The question of what constitutes a nation is an important but sadly under-discussed question in Southeast Asia. Most in the region would rather focus on ostensibly worthier topics, like ramping up economic growth or focusing on lowering inequality. But the question gets to the heart of why we should even bother with those other topics: national identity.
At its heart, national identity decides who gets to be a part of ‘us’ and who gets left out as ‘them’ — political identity on the national level. Get the problems surrounding this identity wrong and you end up with hostile sentiments like: ‘They’ are taking ‘our’ jobs, or ‘They’ hoard all the wealth and refuse to share with ‘us’. When these sentiments are pushed to their logical end, ‘we’ and ‘they’ must part ways lest sustained violence break out, and one nation splits into (at least) two.
Southeast Asia has struggled with the issue of national identity for a long time. After all, this region is among the world’s most diverse in terms of human groupings. Layers upon layers of tribal, ethnic, dynastic, religious, imperial, and colonial histories stack up on the same patches of land that now form national territories.
In precolonial times, as James C. Scott has noted, groups that found the domination of a nearby kingdom unbearable could just leave for the highlands — or perhaps islands offshore. In modern times, while civic nationalism prevails on paper, those who don’t belong to their nation’s dominant ethnicity and religion are often stuck on the periphery — missing out on the expanding economy, lagging behind in educational attainment.
If minority grievances go unaddressed over time, history notes, those on the periphery will resist the center. This week’s Spotlight article outlines the problem around the world. Examples are aplenty in Southeast Asia, and the most striking are those of Singapore and Timor Leste. The first broke away, while the second fought its way out. However, Southeast Asia still contains many unresolved tensions: southern Thailand, southern Philippines, Papua, etc. Our second Spotlight presents a response to the secessionist troubles from the Philippines.
The rise of secessionist forces in Europe, the Catalans’ being merely the latest, should give us in Southeast Asia pause. If mature states in Europe with considerable resources struggle to keep those forces contained, Southeast Asia states must reconsider conventional approaches to their secessionist areas. Delaying it will not resolve the issue.
