2. ... iEconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions:Reconstructing Scenes In A Moving Asia (East And Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

3. ii ...Economic Prospects Cultural Encounters, and Political Decisions:Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows© Partner Institutions of the Asian Public Intellectuals Program: Research Center for Regional Resources,The Indonesian Institute of Science (PSDR-LIPI); Center For Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS),Kyoto University; Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia;School of Social Sciences, Ateneo de Manila University; Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University.First published 2005All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in anyinformation storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Nippon Foundation - Asian PublicIntellectuals Program, Tokyo.A PDF version of this book is also available online at http://www.api-fellowships.orgPrinted by:Sasyaz Holdings Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaEconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

4. ... iiiCONTENTSAbout the book viiAcknowledgements ixThe Contributors xMESSAGES A Challenge to Public Intellectuals vix EMIL SALIM Transnational Exchange and Learning xxiii YOSHEI SASAKAWAINTRODUCTION Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters, and Political Decisions: xxv Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) EDI SEDYAWATIPart I: STATE BOUNDARIES AND ETHNIC IDENTITY Towards Transnational Dayak Identities? Changing Interconnectedness, 1 Identities and Nation States: A Case Study On Iban-Kenyah Relations in Sarawak, East Malaysia DAVE LUMENTA Voyages and Ethnicity Across Reordered Frontiers: 19 Conflict Resolution and Leadership in the Dynamics of Ethnic Identity Formation among the Sama Dilaut of Semporna WILFREDO M. TORRES III Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the Formation of Local Identity: 39 A Case in Northeast Thailand AKIKO TASHIRO Inter-Ethnic Relations in Ikan Bilis Fishery: Experiences of 50 Seberang Takir People in Terengganu, The Malay Peninsula MOTOKO KAWANO Towards Sustainable Urban Identities: A Comparative Study 67 of Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Fukuoka, Japan SLAMET TRISUTOMOPart II: THE CHANGING CONTEXT OF NORMS AND LEGALITY Prostitution: In Search of Cultural Concepts in Thai Contexts 78 APRILIA BUDI HENDRIJANI Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

5. iv ... A Comparative Study of Juvenile Justice Systems in Malaysia 90 and Japan: A Review of Policies, Approaches and Strategies ALLAN J. VILLARANTE A Zigzag Tour Across Ethnopolitical Borders in Southeast Asia 107 ARNOLD M. AZURIN A Comparative Study of Ethical Awareness Related to Information 118 and Communication Technology Security Issues Between Japanese and Thais PATEEP METHAKUNAVUDHI 1965: Indonesian Historical Memory – the Enforcement of Forget 134 NADIAH BAMADHAJPart III: ECONOMICS AND NON-MARKET FACTORS Alternatives to Consumerism: Study of Consumer Movements 143 in Malaysia and Japan VASANA CHINVARAKORN Adaptation Strategies of Small Enterprises of the Muslim Minority 158 in the Philippines During the Economic Crisis Era ANAS SAIDI The Impact of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct 174 Investment (FDI) Flows on the Globalisation Process in Selected Southeast Asian Economies JOSE M. GALANG JR.Part IV: CHANGING SOCIAL RELATIONS Decentralisation and Transformation of Local Politics in Thailand: 184 The Case of Lampang Province FUMIO NAGAI The Street Vendor Movement in Southeast Asian Cities: 197 Case Study of Street Vendor Organisations in Power Relations with the State in Metro Manila and Kuala Lumpur TATAK PRAPTI UJIYATI The Alternative Media and Democracy in a Globalised World 208 MUSTAFA K. ANUAREconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

6. ... v Unbounded Identities: Some Chinese Voices During the Indonesian Revolution 222 SUMIT K. MANDAL Putting the First Last – Networking NGOs in Indonesia 230 TETSUYA ARAKI Problems and Prospects of Industrial Relations: The Social and Economic 241 Dimensions of Foreign Workers in Fishing Enterprises in Sabah, East Malaysia MOHAMMAD ‘AZZAM MANAN Women’s Issues and Changing Roles of Women’s Organisations 256 in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines) DARUNEE TANTIWIRAMANONDPart V: CREATIVITY, RELIGION AND SOCIETY Woman, Religion and Spirituality in Asia 273 SR. MARY JOHN MANANZAN Localising the Global: Southeast Asian and Western Instrumental 281 Styles in the Contemporary Soundscapes of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia FRANCISCO A. ENGLIS To Compose as an Asian – The Relationship Between Traditional Music 297 and the Works of Contemporary Composers in the Philippines and Indonesia MOTOHIDE TAGUCHI Evaluating a New Possibility for Traditional Culture in International Aid 310 TOSHIAKI TAKASAGO The Declarations of Independence 316 ADELINE OOI YAH-CHINE Literary Culture for the Future: Looming Shapes in Japan 333 and the Malay Archipelago MUHAMMAD HAJI SALLEH The Contemporary Documentary in Japan 341 CHALIDA UABUMRUNGJIT Fostering Botanical Art Illustration Towards Plant Conservation 348 and Environmental Protection LALITA ROCHANAKORN Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

7. vi ...APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Workshop Schedule 354 Appendix 2: Workshop Outcomes 357 Appendix 3: Workshop Participants 366 Appendix 4: Abstracts of Papers 370Index 378Contact Details 394Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

8. ... viiABOUT THE BOOKAs Asia enters the 21st century, it faces political, economic, and social challenges that transcend nationalboundaries. To meet these challenges, the region needs a pool of intellectuals willing to be active in the publicsphere who can articulate common concerns and propose creative solutions. Recognising that opportunitiesfor intellectual exchange are currently limited by institutional, linguistic, and cultural parameters, The NipponFoundation launched the Asian Public Intellectual (API) Fellowships on 8 July 2000. The Fellowships’ primaryaims are to promote mutual learning among Asian public intellectuals and contribute to the growth of wider publicspaces in which effective responses to regional needs can be generated.Each year, the work of each group of Fellows is presented at a workshop and published in a book. This publication,Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions: Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast), is acollected work of the second group of Fellowship recipients. It comprises 28 papers of the projects undertaken bythe 2002/2003 Fellows, which cover several key areas: state boundaries and ethnic identity; the changing contextof norms and legality; economics and non-market factors; changing social relations; and creativity, religion andsociety.This, and all API publications can also be downloaded from the Program’s official website: http://www.api-fellowships.org.The FellowshipsThe Fellowship Program was launched on 8 July 2000 and comprises the API Senior Fellowship and the APIFellowship. The Fellowships are open to academics, media professionals, artists, non governmental organisation(NGO) activists, social workers, public servants and others with moral authority, who are working to shape publicopinion and influence policy in their societies. The objective of these Fellowships is to give these intellectualleaders the opportunity to learn what their counterparts are doing in different cultural and ethnic contexts, generatetheoretical ideas to cope with social and economic change, and build the intellectual networks of the future.The programme’s first five participating countries are Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan,with management of the programme entrusted on a rotation basis to the partner institution in each country. Thisarrangement holds for the first several years of the Fellowship’s existence, with a view to increasing the number ofparticipating countries in the future.Within broad themes for the intellectual, cultural, and professional projects determined by the API ExecutiveCommittee, Fellows are required to: • Propose and carry out a project of research and/or professional activities in a participating country or countries other than their native country or country of permanent residence; • Conduct research and/or professional activities in compliance with the schedule accepted by the International Selection Committee; • Attend the API Workshop to exchange results of their research and/or professional activities with other Fellows; • Disseminate their findings and results to a wider audience; and • Pursue a deeper knowledge of each other, and hence the region. Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

