Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2010. As argued by Farish Noor, there is at present no common history curriculum that captures the manifold overlaps and continuities in Southeast Asian history, or which reflects the manner in which many communities that exist in the region today are really the net result of centuries of inter-mingling, overlapping and hybridity (Noor 2017: 9-15). Nd. Beyond China, European imperialism in Asia remained strong. A collective ASEAN worldview can be forged through the use of these cultural markers. _______________. Andaya, Barbara Watson and Leonard Y. Andaya. ASEAN has also gone on to achieve some success in regional economic integration projects with a number of agreements signed in principle on the setting up of free trade zones, abolishment of tariffs, product standards and conformity (Severino 2007: 17-24). Some of the negative impacts that are associated with colonization include; degradation of natural resources, capitalist, urbanization, introduction of foreign diseases to livestock and humans. This chapter surveys the literature on whether and which are the long-run economic legacies of European colonization today. Intra-regional people-to-people interaction at the ground level should therefore be highly encouraged. Thailand Escaped Colonialism, But Still Adapted Western Ideas. Indeed, colonial domination was only a variant condition in a rapidly changing world. The effects of colonialism should not be brushed aside or dismissed as insignificance because it is still important to how many nations handle their domestic and international policy today. Similar to Benedict Andersons imagined community of a nation; a regional identity can also be imagined (Anderson 1983). Munster, Sebastian. Hooghe, Liesbet and Gary Marks. Political instability. These cultural contestations exist precisely because genuine cultural linkages and interactions that transcend modern day national boundaries have existed prior to colonialism. Moreover, if ASEAN wishes to achieve the goals of closer integration, a collective ASEAN identity must be developed not just among the political leaders and bureaucrats but also the general population of the region. Roberts, Christopher. In worst case scenarios, histories of pre-colonial wars and conflicts between ancient kingdoms are abused to foster a sense of national identity based on antagonistic terms, such as in the case of Thailands history textbook that depicts the neighbouring countries of Burma and Cambodia as enemies of Siam (taught as a precursor to the Kingdom of Thailand) in order to perpetuate a collective perception of external threat in which all Thai has to unite against (Aguilar Jr 2017). Indonesia wants Australia as full ASEAN member. Channel NewsAsia, March 16, 2018. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news /asiapacific/indonesia-wants-australia-as-full-asean-member-10048682 Southeast Asia was to be re-modelled as an economic space primarily ruled by the logics of rationalism and instrumentalism. The chief problem facing the new intellectuals lay in reaching and influencing the wider population. Farish Noor puts it succinctly: Herein lies the fundamental existential challenge of ASEAN: making ASEAN deeply felt (we-feeling) and deeply owned (ours-feeling) by ASEAN peoples who have a deep sense of ASEAN commonality (we are in this together). (Noor 2015). Nischalke, Tobias. Smith, Anthony L. ASEANs Ninth Summit: Solidifying Regional Cohesion, Advancing External Linkages. Contemporary Southeast Asia 26, no. ASEAN shall have, by the year 2020, established a peaceful and stable Southeast Asia where each nation is at peace with itself and where the causes for conflict have been eliminated, through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law and through the strengthening of national and regional resilience. (Association of Southeast Asian Nation, 2018). A significant feature is the fact that so many Western countries were involved in this colonization -- Portuguese Spanish, Dutch, British, French . Boundaries were drawn, villages defined, laws rewrittenall along Western lines of understanding, often completely disregarding indigenous views and practicesand the new structure swiftly replaced the old. There is little mention of a dynamic, borderless pre-colonial Southeast Asia that could explain the many similarities in cultural heritage, values and belief systems of Southeast Asians. Caporaso, James A. and Kim Min-hyung. Oba, Mie. Engendering a Deep Sense of ASEAN Identity and Destiny. In Framing the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Post-2015, ERIA Research Project Report 2014-01, edited by Intal, Jr. P., V. Anbumozhi, F. Zen, H. Nishimura and R. Prassetya, 209-231. Roberts, Christopher. The Japanese were wary of these people because of their Western orientation but also favoured them because they represented the most modern element in indigenous society, the best partner for the present, and the best hope for the future. 3 (December 2004): 416-433. 1. As ASEAN leaders recognize that geographical proximity and the ASEAN Way alone is insufficient to drive the level of regional integration required in the new era, they sought to re-define the region through the creation of an ASEAN Community with the aim of building the existing loose association of regional countries into a much closer ASEAN community of nations (Moorthy and Benny 2013). Chaudhuri, K.N. 4 (December 2015), 421-440. For instance, Singapore remains plagued by a siege mentality that views its neighbouring countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, with much suspicion and this mentality informs its diplomacy approaches and military doctrines in the region (Rahim 2009). Leifer, Michael. They must be made aware of the artificiality of modern-day national boundaries and accept that elements of commonality in history, culture, ethnicity and geographies exists in the region. The prospects for the fulfilment of the motto of One Vision, One Community, One Identity has thus far remain unpromising and has yet to move beyond being mere political slogans. As such, a ground-up approach may offer greater prospects in the creation of a sentiment of shared belonging and collective regional identity. Vatikiotis, Michael R.J. ASEAN 10: The Political and Cultural Dimensions of Southeast Asian Unity. Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science 27, no. As the European colonizers were anxious to safeguard their economic interest and avoid any possible territorial conflicts with their counterparts, they saw a need to demarcate well-defined political boundaries to minimize any ambiguity over the extent of their rule. With over four hundred different ethno-religious groups, pre-colonial Southeast Asia was a kaleidoscopic world of cultural and linguistic heterogeneity (Andaya and Andaya 2015). Colonial rule left behind a language game of totalized identities that is defined by exclusivity and oppositional in nature. 8 Therefore, Allan Collins is most probably right in arguing that ASEAN exists as a security regime whereby states interact through norms of behavior primarily to achieve their political and economic goals (Collins 2007). It will also argue that identities can be overlapping and not mutually exclusive and that an individual can be both a citizen of a Southeast Asian state and also sees himself as a fully participatory member of the ASEAN community. Such a worldview was to undergo a massive transformation during colonial rule. Imperialists also set up infrastructure and governments. To reverse this, ASEAN must quickly shed its image as an exclusive club for the elite and maximize public participation if it wishes to build a genuine ASEAN community. See South China Sea dispute; Malaysia-Singapore dispute over the Pedra Blanca/Pulau Batu Puteh; Malaysia-Indonesia dispute over the Sipadan and Litigan Islands.Jones and Smith (2002) would not have continued to dismiss ASEAN community as an imitation community with no substance. Despite the fact that the imperative to create a shared sense of ASEAN belonging and we-feeling comes from the political elites and bureaucrats of ASEAN themselves, it may remain a challenge to expect such a mental leap to be taken and led by them. Often dismissed as pseudo-intellectuals by the Western colonial governments and prevented from obtaining any real stake in the state, the new intellectuals under the Japanese were accorded positions of real (though not unlimited or unsupervised) authority. From the 1500s to the mid-1940s, colonialism was imposed over Southeast Asia. They divided villages and ethnic communities to make territories into countries with borders. ASEAN has also gone on to achieve some success in regional economic integration projects with a number of agreements signed in principle on the setting up of free trade zones, abolishment of tariffs, product standards and conformity (Severino 2007: 17-24). Thus, member states will have to de-parochialize their curriculum and re-tailor them to educate and familiarize the young people of ASEAN about their shared historical-cultural roots. The ASEAN Community: Trusting Thy Neighbour? RSIS Commentaries, Southeast Asia and ASEAN, October 22, 2007. The best-known figures are Sukarno of Indonesia, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, and U Nu of Burma (subsequently Myanmar). Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. According to Karl W. Deutsch, the building of a community occurs only when a group of people develop common values to the point whereby a sense of we feeling and solidarity is shared among its members (Deutsch et al, 1957). ASEAN can be argued to be more of a community of convenience that acts as a functional tool for political elites rather than a genuine community of shared vision and collective identity. Brain drain. In the earlier period Europeans tended to acquire territory as a result of complicated and not always desired entanglements with Southeast Asian powers, either in disputes or as a result of alliances. Khoo, How San. However, it is not the intention of this article to argue for the utility and benefits for the creation of a shared ASEAN Community and collective ASEAN identity. Some Southeast Asian intellectuals soon drew the conclusion that they had better educate themselves, and they began establishing their own schools with modern, secular courses of study. Hirschman, Charles. Before the discovery of America and the sea route to Asia, the Mediterranean had been the trading and naval centre of Europe and the Near East.Italian seamen were rightly considered to be the best, and they commanded the first royally sponsored transatlantic expeditionsColumbus for Spain, John Cabot for England, and Giovanni da Verrazano for France. : The case of ASEAN institutions and the pooling of sovereignty. Australian Journal of International Affairs 56, no. Mcintyre, Angus. Colonization also led to deforestation and the overgrazing of lands. 1 (February 2002): 89-117. On the positive side ii led to development of industries in Asia and Africa. Examples are aplenty such as in the case of the sacking of the Thai embassy in Cambodia in 2003 or the oft-repeated verbal attacks made by Malaysia politicians on Singapore. We will discuss the motivations behind British colonial expansion, as well as the effects that imperialism had on both colonized and . Do norms and identity matter? As decades of imposed isolation occur between the colonial states, the social and economic life of its inhabitants became further and further separated from their regional counterparts even though they were in close geographical proximity. Hikayat Hang Tuah. Chang, Jun Yan. How did imperialism affect Latin America? These were different in each area and some of the differences, notably between China and the rest of Asia, may be instructive as they can help us better to under-stand idiosyncratic aspects of the diverse history of modern Asia. However, as countered by Puchala (Puchala 1984: 186-187), a genuine community will require not just instrumental contracts but also social relationship. Afterward, the European powers propped up a weak central government for their own economic benefit. Azmawati, Dian and Linda Quayle. The French justified their imperialism with a 'civilising mission', a pledge to develop backward nations. In addition, there is a need to refrain from the selective appropriation of history to make nationalistic claims. I. Nevertheless, during the 1920s and 30s a tiny but thoughtful and active class of Westernized Southeast Asian intellectuals appeared. 