In this webinar, Dr Hoe Ee Khor delves into growth prospects in the region and evolving global supply chains. His presentation is followed by a panel discussion with Dr Jayant Menon and Ms Selena Ling.
In this webinar, Dr Arief Ramayandi and Dr Siwage Dharma Negara discussed the challenges of laying the foundations for Jokowi’s vision, given the current Covid-19 crisis faced by the economy.
In this seminar, Mr Zack Petersen delves deep into the issue of childhood stunting in Indonesia. Factors such as poverty, chronic infection caused by malnutrition and an overall lack of sanitation causes stunting in 1 in 3 Indonesian children, yet there remains a general lack of understanding surrounding the issue.
This seminar provides an overall update on China’s investment activities in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It attempts to provide comparisons on specific projects, namely industrial park and rail developments in each country. It also examines the main challenges and prospects for these projects.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Seminar
In 1987, Japanese National Railways (JNR), the government-owned body responsible for operating the railway network across Japan was privatised and divided into seven railway companies that together form the JR Group. In 1985, JNR made a loss of 1.8 trillion yen, but as of 2015, the JR Group makes a combined profit of 1 trillion yen per annum. Of the seven companies, JR Kyushu remains one of the few that consistently turns profits. The success of JR Kyushu is largely down to an innovative approach in which diversification has been embraced, whilst customer service has been placed at the core of the business model.
Nevertheless, JR Kyushu continues to face key challenges, and Mr Ishii will address what he considers to be particularly pertinent amongst these issues, and how we can overcome them. A railway system is a key infrastructure for passenger and cargo transportation and affects the relationship between the urban and regional economies in a fundamental way. Based on 30 years’ experience of JNR privatization, he identifies challenges for expanding railway systems in Southeast Asia, and proposes how the region could cooperate better for mutual benefits.
About the Speaker
Yoshitaka Ishii served as the first president and chairman of JR Kyushu Railway Company between 1987 and 2002. JR Kyushu was formed after the Japan National Railway Corporation was privatised and divided into seven railway companies. During his tenure as president, Ishii diversified the business of JR Kyushu into new ventures ranging from property development to the management of shopping malls, restaurants and hotels, as well as the establishing a hydrofoil ferry service between Fukuoka and Busan. He also improved the quality of the railway service and the cutting-edge trains designed by a leading designer Mitooka received the Brunel Award, one of the most prestigious awards for railway industry design worldwide. Under his leadership, the company increased its total sales significantly from 150,000 million yen in 1987, with sales as high as 378,000 million yen in 2015. He has been advising the Japanese government and the Japan Freight Railway Company on its strategy. He began working in the National Railways in 1955 as a graduate engineer, and he played a pivotal role in the development of diesel railcars and locomotives in the early stages of his professional career. Drawing on his experiences in the railway industry, he has been a prolific writer over a period of more than 4 decades. His books on the KiHa series of diesel railcars has been well received, especially “KiHa 58”.
Mr Ishii served on the selection committee for the Japan Foundation Prizes for Global Citizenship, and has also been involved in the local community, and since retiring, he has served as the Chairman of the Fukuoka Prefecture Football Association and as President of the Kourokan-Fukuoka Castle History & Tourism Citizen’s Association. In the latter role, he has been heavily involved in the restoration of historic buildings in Fukuoka.
Mr Ishii holds a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Tokyo.
Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 15 August 2017.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Seminar
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) aims to create an integrated market and production space for its ten member states. This expanded market, in principle, should create opportunities for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the region to grow within a regional context as a first step towards a global market. The focus on SMEs is not without reason: SMEs constitute between 89-99 % of the firms in ASEAN Member States (AMSs), creating between 52-97% of employment and contributing between 23-58% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 10-30% of exports in the region. However, studies have shown that there is generally low awareness of the AEC and the opportunities accorded by the AEC initiatives. The literature tends to focus on the challenges faced by the SMEs in general, especially in internationalizing their operations. Research questions that are frequently asked pertain to the factors that determine their exports or internationalization strategies or the drivers of their internationalization and/or the challenges faced by SMEs in their internationalization efforts. In contrast, there is less focus on how SMEs overcome exisiting challenges to enter markets and extend their reach, especially in ASEAN. The seminar aims to understand how SMEs in Indonesia and Malaysia manage to penetrate the ASEAN and global market, using a case studies approach. In particular, what are the policies and institutions (both in their respective countries and in ASEAN) that are most helpful in their internationalization strategies for ASEAN and beyond ASEAN.
