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15736 results in ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

Page 86 of 787

Renewable Energy
  • Malaysia's Climate Change Solution or Placebo?
  • Serina Rahman
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    29 October 2021
    Print publication:
    14 July 2020
  • Malaysia pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 in relation to its 2005 GDP figure. The sectors listed as the main focus of this effort included: energy, industrial processes, waste, agriculture, land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF). Several initiatives under myriad governments have been launched to reduce Malaysia's climate change impacts; among those has been the emphasis on renewable energy (RE). Malaysia's current energy mix relies heavily on coal and natural gas. Long-entrenched subsidies on these energy sources, coupled with greatly depreciating prices make it difficult for new RE producers to enter the market and increase their market share. This is in spite of positive developments in RE infrastructure and reduced RE material costs. Solar, biogas, biomass and mini-hydro have been put forward as the RE sources with the most potential, but all have issues of consistency and reliability. Because small energy generators cannot guarantee infallible energy production, they may not be the most viable options for the long term. Their size also denies them the economies of scale that would reduce their costs. Instead, these higher costs may be transferred to the consumer. Other issues include the competition for land in the development of large-scale solar farms, including the possible loss of community farmlands and hence livelihoods, if not displacement. A push for biomass and biogas as a source of energy might also lead to increased oil palm production to meet the need for consistent supplies of oil palm waste. Biogas from municipal landfills is made even more challenging given that Malaysian municipal waste is not sorted at source. One possible solution is the use of hybrid RE in rural areas, comprising a mix of micro-hydro, solar and diesel-based energy generation as a back-up. However an immediate win is to ensure energy efficiency and public education to encourage emissions reduction and climate change impacts on the individual consumer.

The Making of Anwar Ibrahim's 'Humane Economy'
  • Khoo Boo Teik
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    29 October 2021
    Print publication:
    04 January 2021
  • Anwar Ibrahim, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, 1993-98, and Opposition Leader, 2008-15 and since March 2020, is associated with two lasting, seemingly contradictory images. Those were of the young Anwar as a radical Islamist for whom economics seemed not to matter, and as a pro-market reformer during the 1997 East Asian financial crisis for whom Islam no longer mattered.Yet there was economics in the young Anwar's Islam and, conversely, Islam in the mature man's economics. Between them lay certain 'moral ambivalences' that occupied Anwar during the pre-crisis period when economic growth, prosperity and ambitions were dogged by rent-seeking, corruption and institutional degradation. Anwar had expressed various thoughts on 'Islam and economics', notably when he was President of Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM, or Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement), Minister of Finance (1991-98), and leader of the post-Reformasi opposition. His thoughts formed the core of a 'humane economy' that he envisioned and advocated upon his return to active politics from 2006 onwards.

    The vision of a 'humane economy' holds personal, ideological and political significance at a specific political juncture in Malaysian history.

Challenges in Tackling Extremism in the Indonesian Civil Service
  • A'an Suryana
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    29 October 2021
    Print publication:
    04 December 2020
  • In his second term (2019-24), President Joko Widodo remains committed in combating radicalism. Anti-radicalism measures such as the banning of radical organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), anti-radicalism policies at schools and universities and the deradicalization of terrorists have been expanded to include the Indonesian civil service that currently employs over 4.2 million people across the archipelago. In November 2019, a joint decree was signed by eleven government and state institutions to formalize the new anti-radicalism policy. This paper argues that some challenges arose during the process of implementing the policy including the lack of cooperation from Personnel Development Officers (PPK) in imposing disciplinary actions recommended by the task force.

    The spread of COVID-19 further impedes policy coordination and has hampered efforts to effectively implement the policy.

Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs under Joko Widodo
  • Syafiq Hasyim, Norshahril Saat
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    29 October 2021
    Print publication:
    13 November 2020
  • Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, with 87.18 per cent of its 260 million population embracing the Islamic faith. However, Indonesia is neither an Islamic state nor a secular one. It adopts Pancasila as the state ideology but has a Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) overseeing six official religions.

    MORA has its genesis in Dutch colonial rule (1602-1942). It was strengthened during the Japanese occupation (1942-45) and then sustained by the post-independence Indonesia government (after 1945). The decision to keep MORA was to compensate those who had aspired for the enactment of the Jakarta Charter in the era of Sukarno but failed. MORA has always been the arena for contestation between the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and the modernist Muhammadiyah. Both organizations eye not only the minister post, or leadership positions in the bureaucracy, but also lower ranking positions.

