1. Welcome by Chair of Asian Studies (Gary Sigley)

Fellow travellers, welcome to the first newsletter of Asian Studies and the Contemporary Asia Society at The University of Western Australia. As you can see by the contents of this newsletter, Asian Studies at UWA is a dynamic and innovative site of teaching and research. This newsletter aims to keep you informed as to the many achievements, awards and opportunities for staff and students of Asian Studies. I also hope that it will give many of you some insights into how to develop your learning path within Asian Studies and the steps you can take to add-value to your Asian Studies major (including language majors) and/or degree. There are plenty of exciting opportunities for Asian Studies graduates out there, it’s just a matter of knowing how to make the most of the advantages that lie ahead of you. Many thanks to Toby, Kim, Louise and Jenna for their assistance in making this newsletter possible. And of course a big thank you to Miho Masel!

2. Student Awards and Prizes

a. Libby Charlesworth’s Mitsui Educational Foundation Japan Study Tour prize:

Being part of the Mitsui Educational Foundation (MEF) 2006 Tour of Japan was most definitely a life changing and unforgettable experience. The incredible foresight of Mr Koichiro Ejiri 35 years ago to set up MEF and send a group of lucky university students from all over Australia to Japan every year is something for which I will be forever grateful.

When I left Perth early on November 19th I had read through the draft MEF tour itinerary several times, picked out the things that I was most looking forward to and succeeded in making my whole family jealous by jabbering about my three weeks in
Japan. I was also extremely excited about meeting the other successful MEF candidates and starting our adventures together.

Once everyone had arrived at the Sydney Mitsui & Co (Australia) Ltd. office and gawked at the amazing Sydney harbour views, I was eager to find out more about Mitsui & Co Ltd. and MEF - and so the MEF 2006 orientation and experience began....

b. Alexandra Pritoula’s Report on the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Invited Group of Australian Youths to Visit China: Visiting historical places and learning about a new culture are things one expects to accomplish when going on a trip to a foreign country. The Australian Youth Delegation’s visit to China, however, offered much more than that. While visiting some great places in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen we made friends with students from some of China’s top universities. By attending numerous political banquets and being in the company of our newly made Chinese friends, we were able to acquire quite an insight into Chinese culture and politics. Throughout the trip we experienced the height of Chinese hospitality; the organization of the trip, made by the All-China Youth Federation, was exceptional. Partaking in the trip with bright young students from around Australia also made the trip quite remarkable. Everyone seemed to have the same interests. Nothing more can be desired from a short stay in a foreign country.

Our trip began with a visit to Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in China. On arrival each member of the delegation was greeted by a student host. We had a discussion in which we exchanged ideas about China, Australia and the rest of the world. The topic which predominated in the conversations was unsurprisingly the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games. Chinese students were eager to learn from the Australian experience of hosting such a colossal event. Many of them had volunteered for the 2008 Olympiad. The visit ended with a brief tour of the university campus guided by our hosts.

After biding farewell to the students at Tsinghua University we headed off to the Australian Embassy in China. During lunch we were given the opportunity to converse with the embassy’s staff members. This was a delightful experience, since it helped expand our understanding of what could be done with our degrees. Once lunch was over we were directed into a small conference room where Graham Fletcher, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission, gave a speech on the Sino-Australian relations from the Australian stand point.

In the evening we went for a tour of the Forbidden City and the Tiananmen Square. Dinner was held at the Great Hall of the People and was hosted by Ms Zhang Xiaolan, Vice-President of the All-China Youth Federation. As the banquet progressed some students from Tsinghua University and the Australian Youth Delegation gave short performances. The Head of the Delegation was Honorary Greg Hunt, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. At the end of the night he and Ms Zhang exchanged gifts as mementos of that evening.

The following day the delegation set off on a trip to the Great Wall of China. Although we only spent a brief period of time at the sight, those of us who had never been there before were impressed by the immensity of the wall and the beauty of the area. Later that day we were informed that we were to have an unscheduled lunch with Ms Zhang Xiaolan and Mr Zhou Qiang, acting Governor of Hunan Province. This lunch was also an opportunity to say goodbye to members of the All-China Youth Federation who were not taking a flight to Guangzhou with us that evening.

