Asia and the Pacific at anu

ANU College of Asia & the Pacific contents

Asia and the Pacific at ANU 2 Rising without wires 4 Research 6 Peace builder wins major academic prize 8 Getting human rights right 9 Undergraduate education 10 Homeward bound 11 Headline act 12 Graduate coursework 14 Digging up the dirt 15 Graduate research 16 Silent saviours 16 Our global community 18 Asia Pacific public policy 20 Water win 21 Dealing with disasters 22 Asia Pacific culture, history & language 24 Hook, line and thinker 25 Who’s a pretty boy then? 26 Asia Pacific politics, international elationsr and strategic studies 28 A different kind of war story 29 A life more ordinary 30 Hard lessons in soft power 32 Asia Pacific regulatory institutions 34 Victim-offender meetings cut future crime 35 Doves of war 36 China in the World 38 Giving chopsticks the chop 39 Civilising China 40 Selected College initiatives 42 College facts 43 Online resources 44

ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 1 Asia and the Pacific at ANU

As Tony Abbott faced the College’s buildings while dignitaries introduction to Indian civilisation; Stephen consult a world expert on the Australian Wurm, the world’s foremost expert on toughest test of his short economy and population trends, the the languages of New Guinea; and Prime Ministerial tenure East Timor general election, the Chinese Hedley Bull, a key scholar on international over the Australia-Indonesia leadership, or the Bougainville peace relations. process. Being based in Canberra, our spying crisis, the ABC’s 7.30 Nowadays the College is home to more But it’s not just at home that we are than 200 experts, researchers and program called on ANU actively engaged with the issues facing teachers, boasting the likes of Professor expertise goes beyond the professor Hugh White to the region. Our staff and students can be Hilary Charlesworth, a world-renowned boundaries of teaching and make sense of the saga. found all across the Asia Pacific working expert on international law and human with and learning from our neighbours. rights; along with Professor Nicholas research, to providing the federal It’s not unusual for academics from the From untangling the causes of conflict Evans, a leading linguistics expert who ANU College of Asia and the Pacific to and planting the seeds of peace, to is working tirelessly to save endangered government and diplomats alike appear on Australia’s national public helping conserve Cambodia’s forests; languages across the globe. broadcaster. from charting Myanmar’s political Motives for studying at the College are with all manner of advice on the Professor Desmond Ball, a colleague transformation, to running the numbers as varied as the number of disciplines it of White’s from the College’s Strategic on China’s economic rise; from offers. To gain fluency in a language of Asia Pacific region. and Defence Studies Centre, was widely uncovering ancient Pacific settlements Asia and the Pacific and study languages quoted after speaking to Four Corners lost to climate change, to advising on not taught elsewhere in Australia. To live about China’s alleged theft of blueprints Oceania’s social policies. Our people help and study in the region. To prepare for from the Australian Secret Intelligence tell the story, understand the day-to- a career overseas with an international Organisation’s new $630 million day and map the future of Asia and the non-government organisation (NGO). To headquarters in Canberra. Pacific. work for the government, or in private enterprise. Not that we’re bragging. It’s just that we’re Teaching expertise and academic proud of who we are and what we do. excellence have been cornerstones of In the ‘Asian century’, the College’s Asian and Pacific studies at ANU since focus on Asia and the Pacific is more Being based in Canberra, our expertise early days. relevant now than ever before; and ANU goes beyond the boundaries of teaching is indisputably the best place to prepare and research, to providing the federal The College is proud to include among the next generation of regional specialists government and diplomats alike with all its former research and teaching staff Sir for the challenges of this century, and manner of advice on the Asia Pacific region. John Crawford, a pioneer in the building of an Asia Pacific economic and policy Australia and the region’s place in it. On any given day you are likely to see community; AL Basham, author of what a diplomatic car parked in front of the remains today the most widely-used

2 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 3 RISING WITHOUT WIRES

HAMISH McDONALD takes A mobile-money storage system called The effort to stop the tide is probably EKA gives villagers their first bank futile. Mobile phones give the young The cell phone a look at India’s mobile accounts, with money disbursed by their own space and encourage people phone revolution. participating shopkeepers. The similar generally to do new things. drew India’s M-PESA scheme in Kenya now channels “As a disruptive tool, the cell phone suited With India again in the doldrums after a a third of its GDP. democratic India admirably,” say Jeffrey people into spell as the rising counterweight to China, Health agencies are working on check- and Doron. the story of its explosive uptake in mobile ups via cell phones. Welfare payments relations with phones is a corrective one. Writing about the great Indian “mutiny” will be delivered directly through phone of 1857, the historian Christopher Bayley In 1998, India had only 880,000 mobile accounts, avoiding corrupt officials. saw the newly-introduced universal and the record- phones. Last year it counted 900 million “The cell phone drew India’s people into cheap postal system helping Indians for its 1.22 billion people – a leapfrog over relations with the record-keeping capitalist organise their revolt and blindside the keeping capitalist fixed-line phones, which grew from 18 state more comprehensively than any British rulers. The mobile phone may million to 33 million. previous mechanism or technology,” say be setting off more mutinies under the state more It all happened despite efforts by Jeffrey and Doron. present raj. bureaucrats and politicians to impose comprehensively There is an underside too: A long-time foreign correspondent in conditions set to make it fail and retain pornographic video-makers, scamsters, Asia, Hamish McDonald is Journalist in state monopolies, say two Australian- than any previous extortionists, and terrorists all make use Residence at the ANU College of Asia based India specialists, media-watching of mobile phones. and the Pacific. political scientist Robin Jeffrey and mechanism or ANU College of Asia and the Pacific And while the mobile phone is yet to anthropologist Assa Doron. create political and social revolution, technology. Jeffrey and Doron point out that it has In their colourful new study, The Great given the less powerful “vast new vistas Indian Phone Book (Hurst & Co, of entertainment and a chance, however London, £24.99) they explore how, in a slight, to even up life’s odds a little.” technological version of the great Indian rope trick, this vast and complicated The mobile phone enormously helped country grows despite the antics of its the sweeping 2007 election win in Uttar leaders. Pradesh state of Mayawati Kumari’s party of former Untouchables. Smart phones These have been spectacular at times. allow citizens to video officials taking The sale of 2G mobile spectrum in 2008 bribes or stuffing ballot boxes. saw applicants kept waiting three months for details, only to be told at 2.45pm “The ability it gave to low-status people one day that they had to lodge deposits to communicate with each other and for letters of intent between 3.30pm with sympathetic politicians and officials and 4.30pm that same afternoon. The marked a profound break,” the authors spectrum went to speculators for US$300 write. “In the past there were words low- million who on-sold it for four times the caste people should not hear and things price; it might have fetched up to US$40 they should not know. And to get close billion through open auction, India’s enough to a senior official or politician auditor-general later reported. to expose wrong-doing or sloth was impossible for many people.” Even so, the sector has sent a cascade of modernity throughout India, from telecom The mobile phone gives men and billionaire Sunil Mittal down to local women a private way to talk, evading entrepreneurs running phone towers, tight social controls, to the horror of sale-rooms, and repair shops. conservative elders. The key has been affordability. Low-cost The authors note that one caste handsets and pre-paid charge cards sold organisation banned its unmarried girls by trusted local shopkeepers, have given from cell phones because “girls fall in love Indians the most economical service after they come into contact with boys anywhere, with 50 rupees (88 cents) through mobile phones”. New brides buying over 200 minutes of talk. often have to surrender their cell phones, as part of a dismantling of their previous Boatmen on the Benares burning ghats social networks. Recent horrific rapes in get bookings, fishermen in Kerala sell urban India get blamed on the taunting their catch before landing, tribal people in video image of the mobile wali [girl] who remote parts of Orissa get news in their “danced, smiled, drank, smoked and own language, all on their mobiles. wore skimpy clothes – all with a mobile phone in her hand.”

4 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 5 Our College has some big thinkers and some big ideas about Asia and the Pacific. We aim to research the region with greater depth and breadth than ARC Laureate Fellows Professor Professor Tessa Morris- Nicholas Evans any other academic intuition in the English-speaking world. The College is home to five ARC Laureate Fellows. Australian Laureate Fellows are Suzuki 2013 to present researchers of international standing 2012 to present The diversity of who play a significant leadership role Grassroots human language in building Australia’s international movements and competitive research capacity. survival politics in Northeast Asia

Professor Professor Sue Professor Margaret Jolly O’Connor Hilary 2010 to present 2012 to present Charlesworth Historical Earliest 2012 to present interaction colonisation of Strengthening between Oceanic Island Southeast the international and Western Asia and modern human rights constructs of the human dispersal system Research person

Unlike the great majority of other In 2013 the College won an Australian geographically-dedicated academic Research Council (ARC) Centre of Tax and Transfer Policy AusAID Partnership Strategic and defence units around the world, the ANU College Excellence, ARC funding for 10 Discovery Institute In 2013 AusAID signed an agreement to studies of Asia and the Pacific has preserved Projects, one Laureate Fellowship, one A substantial proportion of the College’s support the work conducted by the State, Founded in 1966, the Strategic and a strong commitment to academic Future Fellowship, three Discovery Early research activity is directed towards Society and Governance in Melanesia Defence Studies Centre (SDSC) examines disciplines. Our largest disciplinary Career Researcher Awards, and three shaping public policy in Australia, the Program (SSGM). SSGM boasts a strategic and defence issues affecting the strengths are in political science, Linkage projects worth a total of A$37.5 region and internationally. In 2013 a track record of producing high-quality, region, with a focus on East Asia and the economics, history, anthropology, law, million. new Tax and Transfer Policy Institute policy-relevant research and advanced Pacific. archaeology, and linguistics – disciplines The College received research funding analysis on social change, governance, was created in the Crawford School of Research undertaken at the Centre in which anu scored five out of five (well in 2013 for projects as diverse as ‘vote development, politics and state-society Public Policy following the announcement covers the military, political, economic, above world standard) in the Australian buying, pork barrelling and related relations in Melanesia, Timor-Leste and of a A$3 million endowment in the environmental, scientific and technological Government’s Excellence in Research for phenomena’ in Indonesia, Malaysia, the wider Pacific.T heir work provides 2013 Federal Budget. The Institute will aspects of strategic developments, Australia initiative. the Philippines and Thailand; the the evidence base for better informed undertake independent policy research on including the control of military force and In all of these fields we excel and enjoy commercialisation of weddings and policy-making and programs that build taxation matters, will aim to answer the the peaceful settlement of disputes. international standing for combining funerals in China; the effect of climate big questions for the country and region the capacity of the region. The 2013 Global Go To Think Tanks disciplinary strength with geographic change and human activities on northern about tax and transfer systems, and Report named SDSC as Australia’s best focus. Interdisciplinary research and Australia; and how cross-border will be overseen by an Advisory Board university-based think tank and the 23rd teaching on particular themes is also movements in the early to mid-20th chaired by Dr Ken Henry, the former best university think tank in the world. important to the College; the largest century helped shape modern Korea. Treasury Secretary. cross-disciplinary research themes In 2013 the College was awarded 63 include environmental and resource non-ARC grants and contracts worth management; culture and identity; $40.5 million. regulation and governance.

