PhDr. Tomáš Petrů, Ph.D.

AREAS OF INTEREST

• modern political history of Indonesia and Malaysia
• ethnohistory and contact linguistics of the Southeast Asia Archipelago
• political Islam in Indonesia
• religion and ethnicity in Malaysia
• regional political and economic influence of China

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. (2008) – Doctoral program Histories and Cultures of Asian and African Countries (Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Charles University, Praha): doctoral thesis: The Jago and the Preman: Controversial Figures of Indonesian History
• Mgr. – equivalent to M.A. (2000) – Indonesian Studies–English and American Studies (Faculty Philosophy and of Arts, Charles University, Praha)

• Since March 2014  Research fellow – Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS)
• Since December 2013  Institute of South and Central Asia, Faculty of Arts, Charles University – Assistant Professor of Indonesian Studies (part-time)
• 2009–2014 Head of the Department of Asian Studies, Metropolitan University Prague
• 2012–2014 Head of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies (CAPS) at Metropolitan University Prague

• Editor-in-chief: www.newmonsoon.eu 
• Scientific organizations membership
• since 2015 European Association for Southeast Asian Studies (EUROSEAS)
  2014-2016 Association for Southeast Asian Studies United Kingdom (ASEASUK)

• Foreign Relations Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences - member since 2017
• Oriental Institute Council - chairman since October 2017
• Nový Orient - journal editorial board member
• Council for the History and Culture of Asian and African Countries Graduate Program (Faculty of Arts, Charles University) - council member

• Interwar “globetrotters” from Czechoslovakia and their contribution to writings on Southeast Asia, 13th EUROSEAS, University of Amsterdam, 23-25 July 2024
• Indonesia after Soeharto: 25 years of the country´s path towards democracy – achievements and failures, CACAS conference Asia in the Contemporary World: Challenges and New Visions, Masaryk University, Brno, 22 May 2023
• Key Researchers of Indonesian Studies at the Oriental Institute: Miroslav Oplt and Rudolf Mrázek, ORIENTAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH (NOT ONLY) IN CENTRAL EUROPE: A conference organized to mark the centenary of the Prague Oriental Institute, 5-7 September 2022, Czech Academy of Science
• Re-discovering Harry Benda’s “Structures of Southeast Asian History”, 11th EUROSEAS, Palacký University, Olomouc, 7-10 September 2021
• Czech Maverick: On the Centennial of Harry J. Benda, the Founding Father of ISEAS. Konference EUROSEAS 2019, Humboldt Universität, Berlín, Německo. 2019
• From bahasa revolusi to bahasa reformasi and beyond: Indonesian as a vital political and state-making tool. Association of Asian Studies Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., USA. 2018
• Islamic Vigilantes in Indonesia: A Serious Threat or a Spent Force?, AAS-in-Asia Annual Conference, Korea University, Seoul, Jižní Korea. 2017
• Limited possibilities for Chinese public diplomacy in Malaysia, konference The Asian and the Central European models tested: learning from the past, sharing for the future, Oriental Business and Innovation Center, Budapest Business School, 17.-18. května 2017
• Walking a fine line: reflections on China´s cultural diplomacy in Malaysia. NFU Conference 2016: Beyond North and South: Constructing Global Governance for the 21st Century, panel Asian Transformations, 24.-25. listopadu 2016, University of Oslo
• A curious trajectory of inter-race relations: the transformation of “cosmopolitan” Malay port polities into the multiethnic divisions of modern Malaysia. Conference on Asian Studies, 4. listopadu 2016, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
• The Impact of Political Ideologies on the Lexical Development of Indonesian: From bahasa revolusi to bahasa pejabat, konference Language, Power and Identity in Asia: Creating and Crossing Language Boundaries, 14.-16. března 2016, IIAS Leiden, Nizozemsko
  
• Islamic Vigilantes in Indonesia: A Serious Threat or a Spent Force?, EUROSEAS Conference, 11.-14. srpna 2015, Vídeň
  
• The Malay World as Part of the Persian Cosmopolis. Intra-Asian Connections: Interactions, Flows, Landscape. 22.-24. října 2014 Asian Dynamics Initiative, University of Copenhagen
  
• Indonesia´s controversial image(-building): between ostensible pluralism and the harsh realities of religious intolerance. ASEASUK 2014 Conference, 12.14. září 2014, University of Brighton
  
• Islamic Vigilantes in Indonesia: a Threat for the Democratic Discourse or a Spent Force? 3rd Annual Symposium on Southeast Asian Studies, 21.-23. března 2014, Keble College, University of Oxford
  
• Bahasa Indonesia as a Political Tool: From the Language of the Revolution to Bureaucratic Officialese. 17.-19. června 2013, International Symposium on Language and Communication: Exploring Novelties, Izmir University.
  
