The 1960s and 1970s have featured turbulent times in Southeast Asia, a region that gained prominence only during said periods due to various waves of independence former colonial strongholds of Western powers in the area have experienced. Prior to said periods especially during the Second World War, Southeast Asia as a designated region practically did not exist, mainly because of the divisive influence of Western powers in controlling their colonies therein. The whole of Indochina (present-day Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) belonged under French control; Burma, Malaysia and Singapore were under English rule; Indonesia thrived under Dutch command; the Philippines stood as a crucial vestige of American presence in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, the foregoing nations pursued their respective quests for independence immediately after the Second World War ended, with many of them smitten by the promises of liberal democracy. As Southeast Asia started gaining recognition as a distinct region towards the 1960s, several nations therein startlingly began condescending towards authoritarianism, with growing militarism superseding the bright promises of liberal democratization that held significant support in the area. Such trend inevitably involved the influence of the Cold War, which sent many nations in Southeast Asia in a scramble between rejecting the spread of communism and quelling the growth of American presence in the region (Lau 1-10).
Indonesia remains to this day a prime historical example of a nation that transitioned from democracy early on in its days after independence from the Netherlands. President Sukarno, recognizing the inappropriateness of Western-style democracy for Indonesia given its high susceptibility for tumultuous conflicts in the early days of its independence, sought to impose political stability through the imposition of “Guided Democracy” in 1957, which involved a balance between three of the largest political divisions in the nation – nationalism, religion and communism. The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) was among the largest communist political parties in the world that time and had permeating influence in Indonesian politics – a fact that highly concerned the United States (US) over fears that communism would spread throughout the nation and the rest of Southeast Asia. Such led to a failed coup d’état against President Sukarno involving high-ranking military officials touted to have connections with the PKI. As a result, the Indonesian Army, which supported the US, attacked and destroyed several elements of the PKI between 1965 and 1967. President Sukarno, with his Guided Democracy failing with the toppling of the PKI, relinquished his presidential powers to General Suharto in 1967 (Lau 1-10).
North Vietnam exerted great militarism throughout its existence between 1945 and 1976. Viet Minh, the communist party that controlled much of North Vietnam under the inspirational leadership of Ho Chi Minh, attracted the ire of the US in a series of anti-communist propaganda actions. Following the formal partitioning of Vietnam in 1954, the US led efforts to evacuate Catholics from North Vietnam to South Vietnam following allegations of persecution by the Viet Minh. Following the attacks on US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin accused against North Vietnam in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson formally declared war against the nation. Intense efforts by the US to drive North Vietnam to submission soon became costly. The failure to intimidate North Vietnam despite consistent military attacks led the US to lose the Vietnam War after the Viet Minh commanded the takeover of South Vietnam, then vulnerable with lacking US support, in 1975 (Lau 1-10).
Singapore became an authoritarian state following its struggle for independence that started back in 1955. Previously part of the British colony of Malaya, Singapore grappled against the prospect of continuing to serve as a key British military base in Southeast Asia despite receiving the right to self-government from the United Kingdom (UK), seeing it as a hindrance to its full independence. The Chinese majority constituting the population of Singapore also caused tensions with the Malay-controlled government of Malaysia upon its independence from British rule in 1963. Independence movements in Singapore, inspired by racial tensions and dissatisfaction over letting the UK continue to run its military base in the nation to serve its Cold War interests in the region preceded the move of the Singaporean government to establish an authoritarian form of government, in turn justified by the need to sustain and transform the then-resource-deprived nation. The present prosperity of Singapore attributes much credit to the foregoing (Lau 1-10).
Overall, it is reasonable to establish that the rise of authoritarianism and militarism in Southeast Asia throughout the 1960s and 1970s have direct links to the Cold War, which involved the struggles of the US in fighting, along with its global allies, the spread of communism. Indonesia, being a prime example, featured the removal of the PKI and all other communist elements from the nation as the reason behind the militaristic leadership of Suharto. North Vietnam, with its hardline strength, triumphed over the US and South Vietnam in the Vietnam War, thus signaling the strength of communism over a united Vietnam. Singapore, in its struggle for independence, required the establishment of authoritarianism to protect itself from British military intervention during the Cold War and racial tensions instigated by the Malays.
Works Cited
Lau, Albert. Southeast Asia and the Cold War. New York City, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.
