8 th Euroseas conference Vienna, 11–14 August 2015

— Institutionalizing the Passport in the Colony: A Brief Overview of Regulations on Freedom of Movement in 
the Dutch East Indies 
Makoto Yoshida (Fukuoka Women’s University)
Issuing a passport to nationals presupposes the possession of nationality. This is taken for granted internationally, 
since in the modern system of international law, each person belongs to a particular nation state. However, placing 
this assumption into historical context undermines the apparently sound foundation of the trinity between passport, 
nationality, and citizen. The passport is a relatively recent invention, and can be traced back no further than the 18th 
century, as John Torpey has argued in his book ‘The Invention of the Passport’. According to Torpey, it was an identity 
document that served as an administrative device to help burgeoning nation states exert control over citizens and 
monopolize their identity.
Institutionalizing the passport signifies the state monopolization of legitimate means of movement by citizens across 
state boundaries; on the other hand, it is a corollary of free movement by citizens within that state. Freedom of 
movement and the passport in the Dutch East Indies around the turn of the 20th century provide a fascinating case 
to this double-sided nature of the passport. The entire population in the Dutch East Indies was classified into three 
categories: European, Foreign Oriental, and Native. Only the small minority of Europeans had the right of freedom of 
movement; the other two groups were not legally granted this freedom, neither across nor within the Indies’ borders, 
until 1918. By examining an overview of the legal codification of free movement, this presentation illustrates how the 
passport was institutionalized in the colony and what distinctive/characteristic features of colonial surveillance were.
VI. (New) Media and Modernities
Panel: Engagements with New Media: Southeast Asia in the Digital Age
convener: Shu-Yuan Yang (Academia Sinica)
panel abstract
The introduction of digital media often went hand in hand with the introduction of a nexus of cultural practices, 
orientations, and evaluations related to ideas of progress, consumption, innovation, and modernity. However, this 
is a historically situated and culturally mediated process which needs to be carefully examined. This panel aims to 
explore ways in which the advent of digital media is affecting Southeast Asian populations, and how Southeast Asian 
communities have and are responding to the introduction of new media. All media is ‘doubly articulated’, in the sense 
that its significance is derived from its status both as a material thing embedded within social practices, and through 
its capacity to facilitate communication, and thus social relationships. By attending to the material and historical 
particularities of media, this panel seeks to understand how people perceive and experience their changing social 
contexts through their engagement with new media. How are people’s epistemological assumptions and social orga-
nizations shaping the ways in which they incorporate particular communicative technologies? How has access to the 
Internet, the introduction of mobile phones, computers, video cameras and other digital media impacted social life 
in the region? How have social media like Facebook affected relationships within diasporic communities? How have 
new media forms altered or continued existing representational economies?
— Cybercitizen during the Political Turmoil in the Digital Scheme: A Case Study of Thailand 
Wimonsiri Hemtanon (Mahidol University International College)
Since 2010 Thai media outlets and mainstream opinion where still under hegemony of the government and the mili-
tary, Red Shirt protestors set out to march into the scenery of showcases of Thai middle class consumerism. When 
events unfolded, Facebook emerged as an information hub for reposting of news, tales, as well as citizen reporting, 
disclosing of political affiliation, and airing support for the respective camps that are involved in Thailand’s color-
coded political saga. Even though the recent Coup d’état made the political situation changed completely, there was 
some online movement set and active wisely on behalf of the citizens who are not agree with the Coup. The online 
and offline activities remarked the resistant by using the special characteristic of Facebook as a platform to voice the 

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opinion and manage activities regularly.
 This project aims at the investigation of Thai cybercitizen’s perspective on political issues related to the political events 
after Coup and their expression of ideological affiliation during a period of political uncertainty within a social media 
environment. This study looks at Facebook as a virtual public sphere that cybercitizen became familiar with over the 
last years and which emerged as an arena for discourse during the political unrest. For the connection between the 
ideology of democracy and its hindrance for deliberative discourse, this study draws on empirical data which had 
been collected from posts and comments on Facebook pages as well as the actual activities after the 2014 Coup d’état.