9. viii ...For the first three years of the Fellowships (2001-2004), the three main themes were: • Changing identities and their social, historical, and cultural contexts; • Reflections on the human condition and the quest for social justice; and • The current structure of globalisation and possible alternatives.An API Follow-up Grants programme was subsequently initiated in 2004-2005. This programme seeks to encourageAPI Fellows to further develop and enrich their activities as public intellectuals, particularly in collaborative work,and to identify individuals and organizations that have the potential of becoming extended members of the APICommunity and support their activities.The Nippon FoundationFounded in 1962, The Nippon Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, grant-making organisation based in Japan.The Foundation strives to address the myriad societal issues that fall outside of the scope of traditional sectorsby assisting the people who are living and working closest to the problem. To date, the Foundation has providedsupport for a wide range of projects administered by nonprofit organisations in over 90 countries, focusing primarilyon basic human needs, multilateral cooperation, and human resources development.Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

10. ... ixACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the APIRegional Coordinator, oversaw the publication of this second API book, and are most grateful to the following:• The API Fellows for writing their papers and revising them whenever necessary for content and technical purposes;• Edi Sedyawati, Workshop Director of the Bali Workshop in 2003, who oversaw the content editing of the papers for the workshop, and then for this publication; Tatsuya Tanami, Director, International Program Department of Nippon Foundation, and Ragayah Haji Mat Zin, Director of IKMAS, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; the Program Directors and Coordinators of the API Program and the Program Assistants for their valuable input into publication matters;• The editors in Kuala Lumpur, Wong Siew Lyn and her team, who handled technical editing, indexing and the publication of the book; and Karen Freeman, who edited the papers for the Bali Workshop; and• The various Program staff for doing the behind-the-scenes legwork Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

11. x ...THE CONTRIBUTORS(in alphabetical order according to names as they are spelt)ADELINE OOI YAH-CHINE is an independent curator based in Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Trained at theCentral St. Martin’s School of Art and Design in London, she is researching and producing a documentary thatexamines the changing identities and roles of young artists in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, as her APIFollow-up Grant project.AKIKO TASHIRO is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate Division of Foreign Studies at Sophia University. In herAPI Fellowship term, she was a research fellow at the Institute of Asian Cultures at Sophia University, and shelooked at how the conservation of cultural heritage influences local communities and their identities in Thailand.ALLAN J. VILLARANTE, a Senior Legislative Research Officer of the Philippine House of Representatives, didcomparative research on systems of juvenile justice in Japan and Malaysia, an endeavour which he believes wouldenrich the current Juvenile Justice Bill, pending before the Philippine Congress for more than a decade.ANAS SAIDI has spent the last decade researching culture and economic issues, which are his main area ofresearch. He is with the Center for Social and Cultural Studies (PMB-LIPI) in Indonesia. His study of the resilienceof Muslim minority small businesses in Manila in the face of national economic crisis, revealed some deep-rootedchallenges for the community.APRILIA BUDI HENDRIJANI is working as a Research Assistant at the Asia Pacific Studies Center inIndonesia’s Gadjah Mada University. She was deeply affected by what she saw as part of her work on prostitutionin Bangkok with scenes that were “perhaps, too many for only a pair of eyes”.ARNOLD M. AZURIN is the Vice President for External Affairs, Anthropological Association of the Philippines.It is his belief that instead of ignoring ethnic and linguistic diversities, it is more viable to try harmonising thesedifferences by rediscovering the politically submerged commonalities and kindredship in local and global heritage.CHALIDA UABUMRUNGJIT is the Project Director of the Thai Film Foundation, a non-profit organisationestablished by film activists to promote film culture in Thailand on the basis that cinema is an intellectual asset.Chalida is interested in pushing the use of cinematic power to make a difference in society.DARUNEE TANTIWIRAMANOND left an academic career to co-establish the Women’s Action and ResourceInitiative (WARI) to fulfil capacity building and gender sensitivity needs in Southeast Asia. WARI carries outresearch, education and training, working collaboratively with government and non government organisations.DAVE LUMENTA was a JSPS Visiting Researcher with the CORE Project on the Dynamics of Flows andMigrations in Southeast Asia, Center for Southeast Asian Studies - Kyoto University, when he worked on his APIFellowship paper on transnational Dayak identities. He is now a Doctoral Student at the Graduate School of Asianand African Area Studies - Kyoto University.EDI SEDYAWATI was the Director of the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Universityof Indonesia (1989-1993) and the Director-General for Culture, Department of Education and Culture (1989-1993).With doctorates in archaeology and art history, she has published, held key positions in academic and professionalorganisations, and won awards in various fields, including archaeology, art history, iconography, philology and dance.Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

12. ... xiEMIL SALIM is the former State Minister for Population and Environment of Indonesia, and has held positionsin various international sustainable development related bodies and initiatives, including the United Nations HighLevel Advisory Board on Sustainable Development and the World Health Organization Commission on Healthand Environment.FRANCISCO A. ENGLIS is an ethnomusicologist and Professor VI at Mindanao State University-Iligan Instituteof Technology. He also sits on the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. He is founder and trainer ofleading Filipino regional choral group Octava Choral Society, and his ethnic-inspired choral compositions are inthe repertoires of top national choirs.FUMIO NAGAI is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Law, Osaka City University. His research interestsrange from the topic of decentralisation in Thailand – with due attention to the process of policy formation incentral government – to the broader theme of local governments, public administration and international relationsin Southeast Asia.JOSE M. GALANG, JR. is one of the Philippines’ leading business and economics journalists, with a 35-yearcareer including stints as Editor-in-Chief of The Manila Times, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of The Manila Chronicle,and Managing Editor of BusinessWorld. He is on the Board of Advisers of the Philippine Centre for InvestigativeJournalism.LALITA ROCHANAKORN has been an artist for about 30 years, and is an advocate of botanical art illustrationas a potential discipline which could contribute towards nature conservation, especially of endangered plants. Shehas set up the Asian Botanical Art Guild in collaboration with artists from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailandand the Philippines.SR. MARY JOHN MANANZAN, is the Prioress of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in Manila and theExecutive Director of the Institute of Women’s Studies, St. Scholastica’s College, Manila. As Chairpersonof Gabriela, the biggest coalition of women in the Philippines, she managed and directed 288 organisations inexploring and reconciling women’s issues.MOHAMMAD ‘AZZAM MANAN is a Researcher with the Center for Social and Cultural Studies (PMB-LIPI)in Jakarta. In his Fellowship topic, he looked at the factors behind migrant labour in the fishery sector in Sabah,Malaysia, a labour force which is indispensable yet whose treatment remains unfair.MOTOHIDE TAGUCHI, a freelance composer, has been searching for a personal voice in music composition thatreflects the traditional music and culture of his country. His works have been played in several concerts and festivalsincluding the 16th Japan Society for Contemporary Music composition awards (nominee), 8th International YoungComposer’s Meeting in the Netherlands, and the 9th Yogyakarta Gamelan Festival.MOTOKO KAWANO is a Doctoral Student at the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, KyotoUniversity. Her focus area is the unique tapestries of inter-ethnic relations. In the face of globalization, she sees theneed for cooperation among individuals, communities and for the state to come out with frameworks on how tolive together peacefully.MUHAMMAD HAJI SALLEH, Professor of Literature, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and author, is devotedto the enhancement of knowledge of literature and the arts, particularly in Malaysia, where it is being increasinglymarginalised due to emphasis on science and technology. He believes comparative studies are key tools for effectiveresearch. Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

