Singapore Justice Party

The Malay Buddhist and Muslim Kingdom

2010-11-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

Langkasuka, "resplendent land", was an ancient Hindu Malay kingdom located in the Malay Peninsula. Another possible source of its name could be the combination of (-langkha Sanskrit for "resplendent land" - and Asoka in tribute to the legendary Mauryan Hindu warrior king who eventually became a pacifist after embracing the ideals espoused in Buddhism), the ancient kingdoms of the Malay Isthmus - Langkasuka having been one of them - believed by some scholars to have been first founded or rebuilt by emissaries or descendants of Asoka from Magadha in India.

The kingdom along with Old Kedah are probably among the earliest kingdoms founded on the Malay Peninsula. According to tradition the founding of the kingdom happened in the 2nd century. Malay legends claim that Langkasuka was founded at Kedah, and later moved to Pattani.

The historical record is sparse, but a Chinese Liang Dynasty record (c. 500 AD) refers to the kingdom of "Lang-ya-xiu" (Chinese: 狼牙脩) as being founded in the 1st century AD. As described in the Chinese chronicles, Langkasuka was thirty days' journey from east to west, and twenty from north to south, 24,000 li in distance from Guangzhou. Its capital was said to be surrounded by walls to form a city with double gates, towers and pavilions. The Buddhist monk Yi Jing mentioned encountering three Chinese monks who lived in Lang-chia-su.

The kingdom's designation in Chinese records changed over time: it was known as "Lang-ya-se-chia" during the Song dynasty (960-1279); "Long-ya-si-jiao" during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368); and "Lang-se-chia" during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), as evidenced by the Mao Kun map of Admiral Zheng He.

The name "Langkasuka" was also mentioned in Malay and Javanese chronicles. Tamil sources name "Ilangasoka" as one of Rajendra Chola's conquests in his expedition against the Srivijaya empire. It was described as a kingdom that that was "undaunted in fierce battles".

In 515 AD King Bhagadatta first established relations with China, with further embassies sent in 523, 531 and 568. In the 12th century Langkasuka was a tributary to the Srivijaya empire, and around the 15th century it was replaced by the Pattani Kingdom.

In 1963, Stewart Wavell led a Cambridge Expedition to locate Langkasuka and Tambralinga. The details of this expedition can be read in The Naga King's Daughter, published by Antara Books.

Srivijaya or Sriwijaya was a powerful ancient Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months. The first inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century, namely the Kedukan Bukit Inscription around Palembang in Sumatra, dated 683. The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century due to various factors, including the expansion of the Javanese Majapahit empire. Srivijaya was an important center for Buddhist expansion in the 8th to 12th centuries. In Sanskrit, sri (श्री) means "shining" or "radiant" and vijaya (विजय) means "victory" or "excellence".

After Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten and so historians had never considered that a large united kingdom could have been present in Southeast Asia. The existence of Srivijaya was only formally suspected in 1918 when French historian George Coedès of the École française d'Extrême-Orient postulated the existence of the empire. By 1993, Pierre-Yves Manguin proved that the centre of Srivijaya was along the Musi River between Bukit Seguntang and Sabokingking (situated in what is now the province of South Sumatra, Indonesia).

There was no continuous knowledge of Srivijaya in Indonesian histories; its forgotten past has been recreated by foreign scholars. No modern Indonesians, not even those of the Palembang area around which the kingdom was based, had heard of Srivijaya until the 1920s, when French scholar George Coedès published his discoveries and interpretations in Dutch and Indonesian-language newspapers. Coedès noted that the Chinese references to "Sanfoqi", previously read as "Sribhoja", and the inscriptions in Old Malay refer to the same empire.

Srivijaya became a symbol of early Sumatran greatness, and a great empire to balance Java's Majapahit in the east. In the twentieth century, both empires were referred to by nationalist intellectuals to argue for an Indonesian identity within an Indonesian state prior to the Dutch colonial state.

Srivijaya and by extension Sumatra had been known by different names to different peoples. The Chinese called it Sanfotsi or San Fo Qi, and at one time there was an even older kingdom of Kantoli that could be considered as the predecessor of Srivijaya. Sanskrit and Pali referred to it as Yavadesh and Javadeh, respectively. The Arabs called it Zabag and the Khmer called it Melayu. This is another reason why the discovery of Srivijaya was so difficult. While some of these names are strongly reminiscent of the name of Java, there is a distinct possibility that they may have referred to Sumatra instead.

Little physical evidence of Srivijaya remains. According to the Kedukan Bukit Inscription, dated 605 Saka (683 AD), the empire of Srivijaya was founded by Dapunta Hyang Çri Yacanaca (Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa). He led 20,000 troops (mainly land troopers and a few hundred ships) from Minanga Tamwan to Jambi and Palembang.

The empire was a coastal trading centre and was a thalassocracy. As such, it did not extend its influence far beyond the coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia, with the exception of contributing to the population of Madagascar 3,300 miles to the west. Around the year 500, Srivijayan roots began to develop around present-day Palembang, Sumatra, in modern Indonesia.

The empire was organised in three main zones—the estuarine capital region centred on Palembang, the Musi River basin which served as hinterland, and rival estuarine areas capable of forming rival power centres. The areas upstream of the Musi river were rich in various commodities valuable to Chinese traders. The capital was administered directly by the ruler while the hinterland remained under its own local datus or chiefs, who were organized into a network of allegiance to the Srivijaya maharaja or king. Force was the dominant element in the empire's relations with rival river systems such as the Batang Hari, which centred in Jambi. The ruling lineage intermarried with the Sailendras of Central Java and lived along the Javanese Sanjaya dynasty when the Srivijayan capital was located in Java.

Under the leadership of Jayanasa, the kingdom of Malayubecame the first kingdom to be integrated into the Srivijayan Empire. This possibly occurred in the 680s. Malayu, also known as Jambi, was rich in gold and was held in high esteem. Srivijaya recognized that the submission of Malayu to them would increase their own prestige.

According to the Kota Kapur Inscription discovered in Bangka Island, the empire conquered most of Southern Sumatra, neighboring island of Bangka, as far as Lampung, also according to this inscription, Jayanasa has launched a military campaign against Bhumi Java in late 7th century, a period which coincides with the decline of Tarumanagara in West Java and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java. The empire thus grew to control the trade on the Strait of Malacca, Sunda Strait, the South China Sea, the Java Sea, and Karimata Strait.

Chinese records dated in the late 7th century mention two Sumatran kingdoms as well as three other kingdoms on Java being part of Srivijaya. By the end of the 8th century, many western Javanese kingdoms, such as Tarumanagara and Holing, were within the Srivijayan sphere of influence. It has also been recorded that a Buddhist family related to Srivijaya dominated central Java at that time. The family was probably the Sailendras.

During the same century, Langkasuka on the Malay Peninsula became part of Srivijaya. Soon after this, Pan Pan and Trambralinga, which were located north of Langkasuka, came under Srivijayan influence. These kingdoms on the peninsula were major trading nations that transported goods across the peninsula's isthmus.

With the expansion to Java as well as the Malay Peninsula, Srivijaya controlled two major trade choke points in Southeast Asia. Some Srivijayan temple ruins are observable in Thailand and Cambodia.

The area of Chaiya Surat Thani Thailand was already inhabited in prehistoric times by Semang andMalayan tribes. Founded in the 3rd century, until the 13th century the Srivijaya kingdom dominated the Malay Peninsula and much of the island of Java from there. The city Chaiya the name might be derived from its original Malay name "Cahaya" (means 'light', 'gleam', or 'glow'). However some scholars state that Chai-ya came from Sri-vi-ja-ya. It was a regional capital in the Srivijaya kingdom of the 5th to 13th century. Some Thai historians^[who?] even claim that it was the capital of the kingdom itself for some time, but this is generally disputed. Wiang Sa and Phunphinwere another main settlement of that time.^{[citation needed]}

At some point in the 7th century, Cham ports in eastern Indochina started to attract traders. This diverted the flow of trade from Srivijaya. In an effort to divert the flow, the Srivijayan king or Maharaja, Dharmasetu, launched various raids against the coastal cities of Indochina. The city of Indrapura by the Mekong River was temporarily controlled from Palembang in the early 8th century. The Srivijayans continued to dominate areas around present-day Cambodia until the Khmer King Jayavarman II, the founder of the Khmer Empire dynasty, severed the Srivijayan link later in the same century.

