Journal

The New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies has been published since June 1999, when it became the official journal of the New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA)
​
The journal is published twice a year, in June and December, and contains a mixture of academic articles and reviews, from contributors both within and outside New Zealand. All submitted articles are refereed.

Submission of manuscripts

The Editorial Board will consider a wide range of Asia-related items for publication, including academic papers, research reports and reviews. All academic items will be refereed. Manuscripts should be double spaced, proofread prior to submission, and submitted in electronic form as an email attachment (ideally in a version of Word). Submissions must include an abstract of about 100 words. Manuscripts should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words, inclusive of footnotes and abstract.
There is no particular house-style, but all papers are expected to be appropriately annotated and referenced. The substantive text of all items published will be in English but we encourage authors to include Asian scripts where appropriate (such as with names).
​
Read our Ethics Statement here. ​
Submissions or enquiries should be addressed to:
Associate Professor Rick Weiss
Religious Studies Programme
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600, Wellington 6012,
New Zealand
Phone: (64 4) 463 6726
Email: rick.weiss@vuw.ac.nz
Or
Professor Paola Voci
Languages and Cultures
University of Otago
PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Email: paola.voci@otago.ac.nz

Subscriptions

The New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies is published twice a year on a non-profit basis by the New Zealand Asian Studies Society (NZASIA). Annual subscriptions for the Journal are combined with membership subscription to NZASIA. The rates are:
​
A) New Zealand - individual: NZ$50.00; library subscription: NZ$75.00
B) Australia - individual: AU$55.00: library subscription: AU$75.00
C) Rest of world - individual: US$60.00; library subscription: US$60.00
Subscriptions and enquiries should be sent to:
Dr Naimah Talib
NZASIA Treasurer
Department of Political Science
​University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch, New Zealand
Email naimah.talib@canterbury.ac.nz

Book Reviews

The Review Editors welcome requests for reviews from publishers and prospective reviewers.
Dr Dennitza Gabrakova (East Asia) School of Languages and Cultures, Victoria University of Wellington, Dennitza.Gabrakova@vuw.ac.nz​
Dr Philip Fountain (South and South-East Asia) School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Philip.Fountain@vuw.ac.nz

​​All Issues with Full Text of Articles

Note: Table of contents is uploaded as soon as the Journal issue is available in print; PDF files for all articles are uploaded two years later. Current and back issues can be purchased, if they are available. Enquiries should be sent to Naimah Talib (details above) in the first instance.
VOLUME. 22, NO. 2 (DECEMBER 2020)
nzjas_dec2020_toc.pdf
File Size: 103 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
volume. 22, NO. 1 (JUNE 2020)
nzjas_jun2020_table_of_content.pdf
File Size: 498 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Volume. 21, NO. 2 (December 2019)
toc_nzjas_dec2019.pdf
File Size: 65 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Volume. 21, NO. 1 (June 2019)
Information about the New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies v

Articles

A Past of Words Not of Stone: Du Mu’s “Rhapsody on the Epang Palace”
DUNCAN M. CAMPBELL 1

New Zealand’s Unexpected Opening to Asia: John Reid and The Making Of The Colombo Plan, 1949-52
ANTHONY REID 19

Rethinking Immortal Narratives of Fallen Women: A Comparative Study of The Tale of Genji and Chinese Stories in Taiping Guangji
JINDAN NI 39

Paving the Silk Road: Trends in Silk Road Historiography
ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND 55

Political Leadership and Governance Crises in Hong Kong
JERMAIN T.M. LAM 73

The Cold Romantic Face of Modernity and Individual Freedom in the ‘German Trilogy’ of Mori Ōgai
SALVATORE GIUFFRÉ 95
Volume. 20, NO. 2 (December 2018)
Volume 16, No. 2 (December 2014)

​Special issue: Asia in New Zealand Lives

Guest editors: Jacob Edmond and Henry Johnson

Introduction: "Asia in New Zeland Lives"
JACOB EDMOND and HENRY JOHNSON 1

Information about the New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies v

Articles

Edmund Hilary: His Everest Legacy
SUSAN HEYDON 5

Anand Satyanand; A Prominent Son of the Indian Diaspora:
JACQUELINE LECKIE 31

Scientific Agriculture, Health and Gardening: Japan, New Zealand and Bella and Frederic Truby King
JAMES BEATTIE 47

