SSEAC Stories

With two megacities and strong economic growth, Indonesia has seen dramatic rates of rural-urban migrations. According to the World Bank, nearly 70 percent of Indonesia's population are expected to live in cities by 2045. While this transition has undoubtedly boosted the country's economic growth, it has also brought to the fore all the challenges that come with rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation. From traffic congestion to informal settlements, lack of clean water and waste management services, and widespread flooding, Indonesia's cities suffer significant human and economic costs, and are now highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

Dr Sophie Webber (University of Sydney) speaks with Dr Natali Pearson about urban governance, and how urban resilience is being rolled out as a policy solution for cities such as Jakarta and Semarang in Indonesia, that are trying to adapt to the many shocks and stresses associated with urbanisation and climate change.

About Dr Sophie Webber:

Sophie has been researching urban resilience and smart cities with several geographers and urban scholars, including Professors Helga Leitner and Eric Sheppard, Dr Patrick Bigger, and Dr Sophia Maalsen.

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In 'Fighting for Virtue: Justice and Politics in Thailand', Professor Duncan McCargo investigates how Thailand's judges were tasked by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in 2006 with helping to solve the country's intractable political problems—and what happened next. In this podcast, Professor Duncan McCargo speaks to Dr Aim Sinpeng about the world of Thai judges: how they were recruited, trained, and promoted, and how they were socialised into a conservative world view that emphasized the proximity between the judiciary and the monarchy.

About Professor Duncan McCargo:

Fluent in Thai, Duncan has worked extensively in Thailand, and has also lived in Cambodia, Japan and Singapore. He has published a dozen books and numerous articles on Asian politics. His 2005 Pacific Review article on Thailand’s ‘network monarchy’ has been extremely influential. Duncan’s best-known books are 'The Thaksinization of Thailand' (co-authored, NIAS 2005) and 'Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand' (Cornell 2008), which won the inaugural Bernard Schwartz Book Prize from New York’s Asia Society. His latest book is 'Fighting for Virtue: Justice and Politics in Thailand' (Cornell 2019).

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As instruments of global governance, Multilateral Development Banks were created to lend developing states capital for economic growth and development that they could not access from private capital markets. Despite their positive aims, these international organisations have often come under fire and received harsh criticism for their lending practices on economic, political, environmental, and human rights grounds. In particular, the Banks have been the focus of attention for being unaccountable for their actions.

Professor Susan Park chats with Dr Natali Pearson about global governance and Multilateral Development Banks, with a specific focus on accountability mechanisms in the Asian Development Bank.

About Professor Susan Park:

Susan Park is Professor of Global Governance at the University of Sydney. She focuses on how state and non-state actors use formal and informal influence to make the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) greener and more accountable.

Susan has published in numerous journals, most recently in the Review of International Political Economy. Her forthcoming book is 'Addressing Environmental and Social Harm through the Independent Accountability Mechanisms of the Multilateral Development Banks' (Cambridge University Press, 2020). In 2018, Susan published 'International Organisations and Global Problems: Theories and Explanations (Cambridge University Press, 2018). In 2010, she published 'The World Bank Group and Environmentalists: Changing International Organisation Identities' (Manchester University Press). Susan has co-edited special editions and books including 'Global Environmental Governance and the Accountability Trap' (MIT Press, 2019, with Teresa Kramarz) and 'Owning Development'(Cambridge, 2010, with Antje Vetterlein).

Susan is an Associate Editor of the journal Global Environmental Politics and is Co-Convenor with Dr Teresa Kramarz (University of Toronto) of the Earth Systems Governance (ESG) Task Force ‘Accountability in Global Environmental Governance.’ Susan was the Chair of the Environmental Studies Section of the ISA from 2015 to 2017.

You can follow Susan on Twitter @spark_syd.

