Global COE Program - Kyoto University - In Search of Sustainable Humanosphere in Asia and Africa

Date: April 13(Mon.)，2009 　15:00-
Venue:Room 330, 3rd floor of Inamori Foundation Memorial Hall

Program:
* 3:00p.m. - 3:40p.m.
Dr. Kin Woon Toh (API Fellow)
"The Distribution of Political Rights in the Legislatures and
its’ Impact on Social Justice"

Dr. Mochtar Pabotinggi（LIPI; Japan Foundation Fellow)
"The Backbone of Japan in A Time of Epochal Crisis:
Reading the Prospects for Nation-Democracy Symbiosis
through Education, Agriculture, Industry, and Environment."

* 3:40p.m. - 4:00p.m.: Q&A

* 4:00p.m. - 4:30p.m.:
Dr. Tan Sooi Beng (API Fellow)
"Community Theatre in Asia: Empowering Young People to Bring
About Change"

* 4:30p.m. - 4:45p.m.: Q&A

* 4:45p.m. - 5:00p.m.：Break

* 5:00p.m.- 5:30p.m.:
Dr. Francis LOH Kok Wah（CSEAS Visiting Research Fellow)
"Whither Labour and the Labour Movement in Malaysia?"

* 5:30 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. : Q&A

* 5:45 p.m. - 6:15p.m.
Dr. Ukrist Pathmanand (API Fellow)
"Human Insecurity : A Reconsideration on Thai Women
Trafficking in Japan"

6:15p.m. - 6:30p.m. : Q&A

Date:17:00‐, April 3(Thu.)，2008
Venue:Room 207 on the 2nd floor of CSEAS East building http://www.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/about/access_en.html

Film: Mababangong Bangungot (The Perfumed Nightmare)/1977/Philippines
Director: Kidlat Tahimik
Language: English and Tagalog with English subtitles
Length: 91 min

References:
(English)
http://www.library.american.edu/subject/media/aufderheide/perfumed.html
http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/perfumenght.htm

（Japanese）
"The Search For and Reconstruction of the Filipino Identity"
http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/handle/10108/23680
http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/handle/10108/23684


We will show "The Perfumed Nightmare" directed and performed by Kidlat Tahimik, a Filipino director. This is the first film by Tahimik, which made his name worldly famous.

In the film, Kidlat Tahimik, a jeepney driver in a small village in Northern Luzon, dreams of one day going to the US to become an astronaut. One day, he meets an American Businessman who promises to take him to the US. On their way, they stop at Paris, taking along a jeepney from the Philippines. He is asked to run the chewing-gum-ball machine business owned by the American Businessman. The experience in Europe gradually makes Kidlat disillusioned about his idealized images on the developed world as well as his dream.

The original film was shot in 8 mmillimeter with low cost. The film is Kidat Tahimik's first movie, and it is said that he was learning about film making as he was shooting. The film won the Berlin Film Festival International Critics award in 1977. The film was highly evaluated by Francis Coppola later and made Kidlat Tahimik well known.

We will invite Dr.Roland Tolentino, Visiting Research Fellow, CSEAS, as a commentator.

Date: 19:30-21:30, March 17 (Mon.) - 18(Tue.) ，2008
Venue: Damascus Social Forum, Tilyany, Damascus, SYRIA

Flyer URL: http://mt15.quickshareit.com/share/dsf_flyer41722.pdf

Date: March 15 (Sat.) - 16(San.) ，2008
March 15 (Sat.), 13:00-18:00 /March 16 (Sun.), , 11:00-18:00
Venue: 1st floor conference room, Semiramis Hotel, victoria bridge, Damascus, Syria

"NETWORKING BETWEEN MIDDLE EAST AND JAPAN : Documentary Filmmaker and Researcher"

flyer URL: http://mt11.quickshareit.com/share/pf_flyerc07cb.pdf

Date:15:00-17:00, March 11 (Tue.)，2008
Venue:E207 on the 2nd floor of CSEASEast building

(1)Dr. Aung Kyaw, Assistant Lecturer, Department of Commerce, YangonInstitute of Economic, Myanmar
"Financing SMEs in Myanmar"

