South-East Asia in Turmoil

225 Pages·1968·26.528 MB·English

by  Brian Crozier

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Pelican Book A799 .. _ .
SOUTH-EAST ASIA IN TURMOIK
Brian Crazier, who is forty-nine, is chairman of
Forum World Features, London, and divides his
time between journalism and authorship. I-Ie resigned
from the Economist in 1964 after nearly ten years as
that paper's expert on South-East Asia and the Far
East, and the Editor of a confidential bulletin on
world affairs with an influential readership all over
the world. He has been a regular broadcaster on the
B.B.C.'s General Overseas and French and Spanish
services. A frequent lecturer on South-East Asia and
other subjects at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, St Anthony's College, Oxford, Chatham
House, and other institutions, he toured the United
States lecturing in 1961. As a foreign correspondent
he has interviewed many of the leaders of the new
countries, including the late President Ngo Dinh
Diem of South Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh of North
Vietnam, Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, and Prince
Souvanna Phouma of Laos.
Brian Crazier was stationed in South-East Asia in
1952-3, first as Reuter's correspondent and later with
the Straits Times and the New York Times. He is the
author of The Rebels: a study of posz-war insurrections
(1960), The Morning After: a study of independence
(1963), The Struggle for the Third World (1966), and
.Franco (1967).
SOUTH-
IN TURMOIL
Brian Crazier
PENGUIN BOOKS
Penguin Books Ltd, I-Ivmondswonh,
Middlesex, England
Penguin Books Inc., 7110 Ambassador Court,
Baltimore, Maryland 21207, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood,
Victoria, Australia
First published 1965
Revised and reprinted in Felican Books 1966
Revised edition 1968
Copyright © Brian Crozier, 1965, 1968
Made and printed in Great Britain by
Cox 8: Wyman Ltd, London, Reading and FakMam
Set in Monotype Plantin
This book is sold subject to the condition that
it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without
the publishcr's prior consent in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it is
published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the
subsequent purchaser
CONTENTS
Foreword 7
A South-East Asian Chronology 8
Introduction A Time of Violence 13
Part One PLACES AND PEOPLES
I. South-East Asia in General 21
2. One by One (Burma, Siam, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Singapore and. Brunei, Indonesia, the
Philippines) .--. Vu: 25
Part Two
NATIONALISTS AND COMMUNISTS
I. The Beginnings 37
2. Collaborators and Resisters in the Second World War 40
The Philippines 41
Burma 42
Indonesia and Malaya . 43
3. Indo-China 1945-54: A Special Case 46
The Growth of the Viet Minh 46
Cambodia and Laos 5 I
The Road to Died Bien Phu 54
Contents
The Débéicle 5
The Invisible War 51
4. The Communist Insurrections of 1948 6
The Master Plan
64
The Plan in Action 66
Communist Failure in the Philippines and Malaya 73
Parr Three OUTSIDE FRESSURES
I. China _ 79
2. SEATO and American Intervention 88
American Policy 88
Vietnam since 1954 92
99
The Role ofsEATo 102
Part Four TROUBLE-SPOTS
I. Neo-Imperialism: Indo-China and Indonesia III
2. Laos Crumbles 119
Viet Minh Infiltration 119
The Pathet Lao in the Open 123
International Crisis 128
3. Murder in the South 134
Vietnam 134
Motives in Hanoi 144
Cambodia 146
4. Sukarno's Faded Dream 149
5. Burmese Question~Marks 164
Parr Five TODAY AND TOMORROW
I. Western Interests 173
2. Sukarno's Legacy 178
3. The Modernizers 186
4. Escalation in Vietnam 189
5. Pay Americana ? 206
Suggestions for Further Reading 211
Index 213
FOREWORD
Witnesses in British courts of justice are required to swear that they will
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do not
claim as much for this book: to have told the whole truth would have
made it too massive for its purpose. I have condensed Me histor-
ical background, preserving what seemed to me relevant to present
troubles. What is left is, as far as it lies within my capacity, 'nothing but
the truth'.
It is no use pretending this has been easy. To give one instance, an
American, Mr 'William I. Pomeroy, who helped the Filipino Hooks, was
gaoled with their leaders and now lives in London, disputes the version
of events that appears on page 68. The Philippine Communist Party
was not, he says, divided into 'Russian' and 'Chinese' wings; but it
.was divided over the tactics to adopt towards Osrnefia. According to
Pomeroy, it was Vicente Lava who favoured supporting Osmciia, while
a Filipino known as 'Jerry' wanted the party to boycott the 1946
