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What is the experience of truth and reconciliation? What is the purpose of a truth commission? What lessons can be learned from established truth and reconciliation processes? Flowers in the Wall explores the experience of truth and reconciliation Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific, with and without a formal truth commission. Although much has been written about the operational phases of truth commissions, the efforts to establish these commissions and the struggle to put their recommendations into effect are often overlooked. Examining both the pre- and post-truth commission phases, this volume explores a diversity of interconnected scholarship with each chapter forming part of a concise narrative. Well-researched and balanced, this book explores the effectiveness of the truth commission as transnational justice, highlighting its limitations and offering valuable lessons Canadians, and all others, facing similar issues of truth and reconciliation. With Contributions By: Sarah Zwierzchowski, Geoffrey Robinson, Pat Walsh, Jacqueline Aquino Siapno, Laurentina "mica" Barreto Soares, Jess Augustin, Fernanda Borges, Maria Manuela Leong, Baskara Wardaya, Bernd, Gatot Lestario, Lia Kent, Rizki Amalia Affiat, Arianto Sangadji, Jenny Munro, Todd Biderman, Julian Smythe, Terry M. Brown, Edmund McWilliams, Betty Lina Gigisi, and Maggie Helwig

David Webster explores the notion of desire as found in the Buddhist Pali Canon. Beginning by addressing the idea of a 'paradox of desire', whereby we must desire to end desire, the varieties of desire that are articulated in the Pali texts are examined. A range of views of desire, as found in Western thought, are presented as well as Hindu and Jain approaches. An exploration of the concept of ditthi(view or opinion) is also provided, exploring the way in which 'holding views' can be seen as analogous to the process of desiring. Other subjects investigated include the mind-body relationship, the range of Pali terms for desire, and desire's positive spiritual value. A comparative exploration of the various approaches completes the work.

AbstractThis paper examines the discourse of racial difference in the arena of global decolonization, examining the case of the Indonesian territory which is today known as Papua and until 1962 was a Dutch colony. Papuans formed a 'nation‐of‐intent' around the idea of 'race' and racial difference, initially the invention of colonial anthropologists and explorers. Papuan nationalists seized on the colonial power's declaration of racial difference, declaring themselves 'the negroids of the Pacific' and locating themselves within the wave of African decolonization. The paper discusses the way Papuan non‐state diplomats deployed ideas of race to claim a new Pan‐African identity, far from Africa. I draw on Papuan nationalist publications, United Nations and government documents, and oral testimonies to discuss how diplomatic imperatives led to the formation of a Papuan nationalist identity partly within the territory and partly in exile. Finally, I consider how the Papuan diaspora has continued to foster this nation‐of‐intent from exile since Indonesia's annexation of West Papua in the 1960s.

This article takes up the concept of mental maps as lens through which to survey Canada–Asia relations. Before Canadians could embrace Asia politically and economically, they had to stop imagining Asia as culturally distant. Their mental maps—the way they imagined the world—formed the invisible background to policy-making. Through an engagement with Greg Donaghy's work on Canadian relations with Asia, this article makes the case for using mental maps to understand trans-Pacific relations.

Canada–Indonesia relations recently passed their 65th anniversary, but they still have a tentative air about them. Despite regular talk about developing a strong Canadian relationship with a country that potentially has much in common with Canada, Canada–Indonesia relations have mostly been friendly but shallow. An overview of the history of bilateral relations, from the opening of a Canadian mission in 1953 to recent bilateral deals committing Ottawa and Jakarta to various forms of collaboration, reveals that rhetoric about common interests has some substance, but a new announcement amidst good intentions every few years is not likely to lead to any deep partnership. There are, however, foundations for closer ties in civil society, including in the fields of economic development, truth and reconciliation, religious deradicalization, and Indigenous peoples linkages.

Recent experiences with truth and reconciliation processes in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific suggest that there is a role for historical research and memory in helping to build sustainable peace and stability in new nations—and conversely, that ignoring violent pasts undermines peacebuilding efforts. Two truth commissions have operated in this region, in Timor-Leste (East Timor) and Solomon Islands. There are also calls for truth and reconciliation processes in Indonesia at the national and local levels, including in (West) Papua. As the only Western developed country to have held a full truth commission, Canada could play a powerful role in promoting and supporting mutual dialogue on the implementation of truth and reconciliation outside its borders. We can derive both potential lessons and recommendations for Canadian action to promote truth and reconciliation processes from the cases of Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.

Indonesian President Sukarno established the Games of the New Emerging Forces (ganefo) not only as an alternative to the Olympic Games in the 1960s, but also as part of a systemic challenge to the international status quo. They occurred twice, once in Indonesia in 1963 and again (as "Asian ganefo") in Cambodia in 1966. The ganefo drew on Asian left-nationalism and neutralism and foreshadowed a possible alternative United Nations that Sukarno planned to call the Conference of the New Emerging Forces (conefo), with membership from the People's Republic of China and other Asian states. This research note explores the link between sports, Indonesian nationalism and neutralism, ideas of Indonesian martial masculinity, and global politics during the 1960s in East Asia. Contrary to the ideal of the International Olympic Committee (ioc) to keep sports and politics separate, it suggests that both the ioc and Sukarno's Indonesia mixed sports and politics, but in very different ways.