Page 103 - Transformasi Masyarakat Indonesia dan Historiografi Indonesia Modern

Djoko Suryo

regional war all had their own specific local dynamics and re-
gional effects, but were twisted to the steering wheels of su-
perpower geo politics.
Since the Cold War was officially declared over in 1990, to
be followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of
the confrontation of the superpowers, East Asia has become a
major epicenter of transformation as part of the post Cold War
geo economic international order. This seismic change was
manifest in the rise of East Asia as a dynamic and increasingly
integrated economic zone. Exemplified above all in Japan’s eco-
nomic resurgence the regional dynamism and related integra-
tion was considered as the East Asian Economic Miracle . By
3
the 1970s the rapid economic growth of East Asia was already
setting the region apart from most of the world, as was repre-
sented by the emergence of Japan as having become the second
biggest world economic power. This miraculous economic de-
velopment was also followed during the 1980s by the ascent of
the “four tigers” of South Korea, Hongkong, Taiwan and
Singapore and the emerging tigers of Southeast Asia (Thailand,
Malaysia, and Indonesia). At the same time China had also be-
come integral to the economic development of the whole Asia
region; and Vietnam is also attempting to follow the other East
Asian countries and is expected to soon become the Asia’s next
tiger. 4
The shift from geo politics to geo economics of the post
cold war era in East Asia has also been characterized by the
emergence of the ASEAN regional forum and APEC. Both are
regarded as already having been successful international orga-

3 Robert F. Dernberger “Capitalism and The East Asian Miracle” in
George JU., Asia’s New World Order (London: Macmillan Press, 1997), pp.
43 70 .
4 Ibid., pp. 50; and see Charles Harvie and Tran Van Hoa, Vietnam’s
Reforms and Economic Growth (London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1997).

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