Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study is about how East Timorese medical students have been educated in Cuba since 2003 and in Timor-Leste since 2005.
This paper uses qualitative research method from scarce sources such as recent publication from non-Governmental organization as well as personal communication with knowledgeable East Timorese contacts.
At present there are approximately 700 East Timorese medical students in Cuba and 150 at the National University of Timor-Leste. The professors in the Faculty of Medicine at the National University of Timor-Leste are all Cubans. Therefore, basically all Timorese medical students learn medical science from Cubans. There are, however, many problems associated with this medical education system because diseases and medical problems vary from one country to another and the Timorese should create a curriculum that meets their own requirements. There are also language problems. In addition, foreign doctors who have been working in Timor-Leste for a long time should be able to contribute their experience at the Faculty of Medicine.
In the future, the Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste should not totally rely on Cuban professors and doctors and should create a curriculum suitable for their own needs developed by home-gron doctors.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper explores the reactions of the Arab intelligentsia to the latest US proposals for promoting democracy in the Arab World, as embodied in the March 2004 ?Greater Middle East Initiative.? (Hereafter GMEI). To gauge the opinions of Arab intellectuals, the paper employs a simple and qualitative research method that involves a careful reading of all the editorials that have appeared in four Lebanese (al-Nahar, al-Safir, al-Anwar, al-Mustaqbal) and two London-based, Arabic-language (al-Hayat, al-Sharq al-Awsat) dailies, between mid-February and end of August 2004 (when regional interest in the GMEI dwindled). The publication by al-Hayat newspaper (13 Feb. 2004, p. 10) of the leaked text of the GMEI (in Arabic translation) triggered an avalanche of opinion pieces in the Arab Press that criticized the Initiative, casting doubts over the intensions of the George W. Bush Administration that sponsored it. The reactions of most Arab governments to the GMEI were no more favorable. It is this paper?s contention that Arab intellectuals? hostility towards the GMEI is, by and large, the product of a closed and negative image of the US that particularly affects perceptions of US Middle East policy. Through a qualitative analysis of the contents of hundreds of editorials and opinion pieces written by Arab opinion shapers (university professors, heads of research centers, renowned journalists and politicians) on the subject of the GMEI, this paper identifies three broad themes that dominate the negative image of the US: 1) US foreign policy is guided by interests (national security and access to oil) rather than principles or ideals (promotion of democracy and human rights); 2) US rhetoric about democracy is a mere smoke screen to conceal more sinister plans for exerting hegemony over the Arab and Islamic Worlds; and 3) the real interests of the US (as defined by Arab intellectuals) would not be served by a democratic Middle East. The paper is not interested in the accuracy of the image of the US (all images distort reality); but rather in its origins, resistance to change in the face of dissonant information, and implications for the prospects of democracy in the Middle East region and for US-Arab relations. As for the paper?s organization, part one outlines the background and basic elements of the GMEI, while part two summarizes the criticisms leveled against it by Arab intellectuals, highlighting the three aforementioned themes that characterize the negative image of the US. In order not to portray the Arab intelligentsia as a monolithic anti-American group, part three examines the views of the very few Arab intellectuals who wrote in defense of the GMEI. Painting with a broad brush, part four looks at the backgrounds and belief systems of Arab intellectuals, as well as at US policy towards the region since the twentieth century, in an attempt to understand the origins and persistence of this negative image of the US. The conclusion discusses briefly the prospects for democracy in the Arab World in light of such negative elite views about US global and regional intensions and speculates on what the US can do (if anything) to modify elite perceptions of its Middle East policy as a prelude to changing regional public opinion.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the wake of the Asian financial crisis, there has been the gathering momentum of the creating of an East Asian Community. A significant step forward was, for example, an official proclamation of the East Asian Community as a goal to be pursued in the declaration that followed the summit meeting of Japan and 10 ASEAN members held in Tokyo in December 2003. In this coming December, the heads of ASEAN plus Three will historically meet in Malaysia to translate this idea into a viable project. But the question remains as to what would be the guiding principle (s) in organizing and creating such a regional community. Many previous studies have tackled this question without much success. This paper first shows that previous explanations fall short because they fail to offer an analysis of what constitutes "East Asia," a regional identity construct that has a significant causal power to the formation of an East Asian Community. By analyzing various proposals for an East Asian Community along with interviews with key officials in Japan and Korea, this paper attempts to demonstrate that the content of East Asian identity is associated with Asian states' shared understanding of the legitimate role of the state in facilitating economic development and stability. From this proposition, empirical evidence is expected to show that those policy proposals and statements for an East Asian Community would focus on developing regulatory mechanism that would insulate Asian distinctive forms of state-led economic organization from the undesirable economic and political impacts of participation in the global political economy.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Just as advanced industrialized democracies, many authoritarian regimes have commercialized the news media in recent years. It is commonly believed that commercial liberalization will ultimately bring about political liberalization in these authoritarian states. Previous research on China has shown that this belief is mistaken. Institutions, such as the Propaganda Department, keep press reporting within narrow boundaries, thus mitigating the liberalizing effect of media commercialization on political news content. This paper examines whether single-party regimes have an advantage over personalistic and military regimes to establish institutions that mitigate the consequences of commercial liberalization on news media content. Using macro-level data from East Asia and the Middle East this paper employs quantitative analysis to investigate the relationship between regime type, media commercialization, and press freedom. More broadly, the paper adds to our understanding of why certain regimes fail while others persist.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In East Asia, international politics is so intense based on the political division among nations. Korea is divided to North and South, China is politically divided, and Mongolian people live in part of China as inner Mongolia and outer Mongolia itself. The divided East Asia had long been categorized as non-democratic region, but after World War II, the U.S. occupation democratized Japan, and it became a fortress of democratization in the region in the following years in spite of the development of Cold War in East Asia. In this paper, various democratic indices are discussed first to evaluate the historical background and social entities on developing democratic society in East Asia: the indices are from Freedom House, Polity IV Project, and Arthur Banks. Although these Indices could not tell every democratic aspect of each society, but they are at least considered as a guidepost to take a close look at democratic transformation of East Asia. Secondly, the logit model on religious diversity is tested with socio-economic indices and democracy index. The result shows that Buddhism is not related with democracy significantly negatively nor positively. This indicates that democratization in East Asia holds East Asian religious culture would not directly confront the development of democratic politics and society.