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Ohio University
OHIO Open Library
Berita
Summer 2021
Berita Summer 2021
Dominik M. Müller
Follow this and additional works at: https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/berita
Part of the Asian Studies Commons
Recommended Citation
Müller, Dominik M., "Berita Summer 2021" (2021). Berita. 47.
https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/berita/47
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Berita
1
Summer
2021
______________________________________________________________________________
____
Berita
Chair’s AddressMalaysia/Singapore/Brunei Studies Group
Association for Asian Studies
Letter from the Chair ................................................................................................ 2
John A. Lent Prize and Provencher Travel Prize ......................................................... 4
Announcement: MSB panel “Haze, Sand, Fire, Water” Environmental Crises in
Southeast Asia” at AAS 2022 Hawaii......................................................................... 6
Patricia Sloane-White,
Article:University
Educatingof Delaware
the Sultanate: The Melding of Higher Education and Islam in Brunei
Chair, Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei Studies Group
Darussalam, by Moez Hayat ................................................................................... 10
Letter from theBook
Chair
Review: Local Democracy Denied: A Personal Journey into Local Government in
Announcements
Malaysia (Lim Mah Hui) by Koay Su Lyn ................................................................. 14
Patricia Sloane-White, MSB Group
Book Chair The Roots of Resilience: Party Machines and Grassroots Politics in
Review: XXX
Department of Women and Gender Studies
XXXL. Weiss) by Mohamed Salihin Subhan ............ 17
Singapore and Malaysia (Meredith
University of Delaware, USA
pswhite@udel.edu Review Essay: Multispecies and post-humanist work in Borneo – Recent Contributions
and Possible Futures, by AsmusXXX
Rungby ................................................................. 20
Publications and Articles ........................................................................................ 28
Editorial Information .............................................................................................. 32
Berita, Summer 2021
Berita 2
______________________________________________________________________________
Letter from the Chair
In this issue, you’ll see updates from our recent Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Studies Group
annual business meeting, some articles and updates from new members, and more. Our annual
meeting, held in conjunction with the annual Association for Asian Studies conference, was
held, like the conference itself, virtually via Zoom. I was concerned that a Zoom meeting would
be sparsely attended and difficult to engage with, but I was wrong: we met with nearly forty
colleagues—from all time zones. It was the best attended meeting we’ve had in years, and in
many ways, the most productive. In a year stunted by COVID, making connections with
colleagues from all over the world was wonderful—and we mustn’t let distance inhibit us again.
From now on, we’ll always have a Zoom component in our business meeting, so that people
who aren’t at the AAS can participate.
Because of COVID and the cancellation of last year’s meeting, we awarded neither of our
regular prizes for 2020, but we announced the 2019 John A. Lent Prize winner, Sandy Chang,
of the University of Florida this year. Please read about her and her outstanding paper in this
issue. Sandy will, as is our practice, serve as the judge for the 2021 Lent submissions—we’ll be
announcing that prize winner at the next MSB business meeting, scheduled for March 2022 in
Hawaii. We are all hoping that meeting is held in person and we hope to see many of you there.
At our business meeting, we also elected the incoming chair of our group, Cheong Soon Gan, of
the University of Wisconsin-Superior, who will be replacing me after I finish my final (and
extra) year next March. To maintain continuity during COVID, our group concurred that I
would remain in this position until next year. I’m delighted to do so. When Cheong Soon takes
over as chair, I become “Chair Mentor”—or the ex officio chair, replacing Eric Thompson of the
National University of Singapore (NUS), who has guided me so generously and wisely during
my term. Serving as the Deputy Chair under Cheong Soon will be Elvin Ong, of NUS. Many of
you will recall that Elvin received both the Lent Prize and the Provencher Prize when he was
studying for his Master’s and PhD degrees in the U.S. Now faculty at NUS, Elvin brings both a
long record of engagement and a keen commitment to our MSB group.
We also discussed our need for a new editor for Berita starting after this issue. Dominik will
become the “Berita Mentor” to the next editor. We are delighted that Sarena Abdullah,
Universiti Sains Malaysia, has offered to fill that role—and we are in conversation with her
(and any other volunteers) about moving Berita to an online platform and updating its format.
If you are interested in helping with this initiative, please let us know. As always, we are eager
to include any of your submissions to Berita and we welcome short articles, book reviews,
member updates, updates from ongoing research, and announcements. Again, let us know.
Summer 2021
Berita 3
______________________________________________________________________________
Finally, and until we’ve created an online presence, to maintain a closer relationship with MSB,
make sure you have asked for membership of our Facebook group: you can find us on
Facebook as “Official Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Studies Group (MSB)”. There are three
questions to answer before your membership is approved (this keeps out people selling
Tupperware).
Best wishes,
Patricia Sloane-White
Chair, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei (MSB) Studies Group
pswhite@udel.edu
Other links:
Official MSB Facebook page
MSB webpage
Donate to MSB
Summer 2021
Berita 4
______________________________________________________________________________
John A. Lent Prize “illogicality” of legal governance in the
Straits Settlements, particularly in relation
to marriage, as the colonial judiciary were
The John A. Lent Prize is presented
free to adhere or overturn precedents
annually at the Association for Asian
relating to marriage law as it was applied to
Studies Conference to the author of the
members of the Chinese community in the
Best Paper on Malaysia, Singapore, or
region. Such “illogicality” was exposed with
Brunei presented at the previous year’s
the “Six Widows case” in 1908, during
Association for Asian Studies
which competing ideas about spousal rights
Conference. Because the AAS 2020
were openly debated following the death of
Conference was cancelled, the prize was
the wealthy merchant Choo Eng Choon,
not awarded for 2020.
and subsequent legal disputes over his
estate. The case exposed the limits and
The judges for the 2019 John A. Lent Prize,
inconsistencies of colonial understandings
Kikue Hamayotsu, Laura Elder, and chair
of Chinese marital customs and
Jeremy Taylor awarded the annual prize for
“Chineseness” itself. It also ignited wider
the Best Paper presented at the previous
attempts to legally standardize and
year’s Association for Asian Studies
“modernize” Chinese marriage in the Straits
Conference to Sandy Chang for her paper,
Settlements.
