Chapter 7: Southeast Asia

Vietnam

Indochina is the name given to the region in Southeast Asia which is culturally influenced by both India and China; today, it includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. In the 19th century, France conquered several kingdoms in what is now Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, and named this new possession French Indochina. They seized the resources of the region, particularly rice and rubber, and monopolized trade in the colony, particularly the wine and salt markets. These resources and markets provided about half the income that France took from its global empire. But French imperialism, and its brutal response to dissent, led to various and sporadic uprisings against its rule.

The French situation changed drastically during World War II. Nazi Germany overran France and set up a right-wing, pro-Nazi regime called Vichy France. Vichy allowed Japanese troops to enter Indochina, as Japan hoped the region would provide a new front in their war against China. Just months before surrendering to the United States, Japan took possession of Indochina to prevent an allied landing there. They were opposed by the Viet Minh, a socialist, nationalist coalition fighting for Vietnamese independence. This group was led by Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Indochinese Communist Party. Since the Viet Minh fought the Japanese, they received aid from the US, the USSR, and China.

After Japan surrendered in August 1945, Japanese troops returned home. Nationalist China occupied the northern part of Vietnam, known as Tonkin. While France wanted Indochina returned to her empire, the Viet Minh (and President Roosevelt of the USA, for that matter) opposed this. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent nation (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, or DRV) on September 2, 1945, the same day the Japanese surrendered. However, British and French troops arrived in Saigon in southern Vietnam (known as Cochin China) the next month, and quickly asserted control of both the North and South. The French had more than just money on their minds; since their country had been conquered by Nazi Germany in WWII, French conservative leaders wanted to reclaim their empire to restore their damaged national pride. After FDR died in April 1945, the US was not inclined to argue the point. After a brief period of unfruitful negotiations between Ho Chi Minh and France regarding power-sharing, all-out war between the Viet Minh and the French began in December 1946. This was known as the First Indochina War.

Initially, France held the advantage. However, after the Chinese Civil War ended with a communist victory in 1949, the Viet Minh began receiving support from both the PRC, in the form of instruction in guerilla warfare, and the USSR, in the form of weapons. The US supported France with weapons and advisors, viewing a potential Viet Minh victory as another victory for communism in Asia.

Map of Indochina (Library of Congress)

The war swung back and forth, with one side and then the other gaining the advantage on the battlefield, but French public opinion was turning against the war. The decisive moment was Dien Bien Phu, one of the most important battles of the 20th century. The Viet Minh attacked a heavily-fortified French position in a valley between forested mountains, where the French did not believe the Viet Minh could bring their heavy weapons due to the terrain. They were wrong; the Viet Minh cut roads through the jungle with hand tools and carried their cannons up into the mountains surrounding the valley. After a bloody 57-day siege, the French surrendered on May 7, 1954. This battle inspired anti-imperialists everywhere by proving that the Westerners could be beaten.

The subsequent Geneva Accords established the results for Vietnam. The French would leave Indochina, ending their Asian empire. Vietnam would be divided temporarily into two states: North Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh was in control, and South Vietnam, where Ngo Dinh Diem was prime minister of the new state. The plan was for a referendum to be held in both North and South in July 1956, and the people of both nations together would choose which government would reunify the country under its rule. While the French and Viet Minh agreed to this, the new South Vietnamese government did not. Ngo then declared that South Vietnam was an independent country, the Republic of Vietnam (ROV). US leaders knew that, if the referendum was held, Ho Chi Minh would win by a wide margin. To prevent the unification of Vietnam under communism, they decided to back Ngo. They realized that Ngo was corrupt, authoritarian, and unpopular, but they had no alternative leader to support.

Determined to reunite the country, North Vietnam prepared for the conflict which would later be known as the Second Indochina War. Ho Chi Minh’s first strategy in 1955, was to establish a guerilla group inside South Vietnam while he prepared his conventional forces for a long and bitter struggle. He ordered the construction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a series of roads and trails which passed through neutral Laos and Cambodia, allowing North Vietnamese personnel, weapons, and ammunition to pass unhindered into South Vietnam. By 1962, there were about 300,000 Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communist) guerillas in the South, carrying out a terror campaign designed to weaken Ngo’s regime.

Naturally, this greatly disturbed the United States; President Kennedy decided that US credibility was at stake, and decided to “draw a line in the sand” in Vietnam. Kennedy wanted to support South Vietnam with equipment, money, and advisors. The problem with this strategy was that both the South Vietnamese government, from Ngo down, and the military (ARVN – the Army of the Republic of Vietnam), were corrupt and inept. Before long, it became clear that Ngo could not save Vietnam, no matter how much the US supported him.

On November 2, 1963, a group of South Vietnamese generals assassinated Ngo (and his younger brother, who ran the hated secret police), after the US government informed them that the US would not oppose such a coup – after all, the US wanted a leader in place who would win the war against the Viet Cong. Kennedy himself was assassinated only 20 days later. South Vietnam then fell into a period of extreme political instability. One military coup followed another in quick succession as corrupt generals sought power for themselves. Ho Chi Minh, watching the chaos, pushed his guerillas to fight harder.

The situation in Vietnam took yet another turn in August 1964. The USS Maddox, a US destroyer, engaged North Vietnamese vessels in combat in the Gulf of Tonkin; two days later, the USS Turner Joy reported being attacked, though it was later discovered that this second attack never actually happened. The second attack was the trigger for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, in which the US Congress authorized President Johnson to take whatever actions he needed to protect US forces. Johnson viewed this as carte blanche to do whatever he saw fit in Vietnam. This began a long aerial campaign against the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, and North Vietnam itself.