1 (2009): 1942. For instance, Acharyas work on normative regionalism argues that a collective identity has been successfully constructed among the political elites of Southeast Asian states through intense interaction and socialization (Acharya 2002). Singapore: S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2007. In preventing any prolonged armed conflict between its member states for half a century, ASEAN has also been credited with maintaining the regional stability that has allowed the rapid economic development of its member states, especially in the case of the Tiger economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Steinberg, David Joel. After about 1850, Western forces generally were more invasive, requiring only feeble justification for going on the attack. Each appeared in a long list of banned "nuisances.". One example is how Singapores national identity is attached to the idea of exceptionalism that portrays the country as an economically advanced, meritocratic, multi-ethnic state as opposed to the constitutive other of economically backward, corrupted, communal states in the region. Non-Traditional Security Challenges, Regional, Governance, and the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC). Asia Security Initiative Policy Series Working Paper no. Another obstacle was that the ordinary people, especially outside cities and towns, inhabited a different social and cultural world from that of the emerging leaders. Upon arriving at the Philippines, friars and priests started converting the natives to Christians. These inherited colonial legacies would have serious implications on how international relations are conducted by the political elites of Southeast Asia and act as impediments to regional integration efforts. Except in the Philippines, by the mid-1930s only a small percentage of indigenous children attended government-run schools, and only a fraction of those studied above the primary-school level. Some scholars and political observers have lauded ASEAN as one of the most successful examples of regionalism and often point out to the absence of any prolonged military conflict or open confrontation between its member states since the end of the Cold War as a testament to ASEANs success. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012. Colonialism is defined as "control by one power over a dependent area or people.". These would lay the groundwork for political identities to be based on exclusivity and complicate the quest for nation-building and regionalism after independence was achieved by the colonial states. It was a living reality for each individual Southeast Asian living in the pre-colonial era to possess multiple identities and having a sense of belonging that was not solely determined by ones place of birth (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia 2014: 209-231). We envision the entire Southeast Asia to be, by 2020, We see vibrant and open ASEAN societies consistent with their respective national identities, where all people enjoy equitable access to opportunities for total human development regardless of gender, race, religion, language, or social and cultural background.. An example of this is how Singapores national history is often re-told with the founding of modern Singapore in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles as the starting point. Recognizing the instrumental role of former Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe for both the establishment of the Indo-Pacific as a geopolitical concept and the development of Japanese-Southeast Asian relations, the essays in this special issue investigate the legacy of his government for the future of the region. State sovereignty, political legitimacy and regional institutionalism in the Asia-Pacific. The Pacific Review 17, no. Despite the immense amount of scholarly work carried out on ASEAN, existing literature seems unable to provide a satisfactory answer to this predicament. . 7. In particular, this article will discuss how colonialism has defined national identity based on exclusivity and erased any memory of pre-colonial affinities and collective past that could have served as the foundation of a shared regional identity. A History of French Colonialism's Effect on the Environment. As Tan explains, cultural markers are able to create meaning for the peoples world when interwoven into their lives in the forms of mundane experience, ordinary actions, and common sense (Tan 2000). However, actions by ASEAN member states that acts in contradictions to the fulfillment of such goals are aplenty. However, as ASEAN moves into the twenty-first century, global disruptive forces have challenged the integrity and stability of ASEAN and its member states. In essence, ASEAN is an attempt by political elites to re-imagine the region in form but not in substance. Jones, Catherine. The revolts, and the economic disarray of the Great Depression, also suggested that European rule was neither invulnerable nor without flaws. In the case of Southeast Asia, it is for the purpose of colonial capitalism and colony management during the period of colonial rule which is later adapted by the local elites for state and nation-building. 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