Research Program Seminar on Politics
Tuesday, 4 May at 12:00 pm in John A. Burns Hall, Room 3012 (3rd floor)
Presented by Baladas Ghoshal, Visiting Fellow in East-West Center

For centuries Islam in Southeast Asia was renowned for its adaptability to local practices and tolerance of other religions. Over the past three decades, however, fundamentalists have tried to homogenize Islam, introducing new tensions. More than any other factor, what has fueled conflicts and divided Muslims and others in otherwise tolerant and harmonious plural societies like Malaysia, Indonesia and some other countries of Southeast Asia, is the slow but steady process of the transformation of Islam in the region, from a syncretic and inclusive Islam to a puritanical and exclusivist one under the influence of ideas, norms, practices, and finances flowing from the Arab world. The “Islam of the desert” has made inroads across the Indian Ocean. This process of homogenization and regimentation – a process I would like to call the “Arabization” of Islam – puts greater emphasis on rituals and codes of conduct than on substance, through the Wahhabi and Salafi creeds, a rigidly puritanical branch of Islam exported from, and subsidized by, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The internationalization of Islam drew Southeast Asian Muslims to the desert and brought the desert to them. Such “globalization of political Islam” could threaten stability throughout Southeast Asia and the world. Unfortunately, too many proponents of any form of fundamentalism rely on it as a tool, not for inspiring spirituality, but for acquiring economic or political power.

BALADAS GHOSHAL is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and an honorary Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies. He is a former Professor of Southeast Asia and South-West Pacific Studies and Chairman of the Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A leading expert on Indonesian politics and society, Professor Ghoshal has published extensively on Indonesian politics, ASEAN and regional security issues, South Asian regional security and political developments. He received his Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Wednesday, 3 March
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Indonesia, 2008 (114 min)
Indonesian, Arabic with English subtitles
Dir: Nurman Hakim
Cast: Nicholas Saputra, Dian Sastrowardoyo, Yoga Bagus Satatagama, Yoga Pratama, Brohisman, Doubleh Zulkanean, Jajang C. Noer, Butet Kartaredjasa.

Living in a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in central Java, inseparable friends Huda (Nicholas Saputra), Syahid (Yoga Bagus Satatagama) and Rian (Yoga Pratama) are receiving mixed messages from instructors. Moderate headmaster Kyai Wahib (Brohisman) believes Jews and Christians should not be viewed as enemies, while Ustadz (Doubleh Zulkanean) stops just short of actively recruiting soldiers for the holy war.

Huda and Rian are less concerned with religious matters. A sensitive boy who wants only to find his missing mother in Jakarta, Huda is attracted to Dona Satelit (Sastrowardoyo), the alluring vocalist in a touring dangdut combo. Offering to help Huda, the girl asks for expenses that first appear to be going into her own pocket.

For his part, Rian dreams of honoring his late father by following his footsteps into the film and video business. In heartwarming scenes, he finds a teacher and father figure in Toha (Butet Kartaredjasa), a traveling movie exhibitor camped at the same fairground as Dona Satelit.

With gentle humor and a strong feel for the excitement and trepidation that accompany entry into adulthood…threads are neatly wrapped up in the film’s bittersweet epilogue. -Richard Kuipers, Variety

Co-sponsored by Muslim Societies in Asia

Official Movie Site | Film.com Page | Thoughts on Film Review | Download Poster

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Friday, February 27, 12:00 p.m., Korean Studies Building Auditorium
A Panel Presentation by Erik Kuhonta, Benedict Kerkvliet, Richard Doner, Peter Manicas, and Barbara Watson Andaya

Southeast Asia in Political Science: Theory, Region, and Qualitative Analysis (Stanford, 2008) calls for “concerted efforts to improve and invigorate scholarly synergy between region and discipline.” In demonstrating that Southeast Asianists have accumulated a body of qualitative knowledge that can make a significant contribution to political science theory, the book affirms that area studies and comparative politics are complementary and mutually enriching.

In this panel discussion, one of the editors of the volume, Erik Kuhonta (Assistant Professor, Political Science, McGill University and currently Visiting Fellow, East-West Center), and two authors,Benedict Kerkvliet (Emeritus Professor, Australian National University; Graduate Affiliate Faculty, Political Science, UH) and Richard Doner (Associate Professor, Political Science, Emory University), will speak to some of the issues raised in this timely book. Peter Manicas (Professor, Political Science, UH) and Barbara Watson Andaya (Professor, Asian Studies, UH) will serve as commentators, and the panel will be chaired by Ehito Kimura (Assistant Professor, Political Science, UH).

Copies of Southeast Asia in Political Science will be available for purchase.

Wednesday, 30 April
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Directed by Laurice Guillen
Philippines, 2005, 108 minutes
Tagalog with English Subtitles

This more melodramatic Filipino coming-of-ager concerns the budding sexuality of a young girl in a devoutly Catholic culture. We follow young Manila hottie Malen (Angelica Panganiban), who after consorting with the equally hot neighborhood rogue Mike (Jericho Rosales) and worrying her prayer-woman mother literally to death glumly takes over the family business as a “fake saint.” The practice of paying for prayers is nicely contrasted with Mike’s gigolo job, and if periodic daydreams of white light and angel choirs are schmaltzy, other touches transcend, like shots of the city’s thronging Black Nazarene procession, and the ominous reveal of Mike’s full-back cobra tattoo as he slithers onto Malen.

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September 28, 12:00 p.m.
Presented by Professor Liam C. Kelley, University of Hawaii

At the turn of the twentieth century, members of the scholarly elite in Vietnam began to engage in a practice which they had always scorned–spirit possession. They did so in a radical attempt to deal with the trauma of the French conquest and control of their land. In the process, some of the messages and ideas that they received from spirits at the time would serve to bolster nationalist sentiments that were emerging at that time. This talk will examine the origins of this movement, and then will look at the actual spirit writing phenomenon and its connections with modern Vietnamese nationalism.

Liam Kelley is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His focus lies on Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Thai history, The Sino-Vietnamese Cultural Relationship, and Modern Southeast Asian History.

Friday, 20 October 2006, 12:00 p.m.
Presented by Michael Fenner, History, National University of Singapore