, and predicated on the exclusion of religious heterodoxy. Newly collected archival and ethnographic material reveal how the state's and Muslim civil society's long-standing exclusion of Ahmadiyah and other heterodox groups has helped produce the we-feeling that helps constitute contemporary Indonesian nationalism. I conclude by intervening in a recent debate about religious freedom to suggest that conflicts over blasphemy reflect Muslim civil society's effort to delineate an incipient model of nationalism and tolerance while avoiding the templates of liberal secularism or theocracy. © 2014 Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History.
Milgram, B. Lynne. 2014. "Remapping the Edge: Informality and Legality in the Harrison Road Night Market, Baguio City, Philippines." City and Society 26 (2):153-74. doi: 10.1111/ciso.12038.
Abstract
Since the 1970s, in the Philippines, increasing rural to urban migration and a lack of income-generating employment have led to new forms of livelihood characterized by complex intersections of formal/informal and legal/illegal work and public space use. This paper uses Baguio City's new Harrison Road Night Market to argue that both street vendors and city officials are complicit in reconfiguring informality and legality as urban organizing logics-unmapping and remapping urban public space and livelihoods to their mutual advantages-increased rental income for the city and viable jobs for vendors. To this end, street vendors use everyday and insurgent public space activism to secure their right to street-based work. Simultaneously, the municipal government, variably tolerates, regularizes, or penalizes street trade as it gauges its potential to enrich city coffers. Such political-economic manoeuvering by both parties, moreover, also reveals insights about the intersection of different forms of power-that between vendors and the city, between vendor associations, and among vendors themselves. By successfully securing government permission to establish a "legal" used clothing night street market on Harrison Road, a main city artery, Baguio City's previously marginalized street vendors visibly assert their legitimacy and rights to livelihood in arenas of power from which they have been largely excluded. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.
Muneeza, Aishath. 2014. "Shari'ah governance applicable to islamic banks in Malaysia: Effect of islamic financial services act 2013." Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis 95:31-44. doi: 10.1108/S1569-3759(2014)0000095010.
Abstract
Purpose - This chapter aims to explore the Shari'ah governance rules applied in the Malaysian Islamic banking arena and the effect of Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 on it. Design/methodology/approach - This is a legal exploratory study primarily focused on library research. Findings - Shari'ah governance is a concept that has been developed and applied gradually in Malaysia and the new Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 has taken it to the next level. However, this does not mean that it has resolved the problems in Shari'ah governance that existed before the enactment of the act. Originality/value - Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 is a new statute that repealed Islamic Banking Act 1983. As such, not many have reviewed this new piece of legislation. This chapter will give insight into the evolution of Shari'ah governance as part of corporate governance of Islamic banks in Malaysia and will help explain the most recent developments in this arena along with the challenges. © 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Nejati, M., B. Mohamed, and S. I. Omar. 2014. "Locals' perceptions towards the impacts of tourism and the importance of local engagement: A comparative study of two islands in Malaysia." Tourism 62 (2):135-46.
Abstract
This study investigates the perception of locals residing on two touristic islands in Malaysia about the economic, social, environmental and cultural impacts of tourism development. Additionally, the importance of local engagement in tourism development was also investigated from the perspective of residents. A total of 371 responses were collected (183 local residents on Perhentian island and 188 local residents on Redang island). Results of the study reveal that while residents on both islands perceive the highest environmental impacts of tourism on water quality, wildlife, and air quality, the environmental impacts are perceived to be lower for residents of Redang island than in Perhentian island. Besides the detrimental impacts of tourism on environment, majority of the heals perceive the positive economic, social and cultural impacts of tourism to be larger than its negative impacts. Additionally, the study found that residents perceived the engagement of heals in tourism devehpment to be important. The findings of this study provide invaluabh implications to tourism devehpment managers and policy makers.
Priebe, Jan. 2014. "Official Poverty Measurement in Indonesia since 1984: A Methodological Review." Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50 (2):185-205. doi: 10.1080/00074918.2014.938406.