Our stay in Guangzhou started with a visit to Sun Yat-Sen University. We were welcomed by the university’s students. The delegation was split into groups to discuss the differences between the Chinese and Australian youth in a wide range of subjects. After lunch we played a Friendship Soccer Match against one of the university’s soccer teams. Although most members of the delegation were unfit for a ninety minute game, we were able to finish the game with dignity. The final score ended up being five to four headed by China. In the evening, after a short rest, we returned to the university to watch and present some cultural performances. We had been received so well by the students of Sun Yat-Sen University, that the Head of the Delegation was able to convince their university staff to let them accompany us on our visit to the Pearl River Beer Group the next day.

After our trip to the beer factory the delegation was invited to have dinner hosted by the Guangdong Provincial Leader. In the course of the evening there was another exchange of gifts, this time between Mr. Hunt and the Guangdong Leader. Once dinner finished, the Australian Youth Delegation set of on a Pearl River Night Cruise. From the boat we were able to enjoy the beauty of Guangzhou’s centre.

The next day we left to Shenzhen by bus. After settling at the hotel, we were taken on a trip to Dapeng Bay to visit the cooperative projects between China and Australia. First we stopped at the Guangdong LNG Terminal and Trunkline Project. The Guangdong Dapeng LNG company imports liquid natural gas from Western Australia. It then processes it and distributes it to the gas pipeline networks through the LNG Terminal. This is Australia’s biggest exporting project in history. Later we visited the Eastern Power Plant of the Shenzhen Energy Group. It is an environmentally friendly power plant which also uses LNG as its fuel to produce electricity.

At this point our trip was coming to an end. I believe it had been a great success; it helped promote cultural awareness between China and Australia and encourage the Sino-Australian relations of the future. Hopefully both governments will continue hosting such events. As for myself, I greatly enjoyed visiting the places mentioned earlier and making new friends with whom I could practice Chinese. All the knowledge which I had the chance to acquire during my stay made it clear to me that there was still much more to learn. This had served as a strong motivation to continue expanding my understanding of the Chinese language and culture.

3. Staff and Postgrad awards, prizes, and grants

a. National Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values, 7-9 September 2006, Canberra (Chang Yau Hoon, PhD Student and Casual Teacher in Asian Studies): I was very honoured to be selected by the Vice-Chancellor to represent UWA at The National Student Leadership Forum on Faith and Values in Canberra. The Forum was attended by about 200 student-delegates and 100 small group facilitators and volunteers. We spent two days at Parliament House where we listened to speeches delivered by Members of Parliament, the Minister of Defence, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. We had dinner in the Great Hall during which the CEO of World Vision Australia, Mr Tim Costello, addressed us. MPs and ministers who attended the dinner were asked to perform songs and dances – a remarkably rare scene to many of us.

In the Forum, we were also addressed by other speakers like Dr Dzung Vu, a Vietnamese refugee who fled from the labour camp in Vietnam before arriving in Australia, and Ms Nada Roude, a consultant and activist for cultural and religious diversity. The main theme of the Forum was leading by serving. The concept of servant leadership was put to practice on the third day of the Forum as we were transported to a lower-middle class neighbourhood to do community service.

However, I was rather disappointed by the PM’s anti-multiculturalism rhetoric as he defined “Australian values” based merely on Anglo-Saxon Christian values. Fortunately, the keynote speeches delivered by migrant Australians, Dr Dzung Vu and Ms Nada Roude, reaffirmed the multicultural nature of this nation. Having said that, I was astonished when some participants expressed their disapproval to the Muslim veil wore by Ms Roude. For instance, my group facilitator shut his eyes throughout the speech. This was followed by various critical reactions to Ms Roude’s speech in my discussion group. The inability to accept difference expressed by some participants in my group prompted me to share my views on identity, multiculturalism and diversity which I have been trained to critically conceptualise throughout my academic studies (undergraduate and postgraduate) at UWA.

All in all, the Forum was a truly humbling and life-changing experience for me. It was very rewarding and inspiring to be able to learn from community, political and business leaders of the nation. I have learned to lead with love, integrity, humility, courage, and most importantly, service to others.

