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After Suharto gained power in Indonesia in the mid-1960s, he stayed as the country’s president for more than three decades, helped by the powerful military, hefty foreign aid and support from a coterie of cronies. A pivotal business backer for his New Order government was Liem Sioe Liong, a migrant from China, who arrived in Java in 1938. A combination of the Suharto connection, serendipity and personal charm propelled him to become the wealthiest tycoon in Southeast Asia. This is the story of how Liem built the Salim Group, a conglomerate that in its heyday controlled Indonesia’s largest non-state bank, the country’s dominant cement producer and flour mill, as well as the world’s bi...
Robert Kuok is one of the most highly respected businessmen in Asia. But this legendary Overseas Chinese entrepreneur, commodities trader who made his first milion on the London sugar market, hotelier of the Shangri-la chain, and property mogul has maintained a low profile and seldom shed light in public on his business empire or personal life. That is, until now. In these memoirs, the 94-year-old Kuok tells the remarkable story of how, starting in British Colonial Malaya, he built a multi-industry, multinational business group. In reflecting back on 75 years of conducting business, he offers management insights, discusses strategies and lessons learned, and relates his principles, philosoph...
"This is a bold project recording the lives of a particular group of Southeast Asians. Most of the people whose biographies are included here have settled down in the ten countries that constitute the region. Each of them has either self-identified as Chinese or is comfortable to be known as someone of Chinese ancestry. There are also those who were born in China or elsewhere who came here to work and do business, including seeking help from others who have ethnic Chinese connections. With the political and economic conditions of the region in a great state of flux for the past two centuries, it is impossible to find consistency in the naming process. Confucius had stressed that correct name...
Following the lifework (1960s to 2010) of visionary Singaporean architect William S. W. Lim, The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia) is a compelling compilation of case studies and historical projects. This multifaceted publication takes Lim's ideas to a future Asia: a region defined by an irreducibly complex urban topography under constant flux. Looking from Singapore to Southeast Asia, and from this region to Asia more expansively (and beyond), it presents a diverse range of activities which may be productively framed through the notion of critical spatial practice.The book has three interconnected points of departure: Lim's lifework; the interdisciplinary exhibition 'Incomplete Urbanism...
When the women come to recruitment agencies to work as domestic helpers overseas, they begin building the foundation of their dreams of a better future. During their training following the recruitment, their dreams assume colours and shapes. They leave their homeland with high hopes and aspirations. Arriving at their destinations, the workers quickly realize that no amount of training can prepare them for the shock of the cold, foreign world which confronts them. Those who are placed with considerate employers have generally happy working lives. Those who are placed with employers who expect ready-to-use service from their domestic helpers have a long and rocky road to navigate. With very li...
Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia where there is a significant number of ethnic Chinese, many of whom have played an important role. This book presents biographical sketches of about 530 prominent Indonesian Chinese, including businessmen, community leaders, politicians, religious leaders, artists, sportsmen/sportswomen, writers, journalists, academics, physicians, educators, and scientists. First published in 1972, it was revised and developed into the present format in 1978, and has since been revised several times. This is the fourth and most up-to-date version.
While many books have probed the role of Islam in political and social change in Southeast Asia over the past three decades, few have focused on the power of the religious discourse itself in shaping this transformation. Contemporary Islamic Discourse in the Malay–Indonesian World captures the interplay between religion and social thought in comparative case studies from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Drawing on a critical sociology of knowledge and a profound understanding of historical contexts, the central focus is on Muslim intellectuals who have grappled with the impact of modernity in these societies, between those seeking to reform Islam’s role and those who take a hardline de...
After Suharto gained power in Indonesia in the mid-1960s, he stayed as the country's president for more than three decades, helped by the powerful military, hefty foreign aid and support from a coterie of cronies. A pivotal business backer for his New Order government was Liem Sioe Liong, a migrant from China, who arrived in Java in 1938. A combination of the Suharto connection, serendipity and personal charm propelled him to become the wealthiest tycoon in Southeast Asia. This is the story of how Liem built the Salim Group, a conglomerate that in its heyday controlled Indonesia's largest non-state bank, the country's dominant cement producer and flour mill, as well as the world's biggest ma...
'Importantly, China's Change: The Greatest Show on Earth provides a welcome contrast to such fashionable pessimism … demolishes a series of popular urban myths … and a very convincing case he makes. This, to my mind, is a wholly original approach to understanding present-day China and the book is well worth reading for this alone. … readers are likely to end up considerably wiser about how the Chinese economy has developed and how it currently works. It's difficult to do justice to the exceptionally wide-ranging scope of the book. It is, furthermore, well-written (as befits a former journalist) and highly readable. … a useful corrective for the innate pessimism which has pervaded so ...
The global centre of gravity continues to shift to the Asia-Pacific, the most dynamic region in the world. These economies have generally grown faster for longer periods of time than any other major region in world history. Their embrace of globalization has been a central feature, and driver, of their dynamism. The management of Asia-Pacific economic integration and globalization is crucial not only for the countries themselves but also for the state of the global economy, including importantly latecomer developing economies who look to the region for analytical and development policy lessons. Twenty-eight leading international authorities in the field, drawn from nine countries, provide a ...