Many people misrepresent Southeast Asia and ASEAN. Some of them think that Southeast Asia is ASEAN, or vice versa. Then what is “Southeast Asia” and “ASEAN”? and How is the origin of “Southeast Asia” as a “study” or “area studies” ?.

According to Dr. Agus Suwignyo, Southeast Asia as an area felt not too well known. The indicator to which he is concerned is that when European societies often refer to Southeast Asians who are coming from different countries identified as the same group. Dr. Agus Suwignyo explains that the actual status of Southeast Asia can be seen from three aspects, namely as a “concept” of politics and defense, historical reality and area study. read more

As a region that is part of the Asian continent, countries in Southeast Asia have characteristics of tropical climates with an enchanting archipelago and year-round sunshine. The landscape ranging from mountains, sea to the beach with white sand and the green tosca water almost can be found throughout this region. Not only that, the region of Southeast Asia has cultural richness of tangible and intangible. It is marked by the existence of 17 cultural heritages which has been written in the List of UNESCO World Heritage. At least, this can be an attraction for tourists around the world. It is proven by the number of significant international arrivals. Data compiled by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in 2015 recorded more than 115 million international arrivals by 2015 which is expected to reach 173 million by 2018 with a total growth of 2% annually. Thailand is included in the second rank in the category of Top Five Fastest Growth Destinations 2014 – 2018 with the highest total international arrivals of 36 million, followed by Malaysia 27.7 million, Singapore 16.7 million, while Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, Lao, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam and Vietnam still at the number below 10 million arrivals in 2015. read more

Since the 1970s there have been hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing from Myanmar, most of them using sea routes to reach neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. However, the large number of refugees also cannot be welcomed easily by the targeted countries, due to concerns over uncontrolled influx of refugees. Indonesia is one of the few countries that can communicate directly with Myanmar on the escalation of the conflict. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said “Once again I conveyed Indonesia’s concerns to State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the situation in Rakhine state,” after being invited by Suu Kyi at her house for dinner while discussing openly the situation in Rakhine . [1] In addition to Indonesia, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak led a demonstration on 4 December 2016 on what he described as”genocide” of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar. Najib Razak also invites neighboring countries and the international world to move forward in suppressing the violence. [2] read more

The South China Sea (SCS) is waters area extending from the Southwest to the Northeast, bordering on the south by 3 degrees south between Sumatra Island and Kalimantan Island (Karimata Strait) and the North is bounded by the Taiwan Strait from the north end to the directions of Fukein beach, China. The area of SCS itself is estimated to reach 4 million square kilometers with four sub large islands namely Paracel, Spratly, Pratas and Macclesfield (Asnani Usman and Rizal Sukma, 1997). SCS which is estimated to have great potential in marine biota, tourism, fishery, oil, natural gas and even navigation makes many countries try hard to get legality over SCS. read more

Southeast Asia is in the spotlight when by the end of 2015 the region officially enforces the ASEAN economic community which is one of the three pillars of the ASEAN Community. But for the international community, Southeast Asia is a region which its knowledge is rarely studied, so that a question arises about what is meant by Southeast Asia? Is Southeast Asia merely an area consisting of countries that are rich in culture, rice-eaters, electronic appliances lovers, and prioritizing family values? read more

Southeast Asian countries have their own capital punishment regulation, actually all of them have it until Philippines and Brunei abolished their Capital Punishment. Most of the Southeast Asian countries have the same capital punishable crime such as; drug trafficking, drug possession if considered as organized crime or exceed some quantity limit, terrorism, murder, treason, espionage, war crimes, against humanity, and also genocide. However, each county has certain differences in the regulation. read more

In 2001, the famous Hollywood actress, Angelina Jolie,  visited Cambodia whilst she was featuring in her latest box-office film, Tomb Raider.  Whilst in Cambodia, Angelina fell in love with a seven month old baby.  A year later, Angelina returned and officially adopted a baby named Maddox. Angelina has since admitted that she had no desire to have children before meeting Maddox, and meeting with the children at a school in Cambodia. Angelina is now a mother of six, with three of her children having been adopted. read more

Have you ever been to Borobudur during Waisak? Or went to Thailand and saw a lot of shops which provide the needs of the monks? Usually you need to provide extra money in your wallet.

Yes, the religion rituals and cultural tradition now have been used by the business people to get bigger profit under the pretext of culture-based tourism. Several places of religion rituals implement a system of admission, or the use of religious attributes that require us to pay the rent. In addition, the economic effects also be felt by its surroundings, like foods business and parking. These are what commonly called commodifications, which come from the words commodity and modification. Most of the experts in contemporary usage, define commodities as any goods or services associated with capitalist production and can be found as a result of the growth of capitalism, this is the inheritance of Karl Marx and the early political economy (Appadurai, 1986). Along with Karl Marx, Greenwood (1977) also stated that everything that is sold is assumed as a commodity, including culture. Modification means changing. If it merged with the meaning of commodity, commodification means changing a stuff to become economical commodity.  Shepherd (2002) stated that along with the increasing demand of tourism, commodification of culture cannot be avoided because the tourists want to feel different cultural experience as theirs. The debate is warmly discussed by the public and cultural and religion observers. read more

One of the consequences of diversity in Southeast Asia is the emergence of many dynamic and never-ending questions to discuss. One question that keeps us thinking is, how does this region survive with hundreds of local beliefs and at the same time apply public policies regarding religious rules? Dr. Dicky Sofjan discussed the answers to this question in the SEA Talks # 8 discussion, on the afternoon of Thursday, June 16, 2016. In his presentation, Dr. Dicky explained that the logic of religion in society is often different from public policy. This can not be separated from the influence of the democratic system adopted by almost all countries in Southeast Asia. According to him, the application of democracy raises the existence of unintended consequences, as well as the phenomenon of abuse of laws, decentralization that causes inequality, and also multi-interpretation of the beliefs of one group. On the other hand, the state also has great authority through the prevailing system. Like Malaysia, which applies Islam as a national religion and is listed in the constitution. This rule then legitimizes the expulsion of Ahmadiyah worshipers in one of the mosques in Malaysia as well as rules that lead to minority discrimination. read more

Training was conducted by PSSAT, with a focus on the progress of Southeast Asia, and relevant future movements. Professor Muhtar Mas’ud spoke about rediscovering the meaning of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). According to Prof. Muhtar Mas’ud (MEA), that masyarakat is different from the komunitas. in English masyarakat is society; and komunitas is community. In the field of sociology, it is related to the meaning of the relationship of the two words. In society, relationships are built on the basis of needs and can change. While in the community, the relationship is more emotional. Relationships built on the basis of closeness such as familial relationships, relationships because of one clan, etc. In this connection, membership can not be changed and in and out. Mas’ud later said that Indonesia then considers the Economic ASEAN Community to be an ASEAN Economic Community (MEA) not as a Community of ASEAN Economic Community (KEA). If by community, this means that one member will not harm other members. This means there will be no suspicion. But in fact, the affairs of trust among countries in Southeast Asia is still very low between one and the other. read more