Over 400 scholars will discuss Southeast Asia at EUROSEAS

Over 400 scholars will discuss Southeast Asia at EUROSEAS

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Over 400 scholars from all over the world will gather in the
French capital from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4 to discuss Southeast Asia,
Singapore's Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), one of the organizers
said.

Around 25 Indonesians -- mostly academicians, researchers,
government officials and postgraduate students -- and several
Indonesianists from various countries will be attending the 2004
EUROSEAS (European Association for Southeast Asian Studies)
conference in Paris.

The conference is one of the largest gatherings of Asian and
European scholars of Southeast Asian studies.

"The 4th EUROSEAS conference aims to foster networking between
academics and experts of the two regions," Albrecht Rothacher,
ASEF's public affairs director, said in an e-mail sent to The
Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Held once every three years since its establishment in 1995,
the 2004 EUROSEAS -- an organization of European scholars
committed to promoting Southeast Asian studies in Europe -- will
have 32 thematic panels and three roundtable discussions on
various topics ranging from archeology, history, religion,
medicine to economy, politics, social and ethnic conflicts,
Rothacher said.

A review of the themes of the 32 panels reveals that Indonesia
-- which has the largest number of Muslims than any country in
the world -- will be the main focus of at least nine panels.

"I will be speaking on the radicalism in Islam and how to
bring the change in social behavior through educational
institutions at the EUROSEAS conference," Prof. Azyumardi Azra, a
renowned Islamic scholar and the president of the Universitas
Islam Negeri in Jakarta, told the Post on Friday.

Another participant, Dadang Rukmana, a senior official at the
Ministry of Settlements and Regional Infrastructure also said
that he would be one of the speakers at the meeting

"It's a huge conference. I will be speaking on "Major Island
Spatial Plan: New Approach for Regional Development in
Indonesia," Dadang said before his departure on Sunday.

The EUROSEAS conference will be co-organized by the ASEF and
the French Association for Research on Southeast Asia (AFRASE) at
the University of Paris.