Brill PublishingBook Proposal

National and Regional Approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEANDecember 7, 2017

THE EDITORS

1. Prof. Ronald Holzhacker (6 July 1961) and Dr. Dafri Agussalim (March 9, 1960)

Prof. Ronald Holzhacker, Professor of Multi-Level Governance and Regional Structure, Faculty of Spatial Science, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Director, Groningen Research Center for Southeast Asia and ASEAN.

PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, CV attached.

Dr. Dafri Agussalim, Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Relations and Executive Director of ASEAN Study Center, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

PhD, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, CV attached.

THE BOOK

2. Short description of the book (150 words)

The international community has come together to pursue certain fundamental, common goals over the coming decade to 2030 to make progress toward ending poverty and hunger, improving social and economic well-being, preserving the environment and combating climate change, and maintaining peace. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been agreed to by states, which have in turn adopted national targets and action plans. We are interested in the governance and implementation of these goals in Southeast Asia, in particular the difficulties in the shift from the international to the national, the multi-level challenges of implementation, and the involvement of stakeholders, civil society, and citizens in the process. We have brought together a group of scholars from across Southeast Asia to research these issues within the region and ASEAN. We explore the issues in developing (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar), middle-income (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines) and advanced countries (Singapore, Brunei) in the region. The perspectives on governance and the SDGs emerge from the fields of political science, international relations, geography, economics, law, health, and the natural sciences.

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3. TABLE OF CONTENTS

National and Regional Approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEAN

1. Ronald Holzhacker and Dafri Agussalim

Introduction: National and Regional Approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEAN

I. Institutions and Governance for the Sustainable Development Goals

2. Ronald Holzhacker (Director, Groningen Research Centre for Southeast Asia and ASEAN, University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

Multi-Level Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals

3. Dafri Agussalim (Director, ASEAN Studies Centre, UGM, Indonesia)

Localising Sustainable Development Goals: Assessing Indonesia’s Compliance toward Global Goals

4. Le Thi Nguyet Chau (Dean, Faculty of Law, Can Tho University, Vietnam)

Vietnam National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Legal Challenges

5. Phanthanusone (Pepe) Khennavong (Technical advisor to Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lao PDR)

Greater partnerships for implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in Lao PDR.

II. Accountability to Citizens and Human Rights to Ensure Progress Toward SDGs. 

6. Julio C. Teehankee (Professor, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines)

Accountability Challenges to Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia

7. Ulrich Karl Rotthoff (Asian Center, University of Philippines, Diliman)

The Philippine Case and Human Rights in the International Context

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III. SDGs and Progress on the Social Agenda in Middle-Income and Developing Countries in Southeast Asia.  

8. Azirah Hashim (Executive Director, Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Malaysia) and Aliyyah Nuha Amman (University of Malaya)

Sustainable Development Goals and Capacity Building in Higher Education in ASEAN

9. Laksono Trisnantoro (Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjha Mada University, Indonesia)

Health Care System Reform and Governance for Sustainable Development in Indonesia

IV. SDGs and the New Urban Agenda, Cities, Transport and Renewable Energy.  

10. Bobi Setiawan (Professor, Architecture and Planning, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia)

Urban Transformation in Indonesia, SDGs, and Habitat 3: Political Will, Capacity Building and Knowledge Production

11. Hasharina Hassan and Gabriel Yong (Universiti Brunei Darussalam)

A Vision Where Every Family has Basic Shelter

12. Dean Deendarlianto (Director Gadjah Mada University, Energy Centre, Indonesia)

Barriers and Opportunities in Fulfilling Indonesia’s Renewable Energy Target and Reduction of Oil Consumption through Remodeling of Road Transport Energy Consumption

13. Wendy Tan (University of Groningen)

The Missing Link: Sustainable Mobility and Transportation in the SDGs

V. SDGs and the Environment, Clean Air and Water for All  

14. Helena Varkkey (University of Malaya, Malaysia)

Transboundary Haze, ASEAN, and the SDGs: Normative and Structural Challenges

15. Maharani Hapsari (Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia)

Emerging Spaces of Citizenship: Grassroots Communities, Sustainable Development Goals and Water Governance in Indonesia

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VI. SDGs and the Economic Agenda for Inclusive Economic Growth and Decent Work for All. 

16. Tran Dinh Lam (Director Center for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies, Vietnam National University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC, Vietnam)

Economic Reform and Sustainable Development in Vietnam

17. Kimsay Soy (Director, Center for the Study of Humanitarian Law, University of Law and Economics (RULE), Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Protecting Rights of Construction Workers to Safe Working Conditions in the Course of Economic Boon: Lessons learned from Cambodia

 18. Thuta Aung (Senior Fellow, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies)

Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs as a force for achieving the SDGs in Myanmar

VII. SDGs, Agriculture, and Community Development through Partnerships 

19. Titus Chen and Amador IV Peleo (National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

Blue-Washing, Green Coffee, and the Sustainable Development Agenda in Southeast Asia

20. Saikew Thipakorn (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand).

Cooperation of Cooperatives: Partnership towards SDGs

LENGTH OF THE MANUSCRIPT

We have asked each author to prepare their chapters with about 8500 words, including references and footnotes. I will inquire about how many tables and figures are to be included in each chapter, but I will request that these be limited to 3 or 4 per chapter maximum.

Approximate word count, 20 x 8500 = 170,000 words.

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TIMING

We have asked the authors to exchange the next draft of papers on January 15, 2018 in order to get feedback from the two editors and from a peer reviewer from the participating authors. We have asked for final papers to be submitted to the editors on February 15, 2018. We would then hope to submit the manuscript between March 15, 2018 and April 1, 2018.

THE MARKET

This is an edited, comparative research book bringing leading and emerging scholars together from across SE Asia. We believe it will be of interest to academic scholars, advanced master and PhD students, and policy makers at the national and regional levels. There is also a growing interest among the international community on the sustainable development goals.

Competing Titles

Many of the articles and documents related to the sustainable development goals are primary documents produced by the UN or by governments.

There are a number of edited volumes related to our own proposal. The first is a recent Springer volume, edited by Jan Servaes, Sustainable Development Goals in the Asian Context. The second is related to SDGs in Africa by Routledge (2018), From Millennium Goals to Sustainable Development Goals: Rethinking African development. Finally there is a single country focus on SDGs and Thailand, Baxter and Grossman, A Call to Action: Thailand and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Thus, while there is certainly emerging scholarly interest in the subject, the market is not flooded with books on the subject. In addition, the approach of looking at both regional and national approaches is unique.