Labouring in the "Sheltered Field": Rewi Alley's Translations from the Chinese
DUNCAN CAMPBELL 77

Socialism is a Mission: Max Bickerton's Involvement with the Japanese Communist Party and Translation of Japanese Proletarian Literature in the 1930s
FUJIO KANO and MAURICE WARD 99

Kinsey and the Collectors: Sir John Kinsey and Collecting Ukiyo-e in New Zealand
DAVID BELL 121

Nancy Wai-lan Kwok-Goddard: A Pioneer Humanist-Socialist
MANYING IP 141
​
Vic Percival, China Trader
PAUL CLARK 159

Chineseness in (a) New Zealand Life: Lynda Chanwai-Earle
HILARY CHUNG 173

In Pleasant Places: A Story of a New Zealand Missionary Family
ANDREW BUTCHER 195

Jack Body: Crafting the Asian Soundscape in New Zealand Music
HENRY JOHNSON 219

Book reviews edited by Hong-yu Gong and Elena Kolesova
​Because of the length of this Special Issue, book reviews have been held over for the June 2015 issue
Volume 11, No. 1  (June 2009)

THEMES FOR THOUGHT ON SOUTHEAST ASIA

A FESTSCHRIFT TO
EMERITUS PROFESSOR NICHOLAS TARLING
ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 75th BIRTHDAY

OOI Keat Gin

Guest Editor

Bawa resmi padi, semakin berisi, semakin tunduk

Makin berilmu makin merendah diri

Follow the ways of the rice stalk, the more
laden it gets the more it bows its head

The more one acquires knowledge,
the more humble one becomes

Articles

Preface
OOI KEAT GIN, p.2

Foreword
ANTHONY REID, p.5
The Festschrift
OOI KEAT GIN, p.8
Peter Nicholas Tarling: A Tribute
OOI KEAT GIN, p.15
Seventy-Fifth Birthday Speech
NICHOLAS TARLING, p.31
Keynote Address
WANG GUNGWU, p.36

Articles

British Trade to Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Revisited
DIANNE LEWIS, p.49

Dropping Artillery, Loading Rice and Elephants: A Spanish Ambassador in the Court of Ayudhya in 1718
FERDINAND C. LLANES, p.60

Prince Cường Để (1882-1951) and his Quest for Vietnamese Independence
MY-VAN TRAN, p.75

Woolley and the Codification of Native Customs in Sabah
DANNY WONG TZE KEN, p.87

British Colonial Rule, Japanese Occupation, and the Transformation of Malay Kingship 1930s-1957
KOBKUA SUWANNATHAT-PIAN, p.106

The Communist Insurgency and the End of Empire in Malaysia, 1948-90: Contesting the Nation-State and Social Change 132
CHEAH BOON KHENG, p.132

Lenin and Sneevliet: The Origins of the Theory of Colonial Revolution in the Dutch East Indies
DOV BING, p.153

The Economic Decolonization of Sumatra
J. THOMAS LINDBLAD, p.178

Charles Alma Baker’s Uneasy Role in the Expansion of the Malayan Economy 1890s-1910s
SIVACHANDRALINGAM SUNDARA RAJA, p.189

Bung Karno and the Bintang Muhammadiyah: A Political Affair
STEVEN DRAKELEY, p.208

Revivalism and Radicalism in Southeast Asian Islam: A Pattern or an Anomaly?
IIK A. MANSURNOOR, p.222

Has the Past got a Future in Local Politics in Indonesia? Pilkada 2005 in Bali
GRAEME MACRAE, p.263

Labour Crossings in Southeast Asia: Linking Historical and Contemporary Labour Migration
AMARJIT KAUR, p.276

Employment Relations in Malaysia: Past, Present and Future
MAIMUNAH AMINUDDIN, p.304

Singapore’s State-Guided Entrepreneurship: A Model for Transitional Economies?
ANTHONY SHOME, p.318

Peninsular Malaysia in the Context of Natural History and Colonial Science
J. KATHIRITHAMBY-WELLS, p.337

Indian Mutiny in Singapore, 1915: People who Observed the Scene and People who Heard the News
SHO KUWAJIMA, p.375

New Zealand Diplomatic Representation in Southeast Asia: The 1950s and 1960s
JAMES KEMBER, p.385

History Making in Singapore: Who is Producing the Knowledge?
NICOLE TARULEVICZ, p.402

Southeast Asian Studies in Southeast Asia: Agenda for the Twenty-First Century
OOI KEAT GIN, p.426
​Volume 5, No. 2 (December 2003)

Paper Abstracts

Articles
Connecting Cultures: Hong Kong Literature in English, the 1950s, pp. 5-25
Elaine Yin
A study of Hong Kong writing in English during the 1950s, with particular attention to poetry by Edmund Blunden and Wong man as well as Richard Mason's novel The World of Suizie Wong.

