Asian CORE Workshop
Interface, Negotiation, and Interaction
in Southeast Asia

February 22-23, 2013
ABSTRACTS
SESSION 1
Riverine Interfaces and Social Formation in Maritime Southeast Asia
Noboru Ishikawa
The state-centered perspective that stresses a stark difference between “hulu (upriver)” and“hilir (downriver)” has long dominated the conceptualization of the social formation in the
territorial state as well as pre-state polity of maritime Southeast Asia. In the binary view that
resulted, the upriver region is portrayed as a periphery as opposed to the political, economic,
and cultural center in the coastal area. Such spatial divide has permeated the description andanalysis of regional history as well as ethnography. The peoples who predated the state or exist
outside of the central realm of its geo-body have either been marginalized or essentialized.
Cases abound. Models of port cities and state formation at the river-mouth have been presented
from Sumatera, the Malay Peninsula, and other islands including Borneo. Historical evidence
based on such royal chronicles as hikayat and colonial documents is employed to examine thepolitico-economic relationship between upriver and downriver, and the differences between thetwo spaces have become a prioi assumption for the state-oriented perspective.
This paper, however, argues against such a model. The model showcases an ideal type and isproblematic, as it has constrained scholarly analysis that reflects empirical diversity. The
conventional view on the power relation between downriver and upriver often fails to address
the dynamic responses to the center and activities of the periphery. The downriver-upriverinteraction is not simply one-way diffusion of the state power and market demand forcommodity exchange, however. I instead present an alternative framework that pays attention tointerfaces, connected by and mechanisms connecting upriver and downriver. The paper closely
looks into various interfaces formulated between upriver and downriver as well as numerous
tributaries in Central Borneo to better comprehend social and identity formation, political
economy, natural environment and history of the riverine society.

1Connection of the Regional Trade and the Riverine Trade in West
Kalimantan, c.1820-1850
Atsushi Ota
The period in question falls on the time when the Dutch colonial authority started to penetrate
the local societies gradually from the coastal areas to the inland areas. Up to around 1820 in the
coastal areas of West Kalimantan regional trade was prospering through the activities of Malay,
Bugis, Chinese, and other groups of migrants, who originated from Riau, Siak and other places,and established their settlements in the scattered places along the coast. They conducted thecoastal trade to carry marine and forest products from the small coastal ports to the core ports
such as Pontianak and Simpang, and also the regional trade to export these products to theprincipal ports in insular Southeast Asia, such as Singapore and Batavia. After around 1820, theDutch colonial authority attempted to concentrate the coastal trade on the two ports under theircontrol: Pontianak and Sukadana. Under this policy, the migrants on the coastal areas moved
again. A part of them migrated to these two port towns, while others moved into the inland areasand concentrated more on the riverine trade between the mid-stream areas and the coastal ports.
This series of changes must have reorganized the trade both in the coastal and inland areas ofWest Kalimantan.
My presentation attempts to trace these changes in the coastal trade and the riverine trade as aresult of the Dutch policy, and to analyze its impact on the local economy, by examining Dutchcolonial records. I will attempt to discuss how the regional trade and the riverine trade wereconnected under these circumstances, and what sort of negotiations and interactions took place
between the groups of people in the coastal and inland areas.

Transformation of Regional Economy and Riverine Networks in Sarawak
1900-40
Atsushi Kobayashi
This presentation purposes to examine the role of the riverine commercial networks for thegrowth of Sarawak trade in the first half of the twentieth century. Using statistical tools, we seethat Sarawak trade grew rapidly after the 1920s based on the expansion of plantation rubber
exports to industrial countries. Previous studies have argued that this rapid increase in trade wasbrought about by the promotion policies of the Brooke government, such as the foundation of
the organization checking the quality of export commodities, and invitation measures ofChinese immigrants as labors. Besides the viewpoint stressing the political effects, thispresentation reveals that change of commercial relationships having formed along a river since
the nineteenth century contributed to the growth of Sarawak trade in the 1920s.