“Six Weddings and A Funeral: Marriage,
Chang’s close reading of the “Six
Modernity, and Chinese Customary Law in
Widows Case” engages with a growing
the Straits Settlements, 1900s-1930s.” The
body of academic work on the gender and
award was presented to her at the virtual
social history of the Straits Settlements as
MSB business meeting in March 2021.
well as with the attempt to write the Straits
Settlements back into the broader story of
The judges described Chang’s paper as a
the British empire. She links debates in the
compelling and well-written work of social
late 19th and early 20th century Straits
and legal history. Using court and
Settlements to parallel debates in India at
government documents, newspaper reports,
the same time, for example. And her work
and oral interviews now held in archives in
also touches directly on growing scholarly
Singapore and the UK, Chang explores a
interest in notions of “Chineseness” under
single -- though widely reported -- court
colonial governance. Finally, Chang does an
case from 1908 to explore “...how polygamy
admirable job of giving agency to the
in the Straits Settlements served as a site
women involved in the “Six Widows Case”
upon which jurists and colonial reformers --
themselves. The judges and the executive
both British and Asian -- articulated and
board of the Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei
formulated ideals of Chinese marriage and
Studies Group warmly congratulate Sandy
modernity, as well as diasporic identity and
Chang for this outstanding paper.
imperial subjecthood.”
In addressing such questions, Chang
explores what she refers to as a
Summer 2021
Berita 5
______________________________________________________________________________
In 2019, Sandy was finishing her PhD in Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN
history at the University of Texas. Convention for Refugees. As such, refugees
Currently, she is an assistant professor at are ambivalent bodies that vacillate
the University of Florida, Department of between being a recognized person-of-
History. concern with rights, and “bare life.” In these
ruptures where law is being suspended and
Provencher Travel Prize rules are not sacred, many Rohingyas
attempt to change the rules of relations and
2020 reconstruct their world. The UN card
serves as the device for them to engage in
Every year, we award travel funds to a this game of negotiations with the
scholar presenting a paper at the annual authorities. Rohingyas engage in these
AAS meeting. Although there were no playful performances to change the
travelers to this year’s meeting, we decided visuality of their bodies and (re)configure
to maintain the Provencher Travel award, their political subjectivities.
but allow the money to be used to pay for
the registration fee for the virtual “In proposing refugee playfulness, I hope to
conference. This year’s Provencher Award contribute to growing discourses that
was awarded to Nursyazwani Jamaludin, a contest the binaries of structure and
PhD Student in the Department of agency, power and domination (Abu
Anthropology at the University Lughod 1990; Ortner 2016; Siegman 2020).
of Pennsylvania. She presented “Refugee The double precariousness of refugees
Playfulness: Rohingya's Everyday reinforces the need to study the ways they
Strategies in Living Malaysia.” Here is the navigate – and play with – their liminal
abstract: subject positions as they attempt to resist
multiple forms and systems of power, which
“Discussions surrounding refugee agency produces new subjectivities. Thinking with
largely revolve around their role in and through refugee playfulness offers a site
humanitarian work and their everyday to locate the potential of doing politics and
survival strategies. However, this paper becoming political within these ephemeral
seeks to push the boundaries of how we moments and liminal spaces, and to
imagine refugees as rights-claiming transform it into an enduring condition. It
subjects. In this paper, I propose the also opens up spaces for us to think about
concept “refugee playfulness” to destabilize the playfulness of other marginalized
current understanding of refugees’ groups. Play allows refugees the capacity to
everyday politics. Based on fieldwork and dream as they reimagine an alternative
interviews with 58 Rohingya refugees in vision of the future where they could
Klang Valley between 2017 to 2019, this become accepted, recognized, and legible
paper interrogates the interstices of legal citizens with rights.”
ambiguity and the potential for politics as
Summer 2021
Berita 6
______________________________________________________________________________
Announcements Panel Abstract
Massive deforestation, transboundary haze,
sand mining, altered rivers and erosion,
Looking forward to the Annual depleted fish stocks, pollution. These are
Association for Asian Studies among the many increasingly serious
Conference environmental consequences that have come
with Southeast Asia’s rapid development and
economic growth over recent decades, fueled
by global and regional capital as well as mass
movements of migrant labor. With a
particular focus on stakeholders’ roles in this
regional/global process, this panel proposes
to examine and compare the effects and
impact of these crises on local livelihoods,
land, and social cohesion, as well as the role
they play in contestation, compromise, and
cooptation across Southeast Asia, as
presented through political participation,
Next year’s annual Association for Asian knowledge production, and public
Studies Conference will take place from sentiment.
