Asian Studies Commons^™

Issues And Perspective On The Covid-19 And Nepal: An Introduction, Ambika P. Adhikari, Basu Sharma

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

Even though Nepal has relatively fewer Covid-19 cases as of 24 September 2020 (about 70,000 cases and more than 450 deaths), the numbers are on the rise. If this trend continues for a while, the likely consequences of the Pandemic would be no less severe than elsewhere. Further, Nepal’s next-door neighbor India is now experiencing a rapid rise in the virus infection rate and virus-related death toll. In fact, as of 24 September, 2020, India is seeing some about six million total Covid-19 cases, and more than 92,000 deaths. As India and Nepal have open borders, and as India is …

Open University Of Nepal Initiative Lessons Learned From Designing An Institution Of Higher Learning, Pramod Dhakal, Drona P. Rasali, Ambika P. Adhikari, Raju Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

A group of Nepali diaspora members, represented by the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), started a campaign in 2009 to establish the Open University of Nepal (OUN) in partnership with the government of Nepal. Their motivation was to develop a quality university for the masses by mobilizing local, diaspora, and international collaborators for producing and disseminating knowledge in the public domain. The university was subsequently established in 2017 but it drifted away from many of the original objectives. Most critically, it embraced distance education as its central function while setting aside the aspiration of producing and sharing knowledge under the public …

Performance Of Cross-Border Acquisitions: Evidence From China, Yuanyuan Fan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in China has increased dramatically in recent years. Under China’s “go global” strategy, Chinese firms are devoting more capital and time to developing their overseas business. Cross-border M&As make up a large proportion of these activities. Therefore, it is crucial to determine what factors affect the performance of cross-border acquisitions.

Previous studies show that the acquirers’ post-merger performance is affected by various factors. Those papers mainly focus on domestic M&As. However, cross-border M&As also have unique features. In this study, I focus on Chinese cross-border acquisitions and the factors that affect the …

The Erosion Of Press Freedom: An Examination Of Hong Kong’S Book Publishing And Journalism Industries Post-Handover, Salonee Goel

CMC Senior Theses

Hong Kong was once touted for the openness of its press and its vibrant independent publishing scene. Now, seemingly reputable news organizations, such as the South China Morning Post, are undergoing editorial shifts and engaging in self-censorship while independent book publishers are being replaced by Chinese state-owned companies. These changes are a result of years of direct and indirect pressure on these industries by the Chinese government, which began even before the 1997 handover. In the past decade, these tactics have become more overt and their effects on the city’s news organizations and book publishers are increasingly visible. Through interviews …

Modern Mandala: A Transnational History Of Southeast Asians From Burma, Malaya, And Thailand, 1950-1970., Joann Losavio

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation documents cultural processes of decolonization and nation-building in the mid-twentieth century between 1950 and 1970 between Southeast Asia and the West, specifically between Burma, Malaya, Thailand, and Great Britain and the United States, as they occurred through transnational connections, migrations, spaces, and exchanges. This study proposes transnational factors were critical in such cultural processes, and proves this point through the examination of three case studies.

The first focuses on Malayan students in Great Britain in the early 1950s and how a group of them expressed anti-colonial ideas and desires for their own independent nation in a student journal, …

Why Some Authoritarian Regimes Do Not Just Win Elections But Win Big: Lessons From Cambodia And Malaysia, Limeng Ong

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Electoral authoritarian regimes have risen in the post-Cold War era. Elections and other nominally democratic institutions such political parties and legislatures not only do not make authoritarian regimes democratize but also help them to resist democratization. However, even if authoritarian regimes adopt electoral institutions, such adoption does not mean that all authoritarian regimes can easily manipulate elections. Indeed, some regimes hang on to power barely with simple majority votes, while others easily receive supermajority electoral support. What account for variation in electoral strength of ruling parties in authoritarian regimes? I attempt to answer this question. There are four main factors …

Apanola Atolan Pah Mollo At The Margin: Power, Development, And Ngo-State Relationship In West Timor, Indonesia, Yuda Rasyadian

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines how power operates within the NGOs and how NGOs’ agenda interacts with local forces that transform local civic life and their relationship with the state. Using critical ethnography as an approach and methodology, this study investigates the relationship between the agenda that was developed by an NGO-like institution named the UGM and the Mollonese’s local politics that in turn affected the NGO-state relationship in West Timor. This study uses ethnographic data from two separate fieldworks in the district of North Mollo, Timor Island. The first was conducted from January 2016 to January 2017, the second was from …

Rosenberg Institute For East Asian Studies At Suffolk University Annual Report For 2019-2020, Rosenberg Institute

Rosenberg Institute Annual Reports

These reports summarize the activities of the Rosenberg Institute during the academic year, including information related to public programming, visiting scholars, cooperation with the Asian Studies program at Suffolk College of Arts & Sciences, promotion of Suffolk's Asia-related activities, community outreach, and funding. Most reports also contain photographs of scholars, staff, and events.

