General On 22 June 2000, Henk Schulte Nordholt was installed as the IIAS Extraordinary Chair in Asian History at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Two excerpts from his oration, 'A State of Violence', are presented with an interview by Marieke Brand. Modern Hinduism Martin Ramstedt, guest editor, sees Indonesian Hindus turning to India for reasons of strengthening their positions against hegemonic Indonesian Islam as well as Christianity. Through this issue's theme he hopes to stimulate the debate on this rapprochement. Regions Central Asia Two giant Buddhas, hewn out of rock in the Bamiyan valley, Afghanistan, are barely surviving the hostile onslaughts of warfare and iconoclasm over past centuries to the present. Jet van Krieken describes their plight within the context of the aims of the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage. South Asia In Nepal, where lines of communication are limited and unreliable, the decentralized and low maintenance nature of the Internet is an advantage. Mark Turin discusses New Digital Media in Nepal. Southeast Asia Malaysia's Minister of Finance declared the financial crisis over. Domestic auto sales started to show the recovery. Yuri Sadoi reports on her research into the international competitiveness of the Malaysian automobile industry and the key to its further development. East Asia Although widely considered proof that the peace process is moving ahead, family reunions and high-level talks were nothing new between North and South Korea. Tim Beal presents his analysis of the impact of the Korean Summit that took place last June in 'Milestones of Peace and Reconciliation'. Asian Arts Republik Indochaos, Harsono, 1998 (from a series of five etchings). An exhibition of 'protest art' from Indonesia marks how Museum Nusantara in Delft, the Netherlands, aims to inform visitors about recent developments in Indonesian culture. Helena Spanjaard discusses 'Reformasi Indonesia'.