In 1965, Johnson made the fateful decision to send US troops to fight the Viet Cong in South Vietnam, with nearly 200,000 Americans in-country by the end of the year. This represented a major shift in US policy, as US troops would now take up the fight themselves in the face of South Vietnamese ineffectiveness. Johnson’s generals told him that they could win the war by the end of 1967.

This was far from true. With the entrance of US troops, the People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN), the North’s conventional force, joined the fight. Now the US was fighting everywhere in the country at once. US troop strength reached 500,000 in 1968. Both sides of the conflict committed war crimes, murdering civilians and burning villages. The war required a draft in the US to secure the necessary troops; this proved very unpopular in the US, where protests were almost nonstop and a declining percentage of Americans approved of the war.

The essential problem for the US was that, so long as the North Vietnamese continued to fight, the US had no way to win the war. One South Vietnamese regime after another came and went, each as corrupt and inept as the last. And the US could not invade North Vietnam without triggering a massive Chinese intervention, as had happened in the Korean War. This left the US with only one strategy: continue fighting until the communists gave up.

The final turning point in the war was the Tet Offensive of 1968. The Viet Cong launched a massive surprise attack on Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. Catching the US off-guard, the Viet Cong attempted to capture 100 cities inside South Vietnam simultaneously. While the US finally beat off the offensive, Tet convinced many in the US that the war was far from over, contrary to what Johnson and the generals were saying. Johnson’s approval rate plummeted. As a result, he declined to run for another term as president in the 1968 elections.

Richard Nixon, on winning the 1968 elections, promised to get the US out of Vietnam “with honor.” Nixon’s problem was that the US could not appear to abandon Vietnam, as it was thought that this would look like the US was abandoning the fight against communism; yet, US public opinion would no longer allow Nixon to remain in Vietnam. Nixon, therefore, proposed a strategy called Vietnamization. The plan was to equip and train South Vietnam’s troops so that they could resist the communists on their own, without US troops. Few decision makers thought the plan would work – after all, the US had been aiding South Vietnam since 1955, and still had to rescue its military from the North’s invasion. But no other policy was politically viable.

North Vietnam also changed strategies after Ho Chi Minh’s death in 1969. The Tet offensive had cost the Viet Cong guerillas dearly; now the North focused on modernizing its conventional army. At first, it seemed that Vietnamization was working, as the Viet Cong were launching far fewer attacks. The illusion was shattered in Easter 1972, when the PAVN launched a fierce attack from the North; the only thing that saved the South was a massive bombing campaign by the US Air Force. It was clear that only US support could save South Vietnam – and that support was about to end.

In January 1973, President Nixon coerced South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu into accepting a ceasefire with the North. The intention was for the US to withdraw from Vietnam while there was peace, so that it would not appear that the US was running from a fight. The Paris Peace Accordsdecreed that both nations would respect the territorial integrity of the other, and that elections for reunification of the country, as per the 1954 plan, would be carried out. The US had armed the South, but the effort was haphazard, with the ARVN unprepared for a serious conflict. All remaining US forces were withdrawn in March 1973.

After some small offensives from the North in violation of the ceasefire, PAVN launched a major attack in December 1974. Although the South expected an invasion, its army was helpless to stop it; morale was low, and its soldiers surrendered or fled. The South devolved into a hellish morass of fleeing troops and civilians, refugees trying to escape the country by boat or plane, and advancing communist troops. President Thieu fled to Taiwan, accusing the US of betrayal. In Washington, President Ford assured his country on national TV that US troops would not return to Vietnam. On April 30 1975, PAVN conquered Saigon, ending all resistance. Ho Chi Minh’s dream of reunification was achieved, and the next year, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVN) was established. The victory had cost North Vietnam over one million dead.

The first decade of unity was not a happy one. The Marxist government established a Stalinist / Maoist economic model, with state-run farming collectives and complete control of industry, education, and the media. Embargoed by the US, the country’s economy collapsed until it was one of the poorest in the world, with a per capita GNP of under $300 US. Fortunately, Vietnam was closely aligned with the USSR, which provided massive financial aid to keep the country afloat; unfortunately, China was displeased with Vietnam’s friendship with its communist rival, and China ended most of its economic support. Deteriorating human rights and poverty led to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the country.

Relations with China soured even further in January 1979. The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia (see section on Cambodia below) raided western Vietnam, and Vietnam responded with an invasion of Cambodia. China, a supporter of the Khmer Rouge, retaliated with an invasion of Vietnam in February in order to, according to Deng Xiaoping, “teach Vietnam a lesson.” The PRC ravaged the borderlands but could proceed no further against the Vietnamese. They withdrew after a month. The invasion did not dissuade the Vietnamese from ousting the Khmer Rouge and taking control of Cambodia. The Vietnamese finally withdrew from Cambodia in 1989, leaving the country to UN administration.

Real change did not begin in Vietnam until the mid-1980s. Vietnam recognized that it suffered from the same political problem as the USSR: its leadership was old and very conservative, unable to create new solutions to lingering economic and social problems, such as the soaring rates of poverty, crime, and corruption. In the mid-1980s, therefore, most of the primary leaders of the communist party and state were either removed from office or retired, allowing younger, more energetic leaders to step up.

