Southeast Indonesia Research Articles

Determinants of Foreign Exchange Reserves of Six Countries in Southeast Asia

The purpose of this study is to find out and analyze the ratio of Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves to the foreign exchange reserves of other countries in the Southeast Asia region and to find out and analyze how the effect of exchange rates, net exports and economic growth on the foreign exchange reserves of six countries in Southeast Asia. Research results show ratio comparison backup Indonesia's foreign exchange against five ASEAN countries other show that reserve average _ Indonesia's foreign exchange has ratio highest with Vietnam, namely 4.10 and the lowest with Singapore, which is 0.37. If seen results ratio This show that from six major countries in Asia southeast Indonesia only be in order to four with backup foreign exchange the biggest, above Indonesia there are Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, while those are under Indonesia only Vietnam and the Philippines. Based on results panel data regression with using Fixed effect model shows that exchange rate influential positive significant and growing economy influential negative significant. Temporary export net No influential significant to backup foreign exchange in six ASEAN countries.

Teologi Inkulturasi dalam Sejarah Gereja dan Dewasa Ini di Flores, Indonesia

<p>This article is based on a book by Emanuel Martasudjita on Inculturation Theology. The author of this article supports the<br />statement of E. Martasudjita that inculturation of theology is not a new reality, but has been known and practiced<br />throughout the history of the Church. By expanding on the description given by Martasudjita regarding the stages in the<br />development of history, the author of the article draws on the basic insight from that history that inculturated theology is not<br />constructed, but must grow in the reflections made by the faithful about their Christian faith, where they use the way of<br />thinking, they have according to the culture they live in.<br />From the research on history, it is learned that changes in form in theology often occur based on different favorite ideas<br />held by different cultures, besides that there has also been the formation of new theology, where people with certain cultural<br />backgrounds learn theology from other cultures. In this case it is easy to misunderstand which can trigger a long discussion<br />that results in a new form of expression of the Christian faith.<br />By taking the results of this historical research, the author highlights the situation of practice of faith and reflection of faith<br />in the Flores island in South East Indonesia.</p><p><br /><strong>Keywords:</strong> Inculturation, history of theology, local culture in Flores, Basic Ecclesial Communities</p>

Toponyms as a Gateway to Society

Abstract Abui is a Papuan language spoken in Alor Island, South-East Indonesia. Although there are rich studies on the Abui language and its structure, research on Abui toponymy, which aids the understanding of language, culture, and society, deserves greater attention. This paper analyzes features of Abui society through Abui toponyms collected using Field Linguistics and Language Documentation methods. It finds that, because place names communicate valuable information on peoples and territories, Abui toponyms reflect the agrarian lifestyle of Abui speakers and, more broadly, the close relationship that the people have with their landscape. Furthermore, Abui toponyms express positive traits in the Abui culture like kinship ties and bravery. Notwithstanding, like other pre-literate and indigenous societies, oral stories are commonly used to explain how places are named. This paper augments the existing Abui toponymic studies on the connection between names and the places they name and provides a deeper understanding of the Abui language, culture, and society.

A AKIBAT HUKUM PEMBATALAN PERJANJIAN BILATERAL TERKAIT PINJAMAN KEPADA CHINA DALAM PERSPEKTIF HUKUM INTERNASIONAL

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) project initiated by the Chinese Government has gripped countries in the international community. Especially to Southeast Asia, where Malaysia and Indonesia are borrowing countries to China. Replacement of government in Malaysia related to corruption cases 1 MDB, resulting in changes in government policy Malaysia. The cancellation basis, because all the raw materials or the materials used are from China following also engineers and unskilled laborers, thus causing a massive migration from China to Malaysia. In the case of this cancellation, of course, the legal consequences for Malaysia as a borrowing country and China as a lending country. Unlike Indonesia, which until now, it is known that the Indonesian Government has established bilateral relations with the Chinese Government in terms of infrastructure development, such as: toll road and airport in Indonesia. The main problem in this study, namely if this bilateral dispute is brought to the International Court of Justice, is the mechanism for executing an international court decision to be issued later.

