SSEAC Stories

Despite having a population of over 260 million people, Indonesia has a mere 1,000 psychiatrists and an equal number of clinical psychologists. Funding for mental health care is around 1% of the country's health budget. Under these conditions, providing adequate mental health care is an enormous challenge.

Furthermore, just like in many countries around the world, mental illness remains widely subject to negative judgements and stigmatisation in Indonesia. Gross human rights abuses against people living with mental illness are still prevalent across the archipelago, such as the practice of 'pasung', or shackling.

Professor Hans Pols chats with Dr Natali Pearson about the stigma surrounding mental illness, community advocacy efforts and government policy to overcome stigma and eradicate controversial practices used to isolate people with mental illness from the community, and the future of mental health services in Indonesia.

This episode coincides with the release of a special edition of 'Inside Indonesia' edited by Professor Hans Pols, dedicated to mental health care in Indonesia, which you can find at: https://www.insideindonesia.org/.

About Professor Hans Pols:

Hans has been investigating the history of medicine in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia for several years as part of his research within the University of Sydney's School of History and Philosophy of Science. He has a special interest in the history of psychiatry that dates back to his childhood.

In 2018, Hans published a book, 'Nurturing Indonesia: Medicine and Decolonisation in the Dutch East Indies', with Cambridge University Press, in which he analysed what motivated Indonesian physicians and medical students in the Dutch East Indies to participate in the political affairs of the colony. He subsequently published a two-volume edited book with essays, entitled 'Jiwa Sehat, Negara Kuat' ('Healthy Minds, Strong Nation'; a variation on a popular 1950s public health slogan in Indonesia), with KOMPAS. The book is the results of years of discussion between psychiatrists, psychologists, community mental health nurses, social workers, and patient advocates around innovative and successful mental health initiatives in Indonesia.

You can follow Hans on Twitter @HansPols3.

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Motor neuron disease (MND), also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is a devastating disease where the dying-off (degeneration) of motor nerves results in muscle weakness affecting an individual’s ability to move, speak, swallow, perform daily activities and breathe. There is still no effective cure for MND, as there is no clear understanding of why a previously healthy person develops this disorder at a later stage.

Professor Marina Kennerson and Professor Nortina Shahrizaila chat with Dr Natali Pearson about MND and their efforts to develop a research program for MND screening in Malaysia, which will pave the way for obtaining invaluable information of this lethal disease across Southeast Asia.

About Professor Marina Kennerson:

Marina is a Principal Hospital Scientist with the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Concord Hospital and Principal Research Fellow with the ANZAC Research Institute and Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney. She is a key international researcher in the field of hereditary neuropathies and has developed the genomics gene discovery and translational program at the ANZAC Research Institute. She is also the Malaysia Country Coordinator for the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre.

About Professor Nortina Shahrizaila:

Tina is currently Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya and Senior Consultant Neurologist at University Malaya Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In 2015, Tina received an Endeavour Executive Fellowship award to undertake a sabbatical with Professor Matthew Kiernan at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, which focused on the clinical aspects of Motor Neuron Disease. Upon returning to Malaysia, Tina led a team of clinicians to set up the first dedicated multidisciplinary MND clinic in Malaysia , which has since become the key tertiary referral centre for MND in the country. She is the current Chair of the Clinical Neurophysiology Section, Malaysian Society of Neurosciences.

You can follow the Kennerson Lab on Twitter @KennersonLab.

The Kennerson Lab is also on Facebook (Kennerson Laboratory) and has a fantastic website with plenty of resources that you can find at: http://anzac.edu.au/research/neurobiology.

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Gender-based crimes, especially rape, sexual violence and forced marriage, are extremely common in times of war. The consequences for victims and their communities are devastating. Despite that, these crimes have historically been largely invisible in international war crimes trials. For the last 10 years, Dr Rosemary Grey's work has focused on making gender-based crimes more visible in international war crime trials in order to increase justice to victims, especially women and girls.

In this podcast, Dr Rosemary Grey talks with Dr Natali Pearson about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, which sexual violence and gender-based crimes it did or did not prosecute, as well as the role of art as a tool for justice and healing for these crimes.

About Dr Rosemary Grey:

Rosemary joined the University of Sydney as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre and the Sydney Law School.

Recently she’s turned her attention to matters of accountability and inclusivity in other global courts. She is currently working to conduct the first comprehensive gender assessment of the United Nations backed ‘Khmer Rouge Tribunal, whose mandate is to prosecute genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other offences committed in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

Rosemary has consulted and interned for key organisations in the international criminal justice field, including Amnesty International, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, the International Bar Association, and the ICC.

You can follow Rosemary on Twitter @Rosemary_Grey.

