Digital Commons Network^™

The Influence Of Media Usage On The Outcome Of Social Movement Campaigns In Southeast Asia, Rothsethamony Seng

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Does the use of media strategies help social movements or mass protest movements in Southeast Asia achieve their goals? The prominent study in this area argues that social media, in particular, has done more harm than good for grassroots movements. Tufekci (2017) argues that social media provides little help compared to the regime. I argue that social media helps the movement through three important areas, including (1) amplifying the messages of the movements to shape public opinions and counter propaganda and misleading information from the government, (2) facilitating and mobilizing protestors to coordinate virtual or physical protests, sustaining the momentum, …

British Neo-Colonialism In Malaya And Singapore, And U.S. Empire In The Pacific, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay places the Vietnam War upon the larger canvas of Southeast and East Asian history by studying the long shadow that Britain’s Empire cast over U.S. entanglements across the region. It shows how British officials in Malaya and Singapore directly contributed to the expansion of US involvement in post-1945 Southeast Asia, as well as the overall pro-US trajectory of the region well before the Americanization of the Vietnam conflict.

America's 'Chinese Problem' In Southeast Asia And The Emergence Of The Domino Theory [Come Tessere Del Domino: Il Pericolo Comunista E La “Questione Cinese” Nel Sud-Est Asiatico Negli Anni Cinquanta], Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei, Raimondo (Translator) Neironi

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This essay traces how race thinking in US foreign policy, combined with war memories of Japanese imperialism in Southeast Asia, shaped American strategy toward the region and the rise of the domino theory in US Cold War ideas.

Exhibiting Transnationalism After Vietnam: The Alpha Gallery In Pursuit Of An Authentic Southeast Asian Art Form, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines how the Alpha Gallery, an independent artists cooperative established by Malaysians and Singaporeans, curated and staged art shows in the 1970s that advanced its project to unearth and promote an intrinsically Southeast Asian aesthetic. The cooperative pursuit a transnational vision of inter-regional connections between the Bengali Art Renaissance of the early twentieth century and Balinese folk art. It also harbored ambitions of sparking a cultural renaissance in Southeast Asia, though these were ultimately unfulfilled. Importantly, as this essay shows, the cooperative’s transnational vision mirrored the racist thinking and paternalism of Euro-American colonial discourses about civilizing the region’s …

Downscaling Of Physical Risks For Climate Scenario Design, Enrico Biffis, Shuai Wang

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

Southeast Asia is arguably one of the areas most vulnerable to natural disasters due to its dense population, coastal urbanization, and rainfall variability driven by the local monsoon systems. In this report, we focus on the impact of global warming in the region along four climate dimensions: temperature, precipitation, wind speed and coastal surge. The latter represents the surge of water from the ocean in excess of astronomical tides. Our objective is to downscale the outputs of global climate models to temporal and spatial resolutions of interest to market participants wishing to quantify climate risk vulnerability via climate stress testing …

Scaling Smartness, (De)Provincialising The City? The Asean Smart Cities Network And The Translational Politics Of Technocratic Regionalism, Lily Kong, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper explores the case study of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) to uncover the motivations and potential challenges associated with technocratic regionalism, by which we mean technology-driven forms of regional integration and consolidation. In the case of the ASCN, technocratic regionalism is used to spur urban development through the rollout of smart city plans, policies and projects across Southeast Asia. As such, it is a regional strategy designed to scale smartness, and thus deprovincialise the city by embedding it within transnational flows of capital, ideas and expertise. At the same time, however, already existing urban issues have the …

Circuits Broken, Remade, And Newly Forged: Tracing Southeast Asia's Foreign Relations After The Vietnam War, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article (2021) in Diplomatic History's pandemic feature examines how the principles and consequences of Singapore's "circuit breaker" policy offers a conceptual framework for studying the history of Southeast Asia's foreign relations in the 1970s to 1990s. With this approach, the essay considers how a study of Southeast Asia's culture-makers (artists, writers, dramatists), their works and transnational circuits, may open a productive inquiry into a diverse array of regionalisms that compete and complement ASEAN.