A Short Walk on the Wilde Side: Kipling's First Impressions of Japan, pp. 26-32
Harry Ricketts
As one of Kipling's biographers, Rickett's explores Kipling's response to Japan.

Not Knowing The Oriental, pp. 33-46
Douglas Kerr
This paper marks the twenty-fifth year of Edward Said's Orientalism by reconsidering the knowledge/power paradigm that has dominated much thinking about colonial discourse after Said. In addition to cases of ‘sublime' ignorance, when the Orient was felt to be too vast, daunting and mysterious ever to be contained by western knowledge, there were also moments, and even strategies, of prophylactic ignorance, in which the western observer stepped back from venturing into the hinterland of Oriental experience, for fear of being overwhelmed, contaminated, compromised, assimilated or consumed. In such cases, colonial authority depended on not knowing too much. The theme of colonial ignorance is pursued in an investigation of one of Said's prime witnesses, the Earl of Cromer, for twenty-five years de facto governor of Egypt, whose authoritative Modern Egypt insists nonetheless that ‘the Egyptian Puzzle' must remain insoluble by the Englishman. The argument here is that this is a strategic ignorance that protects or insulates the Englishman's power. The second part of the essay turns to Rudyard Kipling's Indian fiction, in which knowing the Oriental is a glamorous but dangerous pursuit. Kipling's policeman hero Strickland seeks insider knowledge to increase his power over Indians, but in doing so he jeopardizes the distance on which his difference from them, and authority over them, depends. This compromises his status with both Indians and his fellow British. Sometimes it is ignorance of the Orient that secures power. Kipling's colonial characters are frequently caught in this dilemma – knowledge of the Oriental is dangerous, but ignorance is insupportable.

Imagining a Nation: Lloyd Fernando's Scorpion Orchid and National Identity, pp. 47-55
M.Y. Chiu
This article examines the construction of national identity in Lloyd Fernando's Scorpion Orchid, a postcolonial novel that consciously mobilises the knowledge of culture and history to forge a sense of community. Weaving together Western narratives and Asian texts, Fernando creates, through several mutually reinforcing levels, the image of a pluralistic, multi-ethnic society. Scorpion Orchid, neatly exemplifying some of the basic mechanics of nation formation, can be regarded as an instance of national identity engineering.

Configuring the Dynamics Of Dispossession in Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance & Arundhati Roy's The God Of Small Things, pp. 56-76
Doreen D'Cruz
This essay engages in a comparative study of how the politics of caste and gender operate in Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance (1995) and in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (1997). Through reference to some key anthropological texts, it sets up the context for its discussion by investigating the logic underpinning the defilement associated with Untouchables and women on account of their constructed proximity to certain biological processes. Notwithstanding the guarantees made by India's secular constitution towards Untouchables and women, both novels show the continuity of native structures of oppression that are immune to or appropriative of both democratic and Marxist models of social, political, and economic reform. Since, for both authors, the fantasy of power and its attendant paranoia have their source in the problematic relationship with the body, both turn to the intimate stage, where the drama of "small things" are played out, in order to refigure this relationship. Through surveys of their different narrative strategies, both novels are interpreted as ultimately subscribing to an inclusive ethic.

Yuan Hongdao's "A History of the Vase", pp. 77-93
Duncan Campbell
This article offers the first complete English translation of Yuan Hongdao's (1568-1610) "A History of the Vase" (Pingshi), completed in 1599. This work, in 13 sections and dealing with aspects of the nomenclature, hierarchy and care of cut flowers, is an important and influential early example of the burgeoning late-Ming dynasty literature of connoisseurship. A short introduction seeks to situate this text within the trajectory of Yuan's developing ideas about the nature and role of literature. An Appendix provides a table of corresponding common and botanical names for all the plants and flowers mentioned in the text.