Abstract
This article describes how the measurement of the official Indonesian poverty figures has evolved since 1984, when Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), Indonesia's central statistics agency, published its first poverty report. Since then, BPS has on several occasions revised the underlying methodology for how it calculates poverty. These changes have, in general, improved the way that poverty in Indonesia is measured, but they make it difficult to compare poverty figures over time. In fact, only poverty estimates (at the national and provincial level) since 2007 are based on the same methodological approach. This article presents the first detailed description of official poverty measurement in Indonesia since Booth's (1993) study, in English, and Sutanto and Avenzora's (1999) study, in Indonesian. It constitutes a unique repository for anybody who wants to understand the technical details of official poverty measurement in Indonesia. © 2014 © 2014 Indonesia Project ANU.
Rammohan, Anu, and Bill Pritchard. 2014. "The role of landholding as a determinant of food and nutrition insecurity in rural Myanmar." World Development 64:597-608. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.06.029.
Abstract
Recent research has emphasized the role of land tenure in influencing rural food and nutrition insecurity in developing countries. We use data from rural Myanmar to empirically analyze the links between land holdings and household level food and nutrition security. Our analysis focuses on the following issues: (i) what are the socio-economic characteristics of food insecure households?, (ii) what are the main coping strategies adopted by vulnerable households to address their food security?, and (iii) are our findings robust across the different food security measures? Our results show landholding to be a strong predictor of household food and nutrition security. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Ramstetter, Eric D., and Dionisius Narjoko. 2014. "Ownership and Energy Efficiency in Indonesian Manufacturing." Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50 (2):255-76. doi: 10.1080/00074918.2014.938407.
Abstract
Using 1996 and 2006 census data on medium-large plants in Indonesian manufacturing, we examine whether foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) and stateowned enterprises (SOEs) used purchased energy more efficiently than local, private plants, finding that the correlation between plant ownership and total energy intensity, gas intensity, and coal intensity was generally weak in both years. Second, we ask whether energy efficiency in private plants was affected by the presence of MNEs or SOEs in high-energy-consuming industries. In 1996, private energy intensities were often positively correlated with the presence of SOEs and majorityforeign MNEs and negatively correlated with the presence of wholly foreign or minority-foreign MNEs, but in 2006 the corresponding results differed substantially. This suggests that ownership-related differentials in energy intensity and intra-industry energy-intensity spillovers are not pronounced. If policymakers are concerned with improving energy efficiency in Indonesian manufacturing, plant ownership should not be a major consideration. © 2014 © 2014 Indonesia Project ANU.
Rarasati, Ayomi Dita, Bambang Trigunarsyah, and Eric Too. 2014. "The opportunity for implementing islamic project financing to the Indonesian infrastructure development." Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis 95:103-16. doi: 10.1108/S1569-3759(2014)0000095015.
Abstract
Purpose - This chapter discusses the opportunity of Islamic project financing implementation for public infrastructure development in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach - This chapter, firstly, reviewed existing literature on Islamic finance to explore the applicability of Islamic financing in infrastructure development. Interviews were conducted as the first stage of Delphi method approach. This was then followed by reviewing Indonesia's government policies and regulations in infrastructure industry and Islamic financing. Findings - This chapter enlightens the implementation of Islamic financing on infrastructure project financing in Indonesia. The findings indicate that the government policies and regulations on both infrastructure investment and Islamic financing support the implementation of Islamic project financing, whereas, an improvement is still needed in order to overarch infrastructure business and Islamic financing investment. Research - Financing framework development for Indonesia infrastructure projects. Limitations/implications - The result reported comprises the preliminary study of Islamic project paper written based on published research papers and interviews. Furthermore, the data collected for the study are limited to the case of Indonesian infrastructure projects. Practical implication - Islamic financing in Indonesia infrastructure projects development has not been optimally implemented. Therefore, this chapter serves as a catalyst to explore alternative financial scheme such as Islamic financing for infrastructure development. Originality/value - This chapter highlights possibilities and obstacles in applying Islamic scheme to infrastructure project financing. This provides a framework to analyse the steps to implement Islamic financing successfully in infrastructure development. © 2014 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Roelen, Keetie. 2014. "Multidimensional child poverty in Vietnam from a longitudinal perspective - Improved lives or impoverished conditions?" Child Indicators Research 7 (3):487-516. doi: 10.1007/s12187-013-9221-7.
