Asia Institute - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableLearning in the Language of Cinema: A Case Study of the Impact of Humanities Subjects on Chinese International Student’s Critical Thinking Ability(Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2020)Chinese students make up the largest portion of international students in Australia, yet we know relatively little about their study experience in the humanities and the impact of Australian humanities subjects on their critical thinking ability. Through a qualitative analysis of the academic performance of two cohorts of Chinese international students enrolled in two film studies subjects, this study has revealed that Chinese international students benefit considerably from an Australian-style training, as evident in their improved analytical skills and critical thinking ability. However, English proficiency remains a major challenge for them in obtaining higher scores, which they could have otherwise achieved in a native language educational environment. This study has also discovered that Chinese international students are generally adept at using multi-media tools to present and communicate ideas. Distanced from their home country, Chinese international students are more motivated to study if they feel a cultural or emotional connection with the course content. Communicating in a language that students can resonate with, be it more visual or culturally sensitive, will help both students and educators achieve better outcomes.
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ItemBold Strategy or Irrational Exuberance: Can China's Fiscal Foundation Support the Belt and Road Initiative?(Stanford University Press, 2020)This chapter examines the economic rationale and finances of the Belt and Road Initiative, a signature program in Xi Jinping's assertive foreign policy that aims to build multidimensional networks linking more than sixty countries and costing trillions of dollars. The BRI was conceived during the decade-long fiscal expansion that began at the turn of the century, and the question is whether it remains affordable under slower growth. At this stage in its development, China must manage the program prudently to avoid saddling banks with bad loans from failed projects. As ever, the decentralized system remains the Achilles' heel, reflected in the gap between official statements of expenditure and figures compiled from bank lending and program announcements. Recent fiscal reforms have strengthened the government's ability to rein in local governments but provide little protection against risks from an overly ambitious foreign policy agenda.
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ItemManaging across levels of government: The challenge of pension reform in China(OECD, 2020)The People’s Republic of China is facing a “population ageing tsunami”, with the share of the population aged over 65 expected to double between 2010 and 2030. Reforming the social security system to improve coverage, sustainability and equity is an urgent task for the government. This chapter examines the workings of the Urban Employee Scheme (UES), the main pension programme currently covering more than 400 million workers and retirees. Although nominally a national programme, the UES is a patchwork of pension pools, managed mostly at the city and county levels. Under fragmented management and weak oversight, the system is rife with underpayment and evasion and has stymied previous efforts by the central government to promote consolidation. This may finally change under top-down reforms implemented since 2013 that have strengthened governance and enforcement capacity. Improving equity and the long-term sustainability of the UES will also require extending coverage to younger migrant workers and strengthening their incentives for participation.
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ItemNo Preview AvailablePopulism in Southeast Asia: A Vehicle for Reform or a Tool for Despots?(Springer International Publishing, 2020)This chapter explains the rise of populist politics and why it takes different forms in Southeast Asia – specifically in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. We see populism as an integral part of larger conflicts over power and wealth that accompany the advance of global capitalism. The failure of governments and elites to deal with structural crises confronting their societies provides the circumstances in which populism can emerge. Populist movements are shaped by different forces and interests operating within cross-class alliances in particular contexts. This explains why populism can sometimes be a vehicle for long-supressed popular demands for the redistribution of wealth and social justice and, elsewhere, effectively protect the interests of established oligarchies by diverting such demands into a politics of identity and culture.
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ItemOrdinary Laws and Extraordinary Crimes: Criminalising Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in the Draft Criminal Code?(Routledge, 2020)Every Thursday since 2007, survivors of human rights violations, their family members and representatives of human rights organisations gather in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. After the end of authoritarianism in 1998, Indonesia witnessed many political and legal reforms. The failures of the Indonesian human rights system are perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that twenty years after the fall of authoritarianism, justice is yet to be delivered for crimes committed under the repressive regime of President Soeharto. Until legislative reform in the area of human rights took place after 1998, Indonesian law included very few provisions for the protection of human rights in general. Legal provisions criminalising serious human rights crimes were absent altogether. The proposed inclusion of gross human rights violations in the Draft Criminal Code has been mainly driven by a desire to fully codify Indonesian criminal law, rather than to improve the prosecution of serious human rights crimes.
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Item雑談に表出する依頼と承諾 ―「です・ます」体の使い分けと， 自然会話を素材とする教材への応用の観点から― An adjacency pair, 'Request - acceptance' and multiple functions of the desu/masu forms emerging in small talk: Using natural conversational data in Japanese language teaching.(Kuroshio, 2020-10-16)The chapter demonstrates how natural conversational data can be integrated into Japanese language teaching and their benefits. The BTSJ Natural Conversation Corpus was released in 2017 (Usami 2017) which provides a large volume of natural conversational data. The chapter analyses a long stretch of small talk from the corpus and reveals multiple functions of desu/masu forms and how an adjacency pair ‘request – acceptance’ is, in fact, stretched over many conversational turns. It also demonstrates how natural conversational data can be converted to meaningful teaching and learning materials. Natural Conversation Reconstruction Tasks (NCRT) are introduced and their intended learning outcomes are demonstrated together with their benefits.
