Mar 21, 2014

This week Economist on Southeast Asia: Indonesia’s elections; Indonesia’s haze; A census in Myanmar

This week Economist has three articles on Southeast Asia worth to check:
Indonesia's elections
The chosen one
 
IT WAS what many Indonesians had waited months to hear. On March 14th Megawati Sukarnoputri, a former president and head of Indonesia’s main opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), at last anointed Jakarta’s popular governor, Joko Widodo, as her candidate for president. This appears to make Mr Joko, known to all as Jokowi, a shoo-in to succeed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is coming to the end of his second and final term as president.Most opinion polls put support for the 52-year-old Jokowi at about 40%, twice that of his closest rival, Prabowo Subianto, a former special-forces commander, who is now patron of the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). Barring an unforeseeable disaster, Jokowi seems unbeatable. He may even secure the 50% of votes he needs on July 9th to win the election in the first round, and avoid a run-off in September. After what is widely perceived as years of drift under the likeable but ineffective Mr Yudhoyono, many believe Jokowi is the man to galvanise a sluggish bureaucracy, clean out corruption and boost the economy. That includes the markets: on news of his nomination, Indonesia’s stockmarket and...
 
Indonesia's haze
Leaders fiddle as Sumatra burns
 
PEKANBARU, the capital of Riau province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has been shrouded in an acrid white cloud of smoke so dense that visibility is down to 50 metres (about 160 feet). The air quality is officially described as “dangerous”, and most people are wearing face masks, even indoors. Nearly 50,000 people in Riau have already been treated for respiratory, eye or skin problems. All flights last week were cancelled, and only a few have got through since. The provincial governor has declared a state of emergency. The haze is back, and has arrived earlier this year than usual.Drive to Pekanbaru from the ferries that dock at a north Sumatran port, and you can see what the cause of the problem is: mile upon mile of smouldering or charred land. Much of it is peat-bog, where fires can burn up to two metres underground and take weeks to end. A few minutes in, the inferno stings the eyes and sets off a hacking cough. These fires have been burning for nearly two months. According to Greenpeace, a pressure group, more than 1,000 fires covering at least 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of forest and peatland are burning in Riau. And that is just one province...
 

IT seemed like a good idea at the time. Among the many things Myanmar lacks after half a century of military dictatorship are data, of any sort. For a new government managing the transition to democracy, basic facts about the country are essential. Hence, a census. There has not been one in Myanmar since 1983, and it is a normal step in the economic development of any poverty-stricken country.But however well-intentioned, the census has provoked a political crisis at a time when the country can ill afford one. The questions stray beyond the collection of run-of-the-mill data—household incomes and the like—into the minefields of race and religion. These are extremely sensitive issues in a diverse country with a long history of ethnic conflict. Sensitivities are particularly acute at a time when relations between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim minority have been scarred by serious violence.Among the 41 questions that the 100,000 or so census-takers, mostly young school-teachers, have to ask every household in Myanmar is one on race. But respondents can only choose from an anachronistic, inaccurate and divisive list of 135 ethnic groups. The...

Bernard Chan @ SCMP: Equal opportunities remain a goal for all, even the elite

Equal opportunities remain a goal for all, even the elite | South China Morning Post

Such a wealth gap is unsustainable. But it needs to be tackled in ways that unite the kingdom, not split it further apart. The current government has provoked the opposition by challenging deep-rooted traditions, like respect for the institution of the monarchy. People are also fed up with the corruption and incompetence - such as the recent failure of a mismanaged rice-subsidy scheme.

A fairer deal for poorer rural populations is needed, but this apparent abuse of power is leading to a backlash among the middle class. Thais are used to some corruption in politics, but not to politicians using populism to stay in power.

It is hard to see how a unifying force can emerge.

Mar 20, 2014

Study opportunities announcements

We have been informed about some opportunities related to South East Asia Studies and would like to share them with our readers:
 

Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI) 

An eight-week intensive language training program for undergraduates, graduate students and professionals.
Program Dates: June 16 - August 8, 2014.
SEASSI Tuition Scholarship and Program
Application Deadline: April 1, 2014.
 
 

Indonesia Overseas Program (American Councils for International Education)

provides an intensive semester or academic year overseas immersion experience in Malang, Indonesia at the Universitas Negeri Malang (University of Malang).
The program is open to undergraduate and graduate students as well as working professionals.
 
 

Summer Study Abroad in Laos (SAIL)

The Center for Lao Studies (CLS), dedicated to promoting and advancing the field of Lao Studies, is sponsoring its annual Summer Study Abroad in Laos program (SAIL) in the summer of 2014.
APPLICATION Deadline:  April 1, 2014
 
 

One District One Product (ODOP) Summer Internship in Laos

If you are interested in an internship with One District One Product (ODOP) Project in Laos please send a cover letter and your CV to Keiko (Cornell Alum) ksakamoto.sua@gmail.com

Mar 19, 2014

@Reuters on political dynasties in Indonesia

Despite scandal, Indonesia election could entrench political dynasties
http://reut.rs/1kXZrmF via @reuters

"Indonesia right now is flooded with money and there are many so-called little kingdoms around the country where nobody's checking how local officials spend their budgets," said an official at an international development agency who asked not to be named because he works closely with the Indonesian government.

