Becoming 01 CAS Chiang Mai University Newsletter

Vol.01

ASE AN Connectivit y

ASE AN Connectivit y

CO NTE NT

P. 02 P. 04

A S E A N i n te r v i e w

P. 06

C M U Fo c u s

P. 14

ASEAN News

P. 18

A S E A N Watc h P o litic s

A S E A N Watc h Ec o n o m ic s Competition Policy and Law

P. 20

A S E A N Watc h E nviro n m e nt s

P. 22

A S E A N Watc h C u ltu re s

P. 24

P. 26

ASEAN issue

P. 28

A S E A N C ri ti c a l

P. 30

A S E A N R e f l e c ti o n

P. 32

ASEAN Scape The unseen face of ASEAN: Vignettes from the Thai-Burma and Thai-Lao borderlands by

B o o k r ev i e w

P. 35

B E C O M I N G / 02

ASEAN Co

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onnectivity

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A S E AN i nte r view

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B E C O M I N G / 06

CM U Focu s

B E C O M I N G / 07

CM U Fo c u s

B E C O M I N G / 08

CM U Fo c u s

B E C O M I N G / 09

B E C O M I N G / 10

B E C O M I N G / 11

B E C O M I N G / 12

CM U Focu s

B E C O M I N G / 13

B E C O M I N G / 14

AS E AN News

B E C O M I N G / 15

B E C O M I N G / 16

B E C O M I N G / 17

B E C O M I N G / 18

A S E AN Watch P olitic s

Joko Widodo – A man who rocks Indonesia

Indonesia is looking for a hero to rescue the nation plagued by poverty, Indeed, down-to-earth style of leadership, impromptu corruption, and cronyism. Joko Widodo, visit (or blusukan in Javanese) to discuss problems known locally as “Jokowi,” is currently the most likely candidate to win the 2014 approachable appearance are qualities that distinguish presidential race.

Representing the Indonesian Democratic Party of Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former property and furniture businessman had been an outsider of known as Solo) in central Java in 1961, Jokowi is a descendant of a family of small furniture producers and a graduate of Forestry Department, Gadah Mada

other candidates such as Aburizal Bakrie, Prabowo

has a rather humble middle-class background with a successful experience in medium-sized furniture presidential candidate for the 2014 national election,

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the newly developed game application Flap Jokowi Bird, inspired by the popular Flappy Bird gameplay, the

conditions of poor are as well known by the public as the Jakarta Post (16 April 2012) as saying that rock music is a “symbol of rebellion” and that he wanted to go “moshing” (or slamdancing) with other audiences in music events added a personal touch to his image, and drew even more public interest, which together with the existing media attention, contributed to the renowned heavy metal band Metallica gave a violation of the corruption law by handing over the instrument to the Corruption Eradication Commission

The result of the legislative election on 9th April 2014 has garnered less than 20 percent of the vote, which is various domestic groups, his clean reputation, humble

of the vote, PDIP is compelled to form a coalition with other parties in order to nominate Jokowi as a

have made the businessman-turned-politician a new hope for Indonesia, which still struggles with a myriad

votes led many observers to question the “effects” of

candidate was similar to that of the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), when The on-going “Jokowi phenomenon” or “Jokowi effect,” as the media and political observers dub it, includes intense media attention, and a series of books, including Jokowi From Selling Chairs to Getting Chairs

rather disappointing performance in the election is a consequence of a dull and disjointed campaign run by various fractions between mid- March and early April discussion, had allowed other presidential contenders, such as the former Lieutenant General and son-inlaw of Suharto, Prabowo Subianto to attack Jokowi as

Although the result of the April election might be a

in the presidential election in July 2014, the Jokowi phenomenon will have an effect on the entire

B E C O M I N G / 20

A S E AN Watch Economic s

(Competition Policy and L aw)

The almost seamless Mae Sai-Tachileik agglomeration.

