The Minutes of the
Asian Studies Association of Australia, Inc.

Web page established: 16 August 1997
Last updated: 16 August 1997

ASIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA


The 1996 Annual General Meeting of the Asian Studies Association of
Australia, Inc, was held on Wednesday 10 July 1996 in the Union Hall, La
Trobe University, commencing at 6:00 pm.

Those present:  Bev Hooper (President)
and 64 other members of the Association



Agenda

        Apologies

Apologies were received from Jim Fox, Edmund Fung, Reynaldo C. Ileto, Kathy
Kiting, Dianne Lewis, Campbell Macknight, Amin Saikal, Krishna Sen, Michael
Skully, Ron Witton.

        Confirmation of Minutes

The minutes of the 1996 Annual General Meeting, held on 20 August 1996 at
Melbourne University, had been circulated.

Subject to the correction of a number of editorial errors, the minutes were
confirmed.
(Aveling/Jarvis)

        Matters arising from the Minutes

Nil, not elsewhere covered in the agenda.

        President's Report

The President's Report was tabled.

Following brief discussion, the report was accepted.
(Mackerras/Li)

        Treasurer's Report

The Treasurer's Report was tabled.

In response to questions, John Fitzgerald reported that:

        The accounts of Conference expenses and receipts are held on file
with the Council records. No provision is made for the ASAA to subsidise
Conferences. A float is made available to Conference convenors, but this is
fully repayable. The Association in fact hopes for a surplus from the
Conference. The Murdoch Conference returned a surplus of $5,000

        The balance reported in Appendix B/2 assumes recovery of $7,100
from the WIAPS, and the payment by the Series of $2,000 in royalties on
publications. Each Series is responsible for its own finances, but operates
financially through ASAA accounts. When a Series is in surplus with the
Association, it is paid interest on its balance; when it is in deficit, it
is charged interest. The WIAPS is currently in deficit to the extent of
$18,840.57.

At this point the Secretary read out the motion adopted by the Council the
previous Sunday.

It was further explained that the current deficit of the WIAPS consisted of
$7,100 owing to Allen and Unwin, the balance being costs already met by the
Association from its accumulated assets. The Association does not
relinquish its claim to reimbursement of this balance, but is not currently
making a claim on it. Allen and Unwin have indicated that, if the WIAPS
were to continue to be published under their auspices, and according to an
agreed strategic plan, they would make no further claim on the $7,100
outstanding.

        Bev Hooper then invited Susan Blackburn, editor of the WIAPS, to
address the meeting.

        Sue Blackburn reported that the WIAPS Committee had met earlier in
the day to discuss the resolution adopted by the Council the previous
Sunday. It had been agreed that:

*       the Committee did not wish to continue the association with Allen
and Unwin;

*       the WIAPS should be wound up;

*       the Committee would take responsibility for payment of the $7,100
owing to Allen and Unwin.

        In discussion, it was noted that some royalty payments could
reasonably be expected from sales of titles already published. The first
three titles had sold out. John Fitzgerald noted that the accounts as
presented assumed an income of $2,000 from royalties.

        It was also suggested that the decision of the WIAPS Committee to
close the Series down was to be regretted. The Series had served the
interests of members well, and was probably unique in the world. Allen and
Unwin had not marketed the titles very effectively. But it was also argued
that criticism should not be directed to Allen and Unwin: the first three
titles did sell out. The real problem lay with the cost structure of the
Series. If this was reduced to the level of the SEAPS, then there would be
no problem.

        It was further suggested that if the current WIAPS Committee wished
to close the Series, it should be open for a new Committee to be
established which would revive the Series.

        It was then moved (Jeffrey/Fitzgerald):

        That the decision of the current WIAPS Committee to close the
Series be accepted;

        That if an appropriate group of people wished to see the Series
revived, then Committee could be reconstituted, and then enter into further
negotiations with Allen and Unwin.

The motion was adopted.

        It was noted that the venue for the next Conference had not yet
been chosen; further expressions of interests were actively being sought.
John Fitzgerald noted that the accounts for the current conference were not
yet available, but that the experience of using a Professional Conference
Organiser -- the first time this had been done for an ASAA Conference --
had proved to be extremely successful. Robin Jeffrey indicted he was hoping
for a surplus from the Conference of $3,000 - $7,000, and that he would be
happy to provide advice to any member interested in convening the next
Conference.