6 Asia and the Pacific at NA U ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 7 Peace builder wins major Getting human rights right academic prize

A leading Asian studies scholar from the School of Culture, History and Language has won one of the academic world’s most Countries are prestigious awards – the willing to sign academic laureate in the 2013 Fukuoka Prize. on to human Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, rights treaties was selected for her outstanding achievements in the field of Asian studies but then often and her work on regional cooperation. Her award comes with a cash prize of 3 they just park million yen (A$33,000). It’s the first time the prize has gone to an the treaty Australian woman and only the third time an Australian-based academic has won. somewhere. Professor Morris-Suzuki is researching some of the biggest issues affecting East Asia, including conflict and econciliationr between Japan, China and the two Professor Tessa Morris Suzuki. Photo by Ty Mason. Professor Hilary Charlesworth. Photo supplied. Koreas, and human rights. Speaking at the award ceremony where she received the prize from Fukuoka bridges between Japan and other Asian “From her chosen perspective in the A five-year research project But now, Charlesworth is helping make And while regulatory ritualism means Deputy Mayor Mr Masanao Nakazono, countries,” said Professor Morris-Suzuki. margins of society, Professor Tessa is helping to strengthen sure that when it comes to nations’ human rights regimes are increasingly an “overwhelmed” Professor Morris- “Japan has a remarkably rich tradition Morris-Suzuki has formulated a new human rights obligations, words translate and easily overlooked by their signatories, Suzuki said she was enormously of such movements, and their work has way forward for regional cooperation, human rights regimes across into action. Charlesworth says she still has hope for grateful and honoured. had a really profound impact on person- which can reach beyond the national the globe by examining She’s leading a five-year Australian the international system. borders, and has contributed to mutual “The announcement of this prize is a to-person, cross-border relationships in Laureate Fellowship worth A$2.19 “I think the system is imperfect. But, I understanding between Asian people. the effects of ‘regulatory special delight because it comes from the region. million to examine why countries sign don’t want to say that it is failing, because the city of Fukuoka,” she said. “When “Yet for some reason this work does “She is a truly global intellectual, and ritualism’, writes JAMES up to human rights systems only to then I think that parts of it are working quite I started my academic career at the not get the recognition it deserves from for this reason, is very worthy of the GIGGACHER. ignore them. And while traditional legal well. In particular one thing that I was University of New England, the very mainstream media or politics, either in Academic Prize of the Fukuoka Prize.” research may not pay much attention looking at when I was in Geneva is a new first place where I went for prolonged Japan or in other countries. So I’m really Her win is the third time that an academic Professor Hilary Charlesworth is to these types of questions, the ARC mechanism of the Human Rights Council fieldwork wasF ukuoka,” she said. delighted to have the opportunity to laureate has gone to a scholar from the concerned about why nations talk the talk Laureate Fellow thinks she may already called the Universal Periodic Review but do not walk the walk when it comes have part of the answer. It’s called (UPR), which places the records of all UN “During that trip, I remember visiting highlight the work of these groups, and to ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, with to human rights. ‘regulatory ritualism’. members under human rights screening. Dazaifu in Fukuoka Prefecture, and make this a celebration of their ongoing professors of Asian history Wang Gangwu realising for the first time how important achievements.” and Anthony Reid winning in 1994 and The international law expert from the “Regulatory ritualism, in the case of “Up until now the pattern has been that Fukuoka and Dazaifu were in early In awarding the academic laureate to 2002 respectively. Regulatory Institutions Network in the human rights, is the acceptance of human when we talk about human rights we are Japanese history, and how central they Professor Morris-Suzuki, the Fukuoka ANU College of Asia and the Pacific says rights values, norms and rules, but the talking about the ‘bad guys’. So we’d put were to a diplomatic and trade network Prize committee noted her outstanding that all too often human rights treaties are undermining of these through inaction,” well-known human rights abusers under that stretched from Japan to Korea, China achievements as a scholar working with sidelined or ignored by countries once explains Charlesworth. scrutiny – Cuba, North Korea – and most and beyond.” people at the “boundaries of society”. they have signed on the dotted line. Charlesworth says that it is a much more Western countries were considered to be above the fray. The really interesting With East Asia now the world’s economic “Professor Morris-Suzuki always “As we’ve got lots and lots of treaties common response than an outright thing about the UPR is its philosophy that powerhouse and a place of enormous focuses on people in the margins of relating to many different sorts of human rejection of human rights standards and every country needs to undergo a human cultural diversity, it is essential countries society, those remote from power. rights – torture, rights of children, rights of institutions. rights review. in the region work together and not let In recent years, in addition to her persons with disabilities – it would seem “It is a technique of embracing the language rivalry or nationalism pull them apart. academic work, she has been active that we have a lot of standards,” says of human rights precisely to deflect “I like the fact that all countries are being Charlesworth. scrutinised in the same way. The biggest “In one part of my recent research, I as Convenor of the Asian Civic Rights real human rights scrutiny and to avoid thing in the international human rights have been looking at local grassroots Network, based in multicultural “However, the problem is how to accountability for human rights abuses. system is getting the political will among movements in Japan which work to build Australia,” read the award citation. implement and enforce them; countries Countries are willing to accept human rights are willing to sign on to human rights treaty commitments to earn international countries to actually push for human rights.” treaties but then often they just park approval, but they resist the changes that the treaty somewhere. That’s a problem the treaty obligations require.” that many people have noted in the international human rights system.”

8 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 9 Australia is increasingly looking to Asia – strategically, economically, Homeward bound politically, and culturally – and the graduates of tomorrow need to be ready to lead us in the Asian century. Our distinctive mission is to educate undergraduate students, providing them with in-depth contextual knowledge of the Asia Pacific region, and exposure from the broadest range of Asian From learning to live in language offerings available in Australia. ‘rubber time’ to crossing busy roads using her hands, undergraduate EMMA ROBERTS has returned from Indonesia with not only new skills, but a new place to call home.

My recent trip to Indonesia forced me to contemplate a difficult question – did my trip mean that I was leaving home in Australia, or returning home to Indonesia? Undergraduate This is a question that I still don’t know the exact answer to. But what I do know is that when I stepped off the plane in Semarang, central Java, everything education instantly felt familiar. This was my second time completing an ANU ‘in-country’ language course at Satya Wacana Christian University (UKSW) in Salatiga, Central Java. The first timeI studied at UKSW I arrived in Indonesia with no language skills whatsoever and no idea of what to Asian studies International security Pacific studies expect. However, within six short weeks my host ibu (mum) felt like a real mother Our Asian studies students are equipped Our international security studies Australia’s understanding of Oceania is and Salatiga had become a second home. with language skills and knowledge of the program is taught by internationally- more important than ever thanks to a I soon felt confident conversing in region’s historical, political and cultural recognised experts at Australia’s new, revitalised engagement with the Indonesian while buying fruit at the market Emma Roberts. Photo by Jimmy Walsh. context. Students truly engage with the foremost centre for strategic and security region and an increasing number of or directing a taxi driver. I’d begun to region through dedicated in-country studies. The program develops student’s Pacific Islanders settling in Australia. adopt Indonesian habits such as crossing programs in China, India, Indonesia, analytical skills and knowledge of the ANU is the only place in Australia where a busy road by just walking in front of the Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. security challenges facing Asia and the students can develop an in-depth because I now had some understanding So back to where I began my dilemma cars and waving my hand at them, or The language skills, knowledge of the Pacific. Students can also elect to study understanding of the cultural, social, of the language, culture and people of about whether Indonesia or Australia is arriving at my appointments half an hour region and people-to-people connections an Asian or Pacific language, as well as geographic, linguistic and political Indonesia. home. Though I have lived in Australia for late in accordance with the local concept acquired mean graduates are ready to learn about the region in an international contexts of this diverse region with a most of my life, I experienced a feeling of of jam karet (rubber time). I stayed with the same homestay family lead Australia’s engagement with the context. specialised undergraduate program. that I lived with during my first trip, fulfilment and purpose inI ndonesia that region in the Asian century. Life in Salatiga felt new and exciting, yet specially requested because of my host I have not felt in Australia. I can definitely somehow also so natural and familiar… mother’s amazing cooking ability (and see myself returning to Indonesia in the until it was time to return to Australia. kind heart). The food in Indonesia was foreseeable future for the Year in Asia study At first it was very difficult adjusting to life definitely one of the highlights. As a program; but also later to build a career. Asian and Pacific languages International business Regional engagement back in Canberra. Everything seemed vegetarian, during both trips I absolutely And while Australia may be home now, I ANU was ranked number one in Australia Our international business students The College actively supports student so expensive and ordered compared to fell in love with tempe, a soybean product am almost certain that Indonesia will be and 16 in the world for modern languages specialising in Asia graduate as experts learning outside the conventional Indonesia, and the language classes felt similar to tofu, which unfortunately is not my home sometime in the future. Sampai in the 2013 QS World University on the most influential economic region classroom. In 2013 more then 130 so dull after being able to practice by sold in Australia. ketemu lagi, Indonesia! Rankings. At the ANU College of Asia and in the world, with the language skills and students from the College undertook going on a shopping spree or planning The language classes themselves were Emma Roberts is in her second year the Pacific we offer the highest number of cultural understanding to match. The mobility programs in a wide range of weekend trips at the travel agent. great. The teachers at UKSW are so of a combined Bachelor of Asia Pacific Asia Pacific language programs outside International Business program deals learning locations across Asia and the I eventually managed to re-familiarise passionate about making learning as Studies/ Bachelor of Laws program. She of Asia. Courses are offered in Chinese, with the development, strategy and Pacific, participating in field schools, myself with my Australian surroundings, interactive as possible and consequently recently won an Ethel Tory Scholarship French, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, management of multinational enterprises study tours, short courses, semester but nevertheless I decided to return class excursions – which ranged from to complete in-country language study at Korean, Sanskrit, Pacific languages, Thai, in an increasingly complex and placements and our flagship ‘Year in Asia’ to Salatiga and continue my language casual café visits to interviewing local Satya Wacana Christian University. Urdu and Vietnamese. dynamically changing global context. program. studies. I couldn’t have made a better fishermen about the effects of swamp decision. water hyacinth on the environment – were My arrival in Indonesia this time was definitely no rarity. very different to my first time around,