— Feminist Movement’s Engagement with the New Media: The Case of Indonesia One Billion Rising Campaign 
Civita Patriana (The London School of Economics and Political Science), Shaffira Diraprana Gayatri (University of 
Warwick)
Southeast Asia is witnessing a high rate of online social media adoption by individuals which places a country like 
Indonesia as one of the world’s biggest users of online social media, notably Facebook and Twitter. The impacts of the 
advent of online social media range from effecting community networks to mobilising the masses. By situating the 
emergence of One Billion Rising Global Campaign (OBR) – in particular its Indonesian chapter – within the frame-
work of transnational feminism, this paper attempts to illustrate how the engagement with the new media has trans-
formed the face of feminist activism in Indonesia. This paper argues that Indonesia OBR’s reliance on online social 
media has resulted in a salient source of debates pertaining to its potentials and limits. It is evident from the large-scale 
participation of individuals and cities that Indonesia OBR has garnered significant attention across the nation that 
may be attributed to its use of online social media. Indonesia OBR also brings the promise of stimulating intervention 
both in the online and offline spheres and, in fact, fostering the dissemination of ideologies underlying offline activism 
to call for an end of violence against women. The leverage of internet-based social media has also created a platform 
wherein women’s personal narratives are politicised, thereby supporting feminists’ sentiment that the personal is po-
litical. The sharing of stories and experiences in Indonesia’s OBR online platforms has also revealed an endeavour to 
deconstruct the victim-blaming attitude to surmount the demonising of the victims of sexual violence. Nevertheless, 
Indonesia OBR’s reliance on access to and use of online social media has also engendered crucial reservations regard-
ing its exclusionary and patronising tendency. This is especially apparent when we look at the campaign’s notion of 
‘universality’ vis-à-vis digital divide rhetoric resulting from the disparity of access to the Internet among Indonesians. 
This paper concludes that the refinement of such campaigns can only be achieved by minimising the propencity of 
digital divide rhetoric in othering and patronising individuals.
— Vietnamese Internet Practices and Their Social Implications: An Ethnographic Study of Vietnamese Students 
in Taiwan 
Sumei Wang (National Chengchi University)
Embracing the Internet was part of Vietnam’s opening up policies since the 1990s. Not only foreign investors demand 
reliable Internet services, the state also regards Internet as a crucial technology that enables fast catching-up with 
the world. Internet development in Vietnam accelerated after the first Internet Exchange Point was initiated in 1997. 
However, Vietnam government’s attitude toward the Internet has been ambivalent. On the one hand, Internet pres-
ents economic opportunities for the country. On the other, the authority con- siders free speech as threats to political 
stability and enforces strict censorship on the Internet. Many bloggers have been arrested for “abusing democratic 
freedoms”.
Situated in this context, this paper employs ethnographic methods to explore how the Vietnamese students in Taiwan 
use Internet in everyday life and how the usage may have multiple implications. Researchers conducted in-depth in-
terviews, participant observations and online ethnography with ten Vietnam students in Taiwan for three years. We 
aim to demonstrate how their various ways of using Internet are influenced by Vietnamese technological condition, 
online censorship, self and group identities, and change along with different stages of life.
— Cell Phones, Idolatry, and Modernity among the Bugkalot (Ilongot) of Northern Luzon, Philippines 
Shu-Yuan Yang (Academia Sinica) 
The Bugkalot demonstrate an intense desire for and fascinations about modern things such as televisions and cell 

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phones even when electricity current and cellular signals are lacking in the area they live, and they are willing to sell 
their land to the settlers, to squander their hard-earned money or to embezzle barangay fund to obtain these things. 
The missionaries of the New Tribes Mission do not only condemn such desires and practices as economic irrationali-
ties but also regard them as a form of “idolatry”. The Protestant missionaries find the power modern things seem to 
exercise on the Bugkalot disturbing because it challenges their attempt at removing fetishes and idols and insert-
ing iconoclasm among the Bugkalot through their proselytizing efforts. In their opinions, modern things motivate 
“backsliding” and lead to corruption of faith by enticing the Bugkalot to indulge in worldly pleasures and dangerous 
fantasies. Cell phones are particularly charged with abetting infidelity. This article aims to understand why cell phones 
came to assert such power over the Bugkalot and how their agencies unsettle the Protestant configuration of the rela-
tionship between spirituality and materiality. It suggests that cell phones come to possess agency among the Bugkalot 
through the unique combination of three things: the convergence of multi-level media, the capacity to free actors from 
spatial and temporal constraints, and the elicitation of a new self-reflexivity. As such, they are indeed the ultimate 
symbols and expressions of modernity.
Panel: Islamic (Inter)Faces of the Internet in Southeast Asia
convener: Martin Slama (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
discussant: Bart Barendregt (Leiden University)
panel abstract
The panel is concerned with Islamic religiosities in contemporary Southeast Asia as they are embedded in the everyday 
uses of social media and communication technologies. It views the internet as a collection of interfaces among which 
social networking sites feature prominently, and attempts to link Islamic everyday piousness and regular religious 
gatherings (e.g. majelis taklim) to social media usage (such as Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp). These 
interfaces, as the name of the most popular site, i.e. Facebook, suggests, provide ample opportunities to exhibit visual 
and textual material, especially including people’s religious expressions. In the Islamic Southeast Asian context in par-
ticular, especially in the countries of insular Southeast Asia, social networking interfaces have become sites where the 
region’s many “Islamic faces” are displayed – and it is these emerging forms of conveying and expressing Islam as well 
as the socialities that are generated in these intersecting online/offline realms this panel attempts to discuss.