4. Staff and Postgraduate Publications

a. Tomoko Nakamatsu: T. Coveney, K.G. Boston, M. Takayashiki, T. Nakamatsu (2006), Living Japanese - A Practical Course Book 1, Kurosio Shuppan, Tokyo.

b. Gary Sigley:

i. 2006: ‘Chinese Governmentalities: Government, Governance and the Socialist Market Economy’, Economy and Society, 35: 4.

ii. 2006: ‘Sex, politics and the policing of virtue in the People’s Republic of China’, in Elaine Jeffreys (ed) Sex and Sexuality in China, London & New York: RoutledgeCurzon, pp. 43-61.

iii. 2007: ‘A Chinese Christmas story’, in Shi-xu (ed) Discourse as Cultural Struggle, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

c. Sachiko Sone:

i. "Coal Mining Women Speak Out: Economic Change and Women Miners of Chikuho,Japan" in Jaclyn Gier and Laurie Mercier (eds), Mining Women, Palgrave, 2006, pp.153-180.

ii. "Japanese Coal Mining : Women Discovered" in Kuntala Jahiri-Dutt and Martha Macintyre(eds), Women Miners in Developing Countries, Asgate,2006, pp.51-72.

d. Romit Dasgupta: "The Film /Bishonen/ and Queer(N)Asia through Japanese Popular Culture", in Matthew Allen and Rumi Sakamoto (Eds), Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan (Routledge: 2006), pp. 56 - 74.

e. Chang Yau Hoon:

i. 2006, “Defining (Multiple) Selves: Reflections on Fieldwork in Jakarta”, Journal of Life Writing, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 79-100.

ii. 2006, “Assimilation, Multiculturalism, Hybridity: The Dilemmas of Ethnic Chinese in Post-Suharto Indonesia”, in Asian Ethnicity, 7(2), pp. 149-166.

iii. 2006, “A Hundred Flowers Bloom: The Reemergence of the Chinese Press in Post-Soeharto Indonesia”, in Media and Chinese Diaspora: Community, Communication and Commerce, ed. Wanning Sun, Routledge Curzon, pp.91-118.

5. Students Overseas On Exchange or In-Country - Reports

a. Sophie Smith: Taiwan Ministry of Education Scholarship:
“In year 12, I was offered the opportunity to go on Rotary Youth Exchange to Taiwan. At that time, I literally knew nothing about Taiwan.

In 2004 when I got on a plane to Taiwan, my language skills were nonexistent and my expectations similar. My first host family spoke Taiwanese, Hakkanese, Japanese and a local Aboriginal dialect, but no English. For the first three months I didn’t see another European. I spent the year at Hualien Girls Senior High School, taking mostly art, English, music and physical education classes. I was the first exchange student in Hualien, which is located on the coast three hours southeast of Taipei, so it took my classmates some time to get used to me. I had girls giggling at me because I made them nervous, and people chasing me in the streets to take photos. There were tough moments in the first couple of months, but, just as Rotary told us, if you stick with it for the first 6 months, you start to see results. To cut to the chase, I now have an extended family in Taiwan, great friends, and fantastic memories of my Rotary Exchange.

When I was offered the chance to go back on a Ministry of Education Scholarship, I hesitated for a moment because of commitments to my music degree, but I realised I shouldn’t and couldn’t say no. So now I’m back in Taiwan living in Taipei County studying at the Language Centre of Fu Jen Catholic University.

I’m in a class of seven with an enthusiastic teacher. At Fu Jen, they squeeze the equivalent of three years Mandarin at UWA into one or two years and this course allows you to apply for University Entrance in Taiwan. Having classes everyday disguises the speed at which we’re moving, and with tests every week, there’s no slowing down. The first few weeks, I studied at least four hours a day because of the change to Traditional characters. It only took a bit of extra effort to get there and now I feel quite comfortable with them.

