Volume 86, No. 1, March 2013

Uyghur Support for Economic Justice in Ürümchi

Xiaowei Zang, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Keywords: Islam, Muslims, Communitarianism, Economic beliefs, Inequality

There has been little research conducted on economic beliefs among Uyghurs in Xinjiang, although they are part of the reason Uyghurs have developed feelings of relative deprivation and unfairness. Do most Uyghurs support economic individualism, which holds that the poor are responsible for their misfortunes, economic inequality is good, and the government should not interfere in the economy? Or do they endorse economic communitarianism, which holds that the government shall provide for the poor and reduce inequality via intervention? Are there some people in the Uyghur community who are more economically communitarian than others? Are Uyghur economic beliefs related to the usual socio-demographic measures such as age, sex, education, occupational attainment and income? Is there a religious influence on Uyghur economic attitudes? If not, how can Uyghur economic preferences be accounted for? This paper addresses these questions using data from a survey conducted in Ürümchi in 2007. It shows that the vast majority of Uyghurs endorse economic communitarianism. In addition to Islamic orthodoxy, Uyghur consciousness is related to this endorsement. However, Uyghur socioeconomic status is not correlated with their economic preferences. This is partly because Uyghur-Han inequality affects Uyghur attitudes more than intra-group differentiation in social status among Uyghurs.

Abstract in Chinese – 摘要

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Becoming a Migrant: Vietnamese Emigration to East Asia

Danièle Bélanger, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Hong-zen Wang, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan

Keywords: Vietnam, East Asia, emigration, migrant workers, marriage migration, migratory process

Since the early 1990s several million men and women from Southeast Asia’s lower socioeconomic classes have migrated to East Asia with a temporary worker visa or a spousal visa. This article is based on five years of ongoing fieldwork in migrants’ communities of origin in rural Vietnam and in places of destination in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. The authors make three contributions: first, they argue that the categorization of migrants as either “workers” or “wives” in research obscures the complex trajectories and motives involved in the process of “becoming a migrant.” Second, they challenge studies that unquestioningly invoke social network approaches to migration. Instead, social networks should be regarded as a double-edged sword for emigrants because personal networks are embedded in a powerful migration industry. Third, they contend that migration outcomes and levels of success are, in part, influenced by processes taking place before departure. This article sheds light on the tension between migrants’ agency and the structural constraints faced by candidates seeking to migrate from Vietnam, and from Southeast Asia more broadly.

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Surviving the Hard Times: Adjustment Strategies of Industrial Workers in a Post-Crisis North Korean City

Andrei Lankov, Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea
In-ok Kwak, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
Seok-hyang Kim, Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea
Choong-bin Cho, Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea

Keywords: Postsocialism, postcommunism, second economy, North Korea, Kim Jong Il, copying strategy, daily life

The article deals with the everyday survival strategies employed by the workers of (largely non-functioning) state enterprises in post-socialist North Korea, and with the social changes this group has dealt with in the last two decades. It also compares these trends with the experiences of post-socialist Eastern Europe. In the 1990s the economic role of the North Korean state decreased dramatically. Official wages could no longer guarantee the physical survival of the populace, so workers from state industries engaged in a multitude of economic activities which were (and still are) largely related to the booming “second economy.” These activities include private farming, employment in semi-legal and illegal private workshops, trade and smuggling, as well as small-scale business activities. The choice of a particular activity depends on a number of factors, of which network capital is especially significant. Income is also augmented by the illegal use of state resources and widespread theft of material and spare parts from state-owned factories. As a result of these changes, the industrial working class of North Korea, once a remarkably homogenous group, has fragmented, and its members have embarked on vastly different social trajectories.