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On 6 July 2019, in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Plain of Jars was inscribed as a World Heritage Monument: a unique testimony to a cultural tradition “which has disappeared”. For centuries, thousands of stone jars lay in splendid isolation, admired by villagers and the occasional European explorer. After the initial survey by Dr Madeleine Colani in 1931-1933, only now do we begin to understand the complexities of the 100 sites spread over Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang provinces. Nowadays the jars are viewed as a unique megalithic manifestation in Mainland Southeast Asia, rather than vessels “made by angels to drink liquors from”. What are the future prospects for these mysterious creations and what is the level of preparedness for the increased tourist visits that follow a UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination?

Dr Lia Genovese met up with Dr Natali Pearson over Zoom to discuss the Plain of Jars of Laos and its future following its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

About Lia:

Dr Lia Genovese obtained her PhD from SOAS University of London for a thesis on ‘The Plain of Jars of Laos - Beyond Madeleine Colani’. She is a part-time lecturer at Thammasat and Silpakorn Universities in Bangkok. Her fieldwork takes her to the Plain of Jars and other megalithic sites in the region. Her research covers French colonial archaeology, gender archaeology, cultural heritage and research methodologies. Lia is currently working on a biography of the French archaeologist Madeleine Colani. She is a Member of the Siam Society’s Lecture Committee and serves on the Organising Committee for the 2022 IPPA Conference.

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The Philippines is one of the most natural hazard-prone countries in the world. With the social and economic cost of disasters in the country increasing due to population growth, migration, unplanned urbanisation, environmental degradation and global climate change, disaster resilience and management are more important than ever. Dr Aaron Opdyke chats with Dr Natali Pearson about his work in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response in the Philippines.

About Aaron Opdyke:

You can follow Aaron on Twitter @aaronopdyke.

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2Z5VjKN

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Improper pest management has led to significant yield loss in rice and other crop harvests in Cambodia, causing economic losses to farmers and environmental disruption through ill-informed chemical use. The use of broad-spectrum pesticides as a solution to all observed pests is commonplace in the rice and mung bean fields of lowland Cambodia and can be linked to unsuitable sources of agricultural information.

Associate Professor Daniel Tan chats with Dr Natali Pearson about his lifelong work supporting sustainable farming practices in Cambodia, including through targeted capacity-building programs and the development of image-rich mobile phone applications to assist Cambodian farmers with insect pest identification and crop management.

About Daniel Tan:

Daniel is Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. He is also the Country Coordinator for Cambodia at the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and a member of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture, the Sydney Nano Institute, and the Charles Perkins Centre. Daniel’s research focuses on crop agronomy, specifically abiotic stress. He has conducted extensive research in Southeast Asia, including a very successful program that aimed to improve smallholder farmer livelihoods in Cambodia, with funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Daniel currently has collaborative research links at CSIRO Plant Industry (Narrabri), the University of Oxford, NSW Department of Agriculture, Applied Horticultural Research (Sydney), Texas A&M University (USA) the United States Department of Agriculture (Lubbock, Texas, USA) and ICRISAT, India. Daniel has been a member of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (AIAST) since 1991. He is also on the Editorial Boards of the 'Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture' and 'Frontiers of Plant Science'.

View the transcript at: https://bit.ly/3iXMXNa

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Is the COVID-19 pandemic eroding China’s influence in Southeast Asia? How has it affected perceptions of China in the region, and how might this shape China's foreign relations in Asia?

While China's rising influence in Southeast Asia has undoubtedly brought about economic development opportunities, it also presents complex geopolitical challenges for the region. These have come to the forefront amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as many Southeast Asian countries struggle to contain risks of economic downturn. The effects of the pandemic and resulting social isolation measures have been particularly pronounced in the manufacturing sector which relies heavily on Chinese companies' investments.

Dr Pichamon Yeophantong sat down with Dr Natali Pearson to look at the impact of COVID-19 on Southeast Asia's relations with China, with a particular focus on the garment manufacturing industry and its implications on human rights.

About Pichamon Yeophantong [พิชามญชุ์ เอี่ยวพานทอง; 皮查蒙·约范童]:

Pichamon is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), UNSW Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). She also leads the Responsible Business Lab and Environmental Justice and Human Rights Project at HASS.

A China specialist by training, Pichamon's research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and the political economy of sustainable development (including resource conflict and energy transitions) in the Asia-Pacific. In addition to her ARC-funded project on how to better regulate Chinese resource and infrastructure investment overseas, Pichamon is a Chief Investigator on a CARE Australia project evaluating sexual harassment prevention in Southeast Asian garment factories. In 2018, she was awarded the CHASS Australia 'Future Leader' Prize by the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Pichamon has conducted extensive fieldwork in China and Southeast Asia, having served as a consultant to the Africa Progress Panel, Overseas Development Institute, International Rivers, and the American Friends Service Committee, among others. Her work has appeared in such publications as Asian Survey, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Pacific Affairs, and Water International.

