Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Online ISSN : 2424-1377
Print ISSN : 0563-8682
ISSN-L : 0563-8682
Volume 38, Issue 2
Displaying 1-12 of 12 articles from this issue
Articles
  • A Case Study of the Coc Thanh Cooperative in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam
    Masayuki Yanagisawa
    2000 Volume 38 Issue 2 Pages 123-141
    Published: September 30, 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The system of agricultural production in the Red River Delta based on village-level agricultural cooperatives has changed since Resolution 10 of 1988. The function of cooperatives was greatly reduced, and the household came to be considered as an autonomous unit of economy. In the process of change in the cooperatives' function, economic activities took on greater importance. A new law on cooperatives in 1996 also promoted the establishment of new types of cooperatives as autonomous economic organizations. Discussions on cooperatives' function, however, have tended to be too abstract and idealized and to lack specific detail. This paper, therefore, evaluates the economic activities of cooperatives based on an analysis of actual economic activities in one village. Coc Thanh Cooperative (CT) in Nam Dinh Province was chosen for a case study, and its cooperative's economic activities were evaluated from the accounts of revenue and expenditure of the Irish potato business, including the cultivation, and the storage and sale businesses. It was found that the executive staff of CT actively managed the potato business and produced a profit for the whole cooperative. They controlled the material cost and the cooperative's profit according to fluctuations in climatic conditions and market prices in order to generate profits both for the potato farmers and for CT. Besides their regular salary, they received a bonus as reward for managing the potato business. Why did the cooperative manage the potato business as CT's business, rather than leaving it to individual farmers? The advantages of having the potato business run by CT were that it could provide funding and information, function as an arbitrator, operate in line with government policy, and perform welfare works. The disadvantage was its economic inefficiency as a profit-making organization. To improve its economic efficiency as a profit-making organization, CT paid a bonus to the executive staff, thereby motivating them to efficient management. CT was an organization with two purposes : the pursuit of economic efficiency and the promotion of welfare works. Since villagers have to get funds by themselves and do public undertakings and welfare works in their own village, economic activities by farmers' associations such as cooperatives should be promoted.
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  • A Comparison between Thailand and Japan
    Sukanya Nitungkorn
    2000 Volume 38 Issue 2 Pages 142-164
    Published: September 30, 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper tries to explain the difference in economic development between the reign of King Rama V (1868-1910) and that of the Emperor Meiji (1868-1912) in terms of the difference in the state of education. Before being forced to open the country by Western powers, the overwhelming majority of native Thais were farmers growing rice using traditional method mainly for internal consumption. Most Thai commoners received no education, but those who did, received theirs from the monks who were more interested in teaching morality than reading and writing skills. The situation was a contrast to Japan where the samurai received education from government schools, whereas many commoners did from private schools. The exchange economy of Japan was more advanced due to the emergence of big cities. Both countries sought modernization as a means to protect themselves from being colonized by Western powers. The new Japanese leaders made serious efforts in establishing a formal education system by first emphasizing basic education for the mass and later developing secondary and tertiary education because they felt that skilled and professional manpower was indispensable for national development and industrialization. The Thai leaders faced a more pressing problem of centralizing political power for security reason than developing educational system. As a consequence, the Japanese economy reached the take-off stage within the Meiji era whereas Thailand, although it progressed from self sufficient to a market economy, continued to depend heavily on rice production.
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  • Environmental Representations in a Changing World
    Lye Tuck-Po
    2000 Volume 38 Issue 2 Pages 165-184
    Published: September 30, 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This paper offers an alternative way of thinking about the tropical forest, that of the Bateks of Pahang state, Peninsular Malaysia. I will argue that environmental representations are as much about being part of the larger world as they are about the intimate particularities of the local environment. Further, the Bateks' responses to environmental changes are less a sprig of global environmentalism than an independently constructed position, as mediated through their concrete knowledge and sentiments of the place and its history. It is this knowledge, its cognitive and imaginative dimensions, that I explore in this paper. With growing degradation, there is the possibility that people will become more estranged from their geography of knowledge and that, ultimately, landscape lore becomes just lore, history without a place. The conceptual aim is to offer a more imaginative and sensitive understanding of the effects of forest degradation on local communities, their histories, and knowledge.
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  • The Pottery of Bari, Antique Province
    Hiroko Nagai
    2000 Volume 38 Issue 2 Pages 185-202
    Published: September 30, 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This research note aims to explore the existence of a traditional village industry in a Philippine community. The village of Bari is known for its pottery within the Province of Antique. It has been producing traditional wares such as water jars, cooking stoves and plant pots for local consumption. The first attempt to develop the pottery of Bari with a new kiln took place in the 1950s. With the Philippine government's policy to promote ceramic industries for export since the 1980s, the Department of Trade and Industry planned and implemented several projects such as forming an association of potters, providing loans, and introduction new technology. Despite these efforts, the pottery of Bari has shown no sign of expansion or growth. It has maintained its traditional structure up to the present.