Being in Taipei is really exciting, but it can be a bit overwhelming, so if you come, I highly suggest visiting the beaches near Ilan, the mountains in Taipei and simply exploring Taiwan. It’s a beautiful subtropical island - you just have to look in the right places.

b. Andrew Winterbottom: Report from Hangzhou:
In March of last year I was engaged in the spectacularly familiar routine of sitting with friends in the University Tavern sipping on a quiet pint. This occasion, however, proved slightly different. Mid-beer I received a call from Gary Sigley informing me that through the benevolence of the Chinese Government, Asian Studies and the Confucius Institute at UWA, I had been offered a scholarship to study in China for one year. At the time I was slightly taken aback; a mere three days before I had applied for the scholarship, and two days before that I had first heard about the opportunity. Moments after the call my friends said they knew that I would go; my addictions to travel and all things China were both well known. I blame jet fumes and dumplings respectively. Sure enough, five months later I found myself touching down in superlative-defying Shanghai ready for the clichéd but quintessential ‘time of a lifetime’. To date my time in China has proved to be just that.

After a week spent exploring Shanghai’s various sights and bars, I caught a lift with a Chinese friend two hours south of Shanghai to Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. At the time I took sardonic delight in hearing my family trying to pronounce those two place names (‘Zh’ is pronounced ‘J’ in the Mandarin romanised script). After various inaugurations classes quickly began, and my family had the karmic last laugh when I informed them that my class schedule entailed attending classes five days a week, starting at eight o’clock each day.

One of the most appealing aspects of studying abroad that I have discovered is the sheer diversity of people that you encounter. My class contained representatives eight countries and five continents, the common language between us being Chinese. My roommate on arrival was an enviable Slovakian fluent in seven languages (including a Gypsy dialect) who likes his beer more than I do. Developing friendships with such an eclectic mix has meant absorbing a diversity of knowledge and opinion (and a surprising amount Slovak swear words) that would be difficult to rival in any setting. To partake in such a ‘cultural exchange’, especially in a foreign language setting, is an experience that I would recommend to everyone.

After roughly a month of study I felt as though I wasn’t quite ‘living’ in China. Most days were spent within the University, intermittently venturing outside campus grounds in search of either nightlife or fake DVDs. A Korean friend of mine had found an apartment outside the university that he shared with Chinese students, and this struck me as a good way to ‘get to know the locals’ a bit better. After a quick search on the Chinese Google equivalent, I found and moved into a nearby apartment co-rented by three non-English speaking Chinese who incidentally have turned out to be some of my best friends in Hangzhou. Living with them for the last five months has proved to be a boon; not only am I infinitely more familiar with Chinese customs and habits than I otherwise would have been, but my Chinese has improved immeasurably, my dumpling-addicted stomach has expanded measurably and I would like to hope that my flatmates know a fair bit more about Perth and Australia than they did before. I have promised great things should they ever come to visit.

My first semester of study flew by at an outrageous pace, and classes provided a workload to ensure I couldn’t readily miss too many 8 am starts. Zhejiang University is famous in China, consistently ranking in the top five universities nation-wide. Indeed, my teachers proved to be some of the best I’ve had in any institution, patiently explaining grammatical intricacies in one instance and then casually discussing whatever came to mind in the next. Our ‘listening skills’ teacher certainly had the most interesting cultural anecdotes, and one that she bestowed on us immediately comes to mind. Historically it has never been a good idea to give a green hat to a Chinese man; such a gift is a sure-fire sign of spousal infidelity. Fortunately this tradition wasn’t one that she professed to have picked up through first-hand experience.

Exams came and went, and attention immediately turned to the 1 month winter vacation. Whilst several of my friends would be returning to their home countries, some permanently, my attention was fixated on obliging my insatiable wanderlust. I find exploring Lonely Planet guide books a spectacularly useful method of procrastination in the run up to exam periods, and my ‘China’ book was certainly effective on this occasion. By the time the last exam was over, I had mapped out a 2-week route through China that would take me to Xingjiang, the most western province in China and home to many sites on the epic Silk Road.

Travelling in China has been one of the highlights of my time aborad to date, as much for the people I have met along the way as for the sense of adventure and scenery. Indeed, there is far too much to explore in this diverse country than can be compressed into a years’ worth of sporadic adventuring. 55 minority cultures (to mention only official minorities), 22 provinces and a geography comprising every conceivable terrain would require a lifetime of committed study and travel to begin to comprehend. But you’ve got to start somewhere, and the last month I have spent making that start. Owing to fortuitous circumstance, I abandoned my original plan to head to Xinjiang in favour of Lhasa and the other-worldliness of the Tibetan Plateau. A land of sheer beauty juxtaposed with severe natural hardship, to see Tibetan herdsman etching out a penurious existence at 5,200m was confronting. I say that travel is addictive; anyone who has been to Tibet cannot help but plan their next trip on a napkin as they wait for a plain or train to take them off the Plateau. I’m going again in July.

