GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

The region between China, India, Australia, and the Pacific Ocean is known as Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia includes countries with political boundaries creating many shapes and sizes. The political borders
were created through a combination of factors, including natural features, traditional tribal distinctions, colonial
claims, and political agreements. The realm also has the fourth-most populous country in the world, Indonesia.
Southeast Asia is a region of peninsulas and islands. The only landlocked country is the rural and remote country
of Laos, which borders China, Vietnam, and Thailand. The physical geography of Southeast Asia includes
beaches, bays, inlets, and gulfs. The thousands of islands and remote places allow refuge for a wide variety of
cultural groups and provide havens for rebellious insurgents, modern-day pirates, and local inhabitants.

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a sub region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are
geographically south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent and north-west of Australia. Southeast Asia is
bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and
the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean. The region is the only part of Asia that
lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere, although the majority of it is in the Northern Hemisphere.

A. CLIMATE

The climate in Southeast Asia is mainly tropical–hot and humid all year round with plentiful
rainfall. Northern Vietnam and the Myanmar Himalayas are the only regions in Southeast Asia that
feature a subtropical climate, which has a cold winter with snow. The majority of Southeast Asia has a
wet and dry season caused by seasonal shift in winds or monsoon. The tropical rain belt causes
additional rainfall during the monsoon season. The rain forest is the second largest on earth (with the
Amazon being the largest). An exception to this type of climate and vegetation is the mountain areas in
the northern region, where high altitudes lead to milder temperatures and drier landscape. Other parts
fall out of this climate because they are desert like.

Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world. Climate
change will have a big effect on agriculture in Southeast Asia such as irrigation systems will be affected
by changes in rainfall and runoff, and subsequently, water quality and supply. Climate change is also
likely to pose a serious threat to the fisheries industry in Southeast Asia.

A. TOPOGRAPHY

Southeast Asia’s landscape is characterized by three intermingled physical elements:

mountain ranges, plains and plateaus, and water in the form of both shallow seas and extensive
drainage systems. Of these, the rivers probably have been of the greatest historical and cultural
significance; for waterways have decisively shaped forms of settlement and agriculture, determined
fundamental political and economic patterns, and helped define the nature of Southeast Asians’
worldview and distinctive cultural syncretism. It also has been of great importance that Southeast Asia,
which is the most easily accessible tropical region in the world, lies strategically astride the sea passage
between East Asia and the Middle Eastern–Mediterranean world.

The physiography of Southeast Asia has been formed to a large extent by the convergence of
three of the Earth’s major crustal units: the Eurasian, Indian-Australian, and Pacific plates. The land has
been subjected to a considerable amount of faulting, folding, uplifting, and volcanic activity over
geologic time, and much of the region is mountainous. There are marked structural differences between
the mainland and insular portions of the region.

B. SOILS AND FORESTS

 Southeast Asia, on balance, has a higher proportion of relatively fertile soils than most tropical regions,
and soil erosion is less severe than elsewhere. Much of the region, however, is covered by tropical soils that
generally are quite poor in nutrients. Often the profusion of plant life is more related to heat and moisture than to
soil quality, even though these climatic conditions intensify both chemical weathering and the rate of bacterial
action that usually improve soil fertility. Once the vegetation cover is removed, the supply of humus quickly
disappears. In addition, the often heavy rainfall leaches the soils

of their soluble nutrients, hastens erosion, and damages the soil texture. The leaching process
in part results in laterites of reddish clay that contain hydroxides of iron and alumina.

Laterite soils are common in parts of Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam and also occur in the
islands of the Sunda Shelf, notably Borneo. The most fertile soils occur in regions of volcanic activity,
where the ejecta is chemically alkaline or neutral. Such soils are found in parts of Sumatra and much of
Java in Indonesia. The alluvial soils of the river valleys also are highly fertile and are intensively
cultivated.

Southeast Asia is home to nearly 15% of the world’s tropical forests. However, the region is
also among the world’s major deforestation hotspots, and ranks among the highest in terms of severe
biodiversity loss, mostly due to the conversion of intact forests into plantations, such as for palm oil.

Southeast Asia lost about 80 million hectar of forest between 2005 and 2015, and it is feared
that such deforestation could lead to over 40% of Southeast Asia's biodiversity vanishing by 2100.
Human activities such as logging and clear-cutting for food production, cash crops and agriculture are
the main drivers of this forest loss.

Forests of Southeast Asia are known for their high biodiversity, arguably among the greatest in
the world. They have been the subject of much international attention over the past decades.

The su bregion is a major player in the tropical timber trade. Meranti timber from the
dipterocarp forests and teak from Java, Myanmar and Thailand are among the better-known tropical
timbers of the world. Plantation forestry is widely practised; the teak plantations of Java and the rubber
plantations of Malaysia are prime examples. Special management systems for tropical natural forests
have been developed in the subregion.

A. MAINLAND AND INSULAR REGIONS

Southeast Asia can be divided into two geographic regions. The mainland portion, which is
connected to India and China, extends south into what has been called the Indochina Peninsula or
Indochina, a name given to the region by France. This mainland region consists of the countries of
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar (Burma). This region has been influenced
historically by India and China. The islands or insular region to the south and east consist of nations
surrounded by water. The countries in this region include Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, East
Timor, and the Philippines.

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a sub region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are
geographically south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent and north-west of Australia. Southeast
Asia is bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east
by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean. The region is
the only part of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere, although the majority of it is in the
Northern Hemisphere. In contemporary definition, Southeast Asia consists of two geographic regions.
B. PRESENT-DAY COUNTRIES AND ADJACENT REGIONS

Southeast Asia is composed of eleven countries of impressive diversity in religion, culture and
history: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It is also one of the most dynamic areas of the world economically, a
factor which largely accounts for its growing international significance.

CAMBODIA - Cambodia is a Southeast Asian nation whose landscape spans low-lying plains, the
Mekong Delta, mountains and Gulf of Thailand coastline. Phnom Penh, its capital, is home to the art
deco Central Market, glittering Royal Palace and the National Museum's historical and archaeological
exhibits. In the country's northwest are the ruins of Angkor Wat, a massive stone temple complex built
during the Khmer Empire.