Free and Open Indo-Pacific in Defense Cooperation between Indonesia and Australia

Indonesia and Australia are two neighboring countries with different cultural characteristics and patterns of international relations. This research aims to formulate a pattern of strategic partnerships between Indonesia and Australia in the field of defense cooperation. Through the symbolic interactional approach, the researcher saw actors' behavior between countries by collecting data from various sources; online newspapers, scientific articles, interviews, and discussions illustrated the pattern of defense cooperation between Indonesia and Australia at three levels. At the multilateral level, the relationship between Australia and Indonesia looks rather difficult to reciprocate. At the regional level, especially in the Southeast Asia region, Indonesia and Australia cooperation in non-binding control, and on the bilateral level Indonesia and Australia as equal partners are equally committed to mutual control. Free and Open Indo-Pacific strengthens Indonesia-Australia cooperation in the trade sector. An agreement has been built and ratified into the Indonesia-Australia Law comprehensive economic partnership agreement (IA-CEPA). Thus the internal politics of the alliance is very dynamic. On the one hand, the United States strengthens its dominance by utilizing regional countries challenging Chinese policies as bilateral partnerships. On the other hand, multilateral allies help each other. Development between border countries in various ways for defense development.

The metabolic transition of material use and carbon emissions in economically growing Asia: Evidence from 1971 to 2016.

The efficient consumption of material and energy resources, with minimal carbon emissions and maximum economic output, is globally significant. This study examines the metabolic transition of resource use and CO2 emissions in nine of the largest economies of East, South, and Southeast Asia. A data envelopment model has been developed to assess the efficiency of domestic material consumption and CO2 emissions during 1971-2016 at three levels of analysis. The single-country analysis resultsreveal that China has made the most rapid efficiency transformation during 1971-2016 followed by Japan and South Korea, while the rest of the countries in South and Southeast Asia have not illustrated significant improvements. Results from the analysis of socio-economically grouped countries show that Japan and Bangladesh are the relatively efficient economies in East and South Asia, respectively. Among Southeast Asian countries, both Indonesia and Malaysia were found to be efficient. Based on the regional analysis comparing all nine countries, Japan has consistently remained a relatively efficient economy while China-despite rapid improvements-remains a relatively inefficient economy. To this end, Japan had the lowest material and CO2 intensities compared to all other countries. Based on our results, technological advancement, industry structure, and scale of traded goods and services were found to have a significant impact (the impact of per capita income was less pronounced) on a country's effective resource utilization and carbon mitigation.

An approach to corporate capital structure of Southeast Asian countries

This study investigates the determinants of capital structures of listed firms in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, between 1995 and 2014. Based on the most up-to-date data from Thompson Innovation, we employ feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) to test funding behaviours of individual countries and the whole region. Empirical evidence supports neither the pecking order theory nor the trade-off model as the best-fit framework to understand the capital structures of firms in Southeast Asia, though the trade-off model has more precise predictions of the data than the pecking order model. Besides, the outcomes demonstrate that understanding firm nationality is necessary to determine countries' conventional corporate capital structure models.

Port Maritime Connectivity in South-East Indonesia: A New Strategic Positioning for Transhipment Port of Tenau Kupang

Indonesia faces a number of crucial issues regarding cargo distribution in terms of the availability of infrastructure, shipping patterns, supply and demand of maritime transport including port connectivity. The aim of the present article is to examine and explore the scenarios for maritime access through the Eastern-Indonesia. In this study, we address the issue of high logistics costs and price disparity between the Western and Eastern regions of Indonesia. There are three scenarios has been constructed, in which Scenarios I and II apply a multi-port-calling networks based on the implementation of the Sea Toll Programme in Indonesia, while scenario III uses a hub-and-spoke network by involving the port of Tenau Kupang-East Timor Province as a transhipment port of container distribution from the port of Tanjung Perak to the South-East of Indonesia. As the result, scenario III generates the lowest total shipping costs. In other words, involving the port of Tenau Kupang as a transhipment port can help to reduce total shipping costs. Finally, the selected scenario become a recommendation for shipping practices to find the best solutions to improve the eastern connectivity in Indonesia. Moreover, the result also will encourage the government and port authority to take a consideration in re-configure Tenau-Kupang port infrastructure to become transhipment port thus can attract the cargo volume.