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Until the first half of the twentieth century, commercial transaction in Sarawak was based on
credit sale due to a lack of money, despite there were a lot of risks for a creditor, such as plunder,
disaster, and escape of a debtor. We can assume that local merchants dealt with these high risks
through setting a high rate of interest on credit sale to compensate for a loss, while it hindered
the expansion of commerce in Sarawak. As a result of a statistical analysis extracting interest
rate from seasonal prices of grain, we find out the possibility that interest rate in capital Kuching
declined after 1922. In addition, in 1922 the Brooke government reformed the judicial system
which had declared the protection of native interests and impeded the relationships of mutual
trust among merchants severely since the 1870s, and the new court judged a case rightly; it
resulted in the improvement of credit of transactions and the decline of interest rate. The lower
interest rate might facilitate the prior investment in production of rubber, which needed to wait
for several years to tap a tree. The expansion of trade of Sarawak in the 1920s was attributed in
not only the political initiatives but the enhancement of credit of the riverine commercial
networks.

Whaleshark Used to be Food: How it has become an eco-icon representing
marine environmental conservation movements in the Philippines
Jun Akamine
Whaling has become an international political issue at least for the last 40 years. Not a few
anti-whaling opinions strongly argue non-lethal use of whale, namely whale watching. Similarly,
marine tourism gains popularity and conservationists argue protection of marine environment aswell as some popular species necessary. The sea around the Philippinse attracts
environmentalist’s concerns as part of so called the precious “coral triangle” and whalesharks(Rhincodon typus) is one of the marine wildlife that receives worldwide attention. The paper
will deal with three inter-related issues on whaleshark conservation in the Philippines: (i) the
paper will explore the recent global efforts toward conservation of commercially exploitedaquatic species (CEASs) including whalesharks; (ii) the paper will trace the processes how
whalesharks became an eco-icon (icon for environmental conservation) in the Philippines in1998 and in the world in 2002 when it was listed in the Appendix II of the CITES (Conventionof International Trades in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora); (iii); and the paper will
describe how whalesharks are now non-lethally used in the Philippines based on my own
fieldwork. Then, the paper will raise several points for CEASs conservation in the world as well
as for whaleshark conservation in the Philippines.

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Jalan Tikus on the Sea:
Persisting Maritime Frontiers and Multi-layered Networks in Wallacea
Kazufumi Nagatsu
Southeast Asian Maritime world is not merely a geographic entity, but also a historically formed
ecological, social and cultural geo-body. Throughout the insular world, a variety of maritime
folks have long maintained sea-oriented way of life based on fishing, inter-regional trade,shipbuilding, or piracy. Although the sea was enclosed by the modern political authorities, they
have continued aquatic movements passing through their own local networks. Their aquatic
movements have often been motivated by commoditization-oriented use of natural resources.
They have repeated the movements and expanded the networks to search for or trade theresources such as trepang, shark’s fin, tortoise shell and etc. which were usually exported to theoverseas.
The Sama-Bajau, once known as sea nomads in European literature, constitute part of the mostmobile populations in Southeast Asian Maritime world. Their settlements are mainly dispersed
in and around Wallacea, or the eastern part of the Maritime world which covers southern part of
the Philippines, Sabah in Malaysia, and eastern part of Indonesia. With a population of
1,100,000, many of the Sama-Bajau live along coasts and on islands. I once drew a map
demonstrating their population distribution based on the censuses of year 2000 of the three
countries. From the map we can gather that they have so far migrated and establishedsettlements along the politically peripheral or backdoor sea routes that are relatively far from thecentres of modern states, be it colonial or national. The maritime folks sometimes referred tosuch routes as jalan tikus or mouse’s routes on the sea. They have taken advantage of the jalan
tikus not only to exploit the marine resources, but also to evade the intervention in theiractivities by established authorities such as modern states or global actors (e.g.
environmentalists).
This paper firstly traces the brief chronology of maritime movements of the Sama-Bajau andthen points out “backdoorness” as a characteristic of their sea routes, from the mid-nineteenth
century, when the colonial powers launched a series of substantial interventions in the region, up
to the present. Secondly, it explores the ecological and economic contexts in which the sea
people have repeatedly reconstructed their maritime networks and its focal points out of jalan
tikus. Here the discussion attempts to introduce the concept of “persisting maritime frontier” to4

better understand the eco-spatial niche of their networks and its focal points. Finally, it tries toanalyse the functions and meanings of their micro networks by placing the networks in thewider multi-layered networks of the maritime folks in Wallacea. The analysis may contribute to
the general understanding on how the maritime folks have responded to the expansion ofmodern states and maintained their maritime world in Wallacea.