The new leaders instituted the same economic changes that Deng had in China, slowly shifting from a state-run system to relatively free markets, grafting elements of capitalism onto socialism to create a mixed economy. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 drove China and Vietnam closer, as two of the last socialist states in the world needed each other’s support.

Vietnam, largely isolated from the capitalist world, now worked to establish relations and trade with the global community. The US lifted its embargo in 1994 and restarted diplomatic ties in 1995. Vietnam also established relations with several Asian and Western European nations. The economy grew quickly, but also suffered from a common problem of a more capitalist system: a growing wealth gap between rich and poor, especially along rural / urban lines (China suffers the same situation). And, as in China, government corruption and human rights abuses remain major problems. Despite these difficulties, Vietnam qualified to join the World Trade Organization in 2007.

Another contemporary issue in Vietnam is China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea, seizing islands which Vietnam considers its territory. The fiercely nationalistic Vietnamese people responded with protests at the Chinese embassy in Hanoi in 2011. The Vietnamese government is keen to maintain good relations with China; China is Vietnam’s biggest trading partner, representing almost one-quarter of Vietnam’s foreign trade. The government broke up the protests.

Cambodia

The history of post-colonial Cambodia is intimately tied up with that of Vietnam, because the war in Vietnam spilled over into that country’s neighbors. While the French were determined to retain power over Indochina after WWII, King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia pushed hard for independence. The French granted limited autonomy to the kingdom, but Sihanouk declared full independence on November 9, 1953. The French, heavily engaged with the Viet Minh, could do nothing about it. The Geneva Accords of 1954 affirmed the independence of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Sihanouk, only thirty-one years old at the time, soon earned a reputation as one of the most capable, wily, and intolerant politicians in a region full of such leaders.

To everyone’s surprise, Sihanouk abdicated the throne in 1955, in order to pursue a partisan political career; his father took the throne. It is thought that Sihanouk believed that this would relieve him of the constricting role of monarch, while allowing him to enjoy the mystique and deference that royalty granted him. He quickly established a new conservative political party, the Sangkum, by merging several rightist parties. When campaigning for Prime Minister, Sihanouk used his social influence to have opposition politicians arrested and imprisoned, guaranteeing that he would win the election in 1955. In 1960, he created a new position, head of state, and won the referendum for the position.

Sihanouk played a complex game in foreign relations, shifting towards one side or the other in the Cold War, all while declaring neutrality in the contest. He hoped to play off each side against the other and come out ahead of both. If he had any philosophy – other than self-aggrandizement – it was preserving Cambodia’s independence in a region that was, at the time, consumed by aggression and betrayal. For example, Sihanouk accepted military and financial aid from the US until it appeared, in 1965, that North Vietnam would win the war against the South. At that point, he cut relations with the US and allowed the North Vietnamese to construct permanent bases in Cambodia. Then he decided that the Vietnamese and their communist allies in Cambodia were becoming too powerful, and allowed the US to attack Viet Cong bases in Cambodia. He restored relations with the US the next year.

Domestically, he nationalized banking and foreign trade, thus removing foreign influence from those sectors. Economically, he pursued a vague system of Buddhist Socialism (similar to Christian Socialism in Europe). However, this system concentrated economic power into his own party, permitting ever-more embezzlement and nepotism. He also granted women the franchise in Cambodia, not that it meant much – through rigged elections and other forms of corruption, the Sangkum was practically the only legal party in the kingdom.

In 1970, while Sihanouk was vacationing in France, Prime Minister Lon Nol led a coup against Sihanouk on the claim that allowing the Vietnamese to remain in Cambodia was drawing the nation into the Vietnam War; his new regime was far right-wing and despised communists. The National Assembly voted to depose Sihanouk and grant Lon Nol extensive emergency powers. Sihanouk went into exile in China, and Lon Nol renamed the country the Khmer Republic (Khmer is the main ethnic group of Cambodia, as well as the name of its language).

The new republic found little peace. From China, Sihanouk formed a leftist rebel group to oust the rightist Lon Nol. Worse yet, the Chinese persuaded a powerful Cambodian communist group, the Khmer Rouge, to side with Sihanouk in his struggle against the republic, hoping that the result would be a friendly communist state on their border. This fighting was known as the Cambodian Civil War. The US armed the republic’s troops and assisted with aerial bombardment, which by 1973, was its only remaining strategy. It wasn’t enough. The Khmer Rouge conquered the capitol of Phnom Penh and soon established Democratic Kampuchea, with political beliefs based on a synthesis of Maoism and Khmer nationalism. While run by a committee, the Khmer Rouge was effectively led by Pol Pot, known as “Brother Number 1.”

The Khmer Rouge instituted the most extreme social engineering project in 20th century history, surpassing even the savagery of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Details of their political program are sketchy, due to the secrecy of their regime, and interpretations of their theories are debated to this day. Essentially, the Khmer Rouge wanted to return to the glory days of their great Angkor Empire (802–1431 AD), a time before Western imperialism. They fiercely hated anything Western, as well as all non-Khmer people. Therefore, their program was based on returning to a pure version of their culture, unstained by French influence. By extension, they viewed anything modern – Western medicine, higher education, and so on – as evils to be destroyed. This was not merely theory; they meant to destroy modernity in their country.

