Mar 1, 2014

Feb 26, 2014

Watch our Feb seminars online

We just uploaded the video recording of our Feb seminars:

Liberalism, Free Trade and Empire: The diverse roles of John Bowring in Asia

17 Feb 2014 (Mon)
Mr Philip Bowring

Governing Maritime Space: The South China Sea as a Mediterranean Cultural Area

24 Feb 2014 (Mon)
Prof Hans-Dieter Evers, Eminent Visiting Professor, Institute of Asian Studies, FASS, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Feb 25, 2014

Inequality & Thailand political saga

Straits Times has an interesting piece discussing about the inequality issue and current Thailand political situation:

Can protests fix inequality in Thailand?
Tan Hui Yee

The Straits Times
Publication Date : 25-02-2014

http://www.asianewsnet.net/Can-protests-fix-inequality-in-Thailand-57458.html

 

The intriguing part of this divisive landscape is that everyone agrees Thailand seriously needs reform. Asean's second largest economy is one of the most unequal societies in Asia. In 2011, the most recent year for which official figures are available, its Gini coefficient, a widely used measure of inequality, stood at 0.484. This was lower than Hong Kong's 0.537 that year, but higher than the United States' 0.475. The Gini yardstick ranges from zero to one, with higher values meaning more inequality. Singapore's Gini coefficient last year was 0.463.

Chulalongkorn University economist Pasuk Phongpaichit laid bare more figures in a forum last month: About 100,000 bank accounts, each with more than US$300,000, account for nearly half the value of all bank deposits in the country. Yet these accounted for 0.5 per cent of the total number of bank accounts. The top 10 per cent of land owners own 61 per cent of total title land, she noted.

Land that is not put to commercial use is subject to negligible taxes but there have been no serious attempts to raise them because most politicians are among the top land owners, said Pasuk.

.....

Sick of politicians, they had joined the whistle-blowing crowds in the hope of overhauling the entire system. While they did not entirely trust protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban - a former senior Democrat tainted by graft allegations - they had warmed to his vow to give up politics after forcing Yingluck out. To them, Suthep was somewhat less repugnant than Thaksin, the ousted premier who lives in Dubai to evade a jail sentence for corruption.

Check: Malaysia in The Trans-Pacific Partnership

The Economist just have a Blog about the TPP talk in SG:
 
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: No end in sight | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/02/trans-pacific-partnership-0s
Malaysia's trade minister, Mustapa Mohamed, said there had been no discussion at all in Singapore about the link between TPA and TPP. But it must have been on everybody's mind. Mr Froman stalwartly pointed out that every country has its domestic processes and that the administration was "building support on Capitol Hill". Not fast enough, however, for many of the TPP participants, who face political difficulties of their own, such as Malaysia's worry that TPP might outlaw its affirmative-action policies in government-procurement in favour of "Bumiputras" (ie, mainly ethnic Malays, as opposed to Chinese and Indians), and undermine support for the ruling coalition.
More on Malaysia & TPP from New Straits Times:

TPP: Malaysia continues to seek flexibility - Latest - New Straits Times
http://www.nst.com.my/business/latest/tpp-malaysia-continues-to-seek-flexibility-1.492818
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said overall there is still a lot of work that remains to be carried out. “In the area of goods market access, Malaysia is prepared to undertake comprehensive commitments, but this would depend on the overall balance of the negotiations. Malaysia has thus far made good progress in the bilateral discussions on market access.” On tobacco, Malaysian officials convened informal consultations with officials from a number of countries to pursue an exception from the TPP for tobacco and tobacco products. “Negotiators will be consulting on a suitable timetable to continue work with a view to find a solution to the remaining issues.” Malaysia, he said,  will continue to undertake domestic engagement with various stakeholders to share with them the outcome of the Singapore meeting and the way forward.