10 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 11 Headline act

From the front-page of The related slang in Chinese and English and Over the course of my scholarship, I New York Times to finding memorised thousands of new words. visited my father’s side of the family three One of the most After a year of language study, I began times and my mother’s side twice. I met her ancestral home, SUE-LIN a year of internships at The New York hundreds of relatives in my ancestral meaningful WONG’S two years studying Times – a week after the paper’s Chinese village, where 40,000 of us share the same surname. I stood, awestruck, in in China taught her things language website was launched. To date, experiences I have written 12 articles in both English our clan temple and was told that I’m the you couldn’t learn from a and Chinese and I have contributed 40th generation of a family that can trace was finding my textbook. research to another 20. its history as far back as 885AD. I was part of stories that took me to Every single day I was humbled by grandparents’ “I went to work in the morning and came enormous dog markets, non-arable the Chinese language and realised back to a flattened house. wasteland that was converted into the that learning Chinese will be a lifelong ancestral villages “With absolutely no warning and in the world’s largest eco-city, and through endeavour. I learnt more than I ever span of less than one day, my home was Beijing’s ancient alleyways. thought I would about topics as diverse in Fujian and as Chinese language, culture and society, completely demolished. All I was left I trawled through state media for stories journalism and life. Most of what I learnt Guangdong with were the clothes that I wore to work about the China-India border conflict, came from making hilarious, often that day.” devastating factory fires and policy mortifying, mistakes. provinces. These are the words of Wei Yihua, who changes related to military license plates. was huddled with me and four other I learnt how to use Chinese social media, But one aspect of my time in China has locals one spring evening in her new, compiling hundreds of posts about land stood out, towering above everything makeshift shack just outside Tianjin, one grabs that were transformed into an else. It was the people I met and the of China’s largest cities. interactive feature for a lead story. friends I made who shaped most of my favourite memories. They echoed like the empty streets of While most foreign news bureaus in China her destroyed town, which had been consist of one or two correspondents, I Late night chats with my Chinese demolished as part of China’s race to have had the privilege of working in an housemate about the realities of being a urbanise. office with over 70 staff including some gay man in China. Sleepovers with my closest Chinese girlfriends where I would I was interviewing Wei for an article that of the best Chinese and non-Chinese try and explain what it means to me to be would be published on the front page journalists, editors, researchers and an overseas Chinese in China. of The New York Times; part of a series photographers in the world. examining the largest migration in human But it wasn’t all study and hard work. Debates with my great Chinese teacher who became an even better friend about history – the creation of China’s new One of my university professors said that the connection between happiness super cities. if he were to give me a single piece of and having choices. Dancing on sofas Two years ago, I could not have imagined advice about how to make the most of at karaoke until the early hours of the that my Prime Minister’s Australia Asia my scholarship, it would be “ride as many morning with friends. Award would lead me to far flung reaches overnight Chinese trains as you can, up of China listening to farmers, migrant and down and across China.” Extended lunches and dinners with my colleagues in the basements of Beijing’s workers, government officials and urban So I crisscrossed this vast nation, seemingly endless choice of malls. Chinese share their experiences about sometimes at high speed, sometimes at Auditing Marxism and Leninism classes this massive change taking place in a rattle. one of the world’s fastest developing in the Tsinghua Art Department with my I travelled with a Chinese tour group countries. friends from the Rural Advocacy Society to see the famous terracotta warriors on campus. Hanging out with my second I traversed the country for this series in Xi’an, froze with friends visiting cousins in our ancestral village and eating of articles – from the manufacturing from Australia in -20 degree Celsius food that reminded me of home. hub of coastal Zhejiang province to the temperatures at the ice-festival in Harbin, It is these deep, human connections that heart of China’s farmland in Anhui and and gorged myself on seafood and will stay with me for the rest of my life. Henan provinces and up to large, rural famous local beer in Qingdao. cooperatives in Shanxi province. Sue-Lin Wong has just returned from One of the most meaningful China where she was based as a Prime In August 2011, I started my scholarship experiences was finding my Minister’s Australia Asia Award scholar journey by embarking on the most intense grandparents’ ancestral villages in from 2011 to 2013. She is studying Asia year of academic study in my life at Fujian and Guangdong provinces. In the Pacific studies and law at ANU. Tsinghua University in Beijing. 1930s, my paternal grandfather left his There I took four hours of intensive village in China for Malaysia in search of Chinese language class per day in a better life. He planned to earn enough classes with no more than three students. money in Malaysia to return home a few I studied ancient Chinese poetry waxing years later. History dictated a different lyrical about the importance of hard work, end to that dream. debated the difference between sex-

12 Asia and the Pacific at ANU SUE-LIN WONG. Photo by James Giggacher ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 13 The College’s education profile is heavily weighted towards graduate Digging up the dirt students. Our professionally focused degrees are taught in the Asia Pacific context to meet the growing demand of business, government and non- government organisations for expertise on the region. Meet Adele Zubrzycka, a Master of Archaeological Science student who loves getting her hands dirty to piece together ancient mysteries.

As a child, Adele Zubrzycka was inspired to become an archaeologist by National Graduate Geographic, but she says the next generation of archaeologists will more coursework likely be Time Team fans. “All archaeologists love Time Team!” she says of the British TV series. “Even Anthropology and Economics National security policy though the reality is not quite like the show. It’s much slower. You need a lot development The College offers two economics ANU is the only place in Australia where of patience.” programs; a policy-oriented program graduate students can study a national Our specialist program teaches technical Adele says she learned this lesson while anthropological skills in the development of applied economic theory and security policy program specifically econometrics, with a focus on designed to meet the challenges faced at a field school in Vanuatu for her Master context helping development practitioners of Archaeological Science program. answer the question “How can I do more international and development by policy professionals active in Australia to help?” economics; and a program approaching and the region. The program provides “It was a field school set in a tiny emoter sustainable resource management from students with a broad contextual village in the middle of nowhere. We were an economics perspective. perspective and deep understanding of there for two weeks, at an old Lapita site, Archaeological science the current and emerging issues facing and we spent the two weeks digging pits, Our renowned team of teaching staff, Environment and the national security community. understanding the formation of the site, and the history of the site. including ARC Laureate Fellowship development recipient Professor Sue O’Connor, Policy and governance “It is hard work. That’s one of the most actively involves students in their Our environmental and development important parts about fieldwork: you fieldwork projects across Australia and programs equip professionals to tackle The College’s policy and goverance realise it’s not easy. It’s physically hard, the Asia Pacific region to help them hone the growing challenges of climate change expertise covers a range of and it’s long hours. We worked every day their archaeological survey, analysis, and sustainable resource management. specialisations, including development from 8am to 5pm, in the hot sun, and Adele Zubryzcka. Photo by Ty Mason. microscopy and GIS skills. policy, economic policy, policy analysis there was an earthquake! A really big and environmental law. Our programs one as well!” International relations equip students with the practical skills drew Adele to ANU, and which has since Adele didn’t come to archaeology from Asia Pacific studies to succeed in senior government or But, not even an earthquake could turn Equipped with the skills to succeed in inspired her to change her career path. a science background, having majored government-related careers. her off archaeology. Our Asia Pacific studies program equips modern international relations, and with in history for her undergraduate degree, “It’s worth it,” she says. “It’s about piecing “It’s a very practical program, with many students with specialist knowledge one of the most respected degrees in but she says the “great teachers” and together a mystery. You have a question practical assessments. across a wide range of language and international affairs in the world, our Strategic studies inter-collegiate structure of the master’s and you can somehow answer it, but in a “All the courses are directed towards non-language fields of study essential for international relations students go on program accommodates students With Asia transformed by the rise of way which is always elusive.” research. In every lecture they’re talking expert understanding of the rapid social, to excel in government, international from any background. The only China and India, and a world preoccupied about what researchers are doing at ANU political and economic changes taking organisations, NGOs, media groups and One of the most rewarding parts of the necessary requirement, she says, is “an with security issues, the current century and what you can do to help them, and place in the Asia Pacific egion.r businesses throughout Asia, the Pacific field trip, she says, was bringing back imaginative mind.” and beyond. has been defined by global strategic sediment samples and analysing them in the opportunities there are to do research challenges. Through our security laboratories at ANU. in the field. Diplomacy studies program students acquire the Linguistics “We looked at seeds, pollen and “I started off wanting to get into Our diplomacy program equips students analytical frameworks to understand the charcoal to get a better idea of how it all consulting, and now I’m more interested with skills to represent their country ANU has the largest concentration of complexity of this contemporary strategic works. Being out in the field is the most in research. After doing a really interesting or organisation at an international linguists in the southern hemisphere, and environment, and Australia’s place in it. interesting part of it - it’s the reason a lot cultural heritage elective course, I want to level through teaching on applied over 50 years’ experience documenting of archaeologists do what they do - but look more into the cultural heritage aspect and theoretical diplomacy, including little-known languages of the Asia Pacific Translation most of the important work is actually of archaeology.” international law, international relations, region. Our linguistics program develops done when you’re back in the lab.” To this end, Adele is traveling to India in political science, migration and human students understanding of the nature Taught by experts in the field, including her study break to pursue an internship rights, UN diplomacy, international of language equipping them with an Professor John Minford, world-renowned It is this hands-on, research-focused with a conservation firm, and also to negotiation, conflict resolution and nuclear understanding of human communication, for his English translations of Chinese learning environment which originally investigate options for a PhD. non-proliferation. and advanced problem-solving and classics, our translation program focuses analytical skills. on teaching the practice of literary translation between English and Asian languages including Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Korean, along with the history of translation and the study of a number of critical issues in the field. 14 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 15 Graduateresearch Silent saviours