THAILAND - It's known for tropical beaches, opulent royal palaces, ancient ruins and ornate temples
displaying figures of Buddha. In Bangkok, the capital, an ultramodern cityscape rises next to quiet
canalside communities and the iconic temples of Wat Arun, Wat Pho and the Emerald Buddha Temple
(Wat Phra Kaew). Nearby beach resorts include bustling Pattaya and fashionable Hua Hin.

BRUNEI - a tiny nation on the island of Borneo, in 2 distinct sections surrounded by Malaysia and the
South China Sea. It's known for its beaches and biodiverse rainforest, much of it protected within
reserves. The capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, is home to the opulent Jame’Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque
and its 29 golden domes. The capital's massive Istana Nurul Iman palace is the residence of Brunei’s
ruling sultan.

MAYANMAR (BURMA) - Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a Southeast Asian nation of more than 100
ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the
country's largest city, is home to bustling markets, numerous parks and lakes, and the towering, gilded
Shwedagon Pagoda, which contains Buddhist relics and dates to the 6th century.

TIMOR-LESTE - or East Timor, a Southeast Asian nation occupying half the island of Timor, is ringed
by coral reefs teeming with marine life. Landmarks in the capital, Dili, speak to the country's struggles
for independence from Portugal in 1975 and then Indonesia in 2002. The iconic 27m-tall Cristo Rei de
Dili statue sits on a hilltop high over the city, with sweeping views of the surrounding bay.

INDONESIA - officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia, between the Indian
and Pacific oceans. It is the world's largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands,
and at 1,904,569 square kilometers, the 14th largest by land area and 7th in the combined sea and land
area.

LAOS - is a Southeast Asian country traversed by the Mekong River and known for mountainous
terrain, French colonial architecture, hill tribe settlements and Buddhist monasteries. Vientiane, the
capital, is the site of the That Luang monument, where a reliquary reportedly houses the Buddha’s
breastbone, plus the Patuxai war memorial and Talat Sao (Morning Market), a complex jammed with
food, clothes and craft stalls.

MALAYSIA - Malaysia is a Southeast Asian country occupying parts of the Malay Peninsula and the
island of Borneo. It's known for its beaches, rainforests and mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian and
European cultural influences. The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is home to colonial buildings, busy shopping
districts such as Bukit Bintang and skyscrapers such as the iconic, 451m-tall Petronas Twin Towers.

SINGAPORE - an island city-state off southern Malaysia, is a global financial center with a tropical
climate and multicultural population. Its colonial core centers on the Padang, a cricket field since the
1830s and now flanked by grand buildings such as City Hall, with its 18 Corinthian columns. In
Singapore's circa-1820 Chinatown stands the red-and-gold Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, said to house
one of Buddha's teeth.

VIETNAM - is a Southeast Asian country on the South China Sea known for its beaches, rivers,
Buddhist pagodas and bustling cities. Hanoi, the capital, pays homage to the nation’s iconic
Communist-era leader, Ho Chi Minh, via a huge marble mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)
has French colonial landmarks, plus Vietnamese War history museums and the Củ Chi tunnels, used
by Viet Cong soldiers.

PHILIPPINES - officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia.
Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized
under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Most countries in the region enjoy national autonomy. Democratic forms of government and
the recognition of human rights are taking root. ASEAN provides a framework for the integration of
commerce, and regional responses to international concerns.

China has asserted broad claims over the South China Sea, based on its Nine-Dash Line, and
has built artificial islands in an attempt to bolster its claims. China also has asserted an exclusive
economic zone based on the Spratly Islands. The Philippines challenged China in the Permanent Court
of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013, and in Philippines v. China (2016), the Court ruled in favor of the
Philippines and rejected China's claims.

MAKING A LIVING AND ORGANIZING SOCIETY

A. PREHISTORY

Knowledge of the early prehistory of Southeast Asia has undergone exceptionally

rapid change as a result of archaeological discoveries made since the 1960s, although the
interpretation of these findings has remained the subject of extensive debate. Nevertheless,
it seems clear that the region has been inhabited from the earliest times. Hominid fossil
remains date from approximately 1,500,000 years ago and those of Homo sapiens from
approximately 40,000 years ago. Furthermore, until about 7000 BCE the seas were some 150
feet (50 metres) lower than they are now, and the area west of Makassar Strait consisted of
a web of watered plains that sometimes is called Sundaland. These land connections
perhaps account for the coherence of early human development observed in the Hoabinhian
culture, which lasted from about 13,000 to 5000 or 4000 BCE. The stone tools used by
hunting and gathering societies across Southeast Asia during this period show a remarkable
degree of similarity in design and development. When the sea level rose to approximately its
present level about 6000 BCE, conditions were created for a more variegated environment
and, therefore, for more extensive differentiation in human development. While migration
from outside the region may have taken place, it did not do so in a massive or clearly
punctuated fashion; local evolutionary processes and the circulation of peoples were far
more powerful forces in shaping the region’s cultural landscape.

Paleolithic
 Anatomically modern human hunter-gatherer migration into Southeast Asia before
50,000 years ago has been confirmed by the combined fossil record of the region. These
immigrants might have, to a certain extent, merged and reproduced with members of the
archaic population of Homo erectus, as the fossil discoveries in the Tam Pa Ling Cave
suggest. Data analysis of stone tool assemblages and fossil discoveries from Indonesia,
Southern China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and more recently Cambodia and Malaysia has
established Homo erectus migration routes and episodes of presence as early as 120,000
years ago and even older isolated finds date back to 1.8 million years ago. Java Man (Homo
erectus) and Homo floresiensis attest for a sustained regional presence and isolation, long
enough for notable diversification of the species' specifics.

Ocean drops of up to 120 m (393.70 ft) below the present level during Pleistocene
glacial periods revealed the vast lowlands known as Sundaland, enabling hunter-gatherer
populations to freely access insular Southeast Asia via extensive terrestrial corridors.
Modern human presence in the Niah cave on East Malaysia dates back to 40,000 years BP,
although archaeological documentation of the early settlement period suggests only brief
occupation phases. However, author Charles Higham argues that, despite glacial periods
modern humans were able to cross the sea barrier beyond Java and Timor, who around
45,000 years ago left traces in the Ivane Valley in eastern New Guinea "at an altitude of
2,000 m (6,561.68 ft) exploiting yams and pandanus, hunting, and making stone tools
between 43,000 and 49,000 years ago."