SESSION 2
Interfaces of Burmese and Thai Buddhism in Thai-Burma Frontier
Kwanchewan Buadaeng
Thai Buddhist Sangha or monk organization is centralized, nationalistic and controlled by Thaistate as concluded by many scholars.* In the past century or so, it has been challenged by many
Buddhist movements, some of which were later outlawed and had to leave the official Sangha.
However, diverse Buddhist practices following differences in ethnic and local traditions do exist
elsewhere in Thailand. Having looked into cases which have been in conflict with and outlawedby Thai Sangha, I find that difference in Buddhist practices are not the main reason for the
conflict and the outlaw, although the Sangha may claim that it is. The main factor is more about
either the challenge to state power or the competition over resources. Following this argument, I
will present cases of conflict between groups of “Burmese” monks and laymen and local Thai
Sangha in Thai-Burma frontiers, from data collected during 2011-2012.

I use the term

Thai-Burma frontier to cover also Northern Thailand as well as Western Thailand. As theseareas had been under the control of Burmese kingdom for around 200 years during the 17 th-18th
century, Burmese temples set up by Burmese monks and laymen in the old days have continued
some of their traditions until nowadays. Apparently, recent Burmese migrants, with an estimateof 3 million people, have become main donors and care takers for these temples. Consequently,
Thai authorities and Sangha start to pay more attention to these temples and tried to control
them. The paper will describe interfaces of Burmese and Thai Buddhism in which Thai and
Burmese monks and laymen interact and negotiate with each other by referring to both state law
and Buddhist doctrine. It will show also that modern media plays important role in theinteraction and negotiation of various actors in this interface.

*For example, Duncan, McCargo. 2004. “Buddhism, Democracy and Identity in Thailand,”
Democratization.

11 (4):

155–170.

in Thailand," Journal of Asian Studies

Keyes, Charles F. 1971. "Buddhism and National Integration

30(3): 551-67. Sirindhorn Anthropology Center. 1999. Wiklit

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Buddha sasana. [Buddhism in Crisis]. Bangkok: Sirindhorn Anthropology Center. Somboon Suksamran.
1977. Political Buddhism in Southeast Asia. London: C. Hurst & company.

Millenarianism, Ethnicity and the States: Khruba Bunchum Worshipamong the Lahu in Thailand and Burma
Tatsuki Kataoka
This paper examines the recent development of cross-national and cross-ethnic
movement of worshipping Khruba Bunchum, a charismatic Theravada monk who has
been working along the Thai-Burmese borderlands, from the viewpoint of thehighlanders and their relationship with modern nation states. Khruba Bunchum has
become famous among the Lahu on the hills of Thailand and Burma since the 1990’s
when a Lahu “man-god” assisted his meditation. After that some cults of the Lahu
joined the Bunchum movement and discovered that he is a reincarnation of the pastsaints of the Lahu tradition of Mahayana Buddhism and nativistic movements. The
Lahu legend says that these past saints used miraculous power to defend their
theocracies against the modern states of China and Burma. In this context, for the Lahu,
the Bunchum movement articulates their longing for redemption of “lost kingdoms”.
The Bunchum movement itself also shows some aspects of “state evasion”, in terms that
Bunchum has been active outside state control of the Sangha. However, at the sametime, from another perspective, the Bunchum movement among the upland minorities
is equally viewed as a showcase of Buddhist propagation program initiated by bothgovernments of Thailand and Burma. The nature of the Bunchum movement is still
ambivalent, for such contradicting functions of the movement in regard to nation-states
are working at the same time and at the same field.

