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http://englishkyoto-seas.org/ View the table of contents for this issue: https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2016/12/vol-5-no-3-of-southeast-asian-studies/ Subscriptions: http://englishkyoto-seas.org/mailing-list/ For permissions, please send an e-mail to: [email protected] SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES Vol. 5, No. 3 December 2016 CONTENTS Special Focus Global Powers and Local Resources in Southeast Asia: Political and Social Dynamics of Foreign Investment Ventures Guest Editor: MORISHITA Akiko MORISHITA Akiko Introduction ............................................................................................(367) Andrew AERIA Economic Development via Dam Building: The Role of the State Government in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy and the Impact on Environment and Local Communities .....................(373) MORISHITA Akiko Political Dynamics of Foreign-Invested Development Projects in Decentralized Indonesia: The Case of Coal Railway Projects in Kalimantan ......................................................................................(413) Kai Lit PHUA Rare Earth Plant in Malaysia: Governance, Green Politics, and Geopolitics .........................................................................................(443) Articles Quan Manh HA When Memory Speaks: Transnational Remembrances in Vietnam War Literature ................................................................(463) Muhammad RUM The Case of Regional Disaster Management Cooperation in ASEAN: A Constructivist Approach to Understanding How International Norms Travel .....................................................(491) LE Jiem Tsan Highland Chiefs and Regional Networks in Mainland Southeast Richard D. CUSHMAN Asia: Mien Perspectives ...................................................................(515) Hjorleifur JONSSON Book Reviews R. Michael FEENER A. C. S. Peacock and Annabel Teh Gallop, eds. From Anatolia to Aceh: Ottomans, Turks, and Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, xvi+348p. .....................................(553) Sing SUWANNAKIJ Maurizio Peleggi, ed. A Sarong for Clio: Essays on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Thailand, Inspired by Craig J. Reynolds. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2015, 208p. .........................................................................................(556) Portia L. REYES Milagros Camayon Guerrero. Luzon at War: Contradictions in Philippine Society, 1898–1902 (with an introduction by Vicente L. Rafael). Quezon City: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2015, 295p. ..........(560) Majid DANESHGAR Farouk Yahya. Magic and Divination in Malay Illustrated Manuscripts. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015, xxvii+349p., 308 illus., 2 maps. ..............................................................................(563) Mark Iñigo M. TALLARA Deirdre de la Cruz. Mother Figured: Marian Apparitions & the Making of a Filipino Universal. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2015, 320p. ...........................................................(567) Rajesh DANIEL Andrew C. Willford. Tamils and the Haunting of Justice: History and Recognition in Malaysia’s Plantations. Singapore: NUS Press, 2015, 336p. ....................................................................(571) Laurens BAKKER Michele Ford and Thomas B. Pepinsky, eds. Beyond Oligarchy: Wealth, Power and Contemporary Indonesian Politics. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2014, x+178p. ......(575) Alberto PÉREZ PEREIRO Philip Taylor. The Khmer Lands of Vietnam: Environment, Cosmology and Sovereignty. Singapore: NUS Press, 2014, 350p. .........................................................................................(578) NGUYEN Thi Le Sarah Turner, Christine Bonnin, and Jean Michaud. Frontier Livelihoods: Hmong in the Sino-Vietnamese Borderlands. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2015, 223p. .........................................................................................(580) Benjamin C. MCLELLAN Marlyne Sahakian. Keeping Cool in Southeast Asia: Energy Consumption and Urban Air-Conditioning. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, x–xviii+229p. .......................................(582) Index to Vol. 5 ..................................................................................................................................(585) SPECIAL FOCUS Global Powers and Local Resources in Southeast Asia: Political and Social Dynamics of Foreign Investment Ventures Introduction Morishita Akiko* Southeast Asia has been an attractive destination for foreign investors during recent decades, given the abundant natural resources, relatively cheap labor, and investor- friendly policies of the region. A rapid and dramatic increase in the inflow of foreign direct investment has been a noteworthy characteristic.1) A greater number of foreign companies are entering into a wide range of sectors ranging from infrastructure to manufacturing, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining, trade, financial services, and real estate in both urban and rural areas. The growth of foreign investment ventures in Southeast Asia has had a great impact on local people and natural resources, directly affecting societies and environments and giving rise to numerous conflicts. Various social and environmental issues related to foreign ventures have been reported, including native land seizures, labor rights viola- tions, rapid forest degradation, and river pollution (Dauvergne 1997; Ayoub 1999; Ballard 2002). How can we find practical and fundamental solutions to these problems? These issues have been recognized locally and globally, yet they have remained festering for a long time. Many local and international organizations, including NGOs and cooperation agencies of mostly developed countries, have tried to find amicable solutions. Their attempts include encouraging governments of host countries to strengthen relevant leg- * 森下明子, Research Administration Office (KURA), Kyoto University, Research Administra- tion Office Bldg., Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan e-mail: [email protected] 1) Despite declining when the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis hit, the total FDI inflow to the region grew from US$28.2 billion in 1995 to US$41.1 billion in 2005, reaching US$76.2 billion in 2010 (ASEAN Secretariat 2007; 2012). Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, December 2016, pp. 367–372 DOI: 10.20495/seas.5.3_367 367 ©Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University 368 MORISHITA A. islations and institutions, persuading companies to ensure appropriate operations and management on-site as well as to contribute to local community development, promoting the development of new technology to reduce environmental impact, and directly sup- porting local communities facing problems related to foreign ventures.2) In this context, the central governments of host countries and the foreign companies involved are regarded as the main culprits on-site, and therefore it is crucial to improve their functions and activities if solutions are to be found. However, the central govern- ments and foreign investors are not the only key actors in foreign investment ventures. The fervor with which foreign capital is being pursued in Southeast Asia has resulted in not only central governments but also various local political and social actors becoming involved. They directly collaborate, negotiate, and in some cases create conflicts with foreign players, including multinational companies, international NGOs, and the govern- ments of consuming countries. The central government and foreign investors do not always hold the upper hand and dominate the other stakeholders in the process of plan- ning, implementing, and evaluating foreign-invested projects. Therefore, legislative efforts by central governments and corporate responsibility alone are necessary but insufficient for conclusively solving social and environmental problems related to foreign venture projects. From this viewpoint, the authors of this special focus share the importance of under- standing the complex relationships among local and global players in order to contribute toward finding solutions to problems arising from foreign ventures in Southeast Asia.3) The special focus paints a clear picture of the intricate local-global relations, specifically the political and social dynamics of foreign investment ventures, in Southeast Asia. It consists of three papers (Aeria, Morishita, and Phua) providing case studies of foreign venture projects having a direct impact on local people and natural resources in Malaysia and Indonesia. The focus is on the key players among local and global stakeholders of the projects, how they correlate, and how their relationships affect local people and natural resources. 2) For efforts by international organizations, see, for example, Petkoski and Twose (2003), Offiong et al. (2010), and the Web sites of the United Nations Environment Programme (http://www.unep.org), Center for International Environmental Law (http://www.ciel.org), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Inter- nationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (https://www.giz.de/de/html/index.html), and Bruno Manser Fonds (http://bmf.ch/en). 3) This special focus is based on the international workshop held on January 17, 2013, at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. The workshop was supported by the CSEAS “South- east Asian Studies for Sustainable Humanosphere” Research Program. At the workshop, the three authors of this special