Place,memory and identity: Imagining ‘New Asia’

Abstract: The rapid transformation of Asian societies and landscapes, especially since the mid‐1990s, has engendered much conjecture of the ‘Asian renaissance’ and the rise of a ‘New Asia’. This Special Edition of Asia Pacific Viewpoint explores the intersecting themes of ‘urban place’, ‘social memory’ and ‘cultural identity’ in the articulation of and contestation towards New Asia. Specifically, the six articles here offer various interpretations of New Asia – as tourism marketing tool, political vision and social identity – and the politics involved in urban, tourism and cultural development. From colonial hotels in key South‐East Asian cities to the historic waterfront of Singapore; from festivals and rituals in Hong Kong, Hoi An (Vietnam) and Penang (Malaysia) to the clash of cultural values in Manggarai (Indonesia), ‘selective remembering’ and ‘ideological forgetting’ are central to the construction of New Asian identities. Ultimately, this Special Edition hopes to provoke continuing discussions on the rhetoric of New Asia and its imaginative and contested geographies, sociologies and histories.     

Understanding ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: Papua New Guinea, with its heavy dependence on natural resources, limited economic development in the past two decades, poor record of governance and high‐profile separatist conflicts such as the Bougainville civil war, appears to be an exemplar of the ‘Resource Curse’ theory – the notion that natural resources actively undermine economic development. Using a number of examples from a range of scales, this paper argues that what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea are actually better conceived as conflicts around identity and social relationships. The very different conceptualisation of natural resources in most Melanesian societies – as elements of the social world as much as any external environmental sphere – means that resources become a conduit for local social and political agendas and tensions to be expressed. The nature of traditional conflict in Melanesian societies is discussed as a guide to the better management and resolution of what appear to be ‘resource’ conflicts in Papua New Guinea.     

Negotiating ‘home’ and ‘national identity’: Chinese‐Malaysian transmigrants in Singapore

Abstract: Part of the globalisation phenomenon involves an increasing number of elite transmigrants traversing national boundaries in response to the global demand for skilled labour while maintaining multifaceted social ties astride political, geographic and cultural borders, linking home and host countries together. As transmigrants ‘live’ in several communities simultaneously, their identities, behaviour and values are often not limited by location. Thus, notions of ‘home’ and ‘national identity’ are also being reviewed given the discrepancies between these concepts and locality. In this context, this paper explores questions of ‘home’ and ‘national identity’ among skilled Chinese‐Malaysians working and residing in Singapore, portraying them as active participants of two (or more) countries. It focuses on their strategies and struggles in negotiating ideologies of ‘home’ and ‘national identities’ across borders in a setting of two neighbouring countries umbilically linked in a volatile political relationship. It further examines their degree of concern in the political affairs of both countries. Between ‘home’ and ‘host’, Chinese‐Malaysians redefine their practices of home(‐making) in relation to their national identity, drawing on the resources and resilience of familial ties, nostalgic memories and other practical lifecourse needs.     

Recreating place,replacing memory: Creative destruction at the Singapore River

Abstract: The transformation of urban landscapes is as much a physical process as it is a symbolic one. Material changes in the form of demolition and redevelopment are often accompanied by changes in the image and identity of places, as well as the personal and collective memories associated with these places. Focusing on the Singapore River, we explore how waterfront redevelopment has rendered certain activities, people and place memories invisible, to be replaced by other landscape elements and their associative identities. Through ‘creative destruction’ and ‘destructive creation,’ the waterfront's transformation is evident in three areas: its built environment (‘builtscapes’), activities and events (‘eventscapes’) and displays of public art (‘artscapes’). We contend that landscapes reflect the tensions between ‘remembering to forget’ and ‘forgetting to remember’ in ‘New Asia‐Singapore,’ a city attempting to blend modern Asian dynamism with tradition and heritage.     

