Experts Profile

Arisman is currently the Executive Director of Center for Southeast Asian Studies(CSEAS) and Senior Lecturer at Department of Development Economics, The State Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta, Indonesia. His current research projects include assessment of ASEAN Economic Community, SMEs development in Southeast Asia, Poverty in Southeast Asia, Labour Migration across ASEAN, Environmental Issues in ASEAN. He completed his bachelor and postgraduate studies in the National University of Malaysia, the University of Indonesia and the University of Science Malaysia in International Relations, Public Policy and Development Economics. He has 17 years experiences in academic, including 5 years as the Director for International Program Faculty Economics at the State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta, 3 years as the Deputy Director for International Office UIN Jakarta, and 2 years as the Director for International Program at Faculty Social and Political Sciences UIN Jakarta. He teaches and supervises research in various universities in Indonesia including the State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta, University of Indonesia, and Paramadina University. He was a visiting professor at a number of universities outside Indonesia, including the Prince Songkhla University, Thailand, the Western Sydney University, Australia, and the Northern University of Malaysia. He was also a Visiting Fellow at ASEAN Focus Group (Strategic Advisory Consultant), Sydney, Australia and a part of the National Board for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Association for Indonesia Chapter.

My first exposure to the inequality issue dates back to the end of 2011 when Indonesia’s most prominent newspaper, Kompas, featured some articles related to economic growth that was insufficient to ensure equality as well as widening gaps between rich and poor in their headlines. In fact, Indonesia began to experience soaring inequality over the last decade. Expenditure inequality measured by the Gini Ratio has increased rapidly from 0.36 in 2007 to 0.41 in 2011, the highest record of the Gini ratio September 2016 – NTS-Asia Consortium Newsletter 3 in Indonesia ever.

This current trend of rising inequality is not a solely Indonesian scenario. A number of reports highlight this emerging issue not only in the developing world but also in developed countries. For example, the OECD ‘Divided We Stand’ report published in 2011, the UN ‘Inequality Matters’ report issued in 2013, and several other reports published by other development agencies, discuss this matter.

The uniqueness of inequality is its twoway causal relationship with development, particularly economic growth.

The first relationship is how economic development affects inequality and the second is how inequality affects economic development. This uniqueness makes this issue much more complex than other development problems. We need more evidence to be able to comprehend the many layers of the puzzle. In the case of Indonesia, there are only limited studies looking at the issue of inequality; most of them look at the decomposition and drivers of inequality (see: Booth 2000, Akita 2003, Yusuf et al. 2013, Miranti et al., 2013). The answer to the fundamental question of whether increasing inequality in Indonesia is detrimental to economic growth is still rare or may not even exist. Our recent paper (Yumna et al., 2015) tries to add to the literature by proving that rising inequality in Indonesia is something to be worried about. The paper argues that the impact of inequality on economic growth is an inverted U-shape. Initially, increasing inequality is associated with increasing growth, but after reaching a peak point, further increase will reduce growth.

With this rigorous evidence, we can convince policy makers to acknowledge this recent trend. Luckily, we are now on the right track. Jokowi’s government has included the issue of reducing inequality as an explicit focus in their development agenda of 2015-2019. But this is not enough. Research communities need to support the decision makers with more evidence on how to do it. For advocacy, the more the merrier.

Alexis de Tocqueville in his seminal book “Democracy in America” (1840:185) reminded us that ‘Almost all of the revolutions which have changed the aspect of nations have been made to consolidate or to destroy social inequality. Remove the secondary causes which have produced the great convulsions of the world, and you will almost always find the principle of inequality at the bottom’. Inequality is not a novel issue, it exists throughout human history. Tackling it is our biggest task.

Dr Alistair D. B. Cook is Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. His research interests focus geographically on the Asia-Pacific and Myanmar in particular and thematically on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), foreign policy and regional cooperation. He has taught undergraduate, graduate and professional development courses at Purdue University, University of Melbourne, Deakin University, Nanyang Technological University, Australian National University, Singapore Civil Defence Academy and SAFTI.