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The early post-war years (1945-1948) in Asia witnessed the dismantling of empire leading to a massive territorial reorganisation of the region under the framework of ‘reconstruction’. Contested borders dating from the age of empire were soon to be settled, as new national borders were drawn along ethnic or religious lines in the region. Yet the settlement of borders posed important challenges for those communities who had long resided in the interstices of state power. In this respect, the borderland areas between Yunnan, Western Sichuan and Burma during this period were a good example of the above. After years of relative autonomy in relation to different centers of power, its communities now became categorised as ‘ethnic minorities’ to be incorporated into the emerging independent nation-states of either China or Burma.

In this podcast, Dr Andres Rodriguez talks to Dr Natali Pearson about the ways in which both China and Burma sought to ‘decolonise’ this ethnically diverse border area, and how its inhabitants presented their own interpretation of emancipation, equality and modernity for the region.

About Dr Andres Rodriguez:

View the transcript: https://bit.ly/2FDmAgv

Photo credit: Franc Pallares Lopez

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As 2020 began, the world watched as the COVID-19 pandemic slowly spread its way across the globe. Across the countries of ASEAN, this unprecedented event played out in diverse ways. Countries like Vietnam demonstrated highly effective ways of managing the virus, whereas others, like Indonesia, spent considerable time denying its existence. These experiences reflect quite different responses to the pandemic – differences that underscore the diversity of political, economic and health landscapes across the ASEAN region.

In this panel discussion, our experts delve deeper into how ASEAN and the countries it comprises have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic at a government level, economically, and in terms of health and livelihoods. They'll be discussing topics ranging from the role of religion in responding to the crisis, how fake news and conspiracy theories have played out in the region, the role of China in combating the pandemic, and more!

Speakers:

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The livelihood impacts of COVID-19 have been diverse and far-ranging, with social restrictions initially affecting urban economies before reverberating through to rural Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, where the virus continues to spread, restrictions on mobility and social gatherings have severely restrained informal systems of wealth transfer and social protection. At the same time, formal government support programs have struggled to reach the most vulnerable households. Appropriate responses to the crisis demand a better understanding of rural-urban interactions across contemporary Southeast Asia and a long-term strategy to ensure access to a diversity of livelihood assets.

As part of SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Associate Professor Jeffrey Neilson (University of Sydney) sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Thushara Dibley, to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's livelihoods around Southeast Asia.

About Jeffrey Neilson:

Jeff's research focuses on economic geography, environmental governance and rural development in Southeast Asia, with specific area expertise on Indonesia. Jeff’s research interests are diverse and include issues of food security and food sovereignty, the global coffee industry, the global cocoa-chocolate industry, agrarian reform movements, sustainable livelihoods and alternative measures of well-being, agroecology, and environmental governance. He is currently leading a five-year research project examining the livelihood impacts of farmer engagement in value chain interventions across Indonesia. This research is contributing to cutting-edge international debates on the development effects of sustainability and certification programs, Geographical Indications and direct trade initiatives.

Jeff is a fluent Indonesian language speaker and has conducted extended periods of ethnographic field research in the Toraja region of Sulawesi, where he pursues research in cultural change, landscape history, the ceremonial economy and oral poetic traditions.

You can follow Jeffrey on Twitter @JeffreySydney.

View the transcript: https://bit.ly/310lP87

Photo credit: Tuan Anh Tran

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The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the Asia-Pacific region overnight. Responses to the viral disease have varied substantially across the region, with some countries introducing strong and effective measures while others have experienced rampant disease. The pandemic has tested the public health capacity of countries, as well as the capacity of governments to respond. Accurate evaluation of the impacts of COVID-19 is also varied – with some countries lacking the diagnostic capacity to quantify the incidence of disease. As new treatments and, potentially, vaccines are developed the capacity of countries to deploy these new strategies will also influence the trajectory of the pandemic. The nexus between the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 will see a significant widening of socioeconomic inequalities in many countries, and impair the control of other endemic infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.

As part of SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Associate Professor Gregory Fox (University of Sydney) sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Thushara Dibley, to explore the current and ongoing healthcare impacts of COVID-19 across Southeast Asia.

