President’s Message

Allow me first of all to thank you for giving me the honor and privilege to serve you as President of ISSCO. We have come a long way since the founding of our organization in 1992. Six international conferences and five regional conferences have been held in previous years; thanks to the indefatigable efforts of the organizers. This coming July 18 to 19, we will have our 2009 regional conference at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. I thank our board member, Prof. Manying Ip, who has worked very hard with the New Zealand Chinese Association to convene this conference. 

As you all know, next year, May 2010, I will be responsible in convening 7th ISSCO international conference in modern Singapore. The co-organizer is Nanyang Technological University. I would like to take this opportunity to ask for your full and unstinted support. Your participation will mean a lot towards the success of this conference.

Much has been accomplished in our 16 years existence but much remains to be done. We have recently updated our website and we also hope for your support by sending us updates about your new research, upcoming conferences, recent awards and recognition and other information which will benefit our colleagues in the field of Chinese overseas studies.

Thank you. My warmest regards and best wishes to you all,

Leo Suryadinata
President

About Prof. Dr. Leo Suryadinata 

Leo Suryadinata is Director, Chinese Heritage Centre (Singapore) and Adjunct Professor, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He was Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS). 

He received his degrees from the following Universities: B.A. from Nanyang University (Singapore, 1962), Sardjana Sastra (Drs.) from Universitas Indonesia (Jakarta, 1965), M.A. from Monash University (Australia, 1970) and Ohio University (USA, 1972), and Ph.D. from The American University (USA, 1975). 

He was Editor and later, Co-editor of the Asian Journal of Political Science (1993-June 2002), and Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Culture (Chinese title: Yazhou Wenhua, 1990- date). He has published extensively on ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia, Indonesian politics and foreign relations, and China-ASEAN relations. His recent books include Elections and Politics in Indonesia (2002), Indonesia’s Population: Ethnicity and Religion in a Changing Political Landscape (co-author, 2003), Chinese and Nation-Building in Southeast Asia (1997, reissued in 2004 with a postscript), China and ASEAN States: the Ethnic Chinese Dimensions (1985, reissued in 2005 with a postscript); Emerging Democracy in Indonesia (co-author, 2005), Chinese Diaspora Since Admiral Zheng He (editor and contributor, 2007) and Understanding Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia (2007). 

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Dear ISSCO colleagues,

Welcome to our ISSCO Bulletin, which we hope to use to officially communicate with our members and friends.

Let me thank all our members who chose to elect me to be the ISSCO President for 2004 to 2007. I take this opportunity also to commend and thank Dr. Wang Gungwu and Dr. Wang Lingchi for their leadership and dedication since ISSCO’s formal organization in 1993. It is a tough act to follow after ten years of their excellent stewardship.

Through this Bulletin, we hope to update everyone on recent developments or exciting news and events that are happening in ethnic Chinese communities around the globe. This Bulletin will be effective only if you support the efforts in keeping it up.

This first issue is very simple, because we only want to introduce the idea of a regular Bulletin. In the future, if we have more communication and interaction, we may opt to pay for our own domain but please bear with us in the meantime.

For the upcoming issues, this is what we would like to get from our members:

1. Photographs of ISSCO V taken by other participants. We will create a photo album as soon as enough pictures are in.

2. Profile of our other Board members, with photos, just like that of the three officers in this first issue.

3. Short profile of other members, including your current research interests.

4. Our members’ new works and publications – please send us an introductory write-up with a photo of the cover.

5. Conferences which you are planning or a write-up of conferences held recently.

6. Comments, inputs and corrections on the original 1993 by-laws. We will then circulate a corrected draft before the final signing by the new board members, to be ratified in our next membership meeting or informally ratified through e-mail in the meantime.

7. News and events affecting or impacting on the ethnic Chinese communities in your region. The Board regional representatives are especially requested to send us information on this matter.

We hope you will enjoy this form of communication and through this Bulletin, we can get updated and learn from one another. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to more productive ISSCO endeavors in the future.

Yours truly,
Teresita Ang See
President

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