June 2013

B E C O M I N G / 21

Chinese vessels on the Mekong - Thai-Lao 2013

2

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A S E AN Watch Environments

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B E C O M I N G / 24

A S E AN Watch Cultures

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B E C O M I N G / 26

AS E AN I s sue

Pyidaungsu

B E C O M I N G / 27

B E C O M I N G / 28

A S E AN C ritical

B E C O M I N G / 29

B E C O M I N G / 30

A S E AN R eflection

B E C O M I N G / 31

B E C O M I N G / 32

AS E AN scape

The unseen face of ASEAN: Vignettes from the Thai-Burma and Thai-Lao borderlands PhD candidate, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London indre_balcaite@soas.ac.uk

1

During my 11-month stay in South East Asia, I explored the wider Mekong region, visiting various locations in

visible signs with snippets from the national languages of ASEAN countries seemed part of that preparation – as if knowing the greeting words in Lao or Malay would help to implement the free movement across the Member

The ASEAN Community campaign is more successful in publicising the supposed move to the public than

B E C O M I N G / 33

show, the publicity campaign also creates a sense of

West – the Karen borderland The Mae Sot-Mae Sariang route makes a bumpy and dusty six-hour ride by songthaew but, wriggling

Burmese side, thus giving my host father, himself originally a Karen soldier and refugee from Burma, a father continues talking that Thai Karen and Burmese Karen do not have their own state and are citizens of broken Thai, I ask him if the Karen would like to have not have to

road passes Mae La, the biggest refugee camp along

The Shan North

(Pa-an) in the Karen State – a man and a woman wearing in the Burmese Islamic fashion – get off there towns disappears, leaving almost no seam between songthaew starts climbing one hill after

Decently sized Thai lowland towns have faded at the back, landscape is rural and most of the passengers

Karen man dark-skinned from exposure to the straw hats on his head and a rolled-up longyi wrapped around on top of his shorts “just in case”, he carries

Mae Sai-Tachileik seems to be a bubbling crossborder community so unlike its Mae Sot-Myawaddy counterpart – the liveliest spot of large-scale cross-

the two border cities is that of migrants from Myanmar working or seeking work in Thailand – long queues stretch out in front of immigration checkpoints at both sides venture into Tachileik for day trips – to shop for cheap Chinese electronics or Burmese liquor available in the

through the mountains just a few kilometres from the borderline, we are repeatedly checked by the Thai would produce laminated paper cards – presumably

somewhere to the surrounding hillsides, completely

the ease and casualness about the inter-state border running through this community contrasts sharply with the mighty Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge down south, its Myawaddy base barricaded with sandbags Army soldiers nor the Thai Border Patrol police in fatigues on the opposite side obstruct the ceaseless 4

Almost a year later, in April 2014, the father of my

to Phop Phra to pick up the teenage son who had it would seem, except that that relative lives on the

B E C O M I N G / 34

The tuk-tuk drivers and vendors in Tachileik are versed in Thai and all the prices – even of uncooked rice and

The Northeast episode reveals that the Thai borderland is nevertheless steeped in anticipation of the upcoming

seems to spill over into Mae Sot with its ubiquitous Burmese, in Mae Sai-Tachileik Thailand seems to have

Such is the imagery eagerly perpetuated by Thai state agencies and both Thai and migrant populations alike

The Lao Northeast

Myanmar in Bangkok, told me that when “ASEAN comes”, Myanmar economy will grow so much that

Past the Golden Triangle, the enchanting Mekong turning away and reappearing again down in Chiang

This myth personalising ASEAN as something that one, the goal of opening up the borders of ASEAN Economic Community will not be achieved on time

and posters encouraging to use the national currency

Integration at Asian Development Bank Iwan J Azis5 Secondly, the free movement will remain accessible to

The road from Chiang Saen to Chiang Khong following where the only transport is a few songthaews

takes a sharp turn off the main bumpy road and suddenly the overgrown Mekong riverbank emerges announce passage to Laos on the other side, it is

and start unloading the bundles making up most of the how much money one can make by taking the goods new bank card that contrasts with dirt under her nails,

Posters and borderlanders

and commodities both along the legitimate and shadier day trippers, cross-border peddlers, highlanders and

bloodline of the region joining the peoples of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia into an economic and cultural community prior to any political

April 2014 Nan Nyu, my interviewee in a Karen village in Myanmar waiting for a new passport and Thai work permit in order to come back and work in Thailand as she had for two decades, asked me if “ASEAN” meant that people like her would not need to sort out complex

Ironically, the entrance of the recently opened

workers – citizens of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia – proclaiming that Thai Immigration is ready for ASEAN face of ASEAN, it is actually people like Nan Nyu or

towards migrant workers and the administrative hurdles

Community publicity campaign basically glorifying the

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BOOK Review

B E C O M I N G / 36

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A S E AN S hot