The Tanjung Tanah code of law, dating to the late 14th century, was issued by the Maharaja of Dharmasraya, the former capital of the Malayu kingdom. This manuscript, written in both Sanskrit and Malay in Pallavo-Nusantaric script on bark paper, was a few centuries later reissued by the Sultan of Jambi, but this time on paper and in Arabic-Malay script. The two manuscripts, both in the possession of the same family, not only give us interesting insights into the changes that the Malay language underwent from the 14th to the 18th century, but also teach us the impact of Islamic law on the legal system of a Sumatran Malay polity.

Dr. Uli Kozok (MA, PhD Hamburg 1989,1994) is a Professor in Indonesian language and literature at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research interests include the paleography of Island Southeast Asia, Sumatran philology, and the development of authentic teaching materials and computer-assisted language learning applications for the Indonesian language.

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Known as Southeast Asia’s ‘Straits Settlements,’ the shophouse communities in Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand share a uniquely architectural and ethnic characteristics as a consequence of European expeditions in the early 16th century. The area was tremendously developed in the late 18th century during the British colonial era, leaving the hybrid Asian-European architecture and culture to become one of the significant heritage places in Southeast Asia. As a counter-balance toward rapid development and urbanization, the preservation program of the remaining shophouses was first drawn and implemented in Singapore in the mid 1980s followed by those in Penang and Melaka in Malaysia and lastly in Phuket in the late 1990s. This presentation deals with historical background of the shophouse communities in the three countries and explains the origin of the so-called ‘Peranakan’ culture and architecture. The different preservation approaches among the three countries, resulting in different outcomes will also be discussed.

Dr. Yongtanit Pimonsathean (“Mai”), a member of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University in Bangkok, earned his Doctor of Engineering in Urban Engineering from The University of Tokyo, Japan in 1993, and also completed a Diploma with Distinction in Urban Management from the Institute for Urban and Housing Studies (IHS) in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. From his base in Thailand, Dr. Pimonsathean has worked extensively on grassroots development planning and preservation projects in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia. He is currently an executive member of UNESCO Asia-Pacific’s Asian Academy for Heritage Management (AAHM), and holds leading positions in national heritage organizations in Thailand. In 2008 he was awarded the outstanding preservation icon of the Association of Siamese Architects (ASA), and in 2009 he was honored with Thailand’s distinguished Princess Sirindhorn Award for outstanding architect. As a 2009 Thai Fulbright visiting scholar based at Heritage Preservation Program at Georgia State University, he is conducting a research on ‘promoting Private Efforts in Historic Preservation in the U.S.”

This event is co-sponsored by the Historic Preservation Program, Department of American Studies at UH-M

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During the Khmer Rouge Regime from 1975 to 1979, almost one quarter of the Cambodian population died. Thirty years after the events, an international tribunal is finally dealing with the crimes under former leader Pol Pot. The hybrid court with national and international judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers will try at least five of the most responsible perpetrators for torture, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The short documentary “The Khmer Rouge Tribunal – Cambodia’s Search for Justice” gives an introduction to the historical and legal background of the proceedings. In interviews with two contemporary witnesses who survived the Pol Pot regime, the film addresses the major questions faced by the court today:

• Does a criminal trial still make sense – 30 years after the crimes were committed?
• Why is participation of the international community necessary?
• What impact do the proceedings have on the victims?

After seeing the film, students are invited to discuss the challenges of international criminal law and its importance for Cambodia’s national reconciliation.

Elisa Hoven was born in Berlin (Germany). She completed her law studies at the Free University of Berlin (Germany), the Radboud University Nijmegen (Netherlands) and the University of Cambridge (UK). She worked as a legal assistant at the Chair of Public and International Law under Professor Dr. Beate Rudolf (FU Berlin) and wrote her dissertation on the rule of law in international criminal proceedings. In 2007, she won the Berlin Science Society award with a paper on German constitutional law. The following year, she was awarded the Humboldt Forum Law Award for an essay on criminal prosecution of international terrorism. In cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem she co-organized and spoke at the Conference “Ethic and Human Rights in a Globalized World”. In 2009, she worked as a legal consultant to the Civil Parties at the Khmer-Rouge-Tribunal and published several essays on civil party participation in international criminal law. Supported by the German National Academic Foundation, she is currently doing research at the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of Berkeley.

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This is a study of images of Thai women presented in a Thai TV drama series shown in 2004 entitled “Saloeybaab”. Broadly, the study explores how the drama presents its female antagonist as well as the protagonist. Both characters fall into the binary opposition of the “bad” and the “good” woman stereotypes respectively. More specifically, the researcher discusses the purposes and the meanings of the presentations. Negative images of the female antagonist reflect that Thai society still values the notion of “kulasatri” or the “ideal” woman as can be seen from ideologies on women attached to the story. The attitudes towards Thai women reinforce the power structure of Thai patriarchal society where women have been controlled by social rules and norms through the process of socialization including the mass media.

Sutraphorn Tantiniranat earned an M.A. in English from Chiang Mai University, Thailand. She has been teaching English at Mae Fah Luang University, Chiang Rai Thailand. Her areas of interest are Foreign Language Teaching and Women Studies. She is currently a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at the Thai Language Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Benny Widyono will discuss his five years of international service in Cambodia from 1992 to 1997, first as a member of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), and later as the UN Secretary-Generalÿs Representative in Cambodia. From his perspective as part of UNTAC’s top administration, he observed the mission’s ultimate failure. Prior to UNTAC, Dr Widyono was stationed at the UN headquarters in New York where he witnessed the Cold War manipulations of the Cambodian tragedy by the big powers. Cambodia’s experience with the United Nations shows that the latter’s capability to solve world problems continues to be distorted by the dominance by the five powers who won World War II sixty four years ago.