     In Bari, pottery has been manufactured by the wives of small farmers and agricultural workers who live at the subsistence level. The need to secure a rice supply as well as cash income determines the division of labor in the household: the husband farms rice and the wife makes pottery. Their primary goal in making pottery is to meet the basic needs of the household and provide education for their children. Development projects, which endeavored only to improve the manufacturing process, were not appropriate to this socioeconomic situation of the potters. They have not only persisted in their traditional way, however, but also responded as independent artisans to trends in the local market. For instance, products such as charcoal cooking stoves which carry the name of a brand of propane gas, and a new type of plant pot called “bunsay” indicate the sign of change. It appears that such innovations have been able to sustain this village industry.
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  • The Case of West Java, Indonesia
    Masaaki Okamoto
    2000 Volume 38 Issue 2 Pages 203-225
    Published: September 30, 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The revolution that broke out in 1945 was not a complete turning point in the history of Indonesia, because the colonial indigenous bureaucrats and the colonial bureaucracy as a system survived the revolution and continued into the nation-state era. Why did this happen? This paper looks in particular at the indigenous bureaucrats, tracing their actions and behavior during and just after the revolutionary period (1945-1950) in West Java.
     During the colonial period, the West Javanese aristocratic class was coopted as colonial administrative bureaucrats, called Pangreh Praja (ruler of the realm), and had influence over the indigenous people.
     When the Republic of Indonesia (RI) declared its independence in August 1945,after the Japanese occupation, Pangreh Praja soon pledged their loyalty to the new nation-state and nearly became the republic bureaucrats with the central government's willing acceptance. It failed, however, for two reasons: the social revolution and the return of the Dutch. The social revolution swept through West Java, and in some parts of the region the top local Pangreh Praja were ousted and forced to flee. The central government of RI tried to reestablish the old order by installing other Pangreh Praja. This attempt failed because of the Dutch occupation of West Java. There the Dutch attempted to build a puppet state called Negara Pasundan. They recruited ex-colonial bureaucrats into the state apparatus, and many Pangreh Praja joined the state, even though they had formerly been RI employees.
     Negara Pasundan, however, was not recognized as a state by the Sundanese and in a few years it was disbanded and included into the RI. This brought about a crisis for the Pangreh Praja of Negara Pasundan. They were labeled as “cooperators” (Co) by the loyal RI supporters (Non). They were on the verge of being fired. But the upper echelon faired well. Why?
     First, they were useful human resources in the new nation-state. They were highly educated and had the knowledge and experiences to administer the state. Second, they had a close family network. The network encompassed both Negara Pasundan and RI, and attenuated the sharp attack against those on the Co side.
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  • Masahiro Ichikawa
    2000 Volume 38 Issue 2 Pages 226-248
    Published: September 30, 2000
    Released on J-STAGE: November 30, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Although wet rice is generally grown by sedentary cultivation in Southeast Asia, the Iban people in Sarawak have long practiced shifting cultivation of wet rice which is called padi paya (swamprice). Based on my survey and observations in an Iban village, this paper deals with the characteristics of this type of rice cultivation and its roles in the life of the villagers. During the fieldwork in the village, the changes in location of rice fields, frequency of shifting, rice-growing techniques, and soci-economic background of rice growing were investigated.
     The development of rice cultivation in the study area can be divided into three stages: the pioneer period from 1900 to 1950,the market-oriented period from 1950 to 1985,and the period of reduction from 1985 to the present. In the first period, rice fields were made through the reclamation of primary forests. As people were primarily concerned with obtaining land rights through this reclamation, they changed the location of their fields very frequently, every one or two years, by successive clearing of the forests. In the second period, when the rice price was rising, rice fields were expanded in order to increase production. Fields were abandoned after three consecutive years of cultivation, and new fields were opened in the secondary forest. In the third period, when off-farm job opportunities increased, rice fields were reduced in size and became concentrated near the longhouse. Although shifting cultivation was still practiced, many villagers cultivated the same fields for longer periods of four years or more.
     The Iban people's swamp rice cultivation has two distinctive characteristics: shifting cultivation and broadcast seeding. With these two methods, the size and location of rice fields can easily be changed in accordance with socio-economic changes, and shifting swamp-rice cultivation has thereby continued to support the life of the villagers.
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