13. xii ...MUSTAFA K. ANUAR is Associate Professor at the School of Communications, Universiti Sains Malaysia(USM) in Penang. He is also the Assistant Secretary of ALIRAN, Malaysia’s oldest human rights group. Hefocuses on freedom and transparency in communication as being crucial to a people’s development, dignity, well-being and identity.NADIAH BAMADHAJ’s art work challenges official historical memory, both personal and political. A trainedsculptor, she has added video and digital photography to express her concerns in this field. Currently she isworking on a Malaysian project questioning the validity of contemporary architecture and public space as historicalsignifiers of our future.PATEEP METHAKUNAVUDHI is concerned about the ethical and legal aspects of information and com-munications technology. She is Professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Management and Leadership,Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.SLAMET TRISUTOMO is with the Department of Architecture, Hasanuddin University, Indonesia, where heis also the Chairperson of the Postgraduate Programmes. In his Fellowship period, he looked at the problems in,and solutions to sustaining the urban identities of two key cities in, respectively, a developing country, Malaysia,and a developed country, Japan.SUMIT K. MANDAL is an historian at the Institute of Malaysian & International Studies (IKMAS) whoworks on cultural diversity and cultural politics in Southeast Asia, focusing on Muslim societies. He believes theFellowship has great potential in creating rich and unconventional knowledge networks across borders, groundedin the experience of individual communities. TATAK PRAPTI UJIYATI is interested in the ways disadvantaged groups are affected by different types of regimes and state policies. She is a researcher with the non-profit Indonesian Institute for Public Policy Research, which aims to improve the quality of public policies in Indonesia, and a senior researcher with consultant firm Institute for Political Preference Survey. TETSUYA ARAKI is developing a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) based networking model of non gov- ernmental organisations. His other specialty field is food engineering, especially the freeze drying of foods. He is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo. TOSHIAKI TAKASAGO is a staff writer with Tokyo daily Sankei Shimbun. In the Fellowship period, he looked at how declining traditional culture in a developed country is revived as a form of aid to a developing country, by following the trail of a project using the abacus. VASANA CHINVARAKORN is a senior feature writer for the Outlook Section, Bangkok Post. She covers a wide range of issues, notably, education, consumer protection, environment, and spirituality. WILFREDO M. TORRES III spent the Fellowship period with a Bajau Laut family in Semporna while investigating ethnic identity formation. He is determined that while ethnicity makes us build walls and fences, our differences give us more reasons, to build bridges. He is currently the Program Officer of The Asia Foundation’s conflict management program.Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

14. ... xiiiYOHEI SASAKAWA is the President of the Nippon Foundation, and World Health Organization SpecialAmbassador for the Elimination of Leprosy. Through the Foundation, he envisions a world in which humanshave transcended politics and ideology, and religion and race, in the effort to find solutions to poverty and humanmisery. Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

15. xiv ...MESSAGEA CHALLENGE TO PUBLIC INTELLECTUALSEMIL SALIMFormer State Minister for Population and Environment of IndonesiaSKELETON OF A CONTEMPORARY VILLAGE work of swinging the sickle to cut the rice stalks.A friend of mine just returned from her home villageafter spending her Idil Fitri celebration there. She was ‘Miracle rice’ also requires chemical fertilisers, pesticidesdismayed to watch the deterioration of her village. and irrigated water. To boost the production of this rice, the government has provided these materials at aShe remembered with fondness how she used to be subsidised price. Gone is the organic fertiliser, pushedwoken up early in the morning by the sound of the aside by cheaper chemical fertilisers. Production of ricewooden bells that hung around the necks of a herd of per acre of land has increased. But through time, thebuffaloes passing her home. amount of fertiliser needed to produce 4 tonnes per hectare, continues to increase. More and more chemicalNow it is all quiet. Tractors have replaced the buffaloes, fertilisers are required, reducing the organic fertility ofsince the government has introduced ‘miracle rice’. But the soil, until the soil can only support the productiontractors need diesel oil and proper maintenance. If these of rice with chemical fertilisers.are not forthcoming, then rice fields cannot be ploughed.The price of diesel oil and cost of maintenance have Pesticides are needed to cope with germs, bugs, andrisen sharply since the 1997 crisis has hit the economy. other harmful micro-organisms. But the more pesticideSince then, the farmers have not used the tractors, is sprayed, the more pesticide seems to be needed.while the buffaloes have already been sold. The rice Moreover, the rain washes leftover pesticides fromfields are barely being planted now due to rising costs in irrigation drains into rivers. The pesticide kills fish andtandem with meagre benefits. Furthermore, a lot of men other biological resources. As a small child, my friendhave left farming and have migrated to the cities to do used to use a bamboo basket to catch small fish for herodd jobs to earn money. own consumption. The river is now dead and has no fish any more.In the past, aunts, mothers, sisters, and nieces loved tocut rice stalks in the rice fields with a small wooden knife With subsidised inputs for rice, the whole rice foodcalled ani-ani. It was a work of joy, where everybody programme has evolved into a subsidy-dependenthelped everybody else. Mutual help and the spirit of pattern of production. This makes other agriculturalcooperation flourished and formed the basis for their products that are not subsidised unattractive; thesesocial relationships. include fruits, flowers, and non-rice food. The whole agricultural sector has grown along a distorted priceNow with the ‘miracle rice’ seed, rice plants are shorter. structure, with negative consequences on non-riceA sickle has replaced the ani-ani as a tool to cut rice production.more efficiently, but now it is used by men. The colourfulpicture of women dressed in their native kebaya working Meanwhile, by eroding the natural fertility of soil,in a sea of yellow rice fields has now been replaced by chemical fertilisers are gradually poisoning the soil. Inthe naked chests of men dripping with sweat due to the an experiment where volumes of chemical fertiliser wereEconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