Declaring that they were now in the Year Zero and that God was dead, the regime proceeded to empty out the cities at gunpoint. The city people were either murdered or sent to farming collectives to grow rice. Education, religion, and media were all forbidden; factories and hospitals were closed. The Khmer Rouge party ran all aspects of human life with an iron fist, mercilessly killing anyone with an education, anyone who wasn’t Khmer (such as those of Chinese or Vietnamese descent), and all those professing a religion. Through murder and the starvation from their inefficient farming and medical systems, the Khmer Rouge killed approximately 2 million people, or 25% of their entire population.

Prince Sihanouk was returned to Cambodia / Kampuchea in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge to serve as a figurehead king, a link to the old days of empire; but he quickly grew disillusioned with them and was placed under house arrest.

The Khmer Rouge’s critical error was their aggression against Vietnam. Fearing that Vietnam planned to dominate Cambodia, as it had in the past, the fiercely nationalistic leaders decided to attack Vietnam. Their invasion killed thousands of Vietnamese civilians. In 1979, the Vietnamese counterattacked and destroyed Kampuchea’s army in only two weeks, pushing the regime into Thailand, although some Khmer military units continued to fight on. Their victory ended the genocidal policies of the Khmer Rouge and established a communist government in Cambodia. The UN negotiated an end to hostilities, set up a peacekeeping force in Cambodia and, for the first time, actually ran the nation until democratic elections could be held in 1993.

The Vietnamese had released Sihanouk from house arrest when they defeated the Khmer Rouge; now, he became King of Cambodia once again, heading a constitutional monarchy. He abdicated the throne again in 2004, owing to old age, and was succeeded by his son, Norodom Sihamoni. He died in 2012, and is remembered, like Fidel Castro, as a true survivor; moreover, he gave Cambodians a sense of stability and continuity during an extremely unstable time in their national history.

Since 1993, Cambodian politics have been dominated by three issues. The first is facing the nation’s recent history of genocide. In 1994, thousands of Khmer Rouge guerillas surrendered as part of a government amnesty, ending their threat to the country; but that did not settle the question of justice for their former leaders. Some of these leaders, such as Pol Pot, had already died in exile. In July 2007, UN-backed tribunals finally began in Cambodia, arresting and trying former Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity and other charges. Several of the main leaders were found guilty and given long prison sentences.

The second issue has been Cambodia’s historically bad relationship with Thailand; the two kingdoms have fought many wars along their border. The modern controversies largely surround nationalist sentiments on both sides of the border and ownership of historic archeological sites in the frontier region. There have even been shooting incidents between the two countries in the border region, with UN efforts to cool the tensions.

Finally, Cambodia has a notably corrupt and undemocratic government. Embezzlement, bribery, and nepotism are rampant across the political hierarchy. In 2021, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked Cambodia as the 23rd most corrupt nation in the world, out of the 180 nations they cover. Elections are typically unfair or rigged; as a result, the Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has held the office for 25 years.

Despite these problems, Cambodia’s constitutional monarchy has survived. Like all decolonized nations, Cambodia faces a long struggle towards true democracy; given its horrific recent past, it is unsurprising that Cambodia’s road would be longer and more difficult than most.

Indonesia

The history of Dutch imperialism in Indonesia is remarkably similar to that of the British East India Company in India. In 1602, the royal government of the Netherlands founded the Dutch East India Company, the first multinational corporation, to colonize what is now Indonesia and monopolize its lucrative spice trade. This company became even richer than its British counterpart, sending over two and a half million tons of Asian goods to Europe over its lifetime. But, like its British counterpart, it was eventually nationalized and its Asian possessions became a colony of the Netherlands known as the Dutch East Indies, founded in 1800. At the time, the archipelago was not politically united; the inhabitants were a collection of many different ethnicities and religions. As with India, it was the imperialists who unwittingly united the people under a single concept: their desire for independence. Nationalists of the archipelago called themselves Indonesians.

Map of Indonesia, with names of some of the many islands in the archipelago. From Wikipedia Commons.

The Dutch effectively suppressed nationalist activity in the colony until the start of World War II changed the situation. Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies in January 1942, and the colonial defenders surrendered three months later. At first, most Indonesians welcomed the Japanese as liberators from the Dutch. The Japanese, however, exploited the people ruthlessly. The conquerors forced approximately half a million Indonesians to work for them under appalling conditions, sometimes deporting them to other countries; they also seized food crops to feed their army. Between overwork, seizure of food, and the violent repression of dissent, the Japanese killed about four million Indonesians during their occupation.

On the other hand, Japan prepared Indonesia for independence. The Japanese allowed the Indonesians to establish a local collaborationist government to administer the colony, to help them exploit the colony’s assets. This gave the Indonesians some experience in self-rule. As the Allies fought their way across the Pacific, the Japanese feared that the Allies might invade Indonesia. They wanted the Indonesians to help them resist an invasion, telling them that the Dutch would reimpose colonial rule if they won. The Japanese encouraged nationalism to promote their new program of local defense. This later led to an independence movement when the Dutch finally returned. Considering these two themes of exploitation and the encouragement of nationalism, it is easy to see why the Indonesians had a rather ambivalent attitude towards the Japanese.

The primary leader of the Indonesian nationalists (among many) was an architect named Sukarno (like many Javanese people, he used only one name). Sukarno was a very intelligent man, fluent in several languages, and fiercely nationalistic. Like Nehru in India, Sukarno believed that independence had to be wedded with modernity to build a strong nation. When the Japanese invaded, they found that the Dutch colonial government had sent him into internal exile in Indonesia, cut off from his supporters. The Japanese brought him back and asked him to lead nationalist and collaborationist efforts. He agreed, hoping the Japanese would eventually grant his nation independence.

