Southeast Asia book specialist

Southeast Asia: The Diversity Dilemma

In Southeast Asia, diversity is a dilemma. Sometimes, it is a critical asset, while at other times, it is a grave liability. This book explains how Southeast Asians are solving the conundurm of evolving a regional identity while continually absorbing external influences.

Performing Political Identity: The Democrat Party in Southern Thailand

This is an anthropological account of the multi-level dynamics that underlie the continuing electoral dominance of the Democrat Party in southern Thailand, a conspicuous anomaly in Thailand’s political landscape. Based on extensive participant observation and interviews, the book presents a detailed study of candidates, support groups, and election campaigns in the province of Songkhla in 2004 and 2005, highlighting the intimate links between local and national politics.

Do Institutions Matter? Regional Institutions and Regionalism in East Asia (Rsis Mono. No. 13)

What are the prospects of transforming the Asian region into a security community where regional states commit to peaceful relations and the avoidance of war with one another? Do regional institutions and the ongoing process of institutionalisation in East Asia contribute to the quest for the security, peace and stability of the region? And how? These are the issues addressed in this monograph, which contains the report of the study group of the Sentosa Roundtable on Asian Security, 2007-2008.

Great Asian Brands: Tiger Beer - Distinctly Asian, Unmistakably World Class

Tiger Beer is one of a handful of Singapore brands that have made waves internationally. Since 1939, it has consistently been winning the gold award at international beer competitions and has some 40 such awards under its belt. This book explores how this Singapore beer has managed to do so well internationally despite being an Asian bre, produced in a country that has no beer-brewing tradition.

Failed Nation? Concerns of a Malaysian Nationalist

Rustam Sani (b.1945) is well known as an academic and active political analyst as well as writer in the Malay press. These 39 articles addressing a wide range of public issues and events were written 1986-2006 for English-language publications.

Social Roots of the Malay Left: An Analysis of the Kesatuan Melayu Muda

This study of the social roots of what has been termed the Malay Left is based on a 1975 academic thesis, in which much information is brought together on Malay pre-World War II political groups, which contrasted with the existing aristocratic, elite, and largely individual-based, political awareness of the period.

Defending the Majesty of Islam: Indonesia's Front Pembela Islam, 1998-2003

Indonesia’s 1998 reformation movement spawned numerous organisations aimed at either establishing an Islamic state or applying Islamic law. This study focuses on one such movement, Front Pembela Islam (FPI), a paramilitary group devoted to the Islamic ideal of “commanding righteousness and preventing corruption”.

Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and After Suharto

In this illuminating account of modern Indonesian history, Max Lane traces the evolution of Indonesia from its anti-colonial stirrings in the early 20th century to its victorious struggle against the rule of President Suharto. He describes how small resistance groups inside the country directed the massive political transformations that took place at the tail end of the 20th century and shows how the real heroes were the Indonesian workers and peasants, whose actions resulted in the fall of one of the most enduring dictatorships of modern times.

Japanese Firms in Contemporary Singapore

This pioneering work discusses the role of Japan in the economic development of Singapore since 1965 by looking at the nature and extent of the value-added activities of Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) in various sectors. Author Hiroshi Shimizu draws on case studies of leading Japanese MNCs to analyse Japanese foreign direct investment in Singapore as part of an Asian or global strategy.

Singapore: The Unexpected Nation

Edwin Lee, former Head of Department of History of the National University of Singapore, traces the history of Singapore from its beginnings as a trade settlement in the 13th century to its emergence as a separate independent nation.

An Irish Tour of Singapore

This illustrated "tour" of Singapore's past and present demonstrates the extent of the Irish presence in Singapore's history and life. There have been Irish town planners, educators, missionaries and administrators and the fact that several roads have been named after some of the people in the Irish contingent testifies to their significance in Singapore.

Thailand and World War II (Revised English Edition)

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Direk Jayanama provides a unique, first-hand account of his country’s diplomatic, military, and economic history between 1938 and 1948. Professor Direk’s 1967 memoirs, now translated into English, offer an extraordinary range and depth unsurpassed by the many other official Thai records and memoirs written by government officials of this period.

