Geopolitics of Southeast Asia, Part 2: Malay Archipelago

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BAKU - Maritime Southeast Asia is a cluster of small and large islands that sit between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Historically part of the East Indies and contemporary known as the Malay Archipelago, the area has some of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity for marine ecosystems. Here, coral, fish and molluscs thrive. Yet, perhaps the prevailing characteristic is the maritime-based cultures that are represented by the nations of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. All of this makes for a unique archipelagic neighbourhood with its own distinct geopolitical needs.

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[mrwho]

From paris to kabul....
Never knew our country is that big

[rov]

I’m from the Philippines I believe that you Forgot the South East Asian Country of East Timor

[samalenioboy]

As asean i would say that this region will be a big player in the world stage both economically and in military power. With Indonesia now a trillion economy, four other asean namely thailand, malaysia, Philippines and vietnam will follow suit by 2030. As our country grows bigger so as our military capabilities. 20th century is ASEAN century.

[culturedmonkey]

I've been here from the very early days man, and I gotta say you are the reason I have gotten so interested in geopolitics and I love all of your videos on any topic, keep doing what you're doing man great work.

[kirstinstrand]

Such an incredibly complex region. Many thanks for this comprehensive report
No one does it better.

[robertm]

Disagree with your assessment of the Philippines. The political elite don't care about political unity, but rather, self-enrichment. Everything else is just a diversion. Look at the current push for greater regional power through a federalist system. Every province is run by a clan, or extended family. Manila is just a collection of powerful clans working together, an oligarchy rather than a democracy. I'm not sure if you can blame it's problems on colonialism, as other regional countries like Japan were also colonized, and seem to be doing fine.

The 900lb elephant in the room is corruption. Filipinos are highly adaptable and successful given the right environment. Filipino Americans have the 5th highest household income as an ethnic group-- higher than British, Israeli, Swiss, Norwegian, and Japanese Americans. The enormous overseas foreign worker community sends back billions of dollars in remittances every year, and provides an economic lifeline for a country that's otherwise struggling to stay afloat. In their home country, little opportunities exist because the economy is monopolized and controlled by a small group of oligarch clans. Over 70% of all economic gains in the country go to a group of 40 families. Progress is elusive, as the funds for every project must pass through endless hands, and approval gained from a multitude of bureaucracies before anything is started.

The country has enormous potential. As I've said above, Filipinos are successful when given the right environment. It also has a great deal of natural resources, a young and largely English-speaking population, beautiful tourist destinations, access to an enormous coastline, a temperate climate, and is positioned as a gateway between East and West. But before major progress can arrive, the old system of oligarch monopolization and corruption must disappear.

[yurusei-eth]

Malaysian here. Some clarification may be in order:

1) When Shirvan mentions 'frictions between territories', it's a little more complicated than that, because it's more political friction than ideological or cultural frictions of say, Indonesia. Much of the West Coast Peninsula supports 'pro-liberal' parties, whereas our East Coast brothers may be more supportive of 'pro-Islamic' parties. Sabah and Sarawak on the other hand, have independent political parties that ally themselves with the ones in the Peninsula heartland, and so allegiances change according to political needs.

2) China's involvement is designed indeed to suit their needs, but it's hardly a divide and conquer strategy. AFAIK, a proposed trainline that runs across both shorelines of the Peninsula aim to shorten the freight times from East Coast Peninsula (nearer to Beijing) to the West Coast (closer to Europe) and has the express objective of circumventing Singapore's part in the ASEAN maritime trade routes, while another trainline runs down the Peninsula spine, and aims primarily to ship goods to and fro the industrialised West Coast.


So in conclusion, the situation here is developing. Like many things, it is layered, and would require an in-depth look to properly dig out the details. So take whatever is said here with a grain of salt, our country isn't too bad, and if you want a closer look at Malaysia, support CaspianReport on Patreon lol

[garudheaiwangga]

As an Indonesian, this video is interesting.Keep up the good work.

[mbrp]

What made all (or most) ethnicity in Indonesia to be unified were the presence of common enemies, not the 'unity in diversity' thing. It wasn't Majapahit or Sriwijaya that unified all modern-day Indonesia. It was the Dutch.

[pete]

You're videos are always soooo well researched it's insane 👏

[VanaeCavae]

Despite being Chinese majority, Singapore is on the U.S side. The Chinese in South East Asia while proud of the recent achievements of China, their ancestral homeland, they are also wary of China's rather aggressive policies in the South China Sea.

[renesarabia]

You did a special of maritime Southeast Asia! I have been requesting for this! Thanks!

[lol-xswz]

It's actually really remarkable how Indonesia manages to hold itself together (most of the time)

[romaniangamer]

This channel and the comments are by far the most intelligent thing in this site, no place for education on politics like Caspian Report.

[logacoolxtreme]

malaysian here. i am unaware of any separatist rebellions here. the only place i know is in parts of Philippines wich are muslim majority are sepratist but that's it.

[unfig]

Good video. One thing I might add is that Indonesia'geography makes it very difficult for mobility and logistics, prices in Papua can be twice more than Java because of this and it's probably why most of the population is on Java. Unlike say the United States where people and goods may move between states through simple roads and rails, Indonesia relies on planes and ships. This makes personal mobility very limited, I bet most Indonesians have never been to more than 2 major islands. This means that other islands besides Java have a hard time developing on the pace of Java and Java itself is overpopulated because unless it's a government program, it's extremely unlikely for a Javanese person to permanently move to another island.

In my opinion, statistics on the Indonesian economy are deceiving, as much of its wealth is in Java alone.

It's interesting that China is not capitalizing on this by offering much improved and, more importantly, cheaper air and sea travel infrastructure. I'm pretty sure Jakarta would more likely bite.

[joherreira]

Excellent video, as always. I was surprised, however, to hear that East Timor's independent territory was portrayed as a part of Indonesia that seceded, when the reality is that it was invaded (violently) days after earning its independence from Portugal and it took a large toll on the population and international effort to recover its independence. This is an important distinction as in this case it is not a case of internal dissent of yet another part of Indonesia, but of resistance to a recent invasion.

[wenderis]

Like so many of your videos, you touched on many excellent points despite one or two errors in some fact. Take the inward looking Indonesian policies, it has so many different factors and reasons but you touched on one of the most important on this subject. Kudos.

[andreixperience]

This channel is amazingly informative. I love the format of the videos and the quality of the information. Hope they don't stop making video. Good job guys, keep it up!

[johnw]

Indonesian people are more united than you can ever imagine. The only thing that could trigger a war in the region is if any country hits Indonesia then it will go boom. Indonesia has proven its strength and endurance fighting the Allies in 1945, soon after USA defeated Japan. USA, UK, AUST and Dutch attacked Surabaya Indonesia, Indonesian people swarmed the allies and fought back using sharpen bamboos, the allies had to back off overwhelmed in a bloody war, Indonesia defended its territory successfully. Since that time no other country ever threatened Indonesia again. In 1965 Communism tried to occupy Indonesia, the consequence? Hundred thousands of communists were killed / executed; Indonesia is the only country in the world that can wipe out communism 100%.