ABSTRACT
The greatest distance across Southeast Asia is from the north of Myanmar (formerly Burma) to the southeast of the Indonesian part of New Guinea, Irian Jaya (West Irian), more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles) (see Figure 15.1). In the north of mainland Southeast Asia, Myanmar adjoins Bangladesh (a very short boundary), India and China, while Laos and Viet Nam also touch China. Indonesia has a common boundary with Papua-New Guinea. Southeast Asia has a long ‘frontage’ on the Indian Ocean, while Australia is not far from Indonesia across the Timor and Arafura Seas (Figure 15.2). Of the total area of 4.5 million sq km (1.74 million sq miles), 2.4 million sq km (0.93 million sq miles) are in the island countries of Indonesia and the Philippines, together with eastern Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), while the remainder are on the mainland of Asia.