16. ... xvwashed away from the soil, a period of 10 years passed What the government initially conceived as a policybefore the soil could be used to grow fresh vegetables, for assuring decent incomes for the farmers, has becomefruits, and rice using organic fertilisers again. a vehicle for making quick money for those in charge through cooperation with the traditional moneylenders-Nonetheless, the Green Revolution has made a cum-rice-buyers.significant impact on the increase of rice productionin Indonesia. In the 1970s, Indonesia was importing When visiting her village, my friend was struck by theclose to 25 per cent of the global marketable surplus of fact that the most luxurious house in the village was therice. In the mid 1980s, it reached food self-sufficiency. personal property of the VUC manager.This increase of rice production has raised the incomeof farmers in the rural areas. It plays an important role Meanwhile, the village only has an elementary school.in reducing the percentage of those living below the Secondary high school is 15 kilometres from the village.poverty line. It has significantly altered the natural as Children have to walk and those who can afford to, gowell as social landscape of the country. by bicycle. What’s more, there are no health services in the village. Again, one has to walk kilometres to reachOn the other hand, it has destroyed the social and a health centre in the city. As for other facilities, thecultural fabric of the village society. Those who gained Rice Huller Company has bought the previous informalmost from this Green Revolution were the farmers market place under the banyan tree and this openwith large landholdings above one hectare. They could space has been transformed into a cemented yard to dryafford the use of modern tractors, irrigated rice fields, paddy.rice-hulls and dryers. The head of the village is a young man with high schoolBut the farmers with small land-holdings of below education. He has no aspirations to get the villagehalf a hectare are suffering badly. They usually end up moving ahead. His preoccupation is to move upwards,borrowing money by using their small land-holdings to get out of the village and to go to the city. To reachas collateral and becoming net rice buyers after their this goal, he feels obliged to serve his superiors at themeagre production of rice is exhausted. sub-district level and every dignitary who passes through his village by providing them with local fruits or freshThe government has set up a buffer-stock agency in vegetables, which he takes freely from the farmers.charge of keeping the price of rice stable at a profitablelevel for the farmers. If the price of rice dropped below This is not a unique skeleton of a contemporarythe floor price, the agency is entitled to buy rice from village in Java. It is rather a representative picture,the farmer. The agency is also entitled to sell the rice in with a much worse situation in the eastern part of thethe market when its price exceeds the predetermined Indonesian archipelago, which is suffering from irregularceiling price. The agency is working through the Village transportation and communication.Unit Cooperative (VUC) in every village to implementthis buffer-stock operation. Criticism of the Green Revolution is not new. What is surprising, however, is the fact that the aftermathUnfortunately, most of the VUC managers are of this revolution is so devastating. What is urgentlyinexperienced, so the scheme has failed to reach its needed now is to raise pertinent questions, such as whatobjective of assuring good incomes for the farmers. In went wrong? Why is this so? What can be done to getaddition, because of their inexperience, many VUC these villages out of the poverty trap? What changesmanagers are working with traditional rice buyers. These are required?are traditional creditors who have a debt relationshipwith the farmers, who use their credit limits to meet UNSUSTAINABLE GROWTHtheir needs in the off-harvest season. Debts are paid by The main lesson that can be drawn from the experiencesselling rice in advance of the harvest at a low price to of this village is that it suffers from a degradingthese creditors. development process at the micro level within an Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

17. xvi ...unsustainable development pattern at the macro level. cities dynamic growth centres with adequateThis is indicated by the following features: electricity, drinking water supply, housing, and• First, at the micro level, the agricultural transportation facilities which attract migrants. development that takes place is heavily subsidised Increased population in the cities raises the and promotes environment-unfriendly inputs demand for more investment in infrastructure that such as chemical fertilisers and pesticides. This further stimulates population inflow to the cities. subsidised system distorts market prices at the This, in turn, induces investment in education, expense of local environmental-friendly inputs, health, electricity, and housing development that such as organic fertilisers and local micro- increases the gap between urban and rural sectors, organisms. The most costly consequence of creating a brain drain from rural areas and the this approach is that it eliminates the organic loss of creative as well as productive people. This fertility of the soil and makes it too dependent perpetuates unequal growth between urban and on chemicals. This affects agricultural products rural areas. through increased contamination that, through consumption, negatively affects human health. • Fifth, the development process makes use of the financial markets, which are able to register• Second, the average farmer has no access to natural economic signals of change but fail to record social resources to raise production and income. There and environmental signals. The consequence is that is no access either to information about other cost structures take into account only economic opportunities for raising income. Nor is there any costs, but ignore social and environmental costs. access to participate in developmental decision- Environmental components exist mostly in making at the local level. There is no facility in the public domain and are hence accessible to the village for education, health, or capacity- everybody. Therefore, environmental costs are building to raise villagers’ productivity. In brief, usually treated as external factors outside a firm there are no facilities or services that allow the and are not internalised in conventional cost and poor to raise their capacity to alleviate poverty, so benefit accounting. Therefore, polluting companies the poor remain stuck in the poverty trap. are not paying environmental costs, which then become then the burden of the general public.• Third, there are no organisations or institutional The same applies to social, cultural and political arrangements, including from the government, components that fall within the public domain, that deal with the misfortune of the villagers and such as social cohesion, cultural enhancement, and protect them from being overcharged, mishandled political stability. The market fails to give them or extorted by usurers. Government agencies that market value. Only the government can correct are supposed to assist the farmers to stabilise the this by interfering in the market through the use price of rice and to liberate them from usurers, of subsidies or taxation and internalise social and are part of the system that perpetuates their environmental externalities into the development suffering. Civil society is too weak at the village cost structure. level. There are no informal leaders with sufficient strength to protect the villagers. Meanwhile, the To meet these five challenges, it is important to move formal leaders are more concerned with their own away from a strict economic approach and also tackle personal interests, which lie outside the boundaries social and environmental issues. But this requires a of their villages. different approach of development that requires the full commitment of the government to merge economic,• Fourth, at the macro level, economic development social, and environmental components into the is supported by exports of goods and services mainstream of sustainable development. which are provided by the modern sector with capital, technology, and sophisticated skills. Conventional development takes labour, natural These activities take place in urban areas, making resources, capital, technology, and skills as individualEconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

18. ... xviifactors of production. In sustainable development, this Renewable resources can be used up to the threshold ofview must changed. its restoration level. Beyond this, the resources cannot renew themselves. This is the reason why soil, fauna,Labour as a production factor is considered human flora, and fish must not be exploited beyond theircapital. Through education, capacity building, increased threshold of restoration levels, if they are to supporthealth, and improved nutrition intake, the productivity sustainable development.and quality of human capital can be increased. But natural resources exist within a network ofWhat is overlooked is the inter-relation and interaction ecological systems or ecosystems. There are marinebetween individuals that creates social capital. A ecosystems, coastal ecosystems, lowland ecosystems,more cohesive society can assure a better societal forest ecosystems, mountain ecosystems, and so on.environment that induces more sustainability compared Within the context of these various ecosystems, theseto a more loosely connected society. This is particularly natural resources develop the capacity to support life.true for Indonesia with its hundreds of ethnic groups, Development can only be sustainable if it maintains theraces, religions, and a geographic spread of islands over life support function of ecosystems.a distance equivalent to the distance from Londonto Cairo. In such a society, social cohesion must be The third factor of production is man-made capital.enhanced. And social investment is urgently required Through technology, man created industries,to develop social tranquillity. Spending on human infrastructure, and other capital products. Technologyresources development is hence of equal importance as itself is also man-made. But most of these technologiesspending on man-made capital. have been developed following the laws of nature. In a way, technology is man’s attempt to imitate nature in aNatural resources are the second significant factor of man-made environment.production. The value of natural resources dependson their scarcity. The greater the demand on a scarce There is, however, also financial capital that is basednatural resource, the higher its value and price. Natural on transactions in the market. Financial capital suchresources are not homogenous and can be distinguished as cash funds, investments, and other monetaryas: instruments lubricates the use of natural resources and• perpetual resources, such as direct solar energy, human resources to produce and consume goods and winds, tides, and flowing water; services.• renewable resources, such as soil, water, air, fauna, and flora; and These combined factors of production of labour, natural• non-renewable resources, such as metallic minerals resources, and man-made resources have given humans like copper and aluminium; non-metallic minerals the ability to produce, distribute, and consume goods like sand, clay, and phosphates; and fossil fuel like and services to satisfy human wants and needs within gasoline and gas. an economic system. In this economic system, it is the market that gives signals to consumers, producers andThese distinctions have different implications governments to make economic decisions on what,on sustainability in resource use. Non-renewable where, how, and how much to consume and produce.resources are depleted in the course of their use. Theirsustainability has a finite time horizon. To ensure The economic system is considered the overridingsustainable development, non-renewable resources must main system that dominates all other systems such asbe most efficiently managed, where possible, recycled, social and environmental systems, which are treated asand when fully depleted, substituted by other resources subordinate to the economic system.that can do the same function. Meanwhile, a depletionfund should be set up and invested in activities to In the economic system, the allocation of resources isperpetuate development when non-renewable resources dictated by the price mechanism of the market. Onlyare used up. market based economic decisions are taken, and other Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