About the Speakers
Tulus T.H. Tambunan is a lecturer in the faculty of economics, Trisakti University in Jakarta, Indonesia. Currently he is also the director and the main researcher of the Center for Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Business Competition Studies in the same university. He has done many studies on various issues related to micro, small and medium enterprises, economic crises, regional trade, and inclusive development. Some of his publications include ASEAN Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises toward AEC 2015 (Saarbrȕcken: Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP), 2015), and SME in Asian Developing Countries (London: Palgrave Macmillan Publisher, 2009).
Tham Siew Yean is a Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. She was formerly Director and Professor at Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her research interests and publications are in foreign direct investment, international trade, trade policies, and industrial development in Malaysia and ASEAN. Her recent publication includes among others, “Moving Up the Value Chain in ICT: ASEAN Trade with China”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 46, No. 4: 680-699; 2016 (with Andrew Jia Yi Kam and Nor Izzatina Aziz).
Registation
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 28 April 2017.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Seminar
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) aims to create an integrated market and production space for its ten member states. This expanded market, in principle, should create opportunities for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the region to grow within a regional context as a first step towards a global market. The focus on SMEs is not without reason: SMEs constitute between 89-99 % of the firms in ASEAN Member States (AMSs), creating between 52-97% of employment and contributing between 23-58% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 10-30% of exports in the region. However, studies have shown that there is generally low awareness of the AEC and the opportunities accorded by the AEC initiatives. The literature tends to focus on the challenges faced by the SMEs in general, especially in internationalizing their operations. Research questions that are frequently asked pertain to the factors that determine their exports or internationalization strategies or the drivers of their internationalization and/or the challenges faced by SMEs in their internationalization efforts. In contrast, there is less focus on how SMEs overcome exisiting challenges to enter markets and extend their reach, especially in ASEAN. The seminar aims to understand how SMEs in Indonesia and Malaysia manage to penetrate the ASEAN and global market, using a case studies approach. In particular, what are the policies and institutions (both in their respective countries and in ASEAN) that are most helpful in their internationalization strategies for ASEAN and beyond ASEAN.
About the Speakers
Tulus T.H. Tambunan is a lecturer in the faculty of economics, Trisakti University in Jakarta, Indonesia. Currently he is also the director and the main researcher of the Center for Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Business Competition Studies in the same university. He has done many studies on various issues related to micro, small and medium enterprises, economic crises, regional trade, and inclusive development. Some of his publications include ASEAN Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises toward AEC 2015 (Saarbrȕcken: Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP), 2015), and SME in Asian Developing Countries (London: Palgrave Macmillan Publisher, 2009).
Tham Siew Yean is a Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. She was formerly Director and Professor at Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her research interests and publications are in foreign direct investment, international trade, trade policies, and industrial development in Malaysia and ASEAN. Her recent publication includes among others, “Moving Up the Value Chain in ICT: ASEAN Trade with China”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 46, No. 4: 680-699; 2016 (with Andrew Jia Yi Kam and Nor Izzatina Aziz).
Registation
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 28 April 2017.
ASEAN STUDIES CENTRE AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Seminar
The risk of de-globalisation is on the rise due to a combination of economic and political risks. Global trade has slowed down since the 2008-09 crisis as a result of the slowing down of trade liberalization and rising protectionism. New barriers in form of bailouts, trade defence measures, import tariff increases and localisation requirements have increased sharply. The US, India, Indonesia are some of the more prominent examples of countries turning to trade barriers to protect their national economies. It is unsurprising that the politicization of trade has come to the forefront in advanced economies as voters make their frustrations known through the ballot boxes, expressing their angst against stagnant wages and rising income inequality, which were attributed to unfair foreign competition. All this is unlikely to bode well for ASEAN economies. While the region has limited direct exposure to the US, its indirect linkage through China is a matter of concern. The region is cautious about a future economic downturn or a similar political backlash in their own economies.