The College offers a PhD scholar Belinda Doctor of Philosophy Thompson wants to shine (PhD) across the a light on not-for-profit widest range of hospitals and clinics in research disciplines developing countries, reports Most of the work BELINDA CRANSTON. on Asia and the Pacific done by non- offered in Australia Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist Catherine Hamlin is legendary in the including: health care sector for providing free fistula government, not- repair surgery to poor women suffering >> Anthropology from childbirth injuries. for-profit hospitals >> Archaeology and natural history She and her team at the Addis Ababa and clinics that >> Asian studies Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia, have received >> Criminology numerous awards, including accolades provide services >> Economics from the Global Health Council and the United Nations agency UNFPA. >> Environment, climate change and to the poor is resource management But what about others who pour their energy and passion into hospitals and invisible >> Gender, cultural and media studies clinics in developing countries around >> History the world, some of them for free, without >> International relations recognition by anyone in ‘officialdom.’ >> Linguistics Crawford School of Public Policy PhD >> Pacific studies scholar Belinda Thompson is asking that very question in her thesis topic, Silent >> Political science Saviours. >> Public policy The reality, she says, is that most of the >> Regulation work done by non-government, not-for- >> Strategic studies profit hospitals and clinics that provide services to the poor is invisible. Our current PhD scholars, of which Belinda Thompson. Photo by Jimmy Walsh. there are almost 400, are drawn from “The World Health Organization doesn’t all over the world and include many have a list of these organisations,” she says. from Asia Pacific countries. “Most governments don’t even have a list There are also “personality” hospitals, As a reporter for the Manly Daily, on followed by a stint as Director of “Whereas if all of these organisations of the ones operating in their country. which form around a passionate Sydney’s northern beaches, she became Corporate Affairs for the Hospital of Hope had budgets in place, and were able to “They operate on the smell of an oily rag. individual, like that run by Dr Dan Murphy, aware of cracks in the NSW mental Timor- Leste. do a bulk order of syringes that were They get no real government funding.” who operates the Bairo Pite clinic in health system while covering various “I’ve seen how desperately these not-for- distributed amongst them, they would get Focusing on Asia, Thompson has made Timor Leste. court cases. profit healthcare services are needed,” a lot more bang for their buck. it her mission to compile her own list of Because many of the facilities that provide “I covered a lot of interesting stories, and she says. “I think it would be relatively easy to such facilities, noting their location, the Nurturing not-for-profit services to the poor do learned a lot about the way the NSW By compiling a comprehensive list of not- administer that.” people who devote their time to them, not have a presence on the Internet, health system works,” she says. for-profit hospitals and large-scale clinics She would also like to see a the services they provide, and how many the next Thompson is relying on word-of-mouth to She had earlier worked for a former NSW in developing countries, Thompson is comprehensive website containing details patients they treat. track some of them down. politician. hopeful a central agency will in turn act as about the hospitals and clinics, so that generation Her research to date has revealed a Having just started her PhD, she’s yet “While you can make a difference working a coordinating body that will further their their needs can be better communicated. tapestry of styles and services – some to set benchmarks determining which in politics, you can make a much bigger capacity. “This would better enable specialist of scholars are religious, some are not. Some offer hospitals and clinics she will analyse. difference by being a journalist,” she says. “It could be someone who is based at the medical staff interested in working for the surgical care, while others offer primary “I might look at how many beds they World Health Organization, or someone facilities to decipher if they can be of real is a core treatment. “You manage to get some impact have, or how many patients they see,” because media coverage often gets funded by AusAid, or a US aid group,” help,” Thompson adds. In Bangladesh, for example, there are she says. people to do things that they would never she says. “Literally, these people are saving component of the Lifebuoy floating hospitals that “I’m not going to be able to put together have done otherwise. As such, the facilities could cut back on lives and we need to do all we can to travel down the banks of the country’s an exhaustive list of hospitals. I hope costs. support them.” our research vast rivers, taking hospital care to “And that for me was a very powerful others add to it.” people directly. motivator for me to go into journalism.” “If you are only able to order 100 syringes mission. Seeing positive results of her work has at a time, you are going to be paying “They provide a service in a sterile, She later worked with not-for-profit injury always been important to Thompson. the absolute top rate,” she says as an surgical environment,” Thompson says. prevention experts, The Alliance for Safe Professor Andrew Walker Children, in Thailand and Bangladesh, example. Acting Dean, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific

16 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 17 Korea, Republic Our global community of (South) 29 58 Japan Students Alumni China 25 238 Students Alumni 178 325 Mongolia Students Alumni 15 43 Students Alumni

Taiwan 10 43 Hong Students Alumni Bhutan Kong 20 83 Students Alumni 20 83 Pakistan Students Alumni 22 83 Students Alumni Philippines Nepal 35 266 11 46 Students Alumni Students Alumni Indonesia Vietnam 132 469 Bangladesh Students Alumni 78 221 41 118 Students Alumni Alumni Students Alumni India 11,467 14 51 Students Alumni globally Cambodia Singapore Where our students 19 79 Malaysia 25 183 & alumni call home Students Alumni Students Alumni Sri Lanka 14 73 Students Alumni 19 49 Thailand Asia Students Alumni 18 141 757 2,768 Students Alumni Students Alumni Australia 2,833 7,511 Students Alumni Pacific 73 369 Students Alumni

18 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 19 Crawford School of Public Policy is the University, Australia and the region’s Water win gateway for public policy research, teaching and outreach. Home to scholars like Professor Bruce Chapman (the architect of Australia’s higher education scheme) and Professor Peter Drysdale (the brains behind the Asia Pacific Economic Community), Crawford School prides itself on its robust engagement and partnerships with governments in Australia and the region. This includes the HC Coombs Policy Forum, a strategic collaboration between ANU and the Australian Government which undertakes exploratory and experimental work at the interface of government and academia. Crawford School is also responsible for educating, training and informing many of the region’s policymakers, who strive daily to improve the well-being of their respective nations. The School is based on a simple concept – good policy leads to better outcomes. Asia Pacific Public Policy

Photo by World Bank Photo Collection on flickr. The decline of China When is trust more Decentralised conservation: and India important than money? money talks The murky waters of The awards – offered through the body of knowledge about how water China and India might be regarded as Recent literature suggests that citizens There is a general perception that international conflict and Department of Education – aim to help conflicts and cooperation develop. this century’s rising powers, but in one in emergent democracies distinguish democratisation leads to conservation, international citizens undertaken study, “It’s an honour to have my intellectual key arena – the globalisation of research between support for the government and so it follows that the global cooperation are set to research and development in Australia, interests recognised as something worth and development (R&D) – their leverage and support for democracy. Analysing trend towards more democratic and become a little clearer and provide scholarships to Australians pursuing and validated as something of vis-à-vis the United States is declining. this claim for Asia’s democratising decentralised systems of government to do study, research and professional importance to Australia.” As China and India strive to become nations of Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea would be good news for the environment. after Crawford School PhD development overseas. The scholarship will see Hanasz spend ‘technology powers’, both governments and the Philippines reveals findings But in even the most democratic regimes scholar Paula Hanasz won a Hanasz’s PhD thesis looks at the complex six months as a Visiting Fellow at The have courted foreign firms to set up that help us understand democratic voters at the polling booth are liable network of water sharing arrangements Observer Research Foundation, a R&D centres on their soil, and US firms development. Firstly, it’s not surprising to put their financial interests ahead Prime Minister’s Endeavour between the countries of South Asia, and prestigious think-tank in New Delhi, are easily the biggest investors in this that government approval is found to be of the environment, choosing their Award. questions whether talk of ‘water wars’ conduct extensive research in Nepal and regard. For corporate America, however, linked to economic performance across political leaders accordingly. To improve between Asia’s nations is overblown. Bhutan, and attend World Water Week, these investments represent only a small all these nations. When it comes to conservation, decentralised systems Hanasz was one of the winners in the the premier international conference on fraction of global R&D spending. The winning votes, it’s the economy, stupid. must take these financial motivations 2014 Prime Minister’s Australia Asia “You can imagine what a thrill it is to hydro-politics, which is held in Sweden. result is ‘asymmetric interdependence’: But secondly, and more interestingly, into consideration, with the appropriate Postgraduate Scholarships category win such an award, and it’s a huge relief China and India need the US more than it economic performance does not correlate transfers and payments for environmental in the awards. The win means she financially,” she said. But the awards offer more than a stipend, needs them. with democratic support. When it services being incorporated into their receives essential funding to allow her to “I’m lucky that my PhD topic dovetails international internship opportunities and comes to democracy itself, political trust very design. undertake fieldwork next year in India, with an increasing Australian interest in overseas fieldwork, as Hanasz explained. Dr Andrew Kennedy Nepal and Bhutan. Hanasz was one of a outweighs economic conditions. The key the issues surrounding water diplomacy “The Endeavour Awards have an active Professor Luca Tacconi number of ANU staff and students to win to democratic development, then, lies in in South Asia. The Endeavour Awards and illustrious alumni network which I prizes in this year’s awards. political trust. support research that aligns with can’t wait to become part of,” she said. Australia’s strategic objectives, and I was Dr Fiona Yap Article by Martyn Pearce. able to mount a case that my thesis will make a significant contribution to the

20 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 21 Dealing with disasters

International donors should McCarthy says that spending less money and more time helping villages to rebuild focus on the long-term their livelihoods could have more long- drivers of vulnerability so lasting results for development in areas communities can rebuild like Aceh. Maybe donors their livelihoods after natural “[To rebuild communities] we really need to look at the classical problems of rural disasters, says an expert development, the things that undermine need to scale from Crawford School of agriculture and community livelihoods. down their Public Policy. “If we engaged more comprehensively with a long-term framework then we will ambitions by In 2004 a wave of destruction swept see more sustainable forms of income for across much of Southeast and South Asia. people in these communities.” thinking in simple A massive tsunami, caused by an According to McCarthy, the research earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra, illustrates that it might be time to rethink terms about crashed into the shores of countries the way we provide assistance following bordering the Indian Ocean. One of the natural disasters. how we can places devastated was the Indonesia “The major temptation was to spend fast region of Aceh. and furiously – to be seen to be getting help reconstruct Dr John McCarthy from the Crawford things done by spending the money. School of Public Policy has just “Maybe donors need to scale down their livelihoods over completed a major study of community ambitions by thinking in simple terms livelihood projects implemented in Aceh about how we can help them reconstruct the longer term. in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. The these livelihoods over the longer term. project focused on the lasting effects that “This would take patience, more strategic aid assistance had on local livelihoods in thinking about the underlying problems, villages eight years after the disaster. and more engagement to support The tsunami devastated villages along communities over the longer term rather the coast and in some communities took than coming in with large amounts the lives of up to 60 per cent of villagers. of money that communities become As the scale of the destruction became dependent on in the short term,” he says. evident, the world mobilised to provide Article by Amelia Bidgood. aid and assistance to the devastated communities to help them rebuild. The disaster relief program is the biggest in history and in the process, more than US$7 billion was spent. But McCarthy says that despite the good intentions, the projects left behind sorrowful levels of long-term susceptibility and food insecurity in the communities. The project revealed that the villagers had gained from rebuilding infrastructure, but once the emergency response had passed, up to 50 per cent of households were left highly vulnerable. “After the tsunami the focus was very much on emergency assistance. This was done particularly well, but there was little done to address the drivers of long term vulnerability,” he says.