The oldest habitation discovered in the Philippines is located at the Tabon Caves and
dates back to approximately 50,000 years BP. Items there found such as burial jars,
earthenware, jade ornaments and other jewellery, stone tools, animal bones, and human
fossils date back to 47,000 years BP. Unearthed human remains are approximately 24,000
years old.

The descendants of these earliest Homo sapiens immigrants, loosely identified as

"Australo-Melanesians", include the Negritos, Papuans, Indigenous Australians and Hill
Tribes (most of them have Austronesian admixture in modern times). They are associated
with the occupation of caves, rock shelters and isolated upland regions in Vietnam, Thailand
and the Philippines or on remote islands, such as the Andaman Islands and although
displaced from the coasts and plains they are present in all regions for at least 30,000 years.

Neolithic Migrations

The Neolithic was characterized by several migrations into Mainland and Island
Southeast Asia from southern China by Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Kra-Dai, and Hmong-
Mien-speakers.

The most widespread migration event, was the Austronesian expansion, which
began at around 5,500 BP (3500 BC) from Taiwan and coastal southern China. Due to their
early invention of ocean-going outrigger boats and voyaging catamarans, Austronesians
rapidly colonized Island Southeast Asia, before spreading further into Micronesia, Melanesia,
Polynesia, Madagascar, and the Comoros. They dominated the lowlands and coasts of Island
Southeast Asia, intermarrying with the indigenous Negrito and Papuan peoples to varying
degrees, giving rise to modern Islander Southeast Asians, Micronesians, Polynesians,
Melanesians, and Malagasy.
 The Austroasiatic migration wave centred around the Mon and the Khmer, who
originate in North-Eastern India arrive around 5000 BP and are identified with the
settlement on the broad riverine floodplains of Burma, Indochina and Malaysia.

Early agricultural societies

Territorial principalities in both Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, characterised

as Agrarian kingdoms had by around 500 BCE developed an economy based on surplus crop
cultivation and moderate coastal trade of domestic natural products. Several states of the
Malayan-Indonesian "thalassian" zone shared these characteristics with Indochinese polities
like the Pyu city-states in the Irrawaddy river valley, Van Lang in the Red River delta and
Funan around the lower Mekong. Văn Lang, founded in the 7th century BCE endured until
258 BCE under the rule of the Hồng Bàng dynasty, as part of the Đông Sơn culture eventually
sustained a dense and organized population that produced an elaborate Bronze Age
industry.

Intensive wet-rice cultivation in an ideal climate enabled the farming communities to

produce a regular crop surplus, that was used by the ruling elite to raise, command and pay
work forces for public construction and maintenance projects such as canals and
fortifications.
Though millet and rice cultivation was introduced around 2000 BCE, hunting and
gathering remained an important aspect of food provision, in particular in forested and
mountainous inland areas. Many tribal communities of the aboriginal Australo-Melanesian
settlers continued the lifestyle of mixed sustenance until the modern era.

Bronze Age Southeast Asia

Earliest known copper and bronze production in Southeast Asia has been found at
the site of Ban Chiang in North-east Thailand and among the Phung Nguyen culture of
northern Vietnam around 2000 BCE.

The Dong Son culture established a tradition of bronze production and the
manufacture of ever more refined bronze and iron objects, such as plows, axes and sickles
with shaft holes, socked arrow and spearheads and small ornamented items. By about 500
BCE large and delicately decorated bronze drums of remarkable quality, that weighed more
than 70 kg (150 lb) were produced in the laborious lost-wax casting process. This industry of
highly sophisticated metal processing has been developed locally bare of Chinese or Indian
influence. Historians relate these achievements to the presence of well organized,
centralized and hierarchical communities and a large population.

Pottery Culture

Between 1,000 BCE and 100 CE the Sa Huỳnh culture flourished along the south-
central coast of Vietnam. Ceramic jar burial sites that included grave goods have been
discovered at various sites along the entire territory. Among large, thin-walled, terracotta
jars, ornamented and colorized cooking pots, glass items, jade earrings and metal objects
had been deposited near the rivers and at the coast.

The Buni culture is the name given to another early independent centre of refined
pottery production that has been well documented on the basis of excavated burial gifts,
deposited between 400 BCE and 100 CE in coastal north-western Java. The objects and
artifacts of the Buni tradition are known for their originality and remarkable quality of
incised and geometric decors. Its resemblance to the Sa Huỳnh culture and the fact that it
represents the earliest Indian Roulettes Ware recorded in Southeast Asia are subject of
ongoing research.

A. THE PEOPLE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA: “RACES” AND ETHNICITIES

The Aslians and Negritos were believed as one of the earliest inhabitant in the
region. They are genetically related to the Papuans in Eastern Indonesia, East Timor and
Australian Aborigines. In modern times, the Javanese are the largest ethnic group in
Southeast Asia, with more than 100 million people, mostly concentrated in Java, Indonesia.
The second largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia is Vietnamese (Kinh people) with around
86 million populations, mainly inhabiting in Vietnam, thus forming a significant minority in
neighboring Cambodia and Laos. The Thais is also a significant ethnic group with around 59
million populations forming the majority in Thailand. In Burma, the Burmese account for
more than two-thirds of the ethnic stock in this country.

Indonesia is clearly dominated by the Javanese and Sundanese ethnic groups, with
hundreds of ethnic minorities inhabited the archipelago, including Madurese, Minangkabau,
Bugis, Balinese, Dayak, Batak and Malays. While Malaysia is split between more than half
Malays and one-quarter Chinese, and also Indian minority in the West Malaysia however
Dayaks make up the majority in Sarawak and Kadazan-dusun makes up the majority in Sabah
which are in the East Malaysia. The Malays are the majority in West Malaysia and Brunei,
while they forming a significant minority in Indonesia, Southern Thailand, East Malaysia and
Singapore. In city-state Singapore, Chinese are the majority, yet the city is a multicultural
melting pot with Malays, Indians and Eurasian also called the island their home.

The Chams forming a significant minority in Central and South Vietnam, also in
Central Cambodia. While the Khmers are the majority in Cambodia, and forming a significant
minority in Southern Vietnam and Thailand. The Hmong people are the minority in Vietnam,
China and Laos.

