Region, Security and the Return of History

65 Pages·1.291 MB·English

by  Milner.

Department of History, National University of Singapore
The Department of History is one of the oldest departments in
the National University of Singapore. Its roots can be traced to
1929, when history was made part of the curriculum of the newly
founded Raffles College. Over the years, the Department has
grown in size as well as in its research and curricular range. It
currently has 23 full-time faculty members and each year
approximately 5,000 undergraduates enrol in its modules.
The Department’s expertise lies primarily in the history of
Asia, with special emphasis on Southeast and East Asia, but there
is also a strong selection of offerings in European and American
History, Art History, Military History and Historiography. Modules
cover a wide range of topics, including maritime history; economic,
social and cultural history; science and technology; and Asian
business history.
Traditionally, the Department has emphasized providing
undergraduate education to prepare its students for their future
careers, and this task remains a major commitment. However,
graduate studies in history are now a priority area for expansion,
and the Department currently has a sizeable population of MA
and PhD candidates, with a comprehensive graduate curriculum.
Raffles Visiting Professor
The Raffles Chair in History, last filled in 1983, has been
reconstituted as the Raffles Visiting Professorship in History.
Scholars invited to fill this position will be distinguished figures
in the field of Asian history, in keeping with the focus of the
Department and in the spirit of the historical interests of Sir
Thomas Stamford Raffles. The first holder of the Raffles Visiting
Professorship in History is Professor Anthony Milner of the
Australian National University. Professor Milner was in residence
at the Department between July and December 2002.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies was established as an
autonomous organization in 1968. It is a regional centre dedicated
to the study of socio-political, security and economic trends and
developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and
economic environment. The Institute's research programmes are
the Regional Economic Studies (RES, including ASEAN and
APEC), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and
Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). ISEAS regularly co-
publishes book on topics related to its research programmes.
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore

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© 2003 Department of History, National University of
Singapore.
The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests
exclusively with the author and his interpretations do not
necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the Department of
History, the University, the Institute, or their supporters.
ISEAS Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Milner, A. C. (Anthony Crothers), 1945-
Region, security and the return of history.
(Raffles lecture, 0129-8177 ; 1)
1. Regionalism—Asia, Southeastern—History.
2. ASEAN.
3. National security—Asia, Southeastern.
4. Asia, Southeastern—Foreign relations.
I. Title.
II. Series: Raffles lecture series ; 1.
DS501 I61 no. 1 2003 sls2003008017
ISBN 981-230-221-2
ISSN 0219-8177
Printed in Singapore by Markono Digital Solutions Pte Ltd
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
CONTENTS
Critiquing ASEAN
4
The Convergence Era
7
Security and Talk
15
Regionalism in Europe
21
Recognizing Difference
24
Difference in the Regional Conversation
28
The Historian
31
Excess, Islam
33
Notes
43
Select Bibliography
53
About the Author
57
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
This lecture was delivered by
Anthony Milner, Basham Professor of
Asian History and Dean of Asian
Studies, Australian National University,
and Raffles Visiting Professor in the
Department of History,
National University of Singapore.
It was the Inaugural Raffles Lecture,
organized by the Department of History,
National University of Singapore
on 2 December 2002.
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Reproduced from Region, Security and the Return of History (The Raffles Lecture Series), by
Anthony Milner (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003). This version was obtained
electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this
publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Individual articles are available at < http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg >
Region, Security and the Return of History
REGION, SECURITY
AND THE RETURN
OF HISTORY
Anthony Milner
It is an honour to present the first Raffles
Lecture, and it has been a pleasure and a
stimulation to work this year with
Professor Tan Tai Yong and the
Department of History at the National
University of Singapore.
In talking tonight about “Region,
Security and the Return of History”, I will
be focussing on ‘talk’ itself in the context
of region and security. Some have spoken
derogatively about the role of ‘talk’ in this
region. I will speak in defence of ‘talk’.
Sir Stamford Raffles, it happens, had
a considerable interest in the themes I am
discussing. He had a good sense of the
1
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Anthony Milner
region itself. He did not use the term
‘Southeast Asia’ but he referred to the
Malay Archipelago, Ava (or Myanmar),
Siam and Cambodia, together with Cochin
China and Tonkin (together, Vietnam) as
a region, or rather as a ‘field’. These
countries, he said, happen to be situated
between the “rich and populous
continents of China on the one hand and
India on the other”. Their coasts are
“washed by the smoothest seas in the
world” and the countries possessed, in his
words, “large and navigable rivers” that
offered “communication with the
interior”.1
Raffles, in his way, was a regionalist
— or more specifically an open regionalist.
Trade, he saw, was a bonding element in
the region. There was, he said, a “constant
intercourse and circulation ... set in
motion by the spirit by commerce”. He
wanted to foster that regional, commercial
intercourse and, as an open regionalist,
to do so in ways that would promote the
region’s commerce with the wider world
(especially, of course, Great Britain).
2
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Region, Security and the Return of History
Raffles was also concerned about
what might be called the talk of the region
— about the flow of ideas — and here, as
in the case of commerce itself, he saw
Singapore playing a special role.
Influenced partly by his study of history,
Raffles portrayed Singapore as being at
“the very centre of this Archipelago”. He
wanted an educational institution in
Singapore that studied the peoples of what
we call today Southeast Asia — with
teachers of Siamese, Burmese and Pali as
well as Malay, Bugis, Chinese and Arabic.
Whether or not Raffles was the true
founder of Singapore, he certainly
deserves a prominent place in the history
of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
in Singapore and the various Southeast
Asian studies enterprises in the National
University of Singapore.
Raffles, it must be stressed, was keen
to see Singapore promote the spread of
knowledge from outside the region, as
well as the study of the region itself. He
was concerned in particular about “moral
improvement” — we might think here of
3
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
Anthony Milner
the spread of norms. When he spoke of
moral improvement he clearly had in
mind the communication of Western,
specifically British ideas and institutions.
Globalization for Raffles had a particularly
British flavour, just as it is easily confused
today with Americanization. What Raffles
emphasized was that “moral and
intellectual improvement” was not only
good for its own sake; it also helped to
promote commerce and, in addition,
security. The education he had in mind,
he said, would foster the “general security
and good order” of the region.
So in Raffles’ thinking about
Southeast Asia we have region and
security, and history as well. We also have
a concern for the communication of ideas
— as it were, for talk.
CRITIQUING ASEAN
My own interest in the matter of ‘talk’ or
‘conversation’ in this Southeast Asian
region arises partly from a phrase I have
seen repeated in condemnations of
4
© 2003 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore