Sabahan scholar Vilashini Somiah to lead Southeast Asia Council

Free Malaysia Today

28-04-2025

Vilashini Somiah is the first Southeast Asian-based scholar to be elected as Chair of the Southeast Asia Council. (Vilashini Somiah pic)
KUALA LUMPUR : 'I set the trend for being that cool, strange, biracial person,' Vilashini Somiah said with a laugh. But behind the humour lies a story as layered and dynamic as the Bornean landscape she calls home.
Born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to a Tamil Indian father and a Sino-Kadazan-Dusun Tatana mother, Vilashini grew up in a world where identity was fluid, complex, and, crucially, embraced.
'There are not very many Indian people in Sabah,' she recalled of her childhood in the '80s and '90s. 'My brother and I were probably among the few half-Indian kids hanging around with native indigenous identities. But it was completely accepted in a place like Sabah.'
That early experience – of standing out yet still belonging – did more than shape her worldview. It became the heart of her work.
Today, Vilashini is a feminist anthropologist and senior lecturer at Universiti Malaya, specialising in gender studies and Bornean communities.
Her research shines a light on the lives of women, migrants, and the stateless – those often left out of the bigger picture.
Beyond academia, she's also co-founder of the Datum Initiative, a non-profit organisation focused on equipping activists and advocates working with marginalised communities. It's one more way she bridges scholarship and real-world impact.
Now, she's making history herself. Last March, Vilashini was elected Chair of the Southeast Asia Council (SEAC) under the Association for Asian Studies – the leading academic organisation in North America focused on Asia – becoming the first Southeast Asian-based scholar to hold the post since the council's founding in 1970. Her term begins in March 2026.
Vilashini is currently a research associate at Harvard University until 2026. (Vilashini Somiah pic)
'Being chair means governance work. You're on the board, moving between the council and directors. But more than that, it signals a quiet, powerful shift – that knowledge production from Southeast Asia should be led by Southeast Asians. It's not just valid. It's vital.'
The day she was elected, Vilashini didn't throw a party or pop champagne. 'I kept quiet for a whole day,' she said. 'I went to the nearest convenience store and bought myself a chocolate bar.'
The first person she told? Her husband, also an academic. Her parents were pleased, but, as she puts it, 'they kind of had to think for a while what it really meant to take on a position like this.'
It was a momentous milestone – fitting for someone whose path was never about fanfare, but about forging meaning. Her journey here wasn't fuelled by privilege. It was driven by something far more powerful: freedom.
'I came from a family where my parents made it clear: 'All we can give you is the freedom to study.' And I understood from young that education had to be the path forward.'
In the heart of Nabawan, Sabah, Vilashini conducts fieldwork on the intersections of gender and mental health. (Vilashini Somiah pics)
Her upbringing was firmly working- to middle-class. Academic ambition wasn't expected. There was no clear map – just a deep hunger for meaning.
'I wanted more in life,' she said. 'Not in a corporate sense, but something that gave me purpose.' So she read – everything from newspapers to academic journals, always chasing fresh perspectives.
The kid who once felt 'like a person of interest' in her own hometown will soon be helping steer conversations on Southeast Asia's academic future. But she's doing it with humility – not because the title isn't significant, but because she knows this journey wasn't shaped in lecture halls alone.
It began much earlier, in the everyday rhythm of growing up biracial in Sabah. In answering curious questions from classmates. In observing the sharp contrasts between East and West Malaysia. In finding comfort in ambiguity, and pride in difference. Vilashini learnt early that nuance is everything.
Now, as Chair-Elect, she's determined to centre voices from the margins. 'A lot of the training I've had, working in Malaysia and especially in its peripheries – I have a responsibility to make sure those lived realities inform policy,' she said.
Her goal isn't just representation. It's transformation. 'I'm trusting that chairing SEAC will open doors. It'll create more seats for other scholars – not just from Malaysia, but across the region. And that representation is very important.'
Find out more about Vilashini Somiah here.