Hoshi Shinichi and the Space-Age Fable, pp. 94-114
Sayuri Matsushima
In Japan, the works of Hoshi Shinichi can be said to be synonymous with science fiction and the short short story. However, such an association place them in categories that may hinder them from being valued as works possessing the kind of literary worth they deserve. Hence, in this paper, firstly, the terms science fiction and the short short story will be looked at in relation to Hoshi Shinichi's works. Following this, space age fable and folk tale are considered as terms that more accurately describe the features of his works that are noteworthy. Two of Hoshi's short short stories, ‘Manê eiji' and ‘Kata no ue no hisho' are then introduced in order to demonstrate that a feature in Hoshi's works that give them depth is the incorporation of satire. The methods used include exaggeration, future/speculative settings, irony, absurd humour, and identifiable stereotypes.

Beyond Boundaries: Centre/Periphery Discourse in Oe Kenzaburo's Dojidai Gemu & Witi Ihimaera's The Matriarch, pp. 115-144
Christopher Isherwood
In 2001 Japan experienced a tremor that shook the very foundations of its society. The new history textbook written by order of the Ministry of Education was condemned in a scandal that reverberated throughout Asia. The authors, along with the government, were cordially told what they had forgotten to mention. And while the history pundits swiftly pointed out the gaps and silences, one point lay ominously quiet, concealed within the word colonization. Although the word colonization has been used to explain Japan's military expansion into Asia and the United State's postwar occupation it can also help to explain Japan's transition from a closed feudal society to a modern nation-state. Ironically, this process had been thoroughly analyzed more than three decade before the history textbook fiasco. According to author and Nobel laureate Oe Kenzaburo the missing piece to the puzzle lies in a different understanding of history that can only be viewed from the periphery of society. In his novel Dojidai Gemu Oe delves deep into the marginalized spaces of Japanese sociopolitical history to reveal the machinations of Japan's centralization as a form of "internal colonization". These themes in Oe's work have remained strangely silent, partly due to his isolation by politically motivated groups and partly due to an increasing emphasis in Japan to bolster a unified identity based on a national literature. On the other side of the Pacific New Zealand Maori writer Witi Ihimaera tackles many of the same issues including colonization, historical injustices, national myths, and alienation to name a few. In his novel The Matriarch Ihimaera writes against "official" history revealing in his own imaginative way a story that has been largely forgotten. While they write from different locals Oe and Ihimaera are essentially after the same thing: recognition. In this paper I attempt to reveal Oe's entirely new interpretation of modern Japanese history as a form of internal colonization by offering a comparative literary analysis of centre/periphery discourse in his novel Dojidai Geemu and Ihimaera's work The Matriarch. Ultimately it is only by going beyond national boundaries and by resituating Oe within the larger sphere of Asia Pacific literature that such recognition can be achieved.

Alison Wong, An Introduction to Dunedin

Review Article
HEAVENLY CREATURES? LEWIS MAYO (University of Melbourne)

Reviews
Reviews
​Volume 5, No. 1 (June 2003)

Table of Contents

​Articles
Honour, Violence and Conflicting Narratives: A Study of Myth and Reality, pp. 5 - 24
BADRI NARAYAN (G.B. PANT SOCIAL SCIENCE INSTITUTE)
In the predominantly agrarian patriarchial societies of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that are still trapped between tradition and modernity, even today the moral values projected through Manusmriti and other ancient Brahminical religious texts of the Hindus heavily influence the mindset of the people. In these societies, marriage, negotiated strictly within the caste configurations and symbolised by the vermillion mark in the parting of the hair of women, is the only situation which legitimises the relationship between an unrelated man and a woman. In no other situation is a relationship between a man and a woman who do not belong to the same family, tolerated. Even today asymmetrical love relationships between members of the upper castes and those belonging to castes and communities in the lower socio-economic strata, and also narratives about such relationships, produce violence at various levels. This paper deals with the phenomenon of violence that took place around such an asymetrical love relationship and tries to analyse the relationship between the myths and realities centering around this story. The fractured nature of folk society is reflected in the various contesting versions of this myth

An Accord of Cautious Distance: Muslims in New Zealand, Ethnic Relations, and Image Management, pp. 24 - 50
ERICH KOLIG (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO)
The terrorist attacks in the USA of 11th September 2001 have tended to problematise the presence of Muslims in Western society. In the aftermath of these events media and popular press have re-evaluated Western Muslims and Islam per se in terms of whether these pose an inherent threat. This paper discusses the presence of Muslims in New Zealand, the policies the major Muslim organisations pursue in terms of encouraging a particular Islamic and Muslim identity within the Muslim community and projecting an acceptable image of Islam vis-à-vis the host society. It also discusses the host society's reaction to the presence of a Muslim minority, which appears, so far, to be noticeably different to the situation in other Western countries.

