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( t f1)~~ffm ®ill®llilf1)UO~JB ~ Vol. 20, No. 2, 2004Nol. 21 No. 1, 2005 ;;!- The Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA) is a :a regional network of concerned Asian scholars and activists which aims -V\ -z: to contribute to processes of meaningful and people-oriented social ~ change. Noting the new global climate of insecurity that has been· V\ ushered in by the escalation of war and militarism, ARENA has ;;: MILITARISING ...... embarked on a new multi-pronged peace programme that seeks to : ...1"1"'1 . V\ • change the conception of security from national security towards a 0 I""\ STATE, SOCIETY more people-friendly paradigm in protection of people's rights, 1"1"'1- ..... livelihoods and security; < and • show how militarised notions of security contribute to and ::.:::-z: CULTURE inA influence security arising from peoples and states; and c I""\ • introduce alternative approaches arising from people's perspectives. c !:i c ARENA believes that the current crisis of 'security' has given rise to a .. :a political moment which calls for an alternative vision and agenda for 1"1"'1 peace. In this spirit, ARENA hopes to articulate a 'social critique' that -z: inspires new visions and political imagination. ::.:::-V\ -••::.:::- :aI""\ --t -I""\ ::.:::-~ ""'C:J 1"1"'1 :aV\ ""'C:J !l1"1"'1 <- 1"1"'1V\ Militarising State, Society and Culture in Asia: Critical Perspectives Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA) HoNG KoNG • 2005 ASIAN EXCHANGE Vol. 20, No.2, 2004/Vol. 21, No. l, 2005 ISSN 0256-7520 Asian Exchange is published twice a year by the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA) Flat 6, 13th Floor, Block A, Fuk Keung Industrial Building 66-68 Tong Mi Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Phone: (852) 2805 6193/6270; Fax: (852) 2504 2986 e-mail: [email protected] Website: http://WW'.v.arenaonline.org Opinions expressed in Asian Exchange do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of ARENA Reproduction of material appearing in this publication and the listing of resources in other publications should be acknowledged -EDITORIAL---- - ----COMMITTEE- -- MELANI BUDIANTA TEMARIO RIVERA Indonesia Japan LAUKINCHI )OHAN SARAVANAMUTTU Hong Kong Malaysia AIDA)EANNMANIPON HARSH SETHI ARENA Coordinator, Hong Kong India KINHIDEMUSHAKO)I MEENA SHIVDAS Japan United Kingdom VINODRAINA )AYADEVA UYANGODA Chair, ARENA Council of Fellows Sri Lanka Guest Editor )AYADEVA UYANGODA Issue Managing Editor AN) ANI ABELLA Cover Design & Layout TONY MANIPON Printed by Clear-cut Publishing & Printing Co. Bl, 15/F, Block B, Fortune Factory Building 40 lee Chung St, Chai Wan, Hong Kong ------------SUBSCRIPTION RATES Annual Subscn'ption including postage JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND: US$35 REST OF ASIA: US$25 AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA: US$25 US & EUROPE: US$40 HONG KONG: I-IK$200 Cheques should be drawn in favour of ASIAN REGIONAL EXCHANGE FOR NEW ALTERNATIVES LTD Foreword THis SPECIAL ISSUE of Asian Exchange was at its final stage of editing when the monster tsunami of December 26, 2004 swept the coastlines of Southern Asia. Sitting in Hong Kong, it occurred to the ARENA Secretariat, for a split second, that production for this book would inevitably be delayed. But that was the least of our concerns. Most pressing was the tsunami's impact and what it might mean for the entire region. For in its wake, the tsunami claimed victims from at least forty ( 40) countries, left behind more than 150,000 people dead, thousands more missing or fighting for their lives in hospitals and make shift clinics, hundreds of thousands more without homes and livelihood, and millions all in all affected by the damages it wrought on food, water and health systems. The emotional shock the tsunami caused nearly equaled its physical impact. Its social, economic and political repercussions, particularly in terms of mobilizing assistance to its victims, trauma healing, and post-disaster reconstruction immediately became the focus of worldwide attention. Amid the images of horror, grief, pain and suffering, the watershed of solidarity gestures and donations that poured in from ordinary people from different parts of the world, especially from the disaster-hit countries themselves, was remarkable and heartwarming. However, there echoed a growing concern over the possible politicization of the international cmnmunity's <hmnanitariad response, the prospects for a Ill stronger presence of the world's most powerful nations that this new emergency situation might bring to the region, and even more specifically, over the possibility of an increased role of the military in humanitarian assistance. It was against this intense backdrop that Jayadeva Uyangoda managed to complete the editing of this book from Colombo, and to note in his introduction some of the new issues and sources of anxiety that arose from the emergency situation: "The deployment of the us marines in Asia's tsunami-hit countries for 'humanitarian tasks' places this dimension of militarisation in another new global context. As