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Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Malaysia’s Neo-Conservative Intellectuals

Muhamad Takiyuddin Ismail, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Malaysia
Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Keywords: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, UMNO, Khairy Jamaluddin, Mahathir Mohamad, dominant party system

This article discusses the role played by neo-conservative intellectuals during the tenure of Malaysia’s fifth prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (2003-2009). Abdullah’s leadership was distinguished by two qualities which arguably qualify it as “neo-conservative,” in terms of revival of policies from a bygone era and the launching of political reforms within the framework of a conservative regime led by the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) party. Using the theoretical experiences of dominant conservative regimes in the Soviet Union, Japan, China and Taiwan, the present authors are of the view that the policies and approach undertaken by Abdullah constitute a sharp departure from those of his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, for twenty-two years (1981-2003). Particularly eliciting controversy was the trust Abdullah put into a team of young advisors led by his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin. In this article, we look at how these young neo-conservative intellectuals, together with several identifiable individuals, brought about reforms in Abdullah’s leadership and

impacted UMNO politics. We discover that, notwithstanding their enthusiasm for progressive reforms, the intellectuals had under-estimated the strength of reactionary and conservative elements existing within an UMNO-based interlocking system, hence reducing them to an anomaly amongst these forces. The perception deficit befalling these reformists was aggravated by their encroachment into the political economy of the UMNO rentiers and prevailing weaknesses in Abdullah’s support system. The article seeks to contribute to the discourse on intra-elite conflicts in dominant conservatives regimes, such as have taken place in dominant parties like the UMNO.

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Britain in the Aftermath of the Indonesian Invasion of Timor, 1977: The Fiction of Neutrality and the Reality of Silent Help

Anna Costa, University of Hong Kong, China

Keywords: aid, British Foreign Policy, decolonization, Dunn Report, Timor-Leste

This article fills a gap in the literature of international involvement in the aftermath of the Indonesian invasion of Timor-Leste by providing detailed documentary analysis of British conduct and motives. A substantial amount of scholarship has covered the role played by the United States and Australia during and after the Indonesian invasion of 1975. The lack of scholarly work specific to the role played by Britain during the first years of the Indonesian-Timorese conflict is regrettable as it represents a missing piece in the mosaic of international liability for one of the major massacres committed in the twentieth century. This omission has allowed the official British government version to survive, in which the country plays the role of an honest but ultimately unsuccessful broker working for a diplomatic solution between Indonesia and Portugal that would ensure the

right to self-determination for Timor. The existing literature only offers a cursory challenge to this idea of British neutrality. The current article examines the details of British complicity by focusing on three main areas: the handling of the Dunn Report, which was effectively translated into a campaign to rescue Indonesia’s reputation both Timor Archives, building the archival records of Falintil, the Timorese Resistance Army domestically and internationally; the policy of aid to Jakarta, where economic and geo-strategic interests trumped considerations of ethics and international legality; and finally British abstention at the UN,

advertised as the epitome of neutrality but actually representing a choice of support for Suharto’s regime.

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Books Reviewed in this issue

Asia General

CROSS-BORDER GOVERNANCE IN ASIA: Regional Issues and Mechanisms. Edited by G. Shabbir Cheema, Christopher A. McNally and Vesselin Popovski. Tokyo; New York: United Nations University Press, 2011. xvii, 322 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$35.00, paper. ISBN 978-92-808-1193-3. Reviewed by Richard Kyle Paisley.

ASIAN MARITIME POWER IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Strategic Transactions: China, India and Southeast Asia. By Vijay Sakhuja. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. xv, 363 pp. US$39.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4311-09-0. Reviewed by James R. Holmes.

BETTING ON BIOTECH: Innovation and the Limits of Asia’s Developmental State. By Joseph Wong. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2011. xiii, 200 pp. (Tables.) US$29.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8014-5032-7. Reviewed by Robert L. Curry, Jr.

HISTORY TEXTBOOKS AND THE WARS IN ASIA: Divided Memories. Routledge Contemporary Asia Series, 31. Edited by Gi-Wook Shin and Daniel C. Sneider. London; New York: Routledge, 2011. xv, 294 pp. (Illus.) US$148.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-415-60303-4. Reviewed by Ivo Plsek.

