SSEAC Stories

On 6 January 2016, a young Indonesian woman, Wayan Mirna Salihin, collapsed in an upmarket Jakarta cafe after drinking iced coffee, and died before she reached hospital. Despite limited evidence, police reports indicate that cyanide poisoning was the most likely cause of Mirna's death. Following a four-month trial, Jessica Kumala Wongso, an Australian permanent resident, was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. Broadcast live on multiple national television stations, the sensational trial gripped the entire nation and continues to intrigue scholars as an example of how media bias and public pressure can impact the right to a fair trial.

Professor Simon Butt sat down with Dr Natali Pearson to review the controversial case, discuss whether Jessica Wongso got a fair trial in Indonesia’s criminal justice system, and debate the influence of the media on criminal trials.

About Simon Butt:

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

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The investigation of materiality, a key feature of art history and archaeology, can also be fruitfully applied to the study of history and philology. By asking questions about the material and physical properties of written sources, we can gain valuable insights into the development of the historiographical traditions that produced those sources. Historical texts of premodern Java, written between the 9th and 17th centuries, are challenging to use as historical sources, because even though they offer valuable information, they are often fragmentary, incoherent and mutually contradictory.

Jarrah Sastrawan sat down with Dr Natali Pearson to discuss his research on the materiality of writing in Indonesia. He argues that the physical conditions of historical documents, such as their durability, the circumstances of their storage, and their capacity for reproduction, have powerfully influenced the development of Javanese historiography as a whole.

About Jarrah Sastrawan:

You can follow Jarrah on Twitter @infiniteteeth.

View the transcript at: https://bit.ly/2Wcu2nY

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More than half-way through The Bearded Turtle (Kura-Kura Berjanggut), an epic 960-page Indonesian novel by Azhari Aiyub set in a place that reminds readers of Aceh, we learn that the early 17th-century Sultan of Lamuri keeps in his royal library a copy of the recently published and prized European novel, A Castilian Hero Rides a Donkey, an invented title that nonetheless reminds readers of Don Quixote. This remix of Cervantes’ book title provides an efficient clue to Azhari’s literary approach to history. In his reflections in one forum after another, Azhari insists The Bearded Turtle is not historical fiction, but rather a kind of historical dissimulation. Other Acehnese cultural critics have described The Bearded Turtle not as a deconstruction of Acehnese history, but rather a destruction of history altogether! The Bearded Turtle escorts the reader through familiar pre-colonial and colonial ruins of Aceh’s history (and wider Indian Ocean and South China Sea regional histories), but never quite in the manner that archives would report. Instead, Azhari reimagines and remixes the ruins of history in a manner that not only confuses, but refuses allegory.

In this podcast, Dr Jesse Grayman sat down with Jarrah Sastrawan to share his thoughts on The Bearded Turtle, winner of the 2018 Kusala Sastra Khatulistiwa prize in the prose category. As an anthropologist, but not a historian or literary critic, Dr Jesse Grayman speculates on the possibilities and limits for using such an unwieldy text in contemporary ethnographic analyses of Aceh and Indonesia more broadly.

About Jesse Grayman:

You can follow Jesse on Twitter @kopyor.

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We have seen a dramatic increase in incidents involving the malicious use of Information and Computer Technologies (ICTs) by state and non-state actors. These constitute risks for all states and may harm international peace and security. Certain states are developing military capabilities, and the use of ICTs in future conflict between states is more likely. Southeast Asia cannot be expected to escape these global trends. States are affected by them and/or feel compelled to develop their own capabilities. While national Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) are well established, investments in cyber units within the national security apparatuses are less well published, and if known, details are covered in deep secrecy. This angle to ICTs has not featured prominently on ASEAN’s agenda when compared to conventional regional security issues or the socio-economic aspects of ICTs. When it comes to addressing inter-state incidents, governments in the region have not been feeling comfortable or in a position to draw lines about what activities they deem responsible state behaviour and what are unacceptable operations in cyberspace.

In the lead-up to SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Mr Bart Hogeveen sat down with Mr Kean Wong to discuss cyberconflict and ICT security in the ASEAN region.

Bart Hogeveen is Head of Cyber Capacity Building at ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. He supports international and regional mechanisms to enhance cyberstability with governments and nongovernmental organisations across Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Bart currently directs a multiyear effort supporting further adoption of international norms and cyber-confidence building measures in the ASEAN region. He authored the Sydney Recommendations on Practical Futures on Cyber Confidence Building in the ASEAN region and publishes on The Strategist on related international cyber-security topics.