The Seminar will discuss the implication of global developments on ASEAN economies from research, policy-making and private sector perspectives.
Programme
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Registration |
| 9:00 – 10:00 | Session I: Understanding De-globalisation and Its Impact on ASEAN Economies |
| Mr Marcus Bartley Johns, Senior Trade Specialist, Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice World Bank, Singapore | |
| Dr Deborah Elms, Founder and Executive Director, Asian Trade Centre, Singapore | |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Q&A |
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Coffee |
| 10:45 – 11:45 | Session II: De-globalisation Sentiments: Views from the Public and Private Sectors |
| Ms Mary Elizabeth Chelliah, Principle Trade Specialist, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore | |
| Ms Priyanka Kishore, Lead Asia Economist, Oxford Economics, Singapore | |
| 11:45 – 12:15 | Q&A |
Click here for more details about the programme and speakers.
Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to ascevents@iseas.edu.sg by 27 April 2017.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Seminar
This seminar examines the potential economic impacts of the Singapore – Kuala Lumpur (KL) High Speed Railway (HSR). These were estimated by researchers from the Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO (IDE-JETRO) using the IDE-GSM – a numerical simulation model based on spatial economics. The simulations covered three different scenarios, i.e., a) Singapore-KL non-stop express service, b) Johor-KL local service, c) Singapore-Johor shuttle service. Simulations were also carried out to compare the economic impacts of the project on Singapore and the thirteen states of Malaysia.
Programme
02:45 – 03:00 pm Registration
03:00 – 03:10 pm Opening Remarks (Kazunobu Hayakawa, Visiting Fellow, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute)
03:10 – 03:40 pm Geographical Simulation Model (IDE-GSM) (Ikumo Isono, Deputy Director, IDE-JETRO)
03:40 – 04:10 pm Economic Impacts of the Singapore-KL HSR (Satoru Kumagai, Director, IDE-JETRO)
04:10 – 04:30 pm Q&A
The Geographical Simulation Model (IDE-GSM)
Ikumo Isono, IDE-JETRO
Abstract
The Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO), together with the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), has been developing the IDE-GSM since 2007. The main purpose of the model is to predict the economic impact of physical or institutional integration on regions at the sub-national level. It can also be used to predict the types of policy measures that are favorable for stable and balanced economic development of the regions by identifying potential bottlenecks and thus extracting the full merits of economic integration. In fact, IDE-GSM simulation analyses have been used in many policy research projects and conveyed to policy makers. In East Asia, lack of quality data remains a challenge to conducting quantitative analyses. However, waiting for precise data to become available is unfeasible because of the urgent need for policy recommendations on development strategies. Despite the challenges, the IDE-GSM has been used along with night-time satellite image to estimate and construct regional economic data and conduct simulations.
Ikumo Isono is a research fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO (IDE-JETRO). He was educated in Japan and received a bachelor degree of economics in Saitama University in 1998. He had a master degree of economics in the University of Tokyo in 2000. He joined the Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO (IDE-JETRO) in 2005 as a research fellow. He was a research fellow in the Bangkok Research Center, JETRO from 2009 to 2011 and dispatched to the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) from 2011 to 2013. His expertise is in spatial economics and connectivity aspects of economic integration in ASEAN and East Asia, including infrastructure development, economic corridors, logistics, trade and transport facilitation, free trade agreement (FTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Economic Impacts of the Singapore-KL HSR: Simulation Results from the IDE-GSM
Satoru Kumagai, IDE-JETRO
Abstract
In this session, we will introduce the economic impacts of Singapore-KL HSR estimated using the IDE-GSM, a numerical simulation model based on spatial economics. We conducted the simulation along three different scenarios, i.e., a) Singapore-KL non-stop express service, b) Johor-KL local service, c) Singapore-Johor shuttle service, and compared the economic impacts for Singapore and 13 states in Malaysia. The economic impacts of the project under these three scenarios differ in terms of size and distribution. There are also differences in terms of industrial sectors that gain from the HSR development. The simulations further revealed that the economic impacts are influenced by the quality of supporting infrastructure, such as a good transport between HSR stations and the city centre, and a smooth border control.
