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Numerous journalistic and literary writings about the Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian awardee of the Nobel Prize for Literature (1913), appeared in newspapers of colonial Vietnam. His stop-over in Saigon (Cochin China) in 1929 created political discussions in contemporary journalism and other publications. Tagore and his visit to Saigon inspired Vietnamese intellectuals and stirred diverse anti-colonial thought. This paper examines writings and images about Tagore in colonial Vietnamese journals and newspapers, reconstructing how intellectuals recalled and imagined him as they also engaged with anti-colonial thought, particularly anti-colonial modernity and anti-capitalism. Contextualizing the reception of Tagore in colonial projects of modernizing the Vietnamese colony, the paper argues that discussions inspired by Tagore’s visit embody contemporary nationalist ideology.

This study examined adolescent male and female students’ attitudes toward physical education (PE) from the Philippines and South Korea. Participants were 451 middle school students from the Philippines and South Korea. The Physical Education Attitude Scale (PEAS) was used to measure students’ PE attitudes. Overall, students had moderately positive attitudes toward PE. PE attitudes of Korean boys were more positive compared with Filipino boys, while the reverse was found for Korean females and their Filipino counterparts. Based on the different aspects of PE, Filipino girls were more motivated to participate in PE activities and more satisfied with their PE class than Korean girls. Korean boys were highly satisfied, more comfortable, and less anxious during PE compared with Filipino boys. Finally, Filipino boys had less positive view towards their PE teacher than Korean boys. This study shows adolescent students’ attitudes toward PE were generally positive, complex, and affected by sex and nationality. It also provides additional knowledge on comparative international research on cross-cultural PE attitudes.

This research explores the fall of pre-independence Sultanates and its continued political, economic, and cultural influence in post-colonial Indonesia. By using qualitative and historical methods, this paper compares the Sultanates of Mataram in Yogyakarta and Al-Kadrie in Pontianak, which represent different historical paths supporting the struggle for independence during the mid-20th century. Sultan Hamid II of the Al-Kadrie was a supporter of federalism whereas Sultan Hamengkubowono IX of Yogyakarta was an advocate of the republican system. Eventually, Indonesia became a Republic, and the idea of federalism was sidelined, which led to the abolition of sultanates in the rise of the = Indonesian nation-state, except for the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. After the 1998 Reform, the current development of democracy created political opportunities for the Al-Kadrie to reclaim its authority through engagement with various civic organizations. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of Yogyakarta faces internal friction because of succession concerns.

In recent decades, Indonesia and the Middle Eastern countries have increased and expanded their political, security, economic, and socio-cultural ties. Qatar is one of the Middle Eastern countries which have fortified ties with Indonesia. This article aims to analyze the nature and scope of Indonesia-Qatar relations through the five-dimensional framework developed by George Eberling, which consists of political-diplomatic, economic-trade, military-security, cultural, and petroleum-energy relations (Eberling 2017). Despite being significantly distinct in history, demography, geographic size, and location, Jakarta and Doha have been provided opportunities to expand their cooperation on multifaceted dimensions by way of common economic, geopolitical, and cultural interests. Throughout the paper, the primary drivers of the cooperation are also discussed, alongside its future prospects.

Using sociohistorical approaches, the paper shows that before the 15th century, myths of Hùng Kings, considered to be the descendants of the Dragon race and ancestors of the Vietnamese people, may have existed locally. Vietnamese rulers and people strongly supported the integration of these myths into indigenous culture to form a new belief: the worship of Hùng Kings. By way of discovering the transformation process from the founding myths to the modern national beliefs of the Vietnamese, this paper attempts to demonstrate that both myths and worship of Hùng Kings were politically created and encouraged. The article also focuses on the reasons why these myths and worship reached a broad public as these were integrated into Vietnamese culture.

This article explores religious responses to significant cultural and social change in a northern Vietnamese delta village from 1996 to 2008—the second decade after de-collectivization. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork in both the village and surrounding religious networks, the article teases out the meanings of the new religious movements for northern rural people in the new era of market economy; the symbols, language, and metaphoric resources people used in response to their uncertainty and mistrust of the new social landscape; and the unintended consequences of rapid societal development such as marginalization, tensions, and social disintegration. The article argues that as in milleniarism elsewhere, new religious movements in northern rural Vietnam embody unorthodox syncretism between world religious and local traditions, thus linking past, present, and future. However, when drawing upon a common reservoir of memories and experiences to cope with risks and challenges of the new market world, local people not only drew on the power and imperial metaphor of deities in their traditional religion and belief, but became more creative to recuperate meanings, standards, and symbols from revolutionary discourse to reorient themselves, and overcome alienation and marginalization.