Dr Maruyama Hayato obtained his PhD from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 2021. He is currently a research associate at the School of Science in the same university and a part-time lecturer at Kawamura Gakuen Woman’s University. His research interest is in international cooperation and peace building by Japanese private sector in Southeast Asia. His latest publications include “Contribution of Japanese Private Sector in Asian Development: Economic Cooperation by Large Enterprises and International Cooperation by SMEs”,” “Contribution of Japanese Private Sector in Asia: The role of Japanese Small-MediumEnterprises for Development in Southeast Asia”, and “Contributions by Japanese SMEs’ Overseas Expansion Emphasizing International Cooperation.”

Dr Nguyen Binh Giang is currently a vice director of Institute of World Economics and Politics – a member institution of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. He also serves as a professor at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam. Dr Giang’s research interests include global value chain, production networks, water security and sustainable development, labor mobility, migrant workers, economic impacts of climate changes, and especially workers’ rights in industrial zones. He was a leader of the bilateral project between Vietnam and Japan “Social impacts of industrial zones and export processing zones”, studying working conditions and gender inequality within industrial zones, social security-related issues and environmental effects on surrounding communities. In addition, since 2013 he has been an editor of annual reports on world economy and polity which reviews global economic performance and political matters such as conflicts, wars and nontraditional security issues. He was also involved in the national research project “Water resource for growth and sustainable development: Cases study of Israel, Egypt, Zimbabwe and lessons learned for Vietnam” and “The impacts of global climate changes: policy responses of some nations and lessons for Vietnam”.

Meenakshi Gopinath is Founder and Director of WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), an initiative that seeks to promote the leadership of South Asian women in the areas of peace, security and regional cooperation. She is Principal Emerita, Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, a leading women’s college in India where she was Principal for 26 years. Dr. Gopinath was the first woman to serve as a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) of India. She is a member of multi-track peace initiatives in Kashmir and between India and Pakistan. She has authored, among others, Pakistan in Transition, and co-authored Bridging the Divide: Peacebuilding for a New Generation, Conflict Resolution – Trends and Prospects, Transcending Conflict: A Resource Book on Conflict Transformation and Dialogic Engagement and has contributed chapters and articles in several books and journals on Gandhi, the Politics of Pakistan, Conflict Resolution, Gender and Peacebuilding, Arts et al. Her interests include issues of human rights and gender, conflict transformation and Buddhist and Gandhian philosophy. For her contributions to women’s education and leadership, she has received several awards and honours including the Padma Shri from the President of India. Dr. Gopinath serves on the Governing Boards of leading research institutes, NGOs, educational institutions and corporate bodies.

Dr. Zhou Zhanggui, is Senior Research Fellow of Overseas Safety and Security Programs, NTS-PD, Zhejiang University. He was the Program Officer, at International Center on small hydropower, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (October 2005 – July 2011). He co-founded the International Forum on Non-Traditional Security (Hangzhou) and the Overseas Safety and Security International Collaboration Mechanism (Center) and chaired the secretariats. He also served as Mentor of Global Competency Center at Zhejiang University and Judge of All China Universities Contests of Future Elites for International Organizations (Since 2019). His main research focus on non-traditional security risk management. He has published books and papers on Non-Traditional Security including energy, environment and climate security, private security, etc. translated cored documents of private security standards into Chinese including ICoCA core documents and ISO 18788, etc.

I am an associate research fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). I am originally from the Philippines. I came to Singapore in 2010 to pursue my MSc degree in Asian Studies and joined RSIS in 2012 as a senior analyst.

My research interests encompass both traditional and non-traditional security issues which include energy security, particularly nuclear energy governance; humanitarian assistance, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, ethnic conflicts and separatism in Southeast Asia; nationalism; and human rights and democratisation issues in Southeast Asia. My current research project is on nuclear energy cooperation in Southeast Asia. Most of my recent publications are on this issue and have been published in RSIS Commentaries, The Straits Times and other regional newspapers. I also recently co-authored a journal article that comprehensively discusses regional norms and challenges to nuclear energy governance in Southeast Asia. I have been participating in regional Track 2 meetings on energy security to contribute to regional discussions on nuclear energy governance.

Kazumi Abe is Assistant Professor at Graduate School of International Resource Sciences, Akita University, Japan. Her research interests include conflict resolution and peace building in Southeast Asia. In particular, her research focuses on the conflict in Papua, Indonesia. She earned REFLECTIONS her Ph.D. in social sciences from Waseda University, Japan. Prior to joining academic activity, she worked for the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste as an electoral adviser and the Japan Ministry of Defense as a project coordinator of the capacity building projects.