(2)Ms. Thandar Khine, Staff officer, Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, Myanmar
"An Analysis of FDI Inflow into Myanmar"

Abstract
(1)SMEs represent the greatest share of Myanmar economy in terms of number, contribution to employment, output and investment. Therefore, the development of Myanmar economy is totally dependent on the development of SMEs in the private sector. The role of SMEs is more important in today’s era in order to sharpen national competitive advantages and to take advantage on the speedy economic integration in the ASEAN region. However, surveys explored that SMEs are facing a number of constraints and problems that come from environment as well as their own internal inefficiencies. Among these constraints, shortage of power and inaccessible of financing from formal sector poses as severest constraints on their development. The problem of financing SMEs has long been existed and deeply rooted in both demand and supply side and it is also related to macro economic fundamentals and lending infrastructure of the country. Government’s policy towards SEEs could also lead insufficient support to SMEs sector in the country. Therefore, focusing on SMEs and private sector development as a viable strategy for industrialization and economic development of the country is a perquisite for the SMEs development. The policy recommendations for stabilizing macro economic fundamentals, improving demand and supply side conditions from SMEs financing aspect are made in order to provide better accessible financing and contribute towards overall development of SMEs sector in Myanmar.

(2)Myanmar highly appreciates as FDI is a key solution in order to reduce development gap with leading ASEAN countries and accordingly it is welcomed by the government. Myanmar Foreign Investment Law was enacted in 1988 soon after adoption of market oriented economic system to boost FDI into the country. Foreign investors positively responded to these measures in the early years and FDI inflow into Myanmar was gradually increased during the period from 1989 to 1996. However, after 1997, FDI inflow was dramatically reduced and stagnant at very low level up to 2004. In 2005, FDI inflow was dramatically increased unprecedented rate and reached maximum throughout the history. However, this growth was not sustainable in the subsequent years and declined again and stagnant at the previous level. In terms of source regions, ASEAN is major investor in Myanmar which investment is significantly more than combined investment of other world regions. Among top ten countries, Thailand investment alone is significantly more than combined total of other nine countries. Among ASEAN countries, seven countries have made investment in Myanmar of these Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia stand at the first, second and third place respectively. In terms of sector, the combined total of FDI inflows into Power and Oil & Gas sector represent 64% of total investment. Myanmar is relatively disadvantages in communication infrastructure, delay in administrative procedures, level of economic freedom, FDI related policies particularly existence of multiple exchange rates, imposition of tax on export earning and foreign exchange control, and external impact due to the sanctions of US and EU countries. Combined impacts of these factors impede the FDI inflow into the country even though Myanmar is rich in natural resources, human resources, cultural and national heritages that are very attractive to foreign investors. There are many opportunities for foreign investment in other sectors which are not yet exploited like agriculture, hotel and tourism, wood based industry, garment, electronic and IT etc. ASEAN countries will certainly be source countries of Myanmar FDI in future and Myanmar should expand other Asian countries like Japan, India, China, Korea and Hong Kong in its FDI portfolio. In order to effectively attract FDI into the country, Myanmar needs to minimize the effect of policy while opening and encouraging other potential sectors of FDI to foreign investors in ASEAN and Asian countries.

Date:March 7-8，2008
Venue:Kyodai Kaikan, Room SR (7th), Room 210 (8th)

Populism in Asian Clothes；Thailand and Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective

March 7th, 2008 (Fri)(Room SR) Session I:Next Populism or Post Populism?: Thai Politics and Japanese Experience
12:30	Registration
13:00	Opening Remarks: Kosuke Mizuno (Kyoto University)
13:15-15:15	Chair: Patricio Abinales Speakers: Pasuk Phongpaichit (Chulalongkorn University) Nualnoi Treerat (Chulalongkorn University) Tamada Yoshifumi (Kyoto University) Otake Hideo (Doshisya Women’s College of Liberal Arts)
15:15-15:30	Break
15:30-16:00	Comments by Discussants Chris Baker Honna Jun (Ritsumeikan University)
16:00-17:00	Answers by Speakers & Discussion
18:00-20:00	Reception at Kyodai Kaikan (Room102)
March 8th, 2008 (Sat) (Room 210) Session II:Populism in Comparative Perspective
9:00-11:00	Chair: Pasuk Phongpaichit (Chulalongkorn University) Speakers: Okamoto Masaaki (Kyoto University) Joel Rocamora (Director, Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD)) Matsushita Hiroshi (Kyoto Women’s University) Khoo Boo Teik (Universiti Sains Malaysia)
11:00-11:15	Break
11:15-11:45	Comments by Discussants Patricio Abinales (Kyoto University) Mizuno Kosuke (Kyoto University)
11:45-12:45	Answers by Speakers & Discussion
12:45-13:15	General Comment Benedict Anderson (Professor Emeritus of Cornell University)
13:15	Closing Remarks: Pasuk Phongpaichit (Chulalongkorn University)