— From Praying in the Toilet to Adultery: Social Media in Islamic Communication and Practice in Indonesia
Fatimah Husein (State Islamic University Yogyakarta)
This paper attempts to portray the dynamics of Islamic daily activities and expressions of piety related to the uses of 
social media in Indonesia, such as Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and WhatsApp. The involvement of Mus-
lim preachers/teachers (ustadz) in religious BBM and WhatsApp groups, for example, enables the group members 
to approach their teachers online discussing issues ranging from fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) to personal problems. 
This is exemplified by Indonesian female workers in Hong Kong who asked their ustadz whether praying in the toilet 
is an illicit practice, or by a Muslim woman in Yogyakarta asking how she should deal with the fact that her husband 
committed adultery. The paper argues that social media are successfully utilized to develop trust among Muslims, 
especially among those who received only basic Islamic education. Involvement in online groups is often spurred by 
the acknowledgement of the importance of doing good deeds in the world and the promise of rewards in the here-
after. This can not only be discerned in the direct communication between the ustadz and their followers through 
Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp, but also in various religious activities including One Day One Juz 
(ODOJ) and One Day One Ain (ODOA) Qur’an reading groups that provide regular lunch boxes for Islamic boarding 
schools. The paper will describe these online and offline religious activities around Yogyakarta and Solo, and will then 
explore the extent to which eschatological motives influence both the organizers of the religious activities, the ustadz, 
as well as their followers.
— Marrying Da’wa and Social Media: One Day One Juz in Contemporary Indonesia
Eva Nisa (State Islamic University Jakarta)

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The Indonesian democratic transition, precisely after the collapse of the New Order in 1998, was an important drive 
that brought diverse groups of Islam to “exploit” media for their own interests. On the other hand, the rise of new 
middle-class Muslims has brought a promising opportunity for diverse media, particularly the Internet and social 
media, to reach their audience. There have been some studies on the use of new media, in particular the Internet, by 
Islamist radical activists and groups in Indonesia. However, little has been said on the use of media in da’wa performed 
by Muslim activists who are not inclined to radical activities. They also “monopolise” the social media to influence 
other Muslims to be closer to Islam based on their understanding. This paper focuses on the use of social media in 
da’wa by one of the largest Islamic communities, One Day One Juz (ODOJ), which endeavours to encourage Muslims 
to revive the spirit to read the Qur’an. ODOJ invites Muslims to remind each other to read one chapter of the Qur’an 
per day through the use of social media, especially WhatsApp. Given that ODOJ has successfully recruited more than 
130 thousand followers in Indonesia and abroad, this paper investigates the key actors of ODOJ and to what extent 
ODOJ can mobilise religious sentiments among Muslims from diverse religious affiliations in Indonesia. In addition, 
it analyses the ideology that has guided their da’wa. This research argues that ODOJ, through the use of social media, 
has successfully given birth to a new form of religious authority and built an imagined group of religious devotees 
to follow their interpretation of Islam. In general, ODOJ activists have played a significant role in transforming the 
mediascape of Indonesia.
— Online Da’wa among Young Community Leaders in Bandung, Indonesia
Dayana Parvanova (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Knowledge is highly esteemed among younger and middle-aged middle-class dwellers in the city of Bandung. Many 
young university alumni experiment with starting a small business aiming to become successful entrepreneurs, and a 
large number of them also become leaders or members of various communities that provide training of hard and soft 
skills, including English language, public speaking, personal development, but also Islamic knowledge. While campus 
mosques (masjid kampus) in major universities of Bandung have long been engaged in raising and educating young 
Muslim intellectuals, today’s scales of urbanization, technology development, and education have provided fertile 
ground for the rise of smaller and bigger communities in order to obtain certain forms of knowledge, to improve 
their skills, to share experience, receive personal coaching and advise. These activities are in most cases closely con-
nected with the message of Islam. Such communities not only organize a large number of different offline events and 
activities, starting from weekly meetings, discussion groups, pengajian (Qur’an reading sessions), and large gatherings 
inviting renowned Muslim scholars and ustadz/ustadza (male/female Islamic preachers), but also engage in a vigorous 
employment of different (social) media to spread news, document events, and reach out to their current members and 
interested others. As such, social media not only support their activities but also provide a platform to interact with 
a broader public and store information that can be recurred to at any time of the day. In the sense of polymedia, a 
concept developed by Daniel Miller, users switch between different (social) media according to their aim and purpose. 