The Myth of Multiracialism in Post-9/11 Singapore: The Tudung Incident, pp. 51 - 72
LAW KAM-YEE (CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG)
In early 2002, the easily neglected Muslim headscarf incident in Singapore has triggered a rare but fiery and continuous debate within the country, which widely involves her neighbors. Through the incident, this article reveals the plight of Singapore's Malay Muslims, who have been marginalized for a long time from the state's commitment to social mobility and ethnic integration. The article queries the Singaporean government's commitment to both multiracialism and shared values is self-contradictory, as well as the country's possible miscarriage of political openness since late 1980s. The situation seems to be getting worse in the international context of Post-Asian Economic Crisis and Post-September 11 anti-terrorism.

Interpreting Chinese Tradition: A Clansmen Organization in Singapore, pp. 72 - 90
SELINA CHING CHAN (NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE)
This paper takes the case of a Pang clansmen organization in Singapore and examines how its activities objectify Chinese tradition and negotiate identity and nationalism. I argue that these activities celebrated within the national boundaries contribute to the reinforcement of Chinese tradition and celebration of Singaporean Chinese identity within Singapore's multi-ethnic society. In addition, joint activities and other linkages to the Pangs in their homeland in China further bind the Pangs from different places together, forming a larger imagined community in a post-national world. These connections between the Pangs in different localities reveal how the Chinese identity has extended beyond the borders of the nation state. Meanwhile, the activities in the 'homeland' have also led the Singaporean Pangs to realize the differences between themselves and their counterparts living in mainland China and thus further asserted their identity of being a Singaporean Chinese.

Deconstructing 'Japanisation': Reflections from the "Learn from Japan" Campaign in Singapore, pp. 91 - 106
THANG LENG LENG (NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE)
S. K. GAN (JAPAN CULTURAL SOCIETY)
In the late 1970s, like many countries dazzled by Japan's post WW2 economic success, Singapore embarked on a 'Learn from Japan' effort in the hope that Japanese success would provide a model to help the country succeed in its economic restructuring. This paper traces the developments of several initiatives during the 'learn from Japan' movement. It argues that despite the apparent zealousness towards Japan, Singapore still 'looks West' in general'. In this context, admiration towards Japan stems from its ideology of wakon yosai (Japanese spirit, Western technology), where Western practices and models are 're-conditioned' to suite an Asian context. The paper concludes with a glimpse at developments in the 1990s; although the 'learn from Japan' movement in Singapore has officially ended with Japan's economic recession, the Japanese experience is still examined. In the recent years, Japanese pop-cultural influences in Singapore and Asia have further revived the debates on 'Japanization'.

Electoral Systems, Representational Roles and Legislator Behaviour: Evidence from Hong Kong, pp. 107 - 120
IAN HOLLIDAY (TRINITY COLLEGE)
MICHAEL GALLAGHER (CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG)
This paper reports the results of a test of the relationship between electoral systems, role perceptions and legislator behaviour. The research is based on a study of Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo), whose members are elected by a variety of routes. A sample of LegCo members were interviewed about their own perceptions of their role and their behaviour, with reference both to the way they divide their time between legislative and constituency duties, and to their representational focus. It is thus possible to assess the impact of differing electoral systems on the way they behave, and to estimate the salience of electoral system compared with role perceptions in determining a legislator's behaviour. The findings confirm important electoral system effects, though role perception effects, mediated by party, are also significant.