The United States And The "Chinese Problem" Of Southeast Asia, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This essay examines how US Cold War policy toward all of Southeast Asia arose from American suspicions that the region's Chinese diaspora would align itself with the Chinese communists against the west. In so doing, it explores how US distrust of the Chinese diaspora fell in step with a longer imperialist tradition practised not only by the European powers for centuries, but also the Japanese Empire during its brief ascendancy during World War Two. Additionally, the essay proposes that to move beyond the bilateral studies that dominate the histories of US-Southeast Asian relations to view the region as whole, it …

Screening Southeast Asia: Film, Politics, And The Emergence Of The Nation In Postwar Southeast Asia, Darlene Machell Espena

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Language On Voter Opinion: Results From A Survey Experiment In Thailand, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Politicians have long engaged in marketing themselves by employing distinct speaking styles to signal social standing, competence, or a shared background with their audience. What effect does this use of different language appeals have on voter opinion? Utilizing a survey experiment in Thailand, I test a set of hypotheses about the effect of language on respondent opinions. Relying on three distinct treatments, a formal language register, an informal language register, and an ethnic language, I demonstrate the multiple effects of language on political appeal. The use of a formal register has mixed effects, signaling both high education as well as …

Berita Winter 2019/2020, Dominik M. Müller

Berita

Table of Contents

Letter from the Chair ... 2

MSB Group Events at the AAS Conference 2020, Boston, MA (March 19-22) ... 3–4

Article: ‘A Fresh Look at Fish Through a Brief History of Fish Head Curry’ (Geoffrey K. Pakiam) ... 5–10

Article: ‘‘My Second Home’: An Interview with Rose Chew,Ticketing Officer of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, 1990–2016’ ... 11–13

MSB Member News ... 14

Publications ... 14–16

Job Opportunities ... 16

Call for Applications: M.A. and PhD Programs ... 17–18

Call for Papers ... 18

Editorial Information ... 18

Commentary: What Lies Ahead? Considering The Future Of A ‘New’ Vietnamese Higher Education, Yasmin Y. Ortiga

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this commentary, Ortiga discusses two main tensions in how the authors in this volume portray the future of Vietnamese higher education. The first tension is the issue of autonomy or how universities must redefine their purpose and role in Vietnamese society as the state loosens its monopoly over higher education. Meanwhile, the second tension is the issue of privatisation or whether for-profit corporations and private agencies should play an increasing role in providing higher education services in the country. In reflecting on the future, Ortiga compares the case of Vietnam to higher education systems in neighbouring countries like the …

Berita Summer 2019, Dominik M. Müller

Berita

Letter from the Chair ... 2

Announcement ... 3

Prizes: John A. Lent Prize 2019 Commendation & Ronald Provencher Grant ... 3–4

Panel Reports: AAS Annual Conference 2019 (Denver, CO) ... 5–12

Article: “To Harmonize or Not Harmonize? Shariah Criminal Law in Malaysia” (Kerstin Steiner) ... 12–14

Article: “Reflections from the Field: On a Quest to Save the Poor: a Day in a “Zakat Camp” (Tímea Gréta Biró) ... 14–17

Article: “A Contemporary Ghost Story: The Tale of the Pontianak” (Rosalia N. Engchuan) ... 17–19

Book Review: Through Turbulent Terrain: Trade of the Straits Port of Penang (Loh, Wei Leng …

There And Back Again: What The Cold War For Southeast Asia Can Teach Us About Sino-Us Competition In The Region Today, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Expert commentary today typically focuses on the agendas and actions of the two big powers, the United States and China, which misses the bigger picture. During the Cold War, leaders of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) played a critical role in containing Chinese influence, shaping the terms of Sino-U.S. competition and rapprochement, and deepening the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia. The legacy of ASEAN’s foreign relations during and since the Cold War militates against the popular notion that Chinese hegemony in Asia is inevitable.

Evangelical Faith And Culture In The Lives Of Vietnam’S Upland Hmong - 1987-2017, Jim Lewis

Biblical and Theological Studies Faculty Works

This paper centers on the contemporary conversion movement to Christianity among the Hmong of the Northern Mountainous Region (NMR). Taking place within the brief scope of only 30 years, religious change among the 1.2 million highland Hmong in Vietnam’s fourteen provinces has resulted in some 330,000 declaring they have exchanged many traditional beliefs for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have embraced substantially the same faith as the Tin Lanh Church, which first came to Vietnam in 1911, one of Vietnam’s six officially approved religions. It is reasonable to claim that a mass movement of this magnitude among a …