SEARC's March 1st Seminar: Indonesia's Tryst with Destiny by Prof Peter Carey on 10 March 2014

Seminar

Indonesia's Tryst with Destiny: The 2014 elections and the challenges of democracy in historical perspective, 1998-2014

Prof Peter Carey

Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Humanities,
University of Indonesia &
Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College, Oxford

Date: 10 March 2014 (Monday)

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

Venue: Y4-702, AC1, City University of Hong Kong




Abstract
The April and June 2014 legislative and presidential elections in Indonesia are without doubt the most important elections of the reformasi (democratic reform) period (1998 to present), and will determine the country’s future in an era of rapid demographic and social change. Peter Carey’s 10 March presentation will look at the issues confronting Indonesia in the historical perspective of the past sixteen years. He will develop various scenarios for the coming decade based on the track record of the three key presidential candidates, former generals Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto, and businessman Aburizal Bakrie, and the still undeclared candidacy of the popular Governor of Jakarta, Haji Joko Widodo (Jokowi), the likely choice of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the. Given that 40 percent of Indonesian voters are below the age of 35, the presentation will consider whether 2014 will mark a generational change in leadership and a move towards a new style of democratic governance which can provide answers for the most pressing current issues confronting the country, focussing on the environment, religious pluralism, corruption and the re-greening of the Indonesian political elite.

Short Bio
Peter Carey is Adjunct Professor at the Fakultas Ilmu Pengetahuan Budaya (Faculty of Humanities) of the Universitas Indonesia (University of Indonesia), in Jakarta and Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College, Oxford. His short biography of the Indonesian national hero, Prince Diponegoro (1785-1855), Destiny; The Life and Times of Prince Diponegoro of Yogyakarta, 1785-1855, will be published in April in Oxford and Jakarta.

Feb 24, 2014

Check: FDI and Power in Philippines

Power Struggles in the Philippines - Southeast Asia Real Time – WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2014/02/24/power-struggles-in-the-philippines/

The high cost and sketchy reliability of electricity supplies in the Philippines are now the main deterrents to investing in the country, according to foreign business leaders, who see the problem as a persuasive reason to invest elsewhere. "Power is the biggest problem we have right now, both in terms of supply and price," said Dong Joo Kim, chief finance officer at Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corp., a Korean firm that manufactures components for Samsung in the Philippines.

The one thing the Philippines does seem to have in its favor is its lack of subsidies, said Francis Giles B. Puno, president and chief operating officer of First Gen Corp., a power generation company. And that could make the country more competitive in the future as other Southeast Asian governments find that they can no longer afford to subsidize their energy sectors.

Feb 23, 2014

Seminar reminder: Coming Monday, Prof Hans-Dieter Evers on South China Sea

 

Please come to SEARC next Monday Seminar by Prof Hans-Dieter Evers on the South China Sea issue:

Governing Maritime Space: The South China Sea as a Mediterranean Cultural Area

Prof Hans-Dieter Evers

Date: 24 February 2014 (Monday)
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Venue: Y4-702, AC1, City University of Hong Kong

More detail:

Do you remember it? the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. the authority in Beijing wanted you to forget via


China's Little Secret:
Beijing wants people to forget the Sino-Vietnamese War.

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/02/19/chinas_little_secret_sino_vietnam_war_memory

Recent articles on Vietnam in People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece that essentially declared war on its southern neighbor with an editorial on Feb. 16, 1979, lacked any mention of the conflict. A Jan. 21 People's Daily article about anti-Chinese feelings in Vietnam avoided mention of any armed tussle between the two countries in the late 20th century, instead blaming the negative sentiment on Vietnamese's "sour" and "contradictory" attitude toward historical Chinese cultural influences and current economic dominance.

Not only China, even in Hanoi

Vietnam also suppresses memories of the war. On Feb. 17, the Vietnamese government deployed aerobic dancers to break up anti-Chinese protests in the capital city of Hanoi, while on Feb. 12 U.S. outlet Voice of America quoted an anonymous senior Vietnamese editor as saying the country's watchdog issued "confidential instructions" to restrict coverage of the 35th anniversary of the war.

Also, these people also were forgotten:

According to a blog post written by a self-identified Beijing reporter and posted on Sina, a few dozen veterans gathered in front of a government building in central Hunan province on Feb. 17, complaining that they had been "abandoned" and shortchanged in veterans benefits. The blog post also shows a banner, with sadly ironic text. "The martyrs who gave their life defending their sacred territory," it reads, "will never be forgotten."