[Monday Talks] Book launch : Malaisie contemporaine
Date: 25 Apr 2022, 7:30pm - 10:00pm GMT+8 Kuala Lumpur
Book launch "Malaisie contemporaine" - Understanding the dynamics of contemporary Malaysia
Monday, April 25, 2022
7:30pm - 10pm
45 min talk, 15 min Q&A, light refreshments
Talk conducted in English
*Dates and beverages will be served at Iftar. Meals can be purchased at the Gustafood Café, AFKL.
The discussion will begin at 7:45pm.
Event description
Both continental and insular, culturally diverse and influenced by Asia’s most important civilisations (Islam, China and India), medium-sized but considered an emerging country, the Federation of Malaysia is at the heart of Southeast Asia and its issues. It is, however, one of the most misunderstood and less known states in the region: surprisingly Malaysia seems to be a blind spot in social science research, perhaps because of its historical trajectory without any major geopolitical crisis in domestic or world affairs, amidst an economically prosperous and politically stable environment.
Malaisie Contemporaine (directed by David Delfolie, Nathalie Fau and Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux, Bangkok-Paris: IRASEC-Les Indes Savantes, 2021, 600 p.) is the result of a long-term collaboration between French and Malaysian researchers. It analyses the singularity of a Malaysian model that has so much to contribute empirically and theoretically to the more global understanding of social phenomena. Geographers, economists, anthropologists, historians, political scientists, and literature specialists offer here a rigorous and accessible synthesis of the latest research on Malaysia. This monograph presents the specificities of domestic and foreign policies dominated by diplomatic, regional and security issues. It highlights the originality of an extroverted economic growth, framed by a rentier, investor and redistributor State, as well as it questions the consequences of political choices on the spatial organisation of a country marked by strong territorial disparities, by the proximity of the sea and by the power of the cities.
The book will be on sale after the event and an English version of the introduction will be available. Three of the book's
authors will be present as well as the director and deputy director of IRASEC (the Institute for research on contemporary Southeast Asia,
based in Bangkok), who edited the book.
Panellist
> Dr. THAM Siew Yean
Tham Siew Yean is a Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore and Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Malaysian and
International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). She has served as a consultant to various agencies: the World Bank,
Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank Institute. Her research interests and publications are in foreign direct investment,
international trade, trade policies, and industrial development in Malaysia and ASEAN.
> DR. David DELFOLIE (via Zoom)
David Delfolie is a teacher and Inclusion Officer at Sciences Po Lille (France), researcher attached to IDHES-PARIS 1. He is also a member
of the editorial board of the journal Dynamiques internationales. Among his latest publications: “When the public space is getting in
tune. Sound politicization in Malaysia, between ideological issues and partisan cleavages” (Politiques de Communication, special issue
1, 2017) and “Malaysia-China: a “precious” relationship”, with Nathalie Fau and Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux (Carnets de
l’IRASEC, 2016).
> DR. Jarida MOHD JANI
Jarina Mohd Jani currently works as senior lecturer at the Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. A
member of the Biodiversity Conservation and Management Programme, her work focuses on the interaction between nature and society. Her
current projects are on Human-Sea turtle interactions in South China Sea and on natural resource-based livelihoods in Setiu Wetlands.
> Dr. Christine CABASSET
Christine Cabasset has a PhD in geography and planning and has been the deputy director of IRASEC since 2018 and co-edits the annual review
Southeast Asia. She is also associate researcher at Centre Asie du Sud-Est (CNRS-EHESS-INALCO, Paris). She has been working on Southeast
Asia/ASEAN, particularly on Indonesia and East Timor, since the 1990s. Her current research focuses on coastal tourism urbanisation facing
environmental challenges, disaster management, and regional integration.
> Prof. Jérôme SAMUEL
Jérôme Samuel is a professor in Indonesian and Malaysian studies (INALCO, Paris) and associate researcher at Centre Asie du Sud-Est
(CNRS-EHESS-INALCO, Paris). He is currently director of IRASEC and editor-in-chief of journal Archipel. Interdisciplinary Studies on
Insulindia
(journals.openedition.org/archipel/333). His research covers various aspects of Indonesian and Malay/Malaysian language: terminologies,
language policies, didactics as well as interdialectal mutual intelligibility. In a completely different field, he has published art history
studies on Javanese and Balinese reverse glass painting.
Moderator
Gabrielle Maréchaux
RFI - Radio France Internationale