SOUTHEAST ASIA SHARED IDENTITY HEDDY SHRI AHIMSA-PUTRA UNIVERSITAS GADJAH MADA YOGYAKARTA

1. SOUTHEAST ASIA SHARED IDENTITY HEDDY SHRI AHIMSA-PUTRA UNIVERSITAS GADJAH MADA YOGYAKARTA INDONESIA

2. IDENTITY : - DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PHENOMENON SOUTHEAST ASIA : - A REGION WHERE VARIOUS SOCIETIES LIVE - THERE ARE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES - THE SIMILARITIES ARE THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS - THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS ARE THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS - THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS ARE THE “IDENTITY” ASSUMPTIONS : - THE SIMILARITIES ARE PRODUCTS OF PAST PROCESSES - THE SIMILARITIES PRODUCED “AWARENESS” - THE “AWARENESS” LEADS TO “SOLIDARITY” - THE SOLIDARITY LEADS TO COOPERATION, UNION

3. - UNDERSTANDING “ASEAN” = UNDERSTANDING SOUTHEAST ASIA - UNDERSTANDING “ASEAN” = UNDERSTANDING HISTORIES & THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS IN THE REGION THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA : - SOCIAL - CULTURAL - ECONOMY - POLITICS QUESTIONS : - WHAT ARE THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEO-PLES IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA? - WHAT PROCESSES HAD PRODUCED THOSE COMMON CHA-RACTERISTICS ?

4. The topic of “Shared Identity” is given based on the assumption that (a) there are some common characteristics among cultures of the peoples in Southeast Asia. “The cultures of the Southeast Asian…not only distinguish them-selves from those of neighboring India and China, but show an impressive number of shared principles that lend the area its cultural uniqueness..” (Mulder, 1996: 197) (b) “There is considerable uniformity of climate….in a region lying within thirty degrees of latitude to the north and ten degrees to the south of the equator. The only significant variations in temperature are attributable to differences in latitude..” (c) “..There are influences and processes of geography and history common to all parts. It is on the basis of these shared features that a general approach to the area can be attempted…” (Williams, 1976: 5)

5. SEA includes: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore Thailand, Vietnam, and Timor Leste, but Timor Leste is not a member of ASEAN. In Southeast Asia there are influences and processes of geogra-phy and history common to all parts” - “It has perhaps interacted with a greater variety of external cultures for a longer period of time than has any other area of the world” - These features can become a basis for a general approach to the area. From the Southeast Asian perspective : “what is important is the process of acculturation through which Southeast Asian societies adjusted to their environment” (Steinberg et al, 1971: 3-4) THE ECOLOGY The ecology of Southeast Asia has played an important role in the area’s history - influencing the relationship between peoples living the densely populated fertile areas and those who dwell on the much less fertile periphery.

6. Wet rice agriculture is one of the general characteristics of the region - Rice is the staple food of most Southeast Asian peoples. The flood plains were ideal for wet-rice - the hinterland was gene-rally better suited for slash-and-burn cultivation - Wet-rice area permits a density of population and social wealth far greater than is possible in the less-fertile regions - different cultural and soci-al institutions emerged. PRE-HISTORY - PALEOLITHIC : - The common stone stools is the chopper-chopping stools : large pebbles (flakes) with one side cutting edge - The changes in paleolithic culture (35.000-12.000 years ago) : the gradual increase of the tools made from the stone flake The economy was hunting and gathering, with fish and mollusk (?) as important diet (Provencher, 1975)

7. A special characteristic of prehistoric Southeast Asia : - in the paleolithic period (around 14.000 years ago) people developed pottery making and plant domestication. This is not found in other region. - The prehistoric pottery making culture is also known as “Hoa-bhinian culture”, characterized by ground-stone tools, pottery and domesticated plants and animals. - The prehistoric peoples in Southeast Asia had become food producers several thousand years before the peoples of other regions - the paleolithic characteristics had led to the emergence of neo-lithic horticulture (Provencher, 1975)

