The Conflicted City

As a megacity, Jakarta has enjoyed mixed forms of residential neighbourhoods, in which the kampungs used to prevail. After a period of kampung rehabilitation, relocation programmes intensified in Jakarta in the 1980s, influenced by the Singaporean model and paradigmatic shifts in international policies for housing for the poor. As a reaction, various local NGO s have proposed alternative solutions to what can seem a hegemonic international trend. Starting from the imposition of international models for housing for the poor, this paper studies how local NGO s in Jakarta have tried to negotiate these hegemonic global shifts and to propose other types of solutions. It first analyses the context of urban transformation in the central zones and the eradication of several kampungs. It then addresses the NGO s’ alternative visions of the city and its future, before showing how these visions are deeply rooted in formal and informal networks specific to the Indonesian context.

Japan’s Diplomatic Proactive Stance towards Indochina and the Cambodian Problem (1970)

This article assesses the Japanese diplomatic contribution through the prism of the Indochinese political situation in the early 1970s. The traditional literature depicts Japan’s non-existent proactivism in postwar foreign politics, based on its alleged unconditional dependence on Washington’s political agenda. However, throughout the 1970s there were occasions in which the country showed how it was independently engaged at a diplomatic level. This has often been overlooked by the literature produced in the field, but it is an irrefutable conclusion from the historical evidence and the analysis of the archival sources. Japan’s diplomatic commitment in solving the problem of peace in Cambodia, its double effort as a diplomatic intermediary between the political actors involved in the Indochinese issue and, at the same time, through the ODA policy, may offer the missing elements for a no longer univocal interpretation of its postwar diplomatic history—which is the aim of this essay.

‘Invisible Worldings’

This article explores the interplay between image and reality in the Thai seafood industry’s humanitarian engagements with migrant labour. Revisiting Aihwa Ong’s notion of ‘worlding’ and Peter Jackson’s discussion of the ‘Thai regime of images’, it examines the situated, informal interactions between migrant rights NGO s, fishing companies and state officials in the Thai port city of Samut Sakhon, on the outskirts of Bangkok. Through ethnographic case studies, this analysis illuminates the ‘invisible worldings’ that regulate spaces of migrant workforce from behind the scenes. As I show, migrant labour NGO s operate in a context-sensitive play of appearances and disappearances, humanitarian aid and migrant forced labour, and need to navigate local hierarchies of power in the service of Thailand’s international ‘image’ (phap-lak). It is argued that ‘invisible worldings’ sustain Thailand’s ongoing leadership in the fish trade and, concomitantly, the Thai military government’s cosmetic attempts to rebuild global reputation amid growing international scrutiny.

Linking Shrimp Farmers and Food Processors

This study explores the barriers faced by white shrimp farmers in Vietnam in linking directly with food processing companies. The shrimp sector in Vietnam is still characterised by highly informal structures, weak implementation of food safety regulations and a lack of expertise among farmers to comply with international standards. The Vietnamese government anticipates modernising shrimp production and enabling farmers to achieve the quality standards of international retailers. While international food processing companies have established locations in Vietnam to serve international markets, farmers often lack the resources and expertise to comply with their requirements. The main challenges are related to infrastructure for transport and payment transfers, risk management and overcoming established production routines which are mostly based on tacit knowledge and experience. Hence, efforts are needed to improve infrastructures, establish risk management tools for farmers and promote successful cases which can act as guiding examples for adapting white shrimp production.