After Dharmasetu, Samaratungga became the next Maharaja of Srivijaya. He reigned as ruler from 792 to 835. Unlike the expansionist Dharmasetu, Samaratungga did not indulge in military expansion but preferred to strengthen the Srivijayan hold of Java. He personally oversaw the construction of Borobudur; the temple was completed in 825, during his reign.

A stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism, Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia. These included the Chinese monk Yijing, who made several lengthy visits to Sumatra on his way to study at Nalanda University in India in 671 and 695, and the 11th centuryBengali Buddhist scholar Atisha, who played a major role in the development of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet. Yijing reports that the kingdom was home to more than a thousand Buddhist scholars; it was in Srivijaya that he wrote his memoir of Buddhism during his own lifetime. Travellers to these islands mentioned that gold coinage was in use on the coasts, but not inland.

Although historical records and archaeological evidence are scarce, it appears that by the seventh century, Srivijaya had established suzerainty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java and much of the Malay Peninsula. Dominating the Malacca and Sunda straits, Srivijaya controlled both the spice route traffic and local trade, charging a toll on passing ships. Serving as an entrepôt for Chinese, Malay, and Indian markets, the port of Palembang, accessible from the coast by way of a river, accumulated great wealth. Envoys travelled to and from China frequently.

Malayu kingdom was the first rival power centre absorbed into the empire, and thus began the domination of the region through trade and conquest in the 7th and 9th centuries. Malayu kingdom's gold mines up in Batang Hari river hinterland were a crucial economic resource and may be the origin of the word Suvarnadvipa (island of gold), the Sanskrit name for Sumatra. Srivijaya helped spread the Malay culture throughout Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo.

Srivijaya's influence waned in the 11th century. It was in frequent conflict with, and ultimately subjugated by,Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and then Majapahit. This was not the first time the Srivijayans conflicted with the Javanese. According to historian Paul Michel Munoz, the Javanese Sanjaya dynasty was a strong rival of the Srivijayans in the 8th century when the Srivijayan capital was located in Java. The seat of the empire moved to Malayu Muaro Jambi in the last centuries of Srivijaya's existence.

The Khmer Empire might also have been a tributary in its early stages.

Some historians claim that Chaiya in the Surat Thani province in Southern Thailand was at least temporarily the capital of Srivijaya, but this claim is widely disputed. However, Chaiya was probably a regional centre of the kingdom. The temple of Borom That in Chaiya contains a reconstructed pagoda in Srivijaya style.

Phra Boromathat Chaiya is highlighted by the chedi in Srivijaya style, dating back from the 7th century but elaborately restored. Buddha relics are enshrined in the chedi, in the surrounding chapels are several Buddha statues in Srivijaya style as it was labeled by Prince Damrong in his Collected Inscriptions of Siam, is now attributed to Wat Hua Wiang in Chaiya.

Dated to the year 697 of the Mahasakkarat era(i.e. 775 CE), the inscription on a Bai Sema shaped stone tells about the King of Srivijaya having erected three stupas at that site that possibly the one at Wat Phra Borom That. But also be assumed as three stupas at Wat Hua Wiang (Hua Wiang temple), Wat Lhong (Lhong temple) and Wat Kaew (Kaew temple) found in the area of Chaiya ancient city, stand in the direction from north to south on the old sand dune.

After the fall of the Srivijaya in Chaiya, the area was divided into the cities (Mueang) Chaiya, Thatong (now Kanchanadit) and Khirirat Nikhom.

Srivijaya also maintained close relations with the Pala Empire in Bengal, and an 860 inscription records that maharaja Balaputra dedicated a monastery at the Nalanda university in Pala territory. Relations with the Chola dynasty of southern India were initially friendly but deteriorated into actual warfare in the eleventh century.

After trade disruption at Canton between 820 and 850, the ruler of Jambi (Melayu Kingdom) was able to assert enough independence to send missions to China in 853 and 871.^{[citation needed]} Melayu kingdom's independence coincided with the troubled time when the Sailendran Balaputradewa, expelled from Java, seized the throne of Srivijaya. The new maharaja was able to dispatch a tributary mission to China by 902. Only two years later, the expiring Tang Dynasty conferred a title on a Srivijayan envoy.

In the first half of the tenth century, between the fall of Tang and the rise of Song, there was brisk trade between the overseas world and the Fujian kingdom of Min and the rich Guangdong kingdom of Nan Han. Srivijaya undoubtedly benefited from this, in anticipation of the prosperity it was to enjoy under the early Song. Circa 903, the Muslim writer Ibn Rustah was so impressed with the wealth of Srivijaya's ruler that he declared one would not hear of a king who was richer, stronger or with more revenue. The main urban centres were at Palembang (especially the Bukit Seguntang area), Muara Jambi and Kedah.

The migration to Madagascar accelerated in the 9th century, when the powerful Sumatran empire of Srivijaya controlled much of the maritime trade in the Indian Ocean.

In late 10th century the rivalry between Sumatran Srivijaya and Javanese Medang kingdom has become more intense and hostile. The animosity was probably caused by Srivijaya effort to reclaim Sailendra lands in Java, as Balaputra and his offsprings — the series Srivijaya Maharajas — was belongs to Sailendra dynasty, or probably led by Medang aspiration to challenge Srivijaya domination in the region. In the year 990, king Dharmawangsa launched a naval invasion against Srivijaya, and unsuccessfully attempted to capture Palembang. Dharmawangsa's invasion has led the Maharaja of Srivijaya, Chulamaniwarmadewa to seeks protection from China.

In 1006, Srivijaya's mandala alliance has proven its resilience by succeeds to repelled the Javanese invasion. In retaliation, Srivijaya assisted Haji (king) Wurawari of Lwaram to revolt, attacked and destroyed the Medang palace. With the death of Dharmawangsa and the fall of the Medang capital, Srivijaya has contributed to the collapse of Medang kingdom, leaving Eastern Java in further unrest, violence, and desolation for several years to come.

The influence of the empire had reached Manila by the 10th century. A kingdom under its sphere of influence had already been established there.

By the twelfth century, the kingdom included parts of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Western Java, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, Borneo and thePhilippines, most notably the Sulu Archipelago and the Visayas islands (and indeed the latter island group, as well as its population, is named after the empire).

Srivijaya remained a formidable sea power until the thirteenth century.

In 1025, Rajendra Chola, the Chola king from Coromandel in South India, conquered Kedah from Srivijaya and occupied it for some time. The Cholas continued a series of raids and conquests of parts of Sumatra and Malay Peninsula for the next 20 years. Although the Chola invasion was ultimately unsuccessful, it gravely weakened the Srivijayan hegemony and enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri, on intensive agriculture rather than coastal and long-distance trade.

Between 1079 and 1088, Chinese records show that Srivijaya sent ambassadors from Jambi and Palembang. In 1079 in particular, an ambassador from Jambi and Palembang each visited China. Jambi sent two more ambassadors to China in 1082 and 1088. This suggests that the centre of Srivijaya frequently shifted between the two major cities during that period. The Chola expedition as well as changing trade routes weakened Palembang, allowing Jambi to take the leadership of Srivijaya from the 11th century on.

According to a Chinese source in the book of Chu-fan-chi written around 1178, Chou-Ju-Kua describe that in Southeast Asia archipelago there was two most powerful and richest kingdoms; Srivijaya and Java (Kediri). In Java he founds that the people adhere two kinds of religions: Buddhism and the religions of Brahmins(Hinduism), while the people of Srivijaya adhere Buddhism. The people of Java are brave and short tempered, dare to put a fight. Their favourite pastimes was cockfighting and pig fighting. The currency was made from the mixture of copper, silver, and tin.

The book of Chu-fan-chi mentioned that Java was ruled by a maharaja, that rules several colonies: Pai-hua-yuan (Pacitan), Ma-tung (Medang), Ta-pen (Tumapel, now Malang), Hi-ning (Dieng), Jung-ya-lu (Hujung Galuh, now Surabaya), Tung-ki (Jenggi, West Papua), Ta-kang (Sumba), Huang-ma-chu (Southwest Papua), Ma-li (Bali), Kulun (Gurun, identified as Gorong or Sorong in West Papua or an island in Nusa Tenggara), Tan-jung-wu-lo (Tanjungpura in Borneo), Ti-wu (Timor), Pingya-i (Banggai in Sulawesi), and Wu-nu-ku (Maluku).