8. PRE-HISTORY - NEOLITHIC : The characteristics of horticultural neolithic in Southeast Asia : - presence of the garden crops and fruit trees cultivated by hand labor. This is different from the later agricultural neolithic with its cereal grain crops and the use of draft animals (Burling, 1965) - the horticultural neolithic then spread to China, India, East Africa and most of the Pacific Ocean - in Pacific region the horticulture became the basis of the Papu-ans, Micronesians, Melanesians, and Polynesians economy - the developed arts of basketry and matting, as shown by their impressions on early pottery - finely made adzes and chisels were common - indicating their importance in wood-working technology of the people (Provencher, 1975).

9. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA NEOLITHIC : Horticulture, garden crops and fruit trees cultivated by hand-labor; arts of basketry and matting; finely made adzes and chisels PRE-HISTORY - BRONZE - IRON : About 4.000 years ago or more, the Southeast Asian peoples had learned how to make use of bronze for weapons and tools. They used local deposits of copper and tin to make the metal. The Southeast Asian bronze culture is known as “Dongson culture”, which might have come from China, but it might also had been developed by the Southeast Asians themselves. The appearance of Dongson drums coincided with the expansion of the Southern Mongoloids to Southeast Asia

10. - The culture is characterized by the large bronze drums decora-ted with figures of people and animals and with geometric de-signs of scrolls and triangles. This drum had been found throughout Southeast Asia (Provencher, 1975) - Centuries before the beginning of the historical period, tools of iron were an essential part of Southeast Asian technology (Provencher, 1975) - Social stratification developed not long after the emergence of bronze-working technology. - The development of wet rice cultivation population spread from forested hills into the alluvial lowlands, resulted in the intensifi-cation of inter-group exchange, and the long distance trade

11. THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA BRONZE-IRON CULTURE : “Dongson culture”: large bronze drum with figures of peoples and animals; geometric designs of scrolls and triangles; social stratification; wet-rice cultivation PREHISTORIC FACTS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA - Agriculture was autonomously developed - dry rice farming, the cultivation of vegetables, the raising of domesticated cattle and possibly pigs, all were practiced in Southeast Asia since 5000 BC, before the coming of any great civilization

12. Metallurgy was similarly advanced; bronze was in use in Northern Thailand in 3000 BC, a thousand years before the ancient Chi-nese began casting the metal (Williams, 1976: 25) This culture -which was in existence at least 2000 years ago-, had become the fundamental layer of modern Southeast Asian civilization. The pre-historic culture of Southeast Asia was characterized by : “wet-rice cultivation, domesticated animals of burden, the use of metals, navigational skills, the social importance of women, social organization to manage irrigation, religious animism, the worship of ancestors and spirits of the soil, the location of shrines in high places, the burial of the dead in jars, dualistic mythology, and certain art forms” (Wilson, 1973: 336)

13. FOLK MIGRATIONS (Source: Lea E. Williams, 1976. Southeast Asia: A History. NY: Oxford University Press, p.19) 13

14. a. MALAYO - POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES : Malayo-Polynesian language in Southeast Asia may be divided into two subgroups: (a) western branch and (b) eastern branch The western branch consists of all the Malayo-Polynesian languages in mainland Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Marianas and Madagascar The western or “Indonesian” branch has diverged farther from earlier forms of Malayo-Polynesian - Languages of the western branch may have developed from Melanesian languages (Provencher, 1975: 16) The eastern branch consists of languages spoken in Melanesia, Micronesia (except the Marianas), and Polynesia. Melanesian languages, especially Fijian, appear to be central in the develop-ment of the eastern languages