International Market.

This book will be of interest to those in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, as well as those interested in other regional organizations beyond ASEAN, such as the European Union. The literature on the sustainable development goals is international, and this book will contribute to the international debate on the governance and implementation of these goals and targets in various contexts. The countries of SE Asia are interesting examples for other regions, because some of the countries are middle income countries, and others are developing countries.

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REFEREES

Names and addresses of three referees who are familiar with and would be qualified to provide an opinion on this work.

1. Dr. Arisman

Executive Director of Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) and Senior Lecturer at The State Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta.

CSEAS is a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) initiative of the United Nations.

Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS)Jl. Ir. H. Juanda No. 50 Ciputat Tangerang Selatan Banten 15412 INDONESIA

Email: arisuin@gmail.com

2. Prof. Mark Considine

Dean, Faculty of Arts

The University of Melbourne

Victoria, Australia 3010

 Professor Considine’s research areas include governance studies, comparative social policy, employment services, public sector reform, local development, and organisational sociology. He is Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria) and the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. 

 Email: m.considine@unimelb.edu.au

3. Prof. Joost Herman

Professor in Globalisation Studies and Humanitarian ActionDirector, Globalisation Studies Groningen (GSG)President NOHA, Network on Humanitarian Action, International Association of Universities

Extensive experience in Indonesia and throughout Southeast Asia as President of Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA)

University of GroningenGlobalisation Studies GroningenFaculty of ArtsOude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 269712 EK Groningen

J.Herman@rug.nl

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SOCIETAL IMPACT

The editors are organizing a conference and book launch for this volume to take place in one year in Brussels, October 30-November 1, 2018. We have begun to contact and meet with EU, ASEAN, and UN officials about this event. We also would like to reach out to civil society organizations and stakeholders to attend and be a part of this conference.

Preparing a Cohesive Edited Volume

We have structured our deliberations within the research group to make sure that the edited volume is organized, coherent, and integrated.

We have done this be specifying certain themes for the book related to the governance and implementation of the SDGs, suggested a format for each chapter to follow, and created a mechanism for an internal peer review of the chapters following our conference which took place over three days at Gadjah Mada University.

Working Book Conference held at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia

A working conference was held on 3-5 October 2017 at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, which served as the initial stage of the book project and succeeded in generating insightful ideas and feedback for all of the participants. We discussed and debated the relevance and importance of achieving the goals of the SDGs through national and regional perspectives, which led to a stimulating dialogue that continued also outside of the room. Participants presented not only their respective research but engaged actively in providing critical comments and building on the work of each other. Finally, ideas on what to focus on in each chapter is very important to be followed up and is central to finalizing each book chapter.

BOOK THEMES

We have asked the participants to include one or more of the following themes for the book related to governance and SDGs.  We have asked them to be specific as to how these governance challenges have emerged in their policy area.

1. The Shift from International to the National.

*Moving from the internationally agreed upon goals and targets to national institutional arrangements is often not easy and it varies by nation state and the policy sector involved. *Often multiple ministries or agencies are necessary to be involved in a given goal or target.

*It may be that overarching approaches to a set of the SDGs will be more effective, than the separate policy pursuit of a single SDG or target.

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2. Multi-level challenges of implementation

*Necessary to include the role of provincial and local governments within state structures 

*ASEAN as a regional actor may be engaged and promote learning about best practices in the implementation of the SDGs across Southeast Asia.  This learning should not only be between national levels of government, but may also be at the district or municipal levels, for example the promotion of Transnational Municipal Networks such as ICLEI Global (Local Governments for Sustainability), supported by the UN.

3. Involvement by Stakeholders and Civil Society. Strengthening is needed in the ways in which stakeholders, businesses, civil society organizations and citizens are involved in consultation and implementation of the sustainable development goals.

STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTERS

We wish to demonstrate coherence in the various book chapters by having a common structure to each chapter.  Each chapter should be organized like a typical journal article submission.  These sections below will appear in bold in the chapter.  There also may be 2 or 3 content sub-headings in the theory and analysis sections.

Introduction (1 or 2 paragraphs, each paragraph 6-10, or 8-12 sentences long)

Research Question (1 paragraph)

Scientific and Social Significance of the Research ( 2 paragraphs)

Methodology (1 paragraph).  What type of research have you conducted, a case study, comparative research, or large n study?  What kind of sources have you used for your empirical research (policy documents, interviews, data sets, etc.). 

Literature Review or Theoretical Overview -  3- 4 pages.  You may wish to begin with the broad debate in the field in your policy area, and then end with a focus on the theory that is most relevant for your analysis to follow.  Thus you may wish to end the theory section with the operationalization of theory for your analysis.

Analysis -   5-7 pages.  Be sure that the link between theory and your own empirical analysis is clear here.

Conclusion ( 2 -3 paragraphs).  Be sure to answer your research question.  What are your main conclusions from your research?  What are the policy implications for your research for the regional or national governance of the sustainable development goals in your policy area?

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ABSTRACTS and SHORT BIOGRAPHIES

1. Introduction: National and Regional Approaches to the Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEAN

Ronald Holzhacker and Dafri Agussalim

The international community has come together to pursue certain fundamental, common goals over the coming decade to 2030 to make progress toward ending poverty and hunger, improving social and economic well-being, preserving the environment and combating climate change, and maintaining peace.  The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been agreed to by states, which have in turn adopted national targets and action plans.  We are interested in the governance and implementation of these goals in Southeast Asia, in particular the difficulties in the shift from the international to the national, the multi-level challenges of implementation, and the involvement of stakeholders, civil society, and citizens in the process. 

This book is organised into six sections.  The first section introduces the institutions and governance involved in the SDGs, at the international, regional and local levels.  The second section focuses on the accountability to citizens and human rights to ensure progressive attainment of the SDGs in Southeast Asia.  The third section discusses the SDGs and progress on the social agenda in both the developing and middle-income countries in Southeast Asia. The fourth section focuses on the new urban agenda, with a concern for cities, housing, transport, and renewable energy.  The fifth section focuses on the environment, and clean air and water for all.  The sixth section focuses on the economic agenda for inclusive growth and decent work for all.  Finally, the seventh section focuses on the SDGs and agriculture and community development through international partnerships. 

This book brings together a group of scholars from across Southeast Asia to research these issues within the region and ASEAN.  We explore the issues in developing (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar), middle-income (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines) and advanced countries (Singapore, Brunei) in the region.  The perspectives on governance and the SDGs emerge from the fields of political science, international relations, geography, economics, law, health, and the natural sciences.