Within the Philippines, the Tagalog, Visayan (mainly Cebuanos, Warays and
Hiligaynons), Ilocano, Bicolano, Moro (mainly Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanao) and
Central Luzon (mainly Kapampangan and Pangasinan) groups are significant. The Philippines
is also unique in Southeast Asia, in holding the only Latino founded communities in
Southeast Asia due to its former political union with Mexico during the era of the Viceroyalty
of New Spain and also possessing a Mexican-Spanish based Creole language called
Chavacano. There is also burgeoning American expat population in the Philippines.

B. SUBSISTENCE STRATEGIES

Subsistence means to support life. For example, subsistence farming literally means
farming for the purpose of supporting life. It is easy to imagine that different geographical
and cultural areas will create different strategies to support their own way of life. These
various strategies are called subsistence strategies, or methods used to support life. In
Southeast Asia it consists of foraging, swidden agriculture, traditional wet rice cultivation
and mechanized farming.

1. Foraging is the process of gathering food from uncultivated plants or undomesticated

animals. You can think of it as a ''Hunter/Gatherer'' type of lifestyle. A foraging
subsistence strategy requires large amounts of edible plant growth to sustain itself and
plentiful prey to hunt for meat. Foragers need to live a nomadic lifestyle. They must
move constantly to follow the growing season in different geographical regions and the
migration patterns of their animal-based food source. This subsistence strategy only
supports small groups due to the limited food source in each area, the need to
constantly move, and the need to find shelter from the environment. In a foraging
subsistence, people in the same foraging group maintain a bond of sharing equally with
each other.
2. Swidden agriculture or shifting cultivation has been practised in the uplands of
Southeast Asia for centuries and is estimated to support up to 500 million people – most
of whom are poor, natural resource reliant uplanders. Recently, however, dramatic land-
use transformations have generated social, economic and ecological impacts that have
affected the extent, practice and outcomes of swidden in the region. While certain
socio-ecological trends are clear, how these broader land-use changes impact upon local
livelihoods and ecosystem services remains uncertain.
1. Traditional wet rice cultivation is the growing of rice in flooded fields called padi fields
in Indonesia. Its traditional form is found throughout Southeast Asia southern china,
Japan, north and South Korea, Indonesia and many other tropical regions. Originally, rice
is not a water plant. Only after an adaption over thousands of years, sophisticated wet
rice sorts were bred artificially. There are several advantages for wet rice over dry rice.
The annual floods due to the monsoon get an integrated part into the rice production
circle. Many kinds of weeds and crop pests don't drive well in the water. There is a
significant difference between rainfall farming and irrigation farming. 80% of the world's
rice production is based on wet rice farming. The water is not standing but in a steady,
slow flow. For a kilogramm of rice, between 3,000 and 5,000 liters water are required. If
the water flows too slow, algaes grow and harm the plants; does it flow too fast,
nutrients flush out. Most of the rice sorts in Southeast Asia are wet rice. Practically most
of the rural landscapes are coined by rice paddies. In practice, the cultivation looks like
that: The first step is the seeding into mildly watered soil (here it becomes evident that
rice is not an original wet plant, for the seeds wouldn't grow in the water. The fields
have to be ploughed then, traditionally with water buffalos, nowadays more and more
with tractors. Third, after some weeks, the seedlings have to be transferred from the
plant field into the rice paddies. The growth now depends much on the irrigation.
Problematic is if there is not enough rain or other water supply, or if there is too much
rain who floods the fields. Most of the rice sorts in Southeast Asia are wet rice.
Practically most of the rural landscapes are coined by rice paddies.
2. Mechanized agriculture is the process of using agricultural machinery to mechanize the
work of agriculture, greatly increasing farm worker productivity. In modern times,
powered machinery has replaced many farm jobs formerly carried out by manual labour
or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.

Southeast Asia as a region varies widely in its cultures, history, and political
institutions. Due to this variety of regime types and the large variance of theoretically
relevant explanatory factors, Southeast Asia presents political scientists with a “natural
laboratory.” Levels of socioeconomic modernization, paths to state and nation-building,
ethnic heterogeneity, colonial heritage, the structure of governing coalitions and elite
formations, the shape and extent of interest and civil society organizations, as well as
institutional factors like type of government or electoral system all differ widely. This
chapter provides an overview of Southeast Asia’s demographic, cultural, and religious
characteristics; outlines its pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial political development;
and argues that the region’s eleven countries fall into three broad regime categories:
Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and—most recently—Myanmar are examples of “electoral
authoritarianism.” Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand after 2014 are closed
autocracies that lack multiparty elections. Finally, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-
Leste make up the region’s defective democracies, all stable but suffering from different
constellations of problems, including intermittent mass mobilization, corruption, and
incomplete stateness.

A. VARIETIES OF POLITIES

A polity is an identifiable political entity—any group of people who have a collective identity,
who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize
resources. A polity is an identifiable political entity—any group of people who have a collective
identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to
mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of people organized for governance (such as a
corporate board), the government of a country, or country subdivision.

In geopolitics, a polity can be manifested in different forms such as a state, an empire, an

international organization, a political organization and other identifiable, resource-manipulating
organizational structures. A polity like a state does not need to be a sovereign unit. The most
preeminent polities today are Westphalian states and nation-states, commonly referred to as nations.

A polity can encapsulates a vast multitude of organizations, many of which form the
fundamental apparatus of contemporary states such as their subordinate civil and local government
authorities. Polities do not need to be in control of any geographic areas, as not all political entities
and governments have controlled the resources of one fixed geographic area. The historical Steppe
Empires originating from the Eurasian Steppe are the most prominent example of non-sedentary
polities. These polities differ from states because of their lack of a fixed, defined territory. Empires
also differ from states in that their territories are not statically defined or permanently fixed and
consequently that their body politic was also dynamic and fluid. It is useful then to think of a polity as
a political community.

A polity can also be defined either as a faction within a larger (usually state) entity, or at
different times as the entity itself. For example, Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan are parts of their own
separate and distinct polity. However, they are also members of the sovereign state of Iraq which is
itself a polity, albeit one which is much less specific and as a result much less cohesive. Therefore, it is
possible for an individual to belong to more than one polity at a time.

Bands, “Autonomous” Villages, Chiefdoms, States

Bands – Bands have been found primarily among foragers, especially self-sufficient pedestrian
foragers. The total number of people within these societies rarely exceeds a few dozen. Bands are
essentially associations of families living together. They are loosely allied by , descent, friendship,
and common interest. The primary integrating mechanism for these societies is kinship. Bands are
extremely egalitarian--all families are essentially equal. There is no economic class differentiation.
However, there are often clear status differences based on gender and age.

