The relationship between academics in “ivory towers” and public debate has changed over time and varied greatly by country and political context. This is particularly true in post-colonial Southeast Asia, where some academics have sought to ‘speak truth to power’ while others have lent their credentials and expertise in support of governments or simply retreated from public engagement altogether. This panel will consider the role of public intellectuals in Thailand from the democratic opening of 1973 through the military take-over of 2014, and in Indonesia from the 1998 reformasi movement through President Widodo’s second term.
In line with the panel’s focus on public Asian studies, speakers will be asked to reflect on the various forms of political mobilization (or de-mobilization) that have animated major changes in Southeast Asia in the past few decades. From anti-monarchy protests in Thailand (2020–21) and the anti-Omnibus Law protests across Indonesia (2020–21), Southeast Asia has undergone significant and unprecedented tumult in recent years. Public intellectuals have played a significant role in opposing or facilitating these events, notably academics such as Thongchai Winichakul (Thailand). This panel will consider the increasingly public role that intellectuals can play in Asian politics, given social media’s capacity for amplifying their voices – Indonesia’s Goenawan Mohamad, for example, has 105,000 Facebook followers. What is the duty of the public intellectual in Asia, and what powers do they truly possess?
PANEL
Chairperson/Discussant: Douglas Kammen | Department of Southeast Asian Studies
Chairperson/Discussant: Lin Hongxuan | Department of Southeast Asian Studies
Wasana Wongsurawat | Chulalongkorn University
Arguing for the Masses in an Era without Democracy: The Writings on Art of Pisanu Supanimit and Amnart Yensabai in the 1970s-80s
In the 1970s – 1980s, there emerged a series of articles on art and art criticism by two prominent artists/art educators in Thailand. One was Pisanu Supanimit, professor of graphic art at the Faculty of Painting, Silpakorn University. The other was Amnart Yensabai, lecturer at Faculty of Fine Arts, Srinakharinwirot University. They appeared to have conflicting stances on the position and function of art in Thai society. Pisanu was a believer in ‘art for art’s sake,’ that art should be above politics, and that the best art of the kingdom—those produced by students and judged by lecturers of the Faculty of Painting, Silpakorn University—represented the art of the nation. Amnart wrote about how art should serve the masses and that art of the nation needed to represent Thai at every furthest corner of the kingdom, not merely the educated elite of the
most prestigious art school in Bangkok.
Pisanu and Amnart did not engage in an actual debate, but the conflicting stances evident in their writings during the latter half of the Cold War is rather telling about the development of the Thai art world in this period. Their different institutional background as well as the history of the establishment of art schools in both Silpakorn and Srinakharinwirot universities help us better understand the different political standpoint vis-à-vis art of the two authors. In the era that was the height of the Red Scare, it is interesting that, while the two had very different perception on what the purpose of art was and what should be considered ‘art of the nation,’ neither openly demanded for democracy.
This article attempts to investigate the struggle within the conservative-dominated art world in Thailand during the last two decades of the Cold War. Though there were calls for decentralization of expertise and awards from the Faculty of Painting under royal patronage to other more recently established institutions, all parties remained pro-establishment (pro-military dictatorship) at the end of the day. A better understanding of this Cold War conflict could perhaps shed some light on the ongoing pro-establishment tendencies of leading art institutions in Thailand up to the present day.
Hilmar Farid | Director General of Culture, Indonesia