On the 1st-4th of April 2019, I attended the MMAT workshop (Mengajar & Meneliti Asia Tenggara or “Understanding Changes in Southeast Asia”). The workshop aimed to equip the participants with a deeper understanding of Southeast Asia as well as research skills and experience. A part of the workshop was to do fieldwork at one of three locations, and I was in the group that did our fieldwork at Sosrowijayan. We were asked to observe and do interviews to find out more about the area in accordance to our area of study. As an anthropologist, I looked at the state of the society, and the practices of the people. read more

The South China Sea issue is currently one of the most evident aspects of the growing polarization between the world’s two major economies, China and the United States. Even though this question involves primarily actors from Northeast and Southeast Asia (hereafter East Asia), which includes ASEAN and its member-States, it still should not be forgotten that at the end of the day, China and the US still are the main decision-makers in the region, given their power-projection capabilities. Peace, or war for that matter, depends on the position of these Great Powers. The region has a systemic value because the US-led network of alliances is being challenged by an ongoing military and economic Chinese ascent. read more

Introduction

Tourism has become one of the most important global industries today. To maintain global power, Singapore has to get involve and give value to tourism in the country. Singapore can be considered a small country if you determine it from the amount of land the country has, but if you measure from its economy, it is one of the most growing counties in the world. This statement is pointed out by Hooi Hooi Leana, Sio Hing Chongb and Chee-Wooi Hooyc (2014) who say that ;

“ Tourism is a fast-growing industry in Singapore. Despite the small contribution to the country’s overall GDP, hovering around 8 percent, Singapore’s tourism industry lingers as a noteworthy showcase not only for trade and economic powerhouse but also as a hub for entertainment, media, and culture in Southeast Asia. In 2005, the Singapore Tourism Board heralded its target to ensure tourism played the role as a key economic pillar by tripling tourism receipts to S$30 billion and doubling visitor arrivals to 17 million in 2015. Besides, the “Uniquely Singapore” campaign that launched in March 2004, aimed to show the world the blend of the best of Singapore as the modern world of warm, enriching and unforgettable tourist destination had won a gold award conferred by the Pacific Asia Travel Association. In 2009, the contribution of the tourism industry on economic growth has recorded 7.3 percent and created 5.8 percent out of total employment opportunities. An increasing trend showing 4.1 percent of the total economy from the tourism industry in 2004 has escalated to 7.3 percent in 2009.” read more

The process of marriage in Indonesia the society recognizes in term of dowry (mahr) for both brides. Dowry (mahr) is a property given to a woman from a man when he wants to marry the woman. In Toba-Batak custom, dowry is similar to sinamot. However, the distinguish dowry is not used for the cost of the wedding ceremony. Meanwhile, sinamot means” buying” – the woman he wants to marry from her family and for the wedding ceremony (Manurung, N. 2015, p. 33). Unlike Sinamot, Marhata Sinamot is an event in determining the amount of sinamot that will be given to women and whole of sinamot is used as the capital to make the wedding ceremony and as the purchase price of women. There is no specific formula for Sinamot. It was determined at the time of Marhata Sinamot by considering several things, such as the education of women – the higher the education the more sinamot they were given, social status – the more Sinamot given by men to be considered as established person and more Sinamot accepted by women is considered as buying an established lady, and the last is the position of the families – if it comes from high clan will be more expensive, is that so. In this era, born as a woman is still unprivileged under the stigma of “women will belong to others” and makes women left behind, unwell educated, and various others discrimination (Levine, D. 2003). read more

Discussing LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) is still a controversial issue for Indonesian society by this time. The assumptions are constructed on the community tend to discriminate because they are often considered as the scum. All of that is due to the mindset of our society who still assume that LGBT is a deviant behavior their existence is often undesirable by society (Oetomo, 2013). However, no one would think that it turns out LGBT as one of the attractions for local and foreign tourists in Indonesia. LGBT Tourism Destination or called Pink Tourism is a term for LGBT travel (Huges, 2006) where not a new phenomenon, but its existence is not so highlighted by the wider community, particularly in Indonesia. It called Pink Tourism because pink color has been adopted by the homosexual community when the inverted pink triangle must be worn by gay men at Nazi Germany concentration camps at the time. So that, nowaday, phrase of pink tourism have been the term for tourist attractions which used LGBT as the main attraction (Ni Putu Diah Prabawati et al., 2019). Pink Tourism has become a natural thing for countries in Europe such as Spain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, but not for Indonesia (UNWTO, 2012). Indonesia for this far has only been mostly recognized by its tourism sector in term of natural and ethnicity. However, it turns out that we keep taboo tourism in the society called LGBT tourism. Many tourists want to visit Indonesia because they want to feel this Indonesia LGBT tourism. Two regions as the most popular tourism in Indonesia also store lucrative LGBT tourism, which is Yogyakarta and Bali. Indonesia is truly rich with its tourist attractions where all over parts of Indonesia has its attractiveness. However, as we know from all of that Special Region of Yogyakarta and Bali are the most want to visit places in Indonesia. This two well-known regions not only provide a beautiful landscape and ethnicity but also amazing and interesting Pink Tourism for their tourists. read more

April can be a matter of life and death for young Thai men.

And no, it surely does not involve with Songkran, a popular water fight festival in the scorching heat of Thailand. It is a military conscription, a military enlistment process which Thai men who aged 21 years old and over must take part and choose between taking a voluntary military service for six months to one year, or going through a lottery system which the process is based on pure luck, just picking a card to see if the card is ‘red’ or ‘black’. While getting a black card means a permanent exemption, a red card is kind of a one-way ticket to military enlistment for 1-2 years. Plain and simple as it is, the lottery process could bring the toughest man to his knees. read more

‘You can live without money, but you cannot live without love’, the romantic quote that many people may have heard before, or even grown up with it. However, in some parts of the world, you cannot love without money, and marriage is more than a ceremony to declare two people’s love. Some lovers cannot be together because of their status differences, and sometimes marriage strongly involves social status and financial stability. They are the bride price I am talking about, the price of love. read more

The fourth industrial revolution, commonly known as Industry 4.0, is bringing rapid technological advancements -powered by the rise of digital technologies: cloud, big data, Internet of Things, Analytics, and Machine Learning-, changing the nature of work and increasing demand for a skilled workforce. Technology’s impact on the workforce was inevitable, adding that the most important action was responding to digital developments to optimize the workforce and its talents. Hence, industry 4.0 is rapidly transforming not only IT but business in general, particularly in terms of human-technology relationships. read more

SEA Chat #18: Panel Discussion “eSports in Thailand” and “Military Conscription & Transgenders” with Dallas Kennamer (Psychology, Thammasat University) and Suchanaad Dhanakoses (English, Thammasat University) at CESASS UGM Library (18/07/19). Thank you for your participation and see you at our next event!

SEA Talk #26 “Indonesia-Austria Bilateral Relation” with Simon Gorski (University of Vienna) at CESASS UGM Library (18/09/19). Thank you for your participation and see you at our next event!