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Kung walang alipin, at may kalayaan!
("When there are no slaves, and we have freedom!")

"Ang Bayan Ko" (nationalist protest song, Philippines), stanza,
from poem by José Paciano Rizal (1861-1896).

Political map, Southeast Asia.
Source: IRASEC
l'Institut de Recherche sur l'Asie du Sud-Est Contemporaine
Bangkok, Thailand.

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• Most countries of Southeast Asia are internally divided by mountains or seas — and sometimes by both. And most of them are also divided from one another by mountains and seas. Despite their linguistic, cultural and political diversity, most of these countries fought wars of national liberation or independence during the past one hundred years or so.

• Since the 1890s, the political-geographical boundaries of South East Asia have ebbed and flowed with the tides of modern and contemporary social and international history. ¹ That fact is etymologically consistent with the Latin origins of the word region. Derived from regio, it means "an area under one ruler."

¹ For a summary of competing imperial perspectives, nationalist forces and Cold War conflicts shaping Southeast Asia's fluid boundaries, see Donald K. Emmerson, "'Southeast Asia': What's in a Name?" Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 15, no. 1 (1984), pp. 1-21.

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• Early in your research project, investigate Southeast Asia resources in Hamilton Library.

• Regularly updated reports from New Mandala at The Australian National University. New Mandala offer "new perspectives on mainland Southeast Asia."

• Search SEASIA-L's Southeast Asia discussion archives from June 1998 to the present.

• Development, environment and security are treated in The South China Sea WWW Virtual Library.

• "The Mekong Network Project provides information on Southeast Asia, and also includes a selection of articles on other, unrelated topics. The Southeast Asia pages focus primarily on Cambodia and Burma [and, to a lesser degree, on Laos, Vietnam, China and Thailand -- v.k.p.]. Other areas of the site include articles and essays on a wide range of topics."

• Part of Yale University's Genocide Studies Program, the Cambodia Genocide Program covers Cambodia's genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, as well as the involvement of outside powers like Vietnam, the U.S., China and the ASEAN "front-line states."

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• Following the Revolution of 23 August 1896 in the Philippines, the Malolos Constitution (1898-1899) was the fourth, final and most elaborate of four constitutions written for the First Philippine Republic. This was Asia's first constitutional republic.

• Following the Asia-Pacific phase of the Spanish-American War, the Philipines was conquered and occupied by the United States in the Philippine-American War, becoming America's first Asian colony. Novelist Samuel Clemens (literary name: "Mark Twain"), former President Grover Cleveland and others criticized the U.S. invasion of the Philippines. In 1898, they formed the Anti-Imperialist League. Some of them openly collaborated with revolutionary Filipino leaders during the Philippine-American War.

• Casualty figures totaled by historian Luzviminda B. Francisco from U.S. commanders' reports on combat in all provinces in all months when fighting occurred during the Philippine-American War let her infer that 600,000 Filipino combatants and civilians died. These deaths occurred — directly or indirectly — as a result of fighting during February 1899 - July 1902. See Francisco's classic study The Philippines: An End of an Illusion / Pambungad sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas, AREAS series (vol. 2, no. 2) (London: Association for Radical East Asian Studies, 1973).

• More Filipinos died during the continuing military struggle for independence after 1902, especially in southern Mindanao. Thus, to Luzviminda Francisco's total, one must add the Filipinos killed resisting the U.S. during the next twelve years.

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• For reporting on current events in English and Filipino (Tagalog), try Philippine Political Update.

• Walk through a Philippine Studies portal prepared by the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

• Or select from 40 Filipino and Filipino-American newspapers and magazines at Philippine News-Link.

• For current and historical events, consult the Index to Philippine Newspapers (University Library, U.P.-Diliman).

• Consult the Center for People Empowerment in Governance for high-quality archived CenPEG Issue Analysis papers discussing urgent problems and developments in the Philippines — and proposing solutions.

• Bulatlat (Alipato Media Center Inc.) provides insight and commentary. In Filipino, bulatlat is the root of the verb bulatlatin meaning "to examine in detail, to investigate."

• Stop the Killings in the Philippines draws attention to human rights violations, including extrajudicial kidnapping, torture and execution of journalists and political activists during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

• Pinoy Weekly Online brings incisive investigative journalism from the Philippines (in Tagalog).

• Look up Filipino/Tagalog words in Northern Illinois University's Tagalog Online Dictionary.

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Ha Long Bay, Quang Ninh Province, northern Viet Nam. Source: Google Images, 2006 [?].

• The VietGate portal opens up to 100,000 Viet Nam-related websites. (As of 8 October 2009, this had not updated since 17 March 2008).

• Read the "Culture" essay by Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (last updated 22 August 2007).

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• Richard Jensen's annotated bibliography on the Vietnam Wars of 1945-1975 lists websites, books and articles.

