Japanese Cruelty in SE Asia

Colonialism in SE Asia can be viewed with mixed opinions. Today, statesmen argue it was an improvement, gearing up the region for global involvement. Others ascertain it’s a sad, crippling chapter in the region’s history.

Compared to the Japanese occupation of SE Asia during WWII, Western Colonialism was a day at the beach.

The Sumatra “Death Railway” punished not only the indigenous but POW’s from Australia, and Asia. The plan was staggering, inhumane, evil, and blatant whereas western colonial rule has not been portrayed in the same arena.
The Sumatra “Death Railway” construction is something that can be mentioned in the same breath as the Nazi concentration camps and work camps under Josef Stalin where a true violation of fundamental humanity is exhausted.
How would you categorize the “Death Railway”?


Works Used
http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/asia_sumatra3.html

Neher versus Heidhues

Neher versus Heidhues

Two comprehensive, concise histories of Southeast Asia; each shine in a different light.

Both authors covered similar topics ranging from the indigenous to Chinese settlement, colonialism, and the present.

Looking at Thailand; for my fancy, as one taking more interest in Thailand compared to other nations in the region, I found Neher’s coverage of recent events in every Southeast Asian nation, and the section on specific leaders more enriching.

Heidhues reports a fine chronological timeline of Thailand’s recent issues beginning with Japanese relations, the photo of a Japanese general displays the strong presence Japan had undertaken during WWII. Both agree on general facts but Neher paints a rosier picture than Heidhues. Neher even goes as far as giving seven reasons for Thailand’s recent stability, including democracy whereas Heidhues challenges the notion of democratic success in the Kingdom.

Neher does a fine, concise expose on King Bhumibol, attributing the stability of the nation to his majesty. On the flipside, Heidhues refers to him as a “figurehead.” Is this a case of fluff, propaganda, lese majeste’ fears or all of the aforementioned. Heidhues appears to have gone more on a bit of a controversial or perhaps questioning path, where Neher could be perceived as playing it safer when mentioning of King Bhumibol.

Heidhues should be credited with providing an in-depth timeline of Prime Ministers as the country adopted the position the last 80 years. What’s interesting is that both differ on acknowledging Bhumibol as a moderator; Neher is more of an advocate

Both agree that with 15 bloodless coups, and 17 changes in Constitution since 1932, it’s difficult to usher in progress but that is indicative of the region-rapid political change. Thailand is the only nation to remain independent, never being colonized. With that said, the nation is arguably one of the more steadfast states in the region. Bhumibol’s nearly 63-year rule has had a calming, stable effect on Thailand, acting as a paternal, spiritual rock of a leader.

Works Cited

Heidhues, Mary Somers. Southeast Asia, A Concise History. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000.

Neher, Clark D. Southeast Asia Crossroads of the World. Dekalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Nothern Iliinois University, 2004.

Take That Pol Pot

It's a breath of fresh air to see how Pol Pot's plan to "purify" Cambodia never fully materialized. Cambodians have made a new life for themselves in my own backyard: Long Beach, California. Here they preserved their culture and traditions. Why would Cambodians choose such a locale to immigrate upon leaving their nation?

http://www.cambodiatown.org/

Follow-up to Kevin's Original Post---Australian Author Pardoned in Thailand

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/4741301/Australian-author-Harry-Nicolaides-freed-after-insulting-Thai-monarch.html

Australian author Harry Nicolaides, 41, who was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to slandering the Thai royal family but received a royal pardon after spending five months in prison, and was released February 20, 2009 is a indication that defaming the king will not be tolerated by Thais or foreigners. In a time when political parties are splitting in Thailand between pro and anti monarchists, while the government is taking no chances in making examples of all who defame the crown.

How can this continue, and what are the ramifications?

Senseless Muslim Insurgency in Thailand

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_southern_violence;_ylt=AjtbCMNvx4My9hVdi6gOGVcBxg8F

Unfortunately Muslim insurgents have returned to this peaceful Buddhist nation. The strange this is as in most cases of Thailand insurgency, no one claims responsibility unlike larger terrorist groups such as Al Quada.

Why do you feel this group of 20 militant Muslims fail to claim responsibility?

Leaders of Southeast Asia

Have their leaders served them well in the 19th and 20th centuries?

The question of whether the leaders of Southeast Asia have served their nations well in the 19^th and 20^th century is arbitrary to say the least.

In all fairness to them, leading in a region which can’t make up its mind which type of government to run; authoritarian or civil can be unsettling (Neher 97). Since gaining independence they have struggled with this. They haven’t had the luxury of having long-standing stability neighboring them like the US, and most of Western Europe. Despite the roller coaster of politics, Southeast Asian leadership seems to be settling; nationalistic, revolutionary, conservative, authoritarian-developmental, and democratic are amongst the diverse leaders of the region.

Some of the attempts to govern have been more tumultuous than others. Cambodia’s Pol Pot’s campaign was criminal, setting back Cambodia in a comparable Nazi-Germany Holocaust fashion (Neher). The wiping away of a countries education, culture, and religious system is a bizarre crime that I am appalled wasn’t halted sooner. This, just thirty years after the Holocaust, and the West had not ended the atrocities? What’s also mind-boggling is that Pol Pot was only sentenced to house arrest (Neher).

As a friend of many who fled the Khmer Rouge torture, I can tell you that many survivors have amazingly built new lives for themselves in Long Beach, Ca. The city has more Cambodians than any other place in the world but Cambodia. I can tell you first hand that these people who were once wealthy elitists, have carved out a modest niche for themselves in Long Beach, owning shops, restaurants, and other successful businesses in a their own part of the city.

Many survivors of the Cambodian genocide have resettled in the United States. At the center of their story are the horrors of the destruction itself: an eruption of atrocity sustained by a virulent mix of racism and ideology, and a system of terror that leveled everything -- marriage, religion, education -- that undermined total obedience to the state (Greenspan).

Unfortunately, Cambodia hasn’t been able to fully prosper post-genocide. Today it is hampered with corruption, poverty, disease, and one of the weakest economies in the region but in much better shape than under the rule of Pol Pot.

Works Cited

Neher, Clark D. Southeast Asia Crossroads of the World. Dekalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Nothern Iliinois University, 2004.

Greenspan, Henry, 1948-
Survivors: Cambodian Refugees in the United States (review)
Holocaust and Genocide Studies - Volume 20, Number 1, Spring 2006, pp. 143-146

Jolie Excercises Voice and Intelligence

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021200632.html

Angelina Jolie threw her 2 cents in after visiting a Thai refugee camp for Rohingya, a Muslim minority people fleeing nearby Myanmar's military dictatorship. As we discussed earlier, seen on CNN, the Thai government is strictly forbidding this group into the country.

Reasons: Muslim insurgency is on the rise in the south of Thailand, and the government has had its fair share of instability in the last year; they don't need the slightest of disruptions. Also, Myanmar (formerly Burma) haven't had the strongest of diplomacy, dating back to the British nearly colonizing both, but the Thai exerccised enough suaveness to avert a British footprint in their land.

Jolie, did have to the wisdom to not take a direct shot at the crown; therefore she has no reason to worry about the ever-popular Lese Majeste law.