Snakes & Devils: A History of the Singapore Grand Prix

Many Singaporeans have forgotten that the country's first Grand Prix has already taken place! This volume, with the aid of many annotated photographs, presents the events and significant personalities which made up the 13 Grand Prix motor races which took place at the Singapore's "Snakes & Devils" Upper Thomson Circuit.

Lighting Lives: The Ppis Story

The PPIS (Young Women's Muslim Association) was founded in 1952 and was the first organisation in Singapore formed to address the issues and challenges faced by Muslim women. The 22 founders had wanted to bring attention to some of the unique problems that Muslim women and children face, and more important, to help Muslim women who are in desperate situations find their feet again. This commemorative volume traces the birth and growth of the organisation.

Paths Not Taken: Political Pluralism in Post-War Singapore

Offering an alternative look at Singapore's formative years as an independent nation, a history which has largely morphed into the "Singapore Story", this book contains multidisciplinary academic papers that explore the "paths not taken" in Singapore's recent past.

Sharing the Nation: Faith, Difference, Power and the State 50 Years After Merdeka

Five separately referenced essays explore issues which are urgently relevant to Malaysia as the country passes the milestone marking 50 years of independence, such as the constitutional position of Islam and the relevance and force of the so-called "social contract" associated with the 1957 consitution.

Peranakan Museum, A-Z Guide

This is a colourful guidebook to the collections of Singapore's new Peranakan Museum. The collections make available information and artefacts which illuminate ways of life of the Straits Chinese, who were a major force in the development of modern Singapore and Southeast Asia.

30th Feb

Chow Chee Yong is one of only three Singaporeans to have their photographic prints acquired by Japan's prestigious Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Yamanashi. This catalogue of his work showcases everything to do with making the impossible possible. His black-and-white images defy our notions of conventional perceptions and the juxtaposed images fragmented of time and spaces urge us to re-shape our own frontiers and boundaries.

From the Land of the Thunder Dragon: Textile Arts of Bhutan (Reprinted 2008)

When From the Land of the Thunder Dragon was published in 1994, it was the first book to present Bhutanese textiles in their historical and cultural contexts. Now reissued in paperback, this book with its 150 illustrations continues to reveal the richness and originality of Bhutan's textile and weaving heritage.

Eclectic Collecting: Art from Burma in the Denison Museum

The Denison collection of Burmese art includes more than 1,500 objects dating from the late first millennium A.D. through the 20th century. Specialist essays, supported by numerous vibrant colour photographs, cover the formation of the collection, the study of textiles belonging to the Burmans and minority tribes, as well as Buddha images and lacquerware.

Princess Shawl

One day, a mysterious shawl arrives for nine year-old Mei Li and she is whisked off on the adventure of her life. Featuring elements of the legend of the founding of Malacca, this story has Mei Li rescuing the Chinese princess Li Po, who goes on to marry the Sultan Mansur.

Mirrored Mirages

Rosaly Puthucheary, who recently published Footfalls in the Rain, returns with another anthology. The poems in Mirrored Mirages are from two earlier published collections - Pillow Your Dreams (1978) and The Fragmented Ego (1978). This time, her poetry largely centres around a woman's struggle with male domination and the challenges posed by living in a city.

Paradise Found: Journeys through Noble Gardens of Asia

Produced to benefit the UK's Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioners' Appeal, this coffee-table book presents 40 of Asia's top gardens as seen through the eyes and musings of some distinguished personalities and garden lovers.

Bus Stopping

American photographer Stephen Black observes Singapore from an unusual angle - inside a public bus. Although this is a pictorial with no text, it still manages to convey a sense of Singapore by following one of the most frequently used modes of transport in the republic.

08.08.08: Beijing's Road to the Olympic Games

Straits Times journalist and photographer Chua Chin Hon has been based in Beijing since 2002. Through his images, sometimes supported by a narrative, he presents the city's efforts to host the 2008 Summer Olympics - a medley of elated hopes, bitter resentments, grim determination and glorious intentions - and shows how they are together imposing a new Beijing onto the city's transient and permanent inhabitants.

Politics & economics