Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Online ISSN : 2424-1377
Print ISSN : 0563-8682
ISSN-L : 0563-8682
Volume 29, Issue 4
Displaying 1-6 of 6 articles from this issue
Articles
  • Classmates, Internal Conflicts and Relations with the Government of the Military
    Yoshifumi Tamada
    1992 Volume 29 Issue 4 Pages 389-421
    Published: March 31, 1992
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    There were two abortive attempts and one successful coup under the Prem (1980-88) and Chatchai governments (1988-91) in Thailand. This paper tries to analyse the main causes of these three coups by focusing upon internal conflict in the armed forces, especially the army, and their relations with the government. The internal conflict centers upon the struggle for more important positions by factions of army officers. The most strategic factions are formed on the basis of being classmates at the army academy.
     The Class 7 group, who graduated from the academy in 1960, attempted a coup to get rid of growing rival factions among Prem's supporters in 1981. Arthit, hero of the suppression of this attempt, bacame army chief in 1982 and built his own faction, which later split into two as he came to challenge Prem and his retirement approached. Discord between the two culminated in the abortive coup of 1985. Chawalit, a leader of Class 1, having put down the attempt with the collaboration of Class 5, bacame army chief the next year and tried to restore unity to the army leadership by means of a balanced reshuffle. Under him the government and the military became on good terms. But when Chatchai dared to challenge the military, which had come under the firm control of Class 5 after Chawalit's resignation in 1990, the military staged the successful coup of 1991.
     Although the existence of vying factions may be a significant factor in a coup attempt, it may also be a deterrent because a faction must consider the attitudes and strengths of the other factions. The monarch can refuse to sanction a coup if there are countervailing factions among the military. But for such factions, it is difficult to defeat a coup attempt. This is the case with the 1991 coup.
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  • Atsushi Watanabe
    1992 Volume 29 Issue 4 Pages 422-453
    Published: March 31, 1992
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    For the people of a village in South Banten, West Java, eating is not confined to the domestic domain but extends widely to the social sphere of the village. In addition to communal feasts, all productive activities and daily relationships provide eating opportunities outside the household, on which not a small part of subsistence is expected to depend. This report describes eating opportunities outside the household and weighs their role in subsistence in terms of rice intake. It then examines the socioeconomic contexts of the relationships involved in eating.
     More than half of the sample households, particularly those of younger generations, did not obtain enough rice annually for subsistence. Most households, however, met this level by taking every available opportunity to eat both inside and outside the village. This provided 71kg of rice, 31% of the average annual rice intake per consumer unit. Of this, 37.7kg (16%) was obtained inside the village through wage and non-wage labor, attending feasts and daily offerings; 5.7kg (2%) was obtained in neighboring villages when people visited there for harvest labor, to help with feasts, etc.; and 27.5kg (12%) was obtained in urban areas where villagers went to work in the slack season. On the other hand, 42kg of rice was given to people outside of the household per consumer unit, of which 39.1kg went to people from the same village and 2.5kg to people from neighboring villages.
     The important factors supporting the village's subsistence were the redistribution of rice within the village and seasonal out-migration to urban areas. Though rice exchanged within the village was balanced for the consumer unit, a net flow of rice occurred from older to younger households mainly through the formers' role as supporters of their children and grandchildren in exchange for their labor services, in which woman-centered kin relations played the dominant role. And the data imply that the older households' surplus was made available for the younger households by seasonal out-migration of a large number of men, which had the effect of reducing the consumption pressure inside the village. This combination can be viewed as a set of complementary activities by gender which has continued to construct a hierarchical system under which land exploitation has been controlled just at the subsistence level so that the older generation could maintain their superiority in landholding and labor control.
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  • Masahiro Nakashima
    1992 Volume 29 Issue 4 Pages 454-467
    Published: March 31, 1992
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In the Chao Phya delta of Thailand, agricultural and water resources development were implemented for a century until the early 1960s. Such development has enhanced dry-season rice cultivation, and water demand has been drasticly increased. At the end of the 1970s, water demand in the delta exceeded the supply capability of upstream reservoirs. The Thai government has been imposing water rationing together with dry-season rice cropping in certain areas. This may be regarded as a top-down and centralized institution by the government. As limited natural resources become a constraint on production activities, a resource management system may be developed in the local community to manage and utilize the resources.
     This paper first presents the past development and associated changes in agriculture. Secondly, the government's effort to control water demand is explained. Thirdly, various farmer's attitudes toward the government's top-down control are illustrated. Fourthly, the positive attitudes of local farmers to manage the water by organizing themselves and their water demands are presented. Finally, the possibility of further developing a water management social system is discussed.
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  • Sukristijono Sukardjo, Isamu Yamada
    1992 Volume 29 Issue 4 Pages 468-485
    Published: March 31, 1992
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The mangrove forest of the Cimanuk delta complex, Ujung Indramayu, is estimated to cover about 1,500ha and represents an important natural resource in West Java. The mangrove forest area is managed by the Perum Perhutani Unit III (The State Forestry Corporation), West Java. This area is described together with the various problems arising from the present exploitation at the traditional level, for fuelwood, edible vegetables, animal fodder, green manure and other uses. Since the mangrove forest ecosystem supports many commercially valuable marine species, stabilizes the delta area and provides important raw materials for many purposes, its destruction will mean a long-term loss far exceeding any immediate gain. It is important, but it suffers from a lack of management and is threatened by pollutants and expansion of tambak (fish pond) areas. The purpose of this paper is to deal with the issues and research programs on management, conservation and utilization. A series of recommendations is presented which allow for optimum long-term development and preservation while encouraging further research and understanding of the complexity of the factors influencing the future of the mangroves.
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