MAI Seminars, Conferences, Visitors and Events 2005
Corporate Sponsorship of this event by the Monash Asia Institute, Centre for Malaysian Studies and Monash University.
The Asia Society AustralAsia Centre
Asia Foreign Policy Update luncheon with guest speaker
Dato'
Dr Michael O.K. Yeoh
Co-Founder and CEO, The Asian Strategy &
Leadership Institute
Monday, 7 November 2005,
12.15 p.m. for 12.30 p.m.
Alto Room, Langham Hotel Melbourne
(formerly Sheraton Towers Southgate)
One Southgate Avenue,
Southbank, Melbourne
Dato' Dr Michael Yeoh will speak on "The Changing ASEAN Landscape - New Challenges" which will include the issues of ASEAN Integration, East Asia Regionalism and the coming East Asia Summit. Dato' Dr Michael Yeoh was appointed by the Prime Minister to the National Unity Advisory Panel in the Prime Minister's Department for the 2004-2006 term and is Chairman of its Policy and Implementation Committee. He is also Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Business Council, the Malaysia-China Business Council and the World Islamic Economic Forum.
The Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (ASLI) is an independent not-for-profit research institute which is Malaysia's leading think tank. It promotes Asian leadership, international business relations, economic cooperation and strategic thinking. In his role as Chief Executive Officer of ASLI, Dato' Dr Michael Yeoh has forged a strategic partnership with the Asia Society New York and co-hosted the Asia Society's Williamsburg Conference in Kuala Lumpur.
A graduate in Economics from Monash University, Dato' Dr Michael Yeoh is also the author of several books including "Vision and Leadership: Strategies for Vision 2020" and "Globalization and the New South".
Enquiries: Daphne, Asia Society AustralAsia Centre (daphaniet@asiasoc.org.au )
Monash Asia Institute and
National Centre for Australian
Studies, Monash University
Friday 28 October 2005,
1.00 pm
S822, Level 8 South, Menzies Building (11)
Monash University Clayton campus
"India-Southeast Asia-Australia security concerns: From divergent perceptions to convergence of perspectives"
Speaker: Prof. Y. Yagama Reddy, Director, Centre for Southeast Asia & Pacific Studies, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati - 517 502, Andhra Pradesh State, India
Natural linkages together with common concerns tend to integrate India-Southeast Asia-Australia into a macro-region rather than an entity. In this realm of strategic pre-eminence owing to their regional identities, Southeast Asia has been viewed as being paramount significant to the security of India and Australia. Yet, there had been varied perceptions of security risks and responses threats. Obviously there were differential methods adopted to ensure security and peace in Southeast Asia. SEATO, Indochina war, Sino-Indian war, formation of ASEAN, FDDA, Indo-Soviet Treaty, US bases in Indian ocean, Cambodian crisis and ASEAN's alienation from India had all testified to the regional security concerns during the Cold War period.
As the Cold War tensions began to get faded away there had begun the process of getting themselves tuned to the realities of post-Cold War situation. India's Look East Policy, Australia's realisation of India's impact of Southeast Asian security, ASEAN Regional Forum and Australia's comprehensive engagement with ASEAN have all become conducive to bringing rapprochement among these three regions. Though India's nuclear test evoked vociferous reaction vis-à-vis ASEAN's subdued response, Australia soon shifted its focus on the restoration of bilateral relations. The ADF's White Paper laying emphasis on the strategic stability in the Asia-Pacific region, Strategic Dialogue favouring India's protection to the maritime traffic in the Bay of Bengal and commitment to cooperating in the fight against terrorism have all argued well for heralding in an era of convergence of interests.
About the speaker
Y. Yagama Reddy (born in 1952) has been a faculty member since 1985 and is currently the Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian & Pacific Studies, a UGC sponsored Area Studies Centre established in 1976 at Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. In addition to teaching regional geography and geopolitics of Southeast Asia and South Pacific, Professor Reddy is involved in multidisciplinary research encompassing strategic, security, economic and demographic aspects of Southeast Asia and South Pacific. He has to his credit five books and twenty seven papers published in national and international journals. He has also presented twenty seven research papers at various national and international conferences/seminars and delivered lectures on the topics of national relevance.