Cultures often adopt the good versus evil dichotomy within their narratives of religious texts, aural anecdotes, and cultural mythologies. The Ramayana narrates a divine story that transcends time of the battle between the forces of good and evil, between Prince Rama and Ravana. Numerously adapted through time, the Ramayana is today told through moving visuals and has been adapted by Mani Ratnam through Raavanan (2010). Raavanan is adapted to the premise of hero versus villain using the good versus evil premise as Dev Prakash (Rama) searches to rescue his wife Raagini (Sita), who is abducted by Veeraiya (Ravana). The film, however, departs from the Ramayana as Raavanan is told through the perspective of Veeraiya. In the film, Veeraiya is portrayed as a flawed anti-hero who battles against injustice instead of being the antagonist. He seeks revenge for his sister and stands up against the oppression of his tribe. In this battle, he questions ideological understandings of justice and morality that have been conventionally interpellated within society. This paper discusses how Mani Ratnam, through the film Raavanan, contests hegemony, ideology, and class differences within modern cinema and society alongside the more significant question surrounding India's sociocultural conditions.

This study seeks to examine how the West, particularly United States (US), influences the narratives about terrorism, radicalism, and combating violent extremism (CVE) in Muslim majority nations such as Malaysia. We contend that some local institutions and researchers in Malaysia may have assumed the Faustian bargain by agreeing with the Western narrative that Islam's teachings promote violence and extremism in order to meet the demands of survival, whether it be funding for everyday operations or meeting the demands of universities or research institutions to sustain themselves and meet their performance indicators. We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) from 2001 to 2021 and used Foucauldian Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to understand the role of the US in purposefully supporting workshops and research activities of particular institutions with the intent to influence national discourse on securitization and prospective policy implications. More importantly, we wish to alert Malaysian policymakers to pay particular attention and scrutinize ongoing programs such as the "Building Community Resilience" as these may inadvertently foster Islamophobia.

This study observes the language attitude and maintenance of the border community in Telok Melano, Lundu (Sarawak, Malaysia) and Desa Temajuk, Sambas (West Kalimantan, Indonesia). The main objective of this study is to study the language attitudes of two cross-border community who shares the socio-cultural, language, and economic realms. The research data is collected qualitatively through conversation recordings, face-to-face interviews, and participant observations. In this preliminary study, twelve informants (six from Telok Melano and six from Desa Temajuk) were chosen based on the quota sampling method. The questions for the interview were set according to three characteristics of language choice proposed by Garvin and Mathiot (1968), namely language loyalty, language pride, and the awareness of norms. The result of this study indicates that language loyalty, language pride, and awareness of the norms towards the speakers’ mother tongue and national language are relatively high. In terms of identity maintenance issues, this study found that the community in Telok Melano (Sarawak), originally identify themselves as “Sambas Malays,” shifted to “Sarawak Malays” after the formation of Malaysia in 1963. This preliminary study serves as a basis for further research particularly on the complexity of issues concerned with the border communities in the Southwest of Sarawak.

Trade between South Korea and Malaysia has been steadily increasing since the conclusion of the multilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea. Bilateral FTAs such as Singapore-South Korea, Vietnam-South Korea, and Indonesia-South Korea came into effect to enhance the economic cooperation between South Korea and major ASEAN countries. However, the bilateral FTA between South Korea and Malaysia, known as Republic of Korea-Malaysia FTA, is still under negotiation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the economic impact of a possible FTA between these two countries. To examine the economic effects of bilateral FTAs, this study analyzes the trade structure and change in the value of trade between Malaysia and South Korea using panel data analysis. Two significant findings were identified by the analysis. First, the Republic of Korea-Malaysia FTA is expected to promote trade and have a positive effect on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of South Korea. Second, the result of the calculated price elasticity based on substituting figures such as tariff, demand elasticity, and export value is that the value of manufacturing exports is expected to considerably get an increase. Therefore, an early FTA between South Korea and Malaysia would be beneficial for both national economies.