About Srivijaya, Chou-Ju-Kua reported that Srivijaya had 15 colonies and was still the mightiest and wealthiest state in western part of archipelago. Srivijaya's colony are: Pong-fong (Pahang), Tong-ya-nong (Terengganu), Ling-ya-si-kia (Langkasuka), Kilan-tan (Kelantan), Fo-lo-an (Dungun, eastern part of Malay Peninsula, a town within state of Terengganu), Ji-lo-t'ing (Cherating), Ts'ien-mai (Semawe, Malay Peninsula), Pa-t'a (Sungai Paka, northern part of Malay Peninsula), Tan-ma-ling (Tambralinga, Ligor or Nakhon Si Thammarat, SouthThailand), Kia-lo-hi (Grahi, northern part of Malay peninsula), Pa-lin-fong (Palembang), Sin-t'o (Sunda), Lan-wu-li (Lamuri at Aceh), Kien-pi (Jambi) and Si-lan (Cambodia).

According to this source in early 13th century Srivijaya still ruled Sumatra, Malay peninsula, and western Java (Sunda). About Sunda, the book describe it further that the port of Sunda (Sunda Kelapa) is really good and strategic, pepper from Sunda is among the best quality. People work on agriculture and their house are build on wooden piles (rumah panggung). However the country was invested by robbers and thieves. In sum, this Chinese source from early 13th century suggested that the Indonesian archipelago was ruled by two great kingdoms, western part was under Srivijaya's rule, while eastern part was under Kediri domination.

In 1288, Singhasari, the successor of Kediri in Java, conquered Melayu state includes Palembang, Jambi as well as much of Srivijaya during the Pamalayu expedition.

In the year 1293, Majapahit ruled much of Sumatra as the successor of Singhasari. Prince Adityawarman was given responsibilities over Sumatera in 1347 by Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi, the third monarch of Majapahit. The rebellion in 1377 was squashed by Majapahit but it left the area of southern Sumatera in chaos and desolation.

In the following years, sedimentation on the Musi river estuary cut the kingdom's capital off from direct sea access. The strategic disadvantage crippled the trade in the Kingdom's capital. As the decline continued, Islam made its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading through contacts with Arab and Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the kingdom of Pasai in northern Sumatra converted to Islam. At the same time, Srivijaya was briefly a tributary state of the Khmer empire and later the Sukhothai kingdom^{[citation needed]}. The last inscription, on which a crown prince, Ananggavarman, son of Adityawarman, is mentioned, dates from 1374.

Several attempts to revive Srivijaya were made by the fleeing princes of Srivijaya. In 1324, a prince of Srivijaya origin, Sri Maharaja Sang Utama Parameswara Batara Sri Tribuwana (Sang Nila Utama) founded the ancient Singapore (Temasek). He maintained control over Temasek for 48 years. Confirmed as ruler over Temasek by an envoy of the Chinese Emperor ca 1366. He was succeeded by his son Paduka Sri Pekerma Wira Diraja (1372–1386) and grandson, Paduka Seri Rana Wira Kerma (1386–1399). In 1401, his great grandson, Paduka Sri Maharaja Parameswara was expelled from Temasek by a Majapahit invasion. He later headed north and founded Sultanate of Malacca in 1402. The Sultanate of Malacca succeeded Srivijaya Empire as a Malay political entity of the archipelago.

The Ottoman Empire was an empire that lasted from 1299 to 1923.

At the height of its power, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the empire spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asiaand North Africa. The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. The empire also temporarily gained authority over distant overseas lands through declarations of allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan and Caliph, such as the declaration by the Sultan of Aceh in 1565; or through the temporary acquisitions of islands in the Atlantic Ocean, such as Lanzarote in 1585.

The empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Westernworlds for six centuries. With Constantinople as its capital city, and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 to 1566).

The Ottoman Empire came to an end, as a regime under an imperial monarchy, on November 1, 1922. It formally ended, as a de jure state, on July 24, 1923, under the Treaty of Lausanne. It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923.

The empire was also known in English as the Osmanic Empire, the Osmanian Empire or the Ottoman State. Some contemporaries referred to it colloquially as the Turkish Empire or simply Turkey (see the other names of the Ottoman State).

The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam was a sultanate centered in the modern area of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, which was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline. Its capital was Kutaraja, the present Banda Aceh. At its peak it was a formidable enemy of the sultanate of Johor and Portuguese-controlled Malacca, both on the Malayan Peninsula, as all three attempted to control the trade through the Strait of Malacca and the regional exports of pepper and tin with fluctuating success. In addition to its considerable military strength, the court of Aceh became a noted center of Islamic scholarship and trade.

Aceh's origins are unquestionably Cham, as the Champa king Syah Pau Kubah sent his son Syah Pau Ling to rule over Aceh when the capital Vijaya (Champa) in 1471 AD, was sacked by the Vietnamese.^[who?] Acehnese is the only other non-Chamic language in the 11 language Aceh-Chamic languages group.

The ruler of Aceh converted to Islam in the mid-15th century. The sultanate was founded by Ali Mughayat Syah, who began campaigns to extend his control over northern Sumatra in 1520. His conquests included Deli, Pedir, and Pasai, and he attacked Aru. His son Alauddin al-Kahar extended the domains farther south into Sumatra, but was less successful in his attempts to gain a foothold across the strait, though he made several attacks on both Johor and Malacca, with the support along with men and firearms from Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire sent a relief force of 15 Xebecs commanded by Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis, the fleet introduced gunsmiths, cannons, and muskets to Muslim Sultanates in Southeast Asia (see also: Ottoman expedition to Aceh).

Internal dissension in the sultanate prevented another powerful sultan from appearing until 1607, when Iskandar Muda came to the position. He extended the sultanate's control over most of Sumatra. He also conquered Pahang, a tin-producing region on the Malayan Peninsula. The strength of his formidable fleet was brought to an end with a disastrous campaign against Malacca in 1629, when the combined.

Portuguese and Johor forces managed to destroy all his ships and 19,000 troops according to Portuguese account. Aceh forces was not destroyed, however, as Aceh was able to conquer Kedah within the same year and taking many of its citizens to Aceh. The Sultan's son in law, Iskandar Thani, former prince of Pahang later became his successor. During his reign Aceh focused on internal consolidation and religious unity.

After the reign of Sultan Iskandar Sani, Aceh was ruled by a series of female sultana. Aceh previous policy of taking hostage conquered kingdoms' population made them eager to seek independence, the results are Aceh's power weakened while regional rulers gained effective power. The sultan ultimately became a largely symbolic title. By the 1680s, a Persian visitor could describe a northern Sumatra where "every corner shelters a separate king or governor and all the local rulers maintain themselves independently and do not pay tribute to any higher authority."

Before the arrival of the first Sultan, Malacca was a simple fishing village inhabited by local Malays. Malacca was founded by Parameswara, the last Raja of Singapura (present day Singapore) following a Majapahit attack in 1377. He found his way to Malacca c. 1400 where he found a good port accessible in all seasons and on the strategically located narrowest point of the Malacca Straits.

According to a popular legend, Parameswara was resting under a gray tree near a river while hunting, when one of his dogs cornered a mouse deer. In self-defence, the mouse deer pushed the dog into the river. Impressed by the courage of the deer, and taking it as a propitious omen of the weak overcoming the powerful, Parameswara decided on the spot to found an empire on the very place that he was sitting. He named it 'Melaka' after the tree under which he had taken shelter. Another version of the story says that Parameswara chose the name 'Malacca' from the Tamil word 'mallakka' which means upside down or on ones back. Old illustrations of the scene where the mousedeer kicks the dog shows the dog falling on its back into the river, hence the inspiration.

In collaboration with allies from the sea-people (orang laut) the wandering proto-Malay privateers of the Straits, he established Malacca as major international port by compelling passing ships to call there, and establishing fair and reliable facilities for warehousing and trade. Mass settlement of Chinese, mostly from the imperial and merchant fleet occurred during the reign of Parameswara, occurred in the vicinity of the Bukit China ("Chinese Hill") area, which was perceived as having excellent Feng Shui (geomancy) in Malacca then. Sultan Iskandar Shah died in 1424. He was buried on Bukit Larangan (now Fort Canning Hill in Singapore) and was succeeded by his son, Sri Maharaja also called Sultan Muhammad Shah.

The prosperity of Malacca attracted the invasion of theSiamese. Attempts in 1446 and 1456, however, were warded off by Tun Perak, the then Bendahara (a position similar to Prime Minister). The development of relations between Malacca and China was then a strategic decision to ward off further Siamese attacks.

