ABSTRACT
It may be said that the previous chapters are rich and meaty and not easy to digest. Using the word “meaty” gives me the chance to refer to animals and birds in my comments. For indeed they are the images that the chapters have conjured up in my mind. Most of the chapters remind me of the imperial British lion’s final survey of its distant terrain and the American eagle’s perspective of what was happening down there among those scurrying around, undeveloped if not unwashed. These two splendid images remind me of the deep and immediate fear of the Soviet bear’s embrace and the longer-term threat of the Chinese dragon’s reach. What is less obvious is the local Southeast Asian worm’s eye view, or what Southeast Asians might prefer, the image of the pelanduk, that legendary mouse deer who could always outwit its larger enemies.