the American officials have openly admitted, this 'humanitarian assistance' is immediately prompted by the Bush administration's considerations of global security against terrorism." Indeed, reeling from the failures that were unraveling in its war on Iraq, the Bush administration soon saw in the tsunami crisis a golden opportunity for the us to demonstrate its 'humanitarian motives: And yet no less than Colin Powell, us Secretary of State, hinted that us initiatives to assist tsunami hit nations was part of its effort to win the 'war on terror', remarking that "it does give the Moslem world and the rest of the world, an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action." Clearly, international humanitarian assistance could not escape its immediate political context of war and a militarized global climate. Or perhaps one might even say that the forces of war and militarism, if left unchecked, would surely find a way to manifest themselves in other forms, even in the gravest situation of natural calamity. It should firstly be pointed out that worldwide mobilization for tsunami related assistance has been taking place within a global setting of intense debates around the us-led war on terror and the effects and implications of us militarist designs and policies. And secondly, it must be remembered that many of the countries hit by the tsunami had been experiencing militarisation and politico-ethnic conflicts for some time, like Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where the Aceh province was the worst hit by the disaster. Others are sites of simmering conflicts such as Thailand and India. In Indonesia, civil society groups called attention to the fact that counterinsurgency and military operations continued in Aceh, even as its people struggled to survive the calamitous effects of the tsunami. There in Aceh, where the Indonesian military is said to have mimicked the language of the war on terror, soon arose the fear that relief efforts would be caught in the web of us-Indonesia tV political agenda and thus be compromised at the expense of the people who needed assistance the most. What happens when a natural disaster like this tsunami wreaks havoc on the lives of people and communities who for many years had already been suffering from the impact and consequences of militarisation or living through a protracted ethno-political civil war ? Will the urgent and immeasurable task of relief and reconstruction inspire all parties in conflict to advance efforts for peace, as many in Sri Lanka and Indonesia were hoping ? Will this new emergency situation provide another pretext for greater military activities and operations in local communities, or pave the way for greater intervention or presence of the us in the region, as many began to fear ? Any current discussion on emerging challenges to security, and more precisely human security in the region, cannot now proceed without perhaps including in its immediate agenda these new concerns. This special issue of ARENA's Asian Exchange does not provide answers to such questions- indeed all these questions demand further research and discussion and will perhaps require an entirely separate volume. However, what "Militarising State, Society and Culture" does is call our attention to the processes of militarisation and the growing militarism that characterize the landscape of our countries, and which are part of the reality and larger social context within which current engagements of the international community with the region are framed. For ARENA, the '9/]]' tragedy that hit the us in 2001, the 'war on terror' that was subsequently unveiled by the Bush administration in 2002, and the war on Iraq that was launched by the us and its allies in 2003, had all presented a new global context for further analyzing the militarisation of our societies and the resurgence of militarist ideology, culture and practices in the region. Believing that such analysis is not onlytimelybut essential to the development of alternative paradigms of security, the ARENA programme team on War, Militarism and Peace initiated a book project whose final product is this special issue of the ARENA journal. This volume compiles studies of ten (I 0) countries in Asia- India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand. It aims to contribute to a broad understanding of militarisation as a physical and ideological phenomenon, illustrate the extent of militarisation in state, government and civil society, and argue how militarised notions of security add to the insecurity of peoples and state. As do all ARENA publications, this volume seeks not only to v encourage debate and critical scholarship around Asian issues but also to inspire and generate responsible and creative responses such that they would open up what editor Uyangoda calls 'possibilities for transformative political practice.' Analyzing the Asian context, the writers in this volume explored and sought to illustrate the linkages between militarisation and militarist nationalism, patriarchy, and right wing ideologies and fundamentalisms, looking at the role of both state and non-state actors.