1 - Chinese Ethnicity in New Southeast Asian Nations

Summary

This topic is one that has been important for me all my life. The longer I live in this region, the more important this topic seems to be. In my experience, two of the most difficult words to understand are words such as “ethnic” and/or “race relations”, on the one hand, and “nation-building”, on the other. The important difference between the two is that ethnic and racial relations have been with us since the beginning of human history while nation-building is new. The concept of ethnicity, the evolution of culture and our self-awareness, the kinds of changes that enable different groups of people to communicate, live, and deal with one another in war or in peace, has a very long history. Nation-building, however, is a more specific phenomenon that has arisen in more recent times. Of course, there are many ways of defining the word “nation” and, in some older usages, it is difficult to distinguish “nation” from ethnicity and even race. But if we do not try to draw distinctions between them, we are really hard put to explain what building a nation could mean or even envisage how this is possible. Clearly, to avoid misunderstanding we must try to use these words correctly and consistently.

I cannot promise to clarify these concepts for everyone, but I will say what I mean when I use the terms. I take the long view about culture being one of the key components of ethnicity. I shall not use the word “race” because I prefer to reserve the word for occasions when there is a need to stress physical differences. It is, of course, possible to include the word “race” as another component in ethnicity, but that is not always the most important consideration. For me, ethnicity would normally be centred on culture, on the core of ethnic self-consciousness that manifests itself in the awareness of one's own cultural roots. This is something ongoing and has been with us ever since human beings became aware of their cultural roots and began to think about the significance of having such roots.