A woman searches through debris where her house once stood, 22 Asia and the Pacific at ANU Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo by simminch on flickr. ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 23 The School of Culture, History and Language (CHL) brings together over 100 Hook, line and thinker academics dedicated to investigating and learning with and about the people, languages, and lands of Asia and the Pacific. Its world-recognised research covers the fields of archaeology and natural history, anthropology, gender, media and cultural studies, history, linguistics, The ground-breaking and South, Southeast and East Asian studies. discovery of the world’s oldest evidence for marine CHL is home to four of the College’s five Australian Research Council fishing inE ast Timor has not Laureate Fellows and hosts a newly-minted A$28 million ARC Centre of just re-written the history Excellence for the Dynamics of Language. books – it could shed new light on how humans first With more than 1,000 undergraduate, graduate and PhD students, CHL is the reached Australian shores, nation’s centre of education on Asia and the Pacific – equipping graduates writes JAMES GIGGACHER. with the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience that will ensure Australia In a small, shallow cave on the far successfully navigates the ‘Asian century’. northeastern tip of East Timor, lie the leftovers of possibly the most remarkable human meals ever consumed. And while food scraps may normally only excite those of us with an unusual love for washing the dishes, these remains are providing plenty of food for thought about some of the earliest humans, their ability to adapt and their success in populating this vast blue planet of ours. Profess Sue O’Connor. Photo by James Giggacher. Asia Pacific Revealed in the deepest part of the excavation were the 42,000-year-old- Culture, bones of sharks and tuna dragged out History Made from shell, the hook was made It’s this level of technological of the nearby crystal blue waters by human hands. between 23,000 and 16,000 years ago. sophistication which O’Connor thinks can help answer another question that The discovery, made in the Jerimalai “This is, we believe, the earliest known & Language example of a fish hook and shows that has long puzzled archaeologists and cave by Professor Sue O’Connor, an our ancestors were skilled crafts people historians; by what means modern archaeologist in the School of Culture, humans reached Australia. History and Language, is the strongest as well as fishers,” says O’Connor. “The first people eachedr Australia Asian language learners Japan: citizen science Death and dissolution evidence yet that humans were plying “What made the discovery so unusual is the deep blue sea for big fish millennia the age of the hook, because fish hooks 50,000 years ago and probably earlier,” not going native vs nuclear crisis in the Pacific upon millennia ago and much earlier than in Southeast Asia are supposed to post- says O’Connor. Western learners of Asian languages often In a barn near Fukushima’s exclusion In Pacific anthropology, it has long been previously thought. date Austronesian expansion about 4,000 “But, this has always been a bit of a resist speaking as native speakers do. For zone, farmers mix organic fertilisers, assumed that funerary rites – the largest- “The site that we studied featured more years ago. So what we have here is the conundrum because people have looked example, they might deliberately choose looking for recipes to protect their scale rituals across the region – serve than 38,000 fish bones from some 2,800 oldest evidence for pelagic fishing as well at Australia and said that Indigenous different address terms, or flout the crops from radiation. In the backroom to repair the social relationships torn individual fish dating back 42,000 years,” as the oldest fish hook found anywhere in people in Australia did not have very norms for when and how to apologise, or of a gift-shop, local volunteers use apart by the death of a relative. In fact, says O’Connor. the world. sophisticated maritime skills – there is no thank, or complain. They do so because sophisticated equipment to measure their function is the reverse. Funerary “And while the hooks don’t seem suitable evidence of them using big boats and “What the cave site in East Timor has they were only using little canoes and their self-identity within their second- levels of radioactivity in food. The crisis rites actually complete the dissolution of shown us is that early humans in Island for pelagic fishing, it is possible that other language culture – such as strongly in Fukushima number one nuclear social ties so that new life and new social types of hooks were being made at the rafts on the coasts at the time Europeans Southeast Asia had amazingly advanced reached here. identifying as an outsider – makes those plant continues to unfold, and science relations can begin. In this view, life is maritime skills. They were expert at same time. It’s still not entirely clear what norms seem irrelevant or distasteful to lacks answers to key questions about a process of building connections with catching the types of fish that would be method the occupants of Jerimalai used “So how people got here at such an early them. As a result, individual learners vary the disaster’s effects on health. Now others, which are then dismantled with challenging even today – fish like tuna. It’s to capture the pelagic fish or even the date has always been puzzling. These wildly in their progress when it comes to Fukushima’s ordinary citizens are taking death. This offers a new view of cosmic a very exciting find.” shallow water species. new finds from Jerimalai cave go a long this dimension of the language. In fact, science into their own hands, helping relevance to religion in Oceania and “But, tuna can be caught in purse seines way to solving the puzzle.” as some of them spend longer in the to unravel mysteries that experts failed elsewhere. But, it’s not just the fish bones which are causing excitement. In addition to or leader nets, or by using hooks and country, the less they actually sound like to solve. Their experiments are shifting Professor Mark Mosko trolling. Simple fish aggregating devices native speakers. understandings of radiation and health, unearthing the oldest evidence for pelagic fishing (the hunting of fast-swimming such as tethered logs can also be used Dr Tim Hassall and of the relationship between science to attract them. So they may have been and society. ocean fish species), O’Connor also uncovered the earliest recorded fish hook caught using hooks or nets. Either way, Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki in her excavations. it seems certain that these people were using quite sophisticated technology and watercraft to fish offshore.”

24 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 25 Who’s a pretty boy then?

Cosmetics and surgery are “What you find is that those who can afford it can increase their self-value. In a putting a new face on male sense, beauty has become a commodity,” beauty in South Korea, writes explains Maliangkay. BELINDA CRANSTON. The country’s obsession with looks has led to South Korea having the highest Koreans A fresh faced, lipstick-wearing boy, poses rate of cosmetic procedures per capita in alongside an aqua blue bra. the world. genuinely No, he’s not preparing for Sydney’s iconic “Koreans genuinely believe it’s really believe Mardi Gras. attractive to get cosmetic surgery,” says He is actor So-Jisub, one of many male Maliangkay. it’s really celebrities appearing in glossy print “Part of being a successful citizen, of advertisements across South Korea. getting a job, involves looking good.” attractive to Such is the rise of male beauty in the The phenomenon can be traced back to East Asian nation, as much as 90 per the late 1990s, when the South Korean get cosmetic cent of billboards, cinema and in-store government relaxed its ban on Japanese cosmetic advertisements in central Seoul cultural goods, exposing locals to new surgery now feature pretty young men rather views of male beauty, including popular than women, says ANU College of Asia comics featuring effeminate-looking and the Pacific academic Dr Roald characters. Maliangkay. At the same time, Korean pop acts The socio-cultural phenomenon, showcasing catchy tunes, synchronised otherwise known as Kkonminam, or dance moves, trendsetting fashion and gorgeous guy, has led to boys as young flawless faces, became widespread. as 14 experimenting with make-up, Before long, big eyes, high noses and while guys in their late teens and early slim jawlines – features not inherently 20s regularly apply foundation, lipstick, Korean – were deemed desirable. gloss and eye shadow before hitting night clubs. Much of the work is done in Seoul’s Gangnam district, where products and About a year ago, beautiful men also procedures are of such a high standard started appearing in lingerie Western tourists are also flocking to the advertisements. famous district which has been parodied According to Maliangkay, who has been by global pop sensation PSY. looking at the rise of male beauty as part But there is a catch to being part of the of his research on Korean popular culture, phenomenon. the trend is not linked to homosexuality. For the glamorous young men appearing “They are not considered gay, they are in glossy advertisements, it is necessary considered savvy,” Maliangkay, who lived in to appear to be single and available to Seoul on and off from 1988 to 2000, says. their targeted female audiences. Many embrace the look after finishing If they are photographed with a girlfriend school and fulfilling compulsory military and the image is published, it could lead service commitments. to them securing less work promoting “They’ve been through two years of cosmetics, says Maliangkay. rigorous training, which is totally macho,” Maliangkay has a more pressing concern says Maliangkay. about the rise of South Korea’s cosmetic “And they come back and want to live a surgery industry however. He predicts normal life and be a consumer. perceptions of beauty in South Korea will “They are considered cool because they change in around 10 years, when people have been in the army. would perhaps favour something “a little “That is the group that’s interested in more special.” being a Kkonminam.” “Everyone starts to look the same. I think, In a culture where “everybody” at one point, we will start to get bored commented on each other’s looks, with it.” allowing guys to feel free to tell other guys whether they looked good or otherwise, looking “nerdy” wasn’t socially acceptable.

26 Asia and the Pacific at ANU So Ji Sub on VIVIEN wallpapers ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 27 The School of International, Political and Strategic Studies is one of the A different kind of war story world’s leading centres on the international, strategic, political and social affairs of Asia and the Pacific. It is home to Australia’s leading university- based think-tank, the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, the southern hemisphere’s first Department of International Relations, and the Asia A new book on the violence Pacific’s only centre specialising in diplomatic practice, the Asia Pacific and disorder that gripped the College of Diplomacy. Its State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Solomon Islands between Program hosts the world’s largest collection of Pacific expertise, while the 1998 and 2003 explores the Department of Political and Social Change brings together world-class motives of ex-militants from expertise on the politics and societies of Asia. both ethnic groups involved in the civil conflict.

It’s the first time a study of the views of ex-combatants has been undertaken. Fighting broke out in late 1998 between the Guales, the indigenous population living on the main island, Guadalcanal, and migrant Malaitans from the neighbouring island, when the Guadalcanal Militia began forcing the Malaitans out, accusing them of taking land and jobs. Asia Pacific Now, perceptions of what followed is portrayed through the eyes of 39 men Politics, International who belonged to rival militant groups, in a new book, Greed and Grievance A young Solomon Islands child sits in front of guns handed in as part of an amnesty. Photo by AFP. by School of International Political and Strategic Studies academic Dr Matthew Relations & Strategic Allen. Malaitan born Justin, one of the ex- “remote and rugged Weather Coast of The result of extensive fieldwork in militants interviewed by Allen, was Guadalcanal”. the country, the book goes beyond forced to leave his home area in search “Like so many of his contemporaries Studies conventional views that the conflict was of work after finishing just three years Jonwin completed only primary school caused by greed and criminality, instead of secondary education. One of many and three years of secondary school arguing that it was fundamentally political Malaitans to do so at a young age, he before he was pushed out of the in nature. believes the trend is due to “deliberate education system,” says Allen. G20 SOS: seeking urgent Asia’s middle-income Peace with a price tag government neglect” of Malaita. “Most policy commentators have tended “For several years Jonwin worked PR makeover peasants In the India-Myanmar borderlands, to attribute the origins of the conflict on In the late 1990s, he found work at the in various menial jobs in Honiara, on Guadalcanal to competition between Gold Ridge mine, east of Honiara, but As Australia prepares to host the G20 The popular image of Asian peasantry governments seek to buy peace from the plantations, and in the logging indigenous Guales and Malaitan settlers was driven from the site in late 1998, leaders in 2014, questions remain over living under the yoke of landlords and rebellious ethnic groups. Those who camps, occasionally returning to his surrender expect cash payments for over land and employment opportunities,” because of Guale militant activity. home village for a stint. What he saw the effectiveness of the organisation. Is money lenders, and resistant to any says Allen, who is based in the School’s it accountable to its own agreements? intrusion by the state, is no longer a laying down their arms. The Indian He relocated to Honiara, where he met in his travels made him increasingly government puts significant resources State, Society and Governance in a man who told him Guale militants had aware of the relative deprivation and Is it even a legitimate entity? Like all useful one for understanding the political Melanesia program. floundering causes, what the G20 needs dynamic in much of the region. Instead, into paying off its enemies: their weapons forced him to have sexual intercourse with underdevelopment of the Weather Coast is an ‘outreach strategy’. It needs to today’s peasantry, freed from the burden and operational knowledge all come with “My motivation for this study was to his daughter. and its people.” expand our understanding of global of food insecurity, are more likely to a price tag. With a big lump-sum grant demonstrate that the men who joined Spurred by the man’s tale, Justin took According to Allen, Jonwin and his friends decision-making processes in a time engage with sources of power than followed by a monthly stipend, cashing rival militant groups during the conflict it on himself to protect Malaitans not became increasingly frustrated … and of shifting power and economic crises, oppose them, and to resist withdrawal by in as a former rebel can be a lucrative were fighting for ‘something’ and that only from the Guale militants, “but also these frustrations boiled over. option. The Indian authorities have this something can be properly explained and resolve the tension between being the state rather than intrusion. This new from an incompetent government and a “Jonwin and his friends believed that struggled to make these incentives work, and understood only by looking at the effective in these crises, and building its social contract between Asia’s middle- hamstrung police force.” they were left with no choice but to take whereas in Myanmar there has been more relationship between culture, politics, long-term legitimacy. Outreach to non- income peasants and the state represents “Justin and other former members of the up arms in order to demonstrate their success with crude economic transfers. ecology and history.” member states and civil society to sell its a fascinating shift in the political society of militant group Malaita Eagle Force, believe legitimate grievances to the government Paying for peace makes for inconsistent ‘coordinated growth’ message may be the the region. The research looks at the ex-militants’ that through their actions they saved not and to fight for their rights,” he says. only thing that can help the G20 survive. investment returns. individual views on the history of the Professor Andrew Walker only Malaita but also Honiara and, in fact, “This is their story.” Dr Susan Harris-Rimmer Dr Nicholas Farrelly Solomons and their peoples’ respective the entire nation,” says Allen. places in the country’s experiences of Greed and Grievance is available from On the other side of the conflict was colonisation, development and nation- University of Hawai’i Press. Jonwin, who was born in 1978 on the building.

