ABSTRACT
History repeats itself, Marx observed, 'the first time as tragedy, the second as farce'.' In South East Asia the tragedy is the involvement of the great powers, resulting successively in colonial rule, Japanese occupation, Communist insurrection and American inter. vention. The 'farce' is not so much that the great powers pursue different interests (for so do the countries of the area) but that individual countries' interests may change over a short period of time and even contradict themselves. What seems reasonable and straightforward at one time or from one point of view may, on another occasion or merely by a shift in perspective, take on an entirely different character-s-cloudy, complex and ominous.