NARRATING RACE: Asia, (Trans)Nationalism, Social Change. Edited by Robbie B.H. Goh. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2011. viii, 283 pp. (Figures.) US$87.00, cloth. ISBN 978-90-420-3424-4. Reviewed by Christopher Lee

BUDDHIST MONASTICISM IN EAST ASIA: Places of Practice. Edited by James A. Benn, Lori Meeks, and James Robson. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. x, 232 pp. US$42.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-415-50144-6. Reviewed by Dewei Zhang

China and Inner Asia

NEW FRONTIERS IN CHINA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS = ZHONGGUO WAIJIAO DE XIN BIANJIANG. Edited by Allen Carlson and Ren Xiao. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011. xiv, 216 pp. (Tables.) US$65.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-7391-5025-2. Reviewed by Eric Hyer

LOCATING NEOLIBERALISM IN EAST ASIA: Neoliberalizing Spaces in Developmental States. Studies in Urban and Social Change. Edited by Bae-Gyoon Park, Richard Child Hill, and Asato Saito. Chichester: Wiley- Blackwell, 2012. ix, 321 pp. (Illus., maps.) US$39.95, paper. ISBN 978-1- 4051-9279-8. Reviewed by David W. Edgington

CHINA’S EMERGING MIDDLE CLASS: Beyond Economic Transformation. Cheng Li, editor. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2010. xviii, 396 pp. (Tables, graphs.) US$34.95, paper. ISBN: 978-0- 8157-0405-8. Reviewed by Sophia Woodman

LOOKING NORTH, LOOKING SOUTH: China, Taiwan, and the South Pacific. Series on Contemporary China, v. 26. Editor, Anne-Marie Brady. Singapore; Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific, 2010. xvi, 298 pp. (Tables, figures, maps.) US$94.00, cloth. ISBN 978-981-4304-38-2. Reviewed by Yuan-chao Tung

THE DRAGON’S GIFT: The Real Story of China in Africa. By Deborah Brautigam. Oxford (UK); New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. xv, 397 pp. (Figures, maps.) US$29.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-19-960629-0. Reviewed by Li Anshan

WALMART IN CHINA. Edited by Anita Chan. Ithaca; London: ILR Press, 2011. vii, 294 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$24.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-8014-7731-7. Reviewed by John A. Donaldson

AFTER LEANING TO ONE SIDE: China and Its Allies in the Cold War. Cold War International History Project Series. By Zhihua Shen and Danhui Li. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011. xix, 352 pp. (Tables.) US$60.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8047-7087-3. Reviewed by Sergey Radchenko

IN THE EYE OF THE CHINA STORM: A Life Between East and West. Footprints Series, 14. By Paul T.K. Lin with Eileen Chen Lin. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011. xvi, 311 pp. (Illus., B&W photos.) C$39.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-7735-3857-3. Reviewed by Michelle Tisseyre

THE MARSHALL MISSION TO CHINA, 1945-1947: The Letters and Diary of Colonel John Hart Caughey. Edited by Roger B. Jeans. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. xxiii, 289 pp. (Maps, B&W photos.) US$79.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-4422-1294-7. Reviewed by Jingbin Wang

A SPRINGBOARD TO VICTORY: Shandong Province and Chinese Communist Military and Financial Strength, 1937-1945. China Studies (Leiden, Netherlands), v. 19. By Sherman Xiaogang Lai. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2011. xxxiii, 341 pp. (Tables, figures, maps.) US$179.00, cloth. ISBN 978-90-04-19800-5. Reviewed by Diana Lary

UNEVEN MODERNITY: Literature, Film, and Intellectual Discourse in Postsocialist China. Critical Interventions. By Haomin Gong. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2012. viii, 192 pp. (Illus.) US$47.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8248-3531-6. Reviewed by Shuyu Kong