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ItemJapanese language education and Japanese Studies as intercultural learning(Routledge, 2020)The paper illuminates similarities between what Australian universities wish to see in the attributes of university graduates and those of Japanese counterparts. The term, graduate attributes is used in Australia and guroubaru jinzai (globally competent human resources) is used in Japan.
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ItemYohana, YABIKU Founder and Former District Parliament Member, North Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara(University of Melbourne with Universitas Gadjah Mada and MAMPU, 2020)Yohana's story is part of a peer-reviewed edited volume of women's life stories that draws on detailed ethnographic research of village women's lived experiences and how they, individually and collectively, have taken action to influence village development in Indonesia's multi-level governance structure under the new Village Law in Indonesia. The analysis identifies the processes of women's empowerment, their involvement in grassroots women's collective action, engagement with civil society organisations, and how women influence village institutions, policies, development spending and priorities, and new projects as well as social norms in communities. Yohana's story is part of a peer-reviewed edited volume of women's life stories that draws on detailed ethnographic research of village women's lived experiences and how they, individually and collectively, have taken action to influence village development in Indonesia's multi-level governance structure under the new Village Law in Indonesia. The analysis identifies the processes of women's empowerment, their involvement in grassroots women's collective action, engagement with civil society organisations, and how women influence village institutions, policies, development spending and priorities, and new projects as well as social norms in communities.: Yohana is a central figure in the community tackling violence against women and supporting women's empowerment in North Central Timor. She established YABIKU with friends in 2000 following her experiences supporting refugees from Timor Leste. Yohana served as a member of the North Central Timor House of Representatives 2014-2019. Her story details her drive to build coalitions within politics and, with the support of a network of non-government organisations, lead the formation and ratification of a District Regulation on the Implementation of the Protection of Women and Children. She has worked tirelessly to forge networks with policy-makers and to advocate for gender responsive policymaking.
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ItemVeronika, Head of the Fauana Women Farmers Group, North Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara(University of Melbourne with Universitas Gadjah Mada and MAMPU, 2020)Veronika's story is part of a peer-reviewed edited volume of women's life stories that draws on detailed ethnographic research of village women's lived experiences and how they, individually and collectively, have taken action to influence village development in Indonesia's multi-level governance structure under the new Village Law in Indonesia. The analysis identifies the processes of women's empowerment, their involvement in grassroots women's collective action, engagement with civil society organisations, and how women influence village institutions, policies, development spending and priorities, and new projects as well as social norms in communities. Veronika is Head of the Fauana Women Farmers Group and a leader of the Village Paralegal Group in her village in North Central Timor in East Nusa Tenggara. Her involvement in the prevention of violence against women and championing women's rights increased when the Amnaut Bife Kuan Association (YABIKU) entered the village and began to support the Women Farmers Group (Kelompok Wanita Tani) in 2014. YABIKU supported Veronika and other women to gain training in public speaking and leadership, basic paralegal and counselling skills and procedures for handling cases of domestic violence, which she has put into practice. One of Veronika's largest achievements as a member of the Paralegal Group was when she had to respond to a case of violence involving her own family.
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ItemHusnul, Village Constituent Group Member, East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara(University of Melbourne with Universitas Gadjah Mada and MAMPU, 2020)Husnul's story is part of a peer-reviewed edited volume of women's life stories that draws on detailed ethnographic research of village women's lived experiences and how they, individually and collectively, have taken action to influence village development in Indonesia's multi-level governance structure under the new Village Law in Indonesia. The analysis identifies the processes of women's empowerment, their involvement in grassroots women's collective action, engagement with civil society organisations, and how women influence village institutions, policies, development spending and priorities, and new projects as well as social norms in communities. Husnul's story is part of a peer-reviewed edited volume of women's life stories that draws on detailed ethnographic research of village women's lived experiences and how they, individually and collectively, have taken action to influence village development in Indonesia's multi-level governance structure under the new Village Law in Indonesia. The analysis identifies the processes of women's empowerment, their involvement in grassroots women's collective action, engagement with civil society organisations, and how women influence village institutions, policies, development spending and priorities, and new projects as well as social norms in communities.: Husnul is a member of the BaKTI-supported Constituent Group in a village in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. With her husband overseas working, Husnul tried to earn a livelihood for her family by sewing and embroidering as well as working as a cook at the community health post before establishing a business making banana and cassava crisps. Since the 1990s, Husnul has been a Posyandu cadre and often helps villagers who need medical help, a position which led her to become involved in BakTI supported activities and the Constituent Group. Husnul participated in BaKTI paralegal training about how to handle cases of violence, data-based policy advocacy, and the drafting of the 2018 Village Regulation on the Protection of Women and Children. In the Constituent Group, Husnul is head of the Support Division. She has become a contact person for women, particularly from her hamlet, to talk about problems they experience. Husnul has also grown her networks and capacities in business management which has resulted in the growth of her taro cracker business.