Innovation Prone and Innovation Averse Societies: Economic Performance in Europe

Although it is commonly accepted that investing in technology and research and development (R&D) is a basic catalyst for the genesis of economic activity, there is less consensus on the spatial significance and returns of the R&D effort for regional and local economies. It is often argued that innovation resulting from allocating local resources to R&D is likely to spill over to other areas, especially in the framework of open national economies. Hence, the incentive to free-ride increases at the subnational level. This paper shows, however, that in the Western European regional context, regions with higher resources devoted to R&D tend to grow at a greater pace than the remaining spaces. Nevertheless, the passage from R&D to innovation and growth is not achieved in a similar way across Europe. Local social conditions play an important role in the formation of what can be defined as ‘innovation prone’ and ‘innovation averse’ societies. Innovation prone regions are those featured by a weak social filter, which facilitates the transformation of innovation into growth. Conversely, regions burdened by rigid labor markets, shortage of skills, outward migration of able individuals, and an aging of the workforce are less prone to assimilate innovation and to transform it into economic activity. They make up the innovation averse societies in Europe.     

The borders within: Mobility and enclosure in the Riau Islands1

Abstract: The border studies literature makes a strong case against claims for unfettered transnationalism and ‘borderlessness’ in our ‘globalising world’. However, its focus on movement across borders means that it fails to address bordering practices that occur within the nation‐state as a result of transnational activity. In this paper, we extend Cunningham and Heyman’s concepts ‘enclosure’ and ‘mobility’ to confront the different layers of bordering (both physical and non‐physical) that have occurred in Indonesia’s Riau Islands since they became part of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Singapore Growth Triangle.     

Potential futures for road transportation CO2 emissions in the Asia Pacific

Abstract: Will future transportation carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions per capita in Asia Pacific economies follow historical trends of the now developed world? Evidence to date is inconclusive. A comparison at similar income levels (purchasing power parity) between recent emissions in Asia Pacific countries and historical emissions in developed countries suggests diverging patterns. (A) High‐income Asia economies (Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore –‘low emitters’) exhibit lower emissions than a selected sample of seven developed countries (United States, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden and United Kingdom). (B) Another set of Asian countries (South Korea and Taiwan –‘medium emitters’) follow the emissions trends of European countries, which are lower than those of Australia and the United States. (C) A third Asian group (Malaysia and Thailand –‘high emitters’) exhibit emission trends comparable to that of Australia. We describe these trends, examine their causes and extrapolate likely futures for emissions in low‐income Asia Pacific economies (China, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam). Although such predictions are speculative, the available evidence suggests that road CO₂ emissions for Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam will follow those of the third group (high emitters), while those for China may follow either Group B or Group C.     

Regionalism and tourism: exploring integral links in Singapore

Traditionally, tourism development in Singapore involves creating and promoting tourist attractions to lure inbound visitors. Today in the 1990s the focus is on regional tourism, and Singapore is being developed as a ‘tourism capital’ and a hubbing centre for visitors travelling to and within Asia. Tourism development now has a regional focus and tourism enterprises are being encouraged to invest in overseas projects in the Asia Pacific. This paper explores Singapore’s forays into regional tourism. Specifically, it argues that ‘regionalisation’ and tourism enjoy a mutually reinforcing relationship. This means that regionalism provides an avenue for the tourism industry to expand and, conversely, the tourist industry provides an opportunity for Singapore to regionalise its economy. The turn towards regionalisation hints at local problems faced by Singapore’s maturing economy as a whole and its tourism industry in particular. Such local problems include: geographic constraints of site and the lack of natural attractions; limited market and investment opportunities within Singapore; increasingly sophisticated leisure needs of Singaporeans; and strategic concerns for political survival. ‘Tourism regionalisation’ helps to circumvent both real and perceived problems but this paper also warns that many challenges and difficulties will be faced even as Singapore’s regional economy takes root.     

Transnational state entrepreneurship? Assessing Singapore's Suzhou Industrial Park project (1994–2004)

Abstract: This paper examines an exemplary case of ‘transnational state entrepreneurship’, which was the Singapore government's Suzhou Industrial Park project. Between 1994 and 2001, the Singapore government was directly involved in the development and management of the project, hoping to generate an income that could eventually supplement Singapore's domestic economy. The strategy involved servicing the industrial needs of multinational corporations seeking to locate operations in China. This paper finds that transnational state entrepreneurship was less than successful, as the Singapore government's objectives were only partially achieved. The project's biggest problems were its lack of profitability and, ironically, the state's presence. This led to the Singapore government disengaging from the project in 2001. The paper concludes that it would be very difficult for a state, which is essentially a political entity, to be as efficient as a business entity, especially in an international environment.     

Public intervention,private aspiration: Gated communities and the condominisation of housing landscapes in Singapore

While the proliferation of gated communities worldwide has generated great interests and debates, the emergence of gated communities is by no means a ‘global’ urban phenomenon that displays uniform characteristics and genesis. Drawing on Singapore as a case study, this paper goes beyond the universalising and often polemical discourses on gated communities to provide a balanced account on how gated communities in the form of enclosed condominium estates are locally embedded in the city state where public housing dominates. As will be pointed out in the paper, gated communities in Singapore may be considered as a form of ‘club good’ that exists as part of the state's urban/national developmental agenda and are, arguably, less socially and spatially divisive than those depicted elsewhere. By teasing out the local specificities of gated communities, this paper underscores the need to read beyond the physical form of gated communities in order to understand the complex social and political production of housing landscapes.     

Negotiating Routes and/or Roots: Heritagisation of nanyin in China and Singapore, 1970s to 2010s

Originated in southern China, nanyin (南音) is regarded as ‘the sound of motherland’ (乡音) performed and loved by the Hokkien dialect speakers in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and diasporic populations living in Southeast Asia. Having thrived in transnational spaces, nanyin is now celebrated as a shared heritage in China and Southeast Asian countries, such as Singapore. This paper explores the process of heritage-making, that is, the ways in which the art form and cultural practice of nanyin have been re-shaped and re-appropriated by the diasporic communities and the native place to articulate different understandings of the Chinese identity in their distinct nation-state frameworks. In this ambivalent entanglement, China has re-appropriated the diasporic history of nanyin to gain international recognition and build soft power through United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In Singapore, the Siong Leng Music Association has actively engaged in the heritage-making of nanyin, leading to the creation of a unique Singapore brand that speaks to hybridity and cosmopolitanism, in the same way as the re-construction of their Chinese identity. Examining the two processes of heritagisation of nanyin along the China-Singapore ‘heritage corridors’, the paper argues that the two ends are connected in important ways but always seek to maintain distance to articulate their own cultural representations at international stages. Thus, nanyin through a comparative perspective enables a critical examination of issues of centre versus periphery, authenticity, and hybridity in the Sinophone world.     

Multiple dimensions in negotiating the cross‐border transport links that connect and divide Singapore and Johor,Malaysia

Abstract: Despite recent literature pointing to the need for a multidimensional approach to border processes, transport links across borders are usually uncritically associated with cross‐border ‘integration’. This paper focuses on examining the roles played by transport facilities in border processes. It uses case studies of three key transport links at the border between Singapore and Johor, Malaysia. As would conventionally be expected, enhancing these links was often seen in terms of the economic opportunities expected to arise from the easing of bottlenecks. However, the findings also reveal multiple roles for the transport links at this border, many of which cannot be enlisted in any simple conception of cross‐border integration, even when clear enhancement of the links is involved. These roles include: as ‘filters’ (or ‘valves’) used to encourage or discourage certain flows; as ‘gateways’ asserting territoriality; and as ‘bargaining chips’ in the bilateral relationship. A role as ‘collision points’ between policy regimes was also surprisingly important. However, contrary to usual expectations none of the transport links examined appear in the guise of ‘bridges’, contributing towards integrated governance. These findings highlight the complexity of border processes, and underline the contingent interactions between different dimensions of cross‐border processes sometimes simplistically conflated as ‘integration’.     

‘Outside man’ revisited: Harold Brookfield's contributions to population studies in the Pacific in the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract: Harold Brookfield's contribution to population studies has not been given much prominence in the literature. In this paper, I revisit a number of his major papers written in the 1960s and 1970s in two contexts: first, with reference to his response to the intellectual debates that were transforming the discipline of geography at this time, and second, with reference to my experiences as a postgraduate student at the Australian National University, in the ‘Brookfield school’ and, later, as a research colleague in Brookfield's interdisciplinary island ecosystems project in Fiji. Although Brookfield increasingly saw himself as an ‘outsider’ in the changing mainstream of human geography, he remained an extremely influential writer for successive generations of geographers who chose to work on population issues in the western Pacific. His research contribution was immense, and remains relevant, which is more than can be said for much that was written by those ‘inside’ the discipline in the heady years of intellectual foment that characterised the social sciences, including geography, in last quarter of the twentieth century.     