        The Treasurer's report was accepted.    (Ingleson/Wright)

        Secretary's Report

The Secretary's Report was tabled.

In speaking to his report, Colin Brown urged members to register their
email addresses with the Association. Using email would reduce considerably
the postal costs associated with running the Association. At present, only
about 100 email addresses are on record, and several of these have proven
to be incorrect.

Colin Brown also invited members to access the Association's Home Page,
where the minutes of meetings of the Executive and the Council are
recorded, along with the ASAA Constitution and other items relating to the
Association.

He also indicated that he would not be seeking a further term as Secretary,
and thanked all office-bearers in and members of the Association for their
support over the past six years.

The Secretary's report was accepted.    (Reid/Elaine McKay)

        Publications' Officer's Report

The Publications' Officer's Report was tabled.

In speaking to his report, John McKay made the following points:

        Asian Studies Review

The Review has reached the point where crucial decisions as to its future
need to be taken on questions of cost, technology, content and editorship.
Three major options are open:

        Retain the basic structure of the Review as it is now, as a
relatively low-cost in-house publication including articles, news and
reviews. This option is not feasible. The ASAA is currently paying Monash
$25,000 per year to publish the Review; Monash is putting in an additional
$10,000 in cash, together with an in-kind subsidy of between $5,000 and
$7,000. The total value of the Monash contribution is thus between $15,000
and $17,000 per year. The present contract Monash has with the ASAA expires
at the end of 1997. It is unlikely that any institution, including Monash,
will be prepared to support the Review at this level in the future.

        Retain the basic structure of the Review as it is now but use more
paid labour, with the ASAA carrying the additional costs. As is clear from
the Treasurer's report, though, this would not be possible without a
substantial increase in membership fees.

        Contract out production of the Review to a professional journal
publisher.

At the request of Council, John McKay has been discussing the third option
with Carfax and Blackwells. A written proposal has been submitted by
Carfax; one from Blackwells is expected shortly. If either of these
publishers is chosen, though, changes will have to be made to the journal's
style and contents. In effect, it will have to become an international
scholarly journal. the newsletter functions of the Review would have to be
dropped. The option of continuing the publication of this material by other
means, including electronic, is currently under investigation by John
Ingleson.

        Lists of theses and publications

It has become impossible to publish these lists in the Review because of
the sheer number of items to be cited. An electronic data base may be the
best way to resolve this problem, although hard copies of the lists would
be made and retained for archival purposes. Council has agreed that such a
resolution much be reached before commercial publication of the Review can
be accepted.

        In discussion of the Publications' Officer's report, the following
comments were made:

        Members need to be aware of the implications of turning the Review
into an international scholarly journal. Academic articles are a relatively
recent innovation in the Review; it is not at all clear that it would
retain its readership if it shed its newsletter functions. One of the
consequences of going commercial may be a loss of readership, unless the
Review could compete directly with the Journal of Asian Studies.

        Publishing the journal commercially and converting it into an
international scholarly journal are not necessarily synonymous. Commercial
publication will inevitably mean that subscriptions will rise. Yet if the
Association was to increase its subscriptions anyway, it could derive
sufficient additional income that it could continue to publish the journal
itself -- and turn it into a flagship international scholarly journal, if
that is what the membership want.

        On the other hand, financial realities suggest that going
commercial is the only viable option open to the Association.

        The Publications' Officer's report was accepted.
(Mackerras/Hatley)

        Notices

The President indicated that she was prepared to accept notices of matters
of interest or concern to members. The following matters were raised:

        The Vasco da Gama Conference will be held in Melbourne and Perth in
late June 1997. The Conference will commemorate the opening of regular,
sea-borne commerce between Europe and Asia.

        Applications for participation in the semester 1, 1997 program of
the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) close
in four weeks.

        A workshop to discuss in-country studies will be held on Friday 12
July at La Trobe University.