That moment came sooner than he expected. When Japan surrendered in August 1945, both the Japanese and Indonesian nationalists pushed him to declare independence. He hesitated, as he was uncertain how the Allies would treat those who collaborated with the Japanese during the war. But he bowed to pressure, and on August 17 declared the independence of Indonesia. The guiding principles of the constitution were known as the Pancasila: humanitarianism, national unity, democracy, social justice (manifesting as socialist economic programs), and belief in God (and not any particular religion, in order to unite Indonesians of all faiths). The nationalist plan also called for Sukarno to serve as the first president, and fellow nationalist Mohammad Hatta to be his vice president.

The situation in Indonesia was extremely complex. Many different nationalist groups had armed themselves – some of them with weapons and previous training from the Japanese – and tried to assert authority in Indonesia. Sukarno and Hatta were not in control of most of it, and revolutionaries killed anyone they thought to be an enemy of Indonesian nationalism, from wealthy landowners and feudal lords, to foreigners, ethnic minorities, and Japanese troops.

The situation grew more complicated still as Allied forces, led by the British, arrived in late September 1945. While British forces had no objectives other than maintaining order, the Dutch troops were intent on regaining imperial control. In October, a major battle erupted in Surabaya in East Java, as local nationalist groups attacked British troops; the subsequent battle was the bloodiest in the revolution. The nationalists were defeated, but it showed the Westerners that the nationalists were a force they could not ignore.

The Dutch entered years-long negotiations with Sukarno, hoping to secure some power-sharing arrangement which would give them access to the resources of Indonesia. The nationalists not only faced Dutch troops, but internal threats as well. Muslim separatists pronounced the Indonesian Islamic State, a breakaway nation under Shariah rule. In September 1948, an Indonesian communist group clashed with nationalists, claiming that the nationalists were selling out to the Dutch by negotiating. When nationalist forces defeated them, it had the benefit of endearing the nationalists to the United States, who now viewed Sukarno as a potential ally in the Cold War.

In December 1948, the Dutch re-opened their offensive against the nationalists, and while they were successful on the battlefield, the effort backfired. The international community and the UN both supported the nationalists (it was one of the few times the US and the USSR agreed on something). Furthermore, the US was providing the Netherlands with millions of dollars in financial support as part of the Marshall Plan; the US now threatened to cut off this support if the Dutch did not accept a peace treaty and independence. This was an interesting case of dollar diplomacy, with the US reining in the Netherlands with money instead of force.

The Dutch could not afford to lose US aid or suffer international condemnation. They agreed to turn over sovereignty to Indonesia in December 1949, though not in the way the nationalists wanted. The Dutch established an independent state that was a loose confederation of non-contiguous states, some ruled by old feudal leaders. The nationalists accepted the deal, and the Dutch withdrew their forces. Within a year, the nationalists in the new parliament voted to disband this rickety system and create a unified republic. In August 1950, the Republic of Indonesiawas born, led by Sukarno and Hatta. The nationalists had secured their victory exactly five years to the day after Sukarno’s declaration of independence.

The initial period, from 1950 to 1959, was very chaotic. This was the first time that Indonesians had practiced national-level self-rule. There was a bewildering array of social voices in the new political scene. Some Muslin groups wanted Indonesia to be governed by Sharia. The communists, powerful in the cities, pushed for Marxist policies. Then there were regional affiliations, largely based on the rivalry between heavily-populated Java and the more rural outlaying regions. Class interests and ethnic differences also played a role. All these different groups coalesced into various political parties, vying for power in the parliament. Even the Army sought political representation as a distinct social group. Various revolts broke out around the country, and the Army was busy suppressing them; this gave the military particular political clout, as it was regarded as a necessary organization for national unity.

The economy was in bad condition. The revolution had destroyed important infrastructure, and many of the skilled technical workers had fled the violence or were killed. Inflation skyrocketed and agricultural distribution failed. While Sukarno was focused on building national unity and pride, he had no answers to the nation’s economic problems, and at times seemed hardly worried about them.

In international relations, Sukarno hosted the Bandung Conference in 1955, in which newly-decolonized nations promised to oppose imperialism and cooperate in building their new nations. It was also viewed as an early step in the nonaligned movement.

As the decade wore on, Sukarno became discouraged with the parliamentary system in Indonesia. It was accomplishing little, and seemed to be sidelining him as a political force. Hatta resigned from the vice presidency. Sukarno traveled to China and met Mao Zedong, admiring Mao’s centralized control over the nation. Sukarno was now convinced that Western-style democracy would not work in Indonesia. Over a period of two years, he established martial law in Indonesia and created a new system of government. By 1959, the new system was in place: Guided Democracy.

Rather than rely on parliamentary democracy, Sukarno turned instead to traditional indigenous politics, in which community elders governed by creating consensus between different groups, rather than by voting. He set up a corporatist federal structure, with different social groups represented in his National Council. He then worked to encourage these different groups to reach a consensus agreement on different political issues, so that no group would come away empty-handed and ready to revolt. The two most important groups were the military and the communists, who had to be carefully balanced against each other to prevent the violence that either could initiate.

Sukarno was growing more assertive, and even aggressive, in international affairs. In 1962, the nation almost launched a war against the Dutch for possession of Western New Guinea, the last region of Indonesia still in Dutch hands. A last-minute agreement transferred power to Indonesia, avoiding another war with the Netherlands.