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I. National Governance Plans for Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

2. Multi-Level Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals

Ronald HolzhackerUniversity of Groningen, the Netherlands

This paper focuses on implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the challenges of moving from the internationally agreed upon goals and targets to nationalinstitutional arrangements. We posit that at times overarching approaches to a given group of SDGs will be more effective, than the separate policy pursuit of a single SDG or target. Secondly, we focus attention on the multi-level challenges of implementation, including the role of provincial and local governments within state structures. Many SDGs require engagement by sub-national structures, but resources and coordination from the central are essential. Finally, we investigate ways in which ASEAN as a regional actor may be engaged and promote learning about best practices in the implementation of the SDGs across Southeast Asia.  This learning should not only be between national levels of government, but also at the district or municipal levels, for example the promotion of transnational municipal networks such as ICLEI Global (Local Governments for Sustainability), supported by the UN. In this complex, multi-level process, we are interested in ways in which stakeholders, businesses, civil society organizations and citizens are involved in consultation and contribute to the effective implementation of the SDGs.

Biography:

Prof. dr. Ronald Holzhacker, University of Groningen, the Netherlands, is Professor of Comparative Multilevel Governance and Regional Structure in the Faculty of Spatial Science, Department of Spatial Planning and Environment, and the Faculty of Arts, Department of International Relations and International Organization. He holds a PhD from the University of Michigan in political science, and a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School. He is broadly interested in questions of governance, human rights, and the interaction between civil society organizations and institutions in political systems. He is founding Director of the Groningen Research Centre for Southeast Asia and ASEAN (SEA ASEAN) located in Groningen and Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia.

He leads an inter-disciplinary team of scholars and 18 PhD researchers engaged in theoretically driven comparative research focused on governance, societal impact, and sustainable society in Southeast Asia. He is published in such journals as Law & Policy, Comparative European Politics, Journal of European Integration, European Union Politics, Nations and Nationalism, Party Politics, Journal of Legislative Studies, and the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration. He is co-editor of numerous books over the past decade, most recently Decentralization and Governance in Indonesia (New York: Springer 2016).

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3. Localising sustainable development goals: assessing Indonesia’s Compliance Towards Global Goals

Dafri Agussalima, Ahmad Rizky, M. Umara, Karina Larasati Bhumiriyantoa,and Dio H. Tubing

This paper provides an assessment of Indonesia's compliance towards theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As Indonesia has submitted the VoluntaryNational Review (VNR) Report on several goals of Sustainable Development Goals by 2017, we question whether Indonesia's development policies have been fully in compliance with the global goals. Whilst the review focuses on how to achieve thedevelopment goals, we posit it is important to highlight not only the extent to whichthe Government has complied with the development goals through existingtechnocratic measurements, but also the extent to which the broader Government’sdevelopment strategies –as well as its approach with relevant developmentstakeholders— support the efforts to achieve the Goals. Therefore, we draw upon the work of Frank Biermann, Norichika Kanie that understand the SDGs as “GlobalGovernance by Goal-Setting” to assess the state of Indonesia's compliance towardthe global goals. It is also important to assess the Voluntary National Review notonly from ‘standard’ technocratic’ approach but also taking into account broaderdevelopment framework at the national level. More specifically, this paper will focusupon the institutionalization of SDGs at the national level, by understanding how itwas developed in the national development framework. Departing upon these premises and by assessing Indonesia’s VNR 2017 Review through its coherence with a broader development framework, namely the National Middle-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) and National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJP), as well as the Government Working Plan (RKP) and its budget commitment (APBN), this paper argues that even though Indonesia has set up plans to accomplish the SDGs, it does not yet fully comply with the Goal-Setting of the SDGs. The assessment indicates that even though Indonesia has established commitments to the SDGs, as already showed by the Voluntary National Review, the sustainable development goals have not yet put as the core of Indonesia’s development policies due to some incoherencies with broader development frameworks. We shall offer some possible policy recommendation to deal with these shortcomings.

Dr. Dafri Agussalim, Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Relations and Executive Director of ASEAN Study Center, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

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4. Vietnam National Action Plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Legal Challenges

Le Thi Nguyet ChauCan Tho University, Vietnam

The paper will analyze the challenges of the contemporary legal system toward the implementation of Vietnam’s National Action Plan for Sustainable Development. This paper is divided into 2 interrelated parts: Part 1 introduces the main characteristics of the legal system in Vietnam and the National Action Plan (Decision 622 issued on May, 2017); Part 2 analyzes the legal challenges and provides recommendations to implement the National Action Plans.

The paper will answer the following research questions (1) whether the Vietnam Action Plan is legally in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? (2) What are the challenges that the legal system may bring to the action plan’s implementations? (3) And how does the action plan overcome those challenges.

Several research methods are used to answer the research’s aims. The descriptive research method is employed to systematically describes Vietnam’s commitments to the 2030 Agenda, introduce the current Vietnam legal system and the main contents of the National Action Plan (Decision 622). Conceptual analysis method is employed to re-interpret the existing Vietnam legal theories, to provide the rationales why Vietnam may choose different approaches than other countries to obtain its development goals. Method of evaluation will classify main obstacles that the Decision 622 has to overcome and test whether the Decision 622 can be implemented in practice.

Biography:

Dr. Le Thi Nguyet Chau obtained her Master and PhD Degree at Groningen University, the Netherlands. She also studied the graduation program in International Taxation at Harvard Law School. She is now serving as Dean of the Law School, Can Tho University, Vietnam. In addition, Dr. Le Thi Nguyet Chau is a member of the Management Board, Can Tho Lawyer’s Association. Her research focussed on tax law, law reform, and access justice in Vietnam.

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5. Greater partnerships for implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in Lao PDR.

Phanthanusone (Pepe) Khennavong

Technical advisor to Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lao PDR

This paper aims to highlight Laos’ experience of ensuring greater partnerships for implement-ing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development at national and provincial levels. A case-study approach is used to show case what Laos has been doing to ensure greater involvement of various stakeholders at different levels to move forward with and implement the 2030 agenda. Like many countries, Laos has in place a number of tools and institutional arrange-ments have been set up to ensure the implementation of the sustainable development agenda – it is not a task for the Government alone but also all development actors involve. The key challenge is, hence, to mobilize and gain a buy in from all stakeholders in the country to move the 2030 agenda forward – not only at the national but also provincial and village levels. Therefore, apart from highlighting the Laos’s experience, this paper also provides key recommendations for addressing key challenges and bottlenecks for further enhancing part-nerships in the country.

