“Building Back Better” than what? Lessons in Indonesia after volcanic eruptions

• Unsettled Frontiers: The author’s account about 4 months ago

  States may be more adept at initiating market formation than managing the market’s unruly and uncertain outcomes, which are particularly devastating for vulnerable and minority populations.

• Human rights in the age of Southeast Asian extractivism about 4 months ago

  Analysing the development of Filipino, Thai and Indonesian laws and policies for the achievement of the human right to a healthy environment.

• Hydro-power projects and cultural rights for Bunong communities in Cambodia about 4 months ago

  The LSS2 dam blocked 2 of the Mekong River Basin's largest rivers, with serious social, economic and cultural impacts.

• In Indonesia, Sumatra’s coal brings more harm than good about 4 months ago

  The coal sector is strongly linked to national and regional oligarchs, and coal businesses often play a role as financiers for political candidates.

• Indonesia’s geopolitical future needs robust climate action about 4 months ago

  Equipping activism with a geopolitical angle might prove useful, giving environmentalism a base in foreign policy and economic nationalism.

INDONESIA AT NEW MANDALA

• “Building Back Better” than what? Lessons in Indonesia after volcanic eruptions about 2 days ago

  The Sendai Framework lays out clear actions to reduce disaster risk. But how effective is it?

• No protection, more repression: freedom of expression in Southeast Asia about 1 week ago

  ...these are fundamentally contrary to the principles of international human rights law and fail to meet the principle of “legal certainty” of international law.

• Rethinking self-censorship in Southeast Asia’s media landscape about 2 weeks ago

  By intentionally devising concealment strategies that maintain the core messages...research participants demonstrate their commitment to continue producing critical information while avoiding punishment.

• The Macbethian tragedy of Indonesian democracy about 2 weeks ago

  While observers might be surprised that Jokowi harboured despotic tendencies, never had he hid his stripes...The essence of the tragedy is the circularity of a flawed system and bad actors.

• Symptoms of anti-Intellectualism in Indonesian democracy about 1 month ago

  Returning pressure onto public intellectuals, as Luhut did, only increases the public’s support for the dissenters

THAILAND AT NEW MANDALA

• Rethinking self-censorship in Southeast Asia’s media landscape about 2 weeks ago

  By intentionally devising concealment strategies that maintain the core messages...research participants demonstrate their commitment to continue producing critical information while avoiding punishment.

• Thailand’s long-anticipated submarine deal has hit yet another snag about 3 weeks ago

  What maritime threat does Thailand face that surface ships cannot handle more effectively and cheaply?

• Redefining my Thai identity about 2 months ago

  It seems like being Thai means I have to overlook the barbaric killings and the state impunity as if it is a way of life.

• Looking beyond borders at Asia Pacific Triennial 10 – Part 1 about 2 months ago

  APT10 forces us to look past the categories of nation or ethnicity to embrace perspectives in life that are centred on multiplicity and hybridity, on community and friendship.

• New Books in SEAsian Studies: Craig Reynolds’ Power, Protection and Magic in Thailand about 2 months ago

  Meet a legendary policeman who trained in martial arts and the occult...

• Seni Baru: new art from Bali & Bandung about 4 weeks ago

  Featuring art from the "other" major art centres in Indonesia, this exhibition includes the work of 6 mid-career artists.

• Beyond borders at APT 10 Part 2: Textures & translations in SEA abstraction about 1 month ago

  Drawn from local contexts, these abstractions also transcend borders.

• Redefining my Thai identity about 2 months ago

  It seems like being Thai means I have to overlook the barbaric killings and the state impunity as if it is a way of life.

• Looking beyond borders at Asia Pacific Triennial 10 – Part 1 about 2 months ago

  APT10 forces us to look past the categories of nation or ethnicity to embrace perspectives in life that are centred on multiplicity and hybridity, on community and friendship.

• Senam rudat: performing arts and participation in Pasir Putih, North Lombok about 2 months ago

  Adapting traditional dance for healthy community building with local women; but are gender boundaries reinforced or deconstructed?

• The women entrepreneurs of early modern Vietnam about 3 weeks ago

  Their contributions were fundamental to shaping Vietnam’s early modern social, religious, and economic society, but historical scholarship has neglected their experiences for centuries.

• Whose history, whose future? Creating a new legacy of shared maritime heritage about 3 months ago

  Proactive engagement, people-to-people connections, developing mutual trust and respect is essential to protect Perth for the future.

• Forgotten art history: the art of Chinese-Indonesian women in the 20th century about 3 months ago

  Uncovering transnational and gendered experiences reveals a far richer and more multifaceted picture of Indonesian art and identity.

• At what cost: The impact of Indonesia’s Omnibus law on underwater cultural heritage about 1 year ago

  Why, after such a long hiatus, is underwater cultural heritage is once again being considered as an economic, not an archaeological or historical, resource?

• Remembering HMAS Perth (I) for the future about 1 year ago

  For Indonesia and Australia, the salvage of Perth has put maritime heritage cooperation into the spotlight, prompting greater bilateral engagement.

• Cambodia’s 1991 Paris Peace Agreements: Thirty years of contested commemoration about 6 months ago

  Stakeholders commemorate the same history, but they have different interpretations.

• Maintaining the legacy of human and civic rights: 30 years after the PPA about 7 months ago

  Both civil society and the government have roles in educating people about the law, its implementations, and their legal rights.

• The PPA: Enabling Foreign Investment in Cambodia about 7 months ago

  The restoration of peace under the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) earned trust from foreign investors.

• The United Nations Peacekeeping Troops: a mixed legacy about 7 months ago

  Cambodia has gone from requiring peacekeepers to contributing more than 7,000 troops specialising in de-mining and engineering.

• Podcast 2. UNTAC Radio: Airwaves of Hope វិទ្យុអ៊ុនតាក់៖ រលកសំឡេងនៃក្ដីសង្ឃឹម about 7 months ago

  This podcast examines the role Radio UNTAC in informing millions of Cambodians en route to casting their ballot in the much-anticipated 1993 election

SOUTHEAST ASIA IN A TIME OF CORONAVIRUS

• COVID-19 flights to nowhere: radical escape or radical reimagining of the everyday? about 1 year ago

  The illusion that the domestic space is only a site for social reproduction is over, but what will replace it?

• The role of neighbourhood leaders in Indonesia’s COVID-19 response about 2 years ago

  Neighbourhood leaders enjoy high levels of public trust but concerns about legitimacy and conflict limit the extent to which they can implement COVID-19 restrictions.

• Gendering Indonesia’s responses to COVID-19: Preliminary thoughts about 2 years ago

  The approach used in the creation of these policies ignores that women may face more difficulty in accessing the promised benefits.

• Moral economies: the politics of donation in Thailand under COVID-19 about 2 years ago

  During the pandemic, “immodest” or ungrateful receiving by the poor has been strongly denounced both by the state and middle-class donors.

• LGBTQ+ community leaders in Indonesia: overcoming pandemic hardship about 2 years ago

  LGBTQ+ Indonesians are driving some of the most effective community responses to the hardships of the pandemic.