Thursday, March 24 to Sunday, March 27 at
the Hawai'i Convention Center in Honolulu,
Hawaii. Presentation #1: Haze in Malaysia,
Singapore, and Indonesia:
The panel “Haze, Sand, Fire, Water” Contextualizing Public Sentiments
Environmental Crises in Southeast Asia” within National- and Regional-Level
proposed by the Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Policy Approaches
Studies Group has been named one of two Helena Varkkey, University of Malaya
“Designated Panels” by the Southeast Asian
Council (SEAC) of the AAS. Read the Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia are the
abstract and panelists’ abstracts below and three countries that are usually the most
be sure to visit our special panel in Hawaii— affected by seasonal transboundary haze
or look for a recording of the session we’ll pollution in Southeast Asia. While haze is
make available after the Conference. We’ll often presented as a ‘regional environmental
send out details on the date and time of the pollution problem’, these three countries are
session along with other announcements linked to the causes of haze in varying ways,
about the 2022 AAS Meeting later on this and the effects of haze are different in these
year. countries as well. Our research measured
public sentiments towards haze within these
three countries through quantitative
Summer 2021
Berita 7
______________________________________________________________________________
surveys, focus group discussions, and in- Presentation #2: Beyond Hydrocarbons
depth interviews. Our findings revealed in the South China Sea
interesting differences between how Tabitha Grace Mallory, University of
Malaysians, Singaporeans, and Indonesians Washington
perceived and understood the causes and
effects of the haze, and their views on
solutions to the problem. Understanding
and managing public sentiment is important
as this can help build social legitimacy and
public acceptance of broader government
efforts (Ives and Kendall 2014).
By transposing key policy approaches of the
three countries (including Jokowi’s ‘go it
alone’ strategy, Malaysia’s persistent
diplomacy, and Singapore’s extraterritorial
law) against our study results, we consider
to what extent these governments consider
and understand public sentiments when
undertaking policy decisions. Most notable
is how sentiments on burden-sharing for
haze among the three countries differ from
official government stance. We argue that
an improved understanding of public South China Sea claims map, by Voice of America,
sentiment and values, especially among 2012 (Voice of America https://tinyurl.com/3mu3bfvy)
those most affected, can lead to more
constructive cross-border engagement at With the effects of climate change already
both the government and society level. being felt around the world, the transition to
renewable energy resources is more
important than ever. The South China Sea is
estimated to have oil and gas reserves for
which China, Vietnam, and the Philippines
are targeting with active extraction
programs. At the same time, many scientists
now think that the South China Sea has the
highest level of marine biodiversity in the
world. South China Sea fisheries also feed
and employ millions of people in the region.
Conflicts over these resources have driven
Haze on Orchard Road in early September much of the territorial disputes in the region.
2015 (Wikimedia Commons contributors)
Summer 2021
Berita 8
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Yet drilling for hydrocarbons in the South as Singapore expands its city-state with an
China Sea not only continues our reliance on influx of sand, what are the social
fossil fuels, but also contributes to consequences for the communities who live
geopolitical and security tensions in the in the source countries?
region and threatens vulnerable marine
habitats. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted
in a fishing village in Cambodia’s Koh Kong
This paper will examine alternative energy province, this paper traces the way large-
options for the South China Sea littoral scale sand dredging of sea-beds has altered
states, giving particular attention to China, local ecologies, transformed social relations,
Vietnam and the Philippines. The paper will and dispossessed villagers. Not only has
review the energy sectors and needs of these sand extraction and reclamation eroded
countries and consider whether abandoning rivers and livelihoods due to dwindling crab
the hydrocarbons in the seabed is a viable catches, the removal of sand from riverbeds
option for these countries. By taking the oil does not make its impact known
and gas disputes off the table, would immediately. I contend that land
stakeholders be better able to make progress reclamation, as a form of “slow violence”
on remaining core contentions such as (Nixon 2011), reveals a spatiotemporal
competing nationalisms, security concerns distancing effect, as villagers anticipate the
and fisheries management? collapse of their houses that sit on the
riverbank when the ground eventually gives
Presentation #3: Accelerated way due to the removal of sediment.
Development, Anticipated
Dispossession: The Zero-Sum Game of
Land Reclamation
Vanessa Koh, Yale University
This paper examines the global phenomenon
that is land reclamation through multi-sited
work in Singapore and Cambodia that sits at
the interface of environmental and urban
anthropology, cultural geography, and
science and technology studies. While
countries like Malaysia and Nigeria have
engaged in land reclamation in order to
develop desirable property that will attract Sand mining at the Tatai River in the Koh Kong
speculative foreign direct investment, land- Conservation Corridor, Cambodia 2012
scarce Singapore has been importing sand (Wikimedia Commons contributors)
from neighboring countries such as
Cambodia in an effort to “reclaim” land. Yet
Summer 2021Berita 9
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Presentation #4: Contesting Oil Palm Although this paper focuses on Myanmar
Plantation Territories in Southern companies, it has important implications for
Myanmar Malaysian oil palm companies that had
Miles Kenney-Lazar, National University of begun implementing projects in Myanmar.
Singapore
In 1999, the State Peace and Development Presentation #5: Risky Infrastructures:
Council (SPDC) government of Myanmar Low Wage Migrants and the
(Burma) hatched a plan to transform the Vulnerabilities of Transnational
southern region of Tanintharyi into an Immobility in Asia
edible ‘oil bowl’ via the planting and Laavanya Kathiravelu, Nanyang Technical
processing of palm oil. Their ambitious plans University
sought the establishment of 700,000 acres of
oil palm plantations over a 30-year period. Sustaining development and economic
By 2013, the government seemed to have growth in Singapore is dependent on the
surpassed this goal as it had already granted continual circulation of a low wage
1.9 million acres of land to companies for temporary population of men from “poorer”
planting oil palm. Such plantation Asian states such as India and Bangladesh.
concessions led to deforestation, The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the
dispossession of villagers’ agricultural lands, inherent risks of such a migration system.
labor abuses, and ethnic conflicts with Karen Much of this riskiness is embedded in
communities. At the same time, many areas infrastructural configurations such as visa
have not been fully planted with oil palm regimes, cheap airline travel, and remittance
trees, leaving their use and ownership networks that define the mobilities of these
uncertain. As democratic reforms were migrants, who move to labor in occupations
implemented in Myanmar starting in 2010, shunned by locals and the middle classes.
villagers took advantage of the opening
political space to contest the control of their Existing research on migration
customary territories and seek to reclaim infrastructure in Asia has focused on how
their lands. This paper examines their contemporary migration regimes are
strategies for occupying and seeking to sustained and stabilized. Disruptions,
transform the construction of oil palm reconfigurations and vulnerabilities that
territories. It is based upon research also characterize such systems have received
conducted from November 2019 to February less attention. Speaking to issues of
2020 on villagers’ responses to two immobility and stasis that have been
Myanmar oil palm plantation companies. accentuated with the coronavirus epidemic,
This was prior to the worsening of the this paper draws from the experiences of low
Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the military wage South Indian migrants, returnees and
coup in February 2021, which have halted families left behind, to delineate a typology
the expansion of the oil palm sector. of infrastructural risk.
