Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

Persistent problems, promising solutions and beneficenceFROM CHARITY TO SOCIAL INVESTMENTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:A STUDY OF PHILANTHROPIC INSTITUTIONS IN INDONESIAJosie M. FernandezPhilanthropy is a complex social intervention phenomenon constituted by values and organizational andcommunity activities through an array of local, national and international institutions. It takes the forms ofvoluntary giving, voluntary service and voluntary association for the benefit of people and the environment.Charity provides immediate relief while philanthropy is a long-term commitment for building the capacityof people, facilitating social change and promoting global peace and security. In Indonesia, contemporaryphilanthropic practices are profoundly driven by religion, cosmological practices, social justice concerns and agrowing emphasis on corporate social responsibility. Philanthropy is conditioned, too, by the social, politicaland economic conditions of particular periods. The last two decades have seen tremendous growth in Islamicphilanthropy given the huge potential for Islamic obligatory giving and voluntary contributions, with institutionalphilanthropy on the rise. Indonesia has harnessed pluralism in philanthropy for strengthening diversity andaddressing socioeconomic needs.SOCIAL IMPACT OF JAPANESE PRIVATE-SECTOR PROJECTSON LOCAL PEOPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES AND MALAYSIAHozue HataeWhile the defects of public aid by the Japanese government, or Official Development Aid (ODA), have beendiscussed and criticized in many books and reports, Japanese private-sector projects which are also playing a largerole in the development initiatives in Asia have yet to be examined more closely. A great number of Japaneseprivate-sector projects have been found to have added up to more suffering in the lives of local people and madethem much poorer in the name of sustainable development. This report, mainly based on interviews with localpeople affected by three Japanese private-sector projects in the Philippines and Malaysia, considers the factors thathave turned sustainable development projects into destructive ones. One such factor is the failure of developers andinvestors to anticipate and avoid the social impact of projects by neglecting local peoples’ voices and concerns. Tohave genuine development for local people, it is necessary to respect and uphold the basic human rights of the localsaffected by the projects, including their right to determine their own plans for their community’s development.POLICIES AND VICTIM SERVICES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT:LESSONS LEARNED FROM INDONESIA, JAPAN AND THAILANDHeru SusetyoAsia is a continent prone to disasters, both human-made and natural. Natural disasters occur frequently in Asiain various forms, from earthquakes in Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Japan; floods in Bangladesh and Vietnam;tsunamis in Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka; and typhoons in Taiwan, to volcanic eruptions and landslides inthe Philippines. However, only a small number of Asian countries seriously pay attention to disaster management.One such country is Japan, which is one of the best countries equipped with natural disaster management andpolicies. Scholars believe that natural disasters are unavoidable since they are part of nature or God’s plan.However, the state has a strict obligation to mitigate or reduce risks/damages due to disaster by introducinga disaster preparedness program. Part of a disaster preparedness program is creating policies or laws relatedto disaster management which will serve as guidelines or grounds in dealing with the disaster managementprograms. Providing services for the victims as part of disaster response is also important in disaster management.This paper describes policies and victim services in natural disaster management based on fieldwork in Japan andThailand from August 2006-February 2007 to use for comparison in order to understand the current situationof Indonesian disaster management and polices. For Indonesia, the legislation and enactment of natural disastermanagement policies are among the country’s top priorities since it has been seriously affected by earthquakes,tsunamis, massive floods, landslides and fires for the past several decades.241Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows