The Off-line and On-line Impact of Information and Communications Technology on ASEAN Security – a Perspective

Modern information and communication technologies have brought immense changes to peoples’ lives in the developed and developing countries. It has been a revolutionising game changer impacting on the manner people communicate, do business, partake in crime and even harm others physically and psychologically. This is increasing as the rate of technologies, especially the Internet, penetrate deeper into populous countries in Asia and Africa. Its role has been so immense and pervasive that it has led to all-round changes in the manner societies organise themselves, including in the security arena. The benefits of these technologies have been massive, changing exponentially the manner governments and people connect with each other within and without the territorial state.

Tension of Muslim-Christian Relations in Indonesia: The Case of Conversion and Celebrating Christmas

There are in the tense of Christian-Muslim relations in Indonesia since the time of the New Order until today. The issues in Christian-Muslim relations include conversion (of faith) with marriage and celebrating Christmas. These two issues are constantly associated with religious politics in Indonesia. The issues have kept tensions to reoccur, although according to Indonesian history, Christianity and Islam had jointly driven colonialists away and participated in founding the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. In addition to theological affairs, the two issues relating to the tension of Christian-Muslim relationship have also impacted political and economic affairs. This article provides description of tension between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia in the case of conversion from Islam to Christian with marriage and celebrating Christmas in Muslim communities. The work concludes that in order to reduce tension between Christian and Muslim, all efforts to conduct theologia religionum dialogs should be sought, and social justice between Christians and Muslims should be created in the country. All of this is none other than a model of religious practices that have surpassed symbols. This is called passing over religious practices with new religious experiences

ASEAN, Australia and the management of the Jemaah Islamiyah threat

The Southeast Asian region was riddled with the threat of terrorism long before the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States. Due to various historical developments, nature of geography, ethnic-religious make-up and the nature of regimes in the region, terrorism of different kinds, particularly associated with religious extremism, has been in vogue in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines for more than four decades. What defined the terrorist challenge was that it was national in character, attempting either to secede from the Central Government to form a new state or to force the Central Government to adopt policies that would support the raison d'etre of these extremist groups, basically that called for the establishment of a political system that was more Islamic in character, either nationally or within a specified territory within a national state. However, what has made the challenge of 'new terrorism' distinct, especially with regard to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), is that while it aims to establish an Islamic state, its goals and organisational structures are far more wide-ranging. Unlike the terrorism and challenges of past religious extremist groups in the region, JI is a regional terrorist organisation. It wants to establish a regional Islamic state (Daulah Islamiyah) covering most of southern Southeast Asia, forming a new Islamic epicentre in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, JI has been able to synergise with various existing extremist groups in the region and beyond, succeeding in the process in posing the most serious security threat to the region since the end of the Cold War. What JI is, the challenge it poses, the measures that have been adopted to manage it and the long-term consequences of the JI phenomenon are analysed in this study

Arming the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF): trends and implications

Many have written on the issue of an arms race within the Association of Southeast Asia nations (ASEAN). The Asian financial crisis (AFC) in 1997 forced many ASEAN countries to halt plans of ambitious military build-up and arms modernisation. Instead, cuts in defence budgets were the norm, except for Singapore. Both Singapore and Malaysia rode out of the AFC relatively well and now that the financial storm is over, there are signs of a revitalisation in the arms build-up between them. The trend of introducing highly advanced and offensive weaponry into the region is more disturbing than uncomfortable, especially at a time when ties between ASEAN countries are volatile, and even hostile at times. This paper does not attempt to deal with issue of "arms race" in the region, something already dealt with extensively. Instead, it aims to trace the trend of recent arms procurements of Singapore and discuss its implications. This paper also describes that, far from being merely a modernisation exercise, Singapore's arms procurement programmes are part of a concerted effort to enhance its defensive and offensive capacities, especially in the face of heightening tensions in the region. What are the implications for Singapore and Malaysia as both countries become more heavily armed with advanced weaponry? How will the "precarious balance" be managed? How will this interactive arms-relationship end? This paper aims to explore the essence of these questions and hopes to serve as an update to the existing literature on the Singapore military build-up. Organisationally, the study is divided into a number of parts. First, it revisits historical facts and current events to provide a basis for Singapore's threat perception and explain how Malaysia is so deeply entrenched within Singapore's security planning. Second, it will trace the trend of recent arms procurements by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The final part will reveal the various implications of the growing military imbalance between Singapore and Malaysia

Singapore's defence industries

This study analyses the state of the Singapore defence industry. It traces the origins and evolution of the industry, examines the various motivating factors and analyses the impact of the industry on the country and beyond. From the study, it is clear that Singapore has one of the most developed defence industries in Southeast Asia and this has been achieved within a relatively short span of time. The monograph analyses the factors for this achievement, examines the decision-making process as far as the defence industry is concerned and examines problems that have been faces and might be faces by the defence industry in Singapore. Finally, the future directions of the defence industry are analysed

Soviet-Indonesian relations, 1945-1986

This thesis examines Soviet-Indonesian relations from 1945 to 1968.The study is placed in the broader context of Soviet-Third World relations. It analyses the major issues and charts the trends that dominated Soviet-Indonesian relations during the period under survey.It begins with a background study of Soviet-Indonesian relations from 1917 to 1945.This is followed by an examination of Soviet policies towards Indonesia under Stalin from August 1945 to March 1953. The next two chapters examine relations between the two countries under the leadership of Khrushchev,the first tracing the developments leading to the growing warmth and the second towards the growing chill inrelations. The fifth chapter examines relations under the Brezhnev-Kosygin leadership. The thesis ends with a brief summary of Soviet-Indonesian relations from 1945 to 1968,the examination of Soviet gains and losses and the evaluation of the Soviet experience in Indonesia in the light of its Third World relations. In the main,the study is issue-oriented, and purports to explain Soviet behaviour towards specific developments in Indonesia. It examines Soviet policies towards Indonesia in the light of its competing global and regional needs on the one hand, and the competing, often conflicting,ideological and national interests priorities ,on the other.The object is to show that Soviet foreign policy cannot simplybe described as being ideological or national interest-oriented or that its goals are always viewed from the regional or global perspective. The study highlights the shifts in Soviet policies towards Indonesia in the context of the changing domestic and international alignments, interests and environment. This in turn demonstrates how Soviet leaders have visualised developments in Indonesia and how changing priorities, policies and interests have called into question strongly held views.It also analyses the interplay of great power rivalries on a regional scene ,on the one hand and the conflicting needs and policies of regional powers on the other and how these have been brought to bear on Soviet foreign policy as far as Indonesia is concerned. The study also analyses the place of Indonesia in the context of the constant reassesment and revision of Soviet attitudes toward the Third World.When it became clear to Soviet policy makers that the policy of isolation was unsuccessful ,how did they relate with Indonesia? When it became evident that neutralism and non-alignment were the bases of the foreign relations of many of the new states, how did these have a bearing on Soviet-Indonesian relations? When the weakness of the proletariat and local communist parties was recognised and the Soviet Union introduced the doctrines of national and revolutionary democracies,where did Indonesia stand in Soviet ideological thinking? Under Brezhnev and Kosygin, the goal of scientific socialism and workers' states was pushed into the future and the immediate task stated as the increase of Soviet influence in the Third World.How was this realised as far as Soviet-Indonesian relations were concerned? How exactly did these changes come to bear on Indonesia and as to whether Soviet-Indonesian relations conformed with the existing pattern or ’line’ is detailed in this study

Conservative Turn and Islamic Populism: Challenges Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama in Contemporary Politics

This article objectives explore the main challenges of Indonesian democracy after the 2019 presidential election, namely the revival Islamic conservatism and populism, which seem to have seamlessly integrated into the Indonesian political praxis. This article to the authors attempt to the Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama response rise the conservatism and Islamic populism contextualizing the contemporary democratic politics in Indonesia. This article uses a qualitative writing method by taking data from articles written by previous authors from journals that have been published according to the topic of this article after the 2019 election took place. The issue of conservatism, and Islamic populism will continue to develop if the moderate Islamic forces of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) do not rise to the occasion in Indonesia’s political and religious life. After all, the country’s democratic life depends invariably on the maintenance of civility and the non-discriminative nature of the Islamic agenda held dearly by the two influential organizations. Should the moderate forces of Indonesian Islam weaken, then conservatism and populism would no doubt prevail. This article objectives explores the main challenges of Indonesian democracy after the 2019 presidential election, namely the revival Islamic conservatism and populism, which seem to have seamlessly integrated into the Indonesian political praxis. Conservatism and populism in Indonesian politics nothing useful in grassroots but only in the political elite. In this article objectives to the authors attempt to the Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama response rise the conservatism and Islamic populism contextualizing the contemporary democratic politics in Indonesia. This study recommends that the study of Islamic populism in relation to Indonesian politics after the 2019 election be an expanded study in terms of network and actor issues. So that a new role was found that contributed to the populism movement in Indonesia

Terrorism threat in Indonesia : key concerns in 2013

Despite a slew of counter-measures after the terrorist bombings in Bali in 2002, the threat of terrorism continues to loom. Developments in 2013 are likely to worsen the security situation in Indonesia