Abstract
Despite a rapid expansion of the bodies of research on the measurement of multidimensional poverty, chronic poverty and child poverty, little attention has been paid to the longitudinal aspects of multidimensional poverty. Even less evidence is available about longitudinal multidimensional child poverty. This paper combines these strands of research, using household survey data from 2004, 2006 and 2008 from Vietnam to analyze cross-sectional poverty trends and longitudinal poverty dynamics. The purpose of this study is three-fold as it (i) examines the lives of children in Vietnam and considers changes in their living conditions in the first decade of the 21st century; (ii) assesses various hypotheses drawn from the chronic multidimensional poverty literature; and (iii) presents an explorative study of the investigation of child poverty from a longitudinal perspective using a multidimensional approach. Main conclusions suggest that the large reduction of child poverty in Vietnam has been unequal and that a sizeable proportion of children remain locked into poverty. Theoretically, this paper finds that characteristics of chronic versus transient poor children are similar and that the association between poverty depth and duration is not strong enough to consider one measure a proxy for the other. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Sadan, Mandy. 2014. "The historical visual economy of photography in Burma." Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 170 (2-3):281-312. doi: 10.1163/22134379-17002024.
Abstract
This paper presents an outline of the development of photography in Burma from the early colonial period to the end of the 1980s. It explores the relationship between early studios and the training of Burma-born photographers, the expansion of the photographic economy in the 1950s, and the challenges created by nationalisation after 1963. Using extensive interviews with local photographers and archival materials, it explores innovations around photography in the longer term. In doing so, it argues that recent developments using digital media are part of a much longer tradition of local technical innovation than is usually considered the case. © Copyright 2014 by Mandy Sadan.
Sathian, Mala Rajo, and Yeok Meng Ngeow. 2014. "Essentialising Ethnic and State Identities: Strategic Adaptations of Ethnic Chinese in Kelantan, Malaysia." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):385-402. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.936361.
Abstract
This paper looks at how a heterogeneous minority group sustains its multiple identities in a politically challenging context. Focusing on the Chinese minority (3.4 per cent) residing in Kelantan, the paper highlights strategies used by the group to retain its rights and identity as a separate cultural community. The peculiarity of this group is attributed to its entity as a non-Muslim minority under orthodox Islamic rule, and secondly, as citizens of a state led by the opposition party. The fact that they are born in Kelantan and possess fluency in the Kelantanese Malay dialect has strengthened their identity as orghe Kelantan (dialect referring to people who were born and grew up in the state). These factors create a sense of "oneness" between the Chinese and other Kelantanese beyond ethnic, religious and class boundaries. This paper demonstrates how the Chinese in Kelantan seek to be accepted through behaviours appropriate to the majority and simultaneously build in-group solidarity. The underlying interplay between essentialism and provincialism is showcased when the Chinese strategise linguistically to maintain their orghe Kelantan identification as an exclusive identity. The identity and the distinct dialect spoken have enhanced the "provincial" image of Kelantan in the national political discourse. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Segawa, Noriyuki, Kaoru Natsuda, and John Thoburn. 2014. "Affirmative Action and Economic Liberalisation: The Dilemmas of the Malaysian Automotive Industry." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):422-41. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.928847.
Abstract
This paper considers the ways in which Malaysia has tried to develop automotive production through promoting a nationally owned car producer, Proton, and to carve out some "policy space" to continue a degree of protection whilst also liberalising its trade regime. We show that protection has not yet succeeded in making Proton and its many vendors internationally competitive, and why Malaysia has found that it has to secure the cooperation of a major automotive multinational to upgrade and to achieve export success. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Shah, Ritesh, and Mieke Lopes Cardozo. 2014. "Education and social change in post-conflict and post-disaster Aceh, Indonesia." International Journal of Educational Development 38:2-12. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2014.06.005.