• The Curious Trajectory of Inter-Ethnic Relations in Malaysia, 2ndAnnual Symposium on Southeast Asian Studies, 9.- 10. března 2013, Project Southeast Asia, St Anne´s College, University of Oxford.
  
• The Evolution of the Indonesian Jago: from Bandits to Gangsters to Vigilantes, 13. června 2012, Orientalisches Seminar, Universität zu Köln (zvaná přednáška).
  
• The Transformation of Cosmopolitan Malay Port Polities into The Multiethnic Divisions Of Modern Malaysia, ISEAC Cosmopolitan Conference 2012, 16.-18. února 2012, Australian National University, Canberra.
  
• Indonesia´s Democracy under Threat? Gangsters and Vigilantes and Their Impact on the Crisis of Governance. Workshop ´State and Statehood of the Global South´, at Rethinking Global Inequalities: Development (Studies) in Discourse, Critique and Practice Conference, 28.-29. října 2011, Wien Universität.
  
• Gangsters and Vigilantes as a Threat for Indonesia´s Democracy and Plurality, 20. května 2011, ICIRD 2011, Thammasat University, Bangkok.
• Indonesia´s Post-1998 Transformation, International Colloqium, 16. září 2009, University of Aarhus.

 Grants

• October 2016-October 2019 – ‘Fostering multi-lateral knowledge networks of transdisciplinary studies to tackle global challenges’ (KNOTS) – ERASMUS+ grant
• January 2015-December 2017 – China´s Cultural Diplomacy: Role of Non-State Actors and Regional Variations, Czech Science Foundation grant no. 15-21829S
• February 2012–January 2014 - RESAREAS – The Cooperation Network for Research of Non-European Areas – MUP Asian team member responsible for organizing international conferences and workshop

Invited lectures

• 2019. “The Rise of Hardline Islam in Indonesia”. Academia Sinica, Center for Pacific-Asian Studies (CAPAS), Tchaj-pej, Tchaj-wan.
• 2019. “Czech Maverick: on the Centennial of Harry J. Benda, a Not-to-be-forgotten Legend of Southeast Asian Studies”. ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapur.
• 2018. hlavní řečník (keynote speaker). “From bahasa revolusi to bahasa reformasi and beyond: Indonesian as a vital political and state-making tool”. 2nd International Linguistic Conference of Universitas Airlangga: Language Phenomena in Multimodal Communication, Surabaya, Indonésie.
• 2016. “The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Maritime Southeast Asia.” Wien Universität, Vídeň, Rakousko.
• 2015. “Ferdinand Blumentritt, an outstanding scholar and an iconic figure of Czech-Philippine ties”. University of the Philippines Diliman, Asian Center, Quezon City, Filipíny.

Conference + seminar organization

• 2022. Indonesia – an Emerging Middle Power and Partner of the EU in the Indo-Pacific, 7 December 2022, Czech Academy of Sciences (convenor) 
• 2022. ORIENTAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH (NOT ONLY) IN CENTRAL EUROPE: A conference organized to mark the centenary of the Prague Oriental Institute, 5-7 September 2022, Czech Academy of Sciences, Národní 3 and Villa Lanna (co-convenor, with dr. Adéla Jůnová Macková, Masaryk Institute CAS) 
• 2018. “Towards a New Malaysia”. An international seminar. AKC, Praha.
• 2018. “After Soeharto: Twenty Years of Indonesia´s Democratic Transformation”. AV ČR, Praha.
• 2016. “6th Prague Conference on Southeats Asian Studies: Power and Strategies of Political Order in Southeast Asia”. AV ČR, Praha.

Mediální vystoupení

• Studio ČT24 – Zavedení fyzických trestů hudud v sultanátu Brunej, 3. dubna 2019
• Český rozhlas Plus – Studentské protesty proti novému zákoníku v Indonésii, 25. září 2019 (záznam od 15:38)
• ČT24, ket (zkratka autorky): Útoky muslimů, útlak menšin a zákon o rouhačství. V kdysi klidné Indonésii se mobilizují radikálové (citovaní experti: Tomáš Petrů, Pavel Zvolánek)
• ČRo Plus – shrnutí výstupů mezinárodního semináře After Soeharto (viz níže) a komentář ohledně aktuální situace v Indonésii - 25. dubna, záznam zde (stopáž od 14:17)
• ČRo Plus - komentář k volbám v Malajsii - 18. května 2018
• ČT24 - komentář k teroristickým útokům v Surabayi, Indonésie, 14. května 2018, záznam zde