State, Society and Information Technology in Asia: Alterity Between Online and Offline Politics

249 Pages·2014·1.23 MB·English

by  Alan Chong

State, Society
and information technology in aSia
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State, Society and information
technology in asia
Alterity Between Online and Offline Politics
Edited by
alan chong
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore
and
faizal Bin yahya
Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy,
National University of Singapore, Singapore
© Alan Chong and Faizal Bin Yahya 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
alan chong and faizal Bin yahya have asserted their right under the copyright, designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street
Union Road Suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
Surrey, GU9 7PT USA
england
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
State, society and information technology in Asia : alterity between online and offline
politics / by [edited by] Alan Chong and Faizal Bin Yahya.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4724-4379-3 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-4380-9 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-
4724-4381-6 (epub) 1. Internet--Social aspects--Asia. 2. Information technology--Social
aspects--Asia. 3. Asia--Politics and government--21st century. I. Chong, Alan. II. Yahya,
Faizal, 1965-
HN655.2.I56S73 2014
302.23'1095--dc23
2014023028
ISBN: 978-1-4724-4379-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-4724-4380-9 (PDF – ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-4724-4381-6 (PDF – ePUB)
V
Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Limited,
at the Dorset Press, Dorchester, DT1 1HD
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
List of Contributors ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction: State, Society and Information Technology in Asia:
Alterity between Online and Offline Politics 1
Alan Chong and Faizal Bin Yahya
Part I SocIal PolItIcS of It
1 National Contexts and the Negotiation of Islamic Internet Identity
by Southeast Asian Undergraduate Students 31
Nasya Bahfen
2 Migrants, Mobiles and Money: Alterity and the Confluence of
Three Transnational Flows 47
Fernando Paragas
3 Blogging Singapore: Control and Excess between Offline and
Online Worlds 69
Kwoh-Jack Tan
4 Grassroots Democratic Movements’ Dependency on New Media
in Contemporary Malaysia: Prospects and Limitations 93
Pui Yee Choong
Part II Governmental SteerInG and PolIcy alterIty
5 Hacking, Nationalism, Democracy and Cyberwarfare in the
People’s Republic of China: A Centre/Margin Perspective 111
Kay Hearn
6 ‘Global City Foreign Policy’: The Propaganda of Enlargement
and Integration of an IT-Connected Asian City 135
Alan Chong
vi State, Society and Information Technology in Asia
7 Biting Back Against Civil Society: IT, Media and Communication
Regulations in South Korea 173
Byoung Won Min
8 Growth and Government: The Rise of Information Technology
Enabled Services’ Centres in India and the Philippines 187
Joefe B. Santarita
9 The Political Economy of Data Security in the BPO Industry
in India 211
Faizal Bin Yahya
Conclusion: Alterity in the Landscape of Asian IT Politics 225
Alan Chong and Faizal Yahya
Index 231
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 Using the Internet to defend Islam 38
1.2 Do you use the Internet to find information on the
Muslim community? 39
1.3 Finding news from an Islamic perspective 39
1.4 Respondents who use the Internet daily 40
Tables
2.1 Profile of informants 50
7.1 De-regulation of cross-ownership of media industries
in South Korea 182
8.1 Fixed lines telephone subscriptions in India and the
Philippines, 2001–2012 194
8.2 Mobile cellular subscription in India and the Philippines,
2000–2012 194
8.3 Internet users in India and the Philippines, 2001–2012 195
9.1 Causes of labour attrition in the BPO-ITES sector in India 214
9.2 Indian BPO versus competition (China and Philippines) 215
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List of Contributors
Nasya Bahfen is a senior lecturer in the School of Media Film and Journalism
at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests cover the
intersection between online media, internationalization and diversity, with a
specific focus on the Muslim world and southeast Asia. Her academic publications
span the areas of communication technology and digital media studies as well
as organizational, interpersonal and intercultural communication. They have
appeared in journals such as Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Australian
Journalism Review, Pacific Journalism Review and Cross Cultural Management.
She is currently working on an Australian Research Council Grant study on
cyber-racism and community resilience. Nasya Bahfen can be contacted at nasya.
[email protected].
Alan Chong is Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International
Studies in Singapore. He has published widely on the notion of soft power and
the role of ideas in constructing the international relations of Singapore and Asia.
His publications have appeared in The Pacific Review; International Relations of
the Asia-Pacific; Asian Survey; East Asia: an International Quarterly; Politics,
Religion and Ideology; the Review of International Studies; the Cambridge Review
of International Affairs and Armed Forces and Society. He is also the author of
Foreign Policy in Global Information Space: Actualizing Soft Power (Palgrave,
2007). He is currently working on several projects exploring the notion of ‘Asian
international theory’. His interest in soft power has also led to inquiry into the
sociological and philosophical foundations of international communication. In
tandem, he has pursued a fledgling interest in researching cyber security issues.
He has frequently been interviewed in the Asian media and consulted in think-tank
networks in the region. He can be contacted at: [email protected].
Pui Yee Choong was a Senior Research Analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies in Singapore. Her research interests are on social and political
affairs in Malaysia, identity politics, social movements and religious mobilization.
Her publications have appeared in Peace and Policy and The Roundtable. One of
her most recent publications is a book chapter in Electoral Dynamics in Malaysia:
Findings from the Grassroots (ISEAS and SIRD). In addition to that, she has
also authored multiple op-eds in regional papers and news portals such as Asia
Times, The Straits Times, The Diplomat, The Edge and Today. She has also been
interviewed in the Asian media and international media on the electoral and social
movement issues in Malaysia. She can be contacted at: [email protected].