The inheritance of the red colour character in European pear (Pyrus communis) and its map position in the mutated cultivar ‘Max Red Bartlett’

The inheritance of the red colour character in European pear (Pyrus communis L.) was studied over 3 years in seven progeny obtained by using the cultivars ‘Max Red Bartlett’, ‘Cascade’ and ‘California’ as red‐skinned fruit parental lines. One of these progeny (derived from the cross ‘Abbé Fétel’ × ‘Max Red Bartlett’, a red mutation of ‘Bartlett’) was already used to construct two linkage maps and, being ‘red colour’ a monogenic dominant trait, it was possible to locate it as morphological marker in the linkage group 4 of ‘Max Red Bartlett’. For the first time, this trait has been mapped out of linkage group 9 in a species belonging to the Maloideae subfamily moreover in a mutated sport. An improved knowledge of the genetic basis of production and accumulation of red pigments in the fruit skin will better support the pear breeding programmes aimed to select new cultivars carrying this appealing trait.     

Reviews

Mason Durie Te Mana Te Kawanatanga: the politics of Maori self-determination Christopher Lingle Singapore’s authoritarian capitalism: Asian values, free market illusions and political dependency Roland J. L. Breton Atlas of the languages and ethnic communities of South Asia Lenore Manderson and Margerat Jolly (eds) Sites of desire, economies of pleasure: sexualities in Asia and the Pacific Eric Venbrux A Death in the TWI Islands: conflict, ritual and social life in an Australian community Brij V. Lal A vision for change     

Genotypic difference for the susceptibility of Japanese, Chinese and European pears to Venturia nashicola, the cause of scab on Asian pears

Venturia nashicola, the cause of scab on Asian pears, is distinct from Venturia pirina, a causal fungus of European pear scab. Although scab caused by V. nashicola is one of the most serious diseases in the Japanese pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai var. culta Nakai), information available regarding resistant breeding against V. nashicola is limited. In this study, 12 genotypes of Japanese pear, seven genotypes of Chinese pear (Pyrus ussuriensis Maxim.) and four genotypes of European pear (Pyrus communis L. var. sativa DC.) and/or their offspring were evaluated for susceptibility to V. nashicola with leaf and fruit inoculation tests. At 30–40 days after full bloom in their developmental stage, unfolded young leaves and fruit were inoculated with conidial suspensions of V. nashicola for each genotype, and the responses were rated at 30 days postinoculation for the inoculated leaves and at 42 days postinoculation for the inoculated fruits. No visible symptoms were found in European pear ‘Bartlett’ and ‘La France’ and their respective offspring ‘290‐36’ and ‘282‐12’, in the Japanese pear ‘Kinchaku’ and in the Chinese pears ‘Cangxili’ and ‘Hongli’; these genotypes were evaluated as highly resistant to V. nashicola. Necrotic lesions without sporulation were observed in the Chinese pears ‘Qiubaili’, ‘Manyuanxiang’, ‘Yuanbali’ and ‘Xiangyali’, which were regarded as resistant. Sporulating lesions were formed on the other genotypes, such as the major Japanese pear cultivars ‘Kosui’ and ‘Nijisseiki’, which were regarded as susceptible. The response of inoculated leaves coincided well with that of inoculated fruit for each genotype. When the severity of scab symptoms on scab‐susceptible genotypes was further rated with disease severity (DS) values, a genotypic difference was observed for overall DS values in a successive 2‐year measurement among the susceptible genotypes. Based on the DS values of leaf and fruit scabs, the Japanese pears ‘Niitaka’, ‘Shinko’, ‘Nijisseiki’, ‘Gold Nijisseiki’, ‘Osa Nijisseiki’ and ‘Shinsui’ were considered to be less susceptible to V. nashicola than the typical susceptible cultivar ‘Kosui’.     