You can follow Bart on Twitter @BartHoogeveen.

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

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In the lead-up to SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Michael DiGregorio (The Asia Foundation) sat down with Dr Natali Pearson to discuss the transformative impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and how digital financial services and new technologies can be used to empower vulnerable communities and improve climate resilience in Southeast Asia.

About Michael DiGregorio

You can follow the Asia Foundation on Twitter @Asia_Foundation.

View the transcript here: https://bit.ly/3c9Omfo

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Dr Yeow-Tong Chia chats with Dr Natali Pearson to explore the role of education in the formation of the Singapore developmental state and how it provided a source of inspiration for China’s early modernisation strategies.

About Yeow-Tong:

You can follow Dr Sophie Chao on Twitter @YeowTong.

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

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In May 2019, the People’s Action Party (PAP) government pushed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act through Parliament. Claiming that the country needs to be prepared to fight against the scourge of misinformation and disinformation, the PAP essentially gave its own ministers the power to become the arbiters of truth on the Internet. This new legislation further erodes freedom of speech in a context where civil liberties have already long been under threat.

In the lead-up to SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Kirsten Han sat down with Mr Kean Wong to discuss the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, and how this law could actually cause further harm to public trust and increase society’s vulnerability to “fake news”.

Kirsten Han is a Singaporean freelance journalist and Editor-in-Chief of New Naratif, a platform for Southeast Asian journalism, research, art and community-building. Her work often revolves around the themes of social justice, human rights, politics and democracy, with bylines in publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Asia Times. In 2019, she was awarded a Human Rights Press Award for her commentaries on the issue of “fake news” and freedom of expression in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Her essay, "The Silhouette of Oppression", was published by Epigram Books in 2019. Kirsten is also a founding member of We Believe in Second Chances, a group advocating for the abolition of the death penalty in Singapore.

You can also follow Kirsten Han on Twitter @kixes

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In the lead-up to SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Petr Matous (University of Sydney) sat down with Dr Natali Pearson to discuss his research into the roles that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and social networks play in contexts with less-efficient institutions and infrastructure, with a view to restructuring such programs to ensure more equitable access.

Dr Petr Matous is a senior lecturer in the University of Sydney's School of Civil Engineering, and the Associate Dean for Indigenous Strategy and Services in the Faculty of Engineering. He is also an active member of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre's Executive Committee. His research investigates how social networks affect ordinary people's access to resources, such as clean drinking water in Manila.

Petr graduated with a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 2007, and received the University of Tokyo's President Award.

You can also follow Dr Petr Matous on Twitter @petrmatous.

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In the lead-up to SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Aim Sinpeng (University of Sydney) sat down with Mr Kean Wong to discuss her research on online political engagement in Southeast Asian elections, and the role of social media in shaping voting behaviour.

Dr Aim Sinpeng's research interests centre on the relationships between digital media, political participation and political regimes in Southeast Asia. She is particularly interested in the role of social media in shaping state-society relations and inducing political and social change. Together with Dr Fiona Martin, Aim was recently awarded funding by Facebook to help the social media giant understand how better to regulate hate speech online in the Asia-Pacific region.

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 also follow Dr Aim Sinpeng on Twitter @aimsinpeng

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On 19 March 2020, SSEAC hosted an online event discussing the short-lived Pakatan Harapan government and the possible return of kleptocracy in Malaysia. This podcast is an edited recording of the live conversation between Emeritus Professor Clive Kessler, Dr Ross Tapsell, Senator Liew Chin Tong, Mr Kean Wong, and Ms Tricia Yeoh.

The dramatic few weeks in January-February 2020 in Malaysia have resulted in a contentious new government, sworn in by Malaysia’s King in the country’s biggest crisis in 20 years. The historic election victory of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition nearly two years ago, which heralded a renewed democracy and a reformist government led by nonagenarian PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, imploded in February after a series of defections, betrayals, and backroom deals. New prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has grabbed power in a fragile alliance with former enemy parties UMNO and the Islamist Pas, as massive corruption and kleptocracy cases of UMNO leaders are heard in court.

What will this new government mean for Malaysia’s recent democracy revival, including its institutional and governance reforms already underway? And what are the longer-term implications for an uncertain nation and a new government grappling with its own legitimacy, in a region roiled by trade wars and a global pandemic?

Photo credit: Franc Pallares Lopez

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