Summer 2021Berita 10
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Analyzing 47 semi-structured interviews
Article
from both sending and receiving contexts,
this paper argues that for low wage Educating the Sultanate: The
transnational migrants, infrastructural risk Melding of Higher Education
is heightened by lack of economic, temporal, and Islam in Brunei Darussalam
and mobility capital. However, in a crisis
characterized by immobility and closed
Moez Hayat
borders, there have also emerged
Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Researcher
possibilities for more inclusive social justice
2021-2022 in the Academy of Brunei
outcomes. Through interrogating distinct
Studies (APB) at the Universiti Brunei
but overlapping domains of migration
Darussalam (UBD)
infrastructure, this paper brings together
and extends research on risk societies, shock
The following is a modified version of the
mobility and transnational migration in
Statement of Grant Purpose of the research study
order to develop better regional
supported by the Fulbright-Hays scholarship
understandings of the effects of rapid
grant and the Universiti of Brunei Darussalam
development and growth on marginalized
(UBD) and its Academy of Brunei Studies
communities in Asia.
(APB). The research is to be conducted over the
course of a full academic year. The questions of
• To find out more about AAS 2022 in the research and the research plan are included
Hawaii, go to the conference home below.
page.
• Registration for the conference Higher education is essential to the
begins in September. Rates for construction of a nation. As UC Berkeley
registration and hotel rooms can be President Clark Kerr once said, the
found here. university is “a prime instrument of national
purpose,” whose mission is to create “new
knowledge” needed for a country’s economic
and social development. 1 That idea is
certainly true in the former colonized
countries of Asia and Africa – in Egypt,
India, Indonesia, and Singapore to name a
1
Clark Kerr, The Uses of the University, (Cambridge: 1051, Seth Rosenfield, “Clark Kerr’s Classic: The
Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 66, 28, Uses of the University Turns 50,” California
Clark Kerr, “The Frantic Race to Remain Magazine / Winter 2013 Information Issue, UC
Contemporary,” Daedalus, Fall, 1964, Vol. 93, No. 4, Berkley Cal Alumni Association,
pp. 1051-1070, The Contemporary University: https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-
U.S.A. (Boston: MIT University Press, 1964), p. magazine/winter-2013-information-issue/clark-
kerr%E2%80%99s-classic-uses-university-turns-50.
Summer 2021Berita 11
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few examples – where Western-style according to the state MIB ideology. Yet
institutions of higher education are viewed unlike the nationalist Muslim states in
as essential to the development of liberal Turkey or Pakistan where religion has
attitudes towards society and the nation. become more prominent in educational
discourse, Brunei’s national religious project
Yet, this project intends to focus on a very is led by a monarchy. At a time when
different case study. Negara Brunei monarchies in the Middle East like Jordan or
Darussalam is well known internationally as even Saudi Arabia are encouraging the
a conservative, oil-rich, absolute monarchy development of liberal educational models,
in Southeast Asia. It has drawn media Brunei stands alone for its openly religious
attention for its implementation of Islamic program.
Shariah criminal law in 2013. Lesser known
is that under the rule of Sultan Hassanal Therefore, this research will examine how
Bolkiah, Brunei has invested its vast oil- Brunei has used its modern university to
wealth into education. Since 1985 it has built support its economic development and to
fourteen universities and colleges, the first strengthen its traditional, religious national
and most important being the University of identity. I argue that Brunei has successfully
Brunei Darussalam (UBD). 2 The UBD is integrated its national, religious ideology
now the fourth-best university in Southeast with its higher education system to
Asia; 3 it is a regional leader in terms of strengthen the traditional national character
higher educational attainment in English of the state. Brunei has done this by forming
language teaching, and environmental a partnership administratively with its
studies, particularly forest management. religious and educational institutions, a
process led by its monarchy. Specifically, at
At the same time, Brunei has worked to the UBD, Brunei has created a top-tier
integrate its national ideology of Malay educational institution with a curriculum in
Islamic Monarchy (MIB) at all levels of its line with its MIB ideology, demonstrating a
governance, education, and society. In this model of state-led, top-down national
project, Brunei’s universities have taken a Islamization that responds to the needs of a
leading role, with its Ministry of Religious modern, Westernized bureaucratic state.
affairs creating institutions and curriculum The university education system and its
that teach Islamic values in all subjects, flagship the UBD is therefore a critical
2
For secondary education there are seven public and https://www.moe.gov.bn/SitePages/Private%20Sch
another seven private post-secondary institutions, ools%20and%20Institutions.aspx#.
see, “Government Education Institutions,” Ministry 3
Justhine De Guzman Uy, "Asean’s best universities
of Education Brunei Darussalam, (2021), for 2020: Brunei joins Singapore, Malaysia,
https://www.moe.gov.bn/SitePages/Government%2 Philippines "
0Education%20Institutions.aspx, and “Private https://aecnewstoday.com/2019/aseans-best-
Schools and Institutions,” Ministry of Education universities-for-2020-brunei-joins-singapore-
Brunei Darussalam, (2021), malaysia-philippines/.