REMOTE HOMELAND, RECOVERED BORDERLAND: Manchus, Manchoukuo, and Manchuria, 1907-1985. The World of East Asia. By Shao Dan. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2011. xxi, 413 pp. (Tables, figures, maps, B&W photos.) US$55.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8248-3445-6. Reviewed by Thomas David DuBois

Northeast Asia

JAPAN AS A ‘NORMAL COUNTRY’?: A Nation in Search of Its Place in the World. Japan and Global Society. Edited by Yoshihide Soeya, Masayuki Tadokoro, and David A. Welch. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011. viii, 211 pp. (Figures.) C$24.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-4426-1140-5. Reviewed by Paul Midford

THE EVOLUTION OF JAPAN’S PARTY SYSTEM: Politics and Policy in an Era of Institutional Change. Japan and Global Society. Edited by Leonard J. Schoppa. Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 2011. viii, 232 pp. (Tables, figures.) C$27.95, paper. ISBN 978-1-4426-1167-2. Reviewed by Kuniaki Nemoto

SOLDIER OF GOD: MacArthur’s Attempt to Christianize Japan. By Ray A. Moore. Portland, ME: Merwin Asia, 2011. ix, 167 pp. US$35.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-9836599-4-5. Reviewed by Arnel E. Joven

EMBODYING DIFFERENCE: The Making of Burakumin in Modern Japan. By Timothy D. Amos. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2011. xii, 302 pp. (Graphs, maps.) US$33.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-8248-35798. Reviewed by Christopher Bondy

South Asia

UNDERSTANDING INDIA’S NEW POLITICAL ECONOMY: A Great Transformation? Edited by Sanjay Ruparelia, Sanjay Reddy, John Harriss, and Stuart Corbridge. London and New York: Routledge, 2011. xv, 272 pp. (Tables, graphs.) US$150.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-415-59810-1. Reviewed by Jeffrey Witsoe

ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF SOUTH ASIAN POLITICS: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Edited by Paul R. Brass. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2010. xvi, 464 pp. (Tables.) US$200.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-415-43429-4. Reviewed by Robin Jeffrey

DECENTRALIZATION, LOCAL GOVERNANCE, AND SOCIAL WELLBEING IN INDIA: Do Local Governments Matter? Routledge Advances in South Asian Studies, 23. By Rani D. Mullen. London and New York: Routledge, 2012. xvi, 235 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$140.00, cloth. ISBN 978-0-415-67065-4. Reviewed by S.S. Meenakshisundaram

VARIETIES OF ACTIVIST EXPERIENCE: Civil Society in South Asia. Governance Conflict and Civic Action Series, V. 3. Edited by David N. Gellner. New Delhi, India; Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2010. vii, 291 pp. (Tables, B&W photos.) US$39.95, cloth. ISBN: 978-81-321-0450-6. Reviewed by Douglas A. Olthof

DEBT AND DEATH IN RURAL INDIA: The Punjab Story. By Aman Sidhu with Inderjit Singh Jaijee. New Delhi; London: Sage, 2011. xx, 335 pp. (Tables, figures, maps.) US$39.95, cloth. ISBN 978-81-321-0653-1. Reviewed by Nilotpal Kumar

BANGLADESH: Politics, Economy and Civil Society. By David Lewis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. xiii, 233 pp. (Map.) US$96.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-521-88612-3. Reviewed by John Richards

EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH: Overcoming Hurdles to Equity with Quality. Manzoor Ahmed, editor; contributors, Fazle Hasan et al. Dhaka: Published on behalf of Institute of Educational Development, BRAC University by BRAC University Press; exclusive distribution by University Press, 2011. xxxii, 352 pp. (illus.) US$40.00, cloth. ISBN 978-984-33-3277-6. Reviewed by John Richards

Southeast Asia

MANAGING ECONOMIC CRISIS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. Edited by Saw Swee-Hock. Singapore: Saw Centre for Quantitative Finance; Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. xx, 340 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$32.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4311-23-6. Reviewed by Ross H. McLeod