No band level societies survive today with their traditional form of political organization
intact. However, they did until the last half of the 19th century in out-of-the-way regions of northern
Siberia, the desert and sub-arctic regions of North America and Greenland, the tropical lowlands of
Central and South America, the Australian desert interior and tropical north, as well as a few isolated
areas of Southeast Asia. While it is easy to think of these people and their traditional way of life in the
past as oddities, it is important to keep in mind that the distant ancestors of all people on earth lived
in bands at one time. Before the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago, it is likely that very
few societies had more complex levels of political integration.

“Autonomous” Villages - The 'village' is a powerful unit of analysis in both a material and a
metaphorical sense. The traditional village 'community' is often paraded as a paragon of virtue, and
the modern village as a corrupted version of the original. Yet the notion of the traditional village as
egalitarian, self-sufficient, autonomous, subsistence-oriented, corporate, peaceful and moral is often
at odds with the historic evidence. As such, it presents difficulties when the image is used to construct
visions of what 'development' is doing, and should be doing, in rural areas of the developing world.
This paper looks at the evidence from Southeast Asia regarding the origins and structure of village
'communities' in the region, and examines some of the implications for development.

Chiefdoms - Chiefdoms are similar to bands and tribes in being mostly classless societies. However,
chiefdoms differ in having a more or less permanent, fulltime leader with real authority to make
major decisions for their societies. These leaders are usually referred to by anthropologists as chiefs.
Sometimes there is an advisory council as well, but there is no bureaucracy of professional
administrators. The government is essentially just the chief.

A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually

based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of
select families or 'houses'. These elites form a political-ideological aristocracy relative to the general
group.
State – State level political systems first appeared in societies with large-scale intensive agriculture.
They began as chiefdoms and then evolved into more centralized, authoritarian kingdoms when their
populations grew into tens of thousands of people. While chiefdoms are societies in which everyone
is ranked relative to the chief, states are socially stratified into largely distinct classes in terms of
wealth, power, and prestige.

The processes of state formation in the agrarian states of Southeast Asia lend themselves to
fruitful comparative analysis using Eliasian concepts. However, in the difficult physical environment of
a region endowed with plentiful land relative to population, the control of labor was more important
than control of territory, as demonstrated by the cases of Siam and Java. Moreover, the religious,
ceremonial and symbolic significance of kingship remained very important even when the coercive
power of the centre was weak. Courts made absolutist claims, but their dominance depended on
symbolic power and on complex intrigues and networks of patronage. Elias is useful to analyze these
endogenous processes of state formation. However, the modern states of the region were forged by
colonialism, nationalist movements and the more recent technocratic developmentalist programmes
of authoritarian elites. Rapid economic transformation and industrialization have brought new classes
and new tensions to test the adequacy of state structures, now far removed from the elite territorial
competition of the past.

The pre-nineteenth century “theater” state

In political anthropology, a theatre state is a political state directed towards the performance
of drama and ritual rather than more conventional ends such as warfare and welfare. Power in a
theatre state is exercised through spectacle. The term was coined by Clifford Geertz in 1980 in
reference to political practice in the nineteenth-century Balinese Negara, but its usage has since
expanded. Hunik Kwon and Byung-Ho Chung, for example, argue that contemporary North Korea is a
theatre state. In Geertz's original usage, the concept of the theatre state contests the notion that
precolonial society can be analyzed in the conventional discourse of Oriental despotism.

Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali is a 1980 book written by

anthropologist Clifford Geertz. Geertz argues that the pre-colonial Balinese state was not a "hydraulic
bureaucracy" nor an oriental despotism, but rather, an organized spectacle. The noble rulers of the
island were less interested in administering the lives of the Balinese than in dramatizing their rank and
hence political superiority through large public rituals and ceremonies. These cultural processes did
not support the state, he argues, but were the state.

It is perhaps most clear in what was, after all, the master image of political life: kingship. The
whole of the negara - court life, the traditions that organized it, the extractions that supported it, the
privileges that accompanied it - was essentially directed toward defining what power was; and what
power was what kings were. Particular kings came and went, 'poor passing facts' anonymized in titles,
immobilized in ritual, and annihilated in bonfires. But what they represented, the model-and-copy
conception of order, remained unaltered, at least over the period we know much about. The driving
aim of higher politics was to construct a state by constructing a king. The more consummate the king,
the more exemplary the centre. The more exemplary the centre, the more actual the realm.

Geertz used the Balinese case to develop an abstract model of the Theatre state applicable
to all the South East Asian Indic polities. To succinctly summarize his theory, "Power served pomp, not
pomp power." Other anthropologists have contested the ahistorical, static nature of the model. They
point out that he has depoliticized a political institution by emphasizing culture while ignoring its
material base.

Bureaucracies versus Oligarchies

As system the difference between oligarchy and bureaucracy is that oligarchy is a

government run by only a few, often the wealthy while bureaucracy is structure and regulations in
place to control activity usually in large organizations and government operations. The signal
performances of Southeast Asian countries in attaining economic growth and political stability are
frequently explained by cultural and policy factors. Recent research suggests, however, that the role
of the state is extensive and central to economic and political goals. The present approach to the
comparative evaluation of state capacities attempts to account for the variations and nuances of the
performance of Southeast Asian states. The structure of political support and available means of
social control provide relatively greater capacity to state elites in Singapore and Malaysia, and less
capacity to state elites in the Philippines and Indonesia; Thailand is an intermediate case.

Democratic States versus Authoritarian States

The word democracy comes from the Greek words ‘demos,’ which refers to the people, and
‘kratos,’ which means power. Thus, a democratic state is one in which power emanates from the
people. One might say, then, that authoritarianism is the opposite of a democracy. In an authoritarian
regime, all power is concentrated in one person alone, often referred to as the dictator.

One of the most basic features of a democracy that sets it apart from authoritarianism is the
process by which leaders are chosen. Because a democracy is meant to uphold the power of the
people, leaders are chosen such that they truly represent the people’s interests. This is done through
fair and honest elections, whereby citizens may collectively express their choice of leaders through
the ballot.
 In an authoritarian state, such mechanisms are rendered either obsolete or futile. Dictators
want to cling to power, and so the very notion of an election is counter to that desire. Thus,
authoritarian states often do away with elections entirely, taking the choice away from the people to
begin with. In more insidious cases, dictators engage the electoral process but dishonestly. By rigging
the system, while offering their citizens the illusion of choice, the staged elections only serve to
legitimize the dictator’s continued rule, as it continues to seem as if the dictator enjoys the support of
the public.