(S)Expectations Abroad: Male Traveler Interactions With Southeast Asian Economies, Elliot J. Glotfelty, Glenn M. Miles

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Interacting with locals is a highlight of the tourism experience; however, these interactions may be accompanied by unsolicited propositions for the traveler to participate in the sex industry. Through the lens of Thailand’s largely visible sex industry, this work addresses issues of tourism and travel intertwined with the sex industry in greater Southeast Asia. Governments, a variety of businesses and individuals benefiting financially from a burgeoning sex tourism industry encourage persistence of a viable local sex trade. Although subtleties exist between human trafficking, the sex industry, and sex tourism, each can be intertwined. This article provides an overview of the …

Review Of Ang Cheng Guan, Southeast Asia’S Cold War: An Interpretative History, Wen-Qing (Wei Wenqing) Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Ang Cheng Guan’s Southeast Asia’s Cold War: An Interpretive History makes a welcome scholarly contribution to the field. As he rightly points out in the introduction to his book, the “voluminous” literature concerned with the Cold War in Southeast Asia has too long centered on the United States, European decolonisation, and/or the Sino-Soviet competition for Hanoi’s loyalty.

Collaborative Governance For The Sustainable Development Goals, Ann Florini, Markus Pauli

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The advent of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals has refocused global attention on the roles of business and other nonstate actors in achieving global goals. Often, business involvement takes the form of collaborations with the more traditional actors-governments and non-governmental organizations. Although such partnerships for development have been seen before, the scale and expectations are new. This paper explores how and why these cross-sector collaborations are evolving, and what steps can or should be taken to ensure that partnerships create public and private value. The arguments are illustrated with reference to cases of market-driven partnerships for agriculture in Southeast Asia …

Challenges Faced By Non-Profit Associations In Laos: A Case Study Of Huam Jai Asasamak, Raminder Kaur

Major Papers

This paper looks at the case study of Huam Jai Asasamak, a Non-Profit Association operating in Laos in order to understand various challenges faced by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the socialist regime of the Laos. It uses participant observation as a research method based on time spent living in Laos as well as other qualitative research methods including document analysis, observation, and interviews. The paper gives a contextual overview of Laos and shows that civil society is a new phenomenon in Laos linked to social and political consequences of opening up of the Laos economy in 1980s. Furthermore, the …

Berita Summer 2018, Dominik M. Müller

Berita

Table of Contents

Letter from the Chair ... 2

Announcements ... 3

John A. Lent Prize 2018 Commendation ... 4

Ronald Provencher Travel Grant Commendation ... 4–5

Panel Report: Food, Belonging, and Identity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Malaysia/Singapore ... 7–8

Article: Social Categorization and Religiously Framed State-Making in Brunei... 9

Article: A New Dawn for Malaysia: The Election that Tipped the Balance ... 22

Project Report: Project M: Campaigning with a “Dictator” ... 29

Book Review: Planting Empire, Cultivating Subjects: British Malaya, 1786-1941... 31

Call for Panelists and Book Chapters: Revisioning 2020 ... 32–33

Call for Book Chapters: Malaysian Politics …

The Reduction Of Mass Atrocity Crimes In East Asia: The Evolving Norms Of Asean's Prevention Mechanisms, David A. Frank

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

ASEAN member states represent a region that has experienced a dramatic reduction in mass atrocity crimes in the last forty years. Scholars have identified three structural explanations for this reduction: the decrease in the use of mass atrocities as a tool of war, rising incomes, and the spread of democracy. The evolution of complex and contested human rights norms during this same period contributed significantly to the positive role played by the three structural factors in the decline of atrocity crimes. This paper highlights the human rights norms that anchor ASEAN atrocity prevention mechanisms and suggests that the association can …

A Wide Anticommunist Arc: Britain, Asean, And Nixon's Triangular Diplomacy, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

President Richard Nixon’s triangular diplomacy succeeded because a “wide anticommunist arc” of U.S. allies in Southeast Asia had confined the influence of both China and the USSR to the Indochinese states. Beijing and Moscow welcomed détente with Washington in order to accommodate to de facto U.S. hegemony in the region.