Breeding for resistance to begomovirus in tropic-adapted tomato genotypes

Four tomato lines introgressed from Lycopersicon chilense were compared with the commercial F₁ hybrids ‘ARO 8479’ and ‘HA 3108’, which are tolerant to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus, and the cv. ‘Campbell 28’ as a susceptible control. Resistance was evaluated by the use of grafted diseased scions as well as in a field trial where plants infected by viruliferous whiteflies and disease‐free plants were transplanted in paired rows. The new lines LD 3, LD 4, LD 5 and LD 6 showed no disease symptoms after grafting or in the field trial. Virus accumulation at 60 days after transplanting was low in the infected plants: 0.09, 0.60, 1.00 and 0.50 ng, respectively. No fruit‐set or yield losses were registered under the high temperature conditions prevalent in the trial, in which lines LD 5 and LD 6 were better adapted to tropical conditions. Viral DNA concentrations were over 1000 ng in the cvs.‘Campbell 28′,‘ARO 8479’ and ‘HA 3108’. The last two are considered tolerant as they were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, respectively, but achieved acceptable yields in the trial. By contrast, virus had a negative effect on fruit‐set, number of fruit per plant and total yield in the cv.‘Campbell 28’.     

From free to forced adaptation: A political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

This paper investigates the adaptation processes with reference to the narrative analysis of human–environment interactions in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta. From the political ecology perspective, it focuses on the discourses of the power relationships embedded within the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus over the course of its ‘opening‐up and closing‐off’ processes (e.g. excavating large‐scale canals for human settlements and agricultural expansion (opening‐up) and human interventions into natural systems through water control structures (closing‐off)). Drawing on empirical data gathered from 33 interviews and nine focus group discussions in three study areas and relevant literature, the paper argues that human interactions with the flood environments are intertwined with adjustments of adaptation patterns as evidenced through three periods: free adaptation (pre‐1975), transitional adaptation (1976–2010) and forced adaptation (after 2010). These processes have witnessed a gradual power shift in the ‘state‐society’ relations in manipulating floods, which moves from the top‐down towards a more collaborative fashion. By unravelling the political ecology of the ‘state‐society‐flood’ nexus, this paper exhibits the skewed development in the delta, which is largely bound to short‐term development planning to prioritise local socio‐economic and political objectives. The paper contributes important policy implications for achieving socially just and environmentally sustainable development in the delta.     

Genotype analysis of the wheat semidwarf Rht‐B1b and Rht‐D1b ancestral lineage

In wheat, semidwarfism resulting from reduced height (Rht)‐B1b and Rht‐D1b was integral to the ‘green revolution’. The principal donors of these alleles are ‘Norin 10’, ‘Seu Seun 27’ and ‘Suwon 92’ that, according to historical records, inherited semidwarfism from the Japanese landrace ‘Daruma’. The objective of this study was to examine the origins of Rht‐B1b and Rht‐D1b by growing multiple seed bank sources of cultivars comprising the historical pedigrees of the principal donor lines and scoring Rht‐1 genotype and plant height. This revealed that ‘Norin 10’ and ‘Suwon 92’ sources contained Rht‐B1b and Rht‐D1b, but the ‘Seu Seun 27’ source did not contain a semidwarf allele. Neither Rht‐B1b nor Rht‐D1b could be definitively traced back to ‘Daruma’, and both ‘Daruma’ sources contained only Rht‐B1b. However, ‘Daruma’ remains the most likely donor of Rht‐B1b and Rht‐D1b. We suggest that the disparity between historical pedigrees and Rht‐1 genotypes occurs because the genetic make‐up of seed bank sources differs from that of the cultivars actually used in the pedigrees. Some evidence also suggests that an alternative Rht‐D1b donor may exist.     

‘Changing My Thinking With a Western Woman’: Javanese Youths’ Constructions of Masculinity

Yogyakarta’s ‘wild’ guides are young men who pursue fantasies of true love and easy wealth by striking up ‘love affairs’ with tourist women. A hegemonic masculinity emerges as male peergroup gossip evaluates dramatic incidents to pinpoint ideal male with­male image and behaviour. In romances with Western women, guides renegotiate the sexual aspect of their masculinity, as tourist women’s holiday­romance expectations of attentiveness and deference collide with this ideal masculine self­image. The tension between disgust and desire within guides’ lifestyle leads to fragmented performances of identity for their different audiences.