    This article examines how MORA has been managed under President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) from 2014 till the present. It highlights similarities and differences in Jokowi's control of the influential ministry compared to his predecessors. In 2014, even though Jokowi was elected on a reform agenda, he left MORA untouched.

    After the 2019 election, Jokowi appointed Fachrul Razi, a retired general as Minister of Religious Affairs, departing from past practices of naming a religious scholar (ulama) or a religiously trained person (santri) to that position. This demonstrates a wish on the part of the President to shake up the ministry and to exert control over the institution. This decision, however, has alienated core supporters in NU who helped him get re-elected in 2019.

From Pakatan Harapan to Perikatan Nasional
  • A Missed Opportunity for Reforms for East Malaysia?
  • Anantha Raman Govindasamy
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    29 October 2021
    Print publication:
    23 July 2021
  • The Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) brought together Peninsular Malaya with the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. This Agreement afforded certain rights and obligations to these two states, notably in areas such as religion and language, financial autonomy, immigration, judicial autonomy, and finance and tax issues. However, since the signing of this foundational treaty, East Malaysians have become discontented. Key frustrations include a gradual erosion of the stipulated privileges by the federal government, persistent underdevelopment, as well as the perceived unequal distribution of petroleum revenue earned from these states.

    When Pakatan Harapan came to power in 2018, there were expectations from Sabah and Sarawak that the new administration would be committed to the restoration of East Malaysia's special position within the Malaysian Federation. In order to address long-standing tensions, Pakatan Harapan established a Special Cabinet Committee on MA63 to look for new ways of restoring East Malaysia's prerogatives. The Special Cabinet Committee managed to resolve seventeen out of twenty-one issues pertaining to the economy, finance and the judiciary. However, the most complex issues pertaining to the sharing of oil revenue were outstanding. One key outcome was that the Committee proposed a constitutional amendment to recognize Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia as equal partners in the Federation. However, the proposed amendment did not garner the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament. A bloc of parliamentarians allied with the Gabungan Parti Sarawak - a coalition of Sarawak-based parties formerly aligned with ousted national coalition Barisan Nasional-abstained from voting. Since the advent of the Perikatan Nasional administration, the broader issue of East Malaysian rights has received little attention.

    It is likely that, rather than seeking to address the fundamental tensions between the Peninsula and East Malaysia, the current administration will seek to offer targeted benefits to elites from the region.

Urban Transition in Hanoi
  • Huge Challenges Ahead
  • Danielle Labbé
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    29 October 2021
    Print publication:
    15 January 2020
  • Vietnam is in the midst of one of the world's most rapid and intensive rural-to-urban transitions. In Hanoi, heritage preservation has gained significant policy attention over the last decades, but efforts continue to focus on the Old Quarter and Colonial City to the exclusion of collective socialist housing complexes and former village areas, and natural features such as canals and urban lakes. Parks and public spaces are urgently needed to offset the high residential densities and to improve the quality of life of residents. Motor vehicles continue to fuel the growth in transportation. Significant efforts were recently made to establish a mass transit system, but progress there is slow. More attention should be paid to improving the existing transportation system and to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

    Investments in new housing estates have fuelled a speculative real estate market but failed to address adequately the needs of the vulnerable segments of the population. Regional integration is a challenge as the city expands and swallows the peri-urban areas around the city.

The Belt and Road Initiative
  • Environmental Impacts in Southeast Asia
  • Alex M. Lechner, Chee Meng Tan, Angela Tritto, Alexander Horstmann, Hoong Chen Teo, John R. Owen, Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    28 October 2021
    Print publication:
    01 August 2021
  • China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is expected to be the largest infrastructure development scheme of the twenty-first century. There is escalating concern over BRI's potential environmental impacts in Southeast Asia, a global biodiversity hotspot and a focus area of BRI development. Case studies of Indonesia, Myanmar, Lao PDR and Malaysia show that the success of BRI in bringing about sustainable growth and opportunities depends on the Chinese government and financiers, as well as the agencies and governments involved when BRI investments take place. The adoption of best environmental practices is critical in ensuring that growth is sustainable and that bad environmental practices are not locked in for decades to come.