Summer 2021Berita 12
______________________________________________________________________________
institution in the formation of the modern international students, with specific
Bruneian national polity that buttresses the attention to enrollment in Islamic Studies
national ideology of MIB. and MIB classes and programs since they
were first introduced and integrated into the
As for the research plan, the proposed university’s curriculum.
project will occur in three stages. The first
phase will consist of initial background Of course, the backbone of the study will be
research to familiarize myself with previous qualitative research to understand the
scholarship on the role of the national human perspective on the role of higher
education system in Brunei. For this, I will education in Brunei. This will require
rely on the resources available at the UBD interviews with faculty and staff at the UBD
University Library, as well as some to understand the evolution of their teaching
resources available at the Brunei National methods and the integration of MIB thought
Archives. Considering relevant academic in their classes. Particular focus will be
scholarship on administrative and placed on the role of the Academy of Brunei
educational matters is published in English, Studies, with the proposed support of Dr.
and that English is widely spoken by almost Haji Tassim bin Hj Abu Bakar and Dr.
all Bruneians, no foreign language study will Charles Druce, in the development of MIB
be required by me; although, my knowledge curriculum. Moreover, I would also like to
of Arabic will allow me to examine Arabic interview officials from the Ministry of
language texts in the Islamic Studies Education and the Ministry of Religious
curriculum if needed. I will mainly focus on Affairs about the evolution of their policies
government policy circulars and towards the UBD in regard to both technical
publications that detail the overall courses and the implementation of MIB
development of education policy towards teachings.
higher education and the application of MIB
teachings at the UBD. Finally, there is an anthropological element
to this study. First, I plan on observing a
After conducting the relevant document semester of MIB classes to understand how
research and collecting the necessary the curriculum works in practice. This is
background literature, I will take my possible as the major language of instruction
research to the university community itself. in Brunei is English; with little prior study
My goal is to become embedded in the UBD of Malay required. My goal is to understand
in order to form a robust picture of the the lived experience of MIB in the classroom
school’s development, its campus and how it shapes classroom discussion and
environment, and the role of MIB in the thought. Second, I would also like to
formation of its current curriculum. interview students, Bruneians, Muslims,
Regarding quantitative statistics, I will be non-Muslims, non-Malay, and international
considering mainly the demographics of the students at the UBD. It is from these groups
student population, both domestic and I would like to understand how the
Summer 2021Berita 13
______________________________________________________________________________
university curriculum has shaped the and a minor in Arabic language. At
student’s national identity and religious Georgetown he also completed a graduate
thought as Bruneians and as college Certificate in Diplomatic Studies through
students. Ultimately this will allow me to the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy
understand the role MIB has played in (ISD) and an undergraduate Certificate in
shaping their worldview while at a modern Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations
institute of education. through the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for
Muslim Christian Understanding
Finally, I plan to present my findings to (ACMCU). Moez studies foreign policy and
scholars and students at the UBD and to security in the Middle East, South Asia and
publish the work in relevant scholarly Southeast Asia and has published in The
journals of Southeast Asia. Ultimately, I Diplomat, the East Asia Forum, The National
hope to include this as a section in my Interest, Modern Diplomacy, and the Australian
broader book-length academic study of Outlook on topics ranging from instability in
Brunei, based on my Fulbright and previous Belarus to Brunei’s role as the 2021 ASEAN
research on the foreign policy of Brunei Chair. He recently completed a graduate
Darussalam as a constituent member of thesis titled “Forming an Abode Of Peace:
ASEAN and a smaller state in the An Assessment Of Brunei’s Role in ASEAN
international community. I hope to integrate From 1984–2020,” that studies the foreign
both the domestic and international strands policy of Brunei Darussalam as a case study
of my research into Brunei’s politics to for smaller state international relations in
finalize a complete case study of Brunei as a Southeast Asia and the modern world. Moez
model for conservative, modern politics in is proficient in Arabic and Urdu-Hindi
the contemporary Muslim world. languages and is a student of Bahasa
Indonesian and Malay. He resides in
Biographical note Shreveport, Louisiana and enjoys classical
Moez Hayat is an incoming 2021-2022 film and television, reading world news and
Fulbrighter and Visiting Researcher in the history, and cooking South/Southeast Asian
Academy of Brunei Studies (APB) at the cuisine.
University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD). He
completed his Master of Arts in Asian
Studies at the Edmund A Walsh School of
Foreign Service at Georgetown University
with a concentration in South Asian and
Southeast Asian studies. Previously, he
graduated from Georgetown with a
Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service
majoring in International Politics with a
concentration in Foreign Policy Processes
Summer 2021Berita 14
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Book Review approaches it from the lens of his personal
experience as a Penang city councilor from
2011 to 2016. Having set the scene with
Local Democracy Denied: A Penang Forum’s mock election which saw
Personal Journey into Local his later appointment to the Penang City
Government in Malaysia (SIRD, Council, Lim brings the reader into an
interesting account of his life from the early
Kuala Lumpur, 2020.) days of growing up in Perak and Penang
Lim Mah Hui
before enrolling into University of Malaya in
Kuala Lumpur, to his later careers in
academia and banking in major cities of the
world prior to his return to Penang and
service as nominated city councilor where he
sought to utilize his professional experiences
for the benefit of Penang. His personal story
renders this book a semi-biographical piece
that exposes readers to his upbringing and
insightful life journey which in turn, shaped
his views and imbued his political and social
conscience. This enables readers a better
appreciation of the principles he stood up for
throughout his council tenure.