A new Myzomela honeyeater (Meliphagidae) from the highlands of Alor Island, Indonesia

We here describe a new species of Myzomela honeyeater from the Lesser Sunda island of Alor (southeast Indonesia). The new species is phylogenetically most closely related to Myzomela kuehni from the adjacent island of Wetar and most closely resembles that species in plumage. However, it differs in important morphological, bioacoustic and ecological characteristics. The discovery of a new bird species on Alor is of great biogeographic importance and elevates this island to the status of an Endemic Bird Area. The new Alor Myzomela is restricted to montane eucalypt woodland mostly above 900 m elevation and is currently known from few sites across the island. Based on its occurrence records and human population trends in the highlands of Alor Island, we recommend classification under the IUCN threat status endangered.

Do CLMV countries catch up with the older ASEAN members in terms of income level?

ABSTRACTThis article examined whether Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam were catching up in terms of real per capita Gross Domestic Product with the older six Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The findings indicated that Cambodia succeeded in reaching Indonesia’s income level and Vietnam was catching up with Indonesia and the Philippines. However, the income gap between Laos and Myanmar and the older ASEAN members was not reduced. These findings have some policy implications.

The legend of Lamòling: Unwritten memories and diachronic toponymy through the lens of an Abui myth

This paper reconstructs a number of Abui (Papuan) place names and micro-toponyms from the coastal area of Alor (South-East Indonesia) through the analysis of a legend centered on two gods from the Abui traditional religion, ending with the replacement of the first deity with the second one. The myth appears as diachronically ‘multi-layered’, from ancestral times to the arrival of Christianity in Alor, with the consequent identification of the ‘bad’ (or ‘weaker’) god as a demon and, then, as the devil. The story allows the etymological explanation of the meaning of around eight place names (toponyms and micro-toponyms), drawing a map of that ‘mythological’ space and landscape that is real and still attested, existing, known, and recognized by Abui native-speakers. The etymological and historical/diachronic analysis of place names, in this context, is fruitful not only in the reconstruction of their origins and in map-tracking, but it also involves an anthropological study of cultural aspects of oral tradition in the Abui religion. The story documented in this paper is considered true and not a legend by the Abui people and all the place names in this story known and accepted by the Abui people according to the parts they play in the legend. These place names and micro-toponyms, therefore, have a relevance that goes beyond their etymological reconstruction, allowing important insights into the fields of anthropology and history of culture and a close association between diachronic toponomastics and anthropological linguistics.

Cheirostylis acuminata (Orchidaceae; Cranichideae; Goodyerinae): a new species from Yunnan Province, China

Cheirostylis Blume (1825: 413) is characterized by a column with two stelids, two well-separated stigma lobes and connate sepals that form a tube. There are about 55 species, mainly distributed in tropical Africa, through Southeast Asia, Japan, Indonesia and Pacific islands to Australia (Pridgeon et al. 2003, Chen et al. 2009, Bhattacharjee 2012, Govaerts et al. 2012). There are 18 species reported from China, of which 8 species are believed to be endemic (Averyanov et al. 2009, Chen et al. 2009, Lin & Lin 2009, Yang et al. 2013).

Bearing Capacity of Resistance Spot Welding Under Conditions of Europe, Indonesia

A common attribute of production companies is a requirement for a bond creation. A resistance spot welding is a prospective method of bonding. An effect determination of environmental influences on mechanical properties of resistance spot welded bonds is necessary owing to export activities of particular companies. The operating conditions and degradation processes influence were examined in Central Europe, southeast Indonesia and laboratory during 2, 4 and 6 months. From the results the simulation was worked out serving for the prediction of the welded bond bearing capacity for longer time interval. The simulation was verified by the parametric testing during 80 months (Central Europe). The experimental determination of the climatic and geographic different environment influence on the bearing capacity of the resistance spot welded bonds was the aim of the laboratory testing. Considering the globalized society and the export possibilities the knowledge of the experimental study will be used for further testing.