28 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 29 A LIFE MORE ORDINARY

One academic’s recent trip to North Korea reveals that life inside one of the world’s most secretive states is a lot more ‘normal’ than you might expect, reports BELINDA CRANSTON.

A young girl eating ice-cream. City balconies decorated with flowers and plants. People with pets, people having love affairs, people getting drunk. Proud family members watching on as ordinary children put in average performances at school sporting carnivals. There’s a lot more normal life going on in North Korea than outsiders imagine, says ANU Korea expert Dr Emma Campbell, who returned from a six-day tour of the Northeast Asian ‘Hermit Kingdom’ in July 2013. by a firing squad over accusations of recalled seeing a little girl eating ice cream In a public lecture at ANU, Campbell – who violating pornographic laws. in Chongjin, the capital of North Korea’s is based at the Strategic and Defence Ordered by Kim Jong-un, the all-girl North Hamgyoung province. Studies Centre, ANU College of Asia and Moranbong band and relatives of the “She must have had some money and the Pacific – recalled scenes far removed deceased were reportedly forced to was free to buy it,” she said. from those beamed around the world when watch on. At a school sports carnival in Rajin- bellicose leader Kim Jong-un threatened Campbell is also highly critical of North sonbong, children were encouraged to to launch nuclear strikes against the United Korea’s nuclear activities and rocket knock off the heads of wooden images of States and South Korea. program, and by the “cult of personality” US and Japanese soldiers. She was particularly touched by the love that still grips the country. Campbell noted those involved were she saw between a father and daughter “I abhor the development of the nuclear genuinely embarrassed that people like holding hands while walking down the weapons program when so many people herself witnessed the event. street; “her so excited about something in North Korea are in need,” Campbell “There was empathy. A basic feeling of that might have happened at school; him told the packed auditorium. mutual respect and understanding, a so proud and interested as he listened At a kindergarten in Chongjin, she saw a feeling that it shouldn’t have gone on in and asked questions,” Campbell said. and family in North Korea, Campbell says exceptionalism that surrounds discourse “Already there is a culture of aspiration, sign at the entrance to the school that read front of us,” she said. When Campbell first visited the she is not suggesting all is normal in the on North Korea. relative affluence, desire,” Campbell said. “thank you dear general Kim Jong-un”. Without casting judgement, she noted Democratic People’s Republic of Korea isolated state. “Why humanitarian aid can be given to “This will bring change to North Korea, But the propaganda, human rights North Koreans were likewise portrayed (DRPK) in the mid-90s, during the While many of the North Korean children other despotic regimes, but not this one.” not the hawkish tactics of the West. abuses and nuclear program told only as villains in Western movies, comics and country’s devastating famine, she went no she met appeared healthy, they were also part of the North Korean story, and video games. Aside from unfairly punishing its people, “We need to ask do we join this, and also further than Pyongyang. small for their age, compared to children it made it too easy for the government to meet our humanitarian obligations, or do should not be the only factors shaping She was also intrigued by local reaction to This time round, her itinerary exposed in South Korea, Australia and China. cast the international community as the we follow our current path? international responses to the regime, two large screens in the relatively affluent her to the northeast cities of Rajin- “The big problem is chronic malnutrition,” cause of the DPRK’s woes, she argued. Campbell argued. city of Rajin-Sonbong – one in a park, the “I respect that we may come up with Sonbong, Chonjin, Kyongsong and the Campbell says. “We allow these stories of North Korea other in the city centre. “While elements of the North Korean different answers – engagement or Chilbosan region. Begging was prevalent in Chongjin, and regime are prisoners of their history and isolation, but in doing so you need to have a disproportionate impact on our When news or patriotic songs were “A lot has changed since the mid-90s. houses were poorly equipped for minus situation, it is the North Korean regime to consider the stories of all of these policy,” Campbell said. broadcast, there was little interest from People are no longer starving,” she said 30 degree winter temperatures. that is ultimately responsible for the people, and not just the labour camps “By ignoring the stories of the 26 million the public. But when cartoons were of the trip. terrible humanitarian, economic and and the soldiers.” people that live in the country, our policies screened, people were transfixed. “More than many academics, I emphasise Former High Court judge Michael Kirby the desperate state of the people in North human rights crisis that faces the DPRK,” Dr Emma Campbell is a postdoctoral have been distorted, and we are not “There was a captured audience of a city is leading a probe into human rights Korea,” she said. she added. fellow based at the Strategic and Defence going to achieve a positive outcome for square full of people,” Campbell said. abuses in the Hermit Kingdom, including anyone, not least those suffering under The imposition of sanctions by the Despite barriers presented by the Studies Centre in the ANU College of Asia “And when the cartoon stopped, the allegations of torture, prison camps and the yoke of a terrible and autocratic international community on the regime controlled nature of tours in the North, and the Pacific. news came on and everyone left. starvation. government.” was not helpful, she stressed. she believes visits by informed travellers “There was not a hint of anyone can go a long way towards shaping Images courtesy of Emma Campbell. Campbell makes no excuses for atrocities While sharing other stories depicting “I am no apologist for the North Korean pretending to show interest in the news.” the policy of Australia and the wider including media reports last August of very different images to prison camps regime. But I do challenge – through international community, in efforts to bring well-known performers being executed and people enduring hardship, Campbell By pointing out aspects of normality, love my stories and experiences – the about peace on the Korean peninsula.

30 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 31 Hard lessons in soft power

Social media is spinning a “Today, Asian states are investing in public According to Hall, the more governments diplomacy, through Facebook, Twitter, try to manipulate their images, the more web for worldly Asian states, traditional media and academic and they alienate rather than attract foreigners writes JAMES GIGGACHER. cultural exchanges, to build soft power. in the region. He says that quite clearly “These tools are being used by states the mix of social media and public policy In this digital age of me, myselfie andI , we in order to make themselves appear isn’t great for winning new friends. all know the power of social media to help more attractive to people overseas and “Instead, what I would suggest, is us present our best face to the world. thereby increase their ability to influence that foreign public opinion in Asia, as From Facebook to Instagram, YouTube to international relations in their region.” elsewhere, is influenced more by what Twitter, we carefully cultivate everything Hall says that China is leading the way. states do than by what they might say about our lives, broadcasting ourselves, But how does one take a selfie that fits in about themselves,” says Hall. ‘bio-blogging’, ‘photo-shopping’ and one billion people? “Good or bad behaviour seems to matter massaging the mundane into the far more in the region’s struggle for soft profound in a never-ending quest for likes, “China began in the late 1990s, and now power than good or bad ‘spin’.” followers, +’s, pins, retweets and reposts. stands as the region’s largest investor in various supposed instruments of soft So the next time Australia finds itself But if you thought it was tough for us power,” he says. embroiled in a diplomatic row over alleged mere mortals to get ‘friends’ to show spying, the following tweet from our they care with a share, think about big, “In the space of about 15 years, it has foreign policy wonks in Canberra might amorphous, cumbersome entities like created new foreign language TV stations, not be the best idea: states and governments. revamped its management of the foreign media, surged its student exchange Hey @Indonesia, sorry about collecting They, much like a Miley Cyrus Wrecking programs, founded some 320 Confucius your missed calls. LOL. Wanna follow @ Ball video on YouTube, have crashed Institutes at overseas universities (with Timor-Leste? through our ‘social’ world of web to try plans for another 1,000), and played host and take the real world by storm. Because like most things in life, actions to a series of major events, including the speak louder than words – and there isn’t According to ANU researcher and Olympic Games.” much you can say that’s worth talking international relations expert Dr Ian Hall And like most things social media, China about in 140 characters anyway. and his co-author, Sydney-based Dr now have their imitators. Hall says other Frank Smith, states have cottoned on to Asian states have responded in kind. the power of social media and its ability to make us all look good. “Even Myanmar has set up English language TV stations and acquired a Much like Asia’s supersonic ascension to social media presence. South Korea is the top of the global pops, Hall and Smith expanding the number of King Sejong argue that it’s a trend that’s on the rise in Institutes, tasked with promoting Korean the region, with states investing in public language and culture, from about 35 to diplomacy to help shape the opinions of 150 by 2015,” says Hall. foreigners. But like a poorly thought out iPhone “There are two arms races in Asia today; photo in the bathroom that reveals a little one for military capabilities and another for too much detail, controlling your image the weapons of what international relations is harder than it looks. Often states suffer writer Joseph S Nye famously termed ‘soft from social media smack downs and power’ – the power to attract rather than Facebook faux pas. the power to coerce,” says Hall.