Japanese Linguistics
Syncope in the Te-form with Auxiliary Verbs, pp. 121-138.
JUNJI KAWAI (UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY).
In Modern Japanese, deletion of 0a segment inside a word, or "syncope", is frequently observed in informal/casual speech or in fast speech, especially when the te-form of a verb, which roughly corresponds to the present participle in English, is followed by a vowel-initial auxiliary verb or by a consonant-initial auxiliary verb, /simaw/. In this paper, following a brief introduction of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993), I account for syncope observed in Modern Japanese by means of constraint interaction and constraint reranking. In formal speech, faithfulness constraint MAX-IO (i.e. no deletion of segments) is ranked higher than such markedness constraints as *LAB (i.e. no labials), ONSET (i.e. no onsetless syllables) and *V (i.e. no vowels), so that segments in the underlying representation are preserved in the surface form. In informal speech, on the other hand, context-free constraints MAX-C-IO (i.e. no deletion of consonants) and MAX-V-IO (i.e. no deletion of vowels) are demoted below *LAB and *V, respectively. This results in the deletion of labials and vowels from the place where such segments are not protected by highly-ranked constraints or where the deletion does not incur serious constraint violation, such as that of undominated CODACOND (i.e. coda consonants are placeless) or *COMPLEX (i.e. no complex onset or coda)

The Use of kare/kanojo in Japanese Society Today, pp. 139 - 155
YASUKO OBANA (SHINSHU UNIVERSITY)
This paper aims to discuss the use of kare/kanojo (he/she) in Japanese society today, in order to elucidate the socio-psychological significance of these terms. Based on questionnaires and interviews recently surveyed in Japan, the paper will discuss what categories of people are more likely referred to as kare/kanojo, what social factors affect the use of these terms. The paper finds that compared with the time when Hinds (1975) surveyed, the use of kare/kanojo has dramatically changed, and it is notable that these terms are more frequently used and refer to more varied types of people. However, they are not merely used at random, either. Some emotional detachment toward the person referred to is needed as a trigger of the occurrence of kare/kanojo.

Japanese and Non-Japanese Perception of Japanese Communication, pp. 156 - 177
MICHAEL HAUGH (UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND)

Graduate Research Essay
A Mobile Phone of One's Own: Japan's "Generation M", pp. 178 - 194
RAQUEL HILL (UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO)
Although the mobile phone has now become a symbol of globalization and is an indispensable item in our daily lives, it was Japanese youth who were amongst the first in the world to adapt this instrument and turn it into an icon. This paper examines the ways in which the youth of Japan have reappropriated the mobile phone (keitai-denwa) so that it is no longer a mere tool for "communication": unique innovations such as the attachment of straps, downloading of ring tones, and technology which incorporates e-mail, Internet, digital camera and video functions, mean that the mobile phone allows Japanese youth to express their "individuality." This paper explores the psychology behind their use of mobile phones, placing it in a larger cultural framework, and looks at claims by Japanese researchers that the mobile phone has led to changes in the way that young people relate to their friends and even their family. Contemporary media including advertising pamphlets, television campaigns, and magazine articles are analyzed in order to reveal the profound relationship between Japan's Generation "M" (mobile and moneyed) and their consumption of a tool that seems to embody all that is necessary for survival in the twenty-first century.

Review Article
History, Memory and the Nation: Remembering Partition
G. Pandey, Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India, pp.195-205
TONY BALLANTYNE (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO)
Volume 4, No. 2 (December 2002)
All articles and essays in this issue can be downloaded as PDF documents.

Guest Editorial
Scrutinising Change in Island Southeast Asia
SARAH TURNER (McGILL UNIVERSITY), pp. 5 - 7

Articles
Balinese Music, Tourism and Globalisation
HENRY JOHNSON (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO), pp. 8 - 32
Balinese music and cultural tourism are examined in order to illustrate the invented traditions and contexts of performance in Bali, and in terms of the wider influences of globalisation. The first part of the paper explores music and tourism in terms of hotel tourism in Bali. As well as including a documentary of the development of tourism in Bali from the early years of the twentieth century, the study focuses mainly on the rise of mass tourism in the latter part of that century when Balinese culture was adapted and invented specifically for visiting tourists. For the music researcher, these new contexts of performance provide windows into understanding contemporary aspects of Balinese culture. The article also extends the study to include other influences of globalisation with a discussion of locating Bali and Balinese music in the contexts of other cultures. Here, the music researcher is challenged to question where tourism and/or travel is located in connection with music excursions by Balinese and non-Balinese performers and listeners.

Otonomi Daerah: Indonesia's Decentralisation Experiment
RICHARD SEYMOUR AND SARAH TURNER (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO & McGILL UNIVERSITY), pp. 33 - 51
This paper draws on recent and ongoing experiences in Indonesia to examine in detail the decentralisation process occurring there. After contextualising the Indonesian case, including a brief outline of the structure of the 1999 Otonomi Daerah (regional autonomy) laws, an analysis of the latter is undertaken. From this, six key problems emerge. These include the inappropriate level of autonomy, a lack of improvement in real fiscal autonomy, and insufficient finance. In addition, resource-rich regions are favoured, a number of 'grey areas' need to be resolved, and the laws have been implemented within an inappropriate time scale, raising questions regarding human resource capabilities. All are complex problems situated within an uncertain political environment, which in turn raises the question of whether Otonomi Daerah is actually working towards effective decentralisation in the Indonesian context.