Health claims on food products in Southeast Asia: regulatory frameworks, barriers, and opportunities.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations aims to act as a single market and allow free movement of goods, services, and manpower. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of the current regulatory framework for health claims in Southeast Asia and to highlight the current barriers and opportunities in the regulatory frameworks in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. To date, 5 countries in Southeast Asia, i.e., Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, have regulations and guidelines to permit the use of health claims on food products. There are inconsistencies in the regulations and the types of evidence required for health claim applications in these countries. A clear understanding of the regulatory frameworks in these countries may help to increase trade in this fast-growing region and to provide direction for the food industry and the regulatory community to develop and market food products with better nutritional quality tailored to the needs of Southeast Asian consumers.

The Outline of T’ang Poetry Studies in Southeast Asia

To get close to Chinese nationalities and push forwards the mutual understanding of Chinese tradition, many overseas institutes and research centers for T'ang poetry studies as the heritage of ancient China had been established recently. In Southeast Asia, the research on T'ang poetry and its embedded traditional culture is not so popular compared with those in North America, Western Europe and East Asia, but it features its own characteristics. This paper tries to reveal the current situation and introduce the achievements in T'ang poetry studies in the main countries in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Phillipines and Thailand, and finds the peculiarity of the research progress in this area.

Eleven month high resolution pollen and spore sedimentation record off SW Java in the Indian Ocean

Abstract Settling particles collected in a sediment trap 60 km off SW Java in the Indian Ocean at a 2200 m deep site, about 830 m above the sea floor, between December 2001 and November 2002 (intervals of 16 days for 11 months) were analyzed for the abundance and taxa composition of pollen and spores. Several factors control their deposition such as the monsoon-driven reversal of the wind directions and ocean currents as well as flowering periods. Long distance transport plays a particular role during the monsoon seasons. During the NW monsoon (mid-December–beginning of March), maxima of Picea type, Alnus , Pinus and Quercus pollen occur in the trap samples, which correspond to wind and marine currents coming from the north, probably the Equatorial Counter Current and Southern Java Current, transporting pollen from the southern part of continental Asia and Sumatra to the research area. During the SE monsoon (end of July–mid-November), an increase of pollen originating from southeast Indonesia and Australia was observed. Pollen grains were probably transported by the South Equatorial Current and partly by the Leeuwin Current. Casuarina and, in part, Eucalyptus are most abundant during this period. During the intermonsoon period, assemblages are mainly composed of pollen originating from West Java. Maxima of some pollen taxa, such as Elaeocarpus , Myrica , Dacrycarpus type, Casuarina , Eucalyptus and Podocarpus type probably reflect their flowering periods. The transportation time from the pollen source area to the sediment trap is about 1–2 months. The extrapolated pollen accumulation rate of the marine sediment trap would be about 1670 grains/cm 2 /yr. The trap collected low concentrations of mangrove pollen, which might be the result of the strong destruction of the mangrove belt in Java during recent decades. High values of Poaceae pollen are probably related to the land use, forest canopy opening and development of the secondary vegetation in West Java. The majority of the pollen and spores collected by the sediment trap reflects the vegetation of SW Java, but long distance transport, in particular by the marine currents during the SE and NE monsoons, needs to be considered when interpreting marine pollen records off SW Java in the eastern Indian Ocean.