INDIGENOUS COMMUNALITIES

A. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of
relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic, and
political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they
live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous peoples from around the world share
common problems related to the protection of their rights as distinct peoples.

The explanation of communal components takes us into the cerebral-spinal

dimension of community, its immanence. We refer to its dynamics, to the underlying and
active energy between and among human beings and of human beings with each and every
one of the elements of nature. It means that when we speak of organization, rules,
communal principles, we are not referring just to the physical space and material existence
of human beings, but to their spiritual existence, to their ethical and ideological code and,
therefore, to their political, social, legal, cultural, economic, and civil behavior.

The essence of the phenomenon is explained under the concept of communality,

which for me defines the immanence of the community. To the extent that communality
defines other key concepts for understanding indigenous reality, it should be understood not
as something in opposition to, but as simply different from Western society. Coming to
understand its elements requires taking into account certain notions: the communal,
collective, complementarily and completeness.

We are using the term Indigenous Peoples with a meaning that is different from that
given in many dictionaries, or how it is understood by many governments. Over the past
decades, the concept of Indigenous Peoples has evolved beyond the original meaning found
in dictionaries, and it is now well established in international law. That is why we are writing
it with capital initial letters.

It is a foreign term for most of us, and it is often difficult to translate into our own
languages. Some governments in Southeast Asia use names to refer to us collectively - like
“ethnic minorities”, “hill tribes”, “native people”. There are also the names given by
outsiders, some of which are not appreciated by many of us, since they often imply notions
of cultural inferiority, being “primitive” or “backward”. Examples are chuncheat (meaning
“ethnicity”, or literally “national people” in Cambodia) or sakai (literally meaning “slave”)
used in Thailand for some hunter-gatherer groups. We ourselves though prefer to use the
names which our ancestors have given us.

We have our own distinct language, culture, customary laws, and social and political
institutions that are very different from those of the dominant ethno-linguistic groups in our
countries. Self identification is crucial for us. When we call ourselves Indigenous Peoples we
do not mean to claim to be the only people native to our countries. In most cases we are the
“aboriginal” or “native” people of the lands we live in, and other people have come to settle
there later. But we have also lived side-by-side with other peoples, native to their own lands,
who however do not call themselves Indigenous Peoples. These are usually the dominant
people, who have the economic and political power in our countries.

In some cases, we are forced to leave our lands because of violent conflicts, and to
move to another country, like to Thailand, Vietnam or Laos. In these countries, we are
clearly not the first inhabitants, the original or native people. But we strive to continue with
our way of life and keep our traditions and practices alive and we still remain Indigenous
Peoples.

Most of our people are small in numbers. Some have populations of just a few
thousand or even just a few hundred. While we find an enormous diversity among
Indigenous Peoples, common to us all are the strong cultural attachment to and the
dependence of our livelihoods on land, forests or the sea and the natural resources therein.
Our ways of life, spirituality and identity is very much attached to our territories, and
displacement from our territories does not just imply the loss of livelihood, but of our
identity and therefore is a threat to our very existence as peoples.

B. COMMON LANGUAGE TREE

There are thousands of spoken languages in the world and most can be traced back
in history to show how they are related to each other. By finding patterns like these,
different languages can be grouped together as members of a language family. When
linguists talk about the historical relationship between languages, they use a tree metaphor.

A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common

ancestral language or parental language, called the proto-language of that family. The term
"family" reflects the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes
use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a biological family tree, or in a
subsequent modification, to species in a phylogenetic tree of evolutionary taxonomy.
Linguists therefore describe the daughter languages within a language family as being
genetically related.

The Sino-Tibetan,
Austronesians, the Austro-
Asiatics and the Tai:
Originally one family?
Sino-Tibetan is one of the largest language families in the world, with more than 400
languages, also known as Trans-Himalayan. This includes both the Chinese and the Tibeto-
Burman Language.

Austronesian language are a language family widely spoken throughout Taiwan, Malay
Peninsula, Maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific Ocian. There
are also a few speakers in continental Asia. They are spoken by about 386 millon people.
 Austro–Asiatic Language Family consists of 169 languages spoken in Southeast Asia, in
countries located between China and Indonesia. A few are spoken to the west of this
area in the Nicobar Islands and in India. The austro- part of the name comes from the
Latin word ‘south.’

Tai or Zhuang–Tai languages, are a branch of the Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages
include the most widely spoken of the Tai–Kadai languages, including Standard Thai or
Siamese, the national language of Thailand; Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos;
Myanmar's Shan language and Zhuang, a major language in the Southern Chinese province
of Guangxi.
 Language patterns in Southeast Asia are highly complex and are rooted in four major
language families: the Sino-Tibetan, Tai, Austro-Asiatic, and Austronesian (Malayo-
Polynesian). Languages derived from the Sino-Tibetan group are found largely in Myanmar,
while forms of the Tai group are spoken in Thailand and Laos. Austro-Asiatic languages are
spoken in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The languages of Malaysia, Indonesia, and the
Philippines are rooted in an Austronesian and Polynesian stock. Despite this broad
generalization, it must be noted that innumerable separate languages as well as dialects are
used in the region. This linguistic diversity is especially conspicuous in fragmented areas such
as the Philippines and Indonesia and in highland and remote areas on the mainland, and it
has been a retarding factor in national integration and development. Notable in this regard
is Myanmar.

Dominant languages do exist in most of the nations. Burmese and Thai are spoken
by large groups of people in Myanmar and Thailand, respectively. Similarly, Khmer is the
primary language in Cambodia, as is Vietnamese in Vietnam. Within the Philippines, Pilipino
(Filipino) and English are the official languages, but Tagalog and Visayan also are important.
Malay and Indonesian are, respectively, the official languages of Malaysia and Indonesia;
these languages are quite similar and are mutually intelligible. Indonesian is a good example
of a true national language and is spoken widely across the archipelago. Thus, unlike in
Myanmar, language actually has been a unifying element in the country.