15. Cham and Malay are the principal Malayo-Polynesian languages of mainland Southeast Asia. Malay is the most important of the Malayo-Polynesian languages Cham and related dialects that are spoken in South Vietnam and Cambodia are closely linked to Achehnese, which is spoken in northern Sumatra (Provencher, 1975: 16) Other important languages of this language family that are spoken in Southeast Asia include: Javanese, Kadazan, Bajau, Iban, Kayan, Kenyah, Klemantan, Melanau and Murut; Cham, Jarai and Rhade in South Vietnam and Cambodia” (Provencher, 1975: 105)

16. b. MON- KHMER LANGUAGES: Khmer, the national language of Cambodia and an important language in the lower delta of the Me-kong River in South Vietnam, is the most famous of the Mon-Khmer languages - the Monk languages are: Stieng in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand; Mon language in southern Burma c. TAI LANGUAGES: The dominant languages of Thailand and of Laos are Tai languages. Others include Shan of Burma, Tai languages of Southern China and Haina d. TIBETO-BURMESE LANGUAGES : Burmese is the most familiar of the Tibeto-Burmese languages. It is dominant in the central dry zone of Burma, lower Burma, and parts of the Tenasserim Coast e. VIETNAMESE-MUONG LANGUAGES :Vietnamese of the coastal areas of North and South Vietnam and Muong of the interior highlands of North Vietnam comprise a distinctive language family (Provencher, 1975: 105-106)

17. f. MIA-YAO LANGUAGES :The Miao and Yao languages of Northern Thailand, Laos and North Vietnam constitute still another language family None of these languages is confined to Southeast Asia. Malayo-Polynesian languages are spread as far as Madagascar and Easter Island. Mon-Khmer languages are closely related to the Munda languages of India. Tai, Tibeto-Burmese, Vietnamese-Muong and Mia-Yao languages are spoken in southern China as well (Provencher, 1975:106) g. EUROPEAN LANGUAGES : English has been an important me-dium of higher education for the urban elite in Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. French has served the same purpose in North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia These European languages mark the boundaries between different life-ways and world views; between the various national, ethnic and “class” identities (Provencher, 1975: 107)

18. PRINCIPAL LANGUAGES (Source: Lea E. Williams, 1976. Southeast Asia: A History. NY: Oxford University Press, p.21) 18

19. LINGUISTIC FAMILIES & PREPONDERANT GROUPS OF SOUTHEAST ASIA (Source: Steinberg, J.D. 1971. In Search of Southeast Asia: a Modern History. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford Univesity Press, p.10) 19

20. The language families relate various peoples of different Southeast Asia nations - create a sense “familial relationship” among these peoples of different states (nations) - This sense of familial relationship seemed to have become one of the pillars on which ASEAN was later established

21. HISTORY : Southeast Asia emerged from its Neolithic prehistory about the beginning of the Christian era. Its history may be divided into four periods: (1) the period (to about 1500 AD) of the Indianized states, before the arrival of European adventurers; (2) the period (1500-1750) of early European trading ventures; (3) the period (1750-1909) of European territorial conquests, and (4) the overlapping period of nationalism (from 1896) (Wilson, 1973: 337-338) “The history of the region has been largely interpreted in terms of the importation and adaptation of ideas from India, China, the Islamic world and the West” - However, “It has been… the power of [the Southeast Asian cultures] to absorb without being absorbed that has bound the various peoples together histori-cally” (Williams, 1976: 24)

22. THE INDIANIZED STATE PERIOD : “Indian influence, carried by commercial travelers and seamen, began to be felt on the mainland and probably the islands of Southeast Asia about the beginning of the Christian era. This influence ..was to dominate the culture of most of the region particularly affected its early political history through the institu-tional form of the semi-divine “king of the mountain” (dewa raja) – the first of these states was Funan, Cambodia – founded during the early centuries of the Christian era (Wilson, 1973 : 339). THE EUROPEAN TRADE PERIOD : “In the 15th and 16th centuries, European sailors learned the se-crets of navigating the Indian Ocean and entered into rivalry with Arabs, Indian and Javanese…” (Wilson, 1973 : 339).

