Minorities and Migrants as a factor in Southeast Asian nationalism

Here the role of Malayan Chinese, Indonesia Chinese as well as Malayan Indians are discussed.

The Chinese in Indonesia as described by Leo Suryadinata in his book "Peranakan's Search fo National Identity: Biographical Studies of Seven Indonesian Chinese" (Marshall Cavendish International, 2004) were not united on the concept of Indonesia. Even when the Dutch returned after 1945, those who stayed in the Dutch areas either remained neutral or sided with the Dutch. Pro-Dutch groups included the Chinese Union (Persatuan Tionghoa) in Jarkarta. (Note that this was on the island of Java). The Chinese in the Indonesian Republic often supported the Sukarno and nationalists. Thus, the lack of a united nationalist front impeded faster independence.

Likewise this happened in Malaya. The Chinese by and large remained loyal to China rather than Malaya. Of note, it was not until 1930 that the Malayan Communist Party was set up. Of course, this was in part created by world economic conditions of fall in tin and rubber prices especially during the 1930s Great Depression. The British tried to send back those who lost jobs but refused to give permanent land rights to remaining Chinese who went into farming. The Indians faced even stiffer challenges as there were caste differences and strikes in the 1930s against the upper classes. These made up two of the 3 ethnic groups in Malaya itself.   

In sum, nationalism failed to rise and grow due to the above circumstances. It should be no wonder that in particular with Malaya, nationalism became much more apparent only after 1945.

Mr Chen

Vietnam: Nationalism and regionalism

Response to query from 1141B

The Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDD), was a radical nationalist party during the colonial era of Vietnam. It was active in Tonkin. After their failed rebellion in the 1920s, they eventually fled to China. It only returned during World War Two. Unfortunately, it faced a rather established Indochinese Communist Party with a strong northern presence and failed to overcome them. Comparatively, other groups developed in Cochinchina like the Cao Dai starting from 1926. This was a religious organisation that grew up to 2 million strong with their own military arm; it began from Saigon city and was able to gain support from the peasantry (countryside). The Indochinese Communist Party led by Ho Chi Minh was not able to gain their support over the long term however and the Cao Dai ended up supporting the French after World War Two. Thus, one can see that regional differences and distance partly contributed to a weakened and disunited nationalist movement.

Mr Chen

Hungary and the Marshall Plan (1947)

Response to query from 1141B

Evidence suggests that Hungary, at least in the initial stages, like Poland and Czechosolovakia was interested in the Marshall Plan. However, eventually due to Soviet pressure and direction, all of them rejected the aid. Hence, the Marshall Plan led to economic division in the Cold War as the Soviet came up with the Molotov Plan and then COMECON.

See Hungary in the Cold War: 1945 -  1956 by Laszlo Borhi, Central European University Press, 2004, pg 122 (found on eBooks NLB eResources) and http://www.osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/128-5-130.shtml retrieved 20 May 2011.

Q and A: Rise and Development of Southeast Asian Nationalism

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Q and A: Cold War

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Mr Chen

Philippines in the Colonial Era (1900-1941)

Personally, I somehow have had a strong interest in the Philippines. I read about it though I was not taught in secondary school and later on, I grew concerned about the  poverty there.

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From a long term viewpoint, the Philippines had been colonised by the Spanish before the Americans took over. By there, unlike other Southeast Asian colonies, it was relatively developed in terms of nationalist thinking. Emilio Aguinaldo and his forces fought against the Americans, mostly through guerilla warfare till 1911.  Battling for full immediate independence for their nation-state, they nevertheless became the minority view. 

As Milton Osborne suggested in his book "Southeast Asia: An Introductory History" (9th edition, 2004, p.148), the colonisers and the colonised elites (upper class) trusted each other and had similar goals of gradual independence. This made for generally cordial relations and less repression. The evidence is provided by the following:

- first chief judge was a Filipino

- 1912, 50% of lower court judges were Filipinos; by 1926, only 2 out of 55 judges lower court  were American

- voting began from 1907; by 1916, the Jones Act replaced the 8 member American dominated commission (upper house in a bicameral parliament) into a democratically elected 24 member Senate, two of which represented non-Christian areas

- In 1936, the Commonwealth of Philippines was set up which gave locals control over nearly all domestic matters (Damien Kingsbury, South-east Asia: A political profile, 2nd edition, 2005, p.295).

The above thus showed a consistent movement towards independence occuring in 1946.

Acts of violence against the colonial regime therefore were less nationalistic than economic. The Americans wanted the Philippines to provide primary products for its economy. To achieve this, it needed to ensure a stable government and depended on the local landed elite since trade was largely controlled by the minority Chinese. Hence, the US enacted laws to stimulate agricultural exports. These included sugar and Manila hemp. It contributed to the number of tenant farmers doubling from 1900 to 1935. As such, there were 3 small scale rebellions on the island of Luzon during the 1920s and 30s. Yet, one must be reminded that this was within the context of "remarkably little manifestation of nationalist resentment." (Osborne, p.147)

Thence, the Japanese invasion far from being a turning point for Philippine nationalism, actually delayed independence.

[By: Mr Chen]

The End of the Cold War and Breakup of Yugoslavia

It is argued that the US lost interest in the political unity of Yugoslavia with the end of the Cold War. (Earlier among 3 reasons, Yugoslavia was in some ways a buffer for the West.) They therefore allowed the disintegration of the country. This led to more instability and violence in Europe.

See the report by Warren Zimmermann [distinguished fellow of the New School for Social Research, and a professorial lecturer in European studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. He has been a U.S. ambassador three times, including as chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Vienna CSCE Follow-Up Meeting (1986-89), and as the last U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia (1989-92)]. It is found at this website: U.S. and Russian Policymaking With Respect to the Use of Force, Chapter 11: Yugoslavia 1989 - 1996, RAND Corporation, 1996. http://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF129/CF-129.chapter11.html retrieved 25 Apr 2011. Please note the eBook is free for download!