Because of its strategic location, Malacca was an important stopping point for Zheng He's fleet. To enhance relations, Hang Li Po, allegedly a princess of the Ming Emperor of China, arrived in Malacca, accompanied by 500 attendants, to marry Sultan Manshur Shah who reigned from 1456 until 1477. Her attendants married the locals and settled mostly in Bukit China (Bukit Cina).

Scholars have disputed Hang Li Po's status in China as because she was never recorded as a princess in the Chinese court of the Ming Dynasty in the Ming Chronicles. At the time of the arrival of the Sultan's envoy, the reigning Ming Emperor was Jingtai Emperor. Records of his reign was expunged following the ascension of Tianshun in 1457. It is likely that if she were a princess in the Ming court, records of her might not exist. In many historical text, she was said to have been a princess in the court of the Yongle Emperor(1402–1424).

A cultural result of the vibrant trade was the expansion of the Peranakan people, who spread to other major settlements in the region.

During its prime, Malacca was a powerful Sultanate which extended its rule over the southern Malay Peninsula and much of Sumatra. Its rise helped to hold off the Thai's southwards encroachment and arguably hasten the decline of the rival Majapahit Empire of Java which was in decline as Malacca was rising. Malacca was also central in the spread of Islam in the Malay Archipelago.

In April 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships. They conquered the city on August 24, 1511. It became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies. Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Sultan of Malacca took refuge in the hinterland, and made intermittent raids both by land and sea, causing considerable hardship for the Portuguese.

In the meantime the Portuguese built the fort named A Famosa to defend Malacca (its gate is all that remains of the ruins at present). "In order to appease the King of Ayudhya" (Siam, whom had always intended in invading Malacca if not due to the latter's good relationship with the Ming Emperor, China) "the Portuguese sent up an ambassador, Duarte Fernandes, who was well received by Ramathibodi." in 1511. Finally in 1526, a large force of Portuguese ships, under the command of Pedro Mascarenhas, was sent to destroy Bintan, where Sultan Mahmud was based. Sultan Mahmaud fled with his family across the Straits to Kampar in Sumatra, where he died five years later.

Pasai, also known as Samudera and Samudera-Pasai sometimes called Samudera Darussalam was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast of Sumatra from the 13th to the 15th centuries CE. It was believed the word Samudera derived from Samudra meaning ocean in Sanskrit. According to Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, it was said Merah Silu saw an ant as big as a cat, he caught it and ate it and he named the place Samandara. King Merah Silu later converted to Islam, known as Malik ul Salih, he was the sultan in year 1267 CE.

Little evidence has been left to allow for historical study of the kingdom.

Pasai exported its culture, and most importantly its language — an early form of Malay written in the Jawi alphabet — to a number of islands. Later, this language became the lingua franca among traders in what is now Indonesia and Malaysia.

Arab and Indian Muslims had traded in Indonesia and China for many centuries. A Muslim tombstone in eastern Java bears a date corresponding to 1082. But substantial evidence of Islam in Indonesia begins only in northern Sumatra at the end of the 13th century. Two small Muslim trading kingdoms existed by that time at Pasai and Peureulak or Perlak. A 1297 royal tomb at Samudra is inscribed entirely in Arabic.

By the 15th century several harbour kingdoms developed, all ruled by local Muslim princes, from the north coast of Java and elsewhere to as far east as Ternate and Tidore in Maluku. Marco Polo spent five months here, he had Ferlec, Basma, and Samara (Samudera) mentioned in his travel story. Another famous traveller Ibn Battuta on his way to China stayed 15 days at Samudera.

The establishment of the first Muslim centres in Indonesia was probably a result of commercial circumstances. By the 13th century the collapse of Srivijayan power, drew foreign traders harbours on the northern Sumatran shores of the Bay of Bengal, safe from the pirate lairs at the southern end of the Strait of Malacca.

Northern Sumatra had a hinterland rich in gold and forest produce, and pepper was being cultivated at the beginning of the 15th century. It was accessible to all the merchants of the archipelago who wanted to meet ships from the Indian Ocean. By the end of the 14th century, Samudra-Pasai had become a wealthy commercial centre, giving way in the early 15th century to the better protected harbour of Malacca on the south-west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Majapahit attacked and looted the place in the middle of the 14th century.

Pasai's economic and political power depended almost entirely on foreigners. Muslim traders and teachers probably participated in its administration from the beginning and were bound to introduce religious practices that made them feel at home. The first Muslim beachheads in Indonesia, especially Pasai, were to a considerable extent genuine Muslim creations that commanded the loyalty of the local population and encouraged scholarly activities.

Similar new harbour kingdoms formed on the northern coast of Java. Tomé Pires, author of the Suma Oriental, writing not long after 1511, stresses the obscure ethnic origins of the founders of Cheribon, Demak, Japara, and Gresik. These Javanese coastal states served commerce with India and China and especially with Malacca, an importer of Javanese rice. The rulers of Malacca, despite their prestigious Srivijayan origin, accepted Islam precisely in order to attract Muslim and Javanese traders to their port.

The Portuguese occupied Pasai in 1521, 10 years after their conquest of Malacca, after which the Acehnese took over.

Conclusion:

In 1324, a prince of Srivijaya origin, Sri Maharaja Sang Utama Parameswara Batara Sri Tribuwana (Sang Nila Utama) founded the ancient Singapore (Temasek). He maintained control over Temasek for 48 years. Confirmed as ruler over Temasek by an envoy of the Chinese Emperor ca 1366. He was succeeded by his son Paduka Sri Pekerma Wira Diraja (1372–1386) and grandson, Paduka Seri Rana Wira Kerma (1386–1399).

In 1401, his great grandson, Paduka Sri Maharaja Parameswara was expelled from Temasek by a Majapahit invasion. He later headed north and founded Sultanate of Malacca in 1402. The Sultanate of Malacca succeeded Srivijaya Empire as a Malay political entity of the archipelago.

Malacca was established by the Malay ruler Parameswara, the Sultanate of Malacca was first a Hindu Kingdom in 1402 and later converted to Islam with the marriage of the princess of Pasai in 1409. Centered in the modern town of Malacca, the sultanate stretched from Muslim Malay settlements of Phuket Province, Satun, Pattani bordering the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam (Thailand) in the north to Sumatra in the southwest. The Portuguese invaded its capital in 1511 and in 1528. In the aftermath the Sultanate of Johor was established by the Malaccan prince Alauddin Riayat Shah II as a successor state.

Empayar dan Negarakota Bangsa Mala

2010-11-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Jika kita perhalusi segala misteri ini dan mengkaji dengan mendalam,mengapakah bangsa Melayu (tidak kira Melayu Jawa atau Melayu Kelantan) amat suka menubuhkan kerajaan dan melantik raja-raja?

Bangsa Melayu adalah bangsa yang amat degil mempertahankan sistem beraja. Mereka suka menubuhkan kerajaan dan empayar di sana-sini tanpa bersatu padu. Kaum Tai misalnya juga mempunyai raja dan bersatu setelah juga menghadapi perpecahan sebelum itu.Tetapi ini dapat diterima kerana kaum Tai yang berasal dari Shan di wilayah China tidaklah sebesar dan serumit bangsa Mala. Jika kita ingin melihat dari sudut lain, misalnya dari segi bangsa-bangsa Kecinaan, kita juga menemui masalah yang sama. Pertelingkahan antara mereka juga sama dengan bangsa Mala. Sebab itu kaum-kaum di wilayah-wilayah selatan China terpaksa mengalah dan berundur ke IndoChina dan lebih ke selatan untuk mengelakkan bala tentera etnik China yang menang perang antara etnik-etnik keCinaan yang lain. Trend di Tanah Besar China ialah,etnik yang menang perang, merekalah yang berhak menabalkan maharaja dan memulakan dinasti pemerintahan. Sama seperti bangsa Monggol yang menang perang dengan bangsa Cina, mereka menubuhkan Empayar Monggol Yuan di Tanah Besar China. Perlu diingat,bahawa sebelum ini, kaum-kaum selatan China ini tidaklah mempunyai kerajaan dan raja sebelum ini dalam ertikata sebenarnya. Kehidupan yang mencabar setelah diasak oleh etnik-etnik Cina dari wilayah tengah, menyebabkan mereka terpaksa menjadi pelarian dan kaum gasar di tengah-tengah kerajaan-kerajaan purba bangsa Mala di IndoChina. Ketika itu,bangsa Mala telah lama menubuhkan kerajaan-kerajaan mereka sendiri.