23. 8TH CENTURY APPROXIMATE FRONTIERS (Source: Lea E. Williams, 1976. Southeast Asia: A History. NY: Oxford University Press, p.33) 23

24. 12TH CENTURY : APPROXIMATE FRONTIERS (Source: Lea E. Williams, 1976. Southeast Asia: A History. NY: Oxford University Press, p.34) 24

25. 14TH CENTURY : APPROXIMATE FRONTIERS (Source: Lea E. Williams, 1976. Southeast Asia: A History. NY: Oxford University Press, p.50) 25

26. BELIEF SYSTEMS AND RELIGIONS : a. ANIMISM “a belief in myriad universal, local and sometimes personalized spirits, which could interfere in human lives for good or ill and which controlled the unusual events in human life” There is a “metaphysical world inhabited by divinities of varying authorities and powers and by the souls of the dead ancestors” - the world can be reached by human beings through prayers and rituals performed by shamans (Santos, 1995 :1) The spirits were believed to be everywhere present and every where in need of propitiation. They might be exorcised; their intentions might somehow be accessible by divination; and measures might be taken to ward off their evil effects or encourage their assistance “…throughout Southeast Asia an ancient animism supported pea-sants in their daily lives..” (Steinberg et al, 1971: 20)

27. From an animistic perspective, the person knows that beyond his own moral resources, he can depend on and seek the protection of saksit power, which can help him to achieve his aims and enjoy a safe existence. In order to mobilize such supernatural protection, a person should perform a ritual supplication to some spirit for it (Mulder, 1996: 112) “The complex rituals associated with rice cultivation at every stage of the agricultural cycle were based on a recognition that the seed, the crop, and the land that bore it were inhabited by spirits or soul-substances that had to be exorcised, assuaged, or nurtured in order to secure the success of the harvest upon which life itself depended…” (Steinberg et al, 1971: 20) Thus, despite the significant social, political and economic changes occurred in the cultures of present-day village communities living in highland and other remote areas, animist rituals are still domi-nant among the descendants of the old Malay world, living in Senoi, Semang and Negrito settlements (Santos, 1995: 2)

28. b. ANCESTOR WORSHIP In Southeast Asia, tutelary and ancestral spirits abounded, often as village guardians. In Vietnam for example, the village tutelary deity actually received a seal of investiture from the imperial court “Representing the founder of a village, the deity’s tablet in the village communal house evoked village solidarity and participa-tion in the community’s past. Ancestor worship and hero veneration were highly developed only in Vietnam, where they constituted a regular part of everyday life..” - “..The primary function of tutelary, ancestor, and associated observances was to emphasize the stability and the identity of place and the immutability of family and hierarchical connections.” (Steinberg et al, 1971: 20) In the Philippines, the Negrito communities thrive spiritually through the worship of the spirits of the ancestors (Santos, 1995)

29. Though they overlapped with the more universalistic beliefs of the world religions, the animistic traditions were by no means superseded by them. The elaborate ceremonies, rites, and festi-vals of the year were major events in the lives of rural communi-ties (Steinberg et al, 1971: 20) These traditional belief systems are usually regarded as the “ori-ginal” belief systems or the first layer of spirituality of the South-east Asian peoples, upon which the great religions later grew The early great religions in Southeast Asia were Hinduism and Buddhism coming from India Indians who voyaged overseas to Southeast Asia brought with them the ideas and practices of Hinduism and Buddhism

30. PRINCIPAL RELIGIONS (Source: Lea E. Williams, 1976. Southeast Asia: A History. NY: Oxford University Press, p.31) 30

31. c. HINDUISM AND BUDDHISM Evidence of Indian influence during the first four centuries is found in the images of Buddha, from about the second and third centuries, which have been discovered in various places through-out Southeast Asia: in Siam, Champa, Sumatra, Java, Celebes. Buddhism seems to have opened the door to Indian cultural penetration in Southeast Asia Traders, adventurers, and craftsmen, followed by Brahman and Buddhist priests and teachers -carrying the Indian cultural and spiritual elements-, have introduced these elements to the local peoples through the art of writing and the classical Sanskrit language and literature (Harrison, 1954: 15-16) More positive record of Indian settlement and rule in Southeast Asia begins with Sanskrit inscriptions.

