An Indonesian Frontier: Acehnese and Other Histories of Sumatra
Sumatra is a vast and understudied island with a population of 43 million people divided into a variety of ethnic groups. Apart from William Marsden’s great study of 1783, few serious historical works deal with Sumatra’s history, and even fewer attempt to describe that history as a coherent whole. Sumatra’s rich resources of land and …
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WPS 35 Views of Disability in the U.S. and Singapore
What do “independence”, “dependence”, and “disability” mean to older people? How do they feel about personal and equipment assistance? We conducted interviews on these issues with community-dwelling Americans and Singaporeans aged 70+; the samples were assisted-living residents and day-care center clients, respectively. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses show that the two groups differ greatly in …
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WPS 34 Speaking the Truth: Speech on Television in New Order Indonesia
Television has arguably been (and remains) the most important medium for promulgating Indonesia’s national language, Indonesian, certainly for popularising it as speech. This paper looks particularly at the treatment of non-Indonesian languages on television in Indonesia during the New Order, the age of which coincided with the development of television. The paper examines how foreign …
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ARI Annual Report 2003/2004
“This Institute is designed to differentiate itself… by its open invitation to the best minds in social and cultural research to see the world from the vantage point of our dynamic region.” RADM (NS) Teo Chee Hean then Minister for Education, in launching ARI FOREWORD BY DIRECTOR Prof Anthony Reid This “Annual” report is for …
WPS 33 Symptoms of Ill Health and Health Seeking Behaviour of Sri Lankan Mothers during the Puerperium
This study was undertaken to investigate the symptoms of ill health and health seeking behaviour during the puerperium (42 days following delivery) among six hundred mothers following their recent live birth in Kalutara district of Sri Lanka. Almost all these deliveries occurred in an institution, with only 10 per cent being cesarean section. Prevalence of …
WPS 32 Origins of Malay Muslim “Separatism” in Southern Thailand
The emergence of the concept of ‘separatism’ or ‘bang yak dindan’ (separating the land) in the 1940s was a result of the internal conflicts among major central political factions and parties as well as the conflict between the Bangkok government and the Malay Muslim political movement. Incidentally the Haji Sulong and Dusun Ynor Rebellions in …
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WPS 31 The Zheng He Voyages: A Reassessment
The 600th anniversary in 2005 of the first of the voyages led by the Ming eunuch Admiral Zheng He to Southeast Asia and beyond in the early part of the 15th century, will give rise to a range of celebratory activities and also some reassessments of the roles and effects of the voyages. In an …
WPS 30 Military Campaigns against Yunnan: A Global Analysis
The essay examines foreign campaigns against Yunnan from the fourth century BCE to the fourteenth century from a global and long-term perspective. I argue that power struggles in the Eastern Eurasian continent to a great extent transformed Yunnan from a non-Chinese area into part of the Chinese empire. Thus, the transformation of Yunnan cannot be …
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