During the winter break I managed to take in a few more places. I managed to make a quick sojourn in Nepal for a week after Tibet, and after flying back to China proceeded to meet my parents in Hong Kong for the inevitable questions concerning hygiene, school marks and potential Chinese wives. Chinese New Year, this year on the 17th of February, occurred whilst we were together in Hong Kong and somewhat made up for the fact that I had missed the 2 Birthdays (including my own 21st), Christmas and Western New year that had occurred whilst I had been away.

This story is incomplete, and I hope that the next 4-5 months of my time in China prove to be as eventful, stimulating and confronting as the last five months. I’m trying to learn Chinese in there as well. Fluency is a goal still to far away to be concerned about, but this year away will help me along that road. I can’t thank the Chinese Government, Asian Studies and the Confucius Institute enough for the chance they have given me, and I hope interested students in years to come will relish the opportunity to study in China.

6. Society Round-Up

a. Japanese Studies Society: Who? Japssoc, Where? UWA, Why? To provide you with the most funin learning Japanese that you will ever experience. Japssoc has been existent for over 30 years now and during that time we have been promoting the exchange of languages between UWA students and native speakers around Perth. We aim to accomplish these goals in two ways, first through the weekly Kaiwa classes that run from 1pm – 3pm on Mondays and 4pm-6pm on Wednesdays. These are just friendly chat sessions where speakers of all levels are welcome to practice their Japanese and learn about Japan from those who were born there and other students who have spent time in the country. It is held in Mutsumi no ma, in the Asian Studies building and all members and those interested are welcome to drop by. After a few sessions you will usually find that not only are you gaining confidence in speaking Japanese but you are coming out of the class making new friends.

Last year we held sold out events such as our Karaoke Competition (Japssoc Idol), River Cruise, as well as little events in between such as dine outs and cook offs to get you guys speaking the language. This year Japssoc promises to be bigger and better. Breathing new life to the year to year events but also a quiz night, movie night, and all sorts of interesting get togethers for you not only to speak the language you have spent so much time learning but also to have a blast. So come on down, because a whole new aspect of University life is waiting for you just a few steps away from the Asian Studies Office.

b. Chinese Society: The Chinese Society at UWA has been an active club providing services and organising events for the students of UWA for many years. Since its inception in 1999, we have had thousands of members, many of whom have now graduated and are working overseas (China included). Our memberships have spanned students from many walks of life including, international students, Chinese visiting students, Australian-born Chinese students and of course also non-Chinese students. The Vision of the Chinese Society is to connect Chinese culture through social, cultural and education activities across campus and the broader community. Our club goals are to:

*Educate* the UWA community on Chinese Language and culture, this is done through our education classes and cultural events.

*Inform* the students about public issues relating to Chinese studies and culture. This is done through our public lectures, e-bulletins and twice a year publications. *One major event we have been involved in this year is the recruitment of volunteers for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

*Connect* the Chinese and Chinese culture liking students through our various social events; movie nights and BBQs.

*Cooperate* with similar organizations, in particular the Confucius Institute, ISS, Centre for English Language Teaching and of course the UWA Student Guild.

*Participate* we have had stalls on both O-Day and Club Carnival, UWA Expo, MCW Week, Spring Feast, and Public Affairs council themed weeks. We have also sent delegations to Confucius Institute events.

We are a Guild-affiliated club, and originally our club was titled "University Chinese Language Society" with an aim to promote and teach Chinese culture. In more recent years, our name has changed to the "Chinese Society" and our vision is now more inclusive of the broader Chinese community both on campus and off. We aim to provide a social hub for all students interested in the language or culture. We also aim, through our club events and our Free Language classes, to promote Chinese culture and language to all those that are interested.