32. MAHAYANA BUDDHISM AND THERAVADA BUDDHISM There are two schools of Buddhism in Southeast Asia: the Mahayana and the Theravada Mahayana Buddhism is the “northern school” of Buddhism which spread historically from India, to Nepal, Tibet, Monggolia, China, Korea, Japan and Northern Vietnam Theravada Buddhism (sometimes called Hinayana) is the “southern school” or “southern family”, which spread from India to Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos Theravada Buddhism strictly follows the words of Gautama Bud-dha, whereas the Mahayana insists upon broader interpretations and is more eclectic. Theravada venerates only the Buddha himself as the founder of the religion (Steinberg et al, 1971: 37).

33. Theravada Buddhism from Ceylon spread rapidly between eleventh and fifteenth centuries throughout the countries of mainland Southeast Asia from Burma to Cambodia and Laos. Here, every village had a monastery for its monks. A village was considered incomplete without one - The monastery was inha-bited by a small group of celibate monks clad in saffron orange or yellow robes who had taken vows to poverty, chastity and devotion to a life of religious duty and meditation - The Buddhist monkhood in village society provided all males time and oppor-tunity to perfect their moral being, seek enlightenment, and to preach the Dhamma, the teachings of Buddhism, to the commu-nity (Steinberg et al, 1971: 49-40) Theravadins practice religious devotion to save themselves, Mahayanists to save themselves and others. Mahayana tends to allow laymen and women a greater role in its religious commu-nity than does Theravada, which strictly separates monks from lay people. Theravada monks in such countries as Thailand and Burma wear saffron robes and beg for their food, while Maha-yana monks in Vietnam wear brown robes and do not beg” (Steinberg et al, 1971: 37)

34. d. ISLAM In the Malay Peninsula Islam makes its first historical appearance in a place twenty miles up the Trengganu river on the northeast coast - a stone inscribed with Arabic letters was set up in 1386 (or perhaps 1326) In Malacca that Islam found the powerful patronage that would carry it forward with renewed prestige and vigor through the whole island area (Harrison, 1954: 54). Islam was not organized in church but possessed institutions, structures and patterns of communication that knitted its adherents together and joined them to the center of Islam in the Middle East.

35. Important factor : the movement of people. The Arabs, mainly traders but including teachers, had been a feature of the port societies of the archipelago for centuries Another form of movement was the pilgrimage to Mecca, the haj, which afforded both ideological renewal to the body of Islam and considerable status and prestige to returning practi-tioners Knowledge of belonging to the tarekat added to the sense of commonality given by Islam (Steinberg et al, 1971: 43).

36. The attraction of Islam as a new religion : - It represented a high civilization - It offered ties with the outside world - It gave the egalitarian status of all men before Allah endowed the religion with democratic qualities - Its promise of salvation is not dependent upon class or caste In Islam, there are no Brahmans; there is no clergy in the usual sense (Williams, 1976: 46). It seems that “the chief reason for the victory of Islam must have been the Southeast Asian’s ability to absorb external influences and bend them to their own purposes. Consequently, the Islam of the region is often syncretic and uniquely tolerant to actions that might be considered scandalous elsewhere in the Muslim world…” “Thus Muslim in Southeast Asia can continue to enjoy the com-forts of their animist and Hindu heritages. The syncretic hospitality of Islam is surely contributed decisively to the victory of the religion…” (Williams, 1976: 46-47).