Date:14:00-19:30, March 6 (Thu.) - 7(Fri.)，2008
Venue:Université St-Joseph, Théâtre Monnot, Quartier jésuite, Rue de l'université St-Joseph, Beyrouth, LEBANON

URL: http://mt15.quickshareit.com/share/tm_flyera4019.pdf

Date:16:30-19;30 March 3rd (Mon), 2008
Venue:CSEAS East Building 2nd floor room E207  Kyoto University

Institutional Changes and Recent Development in Indonesia

Speaker 1: Dr. Thee Kian Wie
             Senior Economist
             Economic Research Center
             Indonesian Institute of Science

Topic: "Indonesia's Economic Development During and After the
            Soeharto Era-Achievements and Failings"

Speaker 2: Prof. Kosuke Mizuno
             Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Topic: "Labor Law Reform and Changes of Industrial Relations
             in Indonesia, with special reference to labor dispute settlements"

Date:13:30-, January 26 (Sat.)，2008
Venue:Queen's Park Hotel, Bangkok

Title:"Technical Innovation for Sustainable Societies".

Date:16:00-, January 17 (Thu.)，2008
Venue:East Building, CSEAS, room 207

Speaker: Satya Arinanto

Dr. Arinanto is a professor on Constitutional Law at Faculty of Law,
University of Indonesia. He is also the vice director of PSJ (Pusat
Studi Jepang - Center for Japanese Studies), University of
Indonesia.Currently he is visiting Japan under the invitation of JICA.

Title:"Indonesian Constitution".

Screening of Thai documentary film
"The Truth Be Told:The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong" by Pimpaka Towira

Date:15:00-19：00, January 16 (Wed.)，2008
Venue:Bangkok office of CSEA, Kyoto University (Sukumwit Soi 20)

Language: English
Free of charge

Rough Schedule:
3pm-4pm: Introduction and a short lecture about political background of
Supinya's cases by Ajarn Michael H. Nelson

4pm-6pm: Screening of "The Truth Be Told" (Thai soundtrack with English
subtitle)

6pm-7pm: Q&A with a filmmaker, Ms. Pimpaka Towira, and discussion if time
allows.

A Special Seminar of CSEAS "State, Market and Community Study Group"

Date:10:00-11:30, January 11 (Fri.)，2008
Venue:Room CSEAS East Building, 2nd Floor, E207 Kyoto University

Speaker: Dr Teofilo C. DAQUILA(Associate Professor　Southeast Asian Studies Programme National University of Singapore)

Title:"ASEAN at 40: Revisiting the Past, Looking to the Future".

Date:14:00-17:00, December 25 (Tue.)，2007
Venue:CSEAS East Building 2nd floor room E207 

Speaker1 : Prof. Ikrar Nusa Bhakti Director
(Center for political Studies Indonesian Institute of Science CSEAS Foreign Scholar)
Title:"Peace in Disguise? The Birth of Electoral Politics in Aceh".

Abstract:
This article will describe and analyses situation in Aceh from conflict,
to the peaceful settlement of dispute through the Helsinki Peace Accord,
till two years after the implementation of the MoU. It begins with a
brief history about the Aceh state prior to the Dutch occupation,
followed by long period of war between the Acehnese and the Dutch during
the colonial era, the Acehnese voluntarily joint the new Republic of
Indonesia, and why the Acehnese wanted to be independent from Indonesia.
It will be followed by how the central government in Jakarta tried to
solve the problem of separatism in Aceh since 1950s, both through
political and military solutions. The last part of this article will be
a description and analysis about situation in Aceh post the Helsinki
MoU, what will happen in Aceh if the new local government successful in
delivering economic prosperity and maintain security in Aceh  and what
will happen if they fail.