The Free and Open Indo-Pacific Beyond 2020
  • Similarities and Differences between the Trump Administration and a Democrat White House
  • John Lee
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    28 October 2021
    Print publication:
    01 August 2021
  • American Indo-Pacific policy will be driven by its China policy, regardless of whether there is a second-term Donald Trump administration or a first-term Joe Biden administration. The Republicans will continue to frame the major challenge as 'balancing' against Chinese power and 'countering' the worst aspects of Beijing's policies. Establishment or moderate Democrats under Biden will choose the softer language of seeking a favourable 'competitive coexistence' in the military, economic, political and global governance realms, and the reassertion of American leadership and moral standing. In advancing the FOIP, the current administration argues that disruptiveness and unpredictability are necessary to reverse what they see as the 'normalization' of Chinese assertiveness, coercion and revisionism. They also point to the closeness of US cooperation with Japan, Australia and India and bourgeoning strategic relationships with Vietnam. A second-term Trump administration will continue to seek out 'fit-for-purpose' existing institutions and relationships, or prioritize new ones. Establishment Democrats believe that the 'America First' unilateralist approach is unsettling for allies and partners. In advancing a favourable 'competitive coexistence' with China, Democrats will seek to expand the tools of statecraft and achieve a better balance between military/economic/political/governance approaches.

    Prima facie, a Biden administration might position America as a more consultative guarantor of a preferred order. However, there will be greater pressure on Southeast Asians to accept more collective responsibility to advance common objectives. This means hedging in a manner more suitable to American rather than Chinese preferences. Failing that, more emphasis might be placed on greater institutionalization of the Quad and ad hoc groupings. A Bernie Sanders administration, now an unlikely prospect, would be a disaster for US standing and power in the region, and therefore for Southeast Asia.

Deepening the Understanding of Social Media's Impact in Southeast Asia
  • Ross Tapsell
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    28 October 2021
    Print publication:
    01 August 2021
  • Southeast Asia's Internet users are far more diverse than usually reported. They range from the urban youth with laptops and highspeed Wi-Fi, to the older generation semi-rural and rural users with affordable mobile phones for Facebook and WhatsApp. Southeast Asians generally trust social media platforms more than in Western societies. This trust in social media reflects a lack of trust in local mainstream media and official sources of information. What campaign information (and disinformation) is being spread and which ones are most successful are essential for understanding how voters in Southeast Asia use and trust social media. Social media platforms and Southeast Asia's 'app industry' need clearer and enforced regulation on their use of data and the extent to which they can sell data to advertisers. These advertisers include, but are not limited to, politicians and political parties. Since the future of social media usage will likely lie in closed groups, the role of big data analyses that have dominated research on social media over the past ten years, is likely to regress. Instead, ethnographic scholars who can access these groups and engage with their particular interests and identities are more likely to be useful in understanding the digital sphere in the future.

Will Pakatan Harapan's Hold on Selangor Continue?
  • Tricia Yeoh
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    28 October 2021
    Print publication:
    28 January 2021
  • When the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government fell in February 2020, PH also lost control over the states of Johor, Malacca, Perak and Kedah. In Sabah, PH-aligned Warisan was replaced by the PN-aligned United Alliance of Sabah. PH maintained its hold on three states-Selangor, Penang and Negeri Sembilan. Selangor's position is of unique interest, given the largest share of PH assemblypersons comprising members from the People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or PKR), the party which has faced significant elite splits in 2020. The present stability of PH's survival in Selangor can be accounted for by the sheer majority it possesses within the legislative assembly, comprising forty-one out of fifty-six state seats. Unless a significant share of assemblypersons were to defect, the change in state government would be highly unlikely. PH built a strong base in Selangor during its time in power over more than a decade, securing performative legitimacy and rooting itself strongly within the community. PH has benefited from the highly urbanized and educated demographic profile of Selangor. However, the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has likely changed the landscape, which may in turn affect how constituents will now respond to goodies offered by the federal government. Although PH in Selangor has survived the national storm, its future performance remains uncertain. This year's political realignment, public opinion towards PN and the 2018 redelineation exercise where the number of Malay-majority seats has grown may hamper PH's ability to maintain its strong margin. The political fragmentation that continues to unfold will see further party and coalitional realignment, which will invariably impact PH's strength in Selangor.