In September 1963, the British relinquished control of their Malayan colonies, establishing the new nation of Malaysia. Sukarno saw Malaysia as a British puppet state intended to expand Western dominance over the region. In response, Sukarno launched a low-grade war against Malaysia known as the Konfrontasi. This was a combination of small-scale ground combat and terrorist attacks designed to inspire racial conflict within Malaysia. It continued until an armistice was agreed in 1966, with Malaysia having survived the test.

All the while, Sukarno was denouncing the US and the West and moving closer to the USSR and China, viewing those nations as the only hope to prevent further Western dominance of Southeast Asia.
Then Sukarno’s political balancing act between the army and the communists failed. In October 1965, General Suharto launched a coup, claiming that a communist revolt was in progress, something the communist parties denied. Nevertheless, Suharto led a massacre of communists across the nation, killing untold thousands of them. He then proceeded to force Sukarno to grant him more power, power which he then used to remove Sukarno from office and make himself head of government. In 1968, Suharto was formally appointed president.

Suharto immediately replaced Sukarno’s vision for the country with policies termed “The New Order.” Indonesia now sought foreign investment, particularly in the oil industry. Complex business regulations were simplified, and Suharto re-negotiated foreign debt at advantageous terms. The economy grew spectacularly, but not at all evenly. Wealthy middle and upper-class businesspeople benefitted far more than the massive lower class. Suharto was also guilty of large-scale nepotism; his family members were given tremendous advantages, such as no-bid government contracts, and amassed a huge fortune as result. Java, where most of the factories were located, grew faster than rural areas, although the government took some steps to rectify the regional differences. Politically, Suharto had the support of the military and used it to maintain authoritarian control, while still allowing a degree of democracy. Still, Suharto had to suppress uprisings, particularly Islamic ones, and even invaded the Portuguese colony of East Timor in the archipelago, stirring up a long-lasting insurgency against Indonesia and drawing accusations of imperialism.

In 1998, a monetary crisis in Thailand threw the entire Asian economy into disorder, badly affecting Indonesia. Organized riots broke out in Jakarta, and the parliament refused to cooperate with Suharto. The ageing Suharto decided to resign the presidency. He was to be (to date) the last of the Indonesian strongmen.

The next period was known as Reformasi (political reformation) which continued over the course of several presidencies. Reformasi referred to the strengthening of democracy, elections, and freedom of speech, as well as more effective law enforcement. Of course, this new freedom produced more calls for independence from different sectors of society, threatening national unity. Corruption and political scandals continued, including one presidential impeachment. Internationally, Indonesia became more integrated into the global economy, and East Timor was granted independence in 2002.

Despite political scandals, and several major natural disasters such as the 2004 tsunami, the economy grew steadily until 2013, when it finally began to cool. Politically, the country has improved over the last twenty years, with the chances of uprisings and revolts diminishing.

Singapore

The island city-state of Singapore is located at the southern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula.

While the city-state of Singapore resembles Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia inasmuch as it was a participant in decolonization, its history is very different from those nations. In fact, Singapore’s history is unique, and demonstrates how well decolonization can progress. Singapore is, for the most part, a success story, especially compared with the rest of Southeast Asia.

Singapore is a city-state (a nation made up of a single city). There are only three of these left in the world, the other two being Monaco and Vatican City. The nation of Singapore is a small island on the southern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula, only 274 square miles in area (slightly larger than El Paso, Texas). The British took control of the island in the early 19th century and established a port. It was an excellent choice of location, astride the Straits of Malacca. Most of the world’s Asian maritime trade passed through these straits, so the British turned the island city into an entrepot. This type of port is used as a convenient location to unload and store trade goods, where they are then purchased and shipped to other regions. Furthermore, the port was on an island, making it easily defensible (or so the British thought). Since the British also owned the colony of Malaysia adjacent to Singapore, they believed the island was quite secure. Over the next 200 years, Singapore became one of the primary trading ports and most cosmopolitan cities in the world, bustling with shipping and trade and home to expatriates from around the world.

In early 1942, the Japanese captured Malaysia and Singapore as part of their Pacific campaign. Although Singapore was strongly defended against attack from the sea, the Japanese came down the Malaysia peninsula and captured the city from behind, handing the British Empire a humiliating defeat. During the war, Allied forces never attempted to capture Singapore, preferring to bypass it on their way to Japan. They couldn’t afford to let the Japanese keep such an elaborate port, either, so they bombed the port severely. When the Japanese evacuated Singapore after the war, the British returned to retake control of the island colony.

When they arrived, they found that city had devolved into near-anarchy. Allied bombing had not only destroyed the port facilities, but also the city’s infrastructure; there was no electricity, running water, or telephone service. The population lacked food, which led to robbery and violent crime. The British military government worked to reestablish basic services and get the port back into operation.

The British, however, found that the locals had a different attitude towards them now. While the British had presented themselves as invincible before the war, their defeat at the hands of Asians proved otherwise. Singaporeans’ resentment of imperial rule now manifest as workers’ strikes against the British; their new attitude was summed up by the popular word merdeka – “independence” in the Malay language. This attitude was similar to what the Dutch encountered in Indonesia and the French found in Indochina. But the British, who had not been occupied by the Nazis during the war, were prepared to leave Singapore, as they were already leaving India.