Abstract
The paper analyses the context in which education in Aceh acts strategically to advance an agenda of social transformation. Applying a cultural, political economy analytical framework, it identifies ways in which education is embedded in key cultural, political, economic and social struggles at present. They include: (1) the redistribution of educational opportunities and access; (2) ambiguous spaces for democratic representation in a decentralised educational structure; (3) competing notions of how diversity is acknowledged within Indonesia and Aceh Province; and (4) conflicted approaches to reconstruction following the 2004 tsunami and end of conflict in 2005. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Shakespeare-Finch, Jane, Robert D. Schweitzer, Julie King, and Mark Brough. 2014. "Distress, Coping, and Posttraumatic Growth in Refugees From Burma." Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies 12 (3):311-30. doi: 10.1080/15562948.2013.844876.
Abstract
Refugees flee their countries of origin due to supreme hardship and threat to life, frequently having witnessed mass atrocities. This research is embedded in a salutogenic paradigm that emphasizes strength and adjustment. Twenty-five refugees from Burma who were newly arrived in Australia were interviewed and transcripts were analyzed using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analytic (IPA) approach. In addition to themes of distress, data revealed an extraordinary adaptive capacity and highlighted strengths, both individual and collective. Specific adaptive strategies included religiousness and a sense of duty to family, community, and country. Findings have implications for policy and practice that aim to support refugees and asylum seekers. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Singh, Sarinda. 2014. "Borderland practices and narratives: Illegal cross-border logging in northeastern Cambodia." Ethnography 15 (2):135-59. doi: 10.1177/1466138112463805.
Abstract
In the borderlands of northeastern Cambodia, booming regional demand for luxury rosewood timber has seen the recent expansion of illegal cross-border logging in Laos. This article outlines Khmer-Lao villagers' interactions with border authorities that enable their cross-border logging and their construction of anti-elite political narratives to critically engage with other ethnographic studies of the remote borderlands in Asia. I argue that in the quest to challenge dominant top-down assumptions of the remote borderlands as beyond state power and to highlight the unique dynamics of borderlands, ethnographic studies of these regions can focus overly on political opposition. I propose more recognition of, firstly, the desire and distrust in borderlanders' engagements with different authorities, and secondly, the commonalities in contestation that emerge across different national spaces. © The Author(s) 2013.
Sloane-White, Patricia. 2014. "Review of Gerhard Hoffstaedter, Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia: Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Press, 2011. xiv + 272 pp. ISBN 978-87-7694-081-2." Contemporary Islam 8 (3):303-5. doi: 10.1007/s11562-012-0231-x.
Abstract
Sparkes, Stephen. 2014. "Corporate social responsibility: Benefits for youth in hydropower development in Laos." International Review of Education 60 (2):261-77. doi: 10.1007/s11159-014-9401-9.
Abstract
The role of the state as regulator combined with policies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that go beyond legal requirements to establishing programmes that promote development and good international business practice is an emerging new paradigm. In this paper, the example of a state-owned company, Statkraft A.S. of Norway, and its recent hydropower investment in central Laos illustrates how policy, implementation and follow-up can lead to benefits for local communities in the impacted area of the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project (THXP). Programmes include both support for and improvement of existing government education programmes, employment opportunities and specific programmes for youth. They have been designed to mitigate possible negative effects of the influx of workers and rapid socio-economic change in the affected area. Young people continue to have a central role in the implementation of these programmes as peer educators under the supervision of project staff and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning.
Sufian, Fadzlan, and Muzafar Shah Habibullah. 2014. "Banks' total factor productivity growth in a developing economy: Does globalisation matter?" Journal of International Development 26 (6):821-52. doi: 10.1002/jid.2897.
Abstract
The paper provides, for the first time, empirical evidence on the impact of economic globalisation on bank total factor productivity in a developing economy. By employing the Malmquist Productivity Index method, we compute the total factor productivity of the Malaysian banking sector during 1998-2007. Examining different dimensions of economic globalisation, we find evidence supporting for greater trade and capital account restrictions and cultural proximity. On the other hand, personal contacts, information flows, and political globalisation seem to exert significant (negative) influence on banks' total factor productivity levels. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Sumner, Andy, and Peter Edward. 2014. "Assessing Poverty Trends in Indonesia by International Poverty Lines." Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50 (2):207-25. doi: 10.1080/00074918.2014.938404.