Aging In Myanmar, John Knodel, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This spotlight provides an overview of thesituation of older persons in Myanmar, an under-studied country ofover-50-million population. Myanmar is of particular interest to researchersand policy makers, given its overall level of poverty and modestly rapidpopulation aging. Research on older persons, while increasing in recent years,remains sparse. Empirical evidence indicates that Myanmar older persons are inrelatively poorer health compared to those in neighboring countries. Many livein abject poverty and depend on their families for material support.Coresidence is very common and facilitates reciprocal exchanges acrossgenerations. Looking ahead, Myanmar confronts important challenges includingdemographic shifts that reduce availability of family support for older personsand …

Berita Spring 2017, Eric C. Thompson

Berita

Table of Contents

Chair’s Address ... 2

Editor’s Foreword ... 3

John A. Lent Prize Commendation ... 4

Ronald Provencher Travel Grant Commendation ... 5

Announcements ... 5

“Democracy and Development at Risk” – A Panel Report (J. Saravanamuttu) ... 7

Field Report: Kebun Culture (E.C. Thompson) ... 11

Remembering J. Norman Palmer (C.A. Lockard) ... 16

Member Notes ... 17

Berita Autumn 2017, Eric C. Thompson

Berita

Table of Contents

Chair’s Address...2

Editor’s Foreword ...3

Announcements ...3

Research Report: Mahathir’s 2018 Campaign ...4

Book Review: Taming the Wild ...9

Call for Papers: AAS 2020 (REVISIONING 2020) ...12

Call for Papers: Performing Citizenship in Singapore ...13

Call for Papers: Malaysian Politics and Peoples ...14

Call for Papers: Database of Religious History ...16

AAS 2018 Conference Panels with MSB Content ...17

A New Pathway To Enhance The Nuclear Security Regime, Francesca Giovannini

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The paper investigates the approach used by a new set of regional institutions, the Disaster Preparedness and Risk Management Organizations (DPRMOs), in strengthening regional governance and cooperation. It also inquires in what ways these new institutions might indirectly contribute to the establishment of a more cohesive global nuclear security framework. More specifically, through the examination of the case of Southeast Asia, the paper argues that these institutions, albeit without a specific and direct mandate to operate in the nuclear security domain, are fundamentally strengthening states’ capacity to assess risks and threats and to map vulnerabilities in timely fashion. They are …

Berita Autumn 2016, Eric C. Thompson

Berita

Table of Contents

Chair’s Address ... 2

Editor’s Foreword ... 4

John A. Lent Prize ... 5

“After Decolonization” – A Panel Report ... 6

Association for Asian Studies 2017 (Toronto) – Panels with Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei Content ... 8

Knowledge Cluster Development Through Connectivity: Examples From Southeast Asia, Hans-Dieter Evers, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Whereas since the 1990s national and regional planners saw the creation of knowledge clusters as a panacea for gaining a competitive advantage to propel a region or country into a higher stage of industrial development, recent research suggests that connectivity (e.g. through broadband penetration or joint research connections with collaborators elsewhere) is one of the enablers for socio-economic development. This paper will draw on the results of studies on knowledge clusters in Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) as well as the relevant current literature to ask the question, whether knowledge clusters really contribute to regional development and if yes, …

Building Participatory Organizations For Common Pool Resource Management: Water User Group Promotion In Indonesia, Jacob I. Ricks

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

States are increasingly striving to create participatory local organizations for joint management of common pool resources. What local conditions determine success of such state efforts? What effect do these efforts have? Drawing on controlled comparisons between three districts in Indonesia and an original survey of 92 water user groups, I demonstrate that local political contexts condition the effectiveness of participatory irrigation policies. When irrigation is politically salient, local politicians pressure bureaucrats to better engage with farmers. The data also show that training programs are not as effective at increasing water user organization activity as frequent contact between bureaucrats and farmers.

Understanding Societal Leadership: Strategy And Impact, Institute For Societal Leadership, Lai Cheng Lim, Molly Delaney

Institute of Societal Leadership Research Collection

This study focuses on the construct and discusses the characteristics and factors affecting the phenomenon of societal leadership. Reference is made to many worthy examples of social catalysts, innovators and leaders that the Institute for Societal Leadership (ISL) has encountered in each of the Southeast Asian countries and efforts are made to delineate the strategies that are used by societal leaders to create social impact. The study also discusses the various forms of societal leadership and ways in which effective societal leaders or social impact organisations collaborate across sectors to achieve their goals.