Opini

By Eko Budihardjo The World Heritage Cities Conference and Expo was held successfully in Surakarta (Solo) in late October. We all deserve to be proud of the fact that Surakarta was acknowledged as a Heritage City through the establishment of the Indonesian Heritage Cities Network. Jero Wacik, the minister of tourism and culture, ...

By Paolo Paddeu The Muslim population of the southern Philippines, in the vast mosaic of peoples of the Far East, is certainly not an exception when it comes to making flags of various types and standards. From Sulu to Palawan and Mindanao (where the Maranao utilization of flags, standards, and vexilloids is regulated by traditional ...

By Timdog Timdog on world religions and local beliefs in Nusa Tenggara. When I first read about Islam Wetu Telu I was fascinated, as I always am by religious minorities, particularly obscure, syncretic, and possibly endangered ones. From what I could make out Wetu Telu was the indigenous, syncretic belief system of Lombok, and it ...

By Dr. Wan Azhar Wan Ahmad History must be made compulsory for all Malaysians at every level of education so that one may derive lessons from the past that matter. Jim Baker, a modern writer on the history of Malaysia and Singapore, categorically states in his A Popular History of Malaysia and Singapore: Crossroads (2008) that the most ...

By Asiff Hussein Renowned for their martial prowess and happy go-lucky attitude, Sri Lanka`s Malay folk have but a relatively short history in the country, albeit a very fascinating one. This small Muslim community, which comprises of about 50,000 persons, are mainly descended from Javanese political exiles (nobles and chieftains), soldiers and ...

By ES Chua The Malay peoples were once the definitive people of South East Asia who founded Malaysia, in the form of the Selangor (Sri Vijaya Empire based in Klang and Palembang, Sumatra) Empire and its successors, Melaka and Pahang-Johor-Riau. But first, let us define ‘Malay’ both in the contemporary and historical sense .The law ...

By Sabri Zain Melayu or Malayu was the name of an ancient kingdom located at the mouth of the Batang Hari River of Jambi Province on the eastern coast of southern Sumatra. In fact, the names `Melayu` and `Jambi` are frequently interchangeable in many historical texts. The word `Malayu` was also found inscribed on a statue dated around 1286 A.D., ...

By Thatjayman Multi-racialism has been one of Singaporean core policies since its independence in 1965. In the light of this policy, all races (hereinafter referred to as ethnicity) are equal before the eyes of the state, and in no way shall any of the ethnic groups receive any forms of preferential treatment. Reflected in the National Pledge; ...

By Prof. (Em.) Dr. Caesar Voute It might be of some interest to the readers of the Sunday ISLAND newspaper that some anthropologists and archaeologists in several different countries are continuing their research on the ancient Hindu-Buddhist period in Central Java, Indonesia, including the probable relations which existed during the 8th to 10th ...

By Mong Palatino Are Filipinos Asians or Pacific Islanders? Is the Philippines part of Southeast Asia, Oceania or the Pacific Islands? Officially, Filipinos are categorized as Asians and the Philippines is part of Southeast Asia. But describing Filipinos as Pacific Islanders is not wrong. For a long time, Filipinos were known as ...

By Anak Agung Banyu Perwita ASEAN leaders are going to meet in Thailand at the end of this month to mark the implementation of the ASEAN Charter. The summit was originally scheduled to be held in last December, but due to domestic political chaos at that time in Thailand, the summit was postponed. The region itself is now facing ...

By Dr. Farish A Noor As if it was not bad enough that Malaysia has been overrun by an outbreak of frogs – like a scene from some Biblical catastrophe – we now have to stomach the spectacle of humbug heroes and demagogues as well. One is deeply distressed to read reports of conservative politicians and their followers crying for revenge ...