19. xviii ...considerations that do not enter or are registered by the course of development, to move from conventional tomarket are disregarded. sustainable development.Social considerations, such as the inability of the poor, CHANGING PARADIGMScompared to the rich, to control natural and man-made With the increase in the population of the world fromproductive resources, are not revealed in the preference almost 4 billion people in 1972 when the first Unitedscale as captured by the market. As a consequence, ‘the Nations Conference on Human Environment washaves’ control more resources, and the rich get richer launched in Stockholm, Sweden, to almost double thatand the poor poorer, both individually and as a country – 8 billion by 2020, and combined with the increase incompared to other countries. income and consumption levels of people around the globe, the pressure on natural resources and ecosystemsEnvironmental considerations are also outside the scope will grow beyond their carrying capacities.of the market economy. Pollution, resource depletion,biodiversity erosion, environmental degradation, If all the 6.1 billion people of the world today wantedgreenhouse gas emissions leading towards global to have the same lifestyle and consumption level of thewarming, climate change and sea level rise – all of these 280 million people of the United States today, theyare ignored especially by those championing the free or would need a land area of three Earths combined.2 Thisliberal market because they are not registered in market is clearly not possible.prices. And because of this, the handling of theseenvironmental issues are not considered as important To cope with this challenge, the prevailing paradigmsas mainstream development issues, such as control of of conventional development must change to those ofinflation, employment, or terrorism and war. sustainable development. Development does not follow the single path of economy, but it must follow a mutuallyThis has led the President of the World Bank, James interactive economic, social and environmental pathWolfensohn, in a Board of Governors of the World of development that flows into the mainstream ofBank meeting, to state in his speech that, “Our planet sustainable development.is not balanced. Too few control too much, and toomany have too little to hope for – too much turmoil, It is in this context that the following considerationstoo many wars, too much suffering.” 1 must be met: • First, in recognition of its function as the humanThe current conventional type of development is life support system, the ecological system must beclearly not sustainable when economics is the major treated as the main system, while the economic anddominating system, while social and environmental social systems are subordinate subsystems. Naturalfactors are its sub-systems, and when the market resources and ecosystems become constraints thatregisters only economic preferences, and not social or set the boundaries within which development takesenvironmental preferences. It is also not beneficial for place. Economic and social development must nowthe poor, the vulnerable, and the socially weak, and not ensure that they do not exert negative impacts onsuitable to ensure the sustainability of ecosystems as life the ecological system. Realising that the marketsupport systems. does not identify these negative impacts on an ex ante basis, it is important that the governmentThe experience of the contemporary village above is corrects these market failures. This requires aa living demonstration of the failure of conventional paradigm shift of looking at development not fromdevelopment to recognise the principle of sustainability. the economic point of view, but from that of the ecological system’s sustainability.It is important that other villages need not experiencesimilar fates in the future. It is with this consideration • Second, the development process does notthat Indonesia, Asia, and the world must change their proceed on a unilateral line, emphasising onlyEconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

20. ... xix economic development. Rather, it follows a The general targets are: multilateral line embracing the economic, social, 1. to integrate the principles of sustainable and environmental dimensions of development. development into country policies and programmes Sustainable development is conducted in an and reverse the losses of environmental resources; interdependent matrix relationship between 2. to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without economic, social, and environmental factors sustainable access to safe drinking water; and of growth; there is an interactive relationship 3. to achieve by 2020, a significant improvement in between and among these three elements. All three the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers. factors must be in equilibrium when implementing sustainable development. To monitor the MDG the following nine indicators have been agreed:• Third, a triangular partnership among govern- • Proportion of land area covered by forest; ment, business, and civil society needs to imple- • Ration of area protected to maintain biological ment sustainable development together. The diversity to surface area; government is the overall agency responsible in a • Energy use (kilogramme oil equivalent) per $1 state and is usually concerned with upholding its Gross Domestic Product at Purchasing Power political power. Businesses are interested in devel- Parity; oping their economic power. Civil society focuses • Carbon dioxide emissions (per capita); on vulnerable groups whose interests are bypassed • Consumption of ozone depleting CFCs (ODP by the market and who obtain marginal attention tonnes); from other groups. Development usually takes • Proportion of population using solid fuels; place by governments in cooperation or sometimes • Proportion of population with sustainable assess to by cooptation by business and vice versa. Civil so- an improved water source, urban and rural; ciety is kept outside of economic decision-making. • Proportion of urban population with access to Democracy and sustainable development is only improved sanitation; and genuinely effective if this triangular partnership • Proportion of population with access to secure prevails. tenure (owned or rented).4• Fourth, the prevalence of good governance is a The merging of economic, social and environmental strategic prerequisite for the sound implementation factors into sustainable development can be monitored of sustainable development. Transparency, through these nine indicators, whose data are available. accountability, and participation must be the These indicators are supplementary to available global guiding rules of good governance in implementing indicators such as: sustainable development. Without these guiding • World Development Indicators by the World rules, development has proven to be a failure in Bank; assuring sustainability. Nigeria, Niger, Madagascar, • Human Development Index by the UN Develop- Zambia, Haiti, Venezuela were much better off 40 ment Program; years ago than today in spite of the availability of • Environmental Performance Measurement by the rich natural resources.3 World Economic Forum; • Global Competition Survey by the World Eco-On the basis of these four considerations, a set of nomic Forum; andsustainable development indicators have been selected • Corruption Perception Index published byby the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Transparency International.Development (OECD), that is derived from theMillennium Development Goals (MDG) as agreed by These indices give a comparative view on what can beHead of Member States of the United Nations in the achieved by other countries within a given time frame.year 2000. It also may serve as guidance as to which direction to go. Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