Biography

Dr. Phanthanousone (Pepe) Khenavong obtained his PhD Degree in 2015 at Australian Na-tional University, Canberra, Australia. His PhD thesis title is: “Aid to Laos in the Twenty-First Century: Engagement and Change”. The thesis highlights the Lao experience of devel-opment assistance in relation to three contemporary aid issues: the influence of aid on gov-ernance; the impact of the ‘Poverty Reduction Strategy’ (PRS) approach, a major aid reform; and the influence of growing Chinese aid. He also obtained his Master Degree in Economics in 2006 from Sydney University (Sydney, Australia) and Bachelor Degree in International Trade in 2001 from Victoria University of Technology (Melbourne, Australia). From 2014 till now, Dr. Pepe Khennavong has been employed by United Nations Development Pro-gramme in Laos as technical advisor embedded in the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support the Lao Government to manage development co-operation forum called “Round Table Process”, to integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into Lao context and to apply result based management to the national socio-eco-nomic development planning process. His research interests are, among others, aid and gov-ernance, development planning process, human development and sustainable development, and Chinese aid.

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II. Accountability to Citizens and Human Rights to Ensure Progress toward the SDGs

6. Accountability Challenges to Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia

Julio C. TeehankeeDe La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), mandated by the United Nations (UN), is an action plan for people, planet, and prosperity that "seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom.” The 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets offer a comprehensive template to assess and monitor the multifaceted task of development work in its member countries. Goal 16 aims at the promotion of “just, peaceful and inclusive societies.” The UN enumerates twelve targets to realize this goal. Five targets are related to democratic governance. Sustainable development target 16.6, specifically, aims to achieve effective, accountable and transparent institutions. Southeast Asia has been a region characterized by institutional variations of governance. Most governments in the region are held accountable by means of vertical accountability through formal elections; horizontal accountability through institutional restraints; and, diagonal accountability through the media and civil society. However, the existence of “accountability deficits” in one, two or all of these dimensions in some countries continue to be a major challenge to the realizing the SDG target. This paper shall delineate the accountability challenges in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand using the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset. It will further argue that the presence of accountability deficits serve as a potential hurdle in fully realizing the SDGs in the region.

Biography:

Julio C. Teehankee is Full Professor and Research Fellow of Political Science and International Studies at De La Salle University where he served as the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 2013-2017. He is the Executive Secretary of the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA) – the regional professional organization of scholars in political science, international relations, and allied disciplines. He is also currently the President of the Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA).

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7. The Philippine Case and Human Rights in the International Context.

Ulrich Karl RotthoffAsian Center, UP Dilemma

The Philippines’ human rights (HR) record is being a persistent issue of concern within local and international HR theaters. Following the overthrow of the Marcos authoritarian rule, the putative restoration of democratic principles in 1986-7 did not result in resilient configurations of checks and balances. Rather, the division of power remains distorted; the rule of law is dysfunctional; and the state’s monopoly of violence is practically being undermined. Extra-judicial killings (EJKs) spurred by categories of total exclusion and impunity, respectively, resemble an ambient noise in Philippine state formation. Applying a strain of Luhmann’s System Theory, the paper discusses interconnections between HR and the economic system. Given the absence of a hierarchical international legal system, it will be shown how collisions of heterarchic global legal regimes – such as HR conventions and economic treaties – can effect pressure towards formations of functional legal structures. Highlighting the Role of Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, particularly Goal 16 of the SDG agenda is seen to be a potent leverage. The paper argues that the inclusion of legal issues bridges two related discussions, i.e., development goals and HR, and thus is an important supplement to global and regional HR regimes. Following the development of the theoretical argument, the study identifies regime collisions with particular focus on the most current expressions of EJKs – i.e, the killings of dissidents, and the killings in the wake of President Duterte’s War on Drugs. Revolving around the potential role of national and international NGOs in the enforcement of justice, this part aims to initially trace the lines along which the transformation process of goals into norms (i.e., laws) is achieved. Drawing from European and Latin American regional integration experiences, the paper eventually ventures into the question of how ASEAN might proactively shape inevitable globalizations of HR laws.

Biography:

Dr. Ulrich Karl Rotthoff is Assistant Professor at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines, Diliman. He has studied in Osnabrück, Germany, and Manila, Philippines, and received his doctorate (Dr. red. pol.) from the State University of Osnabrück. Teaching both in the Philippine and Asian Studies program, his research focus is on human rights and rural development issues.

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III. SDGs and Progress on the Social Agenda in Middle-Income and Developing Countries in Southeast Asia

8. Sustainable Development Goals and Capacity Building in Higher Education in ASEAN

                     Azirah Hashim, Yee Chee Leong and Aliyyah Nuha AzmanUniversity of Malaysia

Malaysia has implemented sustainable development via its national development plans since the 1970s. By recently adopting the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, Malaysia indicates a global commitment towards a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive development. In addition, the country has also aligned the SDGs with the 11th Malaysia Plan which should see the SDGS entrenched in all facets of development including in education. The region consisting of the 10 ASEAN nations has also adopted and implemented various policies and plans to harmonise the higher education system and to narrow the development gap between the different ASEAN countries.

This chapter examines higher education and the SDGs by focusing on the contribution of higher education and research in striving to achieve not only SDG 4: Quality Education but also other SDGs in the economic, social and environmental areas. It will also look at the targets that Malaysia as well as ASEAN has in the education sphere and related areas and plans for implementation. This will include a review of multi-level governance and regional mechanisms, local government and stake holder involvement and inter-regional cooperation with the European Union. The role of the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN University Network and SEAMEO RIHED as well as the SHARE EU ASEAN project will be discussed. For Malaysia, the Declaration on Higher Education in ASEAN, the CLMV program and mobility programmes will be reported. Cross-national engagement initiatives to address the development divide through knowledge exchange, engagement and collaboration for the academic community will also be evaluated in particular in Malaysia and Laos. Both, although different in terms of development, are emerging as higher education players in the region. Spurred by the ASEAN Economic Community from 2015 and inspired by the ASEAN Community Vision 2015, both nations are aware of the need for highly educated and skilled people for socio-economic development.