Satoru Kumagai is a director, Economic Geography Studies Group, Inter-disciplinary Studies Centre, Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), JETRO. Since 1996, Mr Kumagai has joined IDE as a researcher in charge of economic integration in East Asia and Malaysia’s economic affairs. He has been working for the development of the Geographical Simulation Model (GSM), an economic model based on spatial economics since 2007 and the results of the simulation are widely used in various conferences held by ERIA, ADB as well as IDE-JETRO. He was a visiting research fellow at Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) during 2013-2015. He received his Master in Media and Governance degree from Keio University in 1996 and his MSc in Global Market Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science in 2004.
Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 25 April 2017.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC STUDIES PROGRAMME AND MALAYSIA STUDIES PROGRAMME
About the Seminar
While Singapore, the US, and Japan have traditionally been Malaysia’s main trading partners, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been the country’s most important trading partner since 2012. Beyond trade in finished products, commerce between the two countries is based on inputs and parts being sent within production networks operating between the two countries. This same trend is visible in investment flows. From a minor investor, China has now become a significant player in the Malaysian economy, investing RM 11.6 billion in manufacturing projects in 2012-15 – behind only Japan, Singapore and the United States.
Beyond setting up manufacturing operations, Chinese government-linked corporations and private consortiums have been active in the real estate sector. Government-linked corporations have stakes in the Malaysia-Kuantan Industrial Park as well as Bandar Malaysia, which will be the main terminus of the planned High Speed Rail. Large-scale private sector concerns such as Country Garden, R&F, and Greenland have a significant presence in Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur.
With regard to infrastructure, government-linked corporations have won contracts for the RM 55 bn East Coast Rail Link, the RM 9 bn Gemas-Johor Bahru dual tracking project, as well as provisions of rolling stock. A consortium of government-linked corporations is positioning itself for the High-Speed Rail project, slated to go to tender later this year. There are also large-scale port projects being planned with PRC involvement, two on the Peninsula’s west coast and another on the east coast.
Looking forward, the PRC presence in the Malaysian economy looks set to increase. In December last year, Prime Minister Najib returned from his visit to China, where he and his counterparts signed 14 agreements totaling RM 144 billion, which represents 12 percent of Malaysia’s GDP. However, this trend has not gone unnoticed by Malaysia’s electorate, with polls indicating a growing sense of unease at the rapid increase in PRC presence in the economy as well as foreign ownership of strategic assets.
This seminar will analyze the trends in PRC investment into Malaysia, particularly in the real estate and construction sectors, as well as key aspects of infrastructure such as railways and ports. From there it will examine trends in public opinion regarding the level and different types of PRC investments in the country.
About the Speakers
Topic: PRC Investment in the Real Estate and Construction Sectors in Malaysia
Loong Chee Wei joined Affin Hwang Capital in April 2015 as the Senior Associate Director covering the construction/infrastructure, property and building material sector. He has been covering Malaysian equities since 1997 (including strategy, banking, construction/infrastructure, property, gaming, oil & gas), and formerly worked for CLSA, Nomura, BNP Paribas, AmInvestment Bank and Hwang-DBS Securities. Mr Loong has been a qualified Chartered Financial Analyst since 1999.
Topic: PRC Investment in the Rail and Port Sectors in Malaysia
G Naidu was, prior to his retirement, a professor in transport economics at the University of Malaya and is currently an independent consultant. His main areas of interest have been in transport, logistics and infrastructure. He has worked as a consultant for the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, Ministry of Transport and number Malaysian port authorities. He recently served as a subject matter expert for the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC).
Topic: Evolving Public Opinion Regarding PRC Investment in Malaysia
Ibrahim Suffian is Co-founder and Program Director of Merdeka Center for Opinion Research, a leading public opinion polling and political surveys organization in Malaysia. He presently manages Merdeka Center’s portfolio of clients ranging from political parties, government departments as well as local and international institutions of higher learning. Through Merdeka Center,
Mr Suffian has been organizing surveys in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore and Myanmar. Prior to his role in the Merdeka Center,
Mr Suffian worked as a project finance specialist in a Malaysian investment bank and was project manager in an international development agency.
Registration
To register, please fill in this form and email it to iseasevents3@iseas.edu.sg by 17 March 2017.