7. Staff Research Profile

Lyn Parker’s New Baby: “Ambivalent Adolescents in Indonesia”: Assoc. Prof. Lyn Parker will be having a lovely time over the next four years researching young people in Indonesia. At the end of last year she learned that she (and her team) had won a $410,000 Discovery Grant from the Australia Research Council to conduct the first ever comprehensive study of adolescence in Indonesia. I am sure you can imagine her excitement! The project responds to the rapid changes occurring in the social and cultural milieux of adolescents in Indonesia. The project hypothesizes that adolescents are ambivalent agents because they are subjected to conflicting discourses – e.g. from their parents and communities, the nation-state, their schools and religious teachers, and globalization. The Grant will allow the team to conduct fieldwork on teenagers and young adults in ten different parts of Indonesia, with each team member choosing their own field site. Lyn is going to be in two sites where she has worked before: West Sumatra, home of the matrilineal and fervently Muslim Minangkabau ethnic group, and Bali.

The team consists of four academics, Drs. Linda Bennett (at La Trobe University), Pam Nilan (University of Newcastle), Kathy Robinson (Australian National University) and Lyn, and the Grant has also enabled two PhD students to join the team. One of these is Tracy Wright Webster, whom you have probably seen in the Asian Studies corridors at UWA, and the other Traci is Traci Smith, at ANU. Lyn is the Team Leader and the Project’s “home” is Asian Studies at UWA. Some of the research will be standard for all the sites – for instance they have already developed a standard team questionnaire which will be answered by teenagers in lots of places across the archipelago –, but the team members all have their own interests and expertise, not to mention favourite fieldwork sites, so there will also be special topics and specializations. The project aims to capture the incredible diversity of Indonesia – not only by ethnicity but also by religion and class –, and to explore adolescent experience in seven fields: education; religious, cultural and national identity; the body and sexuality; parents and family; social life; popular culture; and work.

The team will write a comprehensive edited book on Adolescence in Indonesia, and many articles and conference papers. The team will be seeking both to develop research links with Indonesian academics and NGOs and to present the results of their research to new audiences in Indonesia. There will be a series of activities connected to the research. The first of these is the Symposium on Islamic Education in Indonesia, to be held at UWA in October, 2006 (see other article on this).

8. Asian Studies Honours Profile

My name is Claire Harding and I completed my Honours year in Asian Studies at UWA last semester. Honours year for me has been a great many of things, but above all I have found it interesting, valuable and rewarding. Doing Honours in Asian Studies has allowed me to develop academically and challenge myself to produce work of a high standard. Having the freedom to choose and then develop my own research topic has been a new and exciting experience for me – being free to tailor almost the entire course to my own interests has kept me motivated and focused. For example, I have been researching the very interesting yet troubling field of adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Indonesia! I wanted to keep up with my Indonesian language and so for one of my courses I chose to do an Indonesian translation unit – this enabled me to seek out a wide range of material across different genres related to my thesis topic.

Honours year in general has been quite different to what I was previously used to at university. As an Honours student you get special attention from all the wonderful staff in the Asian Studies department plus privileges that you can’t access as an undergraduate. I believe that it is really worth doing Honours in Asian Studies if you want to expand on what you have learned as an undergraduate, do in-depth research on anything related to Asia and gain important life skills for the future (for example, time management, research skills, data base development, report writing, information searching and public speaking). I have gained more than I could have ever imagined from doing Honours and have definitely opened up a few more doors in terms of future career prospects. Of course it is hard work and at times quite demanding, but when one considers the fact that the course is less than a year in length, it is not at all long in the scheme of things!

9. Asian Studies Graduate Profile

James Sheppard: (Combined Bachelors in Arts (Asian Studies)/Economics;Majors: Asian Studies, Economics, Indonesian, International Business Economics; Graduated 2002) “My decision to enrol in Asian Studies leaves me reflective because I wonder where I would be today had I not done so. My reasons were primarily pragmatic, thinking that it would complement economics well. When enrolling I knew little about Asia except that it lay somewhere to the north, and that it’s currencies were tumbling in the midst of a financial crisis – it was 1997. The region’s fascinating historical experiences, diverse social-cultural landscapes, tumultuous political dynamics and miraculous economic development was completely foreign to me. However, the more I began to immerse myself the more I began to understand and appreciate the different dimensions of contemporary Asia.