Keywords: SGDs, higher education, quality education, capacity building, ASEAN, Malaysia

Biography:

Azirah Hashim is currently, Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Institute and Director of the Centre for ASEAN Regionalism, University of Malaya. Her research interests include Higher Education in ASEAN, Language Contact in Southeast Asia, English as a Lingua Franca in ASEAN and Language and Law. She leads projects on capacity building in higher education in Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos and educational leadership in ASEAN and is involved in projects on Asia-Europe in her current roles. In 2009, she was awarded the Georg Foster Fellowship for Experienced Researchers and is a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.

Yee Chee Leong is a project manager at the Asia-Europe Institute and Centre for ASEAN Regionalism and has a vast experience in managing projects on capacity building in Cambodia and Laos. His research interests are in applied linguistics and higher education in ASEAN.

Aliyyah Nuha Azman is a project officer at the Asia-Europe Institute and Centre for ASEAN Regionalism who specialises in applied linguistics and environmental discourse. She has been involved in capacity building projects in Cambodia and Laos.

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9. Health Care System Reform and Governance for Sustainable Development in Indonesia

Laksono Trisnantoro, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Gadjah Mada

The Law on social security agency, which targets universal coverage in health service was effective in 2014. The Law’s main objective is to improve health equity and access to high quality of care. This Law aims to reform health care system. After 4 years of implementation, the health system reform objective in terms of increasing equity is not yet achieved. Moreover, the current system lacks financial sustainability and reduce government fund for health component in sustainable development programs. The Health Social Security Body (BPJS) is experiencing a deficit in the last 4 years. There are many factors for explaining this situation. The Law is a financial policy in health care. There was no coordination with other policies such as reducing smoking, improving health infrastructure, improving health sector governance, and health-sector related program. In terms of governance in the health sector, there is a confusion on the function across government unit in Indonesian decentralized system, the link between the private sector and government, and also the role of civil society. The affluent society enjoys more medical benefit than the poor one due to better access and low premium tariff. For sustainability, the tax-based financial support for the universal health coverage is weak. The worst scenario is the burden of curative care will increase sharply and reducing the budget for preventive and promotive in sustainable development programs. This situation happened because health budget should not exceed 5% of total central government expenditure. A radical change should be prepared and using more health care system reform principles. Healthy behaviour and environment program should be introduced in society. Moreover, health sector governance in a decentralized political system should be strengthening, and the use of tax-money for financing medical care for the affluent society should be reduced.

Biography:

Prof. Dr. Laksono Trisnantoro is a Professor in Health Policy and Administration and a senior researcher at Faculty of Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia. He obtained his MD from Universitas Gadjah Mada in 1987, and Master of Science (MSc) in Health Economics, in the Department of Economics University of York, UK. His Ph.D from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2001 he spent a year at Harvard Medical School, Depart-ment of Social Medicine, Boston. He is currently the Director of Graduate Programme in Hospital Management Universitas Gadjah Mada and Chief Editor of Indonesian Journal of Health Policy.

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IV. SDGs and the New Urban Agenda, Cities, Transport and Renewable Energy

11. Urban Transformation in Indonesia, SDGs, and Habitat 3: Political Will, Capacity Building and Knowledge Production

B. Setiawan, Department of Architecture and Planning, Gadjah Mada University

Urban transformation in Indonesia is facing unprecedented and challenging phase in the next twenty years. Such transformation is not only in terms of demographic and spatial ones, but more complex socio, economic, and cultural dimensions. Further, the fact that such internal, local-dynamic transformation would also influence and challenge by external, international forces, including the SDGs and Habitat 3 agreements, questions the commitment, readiness and capacity of Indonesian society to manage, control, and make use of the process, results, and benefits. Learning from the previous and present urban transformation processes, many questions could be raised whether such transformation would benefit for the betterment of Indonesian people and environment. The paper reviews such phenomenon and concerns particularly with how international agreed SDGs and Habitat 3 goals are viewed, perceived, negotiated, and implemented at the national plan and policies. It argues that without a clear, strong, and continues political commitments, along with a comprehensive and systematic capacity building and knowledge production, such international agreed SDGs and habitat 3 would not automatically implemented. It discusses also how coordination required in the multi-level governance framework to make sure the implementation of such international agenda into national and local levels. The paper proposes policy recommendations to ensure that such international agenda could be blend or integrated into both national and local agendas – it also proposes an agenda for systematic and comprehensive local capacity building and research to make sure that urban transformation in Indonesia would benefited for Indonesian society and environment.

Keywords: urban transformation, Indonesia, capacity building, knowledge production.

Biography:

Bakti Setiawan (Bobi) is professor in urban planning at the Department of Architecture and Planning, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. He did his master in urban and regional planning in the University of Waterloo in 1990-1992 and then finished his doctoral degree in urban and community planning in the University of British Columbia, Canada in 1998. Currently he serves as the director of the Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning, Gadjah Mada University. He teaches planning theory and planning process and his research interest covers issues such as informal housing, land management, urban politics, and environmental management in general.

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11. A Vision Where Every Family has Basic Shelter

Noor Hasharina Hassan and Gabriel Y.V. Yong

Universiti Brunei Darussalam

The Sustainable Development Goal 11 addresses sustainable cities and community. By 2030, they hope to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries. Inhabitants in Kampong Ayer (‘water village’), a large complex of villages located in Sungai Brunei and the historical hearth of Brunei, were facing poor sanitations and overcrowding. In 1951, the Brunei government began a resettlement scheme that relocated a significant proportion of the population of Kampong Ayer to land, with better houses with access to basic facilities including potable water, electricity and adequate sewage system. In 1970, the National Housing Plan Scheme replaced the resettlement programme to meet the housing needs of landless Bruneians. This aspiration to provide every resident with basic facilities and shelter pre-dates the MDG and SDG, yet it aligns closely with the goals. This is reinforced in the National Development Strategy (“Wawasan 2035”) and the current 10th National Development Plan that identifies provision of “quality and sufficient housing” for “High Quality of Life”. Two main challenges exist in the provision of national housing: 1) Funds to meet and sustain growing demand for housing; and, 2) Land scarcity. This is exacerbated by rapid urban sprawling and migration to the more developed and urbanised centres. The drastic loss of forest cover and dramatic transformation of the physical environment, combined with the global awakening for sustainable development, prompted the government to rethink its housing program. This paper examines Brunei’s vision and approach in the provision of decent housing for its citizens. It also highlights issues and challenges faced by both the schemes/programs as well as the recipients of houses. The paper will end with a critical discussion on whether the lofty vision could truly be achieved.

Biography:

Dk Dr Noor Hasharina Binti Pg Hj Hassan is a researcher and lecturer in the Geography, Environment and Development Programme at Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She is also a researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies under the Borneo in Transition Research Cluster.

