On January, 24th 2023 (GMT +7) Center of Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS) Universitas Gadjah Mada held the agenda called SEA CHAT. The #SEACHAT37 entitled ‘If I Was the Director: Breaking the Eurocentric in Postcolonialism and Transnational of Film De Oost’ was presenting by Syfa Amelia as internship student at CESASS from Master Program in Communication Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

The discussion was started from Syfa that explained the synopsis of the movie De Oost (The East). This movie was directed by Jim Taihuttu and released in 2020 but it’s still interesting to be discussed until today. Syfa explained the critics from her perspective as a part of post-colony country. Those, from her analysis the movie De Oost (The East) was glorifying the white perspective which made the movie looks un-relevant to the history. Further, cited from Syfa’s explanation she found that there were some scenes that stereotyping Indonesia. Other than that, Syfa choose the movie De Oost (The East) because it is still has its correlation to the Southeast Asian country, especially Indonesia. read more

Tuesday (17/01), the Center for Southeast Asian Social Studies (CESASS) held an academic discussion forum, 36th Southeast Asia Chat (SEACHAT). On this occasion, a graduate of the Department of Sociology Universitas Gadjah Mada, Ilham Ramadhan D. Arifin, presented his findings about sugar commodities in the Dutch East Indies era on Caribbean and Java islands. To open his presentation, Ilham played a video about the development of sugar cane during the Dutch East Indies era when sugar became the main global commodity from 17th until 19th century. read more

The Center For Southeast Asian Social Studies of Universitas Gadjah Mada (CESASS UGM) continues to hold the 35th Southeast Asian Chat (SEACHAT) on 23 of December 2022.  This panel discussion was presented by Muhammad Izam Dwi Sukma, CESASS UGM Student Intern from Islamic University of Indonesia. On this occasion, Izam presented his research titled “Reflecting The Role of Yang Di Pertuan Agong to Settle the Political Uncertainty After Malaysia 15th General Election.”

The discussion began with an overview of Malaysia. Starting from its Monarchy government and the political structure. Then he continued to elaborate the conditions of the Malaysian Government prior to the holding of the 15th General Election (GE) on 19 November 2022, after the parliament suspension and the resignation of previous Prime Minister (PM), Ismail Saabri Yakob. Izam underlined that before the 15th GE was held, Malaysia’s political condition could be considered unstable, because there have been three changes of prime ministers in the last 4 years. read more

On Tuesday the 6th of December, the Centre for Southeast Asian Social Studies of Universitas Gadjah Mada (CESASS UGM) hosted Eliezar Inigo, a former interning student with qualifications and interests in history and applied linguistics. Discussion within the session centered on the most recent presidential election in the Philippines. The contentious nature of the election in terms of both democratic decline as well as the dubious credentials and lineage of the newly elect President Bongbong Marcus took centre stage. read more

Last Thursday (27/10), Center of South-East Asia Social Studies Universitas Gadjah Mada (CESASS UGM) held a sharing session with international student intern, Zacharie Nichols-Lang from Murdoch University, Australia. Attended by more than 10 people, Zac explained about “Australia, the Monarchy, and the Commonwealth,” where he underlined that after Queen Elizabeth II died, the discourse of shifting to a republican nation state is rising in Australia. 

Zac opened his presentation by explaining about Australia’s political system which is a combination of British Westminster and the United States of America’s influence. In addition, sharing a fun fact about Australian political culture, Zac also mentioned about “Democratic Snags” or “Democratic Sausages,” a sausage wrapped in a slice of bread that later will be given to every voter across Australia when it comes to national election day.  read more