College of Arts and Sciences Education

BA Political Science Program

Virgelyn C. Mones
POS223 (8977)
Prof. Alger Dura

Nationalism means the identities that people have, which they view as
distinguishing them uniquely as belonging to a particular nation. As a result, it
encompasses one of the aspects of patriotism. There are some hypotheses that
can be used to explain the origins of nationalism. The beginning of revolutions
in the search for liberty can be traced back to this. Correspondingly, the years
after World War One brought about vast changes to many parts of the world.
Places like Southeast Asia and the East were able to see the need for self
government away from foreign control. This sparked a number of nationalist
movements during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The Asian countries had to
Westernize to rid foreign control while India had to be united under non-
violence and Hindu values. Indian nationalism with its specific features was
the first nationalist movements to emerge in the colonies.

By the early years of the twentieth century movements for national

liberation had begun to emerge in other parts of Asia, notably in Indo-China,
Malay, Burma Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines. In China, a number of
revolutionary organization emerged which later consolidated to form the
Chinese Revolutionary League. The president of this League was Dr Sun Yat-
sen, who played the leading role in the national awakening of the Chinese
people and uniting the various revolutionary groups together. In Indonesia,
mass marches against Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and the United States
have occurred frequently during the last decade. Indonesians' Muslim identity
is part of their national identity, which has sparked huge protests against US
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, when anti-Americanism contributed
to the closing of US military bases in the late 1980s, the Philippines was
probably the first Southeast Asian country to witness a wave in nationalism
(Emmerson, 1996).

Sidel (2013) explained that except for Thailand, much of Southeast

Asia was under imperial control when the Second World War broke out in
Western Europe in 1939. The nationalist revolution, as a kind of modern mass
politics, had appeared in the colonies in the 1910s and 1920s and much earlier
in the Philippines, and was boiling among the new native elites. Capitalist
growth, the availability of Western education, the introduction of vernacular
languages, and the proliferation of the vernacular press are all factors that
contributed to the rise of modern nationalism in the region. Emerging native
elites were taught in colonial schools and deeply inspired by Western
populism, socialism, and democracy principles. Around the same time, they
became angered by colonial rule's imperialism, capitalist inequality, and
political injustice. Developments in Japan, China, Russia, and Turkey had a
tremendous influence on the thought and creativity of native leaders as
Southeast Asia became absorbed into global networks rooted on European
colonial metropolises. In this background, Southeast Asia's nationalism
emerged, as elites pursued new national identities and demanded freedom
from unjust colonial rule. About the fact that the emerging identities had
many flaws, they inspired colonized people to fight for national liberation
during and after World War II. Fast forward 20 years, and much of Southeast
Asia had gained independence by the 1960s. Cambodia, the Philippines,
Burma, Brunei, Malaya, and Singapore all gained independence from colonial
forces through wars against colonial powers such as Indonesia and Vietnam,
or through negotiated transfers of authority to native elites.

However, these conflicts are confined to the borderlands' edges. Unlike

the nationalist movements of the 1940s and 1950s, which influenced the plight
of millions of Southeast Asians, today's self-rule demands included smaller
ethnic communities who had not been absorbed into the modern nation-
states. These assertions to self-rule are unlikely to dramatically alter existing
national borders. As a result, nationalism completed the lofty goal of freeing
Southeast Asians from the imperial yoke. Millions of Indonesians are now
together under a comparatively prosperous political entity owing to an intense
nationalist struggle. Vietnamese communists and nationalists routed massive
Western forces, resulting in the creation of a coherent new nation-state.
Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines have all developed into functional
nation-states, due in large part to nationalism.

Vu (2013) explained the three main regional trends explain the

resurgence of nationalism in Southeast Asia. These trends include the end of
the Cold War, the rise of China as a regional power, and the wave of
liberalization and democratization since the late 1980s.

