Page 113 - Transformasi Masyarakat Indonesia dan Historiografi Indonesia Modern

Djoko Suryo

but also diversification. Cultural diversity, in this connection,
is comparable to biological diversity, it is not an expendable
luxury but a necessity for human survival and requirement for
human flourishing. The third issue is that the East Asian intel-
lectuals have been very devoted student of Western learning
and have been seasoned in the modern western mentality, but
at the same time they begun to appreciate an indigenous world
view which may turn out to be more appropriate for the global
st
community in the 21 century. The last is recognition of the
person, the self, as a carter of relationship rather than as an
isolated individual; the importance of economic efficiency, but
that should not totally undermine the centrality of social soli-
darity and cultural identity. Historical approaches, hopefully,
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able to provide dear explanation about the continuity and dis-
continuity of the development of politics, economy, social and
culture in the region from the past, the present and the future.

6. Towards a Regional History from Within

Since the Second World War the term of Southeast Asia
has been generally accepted as a collective name for the main-
land and archipelago which lie to the east of India and Pakistan
and to the south of China. Today it comprises the several terri-
tories of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Viet-
nam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Before
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this term became general, the region was classified as part of
such regional concept as “the East Indies”, “Further India”,
“Monsoon Asia”, “Tropical Asia”, “The Far East”, and “East

13 TU Wei Ming, “Thought on the Identity and Creativity of Local
Cultures”, in Culture in Development and Globalization. Proceedings of a
series of Symposia held at Nongkhai, Hanoi and Tokyo (Tokyo: The Toyota
Foundation, 1995), pp. 62 – 63.
14 Charles F. Fisher, South east Asia: A Social, Economic and Political
Geography (London: Methuen, 1966), pp. 3.

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