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.