BOOK REVIEW

The Security Dilemmas of Southeast Asia. By Alan Collins.

Great Britain: Macmillan Pres Ltd, 2000. 237.

Introduction

Alan Collins has started writing The Security Dilemmas of Southeast Asia in early 1995 for his doctorate thesis proposal at British Academy and it was published five years after that. Refer to Appendix 1. The first thing to remember before reading this book is the issue which was written in 1995 and there have some amendments towards the printing in 2000. It laid down the past 15 to 17 years of issues on the security dilemmas in the Southeast Asia region. After the Cold War, Collins begins with the security scenario in the Southeast Asia which includes the conflict issues between ASEAN members, the role of ASEAN – ‘ASEAN way’ and the weapons acquisition that leads to arm race. The period after the Cold War and the conflict among ASEAN members was described as an interesting package[1]. As predicted, ASEAN was seen entering the period of uncertainty and would not be able to adjust it accordingly. At the same time, the membership had increased. It means the result of cooperation among the ASEAN members while some of them having internal and external conflicts are unpredicted. For some examples, the issues are the military regime in Burma, the ethnic issues in Malaysia, Patani’s freedom fighter in South Thailand and Indonesia illegal immigrant in neighboring country. By facing internal and external conflicts, how those countries will effectively interact to each other. Collins also has a tendency to cite scholars or significant actors’ opinion related to the issues. Therefore, the book was successfully described on the issues of the regime, ethnic tension, autonomy and migration as a security dilemma which was the main issue in the Southeast Asia. Even the cases of the above examples were very selective towards better understanding on ethnic, autonomy and native right in their country. However, Collins does not offered any opinions towards the solution of solving the security dilemmas and it remains as a security dilemma.

Analysis and Summary of the Book

The goals of this book are to reveal the security dynamics at work in the region’s. To achieve his goals, Collins has organized the book into three parts according to the types of dilemmas. Refer to Appendix 2. They are intra-state security dilemma, inter-state security dilemma and state-induced security dilemma. Collins has started with the comprehensive introduction (25 pages divided into four sub-topics). In these four sub-topics, Collins has developed the premise to begin with the security picture of 1990. It considers a period of great changes in ASEAN where ASEAN is unable to assess and adjust in the new era (post-Cold War). According to Collins, “… the emergence of China as a regional hegemony and the prevalence of ethnic tensions throughout the region, has indicated that the Southeast Asia was entering a period of uncertainties at best and rising tension at worst” (pg 1). In Part 1, Collins has discussed about the tension between the state and the ethnic groups in that particular state and the existing of unjustified fear between the groups. To support his point, Collins brought up the regime case in Burma, ethnic conflict in Malaysia, Indonesian migrant issues and Southern Thailand conflicts (Isan and Patani Malays). In Part 2, Collins has described on the security dilemmas between ASEAN members and how they have solved or managed it by using mutual understanding or so call ‘ASEAN way’. Among the security dilemmas is the re-emergence of the sovereignty problem and the uncertainty which has created the security dilemmas. Even though ‘ASEAN way’ has a significant effect on the security dilemmas but Collins has expected ‘ASEAN way’ under threats in the near future (“…is going to be much harder to achieve among ten states than six….” (p119)). Lastly in Part 3, Collins has stated that ASEAN seems to try avoiding the security dilemmas because of the interdependence among the members. ASEAN has successfully managed the conflict of interest among members but failed to resolve them fully. The issues that will cause conflict between one another are bypassed or temporarily hold. In this part also, the writer has discussed on China’s influence including China military strategy and the claims on Spratlys. Collins is optimistic that China will become a regional hegemony. China’s emergence and military build-up in this period were considered as a potential great power for the 21^st century, coupled with its ability to influence the direction of security dialogue in the region that raises the issue of hegemony.

The main subject is about the Southeast Asia but Collins only looks at Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia and Thailand which are not even half of the ASEAN members. ASEAN members are developing states or ‘weak states’ where they have to go through the basic problem such as poverty, jobless, political instability and economic problems. On the discussion of China’s influence towards SEA, after the Cold War, Collins did not consider that the United States of America becomes very important player and had very much influence in the Southeast Asia. So the discussion on major power influence is not complete.

Collins perspective is very selective and bias towards the Chinese immigrant ethnic in Malaysia. In 1997, Collins had written a book which was very positive on Malaysian Chinese Community (if we do not know who Collins is, we will assume he is a Chinese in this book) and it was pictured on the negative look on Malays but positively described on Chinese. Collins judge the Tunku’s decision as Malays fear to lose their special privileges enshrined in the constitution and loses political control of their country to the Chinese. Collins has extremely compared the security dilemmas in 1990s with the tragedy of 13 May 1969. By quoting Chinese slogan during 13 May 69 riots, ‘Malays out! The Malays are finished! The Chinese are going to run the country’, it means nothing because Collins still positively continue to describe on Chinese actions. Actually, the ethnic issues in Malaysia are far more specific and contextual rather than those of other states. Until the end of the book, Collins offers no suggestion on the solution to make a clear direction on what he wants to convey. Collins leaves it open completely as to whether the situation is best described as a security dilemma. Instead, he only concentrates solely (too detailed) on the action-reaction process between the ethnics involved in certain ASEAN countries. There is an earlier book stating on the same issues that was written by Paul Roe. ‘The Intrastate Security Dilemma: Ethnic Conflict as a Tragedy’ published by Sage Publication in 1998[2]. This book is focused on the core subject which has stated the clear position and suggestion compared to Collins book which related to the Malaysia ethnic conflict.

In terms of the interstate security dilemma, security requirements are pretty clear and uniform; the maintenance of state sovereignty relates to the territorial integrity. Ethnic conflict is considered as a domestic problems and will only affect internal environment; not interstate relations. Therefore, ethnic conflict is not caused a security dilemma of the region as claimed by Collins. All these depend on how it defines its internal security requirements because each state looks on the issues from different perspective. Furthermore, when it is described from a foreign perspective such as Collins it seed from a one sided perspectives.

Conclusion

At the last part, Collins has described on the ASEAN-China relationship. The China’s emergence is considered as a ‘de-facto’ to influence the stability in the Southeast Asia region. China was portrayed as the state seeking hegemony and the ASEAN members as the worried neighbour. It was also described that the Chinese interpret their recent historical relations with others states from the perspective of being the victim. However, the book can be recommended as a basic reading to the universities students/anybody wanted to know what has occurred in the Southeast Asia between 1990 till 1995 even prior to that. Overall, the book provides significant information on the development of the security dilemmas in the Southeast Asia and describes on three main issues that are ethnocratic regimes (Burma and Malaysia), self-determination (Thailand, Isan and Patani)) and migration (Indonesia to Malaysia).

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[1] According to Collins, the end of Cold War has significant influent towards conflict among ASEAN members. ASEAN members were predicted unable to adjust themselves towards new environments. Most of the development plan in the ASEAN country is been setup according too Cold War environment.

[2] The Intrastate Security Dilemma: Ethnic Conflict as a ‘Tragedy’?. Mac 1999. Journal of Peace Research. 36/2. pp 183-202.