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Commentary 2016/63, 16 September 2016

The 19th ASEAN-China Summit held on 7 September 2016 was dedicated to commemorating the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-China dialogue relations, which culminated in the release of a Joint Statement. The 1,205 word document reaffirmed the basic principles of the bilateral relations and reflected on the achievements of the past year, including the establishment of a hotline among senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials to handle maritime emergencies in the South China Sea and the adoption of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in the South China Sea. The two sides also agreed to designate 2017 as the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation.

Commentary 2016/62, 15 September 2016

On 8 September, Adnan Purichta Ichsan — the Bupati or “Regent” of Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi — was conferred the title Sombaya Ri Gowa (“He who is revered in Gowa”), effectively declaring him king of the traditional royal polity. His appointment has been widely criticized throughout South Sulawesi as an offensive and unprecedented farce, given that Adnan has no relation to Gowa’s line of hereditary kings. Indeed, the conferral of the title to a “commoner” has infuriated many, especially the followers of Andi Maddusila Andi Idjo, leader of Gowa’s royal family and widely considered to be the rightful Raja of Gowa. From a different angle of vision, however, Adnan is no “commoner.” He is a member of South Sulawesi’s powerful Yasin Limpo family, a political dynasty led by his uncle — the province’s second-term governor, Syahrul Yasin Limpo. Adnan’s appointment is a new episode of an on-going feud between Gowa’s royal family and the Yasin Limpo clan – after Andi was twice defeated by Ichsan Yasin Limpo in elections for district head, and another time by Ichsan’s son, Adnan.