A Comparative Study Of B-Class Culture And Kawaii Culture: A Case Study Of Pengsoo And Kumamon, Cai Wantong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

B-class culture is a unique type of South Korean culture, growing in popularity among the young Korean generation. Kawaii culture is the culture of cuteness in Japan, which has become an essential part of modern Japanese culture. In 2020, B-class representative- Pengsoo was accused of copying the Kawaii mascot- Kumamon. Most people compare them in terms of their appearance and PR strategies instead of their cultures. This thesis compares B-class culture and Kawaii culture based on the stratification, production, and consumption function theories. Through document information and sentiment analysis, B-class culture and Kawaii culture share similar generational stratification between the …

The Popularity Of K-Pop In North East India: Case On The Increasing Fame Of Bts Between 14-29 Age Group, Eshani Bora

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Hallyu Wave or Korean Wave in North East India began in the late 1990s pirated CDs, DVDs, and the Korean TV channel in Manipur due the Revolutionary People's Front ordered a ban on Hindi films and TV channels. The popularity of the Hallyu Wave has been present in the North East ever since due to many physical and cultural similarities. Today, due to the popularity of BTS, a seven-member boy group from South Korea who are the biggest boy group in the world have immensely popularized K-POP to the youth. Due to limited studies on K-POP in North East India, …

Sky Castle: A Reflection Of Challenges Of Family Institution In Korean Society Through Tv Drama, Kittiwat Jongchalermchai

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The purpose of this research is to investigate the existence of family institution in the context of changes in Korean society, as well as the societal reflections that come from them and the impact of education on family institutions. The methodology of this study is documentary research, which entails locating papers on current social issues in Korea, as well as content analysis, which examines scenes and dialogue in the series "Sky Castle". According to the study, Korean society places a high priority on scholastic achievement that it puts children under pressure and stress. All of these are represented through the …

Economic Development Of Burma (1948-1958): The Clash Between The Capitalist-Based Economic Plan And Socialist Ideology Implementation, Kyaw Htet

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Over 100 years of under British colony, Burma was liberated in 1948 inheritingmost of the colonial system especially in the administration and legal system however adopted the different political doctrine since the beginning. Socialism was chosen as the state ideology during the independent struggle and made it concrete by the AFPFL leaders especially by PM U Nu. Though widely hailed as a Socialist state yet not in the form of typical Socialist state seen in those Soviet-sphere countries but her own style combining the welfare system with traditional Buddhist culture. The first attempt of economic development on national scale was …

The Study Of Makeup Of Thai Female Fans Influencing From K-Pop Idols: Blackpink, Nichakon Parivatphun

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

With the increasing popularity of Korean idols in Thailand, it has become a trend among teenagers to follow their fashion, hair, and makeup. Korean Wave or Hallyu idols have become the object of envy of fans, and it is easy to find the behavioral trends of teenagers trying to imitate and follow their idols. The purpose of this research is to explore the make-up behavior of Thai female fans influenced by BLACKPINK and analyze the reasons and motivations in following the make-up behavior of their idol. The Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB), developed by Gardner (1985), was used for measuring the …

Influences Of Korean Presenters Toward Thai Consumers, Pilaiwan Makchaisataporn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The objectives of this research are to investigate the relationship between Korean Wave in Thailand and Thai consumers resulting in Thai products hiring South Korean as the brand presenter to promote its products in Thailand. This study is focusing on Thai products with South Korean presenters from 2007 to the present as well as studying the factors of the consumers' decision to purchase in Thai products with South Korean presenters, such as general consumer information, attitude towards products with South Korean presenters, external influences affecting product consumption, and product consumption behavior. However, this study provided a questionnaire to consumers who …

Factor For Thai Transgender Women Having Korean Stlyed Aesthetic Surgery, Sahatta Meksuteepitak