Prof. Reddy served as the Chairman of the Board of Studies in Southeast Asian and Pacific Studies at S.V. University (2001-2004) and currently a member of the UGC Standing Advisory Committee on Area Studies Programme (New Delhi). He is a Life Member of various professional bodies including the Indian Association for the Study of Australia, the Indian Congress for Asia and Pacific Studies, the Indian Association for American Studies, the South Indian American Studies Network, and International Association of Asian and European Studies as well as a Member of Indian Association for Asia and Pacific Studies. In connection with his project, Trends in India - Australia Relations (since 1947), he visited several Australian Universities in November 2003. Prof. Reddy, who is currently working on a project Australia - India Partnership: Towards a Paradigm Shift, is also an awardee of AIC Australia Studies Fellowship (2005) to visit various Australian Universities/Institutes.
Edward Gray
Memorial Prize
Contribution to Australia
Sri Lanka Relations
The Australia Sri Lanka Council (ASLC)
wishes to honour the memory of the late Edward Gray, and acknowledge
his contribution to Australia and Sri Lanka.
The prize
of $500 will be awarded to the undergraduate or postgraduate student
currently attending a university in Australia, whose recent work
is judged by a panel appointed by the ASLC to have contributed most
significantly to the Australia/Sri Lanka relationship and understanding.
The person should be nominated by an academic who is familiar with
his/her work.
The award is advertised through Australian
universities and is expected to be presented in November 2005. Submissions
should be made by 15 October 2005 to
one of the addresses below and should include:
- the CV
of the applicant
- name(s) of referee(s)
-
a copy of the eligible work, or testimony to the eligible activity,
not exceeding 4000 words.
| Professor Marika Vicziany Monash Asia Institute Building 11, Monash University, Vic 3800 Marika.Vicziany@adm.monash.edu.au | Trevor Jayetileke Secretary, Australia Sri Lanka Council Inc 20 Throsby Court, Endeavour Hills 3802 asgsash@alphalink.com.au |
About Edward 'Eddie'
Gray
Edward 'Eddie' Gray passed away in Melbourne
on 21/9/04, aged 85. He is survived by his wife Yvonne and three
sons who reside in Melbourne. Eddie was a founding member of the
Australia Sri Lanka Council and was Vice President at the time of
his demise. He was also on the Board of Trustees of the Sri Lanka
Cricket Foundation of Victoria. Eddie's life was dominated by
his love for sport. He represented Sri Lanka as a contestant in Boxing
at the 1948 London Olympic Games. After retiring from active sports
he continued to support and promote any sport activity connected
to Sri Lanka. His love for country and sports were synonymous. He
moved to Australia with his family in 1977, but this did not prevent
him from representing Sri Lanka as an official at subsequent Olympic
Games. Eddie was an asset to the work of the ASLC with his organising
ability and enthusiasm, his gracious manner, and his contacts with
many friends and associates. We salute this famous son of Sri Lanka,
and offer our prize as a mark of respect and admiration for this
great friend of our two countries.
India-China
Conference
The Monash Asia Institute is collaborating
with the ABERU (Asian Business and Economics Research Unit) and the
Global Institute of Monash University in organising a conference
on Globalisation, Migration and Labour Mobility in
India and China, to be held in Melbourne 29-30 September
2005.
The conference focuses on the interaction of the
two countries, India and China, both countries with large populations
and high growth rates following market liberalisation. The conference
will examine how their labour experiences compare, and what the 2
countries might draw from each other in relation to labour markets
and management.
For more details: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/units/aberu/conference/index.php
UNESCO
International Centre for Engineering Education (UICEE, Monash University)
4th Asia Pacific Forum on Engineering
and Technology Education
26-29 September
2005
Menam Riverside Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
The objective of the Forum is to bring together educators
from the Asia-Pacific region to continue discussion about common
issues in engineering and technology education; to discuss the need
for innovation in engineering and technology education; and to foster
the links, collaboration and friendships already established in the
region; and to pursue the goals formulated in the action oriented
agenda.