        Prizes and Endowments

The President invited Elaine McKay to take the floor. Elaine McKay
announced that Past Presidents of the Association had met that today to
consider establishing an endowment to mark the 20th anniversary of the
foundation of the Association. The endowment would support the aims of the
Association and could, for example, support:

*       prizes for theses, books and other scholarly work;
*       scholarships for in-country studies;
*       visits to conferences by eminent overseas speakers.

It is proposed that a Board of Trustees be established, separate from the
Council but including the current President and two Past Presidents, chosen
by the Council. Arrangements for the management of the foundation are still
being negotiated, although it seems that the ANU may be willing to act as
the umbrella organisation.

Each of the Past Presidents present at the meeting has agreed to contribute
a `not inconsiderable sum' in order to get the foundation established.

It was moved (Elaine McKay/Reid)

        That the meeting endorse the proposal to establish a foundation by
Past Presidents of the Association, and request that progress be reported
to the Council.

The motion was adopted.

        Adjournment

Because of the imminent commencement of the Conference dinner, at 7:20 pm
the President adjourned the meeting until 1:00 pm on Thursday 11 July 1996.

        Resumption

The meeting was resumed at 1:05 pm, Thursday 11 July 1996.

        ISEAS Fellowships

Phil Eldridge had requested that the AGM discuss the abolition by the
department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Australia-Southeast Asia
Fellowship tenable at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in
Singapore.

In speaking to the issue, Phil Eldridge noted that the Fellowships were the
only ones at ISEAS specifically directed to Australians. They had been
flagged for cuts during 1995, and had been reduced in length from 12 months
to nine. There were, though, ways in which the scheme could have been
changed so as to effect savings without cutting it out altogether: the
length of the fellowships could have been further reduced, for instance,
and the ISEAS could have been persuaded to make some financial contribution
to them. He asked that the final page of his report on his recent
Fellowship be circulated to members of the Executive.

It was moved (Eldridge/Aveling):

        That the Executive express to the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade the Association's regret at the abolition of the ISEAS Fellowships,
and explore, with the relevant authorities, means of reviving them.

The motion was adopted.

        Off-Shore Conferences

Jim Masselos, having been asked to investigate the possibility of holding
an off-shore conference in India, presented the attached report to the
meeting of Council held on 19 August 1995. Council agreed to refer the
report to the 1996 AGM.

In discussion, it was questioned whether the ASAA was the appropriate
sponsor for such a conference, as opposed to the South Asian Studies
Association.

It was moved (Reid/Wright):

        That the matter be referred to the incoming Council for resolution.

The motion was adopted.

        ASAA Prize

The meeting of Council held on 17 March 1996 resolved as follows:

That the Association establish an annual prize for the best PhD thesis
presented to an Australian University in the preceding year on an Asian
topic.

Due to the closeness of the vote, Council members agreed that the matter
should be referred to the next Annual General Meeting.

As the initiator of the prize proposal, Tony Reid spoke in its favour. A
prize was by its nature elitist, but elitism was a part of everyday life
and work. Determining prize winners would not be easy, but the groundwork
would have been laid with referees' reports. A short list of perhaps four
theses could fairly easily be created; the selection panel could then
examine these reports, and perhaps call for further specialist advice. If,
in any particular year, no thesis was judged worthy of publication, no
prize would be awarded.

In discussion, it was suggested that awarding the prize should not
necessarily be tied to publication in one of the Association's Publications
Series. In any event, publication could not in any event be guaranteed
because of the nature of contractual agreements with publishers.

A number of amendments to the draft regulations (originally tabled at the
2/95 meeting of the Council held on 19 August 1995) were proposed:

        Under Eligibility, replace `submitted to' with `accepted for the
award of PhD at';

        Delete the sub-section dealing with Publication.

With these amendments, the draft regulations were adopted unanimously.

        Any Other Business

Nil

        Date and Location of 1997 AGM

The next meeting will be held in approximately 12 months time, in Sydney,
Melbourne or Canberra.

        Vote of Thanks

A vote of thanks to Bev Hooper for her leadership of the Association over
the past two years was moved (Reid/Brown), and adopted unanimously.

        Closure

There being no further business, the President declared the meeting closed
at 1:35 pm.







Confirmed:      ............................................    

Date:           ............................


                President, ASAA