21. xx ...A VISION OF THE FUTURE the growth of industries to process extractive resources.Many of the Indonesian villages and rural sector are Domestic factors have been key elements in stagnatingsuffering serious setbacks. One reason is the neglect of development in the Indonesian rural and village sectorssocial and environmental development and a biased and development in general as well. But external factorsemphasis on an economic approach to development. are currently exerting an increasing obstructive role inThe growth in rice production depends more and getting development to take place and to pull the poormore on subsidised chemical fertilisers and pesticides out of their poverty trap. While domestic factors arewhile disregarding their negative impacts on the being handled, more and more attention is absorbed toenvironment. tackle external factors.When this subsidised system collapsed, the incentive to The world today is full with global challenges. In theproduce rice stopped. Prices of agricultural products were 1980s, the IMF, the World Bank and the US Treasurynot attractive compared to their costs of production. reached a consensus in Washington DC to meet these global challenges with a strategy of development onAs for other commodities, Indonesia was in the past a the basis named the Washington Consensus. The basicmajor producer of sugar. Developed countries, however, ideas are:are heavily subsidising sugar, inducing farmers fromrich countries to produce more, thus pushing the global • First, the role of government in the economysugar price down. This artificial low price of sugar has must be minimised. It reflects the spirit of thedestroyed Indonesia’s sugar sector. time when transition is taking place from a communist command economy to capitalistSubsidies in the US, for one, has hurt other sectors market economy. It gives rise to liberalisation andand countries. Subsidies for cotton in the US directly market fundamentalism with its zeal to free up thebenefits only 25,000 mostly very well-off US farmers, markets, including financial and capital markets;who account for a third of total global output. This is • Second, to promote privatisation of state-owneddespite the fact that US production costs are double the enterprises, to eliminate government regulationsinternational price. These US farmers have gained at and interventions in the economy, includingthe expense of 10 million poor African farmers. It is not removing subsidies. The private sector, especiallysurprising to find in Africa, countries that lose more in foreign companies, has better access to financialtrade than they gain in aid. Mali, for instance, received capital and technical experts and hence isUS$37 million in aid but lost $43 million from depressed considered to be in a better position to createprices due to subsidies by developed countries.5 employment; • Third, the government’s role is to assure macroIn terms of exports, the exports of garment and textiles stability with its emphasis on inflation control.into the US follows a quota system. The US has linked In this context promoting exports is preferred tothe increase of Indonesia’s quota in textile and garment removing impediments of imports. Participatingwith the opening up of Indonesia’s market for US in the export market is in line with globalisationchicken meat. This importing of US chicken meat is of the economy.also important to meet US standards as required byfranchise arrangements of US food chains operating in In implementing this doctrine, it soon became apparentIndonesia. that this could not be treated as a ‘one size fits all’ doctrine, but required modifications in its implementation. MostIndonesia is a mineral rich country and the mining worrying is the fact that this doctrine is applied in aindustry does play an important role in its economy. globe that suffers serious inequality between nations.However, the industry is limited to producing raw This inequality is strengthened and sustained by themining material only. High import duties on processed application of double standards perpetuated by themining products in developed countries are obstructing Washington Consensus in managing global challenges.Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

22. ... xxiDeveloping countries are asked to remove subsidies contents of these policies, programmes and processesand open their markets in the global economy. But must be designed bottom up through a participatorysubsidies in developed countries still remain, especially process from the field among the participants ofin agriculture and processed mining products, where the triangular partnership of government, businessdeveloping countries have comparative advantages but companies and civil society.are hampered to make use of it. In global development index terms these objectivesDeveloping countries must apply a balanced budget to mean that most Asian countries must reach in 2020:control inflation, while developed countries are running • Middle income country level of below thedeficits in disregard of their impact on the global price US$5,000 per capita (constant value);level, especially negatively affecting basic necessities • Moderate level of Human Development Index;for the poor. • Low level of corruption perception index; • Medium-high competition index; andMacro economic stability is focused too much on • Moderate environmental performance measure-inflation control, but less on opening employment ment.opportunities in developing countries with highunemployment rates. Policy measures are promoting The Organisation for Economic Co-operation andforeign investment, while ignoring the need for an Development (OECD) in their projection on the worldequal playing field for local companies that have to face in 20206 has predicted that Big Five non-OECD majorfierce competition for which they are unprepared. players are those countries that have both populations in excess of 100 million and Gross Domestic ProductsBy applying the Washington Consensus, it is clear that above US$100 billion. They play important roles ininequality in the globe will prevail. The rich will get trade, investment, agriculture, energy, and the globalricher and the poor will get poorer. environment. Along with other countries, each of these Big Five countries plays a leadership role in theirWhat is wrong with the Washington Consensus respective regions and in international relations. Theseis that it follows a singular economic-only-tract of Big Five countries are Russia, China, India, Indonesiadevelopment. It ignores the social and environmental and Brazil.tracts. The Washington Consensus also relies solelyon the strength of private enterprises as engines of Of these Big Five countries, China, India and Indonesiadevelopment. It ignores the possible positive role of are in Asia. It is hence reasonable to assume that ingovernments and civil society. It forgets that without the first quarter of the twentieth-first century, globalchecks and balances among government, business and development will be influenced by Asian development.civil society in a participatory democracy, clean and And that Asian development will be pulled by thegood governance cannot be forthcoming. ‘locomotive’ of China, India and East Asia, in which ASEAN, with Indonesia, is part of it.The Washington consensus did not realise thatthe market is imperfect, especially in recording the The prevalence and effectiveness of sustainablepreference scales for social and environmental services. development in the globe will be determined by whatIt is clear that the Washington Consensus will bring us a extent Asian development will pursue the sustainablefuture that is totally not acceptable. We need therefore path. China is planning to aim for a ‘one-car-per-family-a vision for a new future: a future of Asia 2020 with: by-2020’. India has more or less the same ambition. The• Less poverty as its economic objective; crucial question is how these aspirations are being met.• More equity as its social objective; and If Asia is following a development path that is more or• Better quality as its environment objective. less similar to that of developed countries during their initial industrialization phase, which is not sustainable,This requires a pro-poor economic policy, pro-equity then sustainable development will not become a realitysocial policy and pro-quality environment policy. The within an Asian development model. Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

23. xxii ...The challenge now, however, is how to pursue a A public intellectual is more than a scholar withsustainable development model for Asia, which its knowledge, science and wisdom at his or her possession.billions of people. If development is to be sustainable, A public intellectual has also a moral obligation and ait clearly calls for a different approach in road, urban, conscientious responsibility to provide the way that istransportation, energy and industrial development. most fitting, especially to the general public, to meet theThe current model of development relies heavily on challenges of the future along the path of sustainablefossil fuels with their resulting carbon dioxide emissions development.and negative impacts on air pollution, global warming,climate change and sea level rises that will hit hardest In this Second Asian Public Intellectual Workshop, letdeveloping countries, especially those at the equator, us seize the opportunity to rise to the challenge for Asiarather then developed countries. And within these to lead the globe in its quest for development that iscountries, the poor will suffer most. sustainable and enables current and future generations to live a humane life with dignity and prosperity forGlobal warming will also increase the drying up of all.surface fresh water. With the reduction of forest areas,the capacity of ecosystems to conserve water will also Notesdrop. Fresh water supply will reduce while its demandwill go up due to population increase and developmental 1 James D. Wolfensohn, “A New Global Balance, theneeds. Likewise, land degradation and desertification Challenge of Leadership”, address of the President of thewill increase. World Bank Group to the Board of Governors in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 23 Sept. 2003, 13.While environmental challenges are increasing, the risein social challenges will make development much more 2 G. Tyler Miller, Jr, Sustaining the Earth, An Integratedcomplex. The growth in population, of which 65 per Approach, fifth edition, (N.p.: Wadsworth Group, 2002),cent of the total population is expected to concentrate 7.in urban area, means an increase in the struggle forland, water and space, which will raise potential social 3 The World Bank, World Development Report 2003,conflicts. If business-as-usual is pursued, the discrepancy Sustainable Development in a Dynamic World,Transformingbetween rich and poor will increase, and that will also lnstitutions, Growth and Quality of Life, (N.p.: The Worldraise potential social conflicts. Bank, 2003) 149.In brief, future challenges in the economic, social and 4 Lisa Segnestam, Indicators of Environment andenvironmental realms will be much more complex Sustainable Development, Theories and Practicalthan today. These challenges require different modes, Experience, Environment Department Papers, Theparadigms and models of development, incorporating World Bank (Jan. 2003) 27.all these three elements into a single flow of sustainabledevelopment moving with a clear vision towards a new 5 Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Roaring Nineties, (New York:future. W. W.Norton & Company, 2003) 207.It is in this context that history calls for the emergence 6 Organisation for Economic Cooperation andof Asian public intellectuals to provide intellectual and Development, The World in 2020, (Paris: OECD, 1997)moral leadership in this changing world, like lighthouses 13.providing guidance for ships that pass in the night.Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