Numerous languages also have been introduced into the region by immigrant
populations. Perhaps most significant are the variety of dialects spoken by the Chinese
communities in many Southeast Asian countries. The most commonly used are Cantonese,
Hokkien, Hakka, and Teochew, reflecting the southern Chinese coastal origins of many of the
immigrants. The largest concentration of Chinese speakers is in Singapore, where they
constitute the majority population. Concentrations of ethnic Chinese also live in most of the
larger urban areas of the region.

Language and Culture

On a practical level, language has to do with sounds, symbols and gestures that a
community puts in order and associates so that they can communicate. On a deeper level,
language is an expression of who we are as individuals, communities, nations. Culture refers
to dynamic social systems and shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and
values. Culture provides the environment in which languages develop, even as it influences
how they are used and interpreted. For example, in many European cultures a “good day” is
a sunny day, while in many African cultures a “good day” is a rainy day. Different culturally
shared values provide the context for interpreting the term for “good”.

Language and culture are intertwined. A particular language usually points out to a
specific group of people. When you interact with another language, it means that you are
also interacting with the culture that speaks the language. You cannot understand one's
culture without accessing its language directly.

When you learn a new language, it not only involves learning its alphabet, the word
arrangement and the rules of grammar, but also learning about the specific society's
customs and behavior. When learning or teaching a language, it is important that the culture
where the language belongs be referenced, because language is very much ingrained in the
culture.

Origins and Diffusions

Cultural diffusion is the spread of cultural trends across locations. Beliefs, practices,
and ideas get shared from person to person, and sometimes even around the world through
this diffusion, as happens with viral videos.

Many cultural practices are spread by a type of cultural diffusion called expansion
diffusion. This is when a trend is spread from its originating place, outward. There are
several forms of this type of diffusion: contagious, hierarchical, and stimulus diffusion.
Contagious diffusion, or when a cultural trend is transmitted from person to person from an
original source to numerous others, similar to a virus. As cultural trends gain in popularity
and draw our attention, profit may become a motive in perpetuating the trend. Another
form of expansion diffusion is hierarchical diffusion, or when a cultural trend is spread from
one segment of society to another, in a pattern. Consider how hip hop culture emerged from
within urban areas, but is now known in all regions of society including suburban and rural
areas, as well. Finally, stimulus diffusion is when a cultural trend spreads, but is changed by
those adopting the idea.

Expansion diffusion and its various forms are not the only way that ideas and
practices are passed along to others. Another way that culture spreads is by relocation
diffusion, when a person migrates from their home and shares their culture with a new
location.

The countries of Southeast Asia have a closely interrelated cultural history, shaped
by the passage of cultures and religions that accompanied the historic trade routes. Caught
between the economic demands of the Roman and Chinese Empires, the countries of
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos came to be increasingly exposed to new
cultures from both east and west, which were to have a longlasting effect on their artistic
traditions. Buddhism spread east from India and left a clear legacy in the art and architecture
of these societies.

Around four thousand years ago people speaking languages belonging to the
Austronesian family (originating in southern China and Taiwan) began to trickle into island
Southeast Asia. Cultural changes began to affect Southeast Asia around two thousand years
ago with influences coming from two directions.

The local cultures in the region are diverse, distinct and vibrantly unique, but the
legacy of the Indian and Chinese traders and soldiers that have criss-crossed the area for
millennia is undeniable. In this post specifically, I will focus on the Indian traders who
imbued the fore bearers of millions of today’s Southeast Asians with the hallmarks of their
cultures: written language, cuisine, dance, architecture, religion. Over the past two
millennia, these all have combined to create a complete package of high culture that has
seeped into today’s popular culture. What’s more, it is the classical culture of southern India
that has been most influential.
 Southeast Asia, and the diverse cultures of the hundreds of millions of people that
live there, is a true melting pot of cultures. While the states of classical India did imbue the
Southeast Asian kingdoms with many of its traditions, they were not the only contributors.

As the name Indochina implies, the Han Chinese state also had an impact on the
development of the states to its south, most notably the Dai Viet Empire that rose in the Red
River valley. However, Chinese and Indian traditions contributed mostly to the high culture
of the Southeast Asian states. Oftentimes, the complex cosmologies and exotic ways of
faraway empires had little effect on the peasants that made up the bulk of the populace.
Local traditions and folk customs made up the core of mass culture and despite the millennia
long process of Indian cultural infusion, they still do.

C. KINSHIP AND GENDER

According to the Dictionary of Anthropology, kinship system includes socially

recognized relationships based on supposed as well as actual genealogical ties. These
relationships are the result of social interaction and recognized by society. While Gender is a
term that refers to social or cultural distinctions associated with being male or female.
Gender identity is the extent to which one identifies as being either masculine or feminine.

As their relationship, it represent a model of social relations, we made the

assumption that it is in studies of kinship can be found specifics of gender relations. To
confirm this hypothesis, we turned to the work of the famous anthropologist, a
representative of comparative sociology Radcliffe-Brown. According to the observations of
Brown, in a society can be identified quite certain set of actions and interactions of people
who are conditioned by the relations of kinship or marriage, and that in a given society,
these actions and interactions are linked in such a way that we can analytically describe
them as a system. It is a system of kinship, the examination of which will help to understand
the mechanism of some form of social life.

Asia harbors a variety of kinship systems of three principal types: patrilineal,

matrilineal and bilateral. South Asia is predominantly patrilineal, with two important pockets
of matrilineal in the south- west and the north-east of the subcontinent and significantly
bilateral Sri- Lanka. Southeast Asia, is predominantly bilateral, in which both parents are
relevant for reckoning kinship, with a significant presence of matriliny among the
Minangkabau of West Sumatra and the people of Negri Sembilan in Malaysia, as well as
some patrilineal communities. South and Southeast Asia comprise countries from
Afghanistan in the west to the Philippines in the east.

Today, look at and contrast aspects of family and kinship from the point of view of
gender among some populations of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan,
the Philippines and Thailand.

The Relatively High Position of Women

The 11 countries of Southeast Asia include over 550 million people. Despite great
linguistic and cultural diversity, the region is characterized by the relatively favorable
position of women in comparison with neighboring East or South Asia. This has been
explained by several factors: traditionally, kinship was traced though both maternal and
paternal lines; a daughter was not a financial burden because of the widespread practice of
bride price; a married couple often lived with or near the wife’s parents; women had
prominent roles in indigenous ritual; their labor was essential in agricultural, and they
dominated local markets. Over time, however, the rise of centralized states and the spread
of imported philosophies and religions (Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, and
Christianity) increasingly privileged males and stressed female subordination. Although such
influences were most noticeable among the elite, the strength of local traditions was always
a moderating force.

