SOUTHEAST ASIA

1. SOUTHEAST ASIA PART II

2. Colonialism

3. GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES

4. Geopolitical Framework • 10 geopolitical states • Southeast Asian countries have joined together under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) patterned after the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union. • Started in 1967 as a bulwark anticommunist, anti-China organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) continues to be important both politically and economically. • Southeast Asian countries trade on a much larger scale with rich countries than they do with one another. • Regional cooperation has been enhanced, such as the establishment of a nuclear weapons free zone.

5. Before European Colonialism • Most of the Southeast Asian countries existed as independent kingdoms before Europeans arrived

8. The Colonial Era { The Portuguese & Dutch} • The Portuguese • Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive (around 1500) in eastern Indonesia • 1511 The Portuguese, who control Malacca send a mission to Ayudhya in Thailand requesting trading rights in return for Western firearms and ammunition. • The Dutch • Arrived in 1600s, • 1602 The Dutch East India Company is founded. • Establish control over much of the Indonesian archipelago from their headquarters at Batavia (Jakarta) • Dutch became the most powerful in the region • controlled trade (in exotic goods) • Spices and then coffee, rubber, and petroleum are among the most valued exports. • 1784 The English break the Dutch monopoly in Southeast Asia. • 1799 The Dutch government takes over from the Dutch East India Company to rule the latter's holdings in the Indonesia archipelago

9. British Colonialism • BURMA (MYNAMAR) • 1824–26 Great Britain begins its conquest of Burma in the first Anglo-Burmese War. • 1826 Thailand signs a commercial treaty with Great Britain. • 1850s The second Anglo-Burmese War is waged. • 1886 Britain gains complete control over Burma, annexing it to India and ruling the country from Calcutta. • In 1935, Britain consented to separate Burma from India. • In 1948, Burma negotiated with Britain for its independence. • SINGAPORE & MALAYSIA • The British (Raffles) set up Singapore in 1819 and the Netherlands ceded Malacca to Britain in 1824 • Britain governed Penang (acquired in 1786), • Singapore, and Malacca as the Straits Settlements from which Britain expanded into the Malay Peninsula from 1874 to 1914 • Malaysia Gained independence in 1957 • Singapore was told to withdraw from Malaysia in 1965

10. The Spanish & US Colonial Influence • Phillipines • Negrito, Proto Malay, and Malay people were the principle peoples of the Philippines Archipelago • kinship group headed by a Datu (chief). • Spanish colonial rule began in 1565 and lasted for about three centuries until the Philippine Revolution of 1896. • Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Sailing for the Spanish) • May 1,1898 Spain is defeated in the Spanish-American War and cedes colonial control of the Philippines to the United States. • Admiral Dewey • Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898 and the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899 but the U.S. did not recognize it. • the Philippine-American War started in 1899 and went on for about 10 years. • About 400,000 to 600,000 Filipinos were killed and 10,000 Americans died • The Philippines became independent in 1946 after World War II

11. Myth about Thailand (Siam) • There is a long-standing myth that Thailand was never colonized. • Factually speaking, • Siam was being squeezed from the west by the British • from the east by the French. • Siam had to give up large chunks of land in exchange for keeping its territorial integrity. • Only the middle core of Siam was unoccupied

12. French Colonialism • 1626–73 Civil war ravages Vietnam. • The French, under Louis XIV, exchanged embassies with Siam from 1600 to 1700 • The French went to Vietnam in 1858 and seized Saigon in 1859 • By 1867, the French annexed Cochin China (the south) and Cambodia • The French used Cochin China as the base from which they moved westward and northward. • By 1893, they set up protectorates over Annam, Laos, and Tonkin, all of which became the “French Indochina” • 1893 Thailand transfers its Laotian territories to the French • At the end of WWII, the French fought a war trying to maintain its control over its SEAsian territories • French Indo-China ended with the French humiliation at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. • At the Geneva Conference of 1954, Vietnam gained its independence. • Cambodia was granted independence within the French Union in 1949.

13. Colonial Southeast Asia • Decolonization was completed in 1963

14. The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath • Geneva Agreement in 1954 partitioned the country into north and south halves (North Vietnam, South Vietnam) • War between communist forces in the north and French in the south • Communist guerrillas in the south, Pathet Lao forces in Laos, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia all fought to expel western influences • Using the domino theory (fear that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of S.E. Asia would follow), the U.S. sent troops to the region • U.S. defeat and withdrawal 1973–1975 • Refugees from the region as a result, including many migrating to the U.S.