Concentrating on Indonesia during my studies at UWA, including an exchange program at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, became very defining and opened up many opportunities. Even before graduating I was able to work as a research assistant for a post-graduate student through the school to conduct field research on the Partai Demokratis Indonesia Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle) in post-New Order Indonesia.

Upon graduating I accepted an offer to work at the World Bank in the Indonesia country office in 2003 specializing on public finance. My work focused on the Government of Indonesia’s reforms in public finance providing technical assistance to the Office of the Vice President, the Ministry of Finance and Bappenas (National Development Planning Agency) to strengthen efficiency, transparency and accountability of the state budget and treasury management systems.

In addition to my work with the executive, I led the World Bank’s legislative capacity building program to the Indonesian House of Representative (DPR) to strengthen budget oversight; and facilitated coordination of other donor capacity programs with the Office of the Secretary General of the DPR.

Following the December 25 2004 Tsunami I spent 8 months in Aceh was as the international focal point for public sector institutions and reconstruction financing together with the Government and the newly established Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias. The experience exposed me to the horrific devastation of natural disasters but also illustrated the amazing resilience of people in times of crisis.

Living, working and studying in the South-east Asia has also provided many opportunities to travel, one which I have sought to take advantage of, exploring much of trekking through the mountains of Indonesia, shopping and dining in Singapore, relaxing on beaches in Malaysia and Thailand, cruising the Mekong through Laos and Cambodia, savouring sweet coffee and baguettes in Vietnam and diving the Philippines.

Having spent several years working in the region I have recently returned to post-graduate studies, taking a Masters in Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore together with 60 students from 20 countries spanning from Poland to Papua New Guinea, Khazakstan to Kenya, and Mongolia to Mexico. During this time I shall aim to focus on health and education policy in China and have commenced learning Mandarin.”

10. Other News

Report from the field, by Dr Stephen Dobbs

Just thought everyone might like to read a little about my study leave time at Walailak University in Southern Thailand. I have been at Walaiak (near the historic city of Nakhon Si Thammarat) for almost two months now continuing research into a history of proposals to construct a shipping canal through the Isthmus of Kra. (the narrow neck of land which separates the Gulf of Thailand from the Andaman Sea). My stay here has been academically rewarding and very enjoyable with lots of good local food and hospitality. Besides my own work I have given a couple of guest lectures (with someone translating as few students have a good grasp of English and my Thai is non existent) and attended a conference on Islam in Southeast Asia.

Walailak University is sprawling campus located in a very rural setting. Walking from my accommodation each day to the office I pass through small herds of cattle grazing on the grounds of the university. These are animals owned by local families who have continued to live on the land since the campus was built. The university caters primarily for students from the south of Thailand and for the overwhelming majority they will be the first from their families to have attained a university degree.

Sadly of course the south of Thailand, particularly the most southern states of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and Songkhla, is currently experiencing a wave of violence that has caused around two thousand deaths in the past couple of years. Exactly who is answerable for all the violence is not entirely clear. Muslim separatists are certainly responsible for much of the current turmoil in the south as they push for an independent Islamic state, however the violence seems quite random and just as many Thai Muslims are being killed as other Thais.

The Walailak student population is made up of a mix of Thai students from Muslim and Buddhist backgrounds and there seems to be little or no tension between them despite the current troubles. The university itself and particularly the Regional Studies Program which I am affiliated with while here works actively to promote understanding between different ethnic and religious groups in Thailand and across the Southeast Asian region. I recently attended a two day workshop which invited young scholars from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines to discuss their research into various aspects of Islam in the region. I was also invited to chair one of the sessions which focused on Islamic radicalism in the Southeast Asia. The scope of papers presented at the workshop demonstrated well the extent to which there is a great deal of diversity or plurality in the practice and make up of Muslim communities in Southeast Asia. Amidst the violence of southern Thailand it was refreshing to be part of such a gathering of young Muslim intellectuals representing a diversity of Islamic communities. It is to be hoped that the tolerance and willingness to discuss important and at times contentious issues displayed by these Muslim academics can be further nurtured and promoted.

I have only a couple more weeks at Walailak before I return for a short stay in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. After that I will be heading to the England to continue my research in the National Archive there. Sounds exciting but I am missing home trust me!