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research investigated some important factors affecting decision of Thai transgender women having Korean-styled aesthetic surgery. There were two main objectives for this research, which were 1) to study Thai transgender women's opinion and attitude toward Korean-styled aesthetic surgery, and 2) to identify the factors that affect decision on having Korean-styled aesthetic surgery for Thai transgender women. This research adopted a quantitative approach using online questionnaire as the research instrument. 375 sets of questionnaire were collected in this research. All questionnaires were filled by Thai transgender women who have had through Korean-styled aesthetic surgery. The data were summarized using descriptive …

The Promotion Of French Language And Culture By Alliance Française In Bangkok, Thailand, Shu-Chin Huang

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The French language plays an important role in international society. It is widely used in commerce, diplomatic and academic fields, and is generally recognised as a representative of high culture. However, the language is facing a fast decline in Southeast Asia due to globalisation, which has expanded the role of English very rapidly all over the world. To solve the problem of the decrease in the role of French in the world, Alliance Française was established to disseminate the knowledge of French language and culture around the world. This study aims to analyse the strategies used by Alliance Française to …

The Strategy Of Using Foreign Idols To Make K-Pop Entertainment Companies Success In Global Market: The Case Study Of Thai K-Pop Idols, Sida Smarnmit

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study explores the strategy of using foreign idols to makes K-POP entertainment companies successful in the global market. This research is qualitative research and analysis of people's perspectives from the interview of three groups of people and related research documents. In addition, this research used the generalized double diamond model by Chang Moon to analyze K-POP entertainment company's strategies. The results of study on the strategy of using foreign idols to make K-POP entertainment companies success in global market were (1) K-pop idol production system, appearance, and characteristic. (2) Thai K-pop idol production strategy and Social Network Strategy (3) …

Parasite: A Reflection On Social And Economic Disparities In South Korea, Wilasinee Nichasuk

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The purpose of this research is to analyze a reflection of social problems in "Parasite" film. The study is a qualitative research that uses semiology theory to analyze the social problems in the film through elements such as visual sign, scene, dialogue etc. The results of these analyses show that "Parasite" film reflects the social problems in South Korea through a visual sign, scene, dialogue such as disparity social class problems. These problems that occur in South Korea are partly due to a result of the rapid change in South Korea society and adoption of the capitalist system to develop …

The Study Of Women Leaders In Southeast Asia, Jin Meichen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In a patriarchal society, the subjection of women to men is a universal custom, so any departure from it appears unnatural. However, since the very early time in Southeast Asia, females enjoyed a relatively high status and independence. They also took important roles no matter in the family or the society. As a result, there were many outstanding women leaders and elite women throughout history. However, the concept of patriarchy still affects Southeast Asia society. It is more common for a man to hold the position of leader in society. This article studied female leaders of Southeast Asia during the …

Holding The Therapeutic State At Bay? Balancing Autonomy And Protection In Singapore's Vulnerable Adults Act, Wing Cheong Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Abuse, exploitation and neglect of adults raise complex issues on the freedom of the individual to choose for themselves versus the powers of the State to intervene. The law has traditionally limited the scope of compulsory intervention to extreme situations only which can frustrate social workers who deal with such cases. On the other hand, it would be unacceptable to allow intervention simply because it is assessed to be in the adults’ best interests. A balance therefore has to be struck between autonomy and protection. This paper examines how Singapore’s Vulnerable Adults Act identifies the point for intervention and embodies …

Regulation Of Derivatives In Asia: When Technology Meets Financial Engineering, Christopher C. H. Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter introduces the current state of derivatives market regulation in Asia following the global financial crisis. It focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong, the two largest international financial centres in the region. Singapore and Hong Kong have adopted international regulatory reforms, including mandatory trade reporting, centralized clearing, exchange trading requirements and the initial margin rule. The implementation has varied greatly because reporting requirements and initial margin rules have been implemented whereas clearing and trading requirements are waiting for full implementation. The arrival of financial technology may help Asian regulators oversee derivatives markets, by improving cross-border information sharing, reporting or …

Competition, Markups, And Gains From Trade: A Quantitative Analysis Of China Between 1995 And 2004, Wen-Tai Hsu, Yi Lu, Guiying Laura Wu

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper provides a quantitative analysis of gains from trade in a model with head-to-head competition using Chinese firm-level data from Economic Censuses in 1995 and 2004. We find a significant reduction in trade cost during this period, and total gains from such improved openness during this period is 7.1%. The gains are decomposed into a Ricardian component and two pro-competitive ones. The pro-competitive effects account for 20% of the total gains. Moreover, the total gains from trade are 13 − 31% larger than what would result from the formula provided by ACR (Arkolakis et al., 2012), which nests a …