24. ... xxiiiMESSAGETRANSNATIONAL EXCHANGE AND LEARNINGYOHEI SASAKAWAThe Nippon FoundationI am delighted to have this opportunity to meet the clear that the people of Asia had little knowledgesecond group of Asian Public Intellectuals (API) about their Asian neighbours. We discovered that ourFellows, and join the workshop. I would like to express understanding of our neighbours was limited to whatmy heartfelt appreciation to His Excellency Emil we saw through the eyes of Western scholars. This wasSalim, Dr. Umar Anggara Jenie, Chairman of LIPI, a source of great concern to us. Further promotion ofDr. Taufik Abdullah, former Chairman of LIPI, and mutual knowledge and understanding, through directother esteemed guests, for taking time out from their exchange and dialogue, was urged.busy schedules to attend the opening ceremony of thesecond API workshop. One conclusion that we reached was that there was a strong need for a new framework that would provideIt has now been three years since the API Fellowship Asian people with as many opportunities as possibleProgram was started. I would like to express my sincere to engage in mutual exchange and cooperation. Atgratitude to the members of the Partner Institutions the same time, it became clear that Asian countrieswho have administered the Program from the beginning were facing an increasing number of problems thatwith such earnest effort and dedication. transcended national boundaries, for which Asia had to find its own solutions. This was complexly intertwinedI am also grateful to the members of the Domestic and with the wave of globalisation that had swept the world.International Selection Committees. These people, As a result, it was becoming increasingly difficult for awith their outstanding insight, have selected remarkable nation to solve problems by herself alone.Fellows. With these people’s support, the Program hasbeen a great success. Following the end of the Cold War, it was thought that the world would finally tread a path of peacefulFor this workshop, we have been blessed with the development. Instead, we have witnessed the rise ofwonderful support and cooperation of two organisations a range of complex issues that threaten human life,in particular: LIPI and IKMAS UKM. livelihood, and dignity, such as terrorism, ethnic and religious conflicts, and the gap between the rich andFinally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the poor.each and every one of the people involved, for theirwonderful work. We tried to identify the root causes that led to this situation, and ways in which we could tackle theseIn the late 1990s, we, at The Nippon Foundation, had various issues. We asked ourselves who could identifybeen searching for ways in which Japan, as a member of and articulate these issues and bring together people’sAsian society, could participate in collaborative efforts knowledge and efforts to resolve them. We reached thefor the development of Asia. Through discussions with conclusion that Asia needed more publicly committedeminent Asian intellectuals at the time, it became intellectual leaders, or ‘public intellectuals’, with the Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

25. xxiv ...ability to tackle these issues. And to that end, we would However, in order to bring about change, this potentialidentify these public intellectuals and provide them must be realised and fully harnessed. API Fellows arewith opportunities for transnational exchange and expected to make use of their research findings andlearning. work, not only for the good of their own country and society, but to transcend national borders and fields ofThey would be given opportunities to engage in expertise. They are expected to work with each othercollaborative activities, so that they could bring together towards the resolution of common issues.their wisdom and knowledge, and articulate measuresfor resolving these problems. They would then need to In that sense, this workshop is a wonderful opportunitybe organised to implement the proposed solutions. to elevate the potentials of individuals to a greater collective potential, and identify ‘what we can achieveThe API Fellowship Program, for which we are gathered as a community’.here today, was established in response to such needs. Intellectuals are often criticised for only generatingThe API Community comprises a total of approximately new ideas, and not putting them into action. What120 fellows including the fourth group of Fellows that distinguishes the public intellectuals of the APIwas selected yesterday by the International Selection community is that they not only generate new ideas,Committee. but also devise ways of putting them to use.If we further add the people that support this API I hope that the participants of the workshop will shareFellowship Program in participating countries – the with each other their research results and their extensivemembers of Committees and Partner Institutions knowledge and experience, generating new and feasible– the API community expands to a group of about 200 ideas that will lead Asia to a better future.people. I sincerely hope that this workshop will be rememberedThis regional community, consisting of individuals who as a success, and I look forward to the future activitieshave significant social influence and are committed to of the API Fellows.the betterment of society, has strong potential to bringabout change.Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

26. ... xxvINTRODUCTIONECONOMIC PROSPECTS, CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS, AND POLITICAL DECISIONS:SCENES IN A MOVING ASIA (EAST AND SOUTHEAST)EDI SEDYAWATIResearch Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, University of IndonesiaOVERVIEW 2. A regional scope, such as the European UnionEconomic prospects, cultural encounters, and political and the Association of Southeast Asian Nationsdecisions are inter-related in a mutual cause-effect (ASEAN); andrelationship. Multinational enterprises have expanded 3. The ‘special interest’ or advocacy multilateraltheir operations and now cover ‘the whole world’. organisations such as the Non-Aligned MovementAccordingly, they recruit staff from any country that (NAM) and the Organisation of the Islamicsuits their demands for efficient expertise. The staff Conference (OIC).are fully aware of how to cope with multiculturalsituations. The second largest scope of decision-making is that of the state as a whole, represented by governments andRecent listings of qualifications required for recruitment other national agencies. Of lesser dimensions are thoseor even in-house training include an aptitude to deal of local administrative units, within which there are awith cross-cultural problems. In a positive way, this number of layers.can be regarded as a concrete implementation of theideal demand of the world today: that there be a mutual The smallest unit of decision-making is that of theappreciation among cultures. community.However, since the ultimate goal of corporations It goes without saying that noise may intervene in theis always to make as much profit as possible, the communication of political decisions from the largest toemployment of individuals with cross-cultural aptitudes the smallest dimension or scope, and vice versa.is directed more towards ‘conquering’ the targetedculture bearers. A position of advocacy, on the contrary, Cultural encounters often happen as the outcomes ofeither taken by governments or by non governmental activities are primarily directed at economic prospects.organisations (NGOs), is normally more directed Alternatively, they can be the result of some politicaltowards strengthening the dignified existence of every decision on any level. An example of a culturalliving culture. encounter aimed at economic prospects is trade, while that related to a transmigration project is an example ofLooking at ‘politics’ in a broad perspective, we have to the result of a political decision.note that scope of political decision-making is varied. The relationship between two parties can either beThe largest dimension is represented by international symmetrical or asymmetrical, in terms of educationalor multilateral organisations, either state-based or level, the possession of the means of production, theotherwise. They can be classified as having: command of certain religious teachings, priorities in1. A worldwide scope, therefore claiming or expecting political networking, etc. Encounters of peoples of to aspire to universal values, such as the United different ethnicities within one territory used to be Nations and the World Trade Organisation; classified as resulting in either assimilation, the making Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