Mereka biasanya berkasta Brahmin, ini tidak menghairankan jika etnik-etnik di sebelah utara India ini yang tinggal di kawasan pergunungan yang indah dan berlatar belakangkan Himalaya yang bersalji adalah berasal dari etnik-etnik Aryan yang membawa budaya Vedic dan bahasa Sanskrit beribu tahun dahulu. Agama Hindu berasal dari agama purba; agama Ibrahim yang menyembah Tuhan yang satu, dibawa oleh bangsa misteri sebagai wasiat Nabi mulia itu. Keturunan Nabi Ibrahim yang lain seperti dari Siti Sarah (menurunkan bangsa Yahudi) tidak pernah mengembara beramai-ramai sampai ke India. Juga dari Siti Hajar (menurunkan bangsa Arab) juga lebih selesa menetap di Tanah Arab, bermain-main dengan unta padang pasir dan memetik buah kurma.Tetapi keturunan Keturahlah yang diberi tanggungjawab dan amanah berat berpindah ke Timur Jauh, The Land of The East untuk membawa agama Ibrahim dan mencari tanah nenek moyang mereka dari sebelah ibu,iaitu gadis misteri wangi-wangian, Siti Keturah.

Perihal berhijrah ini bukanlah sesuatu yang baru bagi Nabi Ibrahim kerana sebelum itu baginda juga pernah diwahyukan supaya membawa Siti Hajar dan Nabi Ismail jauh dari Tanah Kanaan iaitu ke Tanah Arab,memisahkan mereka dengan Siti Sarah dan Nabi Ishak.

Kini baginda diwahyukan lagi supaya membawa keturunan Siti Keturah jauh dari Tanah Kanaan iaitu ke Timur Jauh.

Para sarjana Barat ada mengkaji tentang bangsa Deutro Mala yang ada kaitan dengan kaum Kambojas, satu kaum berkasta Ksatria yang dikatakan menubuhkan kerajaan Kambujadesa,Champadesa dan Gangga Negara di Nusantara.

Perkataan 'colonial Kambujas' dan 'Indo-Persian royalties' adalah katakunci kepada sub bangsa Aryan yang membawa budaya Vedic-Avestan ke India.Mereka berasal dari bangsa Mada-yu dan Mala-yu (Deutro Mala) yang membentuk balatentera Aryan yang menakluk India ketika itu.'along the ancient trade routes' adalah petunjuk kepada katakunci 'bangsa yang mengembara'.DEUTRO MALA IALAH HASIL DARI PERKAHWINAN NABI IBRAHIM A.S DAN SITI KETURAH.

Ketika bergerak ke arah timur,keturunan mereka telah berasimilasi dengan kaum-kaum Indo-Iranian dan Indo-European atau secara amnya dikenali sebagai bangsa Aryan.Mereka mengembara mencari 'The Promised Land' dan bertemu dengan saudara mereka dari sebelah ibu,PROTO MALA.Sejarah bangsa Melayu bukanlah seperti sejarah etnik-etnik yang menjadi pelarian diasak oleh bangsa lain yang lebih gagah.

SEJARAH MELAYU ADA KAITAN DENGAN SEJARAH NABI-NABI.Bangsa Keturah telah muncul menjadi 'colonial kambujas' menunjukkan ia adalah bangsa penakluk tetapi pada masa yang sama kaya dengan nilai kebudayaan dan seni.Bangsa ini juga menjadi 'Indo-Persian royalties' menunjukkan mereka dari kasta tinggi,bangsawan dan kerabat diraja.'Traders' adalah katakunci menunjukkan budaya berdagang memang wujud pada bangsa misteri.Jika kita mengambilkira pandangan Barat ini tentang Melayu (perlu diingat,pandangan Barat ada dua,pertama pandangan orientalis-imperialis dan kedua,pandangan ilmuan dan sarjana) atau tepatnya Deutro Malay,darah yang mengalir di dalam setiap orang Melayu adalah darah penakluk agung yang tinggi budaya kesusasteraannya,darah bangsawan dan kerabat diraja dan darah pada pedagang dan peniaga.Jika kita faham rahsia ini,kita akan faham rahsia seterusnya iaitu tentang pola empayar-empayar di Nusantara ini.

Dari katakunci 'Vedic',kita tahu siapa yang membawa budaya Avestan yang mempengaruhi bahasa Sanskrit di India.Kaum misteri Kambojas adalah antara sub bangsa Aryan yang diiktiraf memang pakar dalam budaya Sanskrit Veda-Avestan.Deutro Mala yang berasal dari keturunan Keturah dan Abraham bersama-sama bangsa Aryan yang lain (Medes,Parsi) menyerang Benua India dan memaksa kaum-kaum asli India (lebih dikenali sebagai etnik-etnik Dravidia) bergerak lebih selatan.Sebab itu kita dapati bahasa Hindi/Urdu (etnik-etnik Hindustan mendiami utara India) bercampur antara Arab,Parsi dan Sanskrit.Kita boleh tahu jika kita adalah penggemar filem-filem Bollywood.'Mohabbatein' sebuah filem Hindustan Bollywood yang diarahkan oleh Aditya Chopra,lakonan Shah Rukh Khan dan Aishwariya Rai adalah kata Hindi-Urdu yang bermaksud 'Kisah Cinta' berasal dari kata Arab 'Mahabbah' iaitu 'cinta'.Kaum India yang dibawa British ke Tanah Melayu bukanlah dari etnik Hindustan tetapi majoritinya dari etnik Tamil atau etnik Dravidia (Malayalam,Telugu) yang berkasta rendah dalam agama Hindu;tepatnya diistilahkan sebagai Vaisya,Sudra dan Paraiyar/Pariah atau Adi-Dravida (sistem ini memang kejam dan melanggar hak asasi manusia). Etnik Hindustan adalah etnik yang dihormati,tinggi budayanya dan berkasta tinggi.Jika kita membicarakan tentang filem-filem Bollywood,bermakna kita sedang membicarakan filem-filem yang berbahasa Hindi-Urdu.Bahasa Hindi-Urdu digunakan di wilayah sebelah utara India dan di Pakistan manakala di sebelah selatan India,penduduknya menggunakan bahasa Dravidian seperti Tamil.Kita boleh lihat pola artis Hindustan (budaya Hindustan adalah budaya Bollywood dan sememangnya mereka yang mendominasi industri Bollywood) dengan artis Tamil misalnya.Orang Hindustan biasanya berkulit cerah,berhidung mancung,lelakinya tampan-tampan dan wanitanya jelita,secantik Preity Zinta atau Madhuri Dixit.

Jika kita kaji pola yang terdapat di antara kerajaan-kerajaan purba di Indochina dan Nusantara misalnya kita akan nampak rahsia kehadiran bangsa Deutro Mala di Nusantara.Kerajaan-kerajaan terkemudian seperti Khmer,Thai,Viet atau Burma adalah penganut Buddha.Manakala kerajaan-kerajaan purba yang lebih awal di Indochina seperti Funan dan Champa adalah kerajaan Hindu.Begitu juga kerajaan Tarumanagara dan Gangga Negara.Agama Hindu terbentuk lebih awal dari agama Buddha dan Gautama Buddha itu sendiri asalnya beragama Hindu.Jadi etnik-etnik kecinaan di Indochina seperti Tai dan Khmer adalah beragama Buddha.Tidak pernah pula Tanah Besar China mengalami zaman Hindu secara besar-besaran.Istilah 'Indochina' merujuk kepada 'Indo' iaitu bangsa Deutro Mala yang menganut agama Hindu dan 'China' iaitu etnik-etnik kecinaan yang menganut Buddha.Kerajaan Angkor-Khmer asalnya adalah kerajaan purba Kambojadesa yang ada benang-benang merah dengan dinasti Sailendra.Sebab itu raja-raja awal Khmer lebih cenderung kepada agama keHinduan sebelum menerima agama Buddha.Orang Khmer boleh dikatakan kaum yang kedua terawal berinteraksi dan berhubungan dengan etnik-etnik Mala di IndoChina selepas orang Mon.Ini mungkin kerana orang Mon dan Khmer serumpun dari segi linguistik bahasa malah bahasa mereka boleh dikategorikan sebagai Mon-Khmer.

