Politics in Southeast Asia

1
Politics in Southeast Asia

• Eero Palmujoki
• University of Tampere
• AsiaNet 2005

2
The Contents of the Lecture

• Southeast Asia as a political concept
• National developments in Southeast Asia
• The development of interstate system in Southeast
  Asia
• Southeast Asia in a global system

3
The Concept of Southeast Asia

• The concept is more political than geographic
• During the short history of the concept it has
  had different kinds of contents
• From the broad point of view it refers to the
  area between Chinese and Indian cultural spheres
• During the colonialism this area was divided into
  three Furthern India, Indochina and Dutch East
  India

4
The Concept of SEA (cont.)

• However, Southeast Asia as a political concept
  was established during the II World War
• The Pacific War the British and the US divided
  their command concerning the areas occupied by
  the Japanese
• British Southeast Asian Command (Furthern India,
  Dutch East India, and Indochina except North
  Vietnam), The Philippines were part of the US
  Southwest Pacific Command
• This military command arrangements moulded
  political developments in the region

5
The Concept of SEA (cont.)

• During the Cold War (1954 1990) Southeast Asia
  was divided
• Between 1975 1990 Socialist Indochina and
  capitalist ASEAN (Southeast Asian) countries.
• ASEAN Bali treaties of 1976 all the Southeast
  Asian countries (10) under the same organisation
• Post-Cold War period Southeast Asia Brunei,
  Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
  Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
• East-Timor, Papua New Guinea?

6
National Developments in Southeast Asia a Coarse
Division

• Southeast Asia as a meeting point of Indian,
  Chinese and Polynesian cultures
• Arabic cultural (Islam) influences
• Colonialism
• Portuguese (East-Timor)
• Spanish (the Philippines)
• British (Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore)
• French (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
• Dutch (Indonesia)

7
National Developments in SEA (cont.)

• Before colonialism, only Vietnam can be
  considered as a national state
• Thailand was never colonialised

8
Postcolonial National Development

• In general, the transition of power from colonial
  administration to national forces was much more
  peaceful under the British rule than French and
  Dutch
• French persistence to keep its old colonial power
  in Indochina created first Indochina War (1948
  54) which ended to the French defeat and to the
  division of Vietnam socialist North and to West
  oriented and the US supported South.

9
Postcolonial National Development (cont.)

• After Geneva agreement 1954 French power was
  replaced by the US support to the South Vietnam
  government
• the National Liberation Fronts (NLF) activities,
  supported by North Vietnam, led to the Second
  Indochina War 1964 1975 and to the direct US
  involvement to the War
• Despite the Norths victory in 1975, the new
  Socialist Republic of Vietnam was ecomically
  ruined and one of the Worlds poorest countries

10
Postcolonial National Development (cont.)

• Indonesias national liberation struggle 1945
  49
• The impact of Japanese occupation
• The Sukarno era 1949 68
• The Suharto era 1968 97
• the New Order
• development oriented military rule compare also
  to Thailand
• ended to Asian economic crises 1997 1998

11
Postcolonial National Development (cont.)

• Myanmar (Burma) ethnically very diverse
• This heterogenity was even more increased by the
  British colonial authorities
• Independence 1948 Aung San, secularised
  socialism/ U Nu, Buddhist socialism
• Military dictatorship (Ne Win) 1962 -

12
Postcolonial National Development (cont.)

• Malaysia independent from the British rule in
  1957
• The Federation of Malaysia Sabah and Saravak
  1963
• Mahathir bin Mohamad Look to the East.
• Singapore detached from Malaysia and independent
  in 1965
• adopted authorian model under the Peoples Action
  Party (PAP)
• Lee Kuan Yew

13
Postcolonial National Development (cont.)

• The Philippines the US protectorate between 1898
  1946
• Economic and political relationship with the US
  important
• Political elite consists of rich families
• Owing to formal American political institutions
  the elite is polarised to two political parties
• Ferdinand Marcos 1966 1986
• Emergency law 1972
• 1986 Corazon Aquino (Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo)

14
Postcolonial National Development (cont.)

• Thailand never colonialised
• The military and bureacracy limited the power of
  the buddhist king in the 1930s
• Military conservative party
• Bureacracy liberal party
• This division has been dominating up to
  mid-1990s
• Economy development orientation, export oriented
  industry

15
Interstate Development in Southeast Asia

• 1975 1990 Cold War
• ASEAN and Indochina
• the Kampuchean question
• 1990 Restructuring Regional Relations
• ASEANs expansion
• Asian economic crisis 1997 98

16
ASEAN

• Cold War context
• ASEAN established in 1967 (The Vietnam War)
• ZOPFAN Declaration 1971
• Regional context
• Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the
  Philippines Brunei 1984
• Regional peace
• Independence from former colonial masters
• Regional resilience, national resilience export
  oriented economy

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Nature of ASEAN Regionalism

• Strong emphasis on national sovereignty
• Organisation has no autonomous authority weak
  internally
• Succeeded at collecting the member countries in
  the same economic and political front in certain
  important regional and global issues
• Kampuchean question
• GATT/WTO
• APEC/ASEM

18
Nature of ASEAN Regionalism (cont.)

• The question of economic cooperation
• ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) 1992
• Integration or enlargement New members in the
  1990s

19
Vietnam and Indochina

• After the fall of Saigon (1975) Vietnamese
  thinking of international relations was dominated
  by orthodox Marxist-Leninist thinking
• The socialist world system / imperialist
  countries
• ASEAN organisation was part of the imperialist
  camp
• Vietnam did not recognize ASEAN, rather it tried
  to neglect it in its dealings with regional
  countries
• ASEAN and Vietnam in Non-Alligned Movement

20
Vietnam, Cambodia and ASEAN

• Vietnam presented Indochina as an united block,
  although it had a severe conflict with Pol Pots
  Kampuchea
• Occupation of Kampuchea in December 1978
• Kampuchean Question at the UN 1979 1990
• Changes in the Soviet Union 1985
• Vietnamese doi moi
• New regional approach
• Paris Peace Agreement 1991

21
ASEAN Expansion

• ASEAN Singapore Summit 1992 Integration or
  expansion
• AFTA
• Authority of ASEAN Secretary
• Enlargement the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation
  (1976) 1992,
• Vietnams membership 1995
• Laos and Myanmar 1997
• Cambodia 1999

22
Asian Economic Crisis 1997

• 20 years economic boom in Southeast Asia
• Economic growth between 5 9 percent
• Overvaluation of currency, shares, estates and
  other property
• Crisis started simultaneosly from Thailand and
  South Korea
• Hit all Southeast Asian countries particularly
  Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia
• Political changes in Thailand and Indonesia
• Internal and ethnic conflicts in Indonesia

23
Asian Economic Crisis (cont.)

• Involvement of international financial
  institutions in Southeast Asia (IMF, World Bank)
• Political conditions
• Japans political influence decreased, the US
  power increased in the region

24
Southeast Asia in a Global System

• ASEAN countries adopted export-oriented economies
  already in the 1970s
• Dependence on global trade and trade
  liberalisation
• GATT- Uruguay Round
• AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
• EAEC East Asian Economic Caucus
• ASEAN 3
• ASEM, Asia Europe Meeting 1996
• ASEAN in the WTO

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Politics in Southeast Asia Summary

• The concept of Southeast Asia is political
• Common nominators
• cultural? Malay, Chinese, Indian and Polynese
• historical? colonial past
• political? authoritarian politics
• economic? Asian model
• interstate relations? ASEAN
• Region is more united in external than in
  internal issues