The process of decolonization was delayed by a communist insurgency in Malaysia known as the Malayan Emergency. The British, as junior partners in the Cold War with the US, were unwilling to leave Malaysia and Singapore while the insurgents were trying to establish a socialist government. In both colonies, the British instituted the Internal Security Act, which allowed them to arrest and imprison, without trial, anyone thought to be a threat to security. As the Malaysian insurgents were socialists, the British cracked down on Singaporean leftists, socialists or not. Since most of the pro-independence leaders were leftists, this was viewed as an attack on independence itself.

The worst of the Malayan Emergency was over by 1953, brutally suppressed by the British. At this point, the British decided to transition Singapore, by degrees, to independence. The preliminary step was to create a local Legislative Assembly that would eventually serve as the parliament. For now, the British would retain control over security, and had the power to veto any of the Assembly’s legislation. When elections for Assembly were held in 1959, the left-wing People’s Action Party (PAP) dominated the legislature – much to the UK’s chagrin, too, as some of the PAP members were pro-communist. Lee Kuan Yew became the first prime minister.

The PAP’s priority was eliminating poverty, mainly by inviting foreign investment into Singapore. The assembly drained a swamp and built a large industrial park outside the city, then enticed foreign corporations to set up there by offering strong tax incentives. It also modernized the education system, as an educated population would be necessary to attract foreign investment; all students were required to learn English in addition to Malay. The PAP also invested heavily in a public housing program to aid the homeless. They built over 25,000 new apartments; they were hardly luxurious, but were affordable and went a long way towards ending homelessness.

Despite these efforts, PAP leadership was dubious that Singapore could survive as an independent nation. After all, it had no natural resources and no room for expansion. It seemed completely dependent on the vicissitudes of global trade. Some leaders thought that, when the UK granted Malaysia its independence, Singapore should become part of that new nation, rather than go it alone. Not all PAP members agreed; the leftists opposed the idea because Malaysians were quite anticommunist and right-wing after the Emergency, and so thought they would suddenly find themselves in a hostile country. The ruling factions of Malaysia were wary as well, as their power base was among the ethnic Malay population, and the Singaporeans were majority Chinese. They felt that Singapore would be naturally opposed to Malaysian control. Nevertheless, the UK decided to grant independence to both Singapore and Malaysia together, as a single country. In July 1963, the Federation of Malaysia was founded.

Ethnic tensions between the Malays and Chinese immediately flared. Since Malaysia was majority Malayan, the government instituted affirmative action programs benefitting Malays; the Chinese majority of Singapore resented this. Rumors also circulated through Malaysia that the PAP was abusing Malays in Singapore. This was the moment that Sukarno chose to launch the Konfrontasi to instigate ethnic strife in the new nation and break it apart. The resulting riots required police actions and curfews to suppress.
While the Konfrontasi ended, the ill-will between ethnicities was such that, in August 1965, the parliament of Malaysia voted to oust the city of Singapore from the nation. Singapore had no choice but to become an independent state, the Republic of Singapore. In this respect, the konfrontasi had been a success. The UN accepted Singapore’s application, and the city – state had to make nationhood work, like it or not. The PAP remained in power, and Lee Kuan Yew remained prime minister; during the merger, however, he had removed leftist politicians from the party, as they had opposed his plans for the merger, and shifted its policies to center-right.

Fortunately, the PAP had set in motion the programs to improve the economy through foreign investment, and subsequent governments retained this program. Singapore invited major oil companies to establish refineries on the island, offering generous tax incentives. Soon, Singapore became a major refinery hub, although the nation itself had no oil reserves. Its manufacturing base was threatened in the 1980s when other Asian nations held the advantage of large, cheap labor forces; Singapore adapted by switching to high-tech industries, such as computer silicon wafer manufacturing, which gave their better-educated workers a competitive advantage. Singapore continued to expand public housing, and fought unemployment by investing in the service sectors – restaurants and so on – to meet the needs of the growing tourist industry. The PAP was the primary political party the entire time, and Lee Kuan Yew the prime minister from 1959 to 1990; he is often regarded as the father of the country.

The PAP was economically very successful, and Singapore now has the second-highest per capita GDP in the world. It has a less stellar reputation for human rights. Although the PAP has kept the government remarkably free of corruption (it is thought to be the 4th least corrupt in the world), Lee Kuan Yew was known as a harsh, authoritarian figure, though hardly a Mao or Pol Pot. He often repressed labor unions, suppressed free speech and demonstrations, and charged political opponents with defamation. Even today, the government is considered a “flawed democracy,” with room for improvement in transparency and freedom. Male homosexual behavior, for example, is still outlawed, as are public protests outside of a single place in the city.

Conclusion

After the war, all the countries in this chapter shared three things: European imperialism, Japanese occupation, and growing nationalism and anti-imperialism. While decolonization was never entirely smooth, the Cold War complicated it further. Communist involvement in the process brought the attention of the US, UK, China, and the USSR, all of which sought to influence the process to their benefit.

One major factor in decolonization was the recent history of the local imperial power. Because of their experience in the war, the French and Dutch decided to reoccupy their colonies, inevitably leading to violence, particularly in Indochina. Even the British, who were acquiescing to decolonization, found it difficult to withdraw while preventing communists from taking power in their stead. Nevertheless, British colonies suffered much less violence than those fought for by France and the Netherlands.

Newly-independent nations faced an intimidating list of social, economic, and political problems. Ethnic tensions, long repressed by the imperialists, came to the fore. Different groups vied for political power, including those willing to use violence in pursuit of their goals. The resurgence of nationalism complicated relations with the developed world. Interestingly, this manifested in post-colonial art, which shied away from European influences and explored indigenous themes and styles instead. The trend moderated by the mid-1980s, when the new nations were ready to socially re-engage with the West on their own terms. Social trends can usually be traced in popular art in this way.