As local government (or the third tier of
administration) involves the grassroot level,
the reader would notice Lim’s echoing call
for improved public participation in the
council’s decision-making process
throughout the chapters. This central theme
is noteworthy since the current system of
local government in Malaysia features an
appointed council upon the demise of local
elections in 1965. The lack of public
Review By Koay Su Lyn
engagement within the nominated system
National University of Singapore
naturally leads to further top-down control
by the state which erodes democratic
Lim Mah Hui’s ‘Local Democracy Denied’ is
practices. This resounding notion of public
the latest invaluable resource to the existing
participation inevitably connects readers to
pool of literature on local government and
the historical backdrop of local elections in
democracy. While this subject has often been
Malaysia in Chapter Two. Many young
one of academic examination, Lim
Summer 2021Berita 15
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Malaysians may not know that Penang was by the late fifties to early sixties.
the birthplace of modern local government Unfortunately, the transition from Malaya
in the country. Indeed, the current City to Malaysia in 1963 witnessed serious
Council of George Town can trace its challenges to the autonomy and
origins back to the British ‘Committee of independence of elected councils especially
Assessors’ formed as early 1801 that was when councils were opposition-dominated
subsequently bestowed with a status of a and constantly rebelled against the states.
Municipal Committee in 1848. Although Coupled with allegations of corruption and
demands for wider franchise and better malpractices under an unfavorable political
governance saw George Town’s first local climate of the Indonesian Confrontation,
elections in 1857, it remained a short-lived local elections were suspended nationwide in
one. Following changes in the landscape of 1965 and never again revived. With the
municipal centers, elections ceased in 1913. transfer of local government powers to the
It was not until after the Second World War state, a centralized administration
that local elections were revived through the commenced henceforth.
George Town Municipal Elections in 1951.
In fact, Penang witnessed greater
While Lim properly notes that local centralization under its second Chief
democracy was crucial in winning the hearts Minister, Lim Chong Eu through the
and minds of the local population during the integration of the state’s two local
Malayan Emergency (which started in 1948) authorities on the island and three on the
as an alternative to communism, the fact that mainland of Seberang Perai into two single-
Penang was chosen to host the first elections integrated entities covering the island and
in post-war Malaya, the precursor to its first mainland respectively in 1974. A move
general elections in 1959, is also significant. designated to ensure uniformity and
Following Penang’s move to secede in 1949; standardization of decisions at state-local
spurred by economic discrimination owing level, the appointed council nonetheless
to delays in the reinstatement of the island’s failed to eliminate partisan politics. Such was
free port, the British realized the alarming evident in the Penang Urban Centre (now
need to maintain national unity and political known as Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak or
stability especially in the wake of the Komtar) case where political differences saw
Malayan Union’s failure. 1 The hosting of intense conflicts between appointees from
Malaya’s first universal adult franchise the state-ruled, Gerakan and federal-
elections in Penang was thus a legacy of affiliated, Barisan Nasional; giving rise to a
British political response to the state’s problematic council which hindered state
turmoil. Regardless, it paved the way plans. 2 In response, Lim Chong Eu
towards a fully developed local government implemented the Local Government Act of
1
Clive J. Christie, A Modern History of Southeast Asia: 2
The appointees of this council consisted of 18 Barisan
Decolonisation, Nationalism and Separatism, London: members from the old Alliance Party (which consists of
I.B.Tauris Publishers, 1996, p.48. representatives from United Malays National Organisation
Summer 2021Berita 16
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1976 which effectively dismissed the be encouraged to participate even more
troubled council by altering its number of given that decisions and policies at the local
appointed councilors in favor of the state’s level typically those involving planning and
ruling party. 3 This move effectively development were bound to affect their daily
tightened the state’s grip over local lives more directly than that of the state and
government, rendering it both the creator federal governments. Given that many
and supervisor of local authorities.4 Today, within the Malaysian public remain unaware
as councilors remain state appointees based of their rights and roles within local
on their political affiliations, they continue to government, the ensuing chapters of Lim’s
be inevitably obliged to toe the lines book serves as a crucial point of education.
determined by their political masters (the Spanning across thirteen chapters, Lim
state). As testified by the author’s own systematically lays down the structure and
experience, there remains a limit to the functions of local government followed by
independence of appointed councilors given its relationship with the state in Chapters
that the system of local governments till Three and Four. In fact, his simple style and
date continues as a legacy of their historical terms in detailing the intricate workings,
trajectories. However, not all is doom and technicalities and functions of local
gloom. government and democracy succinctly
makes these chapters easily comprehensible
Moving forward, Lim Mah Hui believes that to both the general public including the
much can still be done in enabling layperson with little knowledge on local
democratic practices within the nominated government, and academics alike. Chapters
system. Here, the reader returns to his 5 to 12 then take the reader into Lim’s
central argument of public participation. As interesting experiences and encounters
the absence of local elections and the deeply within the council as a civil-society-
centralized nature of the system should not appointed councilor. They also include his
be an obstruction to citizen participation, critical views, ideas and visions on the
Lim strongly opines that the public should practical issues faced by the council
(UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and pp.143-145).
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)), 8 from Gerakan and 8 3
While the 1976 Act permitted a maximum appointment
from non-political organisations. Although the Gerakan of 24 councilors, the state only appointed the minimum
had abandoned its opposition stand by 1974 and had number of 8 based on the reason that Penang was after all,
become a founding partner of ruling coalition of Barisan a small place and does not require too many councilors.
