THE 11th POK RAFEAH CHAIR PUBLIC LECTURE
ABSTRACT
Malaysia is a maritime nation, strategically placed between the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca. The maritime space between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans has, since the 14th century been conceptualized as the “Nusantara”. First used to describe the sea space between the islands claimed by the Majapahit empire and its surrounding mostly Malay kerajaan, the term has taken on different meanings throughout history. In the original meaning the term Nusantara is clearly a cultural and geopolitical concept, designating a combined land and sea (tanah air) territory with loosely defined shifting boundaries, including current maritime Southeast Asia and its seas. Thus the South China Sea is here defined as a “mediterranean sea” and, from a Malaysian perspective, as part of the Nusantara. It is suggested that the concept of a Nusantara is used for the formulation of a Malaysian maritime policy. Such a geopolitically based policy would have to match and supplement the already existing policies of the Indonesian “Maritime Fulcrum” and the Chinese concept of a “Maritime Silk Road”.
BIODATA
Hans-Dieter Evers, is Emeritus University Professor of Development Planning, Senior Fellow, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn and the 6th Pok Rafeah Distinguished Chair Professor (2016-17) at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. After finishing his postgraduate education in sociology, economics and geography at the University of Freiburg, Germany, he taught sociology at the Mannheim School of Economics, Monash University, at Yale University (where he was also Director of Graduate Southeast Asia Studies), University of Singapore (Head of Department) and Bielefeld University (Dean and Director). He also served as Visiting Professor at the Singapore Management University, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universitas Gajah Mada, EHESS (Paris), University of Hawaii, as Visiting Fellow at Trinity College (Oxford), as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore and in 2012-14 as Eminent Visiting Professor, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
His current research is concerned with maritime conceptions of space, the South China Sea and knowledge governance. He has published a large number of books, refereed journal articles and book chapters. He is co-editor of Catalysts of Change: Chinese Business in Asia (World Scientific 2013); Beyond the Knowledge Trap: Developing Asia’s Knowledge-Based Economies (World Scientific 2011); Governing and Managing Knowledge in Asia (3rd revised edition, World Scientific 2014); The Straits of Malacca (Berlin: LIT 2008); Southeast Asian Urbanism: The Meaning and Power of Social Space (Singapore: ISEAS/McGrawHill 2000); and The Moral Economy of Trade (London: Routledge 1994).
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