• Or work your way through a substantial bibliography compiled by Edwin E. Moïse.

• Visit The Wars for Viet Nam: 1945 to 1975, a Vassar College site.

• Also of value is PBS' American Experience: Vietnam Online.

• "At the current pace, it will take 300 years and more than USD 10 billion to clear Vietnam of left-over bombs, shells and mines, a humanitarian and economic scourge in parts of the country. With aid, the agency in charge of clearing unexploded ordnance estimated that only about half could be cleared by 2050, said Phan Duc Tuan, an army colonel and deputy head of the military's engineering command. The agency and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation have released a report detailing the problem in six central provinces that saw some of the heaviest fighting during the war" (Reuters, quoted in DeveEx Global Development Briefing [The Development Executive Group], 6 August 2009).

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• The Dutch East Indies in photographs, 1860-1940 is a collection of 3,000 photographs at the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (The Memory of the Netherlands Project Office, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, The Nethrlands). Most of the photos were taken by professional photographers who took pictures of landscapes and street life, in addition to photographing houses and factories and taking portrait and group photos.

• The collection "Pioneer photography from the Dutch Indies" contains 4500 photographs documenting life in the former colony in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• "Indonesia Independent" consists of photographs taken during the second half of the war for independence from the Dutch and afterwards (1947-1953), courtesy of the Netherlands Museum for Photography, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

• Students of Indonesia's history and politics may search five e-mail lists and three databases on Indonesia Publications.

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• USINDO publications are a product of the United States-Indonesia Society (archived, 2002-2007).

• Try the Online University's site on Indonesia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic World, and American Society.

• Supporting resistance against a "crackdown on freedom of expression" in eastern Indonesia, the Moluccas International Campaign for Human Rights presents "facts, opinions and news."

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• And in 1997, SLORC reinvented itself as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). For a colorful, celebratory, regime-friendly depiction of events in Myanmar, visit The Golden Land of Mynamar.

• Challenging the legitimacy of the military rulers, opponents continue to call their country "Burma." Also for information and analysis not censored by the Government, check out BurmaNet News. And see ALTSEAN, the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma.

• The Chin Human Rights Organization documents "racial discrimination, forced labour, rape, and religious persecution" committed against "the Chin as well as many other peoples in Burma." (This website was down for a considerable period during 2009.)

• Donald M. Seekins' Burma Briefing analyzes causes and prospects of the social protest movements of August-October 2007 in Burma (1 October 2007).

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• The Geopolitics and Economics of Burma's Military Regime, 1962-2007. Understanding SPDC [State Peace and Development Counci] Tyranny is a follow-up report by Professor Seekins (11 November 2007).

• According to Burma Review editor Dr. Rajshekhar of Jawaharlal Nehru University, this "academic blog journal" is "taking Burma to the World."

• The Democratic Voice of Burma is published in Burmese and English, as well as in Arakan, Kachin, Karen, Karenni and Shan.

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• In the western part of the island of Timor, the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi-Ambeno is separated from the rest of East Timor — by Indonesia on the east and by the Savu Sea on the north.

• View video clips of reporting by John Pilger on Burma and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste ("East Timor").

• After enduring twenty-four years of occupation by Indonesia (1975-1999), East Timor entered into a subsequent interim period under the aegis of the United Nations. Constitutionally independent since 2002, East Timor's formal status continues intermittently to be precarious.

• The rest of East Timor also remains divided and politically vulnerable. Reconciliation between formerly warring factions of East Timorese society will likely be a protracted and challenging process. See the "Final Report" of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (last modified, 2 August 2004).

• Examine UN Transitional Administration in East Timor documents produced during 1999-2005.

• Another resource is East Timor Studies, a project of the Timor-Leste Stdies Association.

• For independent reporting on reconstruction, women's issues, oil and missing people (1999-2006), consult Back Door E-News on East Timor.

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• In the Federation of Malaysia, Malaysiakini publishes "news and views that matter" (in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and English). Reading the headlines and initial paragraphs of Malaysiakini news reports is free, as are many of the letters and comments. To read the full text of articles, one must subscribe.

• Aliran Monthly is a journal published by Aliran Kesedaran Negara ("National Consciousness Movement"). This multi-ethnic reform organization began in 1977. Aliran's purpose is "to conscientise the public."

• The Center for Orang Asli Concerns (Subang Jaya, Malaysia) reports and comments "on the Orang Asli, the indigenous minority peoples of Peninsular Malaysia."

• "Peninsular Malaysia" or "Western Malaysia" includes all of Malaysia other than Sabah and Sarawak — the two "Eastern" or "insular" states of Malaysia. They are located on Borneo, the third-largest island in the world. Borneo also includes the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam and four provinces of Indonesia.

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Last modified, 14 November 2009.

© 1999-2009, Vincent K. Pollard.

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