27. xxvi ...of a ‘melting pot’, or an acceptance of plurality. and promoted intensively. However, some parts of those ‘gains’ were originally owned by certain otherThe overbearing terms or phrases that appear daily in nations or ethnic groups. Some protection and legalthe press the world over reverberate with the words of schemes regarding cultural rights are in favour of thepolitical figures, such as, “democratisation”, “human industrialists, to the effect that the original traditionalrights”, “free markets”, and even, “towards a stateless owners are left without a stake. A case in point is thesociety”, or “we are now living in a global village”. legal registration of traditional designs by foreigners.Those terms and phrases, however, are often used indiscourse that implies a compulsion to be absolutely Industrialisation implies the creation of new needsbelieved. among consumers. Many of these new needs are indeed beneficial since they may enrich one’s life by enlargingIt is only in some scientific articles and research reports the spectrum of experience, or ease the difficulties of life.that a specific situation (in a specific society with a Products of the cultural industry are the most influentialspecific culture) is dealt with scrupulously, thus bringing since they may transform, or even alter people’s tastes,the understanding that a sense of democracy, for preferences, and thinking.instance, could be present without having the outwardappearance of a democratic system like that found in In the beginning, it was the book that constituted the‘another country’. most important product of the cultural industry, in terms of its capacity to influence people’s minds. Next, it wasThe term ‘tradition’ is also often misunderstood. the influence of the technology of sound recording andAlthough the rise of modernism was initially a reaction then the music record industry. The contents wereagainst tradition, it should by no means mean that initially of European culture and its offshoots in thetraditions should be totally wiped out to give way to United States. Not to be missed out is the film industrymodernisation. Modernity and tradition should not which began in the US as a successfully marketedbe seen as encoded in complementary forms, and thus business.absolutely opposed to each other. Modern thinkingand conservation of tradition should be allocated their Since the products of those cultural industries have beenrespective fields for application, and hence the two can disseminated widely throughout the world, includingbe integrated within the life of a person, a community, countries outside their origins, cultural influences haveor a nation. been the natural consequence, including the best and the worst of its influences. Alas, an overwhelmingA PROBLEM OF EXPOSURE AND influence in ‘targeting other countries’ may also resultRECOGNITION in the alienation of the people of those ‘other countries’Many writers have acknowledged the fact that as a from their own traditional cultures.result of previous colonisation processes as well asso-called ‘globalisation’, there is an imbalance of Through the products of the Western cultural industrychoices and political power (backed up by military and (often paralleled with modern educational systemseconomic powers) between the rich industrial countries based on Western models) the minds of those ‘target’and the poor ‘developing’ countries. The so-called people become more or less ‘Westernised’, to a levelsecond revolution in human civilisation, which was that they consider the Western model the only properindustrialisation, had made its initiators leaders in ever- and legitimate one in the world. The worst effect is thatexpanding market creation. All the rest of the world everything in accordance with the Western model istends to be seen as potential markets and sources of raw regarded with high esteem, while the cultural heritagematerials. of a people’s own country is looked down upon.Meanwhile, instruments for the protection of their At this point we can no more speak of a freedomgains, resulting from exploration, exploitation, as well as of choice, since the choice has been dictated bydata organisation and innovation, have been designed aggressive promotion and advertising, which are partEconomic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions :Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast)The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows

28. ... xxviiof the strategies of the cultural industry. The culturally be addressed immediately is that of the provision ofcounterproductive effect is the fact that the dominating, capital. It is understood that for developing countrieseasy-to-access cultural merchandise is that of the this problem is a dilemma, since primary livingpopular genre. As a consequence of the inundation necessities should also be prioritised. It is only a systemof foreign cultural goods from highly industrialised of incentives that may provide the most direct solution,countries, the cultures of developing countries mostly apart from the allocation of funds from the governmentsuffer from a problem of lack of exposure, and hence a itself.problem of recognition. FREE MARKET MEANS CULTURALTheir own traditional cultural expressions, such as in DOMINATIONliterature, the visual and performing arts, including The cultural industry tends to grow in an unlimitedarchitecture, become rarely exposed in comparison with fashion, ever searching for markets for its products. Asthe flood of the so-called ‘modern’ culture. Knowledge a source of economic growth, industrial and tradingand appreciation of the fruits of traditional culture companies have made themselves more and more solidbecome scarce and tend to be regarded as unimportant, and powerful, more so when they embark upon theor even irrelevant and disreputable. establishment of multinational corporations.Moreover, their own new cultural industries may have These economic agents need a free market to developbeen developed according to the dictates of the low- their ingenuity. This expression of need is an economicbrow popular tastes cultivated by the originally Western standpoint that has become a political ideology,mass art such as is the case of certain kinds of movies championed persistently by governments of countriesand popular songs, resulting in imitative products. having great economic power.A PROBLEM OF CAPITAL The importing of products of the cultural industry hasThe cultural heritage as well as historical awareness of been in some ways detrimental to many local cultures.a people constitute the basic ingredients for an identity. Local cultures have been pushed to the margin to giveIt is therefore a compelling necessity that advocacy free way to products of the cultural industry that claimshould be given to the resurgence and the strengthening to be the embodiments of a ‘destined global culture’. Inof a people’s cultural and historical awareness. This fact, the contents of mass products are mostly of Westernadvocacy can only succeed if it is backed up by a strong origin, and of the low- and mid-brow category.visionary cultural industry in its widest sense. From a local culture’s point of view, the more pressingThis industry should consist of not only the production situation is the fact that the ideology of free markets goesof tangible cultural products such as books, records, films, hand-in-hand with that of ‘a free flow of information’.and all other forms of tangible media, but also a system Again, the leading party within this sphere of theof production of events for direct cultural encounters, ‘third revolution in human civilisation’, that issuch as performances, exhibitions, workshops, seminars, information systems and technology (IT), is mainly theetc. representative of Western culture.Political decision-makers should recognise that the The abundance of cultural goods facilitated by freecultural industry does have a deep impact on the mental market principles is encouraging cultural domination.and spiritual life of a people. It should not be disregarded Non-Western potentials that have risen to theand overshadowed by the calculations of material and challenge are still limited, coming mainly from Chinesephysical gains only within a development programme. and Japanese cultural backgrounds. Indian intellectuals have indeed contributed their share in the developmentOnce a decision has been wisely made to support cultural of IT as well as theoretical thinking on ‘global’ issues,and historical awareness towards the enhancement of but in terms of the content of the cultural industry, theira nation’s pride and dignity, the practical problem to contribution is not significantly influential yet. Economic Prospects, Cultural Encounters and Political Decisions : Scenes in a Moving Asia (East and Southeast) The Work of the 2002/2003 API Fellows