The Southeast Asian community evolution : legacies of pre-colonial and colonial past in ASEAN community-building.

• Main Author: Mario, Masaya.
• Other Authors: Emrys Myles Khean Aun Chew
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55266
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

From Indianization, Sinicization, Islamization, to Westernization, the Southeast Asia, since ancient times, has always been a place exposed to external influences in terms of cultures, religions, and communities. Before the West arrived, these influences established relatively peaceful communities with people moving from one place to another without border restriction, creating the "borderless communities." This type of community drastically changed since the Western powers arrived in the region. The colonialism period, intensified during is" century, successfully deformed the Southeast Asian indigenous community where international politics was exercised through the sacrosanct concept of mandala, negara, or the Chinese tributary system. They stereotyped and divided local communities, used them for their economic benefit, and drew lines and mapped them as single-handedly, creating the "colonial communities." Although the decolonization period was practically over, the legacies of colonialism remain in form of fixed boundaries, rigid sovereignty, territorial limits, the rise of nationalism, and, most importantly, the creation of the new "imagined communities" in the form of modern nation-states. During the early post-colonial period, these newly independent nation-states tried to form a new community to maintain regional security and stability with only ASEAN survived as the "community of nation-states." In the 21st century, when the ASEAN leaders envision creating a new form of community, the legacies of colonialism still persist. How does it affect the idea of ASEAN Community, positively and negatively? More importantly, how did the historical concept of community in Southeast Asia evolve at the first place? Using historical chronology approach, this research explores the evolution concept of communities' since the pre-colonial, during, and post-colonial period. In particular, this research emphasizes on the deformation of Southeast Asian indigenous communities by the colonial powers and how it shaped the creation of the new imagined communities and subsequently affected the current ASEAN's effort to build ASEAN community.