Yet, at any event, the use of social media channels a sense of constant interconnectedness and all-present opportunities 
to inform oneself and inform others about one’s current “whereabouts”. In the case of online religious practices, e.g. 
online dakwah (proselytization) as the sharing of information, motivations, and inspirations, the use of social media 
can actually become a tool to change Muslim selves as well as the wider Muslim community that is perceived as the 
future of Indonesia. This paper aims at showing some particular insights into the connection between knowledge, 
training/education, Islam, and the use of social media in the third largest city of Indonesia by looking at different 
communities, the visions of their leaders, and the experiences of their members.
— “Charging the Heart”: The Significance of Social Media for Indonesian Muslim Middle-Class Women
Martin Slama (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
This paper is concerned with the uses of social media by Muslim women with an Islamic middle-class background 
in urban Indonesia. It sees their religious practices embedded in consumption patterns as well as domestic relations 
simultaneously understanding their Islamic engagement as part of their public appearance. Since social media have 
become especially significant as communication channels in the realm of Islamic proselytization in Indonesia, the 
paper has a special focus on how Muslim women connect with Islamic preachers online. It examines communication 
via social media for its role in the management of emotions among Muslim women. As one of my interlocutors said, 
she likes to share her worries with an Islamic preacher in order to “charge her heart”, i.e. to receive a calm and car-

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ing response that has a positive effect on her emotional life. The paper argues that similar to earlier forms of online 
communication, such as internet chatting, in the cultural context of Indonesia social media are particularly suitable 
to convey topics that people shy away from discussing offline. As a result, in today’s social media age Islamic pros-
elytization has become a broad field that in terms of both, what is communicated and how is it conveyed, enters new 
terrain. The paper closes by tackling the question to which extent these developments mirror larger transformations 
of Indonesia’s Islamic field, particularly with regard to its gendered dimensions.
Panel: Media Systems in Southeast Asia 
convener: Sascha Helbardt (University of Passau)
discussant: Perapong Manakit
panel abstract
In Southeast Asia we have a large diversity of media systems. In some countries like Vietnam the state still plays a lead-
ing role in determining the role of the media, despite all attempts at liberalization. Elsewhere, like in the Philippines, 
the market is the decisive force. Most systems can be found in between this spectrum. Recently the emergence of 
community radio and other forms of “self-produced mass media” have led to an increase in the number of media ac-
tors. This development also caused new interdependencies between media organisations as well as other organisations 
such as political parties or local administrative organisation. As a result, a classification based simply on association 
of media organisation with the state, economy or civil society/public sphere is insufficient. The changes demand new 
approaches towards an analytical classification of media governance. Currently a number of approaches exist, such as 
the “Four theories of the press”, “mediatization theory”, “information society”, “media governance”, or the recent book 
“Comparing Media Systems Beyond the Western World” by Hallin and Mancini. Unfortunately, especially the more 
recent approaches have hardly been applied to Southeast Asia. The focus of the panel is to analyse the structures and 
processes of Southeast Asia’s media systems. Based on country based case studies of media governance, we want first 
of all evaluate how far the theoretical concepts can be applied. Secondly, we want to ask how we can further develop 
tools of classification of media systems, possibly specific to Southeast Asian conditions.
— Where Do We Go from Now? Predicting the Development of News Portals in Post-Conflict Aceh-Indonesia
Saiful Akmal (Goethe University Frankfurt)
Recently, the existence of online news portal in Aceh has become increasingly promising. It exhibits high potential, 
particularly in the post-tsunami and post-MoU Helsinki peace agreement as the rehabilitation and reconstruction 
programs have helped to advance the information and technology infrastructure development. Now, almost every 
organization, private or state/local government, has launched websites. This propensity is followed simultaneously by 
two phenomenon. One is the fact that almost all coffee shops now are accessible to Wi-Fi internet connection, so that 
everyone can just order one cup of coffee or cake and sit down the whole day with access to the internet. Second, due 
to the rapid technology development such as mobile phone and easy access to internet services, almost all daily local 
broadsheet newspapers, magazines and tabloids in Aceh have created their own e-paper or news portal websites. Some 
of the newspapers or magazines (Aceh Kita for example) which have already stopped printing are only operating on-
line now. While some others are intensifying their online readability by providing online version of their newspapers 
(e-paper) such as Serambi Indonesia, and Tabloid Modus or have simply set up their own news portal. Consequently, 
since 2006, the number of news portals in Aceh is growing and the self-produced mass media is also increasing. This 
paper will look at the development of the news portal in post-conflict Aceh, will identify the media actors and its rela-
tion to current local political contestation, will discuss whether such freedom will lead to the era of the so-called in-
formation society, and will emerge with the unique classification of the (new) media in post-conflict Acehnese society.