First, the revival in nationalism coincided with the conclusion of the

Cold War, which is no accident. While the Cold War started in Europe,
Southeast Asians were not pawns in the possession of superpowers as is
widely thought. Many Southeast Asian elites, on the other hand, genuinely
persisted in either Western democracy or Soviet socialism, and worked hard
to mobilize the assistance of one of the superpowers in their partisan cause. In
early 1950, Ho Chi Minh traveled to Moscow to request a joint security pact
between the Soviet Union and Vietnam. Stalin declined the offer, but decided
to accept Ho's government and assigned the mission of assisting Vietnamese
communists to Maoist China. Simultaneously, Ho's opponent Ngo Dinh Diem
and his allies within and outside Vietnam pulled all the levers to persuade the
US to back him as a communist-defeating leader. In exchange for American
assistance and alliance, the Thai government was among the first to give
troops to serve alongside the Americans in Korea. Since many Southeast Asian
elites genuinely believed in Cold War ideals, they tried to use patriotic
sentiments to further their own ideological goals. Stalin declined the offer, but
decided to accept Ho's government and assigned the mission of assisting
Vietnamese communists to Maoist China. Simultaneously, Ho's opponent Ngo
Dinh Diem and his allies within and outside Vietnam pulled all the levers to
persuade the US to back him as a communist-defeating leader. In exchange
for American assistance and alliance, the Thai government was among the
first to give troops to serve alongside the Americans in Korea. Since many
Southeast Asian elites genuinely believed in Cold War ideals, they tried to use
patriotic sentiments to further their own ideological goals. Military alliances,
such as those that bound communist Vietnam to China and the Soviet Union,
the Philippines and Thailand to the United States, and Singapore and
Malaysia to the United Kingdom, were established alongside ideological
affinities. As the Soviet bloc fell apart at the end of the Cold War, the
remaining communist governments were forced to seek assistance and
investment from Western capitalist countries.

Following the end of the Cold War, the revival of nationalism in

Southeast Asia has been sparked by the emergence of China, which is the
second regional theme. Despite Chinese leaders' claims to believe in the
country's "peaceful rise," China's rapid military modernization and hostile
actions against its neighbors in the disputed territories have raised serious
questions in the US and among China's neighbors. China also has several
"friendly neighbors," such as Myanmar and Vietnam, who have managed to
hold anti-Chinese sentiment in place. However, as we can see in the case of
Vietnam, despite its strong influence over culture, the government has been
unable to fully curb the anti-Chinese campaign.

The third factor that has led to the growth of nationalism in Southeast
Asia is the surge of liberalization and democratization that has arisen since the
mid-1980s. Democracy has prevailed over communism in the Philippines and
Indonesia. Political regimes were forced to recognize and follow out the
common will to some degree as public interest in democratic politics grew.
The common will in the Philippines demanded greater independence from the
United States. It has been the Muslim component of Indonesian national
identity and unity with Muslims around the world. As demonstrated by the
inability of Islamic parties in Indonesia to control the legislature, mainstream
will articulated by elections may not be secure. Even so, the flame of
nationalism shines brilliantly.

In conclusion, the emergence of nationalism as a mass movement has

various reasons in each East and Southeast Asian context where it exists. This
concept of nationalism ignited the revolution and independence movements.
However, there are three major factors can be blamed for the phenomena at
the regional level: the end of the Cold War, China's rise, and Southeast Asia's
surge of liberalization and democratization since the mid-1980s. The
nationalism has many constructive missions, such as defending national
territories, asserting national unity in a more diverse setting, and reconciling
people separated by Cold War ideologies. Simultaneously, the emergence of
nationalist claims raises various threats to international stability and
cooperation. India’s wave of nationalism serves as the major factor in
influencing other countries. Furthermore, the United States is the focus of
new imperialism in the Philippines, but China is the target in Vietnam. Thais
and Cambodians go after each other, while Indonesians integrate substantial.

REFERENCES:
Emerson, R. (1996). An Analysis of Nationalism in Southeast Asia. The Far
Eastern Quarterly, 5(2), 208-215. doi:10.2307/2049746. Retrieved March 15,
2021 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/2049746?seq=1
Sidel, J. (2013).Nationalism In Post-Independence Southeast Asia: A
Comparative Analysis. Retrieved March 15, 2021 from
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199209194
.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199209194-e-24

Vu, T. (2013). Southeast Asia's New Nationalism: Causes and

Significance. TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast
Asia, 1(2), 259-279. doi:10.1017/trn.2013.6. Retrieved March 15, 2021 from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/trans-trans-regional-and-
national-studies-of-southeast-asia/article/abs/southeast-asias-new-
nationalism-causes-and-
significance/85A95B628F4077F5E75862D31C1130AB