Neo-Modern Islam in Suharto's Indonesia
MALCOLM CONE (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO), pp. 52 - 67
This paper is an investigation of the liberal humanist tradition in Indonesian Islam that, in the period from 1968-1999, enjoyed the support of the New Order Government of Suharto in Indonesia. The paper argues that there was an elective affinity between the objectives of the New Order Government and this liberal humanist tradition, because the defining characteristic of this governmental support was the promotion of a privatised Islam that eschewed political life, concentrating instead on education, ijtihad and ascesis. The field work for this investigation was carried out at the Ciputat campus of the Islamic University in Jakarta and with Indonesian Islamic scholars in Islamic teaching foundations in Jakarta and Bandung. The Islamic scholars in these teaching institutions justified their position in reference to a long liberal humanist tradition in Islamic education in Indonesia. In this they reaffirmed the arguments put forward by Ibn Taymiyya, Al Mawardi and Ibn Kaldun, that there is a necessary separation between Islam as practice, from the oft-repeated call for an Islamic state.

Aceh: Democratic Times, Authoritarian Solutions
ANTHONY SMITH (ASIA PACIFIC CENTER FOR SECURITY STUDIES), pp. 68 - 89
The year 2001 has been, so far, the worst year on record for conflict related deaths in Aceh. Despite major democratic changes within Indonesia, Aceh continues to be subject to a military crack-down that is barely distinguishable from the methods employed under the rule of Soeharto. In particular, the Indonesian security forces do not draw clear distinctions between armed insurgents and non-combatant NGO critics of government policy. Both groups have been targeted. This article assesses that the causes of the conflict in Aceh are not simply based on either ethnic or religious difference. On this point, the insurgency in Aceh is very commonly misunderstood‚ both by the Indonesian government and the international media‚ as being somehow Islamic in character. However, the Free Aceh Movement do not resemble an Islamist movement, and instead tend to stress historical and ethnic difference. It is the case, however, that resistance to Indonesian authority has become more and more evident in Aceh only since the 1970s, as a result of massive human rights abuses by the security forces and economic exploitation. By 1999, it seemed that the majority of Acehnese had come to favour independence. Thus the alienation of the Acehnese people is more recent than many have claimed, and much of the blame rests with the security forces "shock therapy" tactics that have slowly, but surely, turned large numbers of Acehnese towards the independence cause ‚ the exact opposite of what the security forces have attempted to achieve.

Papua: Moving Beyond Internal Colonisalism?
ANTHONY SMITH AND ANGIE NG (ASIA PACIFIC CENTER FOR SECURITY STUDIES), pp. 90 - 114
On 16 August 2001, President Megawati Sukarnoputri made an apology to the Papuan people for the injustices of the past. The recent history of Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya) has been a troubled one. Papua was forced into the Republic of Indonesia under controversial circumstances, and subsequent human rights abuses and heavy exploitation of resources served to keep alive demands for autonomy and independence‚ demands that became highly evident once Soeharto's authoritarian regime came to an end in May 1998. Many Papuan leaders and activists have characterized their plight as being a colonial possession of the government in Jakarta, and this gives rise to a discussion of "internal colonialism". However since reformasi (political reform) in Indonesia occurred, Papua has been given far more control over its own destiny. Regional autonomy delivered a great deal of power to Papua, including retention of much of the revenue earned in the province. In the sense that Papuan authorities now control much of their own affairs, it could be argued that Papua has moved beyond "internal colonialism" ‚ or at least is no longer under the tight political control of Jakarta. However, not all vestiges of the Soeharto era are in the past. Since August 2000 an alarming crackdown by security forces has seen human rights violations against pro-independence activists, including the death of Presidium leader Theys Eluay in November 2001 at the hands of Special Forces soldiers. The problem of ongoing human rights abuses mean that charges of "internal colonialism" are still quite widespread within Papua, and continues to undermine the internal legitimacy of Jakarta's rule in the province.