POVERTY AND GLOBAL RECESSION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. Edited by Aris Ananta and Richard Barichello. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012. xxviii, 432 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$45.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4311-19-9. Reviewed by Amrita Daniere

DECENTRING & DIVERSIFYING SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES: Perspectives from the Region. Edited by Goh Beng-Lan. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. xiii, 304 pp. US$34.90, paper. ISBN 978- 981-4311-56-4. Reviewed by Doreen Lee

TRAVELING NATION-MAKERS: Transnational Flows and Movements in the Making of Modern Southeast Asia. Kyoto CSEAS Series on Asia Studies, 3. Edited by Caroline S. Hau and Kasian Tejapira. Singapore: NUS Press; Kyoto: Kyoto University Press, 2011. vii, 310 pp. (Tables, figures, B&W photos, illus.) US$32.00, paper. ISBN 978-9971-69-547-7. Reviewed by Tim Bunnell

BLACK OPS, VIETNAM: The Operational History of MACVSOG. By Robert M. Gillespie. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2011. ix, 304 pp. (Figures, maps.) US$41.95, cloth. ISBN 978-1-59114-321-5. Reviewed by Priscilla Roberts

EDUCATION IN VIETNAM. Edited by Jonathan D. London. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. xii, 341 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$39.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4279-05-5. Reviewed by Anne Raffin

CONTESTED WATERSCAPES IN THE MEKONG REGION: Hydropower, Livelihoods and Governance. Edited by François Molle, Tira Foran and Mira Käkönen. London; Sterling, VA: Earthscan, 2009. xxii, 426 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$146.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-88407-707-6. Reviewed by Ian G. Baird

ACEH: History, Politics and Culture. Edited by Arndt Graf, Susanne Schröter and Edwin Wieringa. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010. xvii, 386 pp. (Col. illus.) US$59.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4279-12-3. Reviewed by David Kloos

SINGAPORE IN GLOBAL HISTORY. ICAS Publication Series Edited Volumes, 14. Edited by Derek Heng and Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2011. 317 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$55.00, paper. ISBN 978-90-8964-324-7. Reviewed by Albert Lau

STUDENT ACTIVISM IN MALAYSIA: Crucible, Mirror, Sideshow. Studies on Southeast Asia, no. 54. By Meredith L. Weiss. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University; Singapore: NUS Press, 2011. vi, 302 pp. (Illus.) US$23.95, paper. ISBN 978- 0-877-27754-5. Reviewed by Maznah Mohamad

POLITICAL AUTHORITY AND PROVINCIAL IDENTITY IN THAILAND: The Making of Banharn-buri. Studies on Southeast Asia, no. 53. By Yoshinori Nishizaki. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 2011. xviii, 254 pp. (Tables, maps, figures.) US$46.95, cloth. ISBN 978-087727-783-5. Reviewed by Nicholas Farrelly

Australasia and the Pacific Islands

MANAGING MODERNITY IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC. Edited by Mary Patterson & Martha Macintyre. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2011. 326 pp. (Figures, maps.) A$34.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-7022-3900-7. Reviewed by Kate Barclay

SUMMONING THE POWERS BEYOND: Traditional Religions in Micronesia. By Jay Dobbin with Francis X. Hezel. Honolulu: University of Hawai̔i Press, 2011. 286 pp. (Tables, figures.) US$55.00, cloth. ISBN 978- 0-8248-3203-2. Reviewed by Glenn Petersen

Documentary Film Review

GIRL MODEL [FILM]. Directed, produced and edited by David Redmond and Ashley Sabin; consulting producers, Marcy Garriott, Robert Garriot. Brooklyn, NY: Carnivalesquefilms, 2011. 1 videodisc (77 min.) US$250.00. http://carnivalesquefilms.com. Reviewed by Apichai W. Shipper