TThis is an announcement to invite you to the CSEAS Colloquium for September 2016.

Date & Time: Thursday, September 29, 2016, 16:00-17:30

Place: Middle-sized Meeting Room (No. 332), 3rd Floor, Inamori
Foundation Building, Kyoto University

Title: Players from Within, Actors from Without the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1947-1991

Speaker: Dr. OOI Keat Gin
Professor of history and coordinator of the Asia Pacific Research Unit(APRU-USM)
in the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract:
Even before the dust had cleared from the disastrous and tragic Second
World War (1939-1945), the world descended into a power struggle between
two colossus one-time allies each with their respective supporters and
sympathizers. Commonly referred to as the Cold War, it witnessed the
pitting and posturing of the US and the USSR, each vying for global
hegemony in sourcing allies and clients in the post-war environment. In
Southeast Asia the Cold War undoubtedly had influences and impacts. The
tempting question, however, is what ways did the US-USSR struggle
impacted directly or indirectly on the region’s individual emerging
nation-states and across the region as a whole. The case of Vietnam
perhaps presented a clear-cut example. At the same time what was the
role and, in turn, the influence, of the People’s Republic of China
(the dubbed “Red China”) in Southeast Asia during this tense Cold War
period. But more importantly the primary curiosity is, as the title
suggests, did developments and events in the various countries in the
region dictated and/or a consequent of the actions of local players, or
a result of the intervention, influence, direction from afar, notably
Washington, Moscow, or Beijing. In other words, were local situations,
conditions, and personalities the driving force from within, or the
dictates of colossal powers from without the main determinant of
developments? For instance, did the military coup of 1962 and the
isolationist stance thereafter of then Burma (present-day Myanmar) a
consequence of the decisions and actions of local agents (General New
Win and the military elite), or the result of pressure, influence, or
even directive from Beijing or Moscow, or perhaps, Washington? Likewise,
the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960, 1968-1989), the creation of the wider
federation of “Malaysia” (1963), the fall of Sukarno (1965), Thailand
’s rather ambiguous position during this period, or developments in the
Philippines, Laos and Cambodia. This present overview across Southeast
Asia offers an historical examination in ascertaining the “players”
and “actors”, from within or from without the region, and to some
extent determine the impact of their actions in the post-Cold War
scenario.

Biodata:
OOI Keat Gin is an award-winning author, professor of history
and coordinator of the Asia Pacific Research Unit (APRU-USM) in the
School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
Significant related book-length works include Post-war Borneo, 1945-
1950: Nationalism, Empire, and State-building (Routledge, 2013), The
Japanese Occupation of Borneo (Routledge, 2011), Traumas and Heroism
(Opus, 2007), Rising Sun over Borneo: The Japanese Occupation of Sarawak,
1941-1945 (Macmillan, 1999), and Japanese Empire in the Tropics, 2 vols.
(Ohio, 1998). Recent edited volumes are Brunei – History, Islam, Society,
and Contemporary Issues (Routledge, 2016), and (with Hoang Anh Tuan)
Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1350-1800 (Routledge, 2016). Elected (since
1996) as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (London), he is
founder-editor-in-chief of International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies
(IJAPS) (www.usm.my/ijaps/), and series editor of the Asia-Pacific
Studies Publication Series (AAPSPS) under the auspices of APRU and
Universiti Sains Malaysia Press. Currently he is working on a manuscript
titled “The Cold War in Borneo, 1950-1990” (Routledge).

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