Dr. Benny Widyono, an Indonesian, served as a United Nations civil servant in Bangkok, Santiago, New York and Cambodia between 1963 and 1997. In 1992-93 he served as UNTAC’s Provincial Director of Siem Reap; subsequently in 1994-97 he served as the UN Secretary-General’s Political Representative to the Royal Government of Cambodia. His recently published book, Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and the United Nations was written while he was a visiting scholar at Cornell University. Dr Widyono holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas and is currently a professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut at Stamford, CT.

Copies of the book will be available for sale.

book launch | official site

In February 2009, the long awaited trial of remaining Khmer Rouge leaders began in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In this talk, Professor Benny Widyono will analyze why these trials against the Khmer Rouge, who killed 1.7 million Cambodians during their reign of terror between 1975 and 1979, were delayed for thirty years. The answer to this question, Widyono will argue, can be found within the international political dynamics of the cold war, Hence, instead of putting the Khmer Rouge on trial after they were driven from power by the Vietnamese army in January 1979, the United Nations, instigated by the United States and China, continued to recognize the genocidal Khmer Rouge as the legitimate government of Cambodia for another eleven years. In his analysis, Prof. Widyono will draw heavily from his recently published book, Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and the United Nations in Cambodia, his personal chronicle of five years in Cambodia during the peace process (1992-97).

He will end on a cautiously optimistic note that the trials, though late, herald a long awaited process of healing and national reconciliation.

Dr. Benny Widyono, an Indonesian, served as a United Nations civil servant in Bangkok, Santiago, New York and Cambodia between 1963 and 1997. In 1992-93 he served as UNTAC’s Provincial Director of Siem Reap; subsequently in 1994-97 he served as the UN Secretary-General’s Political Representative to the Royal Government of Cambodia. His recently published book, Dancing in Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and the United Nations, was written while he was a visiting scholar at Cornell University. Dr Widyono holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas and is currently a professor of Economics at the University of Connecticut at Stamford, CT.

Copies of the book will be available for sale.

Over the centuries Marionology, the study of the veneration of Mary, has generated an enormous body of literature. In Southeast Asia Mary’s position in local Christianity has been well documented in the Philippines, but there is now increasing interest in Marian devotion in other Catholic communities, such as Vietnam and Indonesia. Because popular belief focuses on Mary’s role as an intercessor, special value is attached to pilgrimages to sites where she is believed to have appeared or with which she has a personal association. In Larantuka, eastern Flores, Mary is regarded not merely as the town’s patron and protector, but as its Queen. However, her image is only available for viewing once a year, from Easter Friday until Easter Saturday, and during this time thousands of pilgrims flock to view “Bunda Maria,” Mother Mary. While including some comparative remarks, the presentation will offer some historical explanations for the special status of Mary in Larantuka, and for the veneration accorded her during the Easter celebrations.

Barbara Watson Andaya is Professor of Asian Studies and Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i. She is currently working on a history of the localization of Christianity in Southeast Asia.

Study of the human past in the Philippines can not be done in any substantial depth without meshing archaeological, historical and time-depth sensitive approaches. In the wake of the confluence of inter-disciplinary study of the Philippines, we are in a better position to understand the role of human agency. This talk will present a periodization of the history of archaeology within the framework of Philippine historiography. This event is sponsored by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, the Center for Philippine Studies, and the Luce Asian Archaeology Program of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii.

Victor Paz received A.B. and M.A. degrees in History from the University of the Philippines Diliman and a Mphil and Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. His research interests are focused on the intersections of history and archaeology of the Philippines and Island Southeast Asia, and advancing archaeobotanical studies in the region with the objective of elucidating human-plant and human-landscape relationships in the past. His dissertation dealt with the archaeobotany of Wallacea and its place in studies of Austronesian dispersal. He is now the director of the Archaeological Studies Program at the University of the Philippines.

Hearing the words “refugees,” “the Ho Chi Minh Trail,” or “the Iron Triangle” in the context of Vietnam may create a miasma of images for a listener, perhaps evoking the terrible depictions of war on American television news. Rarely, however, are those phrases understood fully in relation to the history of Vietnam. This presentation about three research projects in Vietnam will create new images and a better understanding of those words – and further cultivate that understanding through an exploration of ethnobotany and conservation in that country.

The discussant, My Lien Thi Nguyen, received a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Nguyen has conducted ethnobotanical research in her hometown of Bien Hoa, Vietnam, as well as in collaboration with Vietnamese scientists in the northern, central and southern regions of Vietnam. Her presentation will introduce three of these projects and the scientists.

This Speaker Series is co-presented by the Department of Botany at the University of Hawaii and the students of Botany 498 (Mekong Ethnobotany).

This team talk/demonstration focuses on the development (2007) of an Asian studies course designed to teach advanced Southeast Asian language students at the University of Hawaii the skills associated with translating and subtitling film from Southeast Asia. Examples of student work will be featured, and the challenges associated with the translation and the development course will be discussed.

Rohayati Paseng is librarian and bibliographer in the Southeast Asia Collection. Born and raised in Indonesia, she speaks four languages, but is baffled by Javanese.

Paul Rausch is associate director and outreach coordinator at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies. He works feverishly to bring Southeast Asian film into the wider film community, and spends most of his waking hours trying to figure out the technology needed to subtitle film from the region.