International: Larry the great regionalist?

What is South-east Asia? For long it was an idea and a place given meaning only from the outside. Suvarṇabhūmi, land of gold, for ancient Indians; Nanyang, southern seas, for Chinese; and South-Eastern Asia for Howard Malcolm, a Bostonian reverend, in his 1839 travel memoir. They all meant different things. “Some names, like ‘rose’, acknowledge what exists. Others, like ‘unicorn’, create what otherwise would not exist. In between lie names that simultaneously describe and invent reality. ‘Southeast Asia’ is one of those,” wrote Don Emmerson, Stanford South-east Asianist. Perhaps the ontological debate about the region is an essential component of its definition. To be South-east Asian is to constantly ask who we are, to embrace the fluidity, not rigidity, of human identities.

Yet, a world of realpolitik between territorial nation-states has little time for these musings. The second world war and its aftermath hardened boundaries and borders: from the Allied forces’ South East Asia Command in 1943 to the formation of ASEAN in 1967. If colonial and Cold War conflict is what spirited South-east Asians into being, at least in our political costumes, then the 21st century’s primary geopolitical contest threatens to divide us. Beijing or DC? Trump’s tariffs and attendant ignorance—this week he suggested that Vietnam should buy more American SUVs—are just the headline concerns about a broader US retreat from the world. 

Already over three-quarters of the world’s countries have a more positive view of China than of the US. Within South-east Asia, a majority of people surveyed say ASEAN should align with China over the US, if forced to pick. Singaporeans surveyed also believe that China has a more positive influence on Asia than does the US. The governments of Cambodia and Laos are already firmly in China’s orbit, while the Philippines is a US treaty ally and Singapore is a military partner that wants non-alignment. Will foreign interests try and cleave ASEAN apart?

Not if the guitar hero can help it. Lawrence Wong, prime minister, this week released “Why ASEAN matters”, a video calling for greater regional integration, something the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) believes will be a bulwark amidst geopolitical uncertainty. Wong has now completed visits to all ASEAN capitals, Myanmar aside. (He hopes to, he said with characteristic understatement, when “the situation is more conducive”.) Singapore has long had a complicated relationship with our neighbours: facilitating economic development and assisting with some humanitarian efforts, but also turning away refugees and ignoring the regional environmental impact of our own development. Ordinary Singaporeans, imbued by past leaders with a superiority complex, have often ignored our neighbours or treated them transactionally. But many in our younger generation have been seeking to engage more genuinely with them. (Prompted partly by the search for more affordable pastures.) Wong urged “all Singaporeans” to learn about the region, understand our neighbours, and build connections. It’s an important project not only in our quest to grasp that nebulous South-east Asian identity; but the nebulous Singaporean one too.

Some further reading: In “Living with Tumasik and Temasek: meditations on our ‘national’ history”, we explore Singapore’s historical and contemporary connections to its region, and question the notion of a national history.