Vietnam-China Agricultural Trade
  • Huge Growth and Challenges
  • Le Hai Binh, Lam Thanh Ha
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    28 October 2021
    Print publication:
    18 March 2021
  • Agricultural products are one of Vietnam's most important exports, contributing considerably to the overall export turnover of the country. Vietnam's agricultural exports are easily affected by external factors. It is overly dependent on the Chinese market, and its agricultural products do not as yet meet strict global standards. Challenges facing Vietnam's export of fruits and vegetables to the Chinese market include technical barriers, long risk assessment periods, restrictions on products exported through official quotas to the Chinese market, and frequent changes in China's policy on border crossings. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of market diversification to this sector. To further develop its agricultural export sector, Vietnam needs to gather and consolidate information on import standards and guide its farmers on product quality requirements. Besides, efforts to gradually diversify its markets are essential for it to avoid being dependent on a small number of partners and markets. Vietnam's participation in international organizations such as ASEAN, APEC, WTO, and AEC exemplifies its increasingly active efforts at seeking new development opportunities. The seventeen bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements which have been signed by Vietnam partly demonstrates efforts at achieving market diversification.

The Riau Islands
  • Setting Sail
  • Edited by Francis E. Hutchinson, Siwage Dharma Negara
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    22 July 2021
  • To Singapore's immediate south, Indonesia's Riau Islands has a population of 2 million and a land area of 8,200 sq kilometres scattered across some 2,000 islands. The better-known islands include: Batam, the province's economic motor; Bintan, the area's cultural heartland and site of the provincial capital, Tanjungpinang; and Karimun, a ship-building hub strategically located near the Straits of Malacca. Leveraging on its proximity to Singapore, the Riau Islands—and particularly Batam—have been a key part of Indonesia's strategy to develop its manufacturing sector since the 1990s. In addition to generating a large number of formal sector jobs and earning foreign exchange, this reorientation opened the way for a number of far-reaching political and social developments. Key among them has been: large-scale migration from other parts of the country; the secession of the Riau Islands from the larger Riau Province; and the creation of a new provincial government. Building on earlier work by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute on the SIJORI Cross-Border Region, spanning Singapore, the Malaysian state of Johor, and the Riau Islands, and a second volume looking specifically at Johor, the third volume in this series explores the key challenges facing this fledgling Indonesian province. Adopting a multidisciplinary framework, this book explores three issues: what have been the social, political, and environmental effects of the rapid economic change set in motion in the Riau Islands; to what extent can or should the province seek to reconfigure its manufacturing-based economy; and how have the decentralization reforms implemented across Indonesia affected the Riau Islands.

Singapore Lectures 1980-2018
  • Implications for Southeast Asia
  • Edited by Malcolm Cook, Daljit Singh
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    07 October 2020
  • Over the last 40 years, the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute has been honoured to partner with the Singapore government in hosting 44 Singapore Lectures. The Singapore Lecture series is a unique public platform for world leaders and experts visiting Singapore that reflects the city-state's role as a global hub of ideas and diplomacy. The 21 lectures chosen for this 40th anniversary volume chart the fundamental changes in the global economy and the inter-state system that Southeast Asia and Singapore have successfully navigated over these four momentous decades.

Economic Dimensions of Covid-19 in Indonesia
  • Responding to the Crisis
  • Edited by Blane D. Lewis, Firman Witoelar
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    17 March 2021
  • Beginning in December 2019, the coronavirus swept quickly through all regions of the world. COVID 19 has wreaked social, political and economic havoc everywhere and has shown few signs of entirely abating. The recent development and approval of new vaccines against the virus, however, now provides some hope that we may be coming to the beginning of the end of the pandemic. This volume collects papers from a conference titled Economic Dimensions of COVID 19 in Indonesia: Responding to the Crisis, organised by the Australian National University's Indonesia Project and held online 7–10 September 2020. Collectively, the chapters in this volume focus for the most part on the economic elements of COVID 19 in Indonesia. The volume considers both macro- and micro-economic effects across a variety of dimensions, and short- and long-term impacts as well. It constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of Indonesia's initial response to the crisis from an economic perspective.