Speaker2 : Dr. Asna Husin (Director,　Peace Education Program in Aceh)
Title:"Post Tsunami Reconstruction of Aceh ".

Date:14:00-15:30, December 22 (Sat.)，2007
Venue:Seminar Room (AA447) at the 4th Floor of Faculty of Engineer Building No.4.
(http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/english/eaccess/e07_acce/images/main200708.gif)

Title:"Security Sector Reform（SSR) in Indonesia: Ten Years After".

Time and date: Thursday, October 18, 2007 P.M.4:00-6:00
Place: 207, 2nd Floor, East Building, CSEAS, Kyoto University
Speaker: Zhuang Guotu (Xiamen University) (Visiting Research Fellow, CSEAS)

Title: Forth Wave: Chinese Migration into Southeast Asia in the last 20 years: On the context of labor and capital flowing in China and ASEAN
Commentator: Eric Tagliacozzo (Cornell University) (Visiting Research Fellow, CSEAS)

Abstract
The forth wave of Chinese migrants into Southeast Asia constituted of a part of the tide of new Chinese emigration in the last 30 years since the Chinese government relaxed the forbid policy on overseas emigration. The rapid economic integration and the improved political relations between ASEAN and China resulted in new Chinese migration to Southeast Asia being possible and acceptable. Following the fast increasing of China’s export, Chinese investment and contracted project constructions in Southeast Asia, massive new Chinese migrants flew into Southeast Asia in the last 20 years. In early 2007 the number of new Chinese migrants possibly amounted to two and half million, and more than one-third of them concentrated in Myanmar. Although the new Chinese migrants engaged in all the occupations except politics, the traders and hawkers still consisted of the majority of migrants. Because the Chinese migrants into ASEAN brought a win-win situation to both sides, the trend of Chinese emigration for Southeast Asia will continue in a certain scale in near future on the context of globalization and the unstop growth of economic integration of China and ASEAN.

Contact: Yoshihiro Nakanishi (Junior Research Fellow, CSEAS, 075-753-7333)

Date: 16  Oct, 2007

The workshop was co-hosted by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature research project “Integrated Research of Regional Ecological History in Asia - Tropical Monsoon Region: 1945-2005” (Project leader: Akimichi Tomoya) and “Assessment and Future Vision for the Application of Sustainable Forestry” (Project leader: Ichikawa Masahiro). Many of our program’s members participated in these projects, and its objectives are very similar to our own. The former research was mainly conducted in northern Laos on mainland Southeast Asia, and the latter had its field base in Sarawak (Malaysia) of insular Southeast Asia. The main debate involved the similarities and differences in forest and forest usage records in these two different regions, and whether or not analysis frameworks for mailand and insular Southeast Asia, or for subtropical forest and tropical forests, can be used when comparing the two. In Northern Laos and Sarawak, ethnic minorities based their livelihoods on slash-and-burn agriculture as well as by trading lightweight but expensive forestry products obtained through hunting-gathering. By the 19th century, the colonial governments began to develop institutions for land and forest management with the aim to conserve forest resources and secure tax revenues, but their effectiveness was debatable. In the 20th century, the logging boom began. The main products were teak in Northern Laos and dipterocarps in Sarawak. However, because the logging was selective, the boom did not destroy the forest completely, and was able to coexist with slash-and-burn agriculture. From the forest usage records in the two regions, it can be seen that although the logged tree species and forest commodities differ in view of the different types of forest vegetation, there were few differences in terms of the livelihood structure of the local peoples, the governments’ forestry resource use and management systems, and the relationship between local residents and the government in terms of the forest use.