Mr Gabriel Y.V. Yong is a researcher and a lecturer in Geography, Environment and Development Programme at Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

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12. Barriers and Opportunities in Fulfilling Indonesia’s Renewable Energy Target and Reduction of Oil Consumption through Remodeling of Road Transport Energy Consumption

Deendarlianto, Adhika Widyaparaga, Tri Widodo, Irine HandikaCentre for Energy Studies, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia

In the year of 2025, the National Energy Council of Indonesia proposed a national energy policy with a target to achieve 23 % of renewable energy in the nationwide energy mix. Here we observe the most likely sector, road transportation, which will be instrumental in fulfilling this target. The largest oil consuming sector in Indonesia is the transportation sector in which road transportation dominates the oil consumption with 40 % out of the national oil consumption. Two main avenues can achieve reduction of fossil fuel consumption for road transport: reduction of private vehicle usage and reduction of fossil energy consumption for each vehicle used. Simulations have been conducted to estimate the impact of vehicle limitation policy (such as vehicle retirement) and fuel substitution. Vehicle retirement is shown as effective as long as the number of vehicles remains limited. If retired vehicles are immediately replaced with newer albeit more fuel efficient vehicles, the increase of oil consumption is still large. In regards to fuel substitution, it can be seen that as most motor vehicles in Indonesia rely on gasoline, fuel substitution with ethanol as a renewable gasoline substitute is the most impactful. While oil consumption is also reduced by biodiesel substitution, due to a smaller diesel vehicle population with a much less magnitude of vehicle population increases annually, the impact is more limited. In addition, financial, social and regulatory barriers exist that impend implementation of alternative fuels and vehicle limitation schemes. We also evaluated possible barriers and avenues that can further promote these measures to meet the national energy policy target.

Biography:

Dr. Deendarlianto received his Ph.D degree from the University of Tokushima, Japan in 2006. He did his post-doctoral fellow at Hemholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany, from 2009-2011 under the research award from the Alexander von Humboldt (avH) stiftung. Presently he is the director of the Centre for Energy Studies at Gadjah Mada University. One of his research interest is the evaluation of the renewable energy programs in developing countries in context to the SDG conception.

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13. The Missing Link: Sustainable Mobility and Transportation in the SDGs

Wendy TanUniversity of Groningen, the Netherlands

Transport has been term the “maker and breaker of cities” (Clark, 1958). However, achieving a sustainable future requires understanding the lifeblood of Southeast Asian city-regions through the lens of sustainable mobility instead of traditional transport planning approaches (Buijs et al., 2010). In a context of rapid urban population growth, cities are bursting at the seams to accommodate residents and retain a quality of life. Congestions, pollution and ex-tensive commuting times have become the norm in major Southeast Asian cities and their metropolitan areas. The expansion and extension of transport infrastructure is a narrative of the previous era of unabashed growth era that neglects the societal and environmental effect of transportation.

Sustainable mobility, provides a paradigm shift in understanding how transport and land use planning can together affect positive change. The ability to move, a fundamental human right, and therefore access jobs and opportunities via sustainable means is key to achieving several keystone SDGs such as tackling poverty, health, equality and environmental impact for a liveable community. This requires a change in the status quo and innovative measures. Un-surprisingly, innovative mobility interventions is made possible when there is coordinated change in governance and cultural shifts in transportation behaviour (Homrighausen & Tan, 2016). Using the case of decades of mobility innovations in Singapore and its effects, this chapters unpacks how the sustainable mobility discussion could be carried forward within the region through a historical institutional analysis based on key innovations such as polycentri-cism, road-pricing, slow mobility, shared mobility and autonomous vehicles programs and measures and how this contributes to achieving SDGs.

Buijs, S., Tan, W. G. Z., Tunas, D. (2010) ‘Governance of megacities’, in Wendy G Z Tan et al. (eds.) Megacities. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers. pp. 275–285.Clark, C. (1958) Transport-Maker and Breaker of Cities. The Town Planning Review. 28 (4), 237.Homrighausen, J. R. & Tan, W. G. Z. (2016) Institutional Innovations for Sustainable Mobil-ity: Comparing Groningen (NL) and Phoenix (US). Transportation Research Procedia. 19.151–163.

Biography:

Dr. ir. Wendy Tan (1981) is Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering  Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and senior researcher at Wageningen Uni-versity and Research. She is also the Associate Director of SEA ASEAN, the Groningen Re-search Centre for Southeast Asia and ASEAN at the University of Groningen. Her research expertise focuses on the implementation of land use and transportation integration, mobility issues and institutional perspective in planning processes in Europe, America and South-east Asia. From 2010 – 2014, she was a board member of the Megacities Foundation. She re-ceived the Georges Allaert Prize in 2014 for her research contributions to mobility and spatial planning in our society.

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V. SDGs and the Environment, Clean Air and Water for All

14. Transboundary Haze, ASEAN, and the SDGs: Normative and Structural Challenges

Dr Helena VarkkeyUniversity of Malaya

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has recently adopted its “Declaration on ASEAN Post-2015 Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change Agenda”. In this Declaration, ASEAN affirms its commitment to move the sustainable development agenda forward through the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, specifically the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The declaration identified cooperation over transboundary haze at the regional level as an important criterion in this agenda. Following this, ASEAN also announced their vision of a “Transboundary Haze-Free ASEAN by 2020”. Global goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can possibly play a big role in galvanizing support and guiding actions at the regional levels of governance. However, this sometimes can be challenging, especially if there are compatibility issues between the international and regional level. This paper discusses the possible challenges of translating these international goals to regional action in the context of the haze. It finds that while on paper, the SDGs seem to complement sustainable development objectives at the ASEAN level, there are several deep-rooted normative and structural issues within ASEAN which may reduce the usefulness of the SDGs towards a transboundary haze-free ASEAN by 2020. The paper first discusses how ASEAN norms have resulted in weak institutions, which are directly at odds with SDG 16 for Strong Institutions. Secondly, it highlights how the non-interference norm has resulted in resistance towards ideas of the environment and development that originate from outside the organization, like the SDGs. In both these areas, the paper highlights the normative challenges of ensuring input from civil society in the generally top-down ASEAN.  Thirdly, it focuses on how ASEAN’s sectoral, pillar-based structure does not fit well with broader global understandings of sustainable development. This has led to multi-level challenges in implementing haze mitigation activities. Overall, while it is “nice to have”, this paper cautions over-emphasizing the importance of the SDGs in transboundary haze mitigation. Biography: 

Dr Helena Varkkey is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She received her Doctorate from the University of Sydney in 2012. Dr Helena has been interested in sustainable development throughout her academic career. Her interest in the field has evolved to a focus on transboundary pollution in Southeast Asia, particularly pertaining to the role of patronage in agribusiness, especially the oil palm industry, and its link to forest fires and haze in the region. Her findings have been published as a book in 2016 as part of the Routledge Malaysian Studies Series. She continues to undertake research in this field.

