Edited by Terence Chong, James Gomez and Lenore Lyons. Special Focus Issue of SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia Vol. 20/2 (October 2005).

The literature on Singapore civil society has several leitmotifs. They include explanations for the barely audible calls for liberal democracy from the local middle class, the culture of political apathy, asymmetrical society-state power relations, as well as the privileged position of the state in the public sphere. This collection of essays looks at Singapore civil society beyond the boundaries of the nation-state. It attempts to reveal the flows and connections between Singapore civil society and regional or international networks. This collection critiques the existing narrow definition of civil society and includes specific analysis of global environmentalism, transnational labour migration, international human rights discourses, and the increasing presence of tourists and other non-citizens in Singapore.

Contents

• “Moving Beyond the OB Markers: Rethinking the Space of Civil Society in Singapore” by Lenore Lyons and James Gomez
• “Gestural Politics: Civil Society in New Singapore ” by Terence Lee
• “Considering Green Practices: NGOs and Singapore's Emergent Environmental-Political Landscape” by Kersty Hobson
• “International NGOs: Filling the Gap in Singapore 's Civil Society” by James Gomez
• “Transient Workers Count Too? The Intersection of Citizenship and Gender in Singapore 's Civil Society” by Lenore Lyons
• “State-Civil Society Relations and Tourism: Singaporeanizing Tourists, Touristifying Singapore” by Ooi Can Seng
• “Civil Society in Singapore: Popular Discourses and Concepts” by Terence Chong

These papers emerged from the CAPSTRANS workshop “Handing over the rei(g)ns: Civil society under Lee Hsien Loong” held in October 2004.

By Adrian Vickers. KITLV Press. ISBN 90 6718 137 4. Leiden 2005

From the late seventeenth century until the Dutch conquest of the early twentieth Century Bali was ruled by a set of competing kingdoms. This study of the Balinese text Kidung Malat is the first work in Indonesian historical studies to analyse the main ideology of these Balinese kingdoms. It does so by demonstrating how the performance and presentation of the text presented an image of the ideal prince to both rulers and subjects.

The Kidung Malat exemplifies courtly ideology through its descriptions of the adventures of kings and princes from the era of the medieval kingdoms of East Java. It is one of the longest and most complex of a set of narratives called Pañji stories, which originated in East Java and spread throughout Southeast Asia. This book is also the first extensive historical analysis of a Pañji story, combining textual analysis with the study of the gambuh dance-drama in which the Malat is performed, and comparing these forms with paintings and other manifestations of the text.

By Adrian Vickers. ISBN-10: 0521542626 | ISBN-13: 9780521542623
Cambridge University Press.

Although Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world, its history is still relatively unfamiliar and understudied. Guided by the life and writings of the country's most famous author, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Adrian Vickers takes the reader on a journey across the social and political landscape of twentieth-century Indonesia in this innovative and timely account. He begins by explaining the country's origins under the Dutch in the early part of that century, the subsequent anti-colonial struggle and revolution which led to independence in 1949. Thereafter the spotlight is on the 1950s, a crucial period in the formation of Indonesia as a new nation, which was followed by the Sukarno years, and the anti-communist massacres of the 1960s when General Suharto took over as president. The concluding chapters chart the fall of Suharto's New Order after thirty two years in power, and the subsequent political and religious turmoil which culminated in the Bali bombings in 2002. Drawing on insights from literature, art and anthropology, Adrian Vickers' portrays a complex and resilient people borne out of a troubled past.

• A colourful and fascinating trawl through the highs and lows of Indonesia's history, its politics, and its people
• Author uses the work of Indonesia's most famous novelist as a prism for explaining the cultural nuances of a complex and underexplored society
• This is an up to date, and timely account by one of the premier historians of Indonesia