Introduction

Summary

Francis Fukuyama in his seminal book, The End of History, and President Ronald Reagan's prediction of the “New World Order”, envisioned, as the Cold War came to an end, an international community at peace and with social and political stability being the norm. Unfortunately, the world has not lived up to their expectations. On the contrary, the term “New World Disorder” would be more appropriate as the emergence of a “new history” has been marked by destabilizing tensions and conflicts. More often than not, such conflicts have their roots in ethnic and religious rivalries and divisions. Conciliation, resolution, and a return to ethnic harmony have proved difficult, if not impossible to achieve. One has only to look at the chaos, for example, in Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Bosnia, and the current problems in Aceh, Indonesia, or the three southern provinces of Thailand to see examples of that disturbing them.

The end of the Cold War has also broadened the meaning of ethnic conflict, hitherto subsumed under the security of the state. At present, security has taken on multiple dimensions from the state down to the individual, thus adding more layers to the analysis of ethnic conflicts.

In Southeast Asia, ethnic diversity, social stability, and national unity, have all presented challenges with which all the countries have had to cope from the time of their independence. Thailand, although never colonized, is no exception. Also, without exception, ethnic problems are seen as a threat to the state and/or regime. Nevertheless, despite incidences of ethnic conflict, situations in the Southeast Asian region had been kept mostly under control in one way or another until Indonesia's policy of “unity in diversity” unravelled after the fall of the New Order of President Suharto. This has led to concerns in other Southeast Asian countries about possible “echo effects”.

Moreover, ethnic conflicts in neighbouring countries have had cross-border impacts in the form of refugees, displaced persons, illegal migrant labour, as well as drugs and arms smuggling. Such impacts have had the potential to ruffle relations between countries, as has happened between Thailand and Myanmar as well as between Malaysia and Indonesia. Needless to say, the loss of life and human suffering from ethnic conflict, such as in Aceh, Ambon, and Myanmar, have been enormous and cannot be ignored for humanitarian and other reasons.