Abstract
Indonesia has made well-documented and drastic progress in raising average incomes and reducing poverty. This article adds to the literature by providing a complementary perspective of poverty between 1984 and 2011. We discuss the evolution of poverty in Indonesia using international poverty lines-$1.25 per person per day (in 2005 purchasing power parity dollars) and $2.00 per day, and we add $10.00 per day. We generate estimates of poverty since 1984 and make projections based on various trends in growth and inequality. We find that Indonesia has the potential to become a high-income country by around 2025 and end $1.25-per-day and $2.00-perday poverty by 2030, but this will require strong economic growth and favourable changes in distribution. Looking ahead, the end of poverty in Indonesia may mean that a large proportion of the population will remain vulnerable to poverty for some time to come, suggesting that public policy priorities will need to balance insurance and risk-management mechanisms with more 'traditional' poverty policy. © 2014 © 2014 Indonesia Project ANU.
Tan, Netina. 2014. "The 2011 general and presidential elections in Singapore." Electoral Studies 35:362-405. doi: 10.1016/j.electstud.2014.02.001.
Abstract
For the first time in Singapore's history, two elections were held in a year. In 2011, Singaporeans voted in a general election on 7 May and in another competitive presidential election on 27 August. Faced with a stronger opposition force and an emboldened electorate, the ruling People's Action Party won the elections but achieved the worst results since the country's independence. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Trinh, Thu Thi, Chris Ryan, and Jenny Cave. 2014. "Souvenir sellers and perceptions of authenticity - The retailers of Hôi An, Vietnam." Tourism Management 45:275-83. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2014.05.005.
Abstract
Authenticity has long been a theme within the tourism literature, but relatively little has been written about the attitudes of souvenir retailers. This paper, based on a combination of case study and micro-ethnographic approaches, reports findings derived from interviews with 25 souvenir retailers in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hoi An, Vietnam. It uses a thematic and content analysis aided by the use of textual analysis software to identify dichotomous yet holistic perceptions on the part of the retailers. They seek to sell souvenirs perceived as authentic of Hoi An, yet source both nationally and locally. The items are thus representative of Hoi An and Vietnam, and these attitudes can be justified by an appeal to the past trading heritage of the ancient city. The retailers also perceive tourists as potential 'prosumers' who create their own experiential authenticity. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
Ünaldi, Serhat. 2014. "Bangkok's Ratchaprasong before CentralWorld: The Disappearance of Phetchabun Palace." Asian Studies Review 38 (3):480-502. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2014.927826.
Abstract
The anti-government demonstrations that occurred in Thailand around Bangkok's Ratchaprasong intersection in April and May 2010 drew attention to the broader significance of the protest site. In the wake of the bloody crackdown on the protests and of unprecedented arson attacks against shopping malls on 19 May, some people turned to the past in search of explanations of the shocking events. As a result, for the first time since its disappearance in the early 1980s, Wang Phetchabun, the former palace of Prince Chudadhuj Dharadilok, returned to the public memory. The palace had occupied the land adjoining Ratchaprasong intersection since the reign of King Rama VI until it was replaced by a shopping mall. Rumours spread about a royal curse, and about uprooted guardian spirits whose duty to protect the heritage of Wang Phetchabun dooms to failure commercial enterprises at the former palace site and punishes ignorance of its history with physical harm. The collective memory of the palace lends itself well to interpretations based on Halbwachs' theory of social morphology which relates to the connection between society and architecture. © 2014 Asian Studies Association of Australia.
Vithessonthi, Chaiporn. 2014. "Financial markets development and bank risk: Experience from Thailand during 1990-2012." Journal of Multinational Financial Management 27:67-88. doi: 10.1016/j.mulfin.2014.05.003.