Sailendra bermaksud 'Dewa Gunung' dalam bahasa Sanskrit.Raja-raja Khmer sendiri mendakwa mereka dari keturunan pahlawan Kambojas.Terdapat misteri pada sejarah kerajaan Khmer Purba bermula di Kemboja.Jayavarman II yang mengasaskan kerajaan Angkor telah tinggal lama di Jawa tepatnya di dalam istana kerajaan Sailendra di mana Sailendra adalah kerajaan yang mengambil ajaran Buddha sebagai anutan.Ada dua teori tentang Jayavarman ini,pertama beliau seorang putera Jawa yang dihantar ke Kemboja untuk memerintah di sana.Kedua,beliau orang Mon atau Khmer yang datang ke Jawa untuk belajar ilmu pentadbiran dan budaya kerana ketika itu Kemboja di bawah naungan kerajaan Sailendra atau kerajaan Jawa Kuno.Rekod terkini dari prasasti Khmer menceritakan sebelum Jayavarman II menaiki takhtanya,beliau pernah mengunjungi Jawa. SEBAB ITU JIKA KITA LIHAT BUDAYA KHMER PURBA,BUDAYA MEREKA ADALAH SAMA DENGAN BUDAYA SRIVIJAYA,SAILENDRA ATAU YANG TERKINI BALI terutamanya pada 'headgear' mereka.

Kostum,budaya dan seni ukiran mereka adalah dari sumber yang sama.Budaya tarian dan pakaian tradisi kaum Khmer pada hari ini adalah tinggalan dari budaya Jawa Kuno pada masa dahulu.Angkor Wat misalnya masih menimbulkan misteri adakah benar-benar Survarman II yang membinanya.Ada kajian menunjukkan kisah peperangan yang diukir pada salah satu tembok menceritakan peperangan pada zaman Babilon dan kerajaan Judea.

Empayar Khmer adalah empayar kedua terbesar.Setelah kerajaan Jawa Kuno (pengkaji lebih merujuknya sebagai Sailendra) yang menaunginya semakin lemah setelah kebangkitan kerajaan Melayu-Jawa Sriwijaya,raja-raja Khmer pun memisahkan diri mereka dari pusat pemerintahan di Jawa.Sebelum itu etnik Mala yang keJawaan sudah lama menjalinkan hubungan secara perkahwinan dengan kaum Khmer yang datang dari utara.

Etnik Khmer mewarisi kebudayaan Jawa Kuno Sailendra berserta segala kesenian termasuk Angkor Wat itu sendiri.Empayar Melayu Sriwijaya semakin menunjukkan kuasanya setelah menakluk kerajaan-kerajaan Melayu-Jawa di sekeliling mereka.Empayar ini amat luas,merangkumi hampir seluruh Nusantara iaitu seluruh Indonesia hari ini,dan Semenanjung Malaysia sehingga sempadan Empayar Khmer di Indochina menjadikan Empayar Melayu Sriwijaya ini adalah empayar terbesar di Asia Tenggara.

Ketika itu Thailand,Laos dan Kemboja pada hari ini adalah jajahan Khmer Purba.Pada suatu ketika kedua-dua empayar ini bertembung,namun Sriwijaya tetap merupakan empayar terkuat ketika itu dengan segala jajahannya yang amat luas.Sehingga pada kira-kira 851 M,seorang raja Khmer dengan angkuh mengatakan mahu menyantap kepala Emperor Sriwijaya di atas pinggan hidangannya. Berita itu sampai ke pengetahuan Emperor Sriwijaya,dengan perasaan murka baginda memerintahkan balatentera seluruh jajahan berangkat menyerang ibukota Khmer,dan memenggal kepala raja Khmer yang angkuh itu.Semua ini terdapat dalam catatan pelayaran Abu Zaid Hasan,seorang pedagang Arab.

Sebelum kehadiran etnik Tai,Khmer,Burma dan Viet,Indochina telah lama di diami oleh Proto Mala yang terdiri dari etnik-etnik aborigine,etnik kejawaan dan etnik Mon.Orang Mon adalah kaum selatan China pertama yang berinteraksi dan tinggal bersama-sama dengan Proto Mala.Sebab itu jika kita lihat pakaian tradisi mereka berkain sarung dan memakai ikat kepala seperti mahu bertanjak pula berbeza dengan etnik Tai atau Khmer.Mereka telah lama mendirikan kerajaan bersama-sama bangsa Mala seperti Champadesa,Kambujadesa dan Funan.Antara hasil seni orang Mon yang hebat ialah Pagoda Shwemawdaw dan Pagoda Shwe Dagon yang disaluti emas itu.

Antara kerajaan orang Mon ialah Honsawati, Dvaravati dan Hariphunchai.Champadesa atau Champaka Sari didirikan oleh kaum Cham,satu sukukaum Proto Mala yang memiliki kemahiran maritim yang tinggi.Champa beragama Hindu dan antara negarakota-negarakota yang dibina oleh kaum Cham ialah Inderapura,Amaravati,Vijaya,Kauthara dan Panduranga.Kaum Cham mengikut kajian antropologi adalah serumpun dengan orang Aceh.Hari ini di Kemboja masih terdapat penempatan mereka seperti di Kampong Cham yang merupakan wilayah terpadat populasinya di Kemboja.Di Kemboja juga masih terdapat nama-nama tempat yang bermula dengan nama 'Kampong' seperti Kampong Siem. Antara binaan kaum Melayu Cham ini yang terkenal ialah Cham Tower atau menara Cham yang penuh misteri itu.

Sebahagian kesenian arkitek bangsa Khmer dan Viet adalah diambil dari seni kaum Cham Purba ini serta orang Mon.Etnik Tai yang pernah berada dibawah pemerintahan Empayar Khmer pula telah mencedok budaya Khmer termasuk tulisan mereka.Raja Tai bernama Ramkhamhaeng telah mengubahsuai tulisan Khmer Purba menjadi tulisan Tai yang ada sekarang ini.Tulisan jenis ini berasal dari tulisan Brahmi.Tulisan Brahmi adalah tulisan yang digunakan oleh bangsa India serta penduduk Asia Tenggara sejak ajaran Hindu diperkenalkan.Tulisan yang digunakan oleh penduduk Asia Tenggara adalah Pallava (subBrahmi) yang juga digunakan oleh kerajaan-kerajaan India Selatan.Sebutan 'Khmer script' dalam istilah Khmer adalah 'aksar' mempunyai kaitan dengan 'aksara' iaitu tulisan Nusantara yang dimodifikasi dari tulisan Brahmi.Dari skrip Pallava,penduduk Nusantara mengubahsuainya menjadi tulisan Kawi dan dari Kawi ini bertebaran tulisan-tulisan lain.Skrip Brahmi adalah berasal dari tulisan Aramaik Purba yang digunakan oleh Empayar Parsi Achaemenid yang diasaskan oleh Cyrus The Great (ingat bangsa Mada-yu?).JADI AKHIRNYA 'PUZZLE' INI KEMBALI KEPADA ISKANDAR ZULKARNAIN JUGA.Bangsa Mala (Old Persian:Malai Assyrian:Malayu) bersama-sama bangsa Aryan Avestan yang lain membawa tulisan Brahmi berserta budaya Vedic dan agama Abraham (Brahmi,Brahman,Abraham) ke Benua India beribu tahun dahulu.

Kerajaan Srivijaya juga menggunakan skrip Pallava dalam penulisan bahasa Melayu Kuno mereka.Ini tercatat dalam Prasasti Kedukan Bukit:

Maksudnya:

Selamat dan bahagia! Dalam Shaka 605, pada sebelas
hari bulan terang dari bulan Waisyakha Baginda naik
kapal mencari untungnya pada tujuh
hari bulan terang dari bulan Jyestha Baginda berangkat
dari muara Tamvan membawa bala dua laksa dengan
... dua ratus pawang di kapal dengan yang jalan kaki seribu
tiga ratus dua belas banyaknya datang di Matajap
suka cita. Pada lima hari bulan terang dari bulan Asada
belayar mudik, datang membuat benua ...
Srivijaya kota yang berjaya, yang bahagia, dan yang makmur!

Pada tahun 671 seorang pendeta Buddha dari negeri China bernama I Tsing dalam perjalanannya ke India beliau telah singgah ke Srivijaya untuk belajar tatabahasa Sanskrit, memperlihatkan betapa pentingnya Sriwijaya waktu itu.Bayangkan seorang pendeta Cina melanjutkan pelajarannya dalam bidang Tatabahasa Sanskrit di universiti Kerajaan Melayu Sriwijaya.Mengapa tidak belajar di India?Ingat,teks agama Buddha kebanyakannya ditulis dalam bahasa Pali.Bangsa Mala amat tinggi kemahirannya dalam bahasa Sanskrit,yang merupakan bahasa kerabat istana,para Brahmin dan bangsawan,manakala Pali adalah bahasa rakyat atau kebanyakan.