elections. As for Pedro Castro, says Pomeroy, he had no strong feelings
one way or the other; and nobody wanted a showdown. Mr Pomeroy,
of course, was there and I was not. He may be right; or he may have
his reasons for presenting his own version of the facts. All I can do is
record his dissent. I have indicated other conflicting versions of facts
or events in footnotes.
This, then, is not a contemporary history of South-East Asia, but an
i' nquiry into the origins and causes of current turbulence in that area,
and a modest attempt to find out what can and cannot be done about it.
BRIAN CROZIER
A SOUTH-EAST ASIAN CHRONOLOGY
1941. May: Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) sets up Viet Minh front.
1942. 15 February: Fall of Singapore.
1943. August: Iapauese sponsor independent' Burma govern-
ment.
September: Japanese sponsor 'independent' Philip-
pine Republic.
1945. March: Japanese overpower Vichy garrisons in Indo-
China 5 Emperor Bao Dai made to proclaim Vietnam's
independence.
15 August: Japan surrenders.
17 August: Indonesian nationalists proclaim indepen-
dence.
2 September: Ho Chi Minh proclaims Vietnam Demo-
cratic Republic (Communist).
5 September: Mountbatten's forces reach Singapore.
1946. 7 January: Modus oioendi agreement between France
and Cambodia.
4 July: Independence of Philippines.
17 August: Franco-Laotian modus aioendi.
19 December: Viet Minh attack French (first Indo-
China war begins).
1947. 19 July: Aung San of Burma assassinated with most of
his cabinet.
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A South-East Asian Chronology
17 October : Attlee-Nu Treaty on Bu1°Ma's indepen-
deuce.
1948. 4 January: Independence of Burma.
7 ]anuary' Renville truce agreement between Dutch and
.
Indonesian Republicans
February: Communist-sponsored World Youth Con-
ference in Calcutta, leading to insurrections in Burma
(March), the Philippines (April), Malaya (June), and
Indonesia (September).
1949. 8 March: French agreement with Bao Dai (Vietnam).
19 Iulyz Laos independent 'widiin French Union '.
I October: Chinese People's Republic (Communist)
proclaimed. I
6 November : Cambodia independent 'within French
Union'.
27 December: Dutch transfer sovereignty to Indonesia.
1950. 8 May: American economic and military aid made
available to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
I»-I7 October: General Giap seizes French border forts
in Tanking.
1951. February: Vietnamese Communists launch :Lao Dong
(workers') party.
1953. April: Viet Minh army invades Laos; Prince Souphan-
nouvong proclaims Pathet Lao administration.
22 October: France recognizes Laotian sovereignty.
9 November: France transfers military powers to
Cambodia.
1954. 29 April: Far Eastern conference opens at Geneva.
6 May: Viet Minh launch final assault on Died Bien Phu.
4 ]one: France recognizes Vietnam's independence.
19 June: Ngo Dish Diem becomes Prime Minister of
Vietnam.
2o-21 July: Geneva agreements on Indo-China: Vietnam
partitioned.
8 September: South-East Asia Collective Defence Treaty
(SEATO) signed in Manila.
17 September: Luis Taruc, Communist leader of Hut
rebels, surrenders in Philippines.
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A South-East Asian Chronology
1955. April: Afro-Asian conference at Bandung.
23 October: Diem deposes Bao Dai by referendum.
1957. 31 August: Independence of Malaya.
November' Agreement between Laotian government
and Pathet Lao (Communists).
1958. Ianuary: Murders of South Vietnam officials (second
Indo-China war begins).
I5 February : Indonesian rebel c government J proclaimed.
27 September: General Ne Win takes over in Burma.
1959. 22 April: Sukarno announces c guided democracy' for
Indonesia.
3 ]une° Singapore becomes self-governing State within
Commonwealth.
4 September: Laos appeals to Security Council, alleging
attacks from North Vietnam.
1960. February: Burma returns to parliamentary rule.
9 August: Kong Lae seizes power in Laos.
17 August: Prince Sosanna PhouMa forms neutralist
government.
IO September: Lao Dong (Communist) resolution on
'liberation' of South Vietnam.
December: Prince Sosanna's government ousted by
Laotian right-wingers, Prince Born Our forms
government.
1961. Ianuary: Communists set up National Front for Libera-
tion of South Vietnam.
16 May: International conference on Laos at Geneva.
27 May: Turku Abdul Rah ran launches Malaysia
plan.
1962. 8 February : United States Command set up in Vietnam.
2 March: General Ne Win sets up military rule in
Burma.
23 Lune: Prince Sosanna Phouma's coalition govern-
ment takes oiiice in Laos.
23 July: Geneva conference agreement on Laos.
15 August: Dutch and Indonesians agree on West New
Guinea.
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