You can follow Pichamon on Twitter @eastforeden.

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The Philippines has taken some of the most hardline measures in the world to contain the spread of COVID-19. Yet President Duterte’s highly militarised approach to the crisis has proven controversial. The enforcement of the strict curfew and quarantine restrictions has led to some excesses, with concerns being raised over police brutality during the lockdown, whilst living conditions for the poor have worsened dramatically, as more than a quarter of the Philippines' population live in dire poverty.

Associate Professor Nicole Curato chats with Dr Natali Pearson about life in the Philippines amid one of the world's toughest coronavirus lockdowns, unpacking the Duterte government’s policies, the impact of the pandemic on Filipino diasporic communities, community responses to the crisis, and how COVID-19 has exacerbated human rights issues in a vastly unequal country.

About Nicole Curato:

Nicole is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Canberra’s Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance. She is the author of the book Democracy in a Time of Misery: From Spectacular Tragedies to Deliberative Action (2019, Oxford University Press) and Power in Deliberative Democracy: Norms, Forums, Systems (2019, Palgrave, with Marit Hammond and John Min). She is the recipient of Australian Research Council’s Discovery Early Career Research Award (2015-2018) for her work on democratic innovations in post-disaster situations.

Prior to her appointment at the University of Canberra, she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Australian National University (ANU). She has held visiting fellowships at the University of Uppsala (Sweden), University of Turku (Finland), and the University of Stuttgart (Germany). She is currently an Associate Editor of the journal Political Studies, and an Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network.

You can follow Nicole on Twitter @NicoleCurato.

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2ZKvT4I

Photo credit: Asian Development Bank

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The rapid spread of COVID-19 across Indonesia has put the country’s nascent healthcare system under tremendous pressure, leading to a de facto hierarchy of care, with the treatment of some illnesses being prioritised over others. In a context of rising populism and social pressure over sexual practices, the social isolation policies rolled out have exacerbated the challenges encountered by people with HIV/AIDS across the archipelago.

Associate Professor Sharyn Davies and Dr Najmah met up with Dr Natali Pearson over Zoom, to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on healthcare in Indonesia, with a focus on the LGBTIQ community and people living with HIV/AIDS.

About Sharyn Davies:

Sharyn is recognised internationally as an expert in the field of Indonesian Studies and for her contributions on policing in Indonesia, police corruption, social media, surveillance, gender and sexuality. Her outstanding contributions to education and research have earned Sharyn acclaim including her co-edited book Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary Indonesia, which won the Ruth Benedict Prize for outstanding edited collection awarded by the American Anthropology Association (2015) and the International Convention of Asian Scholars award (2017). She is currently Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences and Public Policy Research at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). From July 2020, Sharyn will be joining Monash University as Associate Professor of Indonesian Studies and Director of the Monash Herb Feith Indonesian Engagement Centre.

You can follow Sharyn on Twitter @sharyndavies.

About Najmah:

Najmah is a lecturer in the Public Health Faculty of Sriwijaya University, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Najmah was awarded a prestigious New Zealand Scholarship for her doctoral studies and graduated from Auckland University of Technology in 2020. She completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr Sari Andajani and Associate Professor Sharyn Davies, whilst looking after her three toddlers. Najmah also has degrees from the University of Melbourne, where she studied with an AusAID Partnership Scholarship, and Sriwijaya University. Najmah is the author of four books of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is currently writing her fifth book with her supervisor in qualitative approach and enthusiasm in Feminist and Participatory Action Research.

View the transcript at: https://bit.ly/2WbcHft

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As the world struggles with the global repercussions of local events, debates around internationalisation have become ever more relevant. Dr Sandra Seno-Alday sat down with Dr Natali Pearson to explore how different models of international business and economic networks may have distinct implications on economic risk within integrated regions, such as the EU and ASEAN.

About Sandra Seno-Alday:

Sandra is a Lecturer in the Sydney Business School at the University of Sydney, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre. Prior to embarking on an academic career, Sandra was a consultant to a wide range of medium- to large-scale companies, specialising in international business development and organisation development. In the area of international business development, her consulting engagements were mainly aimed at informing clients’ strategic business expansion efforts in Southeast Asia, and included risk assessments, market attractiveness studies, competitive analyses and business feasibility analyses. In the area of organisation development, Sandra’s consulting engagements focused on helping companies design their organisation structure and processes, and put in place human resource management systems aimed at supporting the delivery of overall corporate strategies.

You can follow Sandra on Twitter @SenoAlday.

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