This forum is partly supported by the Research
Unit on Cultures and Technologies in Asia (RUCTA), Monash Asia Institute
(MAI).
For more details: http://www.eng.monash.edu.au/uicee/meetings/4thAPFETE.html
Thursday
22 September 2005, 6.00 pm
Level 7, Monash University
Conference Centre, 30 Collins St, Melbourne
Monash Asia Institute presents
"A Tibetan Garden in Calcutta: The Third Panchen Lama's Fascination with India and its Legacy"
An
illustrated lecture by Professor Toni Huber
(Zentralasien-Seminar,
Humboldt University, Berlin)
About the lecture and speaker
Professor Toni Huber is the world's greatest authority on the tradition of pilgrimage in the Tibetan cultural world. His most recent work, The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1999) is considered to be a standard work on pilgrimage. In part it deals with the cycle of pilgrimage every 12th year to Mount Tsari and the cultural practices attendant on it. Possibly the book's most unique aspect is the attention Professor Huber has paid to the pilgrim's varied acts of re-creating the actual landscape into a visionary one in which every facet of the mountain becomes vivified with deities.
Professor Huber's most recent research forms the basis of the present lecture.
In a section of his forthcoming book which deals with Tibetan views of India as a Buddhist land since the 12th century, Professor Huber notes the fascination held by several eminent Tibetan scholars with an erroneous vision of an India which was still Buddhist. Through a variety of historical misinterpretations this "re-envisioning" of a Buddhist India was of great interest to the Third Panchen Lama who decided late in his life that a small temple and garden should be built in Calcutta to function as a centre for Himalayan pilgrims and traders in what he perceived was a land in which Buddhism had somehow "survived". From its inception in 1778 it functioned as both temple and resting place, at least until the early 19th century.
The lecture will explore, with illustrations, something of the hidden reasons which led to its foundation and will discuss its dwindling fate after that time, including the current state of the temple and its garden in modern Calcutta.
13 - 15 July 2005
Ramada Hotel, 270 Flinders St , Melbourne
"Old Myths and New Approaches - Advances in the Interpretation of Religious Sites in Ancient Southeast Asia"
Conference hosted by Centre of Southeast Asian Studies in collaboration with the Monash Asia Institute and the Faculty of Arts.
This path-breaking two-day conference will focus on the religious sites of ancient Southeast Asia, and their relations with the surrounding landscapes, an issue which has hitherto received little scholarly attention. The conference draws on the latest work by over twenty international experts, who will approach the sites from a range of perspectives and disciplines. Temples discussed will be the Angkorean complexes in Cambodia and Thailand, Hindu-Buddhist temples on Java, Burmese Buddhist sites, and Cham temples in Vietnam.
More details: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/cseas/sacredsites/
You are invited to attend the launch of
"Chinese Indonesians: remembering, distorting, forgetting"
edited by Tim Lindsay and Helen Pausacker
a festschrift for Charles Coppel
co-published by Monash Asia Institute, Monash University, and Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
When: Thursday 2 June 2005, 6.00 pm
Where: Yasuko Hiraoko Myer Room, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, University
of Melbourne
The book launch is hosted by Monash Asia Institute Asia Law Centre, Melbourne University
hosted by the Melbourne Chinese Studies Group
Kashgar: Cultural Monuments and Spaces
A cooperative project to heighten international awareness of
China's Xinjiang region
Speaker: Professor Marika Vicziany, Director, Monash Asia Institute
Friday,
3 June 2005, 6.00 pm
Museum of Chinese Australian History
22 Cohen Place Melbourne 3000 (off Little Bourke St, between
Lonsdale/Russell)
Tel: (03)9662 2888
On Friday 03 June 2005, Professor Marika Vicziany, Director of Monash Asia Institute, will revisit the Melbourne China Studies Group to give us an update on the latest phase of her continuing work in China's far western Xinjiang region. This is an international research project, titled "Kashgar: Cultural Monuments and Spaces", undertaken in 2005 through collaboration among Monash Asia Institute, Xinjiang University, and the Foreign Relations and Trade Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Professor Vicziany is director of this project, which includes various Australian, Chinese, and American scholars working closely with the renowned photographer John Gollings.