Singapore In The Global Value Chains, Pao-Li Chang, Tran Bao Phuong Nguyen

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this chapter, we analyze the participation of Singapore in the global value chains (GVC): how much of its gross exports are GVC-related trade, how downstream it is, and which countries are its key upstream and downstream trade partners. This is done at both the country aggregate and at the sector level. New formulas are proposed in the gross export decomposition framework of Koopman, Wang and Wei (2014) and Borin and Mancini (2017), to characterize a country/industry’s downstreamness in the GVC and the importance of each trade partner in its backward/forward linkages. Singapore is found to start off with a …

Political Financing Reform: Politics, Policies, And Patronage In Malaysia, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Edmund Terence Gomez

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article analyses the evolution of political finance reform debates in Malaysia, one of the world’s most durable electoral authoritarian regimes. While the reliance of the dominant party, UMNO, on unfettered resources remained unchanged, crises in Malaysia’s political environment allowed civil society actors to concretise abstract debates over reform into specific proposals. Drawing from interviews, public statements and observation, two distinct periods in this reform debate are analysed: after Najib Razak assumed power in 2009, following the unprecedented electoral success of the opposition during the 2008 general election; and after the 1MDB scandal broke in 2015. In both periods, civil …

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 …

China’S Regulatory Approach To The Sharing Economy: A Perspective On Ride-Hailing, Huiqin Jiang, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

While the sharing economy brings significant social benefits in China, it comes with regulatory challenges that are novel and unpredictable. How should regulators handle these challenges? This paper offers fresh insights into the regulatory approach to the ride-hailing industry, the most comprehensively regulated sharing industry in China. A historical review identifies three regulatory approaches deployed to date: self-regulation, market-based regulation and government regulation. Self-regulation relies on the platforms with incentive to provide better service for greater profit, and to deal with sharing-specific challenges. Market-based regulation invites rivals to keep a watchful eye on other players, in order to enhance their …

Cross-Border Regulation Of Securities Markets In Asean, Wai Yee Wan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

How does cross-border regulation of securities markets work in Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)? How closely are the securities markets coordinated within ASEAN from the regulatory perspective? What is the optimal regulatory model of integration of securities markets that balances the economic benefits of integration and yet minimizes the risks of contagion and advances the state’s national goals? The issues posed by these questions are important against the background of strong growth of the Asian economies and Asian capital markets, and how the ASEAN states can take advantage of such growth to facilitate economic growth. According to the …

Article 152 Of The Singapore Constitution: The Past, Present, And Future Of Multiracial Recognition, Inclusion, And Accommodation, Eugene K. B. Tan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The bicentennial commemoration consists of a year-long series of events to mark the 200^th anniversary of the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore on 29 January 1819. The arrival of the British resulted in the creation of Singapore as a free port and marked the economic, physical, and social transformation of the island, which continues today. Yet, the irony is that the bicentennial commemoration also deliberately seeks to shed light and focus on a more distant past: The half-millennia before Singapore was colonialised and when Singapore was known as Temasek and seen as part of the Nusantara.

Land Of The Falling "Poison Pill" Understanding Defensive Measures In Japan On Their Own Terms, Alan K. Koh, Masafumi Nakahigashi, Dan W. Puchniak

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Embraced by United States ("U.S.") managers in the 1980s as a lifeline in a sea of hostile takeovers, the poison pill fundamentally altered the trajectory of American corporate governance. When a hostile takeover wave seemed imminent in Japan in the mid-2000s, Japanese boards appeared to embrace this American invention with equal enthusiasm. Japan's experience should have been a ringing endorsement for the utility of American corporate governance solutions in foreign jurisdictions -but it was not to be. Japan's unique interpretation of the "poison pill" that was so eagerly adopted by Japanese companies in the mid-to-late 2000s has turned out to …

Spatial Multi-Objective Land Use Optimization Toward Livability Based On Boundary-Based Genetic Algorithm: A Case Study In Singapore, Kai Cao, Muyang Liu, Shu Wang, Mengqi Liu, Wenting Zhang, Qiang Meng, Bo Huang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this research, the concept of livability has been quantitatively and comprehensively reviewed and interpreted to contribute to spatial multi-objective land use optimization modelling. In addition, a multi-objective land use optimization model was constructed using goal programming and a weighted-sum approach, followed by a boundary-based genetic algorithm adapted to help address the spatial multi-objective land use optimization problem. Furthermore, the model is successfully and effectively applied to the case study in the Central Region of Queenstown Planning Area of Singapore towards livability. In the case study, the experiments based on equal weights and experiments based on different weights combination have …