15. Challenges of Independence • Cambodia suffered under the Khmer Rouge, a rabid revolutionary group whose aim seemed to be creating a rural communist society. • One-quarter of the population (2 million people) are estimated to have been killed until Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ridded the country of the Khmer Rouge while exacting damage of its own. • Independence elsewhere in the region has meant peace, but also a type of neocolonialism in which major markets for the countries’ products are the former colonizers. • Competition among these nations is stiff and wages are kept low with little regard for health or safety considerations.

16. Contemporary Geopolitical Tensions in Contemporary Southeast Asia • Conflicts in Indonesia • War in Irian Jaya for independence from Dutch, joined Indonesia • East Timor independence (1999) • Other independence movements in Indonesia • Political tensions between Muslim groups in Java (Indonesia) • Regional Tensions in the Philippines • Persistent problems in Islamic southwest, and possible links to Al Qaeda network • Burma’s Many Problems • Conflict between the Burmans and non-Burman societies • The Shan, United Wa State Army, the Karen, The Mon

17. Geopolitical Issues in Southeast Asia

18. ECONOMY

19. South East Asia Economics • Economic development in the region was a model for new global capitalism • Economic downturn of the 1990s brought Instability • Uneven Economic Development • The Philippine Decline • Philippines was the most highly developed Southeast Asian country 40 years ago • In 1980s and 1990s the Philippines’ population outpaced its economic growth, and living standards declined • Decline attributed crony capitalism under Marcos regime • Many Filipinos have sought employment in other countries • Send money home (“remittances”) • Brain drain

20. The Tiger Economics • The Regional Hub: Singapore • Has transformed itself from an entrepôt (a port city where goods are imported, stored, and transshipped) to one of the world’s most modern states • Encourages investment by multinational firms, and has invested in itself • The Malaysian Boom • Has recently experienced rapid economic growth • Began with plantation agriculture and natural resource extraction, then manufacturing in labor-intensive high-tech sector • Wealth of Chinese (esp. in Malaysia) led to affirmative action for Bumiputra (“sons of the soil” Malaysians)

21. The Tiger Economics (cont.) • Thailand: An Emerging Tiger? • Japanese companies were leading players in Thailand’s earlier economic boom • Japanese factories built in the region • Industrialization greatest in historical core (including Bangkok) • “Sex tourism” industry • Recent Economic Expansion in Indonesia • Indonesian economy began to expand in the 1970s • Fueled by oil exports • Multinational corporations now attracted to the low-wage labor of the region • Indonesia remains poor; political instability a concern

22. Persistent Poverty • Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia • Experienced little economic expansion during the 1980s and 1990s • Vietnam is the most prosperous of the three, but is poor • Mid-1990s economic reform in the country: market economics with political forms of communist state • Laos and Cambodia face difficulties from rugged terrain, relative isolation, and ravages of war, government repression • Burma’s Troubled Economy • Low economic development, but has great potential • Abundant natural resources and fertile farmland • Warfare a major problem

23. Globalization and the Southeast Asian Economy • Southeast Asia as a whole has undergone rapid integration into the global economy • Significant development in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia • But development can bring problems • Environmental degradation • Growing social inequality • Outside of Singapore and Malaysia, workers wages are “miserably low,” and discipline may be harsh • Movements beginning in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere to pressure multinational corporations in Southeast Asia to improve working conditions

24. Issues of Social Development • Singapore and Brunei are Southeast Asia’s leaders in health and education • Laos and Cambodia rank low • Life expectancy of 55; literacy rates below 50% • Most governments in Southeast Asia place high priority on basic education, and literacy rates are relatively high • University and technical education still lagging, forcing many to study abroad • Countries of Southeast Asia must invest in their own human resources

25. Conclusions • Southeast Asia is the region that best fits your textbook’s focus on globalization and diversity • The creation of ASEAN reflects a unity in this region designed to counteract the negative aspects of globalization • Participation in the global economy has resulted in significant deforestation in Southeast Asia • Geopolitical change is needed to bring stability to the region