Young Soeharto

Southeast Asian Affairs 2021
  • Edited by Daljit Singh, Malcolm Cook
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    28 May 2021
  • Now in its forty-eighth edition, Southeast Asian Affairs offers an indispensable guide to this fascinating region. Lively, analytical, authoritative, and accessible, there is nothing comparable in quality or range to this series. It is a must read for academics, government officials, the business community, the media, and anybody with an interest in contemporary Southeast Asia. Drawing on its unparalleled network of researchers and commentators, ISEAS is to be congratulated for producing this major contribution to our understanding of this diverse and fast-changing region, to a consistently high standard and in a timely manner.Hal Hill, H.W. Arndt Professor of Southeast Asian Economies, Australian National University

Threads of the Unfolding Web
  • Vietnam's Decision to join ASEAN
  • Stuart Robson, Hadi Sidomulyo
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    21 February 2021
  • Stuart Robson's expert English translation of the Tantu Panggelaran gives his readers ready access to this important work, which provides insight into how the author and his contemporary Javanese readers imagined the realities of the world in which they lived. We learn how they conceived the creation of this world and understood the relationship between the gods and men. Importantly, we learn also how they conceived a history of the foundation and spread of Bhairava Śivaite hermitages, shrines and temples. The work traces the history of this network from its origins in the vicinity of the Dieng plateau and the northern plains of Batang and Pekalongan to its subsequent expansion to the Tengger and Hyang Massifs of eastern Java. Hadi Sidomulyo's impressive commentary, an amalgam of textual analysis and the survey of archaeological sites, is a model for the way in which further research of this sort might be conducted and underlines the urgent need for further archaeological surveys and the future excavation of archaeological sites.—Professor Emeritus Peter Worsley, Indonesian Studies, University of Sydney

Living with Myanmar
  • Edited by Justine Chambers, Charlotte Galloway, Jonathan Liljeblad
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    31 July 2007
  • Since 2011 Myanmar has experienced many changes to its social, political and economic landscape. The formation of a new government in 2016, led by the National League for Democracy, was a crucially important milestone in the country's transition to a more inclusive form of governance. And yet, for many people everyday struggles remain unchanged, and have often worsened in recent years. Key economic, social and political reforms are stalled, conflict persists and longstanding issues of citizenship and belonging remain. The wide-ranging, myriad and multiple challenges of Living with Myanmar is the subject of this volume. Following the Myanmar Update series tradition, each of the authors offers a different perspective on the sociopolitical and economic mutations occurring in the country and the challenges that still remain. The book is divided into six sections and covers critical issues ranging from gender equality and identity politics, to agrarian reform and the representative role of parliament. Collectively, these voices raise key questions concerning the institutional legacies of military rule and their ongoing role in subverting the country's reform process. However, they also offer insights into the creative and productive ways that Myanmar's activists, civil society, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and everyday people attempt to engage with and reform those legacies.

Patterned Splendour
  • Textiles Presented on Javanes Metal and Stone Sculpures Eighth to the Fifteenth Century
  • Lesley Pullen
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    01 August 2021
  • There exist numerous free-standing figurative sculptures produced in Java between the eighth and fifteenth centuries whose dress display detailed textile patterns. This surviving body of sculpture, carved in stone and cast in metal, varying in both size and condition, remains in archaeological sites and museums in Indonesia and worldwide. The equatorial climate of Java has precluded any textiles from this period surviving. Therefore this book argues the textiles represented on these sculptures offer a unique insight into the patterned splendour of the textiles in circulation during this period. This volume contributes to our knowledge of the textiles in circulation at that time by including the first comprehensive record of this body of sculpture, together with the textile patterns classified into a typology of styles within each chapter.

1819 & Before
  • Singapore's Pasts
  • Edited by Kwa Chong Guan
  • Published by:
    ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
    Published online:
    09 October 2021
    Print publication:
    31 March 2021
  • This important book reflects the challenges and questions currently foremost in scholars', activists' and policy-makers' minds—the Anthropocene, environmental justice, China's Belt and Road Initiative, and post-politics—all addressed through the lens of environmental movements in Asia.—Jonathan Rigg, Professor at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol

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