Faculty of Asian Studies

The 'Regional Security Issues Forum' of the Australian Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) was held in Melbourne last Thursday/Friday (4-5 September), and included a breakfast lecture from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Stephen Smith MP [photo, right]. The Co-Chairs of the Australian Committee are Professor Des Ball (SDSC) and Professor Tony Milner [photo, left] of the Faculty of Asian Studies. The Forum was held in the Sidney Myer Asia Centre at the University of Melbourne, and was hosted by Asialink. It is the first time CSCAP has held a meeting outside Canberra: and the Forum brought together ANU academics and Commonwealth Government specialists (from DFAT, the Department of Defence and the Australian Federal Police) with leading representatives of the Victorian business and academic community. All of the Melbourne-based universities were represented at the Forum. The Commonwealth officials included Ambassador Bill Paterson, whose appointment as the new Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism was announced at the meeting by the Minister.



The Minister's speech stressed ASEAN and especially Indonesia, and pointed out that the Prime Minister's Asia Pacific Community initiative had "started a conversation with our friends and neighbours". Mr. Smith said that "shaping our evolving regional architecture in ways that suit the diverse nation states of our region is a challenging task, but it's a task which the Government believes Australia must be engaged in". He suggested that the Prime Minister's proposal might lead to a "new piece of architecture" or change might "evolve and emerge from and through the existing architecture". One of the sessions of the Forum itself examined regional architectures - noting the degree of fluidity and contest, and seeking the underlying reasons for the architectural "messiness". Other panels examined the security aspects of foreign (in particular, Chinese) ownership in our resources sector, the prospects for controlling nuclear proliferation (including discussion of the government's new initiative), the crisis in Pakistan (and its implications for the war in Afghanistan) and current progress in the struggle against terrorism. A special session was devoted to Indonesia - examining current ethnic, religious and regionalist issues from a security viewpoint. The results of a new survey of Indonesian and Australian opinion - carried out by Roy Morgan Research specifically for the CSCAP Forum - were also presented.

The poll suggests wide divergence in security perceptions. Seventy-nine percent of Indonesians questioned saw the United States as the country most likely to create difficulty for their country (compared with 23% of Australians). The country causing Australians most anxiety was Indonesia (53%) - although only 29% of Indonesians considered Australia in this way. The security development most Indonesians feared was "the break-up of their country" (66%); and only 6% of Australians expressed that fear. What Australians most feared was climate change (58%). The area in which there is convergence is terrorism: 51% Indonesian, 50% Australians.

The survey suggested a significant difference in views between younger (under 35) and older Australians: younger Australians are much less likely to be anxious about Indonesia than older ones, and much more likely to be concerned about the United States.

Survey results: http://occident.anu.edu.au/AUS_CSCAP.ppt (PowerPoint format)

Students from ANU's new Pacific Studies program were inspired to attend the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts in Pago Pago, American Samoa. The convergence at the Festival of 22 Pacific nations and territories provided a spectacular array of cultural expression, allowing students to learn about Pacific peoples, places, histories, geographies and cultures through direct experience and interaction.

Having been introduced to the contemporary Pacific through ANU's inaugural undergraduate Pacific Studies course, students were able to contextualise and thus better understand what they saw and heard in Pago Pago. However, this learning experience worked both ways: students' experiences at the Festival breathed life into what must always be second-hand accounts of the reality of Pacific lives as provided in Canberra. As a result of the resounding success of the trip to Pago Pago, in 2012 the Pacific Studies Program will offer a field-work course based on the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts, to be held in the Solomon Islands.

A seminar will be held this Thursday 28 August, 1-2pm, to present what students learnt from the Festival and to discuss the following four issues, which stood out as central to the students’ experience:

How does one study the Pacific?

Who is the Pacific? How should we define this region – and is Australia in or out?

* The hierarchy of interactions between Melanesia and Polynesia, and the influences of Christianity and colonialism on these complex relationships.

*How could, and why should, people fight to preserve indigenous epistemologies and tradition in the context of globalisation and modernity?

All members of the ANU community are invited to attend what promises to be an entertaining and intellectually stimulating seminar. For further details please contact Ruth Barraclough (x53438) or Scott Pacey (scott.pacey@anu.edu.au).

Students from Mark Gibeau's Surasura Japanese class swept away the competition in the ACT speech contest.

The annual competition was held at the University of Canberra on August 23rd and saw over fifty speeches presented in high school, open beginner, open and background speaker divisions. Bethany Clark, Madeleine Firth and Chris Higgins from the Japan Centre beat out a field of nearly thirty contestants in the open division to take First, Second and Third prizes respectively while Karlis Tebescis took First prize in the background speaker division.

A panel of Japanese language teachers and representatives from the Japan Foundation and the Japanese Embassy rated speakers on the basis of the content of their speeches, presentation and language ability.

As a part of the Japan Foundation’s 39th National Japanese Language Speech Contest the two first place winners will go on to the national competition to be held in Sydney in October. We wish them the best of luck and our congratulations go out to all of the ANU students who participated in the contest.

To meet the educational - indeed national - challenges of the 21st Century, the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific is transforming and modernising its undergraduate curriculum.

Not only will these changes firmly establish the Faculty of Asian Studies in setting the world standard in Asia-Pacific studies, but they also reflect ongoing transformation at the national and international level.

The FAQ includes information about the Faculty's new programs, current undergraduate degrees, new degrees, contextual majors, the Year in Asia program, Honours, and how to transfer.

Further information: http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/data/FAS_Curriculum_FAQ.pdf

Pasifika Australia is an ongoing initiative of the Australian National University, designed to celebrate, engage with, and foster a deeper understanding of Pacific Islander communities in Australia.

Pasifika Australia is organised by ANU students and staff.

The program is supported by an ANU Equity Grant, the ANU Learning Communities project, Bruce Hall, the Pacific Studies Program in the Faculty of Asian Studies, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, and the ANU Students' Association.

More information at the new Pasifika Australia website.