Nasional, its recognition by other component members The new council’s composition saw 4 out of 8 members
within the Barisan took a while to materialise. Conflicts in rom Gerakan with only 2 from the former Council by
the council worsened during the period of the urban virtue of their posts as District Officers from the South-
center project as Barisan appointees protested against the West and North-East districts, 1 independent and 1 sole
project as a sole “Gerakan idea”. Later, this opposing UMNO member who declined in protest over the unfair
fraction voted against giving up council land at the site for representation given to other members of the Barisan
the project’s development; rendering it a huge stumbling Nasional (Ibid, p.147).
block to state plans (Phang Siew Nooi, “Administration of 4
M.W.Norris, Local Government in Peninsula Malaysia,
Urban Development in Penang: The Case of the Penang Britain: Gower Pub Co. 1st Ed, 1980, p.100.
Urban Centre”, M.A. Thesis, University of Malaya, 1978,
Summer 2021Berita 17
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pertaining to law enforcement, finance, the elective local government system should
planning and development, urban services, elections be revived in harmonizing the
and waste management. Often, his critical balance of power between different
stance left him vilified including an instance ethnic/religious groups while preventing
of being openly called a ‘liar’ by the Chief domination by a single large party.
Minister. Nevertheless, his dissenting views Although the restoration of local elections in
remain crucial in shedding a balanced and Malaysia remains to be seen, Lim’s
politically untainted light on current issues innovative ideas and critical perspectives
faced by Penang especially in the highly- propounded in this book remain crucial in
contested issues on landslides, planning and educating and inspiring the general public
development and more crucially, law and aspiring statesmen/councilors alike by
enforcement and political will. To that, these challenging conventional narratives and
eye-opening chapters serve as the book’s conceptions on the practices of local
unique feature throughout the pages of the government and democracy in Malaysia
author’s personal journey. while providing a politically neutral account
in balancing current insights and on-goings
Lim returns to his main argument of public pertaining to the workings and practices of
participation in his concluding Chapter 13. local government in Penang.
Having revisited the origins and historical
trajectories of local government followed by
its contemporary structure, issues and The Roots of Resilience: Party
challenges faced within, the reader would Machines and Grassroots
now be thoroughly equipped with better
understanding and knowledge in Politics in Singapore and
comprehending Lim’s forward-looking Malaysia (Ithaca: Cornell
vision and hope in reconstructing local University Press, 2020.)
democracy in this chapter. As the current Meredith L. Weiss
system of local government lacked the three
crucial pillars of public participation, Review By Mohamed Salihin
representation, and subsidiarity; what Lim Subhan, University of British
properly terms as ‘triple deficits’, he Columbia
continues his appeal for strengthened public Malaysia and Singapore are commonly used
participation via an active and sincere for comparative analysis in the region
engagement in all planning stages. This because these two countries “looked like no
meaningful endeavor in turn compels others in the world—except for each other”
greater transparency and accountability (Slater 2012, pg. 19). On one hand, The Roots
within state governments. More of Resilience follows this trend, with
interestingly, he debuts the notion of Meredith Weiss leveraging on this pairing
implementing the proportional to answer one question: why is electoral
representation (PR) electoral system into turnover insufficient for real regime change?
Summer 2021Berita 18
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The book is divided into seven chapters.
Chapter 1 is an introduction which
summarizes Weiss’s main argument.
Chapter 2 unpacks the theory of electoral
authoritarian regime durability. Weiss
extends existing theories of clientelism to
form a theoretical and analytical framework
for her concept of authoritarian
acculturation, focusing on the institutional
makeup of electoral politics at the macro
level, political party structures at the meso
level, and party connections with the ground
at the micro level. This framework is used to
structure the Malaysian and Singaporean
case studies in Chapters 3 to 6 which are
buttressed by archival research and elite
interviews. Chapter 3 and 4 cover the
historical origins of electoral
authoritarianism in both countries during
the immediate post-independence period,
while Chapters 5 and 6 cover the more
contemporary developments. Finally,
Chapter 7 recaps the main argument,
emphasizes the inferential leverage of the
Malaysia-Singapore comparative case study
On the other hand, Weiss breaks from and provides some possible directions for
convention by moving across the macro, transition away from electoral
meso, and micro level of party behaviour to authoritarianism.
explain the resilience of electoral
authoritarian regimes. By shifting across The Roots of Resilience will no doubt appeal to
levels of analysis, Weiss provides a both scholars of politics in general and
wonderfully comprehensive theoretical and Southeast Asianists in particular. For the
analytical breakdown of the concept of general academic audience, Weiss widens
authoritarian acculturation, which is where the ontological space in the study of electoral
citizens are conditioned over time to accept authoritarian regimes. Regime durability is
and internalise a form of politics that not built only through elections but also
entrenches electoral authoritarianism. The through the actions taken between elections,
Roots of Resilience is a must-read for scholars such as changing the rules of party politics,
interested in the party politics of hybrid building up party capacity for voter
regimes in Southeast Asia and beyond.
Summer 2021Berita 19
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outreach, and instilling the culture of possibility that the Pakatan Harapan
political patronage. Weiss also explains in government’s failure to reform could be due
detail a causal mechanism for this regime to other factors such as coalitional politics.
durability. Dominant political parties Another direction for further research
construct political machines of clientelism concerns the possibilities for potential
and partisan patronage which results in the reform that Weiss puts forth for electoral
institutionalisation of accountability and authoritarian regimes. In particular, the
loyalty that is oriented more around local possibility that ideology may elevate the
outreach and management than national importance of nonmaterial priorities for
politics. Citizens then become acculturated citizens when evaluating political candidates
to this mode of politics, incentivizing merits further research. While the current
opposition parties to adopt similar tactics – literature on religion and voting seem to
thus perpetuating the new status quo and confound this theory (see Pepinsky, Liddle,
enhancing regime durability. For Southeast and Mujani 2012), it is inarguable that there
Asianists, The Roots of Resilience pulls off the is a growing segment of society who are
nuance needed to do justice to the Malaysia- looking for alternatives to the hegemonic
Singapore comparison, with a neoliberal and capitalist ideals which have
comprehensive sweep of political been largely discredited.
developments since independence that belie
the book’s slim profile. The case-study References
chapters merit inclusion in any graduate or
undergraduate course on Southeast Asian Pepinsky, T. B., Liddle, R. W., and Mujani,
politics. S. (2012). “Testing Islam’s Political
Advantage: Evidence from Indonesia.”