Human Development and the Urban Informal Sector in Bandung, Indonesia
EDI SUHARTO (BANDUNG SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE), pp. 115 - 33
This paper deals with identifying the relationships between the urban informal sector and poverty. The focus is on street traders in Bandung, Indonesia, and the use of social and economic indicators to examine the urban informal sector. The findings show that although the street traders are not the poorest in society, they are still living in deprivation and vulnerability, especially when measured by their economic capital. When judged against the standard Indonesian poverty line, it was found that some street trader incomes were able to rise above it and, on average, street trading provided a favourable source of income compared to other alternatives for the poor, such as unskilled manual labour. Nevertheless, taking a broader approach, the multiplication of poverty line, it was highlighted that 80 percent of the street traders interviewed could still be categorised as being poor and vulnerable. Perhaps more encouraging however, was the finding that, using other human development indexes, such as human and social capital, the street trader households surveyed mostly had adequate basic education, and access to health services and housing facilities, although their opportunities to participate in social activities seemed to be limited.

The Sultanate of Brunei and Regime Legitimacy in an Era of Democratic Nation-States,
NAIMAH TALIB (UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY), pp. 134 - 47
Since gaining independence in 1984, the oil-rich Sultanate of Brunei has demonstrated its ability to maintain stability and internal cohesion within a semi-traditional political framework, despite demands for political participation and the problems associated with economic modernization. This paper examines the challenges faced by Brunei since independence. It also considers the various sources of legitimacy that are available to a monarchy determined to maintain its hold on political power. It assesses the role of ideology and religion as instruments of legitimacy and the extent to which they are used as bases for political action.

Graduate Research Essay
Democratic Discourses in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines
CHé CHARTERIS (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO), pp. 148 - 76
Discourses on democracy are characterised by extreme fragmentation. Whilst examining three case study countries, namely Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, this study highlights this diversity with respect to the democratic discourses of governments and non-government organisations (NGOs). Initially, through a review of academic literature, it becomes clear that the debate over whether or not democracy is a culturally bound ideology is a key point of difference. Around this debate there have emerged three definable discourses on democracy, namely liberal discourses, cultural relativist discourses, and syncretic/popular discourses. In all three case study countries, these discourses were found to be competing. Whereas the Indonesian, Thai, and Filipino governments and international NGOs mobilised liberal discourses on democracy, there was more discursive diversity apparent amongst regional and local NGOs. These findings have important implications in that the culturally relative and syncretic/popular discourses mobilised by some local and regional NGOs can be argued to be forms of resistance to Western-founded liberalism.

Short Story
Seno Gumira Ajidarma 'Destination: The Land of Never-ending Sunset'
PAM ALLEN (UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA), pp. 177 - 82

Review Article
Suharto: Father of Development?
R.E. Elson, Suharto A Political Biography
NICHOLAS TARLING (UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND), pp. 183 - 92
Volume 4, No. 1 (June 2002)
All articles in this issue can be downloaded as PDF files.

Articles
Looking Back, Looking Forward: The Historiography of Sikhism
TONY BALLANTYNE (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO) PDF File, 168 KB

On The Overseas Chinese Secret Societies of Australia
CAI SHAOQING (NANJING UNIVERSITY) PDF File, 144 KB

Norman Kirk, The Labour Party and New Zealand's Recognition of The People's Republic Of China
DAVID McCRAW (UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO) PDF File, 108 KB

Globalization and Fiscal Management in Hong Kong
JERMAIN LAM (CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG) PDF File, 132 KB

Mainstream Attitudes Towards Burakujümin
ALASTAIR MCCLAUGHLIN (CHRISTCHURCH POLYTECHNIC) PDF File, 264 KB

Newspaper Coverage of the 2000 Election in Japan
CHRIS RUDD (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO) PDF File, 132 KB
Graduate Research Essay

Dam Building, Dissent, and Development: the Emergence of the Three Gorges Project
JAMES BEATTIE (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO) PDF File, 156 KB
Chinese Letters

The Epistolary World of a Reluctant 17th Century Chinese Magistrate: Yuan Hongdao in Suzhou
DUNCAN CAMBELL (VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON) PDF File, 384 KB

Review Article
Japanese Literature as a Modern Invention Haruo Shirane and Tomi Suzuki, eds., Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identity, and Japanese Literature
ROY STARRS (UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO) PDF File, 72 KB