32 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 33 The Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) is an acclaimed interdisciplinary Victim-Offender Meetings Cut program that conducts regulatory research at the highest international standards that makes local contributions to good governance. Future Crime RegNet members undertake regulatory research that promotes social justice, fairness, human rights and freedoms, and ecologically sustainable A major new international development. study has backed pioneering work by ANU into restorative Among its world-class thinkers are Professor John Braithwaite (for his work justice, finding criminals are on restorative justice and peace building), Professor Valerie Braithwaite (for less likely to re-offend after her work on social capital), Professor Peter Drahos (working on intellectual meeting their victims face- property and global governance) and Australian Research Council Laureate to-face. Fellow Professor Hilary Charlesworth (working on international law and International research led by Cambridge human rights). University and launched at ANU, has found Restorative Justice Conferences, pioneered in Canberra, helped both criminals and their victims. It found the frequency of repeat offending to be down as much as 55 per cent for some offences, compared to those dealt with by the criminal justice system without restorative meetings with their victims. Victims of crime also reported greater satisfaction with the outcomes compared to those dealt with through the courts, Asia Pacific as well as lower levels of post-traumatic stress from the crime. Regulatory Professor John Braithwaite from the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) in the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific helped develop Restorative Justice Institutions Conferences in Canberra in the 1990s. “Because crime hurts, justice should

heal,” said Professor John Braithwaite. Photo by Alan Cleaver on Flickr “When a real victim of serious crime is Will climate change Whose rule of law Deputy vice-chancellors in the room, it can have a big effect on alter IP policy? in Muslim Mindanao? have their uses re-offending. Strang and Professor Lawrence Sherman seem highly likely to reduce future crime, Intangible property is an essential The Philippines is an Asian rule of In the 1980s, I discovered three “Now we have results from studies of the of the Institute of Criminology at the not only by the offenders, but also by component of the cultures of the Pacific law success story: an authoritarian multinational pharmaceutical corporations highest quality around the world to show University of Cambridge and RegNet, reducing the victims’ anger and desire for islands region, generating a rich history state that transitioned peacefully to with a ‘Vice President Responsible for that it works.” examined 10 studies across three violent revenge. of customary systems to regulate its democratic, civilian rule. But the real Going to Jail’. They were promoted Restorative Justice Conferences can continents. “Victims’ satisfaction with the handling production and use. Yet when it comes to test comes in 2013-14, when the to vice president so that the finger of be used either as an alternative or as a The review covered 1,879 offenders of their cases is consistently higher for intellectual property policy development Acquino administration finalises a peace responsibility pointed at them rather than supplement to the courts. who were tracked over two years, and victims assigned to Restorative Justice in the region today, the automatic settlement with separatists in Mindanao, the CEO should serious violations of law They involve victims and their criminals interviews with 734 victims. They found Conferences than for victims whose reaction has been to adopt Western-style an autonomous Muslim majority occur. After a period of faithful service agreeing to meet with family or friends Restorative Justice Conferences had a cases were assigned to normal criminal global norms, regardless of their cultural region. The settlement means de facto with this exposure, they were promoted present, with police or other trained solid benefit to the community, and to the justice processing,” said Dr Strang, inappropriateness. This paradigm is being federalism; Islamic and customary legal to a safe vice presidency. The then ANU moderators, to discuss how to repair the victims of crimes. who is Deputy Director of the Jerry Lee challenged, however, thanks to climate norms will no longer be marginalised. Vice-Chancellor Peter Karmel told me he harm a crime has caused. In the UK alone, repeat convictions Centre of Experimental Criminology at the change. The current valuing of traditional Whose rules will prevail in post-conflict was so impressed with the policy idea were down by 27 per cent in the two University of Cambridge and an Adjunct knowledge to cope with the effects of Mindanao? With what effect? By mapping that he appointed the University’s first Victims have a direct say on what the years following a Restorative Justice Professor at RegNet. climate change may be the catalyst for today’s legal institutions in Mindanao we Deputy Vice-Chancellor. offender will agree to do, and are free to Conference. The study, by Dr Strang and her more indigenous intellectual property can better predict the future of rule of speak about the pain and anguish of the Professor John Braithwaite colleagues, was peer-reviewed and policies being adopted. law in the Philippines, and the range of offence. “The effect of conferencing on victims’ approved by the International Crime and trajectories for peace-building in post- Developed by ANU and pioneered in satisfaction with the handling of their Dr Miranda Forsyth Justice Steering Group of the Campbell conflict societies. Canberra from early programs in New cases is uniformly positive,” said Dr Zealand, they are now used in one form Strang. Collaboration, a global consortium for Professor Veronica Taylor and evidence-based policy hosted by the or another in every Australian state and in “Among the kinds of cases in which Dr Imelda Deinla Norwegian government. most countries around the world. both offenders and victims are willing to The international review of Restorative meet, Restorative Justice Conferences Justice Conferences, led by Dr Heather

34 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 35 Doves of war

A ground-breaking study “Timor-Leste shows how the shift from According to Braithwaite, recent studies violent resistance to non-violent resistance confirm that East Timor is not a one- Timor-Leste has revealed how the 21st that connected up international networks off case. An international study of 323 century’s first new state, worked more effectively than armed resistance struggles around the world shows how the Timor-Leste, achieved struggle,” says Braithwaite, who led the found that 56 per cent gained most six-year study resulting in the book. of their objectives through non-violent independence from a much shift from violent “At first, the resistance was a case of struggle. This compares to a success more powerful Indonesia by asymmetrical conflict where you had a rate of only 26 per cent for resistance resistance to laying down the gun. very powerful Indonesian state on the movements using violence. Braithwaite one hand and a rather weak insurgency says that in the case of East Timor there non-violent Twenty-two years ago thousands of East on the other. The Timorese resistance were two key moments when the role of Timorese marched through the Santa only became effective when it moved non-violent struggle came to the fore: the resistance that Cruz cemetery in Timor-Leste’s capital from violent to non-violent resistance. 1991 Santa Cruz massacre and the 1999 Dili. The peaceful procession which In particular, the movement became independence referendum. connected up snaked its way through the bleach white effective through the diplomatic leadership “The Santa Cruz massacre was a tombstones was calling for liberation from of José Ramos-Horta who linked up turning point because it marked another international Indonesian rule. the Timorese movement with nodes of turn away from violent struggle toward The demonstrators had been warned diplomatic support around the world.” non-violent resistance. And it was an networks worked by the Indonesian authorities that if they At the time Ramos-Horta was a young exceptionally courageous form of non- marched they would be killed. Still they man who hadn’t been to university and violent resistance. more effectively poured into the streets, and tragically the had limited English skills. He worked as “Also after the historic 1999 dust that they kicked up with their feet a cleaner at night in New York so that he independence referendum, the East than armed was soon stained red as the Indonesian could lobby the United Nations and build Timorese military forces were held in military opened fire on the unarmed an international network of diplomatic cantonment, even though certain leaders struggle. marchers. More than 200 people, support for Timor-Leste during the day. of the Indonesian military had mobilised including many young children, died that But as inspiring as Ramos-Horta was, militias which were slaughtering civilians day; sacrificing their lives for their country Braithwaite believes that it was not as and burning 70 per cent of housing and the far-off promise of freedom. individuals that the resistance’s leaders and public buildings across the country. The dust has long settled and the made a difference. Not reacting to this through military blood stains have faded, but the Leaders like Xanana Gusmão and José force helped ensure that East Timor Santa Cruz massacre was a turning Ramos-Horta were really important received UN and US backing for General point for Timor-Leste’s independence in being able to inspire people to the Cosgrove’s forces to go in and restore movement. It’s not solely because the possibilities of non-violent struggle, order as well as ensuring civil war did not massacre was captured on film by the as well as diplomatic struggle and break out.” international media and the grisly images clandestine resistance as an alternative Networked governance of freedom and were beamed around the world. The to trying to fight theI ndonesian military tyranny is published by ANU E Press and demonstration showed the power of machine with the gun. is available for free download at epress. peaceful and non-violent resistance, and “But, while the leaders of the resistance anu.edu.au that even when bullets fly, might does were visionary, more important was their not always prevail. According to three ability to connect to international networks experts from the ANU College of Asia and of resistance and bring these networks the Pacific it was only after laying down with them. So yes, individuals are the gun that the Timorese gained their important in history. But, not as individuals independence. so much as individuals who connect up In their latest book, Networked networks of governance across a global. governance of freedom and tyranny, space,” says Charlesworth. John Braithwaite, Hilary Charlesworth “On top of this, a strategic decision was and Aderito Soares from the College’s made by leaders in the independence Regulatory Institutions Network argue movement to link up with the Indonesian that the Timorese resistance won democracy movement. The support of independence from a much more the Indonesian democracy movement, powerful Indonesia when the fight was which of course was successful in its taken from the battlefield to international own struggle when Indonesia became corridors of power and diplomatic a democracy in 1998, created the networks. historic opportunity to implement the independence that Timor-Leste had been long struggling for.”

Veronica Pereira Maia, Sydney, 1996. ‘I wove this tais and wove in the names of all 36 Asia and the Pacific at ANU the victims of the massacre in Dili on 12 November 1991’. Photo by Ross Bird. ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 37 Covering ‘Greater China’, the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) Giving chopsticks the chop is a research institution dedicated to driving a new Sinology – an academic approach and an intellectual disposition that encourages a multifaceted understanding of China and the Sinophone world, one grounded in an ability to appreciate the living past in China’s present. Billions of pairs of chopsticks Bringing together the wealth of China expertise at ANU, CIW is a hub for are discarded each year. Australian and international scholars and a world-leading institution for But Chinese calls for non- Chinese studies. Work at CIW covers Chinese history, thought, culture, media, disposable alternatives will politics, society, gender, environment, economics, foreign and strategic policy, be hard to swallow for the Japanese, reports BELINDA and regional affairs. CRANSTON.

