On Thursday 30 November, Asia Centre participated in the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Week organized by UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.     This year’s event focused on innovation – integration – inclusiveness and implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. The SDG Week brought together government organizations, intergovernmental partners and agencies, regional organizations, businesses, think tanks, academia and other stakeholders to engage in discussions on effective implementation of the SDGs.   Throughout the SDG week Asia Centre showcased its work at the Pavilion of Partnerships alongside other social enterprises,…

Four speakers came forward to share their research interests in their respective fields at AsiaCentre's third International Faculty Club (IFC) Night. They spoke on a variety of topics, including niche areas such as on representations of Tibetan Buddhism in contemporary China, women's entrepreneurship and digital technologies and linguistics.   Jingyu (Forrest) Huang, introduced his study on a three-dimensional Buddhist Mandala in Pule Temple, in Chengde, China, and the understandings of these works in contemporary China. He shared his keen interest in the art history of Tibetan Buddhism.  He is a Master’s student at the College of Religious Studies of Mahidol University.   Gender, migration and entrepreneurship was…

Asia Centre is pleased to announce its membership in ADPAN, which works towards abolishing the death penalty in Southeast Asia and beyond, on the occasion of the 15th world anti-death penalty day on October 10, 2017.  Southeast Asia has seen a resurgence in the use of the death penalty in recent years, notably in Malaysia and Singapore. Whereas it has been abolished in the Philippines since 2006, the current government seeks to re-instate its use. Indonesia and Vietnam appear to use this sentence liberally. Moratoria remain in other parts of the region. The right to life is guaranteed under international…

Asia Centre’s International Faculty Club gained momentum as people gathered for the second installment dedicated to interdisciplinary discourse and networking. Held on 1 Sep at Asia Centre’s premises, the event attracted about 25 participants from different academic and professional backgrounds, all keen to engage on subject matters outside of their comfort zones. Six speakers took to the floor to share their research and experience on a range of issues from philosophy to architecture,  to fundraising and on environmental governance.Eva Rappoport, a Mahidol University Ph.D student, presented her research on spirit possession in Javanese culture, set to the backdrop of a…

After the Second World War, Japan’s search for a guiding framework for renewed relations with Southeast Asia led to the adoption, 32 years after the end of the war, of the Fukuda Doctrine on 18 August 1977. The doctrine had at its core a “heart to heart” approach to its foreign policy in the region. However, forty years later, at Asia Centre’s roundtable discussion on Japan-ASEAN Relations in a Multipolar World, it became clear that Japan needed to develop a human rights dimension to its foreign policy with Southeast Asian countries in order to distinguish itself from other major Asian…