Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements: A Biographical Approach

345 Pages·2013·9.465 MB·English

by  Susan Blackburn and Helen Ting

Women
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Books on Southeast Asian nationalist movements make very little — if any — mention in Southeast Asian
of women in their ranks. Biographical studies of politically active women in South-
W
east Asia are also rare. Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements makes
Nationalist Movements
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a strong case for the signifi cance of women’s involvement in nationalist movements
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and for the diverse impacts of those movements on the lives of individual women
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activists. n Susan Blackburn & Helen Ting, editors

Some of the 12 women whose political activities are discussed in this volume i
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are well known, while others are not. Some of them participated in armed struggles,
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while others pursued peaceful ways of achieving national independence. The authors o
show women negotiating their own subjectivity and agency at the confl uence of u
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colonialism, patriarchal traditions, and modern ideals of national and personal h
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emancipation. They also illustrate the constraints imposed on them by wider social
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and political structures, and show what it was like to live as a political activist in s
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different times and places.
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Fully documented and drawing on wider scholarship, this book will be of
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interest to students of Southeast Asian history and politics as well as readers with ia
a particular interest in women, nationalism and political activism. n

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PUBLISHED WITH SUPPORT FROM THE NICHOLAS TARLING FUND a
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Susan Blackburn is an associate professor in the School of Political and Social
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Inquiry at Monash University, where she teaches Southeast Asian Politics. l
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Helen Ting is a research fellow at the Institute of Malaysian and International t

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Studies of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
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9 789971 696740
NUS PRESS
www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress SINGAPORE
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Women in Southeast Asian
Nationalist Movements
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Women in Southeast Asian
Nationalist Movements
A Biographical Approach
Edited by
Susan Blackburn and Helen Ting
Published with support from the Nicholas Tarling fund
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© 2013 Susan Blackburn and Helen Ting
This book is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND License.
To view a copy of this license,
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
Published by:
NUS Press
National University of Singapore
AS3-01-02, 3 Arts Link
Singapore 117569
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://nuspress.nus.edu.sg
ISBN 978-9971-69-674-0 (Paper)
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission from the Publisher.
National Library Board, Singapore Cataloguing in Publication Data
Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements: a biographical approach /
edited by Susan Blackburn and Helen Ting. – Singapore: NUS Press, 2013.
pages cm
ISBN: 978-9971-69-674-0 (paperback)
1. Women – Political activity – Southeast Asia – Biography.
2. Nationalism – Southeast Asia – History. I. Blackburn, Susan, 1947–,
editor. II. Ting, Helen, 1964– , editor. III. Title.
HQ1236.5.A785
320.0820959 — 23 OCN843004744
Cover: Albert Leeflang
The electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the
support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a
collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open
Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is
978-9971-69-687-0. More information about the initiative and links to the
Open Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org.
iv-Women in SEA_e-print.indd 4 9/1/19 3:55 PM
Contents
List of Maps vii
List of Photographs ix
Introduction: Gendered Nationalist Movements in Southeast Asia 1
Susan Blackburn
1. Th e Life and Writings of a Patriotic Feminist:
Independent Daw San of Burma
Chie Ikeya 23
2. “I Die Because of My Circumstances”: Nguyen Th i Giang
and the Viet Nam Quôc Dan Dang 48
Micheline Lessard
3. Suyatin Kartowiyono: A Nationalist Leader of the
Indonesian Women’s Movement 75
Susan Blackburn
4. Rasuna Said: Lioness of the Indonesian Independence
Movement 98
Sally White
5. Salud Algabre: A Forgotten Member of the Philippine Sakdal 124
Ma. Luisa T. Camagay
6. Shamsiah Fakeh and Aishah Ghani in Malaya: Nationalists
in Th eir Own Right, Feminists ahead of Th eir Time 147
Helen Ting
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vi Contents
7. Lily Eberwein: Her Life and Involvement in the
Anti-cession Movement in Sarawak 175
Welyne J. Jehom
8. “Minority” Women and the Revolution in the Highlands
of Laos: Two Narratives 198
Vatthana Pholsena
9. Bisoi: A Veteran of Timor-Leste’s Independence Movement 226
Sara Niner
10. Karen Nationalism and Armed Struggle: From the
Perspective of Zipporah Sein 250
Ardeth Maung Th awnghmung and Violet Cho
Conclusion: Becoming Women Nationalists 276
Helen Ting
Abbreviations 294
Glossary 296
Bibliography 298
Contributors 316
Index 320
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List of Maps
Map 1. Burma/Myanmar 26
Map 2. Vietnam during the French colonial period 49
Map 3. Provinces of northern Vietnam (Tonkin) under
French colonial rule 63
Map 4. Indonesia 77
Map 5. Malaysia and western Indonesia 101
Map 6. Th e Philippines 128
Map 7. Provinces of southern Luzon, Philippines 136
Map 8. Malaya 156
Map 9. Laos 200
Map 10. East Timor 228
vii
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List of Photographs
Daw San in the late 1940s. 24
Salud Algabre in 1977. 126
Th irteen-year-old Shamsiah Fakeh with her mother and
brother before both siblings left for Sumatra in 1938 to study. 148
Shamsiah Fakeh, 1960. 148
Aishah Ghani (standing, middle) with friends at Diniyah
Putri School in Padang Panjang, 1937; seated is Ibu Rahmah
El Yunusiah, the principal of the school. 149
Aishah Ghani at Hyde Park, London, 1956. 150
Aishah Ghani speaking at the general election campaign in
Kampung Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, 1964. 150
Kaum Ibu MNU, Sarawak, 1946. 176
Lily Eberwein Abdullah, 1980. 176
Manivanh. 199
Mana Bisoi and her uncle, Falintil Commander L7 Foho
Rai Boot. 227
Zipporah Sein (second from left ) with her mother, sister and
nieces, 2009. 251
Zipporah Sein at KNU congress, 2009. 251
ix
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