The project seeks to bring the famous but much ignored city of Kashgar into international awareness, by publication of a photographic essay covering a range of historical, cultural, social, and environmental sites. The expertise of the project's team embraces history, religion, culture, archaeology, Persian and Buddhist literature, and social and economic development.
The team visited, recorded, measured and photographed some of the most important sites in this region (and, indeed, in all of central Asia and western China) including the Mauri Tim stupa, the ancient city of Hannoyi, the cemetery of laddered tombs, Kashgaria, the old city of Kasghar itself in all its complexity, Yarkand, Yengisar, Yopur, Artush. The team also photographed local residents, cultural objects (such as the tall hats of Yarkand), trees, natural sites and animals including the giant donkeys of Yopur, the diversiform poplars of the Taklimakan, the Pamirs, and the houses of the old and new rich merchants of Kashgar and Artush.
National Archaeology Week Seminar
Presented by
Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA)
Monash Asia Institute
School of Geography and Environmental
Sciences, Monash University
'The Ethics of Archaeology'
Sunday
15 May 2005, 10.00 am - 3.00 pm
Ramada Hotel, Waterview
Function Room
Level 10, 342 Flinders St, Melbourne 3000
(Melway Ref 1A G10)
This half-day seminar will have speakers from a variety of schools and disciplines presenting papers on the internationally accepted conventions and codes of ethics that guide archaeological investigations and excavations, and the problems faced by archaeological sites all over the world as they continue to be destroyed for commercial gain.
An auction in Melbourne in 2004 of Chinese export porcelain from the Vietnamese shipwreck Binh Thuan, and accompanying media attention, raised questions about the fundamental principles that separate archaeology from commercial salvage and the marketing of archaeological artefacts.
Through the media the public generally understands the accepted principles and ethics that guide medical research, journalism, law and government. However, the ethics of cultural heritage site management and archaeology are often not as coherently perceived. Other ethical dilemmas and problems faced by archaeologists include undertakings not to reveal information about sacred sites versus their duty to research, publish and disseminate information, facing pressure from pro-development lobby groups (and employers in the case of consultants), and being involved in work that may be legal in the state or country, but unacceptable according to certain international conventions (that may or may not be signed by that state).
Significant underwater heritage sites such as the RMS Titanic are at risk as they are in international waters, where no country is able to protect them individually from the removal of artefacts or destruction.
The UNESCO Convention of the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (yet to be ratified) states the internationally recognised principles that guide the management of underwater cultural heritage sites.
The background and aims of the Convention will be discussed as Australia proceeds towards its signing, and ultimately its ratification worldwide. Speakers and their subjects include:
- Dr Lyndel Prott, expert on the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage
- Dr Ian McNiven who will discuss the ethics of indigenous archaeology and seascapes in Torres Strait
- Dr Colin Hope on the dilemmas of archaeology, tourism and development in Egypt
- Mr Cosmos Coroneos consultant maritime archaeologist discussing the ethics of archaeology and maritime archaeology
- Dr Angelo Andrea Di Castro on conservation and development in China and Nepal and
- Mr Bill Jeffery on underwater heritage of Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia and Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka
The seminar is sure to provoke thought and stimulate discussion about the inherent social, spiritual and economic values of cultural heritage, and provide an insight into the issues faced by practicing archaeologists in the modern world.
Special MAI seminar on contemporary Hong Kong
Friday
29 April 2005 10.00 am to 12.00 noon
Building 54 (Japanese
Studies Centre Auditorium) Monash University Clayton campus
(For campus map and directions about getting to Monash see:
http://www.monash.edu.au/campuses/clayton.html
)
"What does C.H. Tung's
resignation say about Hong Kong-Chinese politics?"