37. One of the most unique features of the Islamic tradition in South-east Asia is a significant degree of accommodation of cultural practices founded on animist worship and Hinduism - by assuming Islamic terms, such as rajas changing their titles to sultans and local spirits being referred to as jins (Pacholczyk, 1086) - Islamic religious activities and non or pre-Islamic religious wor-ship, continued to live with undiminished cultural significance in Islamic Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei

38. “The region-wide Islamic civilization in Southeast Asia may be viewed as having further unified the regional cultures through a common religious dispensation using a common Arabic-Malay language and the formulation of common perceptions regarding the unorthodox relationship between religious precepts and practice of ancient traditions” (Santos, 1995: 5). Islam had created a new cultural environment in Southeast Asia - Islam brought to the region a repertoire of sacred artistic forms, ranging from the art of reciting the Qur’an to devotional songs which bore strong characteristics of the Middle Eastern cultures. Islamic restrictions on the arts are not rigidly observed in South-east Asia (Santos, 1995: 4).

39. e. CHRISTIANITY Christianity was introduced by the Europeans Different processes of Christianization took place in Southeast Asia The early process of Christianization was done by the Spanish in the Philippines, along with the process of implanting Spanish cultural elements among the populations In Indonesia the Christianization was conducted by the Portuguese, by Dutch missionaries and later by German missionaries - Most of the processes here took place in eastern Indonesia (Sumba, Flores, Timor, Moluccas, Papua) and among some ethnic groups in the hinterland (the Dayak, the Toraja, the Batak) Different missionaries spread different Christianity. The Portuguese introduced Chatolicism, the German brought Protestantism, and the Dutch missionaries brought Chatolicism and Portestantism

40. Is there cultural compartmentalization in Southeast Asia, due to the presence of four distinct religious traditions? Steinberg et al argued that the impact of religious division in Southeast Asia was softened by the mutual and creative accom-modation that each religion and each society continuously made in the process of conversion and domestication. “..Earlier animistic and Indianized traditions were not wiped away, nor did imported religious traditions survive their transportation without modification. The earlier Hindu-Buddhist mystical ideas and practices of the archipelago for example, made the adoption of an Islamic mystical ideas easier than the adoption of sterner form of that religion…” (Steinberg et al, 1971: 47)

41. VILLAGE LIFE Through most of Southeast Asia, the peasant village was usually economically almost self-sufficient The lands the peasant cultivated were not fully his own - The kings claimed sovereign rights to the soil; the communities joint proprie-tary rights, but the villagers had the right of actually using land The patterns of rights to the use of land, strongly defended against external challenges, were well-established in customary laws and practice There were developed legal codes. Some were the product of secu-lar and ecclesiastical bureaucracies, administered through courts of law or through the acts and decisions of district chiefs and ma-gistrates. (Steinberg et al, 1971; 13; 21)

42. As villages often contained only a small number of families, they were interlocked to other villages primarily by marriage. Kinship ties provided the individual with set of primary loyalties and defined his place in village society FAMILY AND KINSHIP SYSTEM “The immediate world of the Southeast Asian peasant was peopled by his close relatives –his nuclear family and his kin” - Maternal relationships were as important as paternal ones. “Though subject to stress from the patrilineal biases of Islam, Spanish Christianity and the Confucian ethic, inheritance patterns indicate that bilaterality and the high position of women” were the general characteristics of the kinship system in the region (Steinberg et al , 1971: 19).

43. “The nuclear family is seen as a small, self-containing moral world to which one feels committed and obliged, and from which people derive their personal and social identity” - “It is supposed to be the cohesive kernel of life, in which people identify with each other and whose shared interest transcend the personal” “As a result, people are thought to avoid confrontation and to compromise with each other while subordinating their ego-drives to solidarity. They should consider their family as the firm moral basis in life and jealously guard it reputation” “In the absence of overarching, structuring principles –such as castes, clans or lineages- the characteristic bilateral, and often multigenerational, nuclear family assumes extraordinary impor-tance” ”the family is the basic social institution”…”it is the foundation of the nation..” (Mulder, 1996: 200-201)