In the Philippines, political dynasties have held sway for 70 years or more and are "prevalent in areas with more severe poverty", said a July 2013 study by the Asian Institute of Management in Manila.

Poverty entrenched those dynasties, said the study, although there was "less evidence" that dynasties caused poverty.

In Indonesia, dynasties are a relatively new phenomenon and it's too soon to conclude that they impede development, said Michael Buehler, an assistant professor at Northern Illinois University who has studied Indonesian elites in depth.

"But the Philippines basically shows us that dynasties are bad news. Overall, the economic development of places where dynasties have been for decades has been worse than places where there is more competition."

Check @Diplomat_APAC on the limits of ASEAN’s Maritime Cooperation

Flight MH370 Shows Limits of ASEAN's Maritime Cooperation | The Diplomat
http://thediplomat.com/2014/03/flight-mh370-shows-limits-of-aseans-maritime-cooperation/
it is apparent the ongoing MH370 saga has exposed serious shortcomings in efforts to establish an effective regional SAR emergency management regime.
ASEAN’s past experience providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) to the victims of the 2006 tsunami and Cyclone Nargis in 2005 indicate that it will study the lessons learned from the search for MH370 and incorporate them into future SAR policy planning.
At the same time, It commented on how Malaysia's authority handle the incident problemically:
Malaysia should review its management of the MH370 incident, study the lessons to be learned, and make recommendations to relevant ASEAN bodies about how to process and verify information coming from such diverse sources as civil airline authorities, military radar, commercial satellite information and information from intelligence-gathering satellites. Malaysia should also review its handling of the international media, identify any possible shortcoming or deficiencies, and draw up draft guidance for consideration by other ASEAN members. It is clear that a balance must be struck between providing timely information and ensuring that the information is accurate. Some guidance must be drawn up to manage the expectations of the media about what they can expect in an emergency situation.
The larger implications of the MH370 incident on future multilateral regional cooperation are less clear. The initial search area of the missing MH370 took place in the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea in a semi-enclosed area outside the maritime zone enclosed by China’s nine-dash line. All of the ASEAN littoral states, except Cambodia, followed Malaysia’s lead and offered assistance despite minor disputes over maritime boundaries.

Mar 17, 2014

Upcoming Seminar (24/Mar): Taking responsibility for employment companies that overcharge Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong

Seminar

Taking responsibility for employment companies that overcharge Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong

Dr Wayne Palmer

Visiting Scholar
Southeast Asia Research Centre
City University of Hong Kong

Date: 24 March 2014 (Monday)

Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm

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

Abstract

The issue of migrant workers in Hong Kong is again in the news following the recent event involving the mistreatment of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih. Last year the Hong Kong Labour Department conducted over 1,000 inspections of employment companies, responding to reports, for example, that they illegally overcharged foreign domestic workers for their services. These efforts resulted in the revocation of four business licences. In the same year, Amnesty International claimed that these companies systematically extracted illegal fees from tens of thousands of Indonesian domestic workers. Why is this practice so prolific among Indonesians? The answer lies in how the Indonesian consulate engages with the Hong Kong migration policy that requires foreign governments to endorse citizens for domestic helper visas. The Indonesian consulate uses this control to impose an extraterritorial accreditation system on Hong Kong employment companies, requiring those it approves to act as intermediaries for their citizens. This paper examines the administrative arrangement, arguing that it forms part an emerging state-society social contract concerning responsibility for labour migrants.

Short Bio

Wayne Palmer is a Visiting Scholar at the City University of Hong Kong Southeast Asia Research Centre. He contributed a book chapter on the role of discretion in handling human trafficking cases within an Indonesian embassy to Labour Migration and Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives. Wayne's article on extraterritorial interventions that the Indonesian consulate makes through public-private partnerships with employment companies in Hong Kong was published in Political Geography. He submitted a doctoral thesis on the role of government officials' discretion in shaping and implementing Indonesia's state migration programme at the University of Sydney in 2013. Wayne is the Senior Client Advisor at the Christian Action – Domestic Helpers and Migrant Workers Programme.

Mar 16, 2014

From @ForeignPolicy Is Southeast Asia a haven for hijackers, pirates, and terrorists?

Read this to understand how border security should get more attention in Southeast Asia.
 

Jumbo in the Jungle

But the large, often remote maritime and land borders between Southeast Asian nations remain relatively porous and are exploited by insurgent groups with a domestic focus. Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand all face domestic armed threats facilitated by nationals working across the border. Southern Thai insurgents, including the Patani United Liberation Organization, the National Revolutionary Front, and other ethnic-Malay separatist groups, run extensive smuggling networks into Malaysia. Armed forces along Myanmar's frontiers, such as the Karen National Liberation Army and the Kachin Independence Army, regular cross international borders for safe haven and supplies, though some also smuggle drugs and weapons across borders. And the nexus between the southern Philippines' Sulu Archipelago and the island of Borneo, split primarily between Malaysia and Indonesia, is a hotbed for trafficking in weapons and persons, as well as an area of contestation among governments, criminal organizations, and extremist groups.