ABSTRACT
Southeast Asia encompasses a plurality of religions, ethnic groups, and languages, many of which can be traced back through precolonial, colonial and postcolonial migrations, invasions, and conversions. Despite the potential for volatility, the region long seemed to have escaped the worst effects of the turmoil that engulfed postcolonial regimes elsewhere. Indeed, with the integration of Vietnam. Cambodia, Laos, and Burma into ASEAN during the 1990s, the region as a w hole seemed set fair to benefit from the export-oriented growth that had already brought wealth and somewhat uneven development to Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and, to a lesser extent. Indonesia and the Philippines, between 1975 and 1995. The relative absence of ethnic or religions conflict and the apparent success of nation-building in Southeast Asia were often attributed to a distinctive brand of cultural harmony, religious tolerance, syncretistic ideology, and notions such as "unity in diversity" (Bhineka tunggal ika, the official motto of Indonesia), euphemistically known as "Asian values."
