Cohort 6 brings a wealth of topics in this issue of The Asian Scholar. Topics range from health, music and theater, education, economics, ethnicity to business practices. The economy remains the dominant concern, generating seven related articles. Public health comes next with four articles. The other topics have two to three each.
The studies are more cross-regional than before. Lessons are derived not only from one’s neighbors but from other Asian regions. A situation bound to a different culture can be a source of knowledge and experience for another whose values and beliefs are dissimilar. Private education in the Philippines for instance has useful lessons for India. Malaysian ethnic policies may help address ethnic contentions in Pakistan.
Globalization also underpins the discourse in several studies. Trade with the OECD, for instance, brings environmental hazards to Thailand. Chinese businessmen will not rock the political boat not only out of loyalty to the state that supports them but also because they are now part of a global economic flow of money and goods. Consequently, they would prefer political stability to freedom of dissent.
The economy, both local and transnational, is the dominant concern in the following articles. The first two focus on local economies. Tahmina Rashid examines the truth and the hype behind the micro-credit phenomenon in her article, “The Micro Credit Conundrum and the Shifting Nature of State-Citizen Liaison in the Urban Slums of Dhaka.” Her study gives us disturbing results, i.e. that women are not empowered by the micro credit scheme contrary to proclamations and that international organizations that provide funds seem to have more political clout than the state. Jude William Genilo’s article, “Community-Based Communication: A New Approach to Development Communication” has a solution to rural poverty: a good communication system that shares knowledge and, in the case of a small farming community in Thailand, improves rice production.
Big business is a crucial player in global economics. There is a universality to the goals and activities of big business anywhere in the world but big business is also shaped by the socio-political and cultural systems around it. Wali-ul-Maroof Matin’s article, “Corporate Governance in Family-Run Businesses in Thailand” show Thai businesses as actors in global economics and yet what has been formulated in the West does not seem to apply to them. Corporate governance in the West is always impersonal and objective. In Thailand, some family-run businesses break the corporate governance axiom, showing that they can defy the negative expectations from being family businesses and instead promote business success. Natalia Soebagio examines China’s new rich, businessmen mostly, in “Whither China’s New Rich?” Chinese businessmen have joined the global bandwagon and spurred China’s economic growth tenfold. They are grateful for the economic freedoms given them by the state and do not want to disturb the political status quo that has provided the stability economic progress needs.
National and transnational economies are significant sites of negotiations in global economics. Mutahir Ahmed studies the ethnic policies of Malaysia and how these led to Malaysian economic development. He compares Malaysian ethnic negotiations with those of Pakistan and hopes Pakistan will learn from the Malaysian experience. Transnational and multi border economies are the object of Laisham Rajen Singh’s study, “The Kunming Initiative: Prospect for Sub-regional Cooperation.” Singh traces the present and future trade flows in four countries that share borders, the BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar). These border flows include emerging markets and may create the dynamic border economies of Asia in the future.
The next article is really about religion but what Qiu Yonghui has chronicled here is the expansion of a religious movement into a multi million dollar economic endeavor. “New Religious Movements in India: The Mata Amritadamayi Math” is a history of a religion started by a simple woman called the hugging saint. She is now head of a well funded international religious organization which has done much for India. The Math combines simple faith and business savvy, serving as an example of effective religious and financial management as well as sustained social service.
Two articles in this issue focus on education. The first one takes us inside the classroom. Lim Chap Sam’s “Mathematics Teaching in Shanghai, China” looks into the pedagogical approaches of Chinese teachers towards the teaching of mathematics, the so-called “secrets” of the Chinese mathematics classroom, and the wondrous results they produce. The second is on private higher education in the Philippines. Kishori Joshi, in “Private Sector Financing of Higher Education in the Philippines and its Policy Implications for India,” examines the strengths and weaknesses of one of the biggest private education sectors in the world. It highlights the survival and sustainability of Philippine private higher education despite the absence of state support.
Finally, the last three articles are on culture, two on music and one on theater. Emphasizing the hybridity and at the same time cultural uniqueness of art forms, the three articles talk of art that has crossed borders, borrowed elements, preserved itself in diaspora, and most importantly, kept faith with their practitioners and audience. Yousof Saeed examines the music of Amir Khursrau in “Amir Khusrau and the Indo-Muslim Identity in the Art Music Practices of Pakistan.” This 13th century music has influenced other musical forms and many generations of musicians while remaining a viable expression of culture and identity for Pakistanis. Jintana Thunwaniwat compared Southern Chinese music in the Chinese mainland and in Thailand. While it thrives in China, Southern Chinese music has to deal with diasporic challenges in Thailand. The last article connects Indian and Balinese puppet theaters. I Nyoman Sedana proves the connection between the Tolpavakoothu shadow puppetry of India and the Wayang Kulit of Bali. Despite the strong similarities however, there are still elements of indigenization and differences in interpretation which put a stamp of cultural uniqueness on each one.
Lily Rose Tope
Editor
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