In the nineteenth century Southeast Asia’s economic resources and strategic

position between India and China led to increasing European involvement. By the 1890s the
entire region except for Siam (Thailand) was under European control. In some areas women
were recruited as cheap wage labor on plantations (tea, sugar, tobacco, rubber) and in
processing factories. At the village level colonial regimes strengthened the male position as
head of the household and “reformed” customary laws that had given women considerable
autonomy. Similar trends can be found in Siam, the only non-colonized country, where legal
codification strengthened patrilineality. These developments encouraged a preference for
sons rather than daughters. Nonetheless, women were still influential in community life, at
times even leading anti-colonial rebellions. Increasing female literacy (especially in the
Philippines) and exposure to Western feminism encouraged elite women to confront issues
of gender inequality.

From the late nineteenth century nationalist movements developed across

Southeast Asia. Male leaders focused on political independence, but educated women were
equally concerned with polygamy, divorce, domestic abuse and the financial responsibilities
of fathers. For the most part, however, politicized women accepted the male argument that
attention to “female” concerns should be delayed until after independence was attained. Yet
despite active involvement in anti-colonial movements, sometimes as fighters, but more
often as strike organizers, journalists, couriers and clandestine agents, women were viewed
as auxiliaries rather than partners. Such attitudes were still evident in the independence
movements that exploded after the surrender of the Japanese, who occupied most of
Southeast Asia between 1942 and 1945.

The end of World War II signaled the demise of European colonialism in Southeast
Asia. Theoretically, the independent states that emerged over the next 15 years were
committed to gender equality, but this has rarely been translated into reality. In recent years
the number of women holding public office has increased, especially in local government,
but only in the Philippines has female representation in national government risen above 10
per cent. When women do manage to enter the political arena, they often find themselves
marginalized in a male-dominated culture, with real power remaining in men’s hands. The
few individuals who have attained the highest political offices (such as President in the
Philippines and Indonesia) have done so because they are the daughter or wife of a famous
man. They have not become advocates of women’s issues, for this would risk alienating their
male colleagues or the male electorate.

Greater female involvement in politics is impeded by the way candidates are

recruited as well as entrenched attitudes that see women’s primary role as that of wife and
mother. Gender stereotypes that favor males over females are often reinforced in school
textbooks and are sometimes encouraged by religious teachings. For example, Buddhists still
believe that rebirth as a woman rather than a man indicates that less merit was accrued in
past lives. Southeast Asian Islam has traditionally been very tolerant, but over the last 20
years there has been greater stress on “correct” dress (notably head covering) and public
behavior. Although all Southeast Asian countries except Laos and Vietnam have signed the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and have made
advances promoting gender equality, it is difficult to change the preference for sons,
especially in Vietnam with its strong Confucian heritage.

It is not easy to generalize about the economic position of Southeast Asian women
because of the gap in development between Timor Lorosae, Cambodia and Laos (among the
poorest countries in the world), and prosperous Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.
Nonetheless, the continuing acceptance of the idea that a woman can generate and control
her own income is still evident, although women receive less pay than men for the same
work and the options for unskilled workers are limited. In poorer countries and
impoverished regions this is apparent in the prevalence of prostitution and the disturbing
trafficking of women. From the mid 1960s, however, as Southeast Asian countries gradually
shifted to export-oriented economies, lower-paid women have become essential to factory
work. In consequence, women have been more active in labor movements. As overseas
domestic workers, they have also been increasingly important to national economies,
remitting large amounts of money to their families. Because of world-wide shortages,
qualified women can find employment abroad in skilled occupations such as nursing.

Obtaining vocational skills and academic qualifications is far more possible than
hitherto as Southeast Asian women gain greater access to education. With the exception of
Cambodia and Laos, the numbers of women progressing to post-secondary training is also
rising, and in Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines there are more female
graduates than males; the rates for Vietnam and Indonesia are almost equal. The expansion
in education has contributed to the blossoming of female-oriented Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) since the 1980s, which have given the knowledge and organization
skills that equip them to argue for issues.

Despite the region’s economic, political and cultural diversity, Southeast Asian
countries generally fare well in measures of human development. The heritage of relatively
favorable gender relations and the resilience and pragmatism of local societies indicate that
Southeast Asian women can look towards a promising future.

“Paradise is to Lie at Mother’s Feet”

The Prophet Muhammad said, “Paradise is at the feet of the mother.”This is

variously interpreted to mean that the mother is responsible for teaching her children their
religious obligations and good behavior that will win them Paradise; or it may mean that we
earn Paradise by serving our mother throughout her life. Either way, it shows the great
esteem, honor and respect that Islam has for mothers. While the fourth Commandment in
the Bible is “Honor thy father and thy mother”, the Bible does not mention the mother
separately as deserving good treatment.

Southeast Asian women are known for their vital economic roles. Besides being
wives and mothers, they have always engaged in income-earning activities. The undertaken
of a wide range of tasks has contributed to their economic independence and a large
measure of autonomy and power. This is true of most Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian and
Filipino women. In societies like the Atjehnese, where men are away from home for much of
the time, women manage both agricultural and family affairs.

In general, women are integral to the peasant economy. Speaking of Malaysia and
Indonesia, Manderson emphasizes that women alone are responsible for establishing and
tending nurseries, transplanting seedlings, weeding, harvesting, and winnowing and
thrashing the paddy. She mentions women’s role in the cultivation of other crops such as
rubber and in the production of copra. Women are almost entirely responsible for the
commercial production of vegetables, for domestic animals and for silviculture. The Javanese
household is a woman's domain, where her control over strategic resources is near
complete. She also takes the decisions in household matters.

Throughout Southeast Asia women are thought to be ‘good with money and
generally superior to men in financial management and business dealings. What a woman
actually gains from these qualities depends upon her resources and the class to which she
belongs. Many women are at least assured of the regular income that is necessary to meet
their families’ needs. About the power and autonomy that they might derive from this, Ann
Stoler observes about a part of Java that while among poor households women's earnings
give them a position of considerable importance within the household, for the wealthier
women their incomes provide a material basis for acquiring social power.