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15. Emerging Spaces of Citizenship: Grassroots Communities, Sustainable Development Goals and Water Governance in Indonesia

Maharani HapsariGadjah Mada University

As a global project, SGDs are mostly viewed from above in terms of how policies and implementation are formulated. Current discussion, however, encourages stronger stakeholders’ engagement given the very extensive development agenda to cover and the need for an effective distribution of development resources. It is at the local level where the very substantive transformation development agenda can be measured. This paper discusses governance debates around Goals 6 of Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), namely providing access to water and sanitation, which focuses on the role of grassroots communities in shaping water governance and development agenda. The Author uses case study on grassroots communities working around water issue in Yogyakarta Special Province. The study elaborates forms of citizenship produced around the provision of clean water, particularly at the local level. The sources of data are focused group discussions involving representatives of grassroots communities in Yogyakarta, which were conducted in February, August and September 2017. The focus of analysis is on how these communities identify salient issues, and articulate their claims as they interact with the actors in various government levels. These communities develop fluid networks, organize claims and devise collective strategies quite distinctive to other elements of civil society when they access spheres of governance relations and seek to transform development agenda. From the point of view of citizenship, the aspects of recognition, representation and redistribution are central to the function of grassroots citizenship in relation to the state. Linking grassroots citizenship to sustainable development goals requires national and regional policy approaches that are able to incorporate the very plural grassroots initiatives into coherent policy framework.

Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals, grassroots communities, governance, citizenship, water resources, Indonesia

Biography: Maharani Hapsari is lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. She obtained Master Degree in 2010 and Doctoral Degree in 2012 from Nagoya University, Japan, specializing in International Development Studies. Upon returning, she researches on politics of global environmental change and political economy of development. Her recent publication is a chapter on Constructing Palm Oil Justice Movements in Indonesia: Citizenship and Collective Identity as part of an edited volume on The Politics of Citizenship in Indonesia by Eric Hiariej and Kristian Stokke (2017).

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VI. SDGs and the Economic Agenda for Inclusive Economic Growth and Decent Work for All

16. Economic reform and Sustainable Development Goals in Vietnam

Tran Dinh LamVietnam National University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC, Vietnam

Vietnam’s economy has transformed itself through collaborative dialogues with regional countries and gained remarkable achievements. The per capita income for the overall population increased distinctively in 2016, reaching US$2,215. Vietnam’s economic achievement has been highly appreciated for its fast rate of poverty reduction compared to that of other countries in the region by the World Bank. There is only 20% of the poor population whose income per capita is under $2 in 2010. Nonetheless, it is still a need for Vietnam to continue to reform the management plan in the SDG-oriented way, promote cooperation between central and local government, jointly bringing prosperity to the country. Vietnam needs to strengthen the bond between social classes, creating trust in people about training and human resource mobilization, creating jobs for people. The government should have policies fostering mutual agreement, encourage private companies to produce goods which is safe, environmentally friendly, high value for domestic consumers and export to foreign market. The process of Vietnam’s economic development also shows many shortcomings: the rise of the interest group, income gap between the poor and the rich, the emergence of pressing matters in society.

People of the ethnic minority regions still faces many difficulties; the odds of falling into poverty again is still somewhat possible in this region. Vietnam needs to have practical policies, improve education and citizen’s legal awareness. Developing internal elements of local culture is also important for ethnic minority to contribute their effort in protecting environment, living harmoniously with nature and creating prosperity and happiness. In addition, Vietnam government also cares about the advance of clean energy and proposed specific policy for development. However, due to the inconsistent regulation of localities and appropriate authorities, the execution process encounters many obstacles which requires stronger determination from both government and people to reach a mutual agreement in green energy production.

ASEAN community is a very important bridge for Vietnam in moving outward for cultural exchange, improving management capability, and integrating with countries in the region forwards sustainable development goal. Therefore, a cultivated honesty, unification, amity, friendly shared resources are needed as well as having the same voice and jointly contributing effort in building ASEAN, keeping peace, security and prosperity.

Keys words: Economic reform, Viet Nam, Sustainable Development Goals, ASEAN.

Biography:

Tran Dinh Lam is currently the director of Center for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies, Vietnam National University of Social Sciences and Humanities. He achieved his Ph.D. degree in Innsbruck University, Austria in 1998. His publications include, The Economic, Cultural and Social Life of Bahnar People Sustainable Development (2011) which was awarded “The Excellent Research Project” by the President of VNU, Intellectual Property Rights in Developing Countries (2012), and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: The Way to Success (2014). His research interests focus on economic development, ethnic minorities, culture and economy, copyright, sustainable development of environment and economy. His research projects have been funded by Japan Foundation, Erasmus Mundus, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Dr. Tran Dinh Lam is also the Vice President of VAPEC, HCMC.

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17. Protecting Rights of Construction Workers to Safe Working Condition in Cambodia

Kimsan Soy, Royal University of Law and Economics, Cambodia

Despite a steady increase of about 7% in economic growth, Cambodia construction workers do not seem to benefit much from this promising result. Their working conditions remain poor, unsafe and unregulated. Consequently, there are increasing accidents and potential health risks, mostly underreported, faced by workers at construction sites due to the lack of safety equipment and health standards. In 2009 alone, in its 2011-2015 Decent Work Country Program for Cambodia, the International Labor Organization (ILO) consequently reported that about 1,500 workers estimated to die of accidents at workplace, mostly the construction sites. Their employment relationships are usually informal without contract as a result of sub-contracting of labor; thereby, they are not protected by Cambodia Labor Law. Workers are not properly represented to due to the lack of strong and organized labor unions in construction industry, which result in the lack of collective bargaining power to demand their rights respected and protected. In such a male dominated industry, female workers are highly prone to harassment and unfair treatment in term of payment and training opportunities. The study essentially adopts legalistic and normative approach to examine and assess the right to a safe working condition in Cambodia under the presumption that Cambodia must comply with its domestic legal and policy frameworks and pledged obligations under international human rights treaties and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to promote inclusive growth through decent work and gender equality. Challenges in enforcement of these obligations and the role of labor union will be also discussed extensively to fully grasp the issue in question.