However in the latter half of the 20th century, following the establishment of large-scale plantations in Sarawak, the differences between forest use in the two regions have increased dramatically. In Sarawak, all existing forests were cut down, and forestation on a massive scale began, starting with oil palms and later Acacia mangium, and monoculture plantation forests now cover over half of the original forest area. In short, this government-led fundamental conversion of nature was carried out in the pursuit of economical profits. Plantations – first teak and more recently rubber – were also established in Northern Laos, but on a limited scale, and　local slash-and-burn agriculture, with a gradual shift toward sedentary farming along with an expansion of paddy farming, still makes up the basis of the local economy.

What is responsible for the differences between these two regions in the latter half of 20th century? One hypothesis is that in Northern Laos, a fairly high population density has been maintained throughout history due to migrations, but in Sumatra, the low population density, leading to low land use pressure from traditional livelihoods, allowed the establishment of large-scale plantations. In addition, tropical forests hold the largest share of biomass resources on earth. Thus, this as well as intervention by outsiders in forest use should be the starting point for looking at differences between these two regions’ forest usage records. However, plantations do not use the existing forest vegetation, but reset them, and function by exercising total control over the tree species and ecosystem. It can be argued that the specific features of the natural environment in the equatorial zone, such as the abundance of sunshine and precipitation and the high temperature throughout the year, have nurtured such tropical forest with extremely bountiful natural resources, thus encouraging the development of large-scale plantation. If the design and development of technology accelerate on a global scale, in order to ensure the efficient use of energy and water circulation as a humanosphere, the equatorial zone must be seen as a critical place where the circulation is larger and more intense than anywhere else. We must discover useful ways to utilize the rare equatorial zones as a humanosphere for humankind. (Kono Yasuyuki)

Date: 30  July ，2007

Title:Seminar for Politics, Economy, History in Asia

We invited Professor Bin Wong, Director of the UCLA Asia Center, to give a talk on paradigm formulation based on his understanding of the Global COE framework. On the basis of the historical understanding of public finance and public policies articulated in China Transformed: Historical Change and the Limits of European Experience (1997), he outlined arguments from the 18th century to the present. He pointed out that in cases when the European sovereign states and their regional body, the EU, absorb and redistribute the surpluses of the residents of their regions, they do so based on a politico-philosophical foundation rooted in a historical path dependence, and lack a universality that could be fitted to other regions. He argued that this leads to difficulties concerning the issue of distributing global public goods today, where there is no world government. Citing the Coalition for Rainforest Nations as an example, he discussed the possibility of “regional public goods” differentiated from global public goods. (Sugihara Kaoru)

Date: 25 Jul.2007

Visiting Report: Central Java Earthquake, Indonesia

Together with Yamamoto Hiroyuki of the Center for Integrated Area Studies, Kyoto University, and Nishi Yoshimi of the University of Tokyo, we visited and observed a farming community near Yogyakarta that had been devastated by the Central Java Earthquake in May 2006. Though there were still many ruined houses in the Imogiri district, which had suffered most heavily from the quake, many of the farming villages had already undergone a process of reconstruction, allowing them to return to conditions prior to the quake, and our impression was that they had moved into a developmental process that aimed to build a stronger foundation for their livelihood in the face of disaster. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), which had been set up immediately after the quake, had already been closed.

According to Yamamoto and Nishi, who were both close observers of the reconstruction of Aceh following the Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami, some clear differences could be seen between the reconstruction process in Aceh and Yogyakarta. In Aceh, at least at the local community level, efforts had been made to accept foreign aid on a full-fledged scale, but in Yogyakarta the key players in the reconstruction process were the local governmental organizations and people, so the role of foreign aid was seen as a supporting one. One of the reasons for this difference comes from the scale of the devastation. In the case of Aceh, homes and infrastructure were nearly obliterated, whereas in Yogyakarta, the physical destruction was limited, with electricity being restored within a few days of the quake. In addition, social differences may have been a factor, as Aceh attempted to use this occasion to strengthen ties with the outside world, whilst Yogyakarta attempted to reaffirm ties among its own community.

Despite advances in engineering, it is still not possible to completely prevent damage from large-scale natural disasters including earthquakes and floods. Therefore, recovery from natural disasters is a common challenge for humanity. However, whether the reconstruction process is adequate or not depends on the specific history of the region, and on the organizations and institutions that exist within the local society. (Kono Yasuyuki)