Speaker: Christine Loh, Chief Executive Officer, Civic Exchange,
Hong Kong
Professor Richard Larkins, Vice Chancellor of Monash University, will say a few words about Monash's research strategies and welcome Ms Loh to the Clayton campus.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China passed from British to Chinese control in 1997. Since then, Hong Kong has been governed by Beijing appointed Chief Executive, Mr C. H. Tung. The HKSAR Government has dealt - and often struggled with - a range of challenges since 1997. In early March this year Mr Tung announced that he had decided to step down early from his position as CE. Hong Kong is at another turning point. In this seminar, Christine Loh will review the HKSAR experience as China's wealthiest enclave. In particular, she will consider the current state of Hong Kong's political relationship with Beijing.
About the speaker
Christine Loh is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the independent, non-profit public policy think tank, Civic Exchange. Prior to the establishment of Civic Exchange, Loh had a highly successful career in politics. She was appointed to the Hong Kong Legislative Council in 1992 and then ran two successful elections in 1995 and 1998. As a politician, she championed many issues, which included the successful reform of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, access to information, rural land inheritance rights for the indigenous women of the New Territories, equal opportunity legislation and passed the groundbreaking Protection of the Harbour Ordinance. Loh chose to not stand for re-election in 2000 in order to set-up Civic Exchange.
Prior to her career in politics, Loh had a successful 14-year career in the private commercial sector. She was engaged in commodities trading and strategic planning for Philipp Brothers, and Phibro Energy, divisions of the US multinational Salomon Inc [now Salomon Smith Barney]. Her last position with the company was as regional Managing Director. She was among the first group of business people to be posted to work in Beijing in 1980 and helped set-up the first US representative office there for Philipp Brothers. In 1992, she helped the Hong Kong-based CIM Company Ltd put together an international consortium to bid for the development of Hong Kong Container Terminal No. 9, and also brought the famous LoFt retail licence from Japan to Hong Kong.
Loh writes extensively about politics, political economy, sustainable development, and corporate social responsibility, and has been widely published in Hong Kong and abroad in both mass circulation as well as academic publications. Loh's e-Newsletter provides up-to-date political analysis and has a large circulation. Her book, "Getting Heard: A Hong Kong Citizen's Handbook"(2002), provides a user friendly guide on civic participation. She has co-authored and edited "Building Democracy: Creating Good Government in Hong Kong"(2003), and "At the Epicentre: Hong Kong and the SARS Outbreak"(2004). She is a frequent speaker at business and public forums at home and abroad. She has also anchored radio and television public affairs programmes. Loh is well known also for her work in designing and facilitating multi-stakeholder dialogue processes to help deepen and broaden understanding on public policy issues.
She is a Council Member of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Member of the Advisory Committee of the Securities and Futures Commission, Non-executive Director of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASRIA), Board Member of Community Business, Member of Asia Society's International Council (USA), and Human Rights in China (USA ). She is one of the World Economic Forum's "Global Leaders for Tomorrow". Christine Loh has won various prizes, including being twice recognised by Business Week as one of 'The Stars of Asia' in 1998 and again in 2000. Most recently, she was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003 for the success of Civic Exchange, and won the Peter Bryce award for outstanding civic work in 2004. Loh holds an English law degree from the University of Hull, England, and a Masters of Law degree in Chinese and Comparative Law from the City University of Hong Kong. She has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Law, honoris causa, by the University of Hull. Her background in law, business, politics and media has helped her to be a leading voice on public policy. In her private life, she is an art collector, video filmmaker and writer.
Ms Loh is visiting Melbourne as a guest of the Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures which began as part of the Centenary Celebrations in 2001. We thank the organisers of this event for 2005 for facilitating this special seminar - in particular thanks are due to the Arts Events Management on behalf of the Victorian Department of Innovation Industry and Regional Development. We also thank Professor Richard Cullen of the Department of Business Law and Taxation at Monash University for his help in organising this seminar.