Among CIW’s many innovative projects is The China Story – a web-based and When a Chinese timber company chief freely accessible account of contemporary China which also publishes an urged his countrymen to do away with disposable chopsticks, the Japanese annual yearbook. must have baulked. Legend has it the first use of chopsticks occurred around 2,100BC, when Da Yu, founder of the Chinese Xia dynasty, used a pair of twigs to eat his food, because he didn’t want to wait for the meat in his wok to cool. Fast forward four thousand years, China is chopping down 20 million mature trees a year for chopsticks – a figure that can no longer be sustained, Bo Guangxin, chairman Photo by Alan Cleaver on Flickr of Jilin Forestry Industry group, told the National People’s Congress in March. China in While bamboo or chopsticks made from The one time of the year when the Apparently he believed chopsticks made lacquer are used in Japanese homes, the Japanese don’t discard their chopsticks of silver would tarnish on contact with any thought of using anything but disposable is in January, when Oshogatsu (New Year) poison in his food. chopsticks when eating out wouldn’t go celebrations take place. Metal chopsticks continue to be used to the World down well with the germ phobic nation, Cuisine is prepared for “good health and imitate royalty, with bucket loads of these says Markus Wernli, who lived in Kyoto prosperity” and chopsticks are wrapped chopsticks a common sight at Korean from 2002 until last year. in gold ribbon or glittered paper. Names eating houses. China: there goes the An exemplary society Revolution to riches “For the Japanese, hygiene is a big thing,” of family members are written in ink on “The cuisine is meat based, so metal neighbourhood Since he assumed the Chinese Income inequality is one of the main says the research design manager in the the paper. chopsticks are more appropriate,” ANU Centre on China in the World (CIW). In the gated, urban residential presidency, Xi Jinping has refocused challenges facing Chinese President Xi “You use the chopsticks for the whole Wernli says. communities of China, middle-class the attention of government on the Jinping as he seeks to turn the China “They don’t feel so confident with plastic month,” says Wernli. But regardless of where you may find homeowners have been engaged over eradication of corruption, using not only Dream into a reality for all Chinese people, chopsticks. They might not be washed “You only eat with those chopsticks, to send them, there are universal rules to using the last two decades in ubiquitous ‘not- the instruments of state power to arrest through the development of a ‘civilised’ properly.” you on a good path for the New Year.” chopsticks. and detain offenders but also traditional economy. China’s emergence as a major in-my-back-yard’ (NIMBY) neighbourhood Even in top notch restaurants that serve When he was studying Chinese at a No matter what country one is in, they methods of persuasion to encourage global investor continues to challenge the disputes that replicate, in microcosm, multi-course meals for $100, chances are, Taipei university, CIW PhD student Paul should never be placed upright in a bowl civilised behaviour in the community as a rules, norms and institutions that govern the political and social practices of the the chopsticks will be disposable. Farrelly was given a pair of unscrewable of rice, as this is reminiscent of incense whole. Whether such methods, pioneered the international economy, igniting highly country’s regime. While this new, wealthy Expect to see them wrapped in paper plastic chopsticks, neatly packaged in a sticks used as offerings to people who in the early years of the People’s charged debates about the role of the middle classes are vocal in their criticism and placed horizontally at table settings, 10 centimetre case, as a gift. have died. of, for example, government inefficiencies, Republic, and in fact even earlier, are still state in an increasingly globalised, but not unless they are made of bamboo, in During the five years that he studied at Likewise rice should be scooped lightly corruption, and handling of environmental effective, remains an open question. always entirely civilised world. which case chopsticks rests will be used, the National Taiwan Normal University, he from a bowl. issues, they tend to reproduce the Benjamin Penny Jane Golley to stop the tips from touching the table. used them every day. “Never dig chopsticks into rice. Its bad political rhetoric of the state in their Speaking of tips, Wernli points out the handling of neighbourhood conflicts, Those who use portable chopsticks in luck,” says Wernli. end of Chinese chopsticks tend to be Taiwan are respected, he says. rather than offering a systemic challenge round, while Japanese chopsticks are to it. The regime and its social practices sphere shaped. “It’s a bit of a status symbol. People are in this way both transformed and associate it with being environmentally legitimised by the growth of a propertied “The Japanese eat a lot of baked fish,” conscious.” Wernli says. middle class. A Korean myth suggests silver chopsticks Dr Luigi Tomba “Pieces can be big. Chopsticks are used are widely used, because an ancient King to separate the fish.” was concerned with assassination.

38 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 39 Civilising China

One of the world’s most This furore came amid an explosion of Accommodating to (official) Chinese Chinese outbound tourism. But it’s not all views, standards and interpretations, ancient civilisations is one way traffic. therefore, broadens and enriches the undergoing a new civilising China’s growing wealth is having a existing global order and challenges it at mission. But China’s efforts profound impact on the world. This the same time. As China becomes wealthier and to be more like ‘the West takes many forms, from large-scale The old order, as represented by such investment in Africa and Latin America to Western capitalist democracies as of us’ are not only having the conspicuous consumption of wealthy the US, Canada, the UK, Europe and more confident on the global impacts at home but also Chinese who are becoming world leaders Australia, may stand in awe of China’s stage, it also expects to be abroad, writes GEREMIE R in the market for luxury goods. economic prowess. Yet state socialism And as Chinese consumers acquire global and its authoritarian politics are anathema respected and accommodated BARME. tastes, they will potentially fashion and to its own concepts of civilisation. The change what those tastes are: a recent Communist Party’s ongoing efforts to Since the late 19th century efforts as a major global force and a Australian documentary, Red Obsession, redefine and refine Chinese civilisation, to create modern societies in East shows how increasing demand in China to promote wenming Zhonghua, literally Asia have involved redefining ancient formidable civilisation. for Bordeaux wines is influencing the ‘a civilised China’, and the notion of civilisations and integrating new ideas fate of the famous French wine-growing sagacious one-party rule as an integral into old cultures. region. part of this civilising process is thus of This is the challenge faced today by the great importance and interest to the world At home, the Chinese Communist Party Chinese Communist Party, which uses at large — not to mention other parts of describes its transformation of society the expression wenming or ‘civilisation’ the Sinosphere, such as Taiwan, which in the language of Marxism–Leninism: within China to improve civic standards, holds competing notions of Chinese a socialist values system, nationwide promote patriotism, evoke flexible cultural civilisation and the role of the Communist civilised city campaigns and the new and political traditions and limit dissent. Party in its promotion. socialist village movement that would And as China becomes wealthier and transform the rural environment along Professor Geremie R Barmé is Director more confident on the global stage, urban lines. It also promotes usefully of the Australian Centre on China in it also expects to be respected and rejigged elements of China’s political, the World at the ANU College of Asia accommodated as a major global force historical and cultural heritage. and the Pacific. This article is an edited and a formidable civilisation. extract from The China Story Yearbook Internationally, it insists on global 2013 ‘Civilising China’, available for free But how does one go about ‘civilising’ acceptance of its particular download at www.thechinastory.org (read here modernising in the image of interpretation of China’s ancient culture the West) one of the world’s most ancient as well as the historical narrative that civilisations? And can ‘the West of us’ the Communist Party rescued China fairly expect China to be and behave like from a political and economic decline the ‘rest of us’? that began in the 19th century and for A recent spat over graffiti proves which both Western and later Japanese illuminating. imperialism must take a significant share In May 2013 a Sina Weibo (a Chinese of the responsibility. microblogging website) user named Both at home and abroad, its outlook is ‘Independent Sky Traveller’ uploaded an informed by a combination of insistence image he said made him feel shame and on the legitimacy of its one-party system, a loss of face. The image was of a graffito hybrid economic practices and the ethos reading ‘Din Jinhao was here’ defacing of state-directed wealth creation. an ancient frieze at the Luxor Temple And here lies the paradox at the heart of complex in Egypt. China’s renewed interest in civilisation; An animated discussion on social media a revitalised enthusiasm for Chinese ensued about this vandalism, which culture and civilisation and enhanced many felt had caused all of China to nationalism versus appeals to rediscover lose face. Within a day angry Internet the ideals of shared universal values held users discovered that Ding Jinhao was at a global level. a fourteen-year-old boy living in Nanjing. The government of the People’s Ding’s parents apologised on his behalf Republic of China reasonably believes and asked for forgiveness from the public. that the norms and behaviours of the But the debate raged on; within a week dominant economic powers should not the original post was forwarded almost be regarded as the sole global standard; 100,000 times and generated close to it argues that those of emerging (or in its 20,000 comments expressing anger, case re-emerging) nations like itself are embarrassment and deep sadness. equally important.

40 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 41 SELECTED COLLEGE INITIATIVES College facts

ANU-Indonesia gifted Pasifika Australia Revenue researchers prgram Pasifika Australia is a major ANU student In February 2014 the College launched equity project created by the Pacific a major pilot exercise, on behalf of the studies program in the School of Culture University, the ANU-Indonesia Gifted History and Language and supported by Researchers Program. The five-day the ANU Student Equity Office and the A$24.9 A$22.3 A$41.4 A$9.7 intensive program in Indonesia was ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. It designed to inspire, encourage and help consists of a community of ANU students sharpen the research skills of 50 of the and staff who are passionate about million million million million best advanced undergraduates in the equity, educational and identity issues Student income Recurrent research funding Competitive grants & Other humanities and social sciences. The facing Pacific communities and Pacific consultancies projects produced a cohort of the most students in Australia. talented young Indonesians with a much W pasifika.anu.edu.au keener appreciation for research and Staff profile greater motivation to pursue research edX Engaging India MOOC training. ANU has become the first Australian W asiapacific.anu.edu.au/anu-gifted- member of Massive Open Online researchers-program Course (MOOC) provider edX, the online learning enterprise founded by Harvard Parliamentary internships University and the Massachusetts scheme Institute of Technology that aims to provide education to one billion people This scheme builds upon the existing worldwide within 10 years. The College’s model of the College’s highly successful first MOOC, Engaging India, offers an national internship program with the overview of contemporary India and United States Congress and creates 95% 263 183 392 explores its role as one of the dominant parallel frameworks with the legislatures of economic and military powers of Asia. Academic staff hold PhDs Academic Professional Visiting fellows Japan, Indonesia, China, India and Korea. The entire course will be available in both Under the framework, students from English and Hindi. participating universities around Australia compete for vacation placement in the W edx.org/school/anux personal offices of leading legislators in these key Asian countries. Students

EngageAsia The ANU EngageAsia initiative provides programs and courses for school 1,595 781 457 130+ teachers and school students looking to Graduate coursework Undergraduate Higher degree research Students studying expand their knowledge of Asia and the Pacific. It currently offers graduate-level in the region teacher training programs and a number of activities for schools to become involved with including: Asia Pacific Day, Language Immersion Workshops and a guest lecture series. W engageasia.anu.edu.au

42 Asia and the Pacific at ANU ANU College of Asia & the Pacific 43 ONLINE RESOURCES

asiapacific.anu.edu.au New Mandala Showcases the expertise, research and A pioneer in the digitisation of Southeast teaching of more than 200 academics at Asian studies, New Mandala offers the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific anecdote, analysis and new perspectives working across 17 disciplines, through on the region, with dozens of comments dynamic news stories and commentary posted daily by its active community of on the region’s latest trends and major readers. issues. W asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala W asiapacific.anu.edu.au Outrigger The China Story The online home of the ANU Pacific Draws on the world-leading expertise Institute, featuring the latest news and of the Australian Centre on China in the updates on research, teaching and World at ANU, to present insights into outreach activities of the Institute’s contemporary China through essays, members. interviews and an annual online yearbook. W pacificinstitute.anu.edu.au/outrigger W thechinastory.org South Asia Masala Devpolicy Brings together almost 40 expert The influential platform for the best in contributors in an interdisciplinary blog aid and development analysis, research covering the political, economic, cultural, and policy comment, hosted by the social, developmental and strategic issues ANU Development Policy Centre, with of the countries of South Asia. more than 500 blog posts logged by its W  asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/ contributors. southasiamasala W devpolicy.org East Asia Forum The influential, go-to website for the best in analysis, research and policy comment on the Asia Pacific region in world affairs, with a highly-regarded quarterly companion magazine. W eastasiaforum.org

Indonesia Project blog News and commentary on the Indonesian economy and the economic policies and events that influence its performance. W asiapacific.anu.edu.au/blogs/ indonesiaproject

44 Asia and the Pacific at ANU T +61 2 6125 2221 E [email protected] W asiapacific.anu.edu.au CRICOS #00120C MO_14020