ABSTRACT
In the early twentieth century, hostility toward Western colonial domination in Southeast Asia began to surface. The village, although its social fabric had been damaged by the colonial experience, retained its position as the primary locus of loyalty for the bulk of the Southeast Asian population, and the parochial and uneducated villagers maintained many of their traditional values and goals". The concepts of national identity that did emerge remained heavily couched in ethnic feelings, and smaller, minority ethnic groups sometimes strongly opposed independence. The traditional political system, of which the village sphere was the core, functioned more or less effectively for a thousand years or more because it met basic needs for the society's largest group—the village peasant population. Colonial intrusions disrupted the structures of village authority, generally strengthening authority in the legal context while weakening its socioeconomic responsibilities to the community.