Cross-boundary Dynamics and Local Buddhist Practices on the
China-Myanmar Border: A Case of Tăi Dehong, Yunnan
Takahiro Kojima
This presentation will explore the religious practices of Theravada Buddhists in Dehong Dai andJingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Dehong Prefecture is located on the
China-Myanmar border. One of the main groups in this area is the Dai（Tăi）, who follow
Theravada Buddhism. The local religious practices have many things in common with Buddhist6practices in other places of Southeast Asia, sharing the same Pali canon. However, this area
differs from other Theravada Buddhist societies in the relatively low number of monks andnovices. Although all the villages in Dehong have a monastery just as in Southeast Asia, most of
the monasteries are uninhabited. Therefore, without resident monks, Buddhist rituals are
performed by virtue of the direct relationship between the lay community and their Buddhist
scriptures, Buddha images, and Pagodas. In particular, holu, experts in reciting Buddhist
scriptures, play an important role as mediators in this relationship.
Buddhism in Dehong was stopped during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
for more than 10 years. After the Cultural Revolution, there was a major policy change and holu
began to migrate from the Shan State to the Chinese side. They played an important role in therevival of Buddhism in Dehong. As a result, the script used in the Buddhist texts changed to thatof Shan State.
But this does not mean that the everyday practices of villagers simply are assimilated into thoseof Myanmar style. The local intonation used in reciting the Buddhist texts was not allowed tochange, as villagers demand that holu from Myanmar adopt the local style. Thus the villagers
choose and establish their way of local practice. They are particularly keen to maintain practices
which relate to the physical senses.
This implies that while cross-boundary dynamics are extremely important in this day and age,
we must not lose sight of the possibility of more rooted local practices, in this case culturalpreferences that proved to be remarkably resilient in the face of extreme political change, thatprovide the larger social context for cross-boundary movement.

The Flow of Bujan: Negotiation and Adat Nikah among the Temuan in
Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Chih-Hui Liang
Marriage is the main process of social reproduction in most societies, and every society has a setof rules and conventions governing it. It is not just a union between a man and a woman, whoare building a new family, but even more importantly the creation of ties between twoclans/households, and often two villages. To make this happen, communication is necessary, andseveral rounds of negotiation are generally required before the wedding can go ahead. By taking
a close look at this complex procedure, we can understand the essence of marriage among the7Temuan.
To obey rules it is first necessary to know what the rules are. People’s behavior generallyaccords with all kinds of rules, but at the same time it is true that only through action andinteraction may one come to a full understanding and realization of the rules. Therefore, rules
are not a prerequisite for action/behavior, but are learned through action, which implies thatrule-following is a realization process.
In the discussion of Temuan marriage practices and the conventions and rules relating to them,
we can gain a fresh perspective on the adat and the rules it generates. We will find that the adat
supplies the Temuan with a system of values. The rules formulated to uphold these values are by
no means rigid and immutable, though. Neither are they completely inviolable. Since the rules,
and the following of the rules, are something that people learn about as they go along, it follows
that the rules display a certain degree of openness and mutability. When violations of the rules
occur, people find new ways of realizing their purpose in accordance with the adat values.

Between Religion and Customary Practices among Buddhist Karen
Yoko Hayami
As in other regions in Myanmar, in the plains surrounding Paan in Karen State too, the landscape isscattered with innumerable pagodas. At some of these pagodas, one can observe something like amass wedding vow at specific times of the year. The brides and grooms are mostly clad in Karen
costume. One couple after another make ritual vows with the help of a ritual specialist. This is amajor component of what the local Pwo Karen refer to as duwae practice. What is duwae, and why is
it performed at the pagoda? Is this a Buddhist ritual or what? Pagoda committee members will say, it
is simply Karen custom rather than Buddhist, while monks with strict ideas of Buddhism will say it
is spirit cult.
This leads us to question, 1) what kind of space does the pagoda constitute and what are theappropriate activities within its space? How is it situated in Burmese Buddhist ideology/ideologies in
its varied contexts? 2) what is the Karen logic for conducting this rite at the pagoda? How does it
relate to other customary practices among the Karen in this region especially in relation to marriage?
Finally, both of these questions actually point to the issue of the delineation of Buddhist practices
from other activities whether magical or mundane non-religious customary everyday practices.
For half a century, scholars of Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia from the “practical” point ofview had tried to understand the relationship between Buddhism and spirit beliefs. This literature8became more complex as observers have become aware of the role of the state and/or religious
orthodoxy in defining and delineating, and furthermore that such delineation itself shifts. By taking
up this ritual vow of marriage at the pagoda, which practitioners differently assess as custom, spirit
cult or religion, this paper deals with the question of the interface of religious practice with
non-religious customary practices, as well as other practices related to the supernatural.

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