I Tsing juga mencatatkan di Sriwijaya ada lebih dari seribu pendeta. Setelah tinggal selama 6 bulan di Sriwijaya,beliau bertolak ke Nalanda, India untuk belajar di Universiti Buddha mempelajari ajaran Buddha Mahayana, selama 13 tahun di sana. Kemudian pada tahun 685 kembali ke Sriwijaya untuk menterjemahkan teks Budha ke dalam Bahasa China dan menyusun buku memoirnya yang memakan waktu 4 tahun di Sriwijaya. Pada tahun 689 kerana keperluan alat tulis dan pembantu maka I Tsing bertolak ke Kanton dan kembali ke Sriwijaya dengan 4 orang teman untuk menyiapkan memoirnya yang akhirnya diselesaikan pada 692 dan pada 695 beliau kembali ke China.

Pada tahun 1005 seorang raja Sriwijaya membangun sebuah biara di Nagapatam, pantai Timur India, dan Raja Chola, menghadiahkan hasil pajak tahunannya sebuah tempat bagi para saudagar Sriwijaya untuk singgah, tinggal dan menjalankan aktiviti keagamaan. Perkara ini menunjukkan pada waktu itu sudah ada hubungan dagang antara Sriwijaya dengan India. Pada era bersamaan ada sebuah catatan China yang mengatakan bahawa pada masa itu hidup Seorang reformis Agama Budha di Tibet bernama Atisa yang mencatatkan bahawa beliau telah belajar di Sriwijaya dari tahun 1011 sehingga tahun 1023 dengan seorang mahaguru Melayu bernama Dharmakirti,seorang ketua pendeta kuil Buddha di Sumatera.Dalam biografi Atisa disebutkan Sumatera merupakan pusat terbesar agama Budha dan Dharmakirti adalah sarjana terbesar pada masa itu.Bayangkan seorang sami muda dari Tibet sedang tunduk berlutut sambil mencium bumi di hadapan gurunya,seorang pendeta Melayu berkasta tinggi,seorang sarjana terbesar agama Buddha seluruh dunia.Segala rahsia mistik dan 'sufism' agama Buddha adalah dalam kepala pendeta Melayu ini.

JIka kita memahami misteri yang menyelubungi Nusantara setakat ini,kita akan memahami adakah bangsa misteri masih tinggal di dalam gua sambil mengail ikan atau melukis gambar monyet di dinding-dinding.Kita akan tahu mengapa para Firaun mengatakan dunia sebelah sini adalah The Land of The Gods dan asal nenek moyang mereka.Bangsa yang duduk di SISTEM PULAU TERBESAR mustahil tidak memiliki pengetahuan bintang yang tinggi.Ini kerana di tengah-tengah lautan,di waktu malam,bintang-bintang adalah kompas dan peta yang besar.Bangsa yang memiliki ilmu perbintangan pasti sudah biasa dengan buruj Orion.Dan susunan Piramid Giza adalah mengarah sejajar dengan kedudukan bintang-bintang Orion.

Alter Terahsia Bangsa Melayu VI

2010-11-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Mengapakah wajah Melayu mengalami variasi yang kompleks?

Jika kita melihat kepada bangsa Cina,kita tahu 'trademark' wajah mereka,begitu juga dengan orang India.Tetapi wajah Melayu adalah yang paling 'international'.

Apakah maksud 'Nusantara'?

Jika kita terbalikkan perkataan ini kepada 'antara nusa',apakah yang dapat kita fikirkan.Mungkin yang tercetus adalah perkataan 'antarabangsa'.Pernahkah anda mendengar istilah 'nusa bangsa'?

Bangsa Mala adalah satu bangsa yang mengandungi beratus-ratus etnik dan juga bahasa daerah.Tinggal di SISTEM KEPULAUAN TERBESAR DUNIA menjadikan interaksi antarabangsa bangsa Mala dengan empayar-empayar purba seperti Judea, Assyria, Mesir Kuno, Chaldea, Parsi, Babilon, Dinasti China, Kerajaan-kerajaan India, Rom dan Yunani tidak dapat dielakkan.Adalah satu kekeliruan jika bangsa pelaut dan kepulauan tidak bertemu dengan tamadun-tamadun lain.

Sebab itu seorang saintis Jerman,Johann Friedrich Blumenbach telah menambah satu lagi 'race' dalam kajian antropologinya pada tahun 1795 menjadikan bangsa-bangsa utama dunia menurut teorinya ialah, Caucasian (kulit putih), Ethiopian (kulit gelap), Native American (kulit kemerahan), Mongolian (kulit kuning) dan yang terakhir Malay di mana penerangannya tentang warna kulitnya ialah:

"...a brown color, from olive and a clear mahogany to the darkest clove or chestnut brown."

Mon people (today known as Orang Asli)

2010-11-05T18:23:00.001-07:00

The Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar (Burma), living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, the Irrawaddy Delta, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside inSoutheast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in Myanmar and Thailand. The Mon culture is credited as a major source of influence on the dominant Burmese culture.

As the eastern Mon were absorbed into the Thai society long ago, the western Mon of Myanmar have largely assimilated into Burmese society. In Myanmar, the Mon are fighting to preserve theMon language and culture, and regain a greater degree of political autonomy. The Mon of Myanmar are divided into three sub-groups based on their ancestral region in Lower Myanmar: the Man Nya from Pathein (the Irrawaddy delta) in the west, the Man Duin: Bago in the central region, and the Man Da: Mottama in the southeast. Once the predominant ethno-linguistic group in Lower Myanmar (Lower Burma), speakers of the Mon language number less than a million today,^{[citation needed]} and those of Mon descent number anywhere between two million and eight million.^{[citation needed]}

The majority of Mon are monolingual in the Burmese language, and are often counted as members of the majority Bamar (Burmans). Recent studies have suggested evidence indicating that the Mon and Bamar share a common genetic ancestry. A genetic study done on Mon and Bamar showed a high prevalence of a particular glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) mutation not found among Khmers, Laotians and Thais

The East Asia Treaty Organization (EATO)

2009-11-08T21:14:00.001-08:00

The East Asia Treaty Organization (EATO) is an alliance of East Asia to fulfilling the goals of East Asia Treaty Agreement. In accordance with the Treaty, the fundamental role of EATO is to safeguard the freedom and security of its member countries by political and military means. EATO safeguards the Allies’ common values of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law and the peaceful resolution of disputes and promote these value throughout the East Asia area. The Alliance embodies is the practical expression of effective collective effort among its members in support of their common interests.