Abrupt increase in east Indonesian rainfall from flooding of the Sunda Shelf ∼9500 years ago

We present a precisely dated, multi-proxy stalagmite record from Liang Luar Cave, Flores (southeast Indonesia) that reveals a rapid increase in Indonesian monsoon rainfall at ∼9.5 ka. A “ramp-fitting” method for detecting statistically significant inflections in a time-series was applied to the stalagmite δ18O, Mg/Ca, and Sr/Ca profiles to quantify the precise timing and magnitude of an abrupt increase in monsoon strength over a period of ∼350 years. Previously published lake-level records from the monsoon-affected Australian interior show a sudden intensification of the Australian monsoon at ∼14 ka. However, our records indicate that monsoon intensification in Flores occured ∼4–5 kyr later. The timing of the monsoon shift in Flores is synchronous with the rapid expansion of rainforest in northeast Australia and regional freshening of the southern Makassar Strait which, under present-day conditions, is sensitive to monsoon variability. The freshening of southern Makassar was coeval with an abrupt ∼1.5 °C cooling in the upper thermocline of the Timor Sea ∼9.5 ka, indicative of reduced surface heat transport by the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) when the Java Sea opened during postglacial sea-level rise. This suggests that the abrupt increase in monsoon rainfall on Flores was not due to a change in the ITF – because a decrease in rainfall would be expected to accompany cooler local sea surface temperatures (SSTs) – but rather by the sudden increase in ocean surface area and/or temperature in the monsoon source region as the Sunda Shelf flooded during deglaciation. We propose that it was the abrupt intensification of the monsoon through the late deglaciation that maintained the subsequent structure of the ITF following the flooding of the Sunda Shelf at ∼9.5 ka.

The Historical Relations of the Papuan Languages of Alor and Pantar

The historical relations of the Papuan languages scattered across the islands of the Alor archipelago, Timor, and Kisar in southeast Indonesia have remained largely conjectural. This paper makes a first step toward demonstrating that the languages of Alor and Pantar form a single genealogical group. Applying the comparative method to primary lexical data from twelve languages sampled across the islands of the Alor-Pantar archipelago, we use form-meaning pairings in basic cognate sets to establish regular sound correspondences that support the view that these languages are genetically related. We reconstruct 97 Proto[&mdash]Alor-Pantar vocabulary items and propose an internal subgrouping based on shared innovations. Finally, we compare Alor-Pantar with Papuan languages of Timor and with Trans-New Guinea languages, concluding that there is no lexical evidence supporting the inclusion of Alor-Pantar languages in the Trans-New Guinea family.

Antidiabetic effect of Gynura procumbens leaves extracts involve modulation of hepatic carbohydrate metabolism in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Gynura procumbens is an annual evergreen shrub found in Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which is of considerable medicinal value. The present study aims to investigate the antidiabetic properties of G. procumbens leaves aqueous and ethanolic extracts and its possible underlying antihyperglycemic mechanisms of action involving liver carbohydrate metabolism in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Experimental diabetes was induced via single intravenous injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg of body weight). G. procumbens leaves aqueous and ethanolic extracts were administered orally at 3 different doses (50, 100 and 150 mg/kg of body weight) for 42 consecutive days. Administration of G. procumbens leaves aqueous and ethanolic extracts significantly (P<0.05) reduced fasting blood glucose and HbA1c levels of diabetic rats after 42 days of treatment, in which ethanolic extract showed better improvement than aqueous extract in a dose-independent manner. Treatment of G. procumbens extracts also protected the diabetic rats from further body and liver weight loss, and showed slight increment on liver glycogen content in G. procumbens ethanolic extract-treated diabetic rats as well as significant (P<0.05) improvement on liver hexokinase, phosphofructokinase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase specific activities. However, administration of both extracts did not produce significant changes on plasma insulin concentration of diabetic rats when compared with diabetic controls. In conclusion, G. procumbens exerts its antidiabetic effect by promoting glucose metabolism via the glycolytic pathway and inhibiting hepatic endogenous glucose production via the gluconeogenic pathway.

Book Review: Foundational crises in South and Southeast Asia-Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia

Abu Nasar Saied Ahmed. Foundational crises in South and Southeast Asia-Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, Akansha Publishing House, New Delhi, 2011