The Roots of Resilience also points to American Journal of Political Science,
promising directions for further research. 56(3), pg. 584-600.
One such direction is testing alternative Slater, D. (2012). “Strong-state
theories in the case studies. While Chapter 2 Democratization in Malaysia and
does engage with alternative theories for the Singapore.” Journal of Democracy, 23(2),
durability of electoral authoritarian regimes, pg. 19-33.
the case study chapters fail to explicitly
promote Weiss’s main argument over those
alternatives. For example, in the Malaysian
case study Weiss points to the failure of the
reformist Pakatan Harapan government in
reforming Malaysian politics as proof that
authoritarian acculturation has taken root to
such an extent that even a reformist
government can fail to effect meaningful
change. However, this argument ignores the
Summer 2021Berita 20
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Review Essay
Multispecies and Post-Humanist
Work in Borneo – Recent
Contributions and Possible
Futures
Asmus Rungby
University of Copenhagen
International Fox Fellow, Macmillan Center
for International Studies, Yale University
Dove, Michael R. Bitter Shade: the
Ecological Challenge of Human
Consciousness. Yale Agrarian Studies
Series. (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2021.)
Parreñas, Juno Salazar. Decolonizing warbling yowl of the female was high-
Extinction: The Work of Care in pitched enough sonically to offset the bass
Orangutan Rehabilitation. Experimental like thunderous wobble of the metal bedding.
Futures: Technological Lives, Scientific Sleep deprived I spoke to them in loud
arts, Anthropological Voices. (Durham: Danish, “Would you please do that
Duke University Press, 2018.) somewhere else!” At my interjection, the
sound of feline lovemaking stopped
I found myself once again stepping out into suddenly. A moment of relative silence hung
the heat of Kuching’s humid night. In the in the air before the hurried thumping
dark of the little balcony I sidestepped the sounds of scattering cats left me alone on the
whirring exterior unit of my apartment’s air- balcony. They had been polite enough to
conditioning as I glared angrily if blindly in leave, though they would be back tomorrow
the direction of the offending sound. Again, night.
cats were copulating in the dark on the
corrugated metal slats overhanging the My project for this text is to review two
downstairs outdoor kitchen. For a bunch of recent books that seek to understand aspects
creatures famed for their ability to sneak of Borneo through the interactions of human
they had elected a very loud setting for their Borneans and their lived environment.
efforts at reproducing the species. The These two books are Juno Parreñas’s
Decolonizing Extinction: The Work of Care in
Summer 2021Berita 21
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Orangutan Rehabilitation (2018) and Michael peoples from which they come, attest to
Dove’s Bitter Shade: the Ecological Challenge of universal human recognition of this
Human Consciousness (2021). Why then, one quandary – which is a quandary of human
might ask, does this essay start with a story consciousness – and the effort, however
about cats in heat? The answer is twofold. imperfect, to resolve it.” (Dove, 2021, p. 202)
Firstly, I read these books as exemplars of Dove thus sets himself a self-consciously
the on-going multi-species turn in Batesonian problem of the human mind’s
anthropology and social sciences and relation to its environment, ecologies of
attempts to think about animals, ecologies mind to adapt Bateson’s (1977) title. His case
and sociality across these distinctions. As I studies center on Borneo, building on his
respond to them, I assess them in relation to long engagement with the Kantu of west
my own multi-species work on felinity and Kalimantan to address Ibanic bird auguries
street cats in Sarawak’s capital, Kuching. for swiddens, animal tales, the political
Secondly, both books provide an account of economy of rice and the role of weeds. He
what role animals and nonhuman life has in ranges beyond those to build tacit
Borneo and what sort of encounters enable comparisons to peasant ideas about shade in
us to understand these issues. While neither Pakistan and volcano cosmology in Java.
author claims to exhaust the matter, their Dove’s focus is thus preeminently, though
respective emphasis on plants and not exclusively, on plants and the
orangutans necessarily foreground complicated socio-history by which they
particular relationships. By drawing on the come to take up importance for human lives
awkwardness and humorous absurdity of my and societies. In this sense, Bitter Shade reads
own attempt to persuade a clowder of cats in as an extension of Dove’s earlier work on
heat to fuck elsewhere, I point towards ways rubber production and Bornean small holder
to expand upon the work of these writers livelihoods in his excellent monograph The
through an ethnographic encounter whose Banana Tree at the Gate (Dove, 2011). Yet, in
absurdity challenges some of the lacunae of this new book, Dove works to make a more
multispecies work in Borneo and beyond. theoretical contribution by depicting
ecological relations in ways that are
Both books I want to discuss are compelling informed by both the ontological turn
scholarship and worth reading. They treat (Holbraad et al., 2014; see for example:
their respective topics with insight and Kohn, 2015; Viveiros de Castro, 2015) and
nuance and display impressive command of perspectivism (see for example: Kohn, 2013;
theory, regional literature and ethnographic Lima, 2000; Viveiros de Castro, 1998), but
styles. Dove presents his project as an without confining his thinking to either of
attempt to contend with human efforts to these. Dove prefers to wield a diverse array
think about and through their environment of theorists aleatorily to cope with the larger
and he does so by presenting a series of case problem of ecological thinking in
studies which, “although they are culturally contextually sensitive ways.
and historically embedded in the places and
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