Speaker: Dr Sulfikar Amir, Assistant Professor, Division of Sociology
Nanyang Technology University
Date: Monday, 13 December 2010
Time: 10:30 am to 12:00 noon
Venue: ESI Conference Room
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Block A, #10-01
Singapore 119620
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Abstract
For the past thirty years, Indonesia has been trying to develop nuclear power to sustain its energy security. The urgency to go nuclear is currently becoming stronger due the rapid depletion in Indonesia’s oil and gas reserves. The Indonesian state nuclear agency is proposing four nuclear power plants for Jepara, Central Java. Construction of the first plant is to commence very soon, with a completion date of 2016. The state’s desire for nuclear power, however, has been loudly challenged by civil society groups that view the state’s nuclear energy planning as malicious and hazardous. This apprehension stems from a conviction that the state has inadequate capacity to operate high-risk technologies such as nuclear energy. An anti-nuclear alliance comprised of a number of grassroots groups concentrated in Jepara has emerged to try to prevent the construction of Indonesia’s first nuclear power plant.
This seminar will highlight two issues: First, it examines the logic and rationality that drive the state’s ambition to go nuclear. It discusses some domestic political issues that have led to the nuclearization process and the role of scientific institutions in promoting nuclear power. Second, it traces the rise of organised resistance coordinated by civil society groups.
About the speaker
Sulfikar Amir is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He completed his PhD in Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. His research interests cover technological nationalism, sociology of technology, sociology of risk, development and Southeast Asian studies. His articles have been published in journals such as Asian Survey, Indonesia, Technology in Society, and Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society. His current research examines nuclear politics and democracy in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Thailand.
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