44. Individual households are part of far-flung networks of related families - Relatives are often known to each other as far as the third degree The way the relatives stick together is primarily based on dyadic, face to face relationships that pair persons on an individual basis -bonds are characterized by a far degree of voluntariness There is a sense of obligation too; ritually and emotionally, econo-mically in taking in and supporting the children of needy or iso-lated relatives for the sake of their education, or by sending mo-ney Whatever their obligations, families, and even close relatives such as brothers and sisters, are not subject to any corporate organiza-tions: inheritance is divided and, normally, equally shared; their belonging together is primarily ritual, with an important identity function” (Mulder, 1996: 202).

45. Care of the young, needy and old is managed by extending family obligation to include all members of the paternal and maternal lines In such a system of group survival, nepotism is inevitable, and strict chaperonage becomes natural, because marriage joins fami-lies rather than individuals. It is not unusual for several generations of one family to live communally. In the Philippines this family cohesiveness is extended in two ways (a) through compadrazco, a network of ritual kinship of godparents, or sponsors, and (b) through bayanihan, the spirit of neighborli-ness or solidarity, which are elevated above the personal and material ambition (Ency. Amer. : 753)

46. VALUES Values or moral education is a very important subject. The teaching emphasizes respect for and submission to morally superior people, first of all parents and teachers, but also all those superior in age and rank, up to the king and his servants, or the president and his officials. All such people occupy positions that should be respected. “In this image, hierarchy is the backbone and thus the support of moral order” - The core characteristic is the relative super- and subordination, or the basic inequality of individual people. Some are senior, others junior; there are leaders and followers; patrons and dependents. Superiors have to lead, to teach, to protect, to be responsible; inferiors follow, accept, are grateful, and extend honor Awareness of relative position is -and should always be- expressed in manners and choice of words. Not to observe that code is rough and disrespectful, a demonstration of not knowing one’s place, of not knowing manners (Mulder, 1996: 199)

47. ARTS Indian influences touched the upper levels of society, the centers of power and organization, changing the conception of kingship, (in Cambodia and Java) The palaces and royal cities of the Indianized kings were de-signed as architectural symbols of regal divinity. The kingdom was conceived of as an earthly model of the universe; the capital city was designed as a microcosmic representation of the king-dom - Just as the center of the universe in Indic imagination was Mount Meru, the center of the capital and of the country was the palace complex (Williams, 1976: 30). In dance, the Indian influence are visible enough in providing a common philosophical foundations, narrative line, cast of characters, artistic style of language (Thumboo, 1998: xxiii)

48. “The dominant posture of the Ramayana and Mahabharata in the artistic repertoirs of Southeast Asian peoples underscore the historico-cultural ties which originated from a common source- the Hindu-Indian civilization.” “The performing arts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand among other Southeast Asian nations, have particularly absorbed and adopted the Ramayana epic in their dance-dramas as well as shadow theaters such as wayang kulit, wayang melayu and nag taloong.” - The spread of the Ramayana tradition had created linkages in the artistic repertoires of the region However, the local tradition developed different identities for the epic through “localized interpretations of the moral and philoso-phical aspects of the story, the recharacterization of the dramatis personae, and the reconditioning of the performance style and tech-nique” (Santos, 1995 : 2-3).

49. The use of Javanese gamelan or the Thai piphat and the adoption of local tunes and singing styles, have given the Ramayana diffe-rent artistic dimensions The possibility exists that the Ramayana has been disseminated in other forms. Among the Maranao in the Philippines, the story of the Ramayana in a version entitled Radiya Mangandiri (Saber, 1993) counts among the many Filipino folk epics which are still sung in villages on special occasions (Santos, 1995 : 3) SHARED IDENTITY IN : - pre-historical cultures - historical contacts and experiences - regional languages - belief systems, religions and syncretism - village life - family and kinship system - values - arts

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