In the end, nations which charted the most moderate course developed the quickest, though never without difficulty. And extremist responses were, unsurprisingly, seen mostly where the imperialists fought to retain the colony. Extremist tendencies had mostly run their courses by the 1980s, by which time the region was stabilized and mainly devoted to democracy. Southeast Asia’s problems are not over, but the region now has the necessary political and social stability to address its problems without resorting to radicalism.

Glossary

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN): The army of South Vietnam.

Bandung Conference: A 1955 conference in Bandung, Indonesia, of 29 newly-decolonized nations.

Cambodian Civil War: The Khmer Rouge’s war against the Cambodian government, 1967 to 1975.

City-state: A city which is a nation unto itself, such as Singapore. There are only three left in the world.

Democratic Kampuchea: The Khmer Rouge’s name for Cambodia.

Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV): North Vietnam, a socialist state that existed from 1954 to 1976, when Vietnam was reunified.

Dien Bien Phu: Site of the famous 1954 battle between France and the Viet Minh; ended with a Viet Minh victory, ending French imperialism in Indochina.

Dollar diplomacy: Using money to influence foreign countries; a favorite US tactic after WWII.

Entrepot: A trading port with warehouses, used to store and re-sell goods.

Federation of Malaysia: The country created from the colony of British Malaya.

First Indochina War: The war fought between the Viet Minh and French Forces for control of Vietnam; ended with the Geneva Accords.
Geneva Accords: The 1954 agreement between the French and Viet Minh on the future of Vietnam; the agreements were ignored by both sides.

Guided Democracy: A form of authoritarianism which allows a certain amount of democracy, but only within proscribed limits.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: A decision by the US Congress in 1964, granting the president of the United States almost unlimited power to protect US forces in Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh: A communist revolutionary which fought against Japanese occupation in Vietnam; subsequently led a revolt against French rule (First Indochina War) and then South Vietnam (Second Indochina War).

Ho Chi Minh Trail: A series of roads and trails from North Vietnam, through neutral Cambodia and Loas, into South Vietnam; allowed Vet Cong personnel and equipment to reach South Vietnam.

Hun Sen: Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1985 to the present; one of the longest-serving PMs in the world.

Khmer: The majority ethnic group in Cambodia.

Khmer Republic: Short-lived republic in Cambodia, born from a 1970 coup and lasting until the Khmer Rouge victory in 1975.

Khmer Rouge: A Cambodian communist group, led by Pol Pot.

King Norodom Sihanouk: King of Cambodia; lived 1922 – 2012.

Kingdom of Cambodia: Name for the modern nation of Cambodia.

Konfrontasi: A low-level war between Indonesia and Malaysia from 1963 to 1966.

Lee Kuan Yew: First prime minister of Singapore; often regarded as father of the country.

Lon Nol: Nationalist Cambodian Prime Minister who led the 1970 revolt against King Sihanouk; fled the country after the Khmer Rouge victory of 1975.

Malayan Emergency: A communist insurgency in Malaysia from 1948 to 1960.

Merdeka: The Malay word for independent; used as a nationalist battle cry in Singapore.

Ngo Dinh Diem: First president of Vietnam, 1955 to 1963.

Nguyen Van Thieu: The last president of South Vietnam; served from 1967 to 1975, when the North Vietnamese conquered the country.

Pancasila: The foundational political philosophy of Indonesia, based on five principles: belief in God, humanitarianism, national unity, democracy, and social justice.

Paris Peace Accords: The 1973 agreement ending the war between North and South Vietnam. Was almost immediately violated by both sides.

People’s Action Party (PAP): The largest political party in Singapore, responsible for guiding the nation to independence. Was originally leftist; party leader Lee Kuan Yew then pulled it center-right.

People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN): The army of North Vietnam.

Pol Pot: Leader of the Khmer Rouge communist movement in Cambodia from 1963 to 1981.

Reformasi: the post-Suharto period in Indonesia, emphasizing a more liberal culture.

Republic of Indonesia: Name of the post-colonial nation of Indonesia.

Republic of Singapore: Official name of the nation of Singapore.

Republic of Vietnam (ROV): The formal name of South Vietnam, from 1955 to 1975.

Sangkum: A political party in Cambodia, led by King Sihanouk. It has a notoriously vague political philosophy, which Sihanouk called “Buddhist Socialism.”

Second Indochina War: The war between North and South Vietnam, with extensive international involvement, from 1955 to 1975.

Sharia: Islamic law, based on religious scriptures.

Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVN): The unified socialist nation of Vietnam, 1976 to the present.

Suharto: Military dictator of Indonesia from 1967 to 1988; his regime was good for the economy but not for civil rights.

Sukarno: Indonesian revolutionary and first president of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967.

Tet Offensive: The 1968 Viet Cong offensive which convinced Americans that the war in Vietnam could not be won.

The New Order: The name for Suharto’s political philosophy, based on economic growth and political authoritarianism.

Viet Cong: Communist insurgents fighting in South Vietnam.

Viet Minh: Communist forces fighting against French occupation in Vietnam; led by Ho Chi Minh.

Vietnamization: President Nixon’s plan of handing the fighting in Vietnam over to the South Vietnamese, arming and training them to fight the North without US assistance.