About Gregory Fox:

View the transcript: https://bit.ly/2CQImfL

Photo credit: Rene DeAnda

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The nature and extent of risk exposure determines the severity of the effects of a crisis. From the perspective of international trade, this session examines the pre-COVID-19 risk exposure of the ASEAN region, investigates its post-COVID-19 economic effects, and explores possible pathways for Southeast Asia to emerge from the ongoing crisis. As in the case of other regional integration initiatives, the establishment of ASEAN in 1967 encouraged the formation of economic relationships among countries the region. But because the ASEAN framework is unlike any other in the world, the emergent relationship structures in Southeast Asia are different compared to those in other regions. The characteristics of ASEAN integration have also shaped the ways in which individual Southeast Asian countries have forged economic relationships with other countries outside the region. These intra-regional and global relationships forged over time have created a very distinctive ASEAN risk environment. The nature of this risk has played a significant role in defining the unfolding economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the entire Southeast Asian region and on its individual nations. These insights into the nature of ASEAN risk and the ensuing nature of the COVID-19 crisis impact offer a glimpse of the features, opportunities and hurdles of the region’s long road to recovery.

As part of SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Sandra Seno-Alday (University of Sydney) sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Thushara Dibley, to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies around Southeast Asia.

About Sandra Seno-Alday:

You can follow Sandra on Twitter @SenoAlday.

View the transcript: https://bit.ly/2X8xOPI

Photo credit: Waranont Joe

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At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, various Southeast Asian countries were expected to fare differently. Thailand was seen as the most prepared, while Timor-Leste was seen as the least. Six months on, the Philippines and Indonesia have the highest death rates in the region, while Vietnam has had no double-digit new cases in nearly two months. This talk will focus on government responses across a key number of Southeast Asian nations, noting both their comparatively similar and different approaches to tackling the pandemic? Why did some states take on the fast and hard lockdown approach early on, while others took a soft and slow approach? How much did states rely on heavy surveillance of their population? More importantly, did the government's strategy have a direct impact on each country's overall performance in battling the pandemic. Due to its political diversity, Southeast Asia is a fascinating region to examine a variety of government strategies in handling the COVID-19 crisis with implications for the rest of the world.

As part of SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Aim Sinpeng (University of Sydney) had a chat with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Thushara Dibley, about government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic around Southeast Asia.

About Aim Sinpeng:

Aim is the co-founder of the Sydney Cyber Security Network and has served as the Expert Contributor for Varieties of Democracy and the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index, which measure degrees and types of democracy. Her other scholarly works examine popular movements against democracy in democratising states, particularly in Thailand. Prior to her academic career she worked for the World Bank, a Toronto-based investment bank, governments of Thailand and the Czech Republic and the New York State Democrat Party. Aim is also a regular commentator on Southeast Asian politics for the ABC, SBS, CBC, Channel News Asia, Al Jazeera, CNBC and Sky News.

You can follow Dr Aim Sinpeng on Twitter @aimsinpeng.

View the transcript: https://bit.ly/30aUIrO

Photo credit: Devana Jalalludin

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Indonesia has one of the highest smoking rates in the world and a poor record for implementing the public health measures needed to see these rates fall. Smoking is estimated to kill more than 225,000 Indonesians per year and contributes to many more deaths. Yet tobacco regulation has been highly contested in recent years.

Dr Elisabeth Kramer chats with Dr Thushara Dibley about tobacco regulation in Indonesia, delving into the myriad of challenges to tobacco control in the country, from cultural to economic factors, and short-term political agendas.

About Dr Elisabeth Kramer:

Elisabeth is Deputy Director at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the intersection between discourse, identity and politics in Indonesia. Current research interests include corruption, the tobacco industry and political empowerment for people with disabilities.

You can follow Elisabeth on Twitter @liskramer.

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/3f8XO4P

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