Southeast Asia

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Southeast Asia
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Introduction

• Heavily influenced by external forces ? cultural
  diversity
• Buddhism, Chinese immigrants, Islam
• European colonialism
• Battleground for global ideologies after WWII
• Vietnam war
• Strongly felt globalization
• Promises economic growth in the 1980s
• Perils financial crisis in the late 1990s

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Environmental Geography
A Once-Forested Region
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Mainland Southeast Asia

• Rugged uplands interspersed with river lowlands
  (delta)

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Insular Southeast Asia

• Mountain spine created by a tectonic force
• Large expanse of shallow ocean

New Guinea
Borneo
Celebes (Sulawesi)
Sumatra
Sunda Shelf
Java
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• Mainland ? monsoon
• Insular ? monsoon, typhoon, equatorial effect

• Monsoon distinct dry and rainy season ? changing
  wind direction
• Typhoon heavy rainfall to the northeastern
  reaches of Insular Asia
• Equatorial effect little seasonality, year-round
  precipitation

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Wallaces Line

• Difference in animal and plant life between
  western and eastern islands
• Western ? Asian origin
• Eastern ? Australian origin
• 12,000 years ago, the sea level was lower (last
  global ice age)

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Deforestation of Southeast Asia

• Pre-colonial period
• Agricultural settlement
• Colonial period
• Plantation, shipbuilding
• Post-colonial period
• Commercial logging by international firms
• 1990s
• Logging ban

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Population and Settlement
Subsistence, Migrations, Cities
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Settlement patterns

• Unlike East Asia and South Asia, Southeast Asia
  has historically supported low population density
• Why?
• (1) Infertile soil
• (2) Rugged mountains
• Population is concentrated in deltas or volcanic
  islands due to its fertile soil

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Mainland heavily settled deltas
Insular heavily settled volcanic landscape
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Upland swidden system
Farming patterns (1)

• Shifting cultivation (slash-and-burn)
• Threatened by growing population and commercial
  logging
• Switched to a cash crop like opium (eg. Burma)

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Plantation agriculture
Farming patterns (2)

• Specialty crops for exports during European
  colonization
• Usually practiced in the coastal lowlands for
  shipping
• Still widespread, but lesser dependence on
  plantation has been attempted

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Lowland rice cultivation
Farming patterns (3)

• Lowland basins of mainland
• Focused on three delta areas
• Irrawaddy (Burma)
• Chao Praya (Thailand)
• Mekong (Vietnam, Cambodia)

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• High birthrate Laos, Cambodia
• ? low level of economic development
• Low birthrate Singapore, Thailand
• high level of economic development, family
  planning
• Still relatively rural despite recent
  industrialization

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Indonesian transmigration
Population policy

• Relocating its population from densely populated
  area (Java) to outer islands
• Pros balanced population distribution pattern
• Cons environmental degradation, ethnic conflicts

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Urban settlement

• Overurbanization?
• Yes
• No

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Cultural Coherence and Diversity
A Meeting Ground of World Cultures
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• Meeting ground for cultural diffusion from
• South Asia Hinduism, Buddhism, writing system
• China Immigration of southern Chinese
• Middle East Islam, writing system
• Europe Christianity

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External cultural influences
20c
13c
12c
19c
0 A.D.
Hinduism
Islam
Theravada Buddhism
Chinese immigration
Christianity
Philippines Tribal areas
Chinese communities
Bali
Indonesia Malaysia
Mainland
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Religion in Southeast Asia
Animism Christianity in the uplands
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Chinese in Southeast Asia

• Chinese communities all over Southeast Asia
• Disproportionate prosperity of the local Chinese
  community

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Language in Southeast Asia
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National language in Southeast Asia
Lao
Burmese
Thai
Vietnamese
Filipino English
Khmer
Malay
Indonesian
National language is limited to the core area of
densely populated lowlands in mainland (Burma,
Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia)
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Use of English in Southeast Asia

• Widely spoken in the former British or U.S.
  colonies
• Philippine, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma
• Ambivalent attitude towards the use of English
• Encouraged by pro-globalizers
• Discouraged by nationalists
• Emergence of hybrid tongue

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Geopolitical Framework
War, Ethnic Strife, and Regional Cooperation
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• Pre-colonial era
• Mainland form political states
• Insular lack political states
• Colonial era
• Insular (16c) Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch
• Mainland (19c) British, French
• After independence
• The former French Indochina became battleground
  for ideological rivalries

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Colonial Southeast Asia
Insular Southeast Asia inherited territory from
former colonial powers
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Ideological rivalries in the former French
Indochina

• Battle against the French (1945 1954)
• Backed by pro-communist group
• Vietnam War (1954 1975)
• Military conflict between communist forces of
  North Vietnam and non-communist forces of South
  Vietnam
• Communist regimes (1975 )
• Installed in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
• Persistent political instability

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Conflicts in Indonesia
Geopolitical tensions (1)

• Transmigration triggers ethnic conflicts
• Javanese (Islam) immigrants ?? indigenous people
• Ethnically/culturally distinct regions have
  called for autonomy or independence

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Regional tensions in the Philippines
Geopolitical tensions (2)

• Muslim separatists in the southwest
• Communist-oriented nationwide rebellion
• Rebellion of tribal groups in northern Luzon

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Ethnic conflict in Burma
Geopolitical tensions (3)

• Ethnic minorities ?? Military regime dominated by
  the Burmans
• Insurgencies are often financed by drug trade
  (Golden Triangle)

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Dispute over the Spratly Islands
Geopolitical tensions (4)
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ASEAN(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
Regional cooperation

• Originally intended as a bulwark against the
  spread of Communism
• With the end of Cold War, communist states are
  admitted
• Political cooperation
• Prevent external influences in the region
• Promote regional stability
• Economic cooperation

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Economic and Social Development
The Roller-Coaster Ride of Tiger Economies
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• Recent economic development
• Leaders Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia
• Laggards Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
• Economic crisis in the late 1990s
• Hit most of Southeast Asian countries
• Marked dependence on foreign investment

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• Singapore Regional hub
• Brunei oil reserves
• Malaysia, Thailand globalized economic
  development
• Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma civil war

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The Philippine Decline

• Pronounced decline in living standards over the
  last several decades
• Causes
• Crony capitalism
• Kleptocracy
• Consequences
• Exodus of labor
• Uneven distribution of wealth

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The Regional Hub Singapore

• The regions greatest development success
• Transformed from entropôt port city to high-tech
  industrial city
• Communications and financial hub of Southeast
  Asia
• Authoritarian capitalism
• Brought fast growth, but
• Limited civil liberties

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The Malaysian Boom

• The regions second greatest development success
• Development was initially concentrated in natural
  resource extraction, but recent growth is powered
  by high-tech sectors
• Disparities of wealth
• Geographical west gt east
• Ethnic Chinese gt non-Chinese

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Thailand An Emerging Tiger?

• Japanese companies was leading players in the
  earlier Thai boom
• Attracted by its low-waged, and well-educated
  population under political stability
• Rapid growth under democratic government
• Relatively receptive to globalization
• Sex industry

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Persistent Poverty in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

• Attributed to
• Continual warfare or fightings (19411990s)
• Socialist economic system (1975 1990s)
• The fall of the Soviet Union (1991)
• Embargo imposed by U.S. (1975 1994)
• Recent economic reforms in Vietnam
• Embrace market while retaining the political
  forms of a communist state

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Southeast Asias global linkages
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• With the exception of Laos, Cambodia, and Burma,
  Southeast Asia has achieved relatively high level
  of social welfare