Biography:

Soy Kimsan currently serves as Director of Center for the Study of Humanitarian Law (CSHL), based at Royal University of Law and Economics in Cambodia (RULE). Kimsan joined CSHL as one of its researchers in August 2014, before becoming its Director in September 2016. He holds a Master of Laws, focusing on public international law, from Transnational Law and Business University and a Master in Human Rights and Democratization from University of Sydney. Kimsan’s major areas of research include fair trial rights, judicial independence, international criminal justice and business and human rights. Kimsan has provided legal training to legal professionals at the Royal Academy for Judicial Professions, as well as to law students at RULE and provincial Cambodian universities. Before joining the Center, he also worked at Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) as a trial monitor for two years on Case 002/01 of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

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18. Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs as a force for achieving the SDGs in Myanmar

Thuta Aung (Senior Fellow, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies)

The Government of Myanmar and the UNDP believe small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in manufacturing and agro industries are the most critical for Myanmar's industrialisation and are arguably the largest job creators in the country. The development of SMEs also fit well with the targets of SDG Goal 9 with the possibility to create industries embracing inclusivity and innovation.

It is easier to assume development of SMEs will be a silver bullet to advance Myanmar through its economic development stages but so far support from the government is few and far between. Apologists of the current government will also vouch that the country being poor and not having a political will to take public debt, financial support for SMEs is unlikely.

The ecosystem for SME development is nascent in the country with most activities centred around Yangon, the largest city and commercial capital. The study will have an action research approach where the author is actively playing a coordinating role within the private and public players including those from the international development field.

As most SME owners are strapped for cash and affording high expense innovations or consultants is unlikely, I will be looking at Resource-Light Innovations, where incremental innovations can be experimented with minimum costs such as re-arranging production equipment or storage units for greater efficiency or better hygiene.

Biography:

Thuta has represented Myanmar at ASEAN and South Asia Regional fora in the area of inclusive business. He continues his academic career started from England by regularly giving lectures as a Senior Fellow at Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies and Central Institutes of Civil Service (Hpaung Gyi and Zeepin Gyi) on Leadership Function of Coordination. He is also actively involved in start-up development, having set up the first PPP operated Incubation Centre with the Department of SME Development. With his artist wife Shwe Thiri Khit, Thuta is part of an initiative to build the fashion brand AmaraKhit. Selected into the ASEAN Young Business Leaders Initiative of the Asia New Zealand Foundation and subsequently selected as a Member of the Leadership Network of the Foundation, Thuta is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Associate of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies.

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VII. SDGs, Agriculture and Community Developments through Partnerships

19. Blue-Washing, Green Coffee, and the Sustainable Development Agenda in Southeast Asia

Amador Peleo and Titus C. Chen National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

This paper examines the coffee industry in Southeast Asia to highlight the limited normative effect of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The authors argue that the impact of corporate business models on farming communities in Southeast Asia supersedes the influence of government in regard to global issues such as the SDGs. The strategic goals and operational patterns of large-scale private enterprises have caused coffee farming communities in different Southeast Asian countries to become similar in their stagnating living standards.  The national governments in Southeast Asia depend on the willingness of multinational corporations to engage with local populations that would otherwise have remained impoverished and marginalised. Arguably, the inter-state relations and the corporate management may appear to be symbiotic in Southeast Asia.  However, the conflation of the enterprise’s corporatist values with the government’s developmental goals implies several governance-related problems.  First, ASEAN regional efforts for attaining the SDGs may have little meaning beyond facilitating the commercial viability of corporate operations in the region. Second, the expectation that development work in Southeast Asia becomes equated to ‘corporate social responsibility’ may eventually cause the SDGs to be perceived as desirable, but not essential, features of commercial operations.  Third, because corporations are not ultimately responsible for the governance of Southeast Asian states, the failure to meet the SDGs indicates the prioritization of corporate interests over those of the public.

Biography:

Titus C. Chen is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science of National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He earned his Ph.D. of Political Science from University of California, Irvine, in 2008. Dr. Chen specializes in International Relations Theory, Asia-Pacific Regionalism, East Asia international relations, and Chinese foreign policy. 

Amador IV Peleo, PhD, is currently completing his studies in Mandarin Chinese at the National Sun Yat-Sen University in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He was previously an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of the Philippines Diliman.  He obtained his MA inInternational Relations from the International University of Japan in 2003. In 2009, he earned his PhD from the School of Political, Social and International Studies of the University of East Anglia.

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20. Cooperation of Cooperatives : Partnership towards SDGs

Saikaew ThipakornChulalongkorn University, Thailand

According to the International Cooperative Alliance, cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Not only that cooperatives endeavor for economic success, but in the process towards success, overall quality of lives of members, such as, education, hygienic, social and environmental aspects must be observed. However, cooperatives normally are occupied with serving their members and their local issues rather than national and international issues. Their contribution to the realization of SDGs is, thus, minimal. When cooperatives cooperate with their oversea counterpart, the impact is much greater.

In this paper, cooperation of Japanese cooperatives was investigated. Consumer cooperatives were the agent of changes. Demand and hard work of consumers through teikei system brought about strength of market for organic products. Even more, Japanese consumer cooperatives in cooperation with Thai agricultural cooperatives empowered Thai cooperative institution, stimulated and expanded market of organic products in Thailand.

Researcher studied the success of Japanese consumer cooperatives in revitalization of Japanese organic agriculture and strengthening of organic products market. Daiichi-wo-mamoru kai and Seikatsu Club were the cases under study. In Thailand, export of organic banana to Japan by many agricultural cooperatives in the South of Thailand was the focus of study. Researcher visited Ban Lat Cooperative and Thayang Cooperative as these two cooperatives were the learning centers and inspiration for many other cooperatives.

The cooperation between Japanese and Thai cooperatives supported Goal 17: Partnership for sustainable development. In addition, this partnership helped strengthen cooperative institution in Thailand. Goal 16: Peace, justice and strong institution was pursued.

Biography:

Saikaew Thipakorn is currently researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. She earned her Ph.D. in Thai Studies from Department of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. Dr. Saikaew Thipakorn's background is in International Relations, with specialization on Japan-Thailand relations. Her current research is on different aspects of cultural relations between Japan and ASEAN countries.  She is also guest lecturer in many academic institutions in Thailand.

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