Abstract
The relation between financial markets development and bank risk in Thailand during 1990-2012 is examined. After controlling for macro-level and firm-level variables, stock market development is positively associated with banks' capitalization ratio, and is negatively related to their beta. While banking sector development has no effect on the banks' capitalization ratio, it has a positive effect on their beta. In addition, banking sector development is negatively related to the banks' capitalization ratio when measured as the Tier 1 capital to total risk-weighted assets ratio during 2000-2012. Overall, two dimensions of financial markets development seem to have opposing effects on bank risk. While stock market development tends to lower the banks' beta, banking sector development induces the instability of the banking system by lowering the banks' capitalization ratio and by increasing the banks' beta. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Vithessonthi, Chaiporn. 2014. "What explains the initial return of initial public offerings after the 1997 Asian financial crisis? Evidence from Thailand." Journal of Multinational Financial Management 27:89-113. doi: 10.1016/j.mulfin.2014.05.002.
Abstract
Do financial development, domestic interest rates, and interest-rate differentials simultaneously affect the underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs) in emerging market countries? Using a sample of 187 IPOs in Thailand between 2000 and 2012, I show that financial development, stock market conditions, bond market development, and interest-rate differentials affect the initial return, and that several of these effects appear to be contingent on (1) whether the IPOs are hot or cold and (2) whether the interest-rate differential is positive or not. During periods of positive interest-rate differentials, the effect of the interest-rate differential on the initial return is positive and economically significant. Overall, my findings suggest that investors might undertake carry-trade strategies in the IPO market. In addition, the initial return of the IPOs in my sample appears to be lower than the initial returns reported by previous studies using the pre-1997 financial crisis period sample. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Yusuf, Arief Anshory, Andy Sumner, and Irlan Adiyatma Rum. 2014. "Twenty Years of Expenditure Inequality in Indonesia, 1993-2013." Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 50 (2):243-54. doi: 10.1080/00074918.2014.939937.
Abstract
In this article, we consider the recent increase in inequality in Indonesia. We make new, consistent estimates of expenditure inequality for 1993-2013, using several measures that draw on household expenditure data from the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas) for 1993-2013. In doing so, we note that the central statistics agency, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), used grouped data for its estimates of inequality until 2009 and that this underestimated inequality up to then. Thus the rise in inequality reported since 2009 actually has a longer history. We argue that Indonesia experienced divergence and convergence at the same time: the magnitude of the rise in inequality was significant (divergence), but the rise was greatest in provinces or districts with low initial levels of inequality (convergence). We consider the literature on drivers of changes in inequality and identify a set of hypotheses, with an empirical basis, which we introduce as potential Indonesian-specific drivers of rising inequality for future exploration. © 2014 © 2014 Indonesia Project ANU.
Ziguras, Christopher, and Anh Thi Ngoc Pham. 2014. "Assessing participation in cross-border higher education in cities: Foreign education provision in Ho Chi Minh City." Asia Pacific Viewpoint 55 (2):169-81. doi: 10.1111/apv.12051.
Abstract
One of the limitations of research on global educational mobility has been the primary classification of key participants - students and educational institutions - in national terms. This paper tests the challenges involved in such methodological nationalism by examining the provision of cross-border education in one city. As Vietnam's commercial centre, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has experienced rapid transformation over the past two decades as the country has moved steadily from a state-directed to a more market-driven and globally integrated economy. Since the late 1990s there has been a parallel growth in cross-border higher education in HCMC, through the outbound mobility of students and the provision of foreign programmes by international partnerships and branch campuses. Drawing on available data supplemented with insights gleaned from interviews and existing literature, this paper develops a methodology for identifying and quantifying the key features of each form of domestic, overseas and transnational provision. We estimate that around 6% of HCMC's tertiary students are studying overseas and between 2% and 3% in foreign programmes delivered in the city. The rates of enrolment in overseas and transnational programmes by students in HCMC are thus far higher than for Vietnam as a whole, but still considerably lower than in those well-established cross-border education hubs, Hong Kong and Singapore. We argue that concerns about the growth of private education and inequalities in access may continue to limit the growth of transnational provision in HCMC. © 2014 Victoria University of Wellington and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
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