Editorial 

 

Greetings from the Journal of ASEAN (JAS) Studies. With the publication of this Volume 5 

Issue 2, 2017, we are very grateful to stay on track in contributing to the Southeast Asian 

studies and providing an academic venue for scholars, practitioners, diplomats, 

businessmen, and larger stakeholders of the ASEAN region. 

In this issue, there are five articles. The first two articles are on migrant and refugee issues. 

The first article is entitled, “Forced Migrants, Media, and Securitization: Making Sense of the 

Changing Representations of Transit Asylum Seekers in Indonesian Print Media” written by 

Antony Lee from Kompas Newspaper, Indonesia. Written from the perspective of a 
practitioner in the media business, the article is originally a summary of some parts of the 

author’s master thesis at Lund University, Sweden. The article aims to explain how and why 

the representations of transit forced migrants in Indonesian major print media had 

significantly shifted during the arrivals of the Indochinese refugees in 1975-1996 and in the 

period of the new generations of refugees from Middle Eastern and South Asian countries in 

1997-2013. 

The second article is entitled, “Rethinking Refugees as Economically Isolated: The Rohingyas 

Participation in Informal Economy in Klang Valley, Malaysia” written by Andika Ab. Wahab 

from National University of Malaysia, Malaysia. The author is also a practitioner on the 

refugee issue, currently a project leader of business and human rights at The Forest Trust 

(TFT), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His article aims to analyze the relationship between the 

Rohingya refugees participation in the informal economy and their livelihood activities in 

the Malaysia. 

Moving on from migrant and refugee issues, the third article is entitled, “Regional Maritime 

Cooperation in Maintaining Maritime Security and Stability: A Test Case for ASEAN Unity and 

Centrality” written by Angel Damayanti from Christian University of Indonesia. The article 

aims to elaborate the reasons why the region needs regional maritime cooperation and 

discusses challenges that ASEAN has to deal with in order to implement the ASEAN unity 

and centrality in promoting maritime cooperation and regional stability. 

The fourth article is entitled, “The Effectiveness of De-Radicalization Program in Southeast Asia: 

Does It Work? The Case of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore” written by Yosua Praditya 

Suratman. The article aims to analyze the effectiveness of the de-radicalization program in 

Southeast Asia to propose some recommendations for Indonesian government in 

strengthening and reshaping its de-radicalization policies. 

The last article is entitled, “Explaining the Fast-Growing Textile and Garment Industries (TGI) in 

Vietnam (2000-2015)” written by Sukmawani Bela Pertiwi from Bina Nusantara University, 

Indonesia. The article aims to explain the fast-growing textile and garment industries (TGI) 

in Vietnam from 2000 to 2015. 

Finally, the editor-in-chief would like to express highest appreciation for the authors who 

have submitted their manuscripts as response from our invitation and call for papers. We 

also would like to thank the Indonesian Association for International Relations (AIHII) for 



continuing support of this joint publication with the Centre for Business and Diplomatic 

Studies (CBDS) of the Department of International Relations of Bina Nusantara University.  

 

Jakarta, 22 December 2017 

 

 

Prof. Dr. Tirta N. Mursitama, Ph.D. 

Editor-in-chief