Myanmar Town and City

2009-11-02T18:32:00.001-08:00

Kachin State

Myintgyinar

Farkent

Waingmaw

Injangyang

Mogaung

Mohnyin

Kamine

Tanain

Chibwe

Sawlaw

Bhamo

Bhayersdicanms

Bharma

Shwequ

Momauk

Lwalgyai

Mansi

Putao

Sunprabum

Machanbaw

Kaunglanfu

Naungmoon

Hopin

Hsinbo

Pannandin

Kayah State

Loikaw

Demawso

Pruhso

Shadaw

Bawlakha

Hpasawng

Maisal

Kayin State

Hpa-an

Hlinebwe

Papun

Thandang

Thantaunggyi

Myawadi

Kawkareit

Kyaikdo

Kyainseikkyi

Payathonsu

Chin State

Falam

Haka

Htantalan

Tedim

Kanpatlat

Matupe

Minthet

Paletwa

Teetain

Htonzan

Mon State

Mawlamyaing

Bilin

Kyaikmaraw

Chaungzon

Thanbyuzayat

Kyaikkami

Mudon

Thaton

Paung

Kyaikto

Mottama

Rakhine State

Sittwe

Ponnagyun

Mrauk-U

Kyauktaw

Minbya

Myebon

Pauktaw

Rathedaung

Maungdaw

Buthidaung

Kyaukpyu

Manaung

Ramree

Ann

Thandwe

Toungup

Gaw

Shan State

Aungban

Ayetharyar

Chinshwehaw

Hong Pai

Hopang

Hopong

Hseni

Hsi Hseng

Hsipaw

Kalaw

Kengtong

Kunhing

Kunlong

Kutkai

Kyaukme

Kyethi

Lai-Hka

Langkho

Lashio

Lawksawk

Loilen

Laukkaing

Mabein

Mantong

Mawkmai

Mong Hpayak

Mong Hsu

Mong Khet

Mong Kung

Mong Nai

Mong Pan

Mong Ping

Mong Tong

Mong Yang

Mong Yawng

Mong Hsat

Mongko

Mongmit

Mongyai

Mu Se

Namhsan

Namtu

Nanhkan

Nansang

Nawnghkio

Nyaungshwe

Pang Long

Pekon

Pindaya

Pinlaung

Tangyan

Taunggyi

Techilelk

Ywangan

Sagaing Division

Sagaing

Myinmu

Myaung

Shwebo

Khin Oo

Wetlet

Kanbalu

Kyunhla

Yae U

Dabayin

Tantsal

Monywa

Budalin

Ayadaw

Chaung-U

Yinmabin

Kani

Salingyi

Pale

Katha

Indaw

Htigyaing

Bamauk

Kawlin

Wuntho

Pinlebu

Kalaymyo

Kalewa

Mingin

Tamu

Mawlaik

Phaungbyin

Hkamti

Homalin

Leshi

Lahe

Nanyun

Taninthayi Division

Dawei

Longlon spelling may be wrong

Thayetchaung

Yebyu

Myeik

Kiyttsu

Palaw

Taninthayi

Kawthoung

Bokpyin

Bago Division

Bago

Thanatpin

Kawa

Waw

Nyaunglebin

Madauk

Pyuntaza

Kyauktaga

Pennwegone

Daik-U

Shwegyin

Taungoo

Kututmatyi

Yedashe

Kyaukkyi

Phyu

Oktwin

Htantabin

Pyay

Paukkhaung

Padaung

Paungde

Thegon

Shawdaung

Thayarwaddy

Thonze

Letpadan

Minhla

Okhpo

Zigon

Nattalin

Monyo

Gyobingauk

Magway Division

Magway

Yenangyaung

Chauck

Taungdwingyi

Myothit

Natmauk

Minbu

Sagu

Pwintbyu

Ngape

Salin

Sidoktaya

Thayet

Minhla

Mindon

Kamma

Aunglan

Sinbyugyun

Pakokku

Yesagyo

Myaing

Pauk

Seikphyu

Gangaw

Tilin

Saw

Mandalay Division

Mandalay

Amarapura

Myitnge

PaTheinGyi

Pyin Oo Lwin

Madaya

Singu

Thabeikkyin

Mogok

Kyaukse

Sintgaing

Myittha

Tada-U

Myingyan

Thaungtha

Natogyi

Kyaukpadaung

Nganzun

Nyaung-U

Bagan

Yamethin

Pyawbwe

Tatkon

Pyinmana

Lewe

Meiktila

Mahlaing

Thazi

Wundwin

Ela

Yangon Division

Htaukkyant

Hmawpi

Hlegu

Taikgyi

Okkan

Apyauk

Tantabin

Shwepyaytha

Hlinethaya

Dagon Myothit (South) spelling may be wrong

Dagon Myothit (North) spelling may be wrong

Thanlyin

Kyauktan

Thungwa

Kayan

Twante

Kawhmu

Kungyangon

Coco Island

Yangon

Ayeyarwady Division

Pathein

Kangyidaut

Thabaung

Ngapudaw

Haigyi Island

Kyonpyaw

Yekyi

Kyaunggon

Hinthada

Zalun

Lemyethna

Myan Aung

Kanaung

Kyangin

Ingapu

Myaungmya

Einme

Labutta

Wakema

Mawlamyinegyun

Maubin

Pantanaw

Nyaungdon

Danubyu

Pyapon

Bogale

Kyaiklat

Dedaye

Myanmar 2015

2009-11-02T17:55:00.001-08:00

Mandarin as the official language of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of Singapore official language.

2009-10-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

Mandarin, is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. When taken as a separate language, as is often done in academic literature, the Mandarin language has more native speakers than any other language. The "standard" in Standard Mandarin refers to the standard Beijing dialect of the Mandarin language.

Mandarin is also a general term describing any grade of nobility in the Chinese Imperial Court.

In English, Mandarin can refer to either of two distinct concepts:

§ In everyday use Mandarin refers to Standard Chinese or Standard Mandarin (Putonghua / Guoyu / Huayu), which is based on the particular Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing. Standard Mandarin functions as the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China, the official language of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of the four official languages of Singapore. "Chinese"—in practice Standard Mandarin—is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

§ In its broader sense, Mandarin is a diverse group of Mandarin dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China. This group of dialects is the focus of this article.

The latter grouping is defined and used mainly by linguists, and is not commonly used outside of academic circles as a self-description. Instead, when asked to describe the spoken form they are using, Chinese speaking a form of non-Standard Mandarin will describe the variant that they are speaking, for example Southwestern Mandarin or Northeastern Mandarin, and consider it distinct from "Standard Mandarin"; they may not recognize that it is in fact classified by linguists as a form of "Mandarin" in a broader sense. Nor is there a common "Mandarin" identity based on language; rather, there are strong regional identities centred on individual dialects, because of the wide geographical distribution and cultural diversity of its speakers.

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is significant dispute as to whether Mandarin is a languageor a dialect. See Identification of the varieties of Chinese for more on this issue.

The present divisions of the Chinese language developed out of the different ways in which dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese evolved.

Most Chinese living in northern and south-western China are native speakers of a dialect of Mandarin. The prevalence of this linguistic homogeneity in northern China is largely the result of geography: much of northern China is covered by plains and is flat. In contrast to this, the mountains and rivers of southern China have promoted linguistic diversity.

Chronologically, there is no clear line to mark where Middle Chinese ends and Mandarin begins; however, the Zhōngyuán Yīnyùn, arhyme book from the Yuan Dynasty, is widely regarded as a milestone in the history of Mandarin. In this rhyme book we see many characteristic features of Mandarin, such as the reduction and disappearance of final stop consonants and the reorganization of the Middle Chinese tones.

Until the mid-20th century, most Chinese people living in southern China spoke only their local language. Beijing Mandarin became dominant during the Manchu-ruling Qing Dynasty, and from the 17th century onward, the empire established orthoepy academies in an attempt to make local pronunciations conform to the Beijing standard so that the Emperor could communicate with all officials directly. These attempts, however, had little success.

This situation changed with the widespread introduction of Standard Mandarin as the national language, to be used in education, the media, and formal situations in both the PRC and the ROC (but not in Hong Kong). As a result, Standard Mandarin can now be spoken intelligibly as a second language by most younger people in Mainland China and Taiwan, with various regional accents. In Hong Kong and Macau, because of their colonial and linguistic history, the language of education, the media, formal speech and everyday life remains the local Cantonese, although Standard Mandarin is very influential now.

Malay is an official language of Brunei and Malaysia, and one of the official languages in Singapore.

2009-10-11T04:55:00.000-07:00

Malay refers to a group of languages closely related to each other to the point of mutual intelligibility but that linguists consider to be separate languages. They are grouped into a group called "Local Malay", part of a larger group called "Malayan" within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. The various forms of Malay are spoken in Brunei, Indonesia (where the national language, Indonesian, is a variety of it), Malaysia,Singapore, and southern Thailand.

Malay is an official language of Brunei and Malaysia, and one of the official languages in Singapore. The national language of Indonesia is Indonesian, formally referred to as Bahasa Indonesia which literally translates as "Indonesian language". It is also called Bahasa Nasional (National Language) and Bahasa Persatuan/Pemersatu (Unifying Language) in Indonesia. Indonesian is also used in East Timor, a consequence of more than 20 years of Indonesian administration and is now a "working language" of that country. In Malaysia, the language is now officially known as Bahasa Malaysia ("Malaysian language"), though constitutionally it is called Bahasa Melayu. Singapore, Brunei and southern Thailand refer to the language as Bahasa Melayu ("Malay language").

There are many hypotheses as to where the Malay language originated. One of these is that it came from Sumatra island. The oldest written documents in Malay, dated from the end of the 7th century AD, were found on Bangka Island, off the southeastern coast of Sumatra and in Palembangin southern Sumatra. "Malayu" was the name of an old kingdom located in Jambi province in eastern Sumatra. It was known in ancient Chinese texts as "Mo-lo-yo" and mentioned in the Nagarakertagama, an old Javanese epic written in 1365, as one of the "tributary states" of the Majapahit kingdom in eastern Java.

The use of Malay throughout insular and peninsular Southeast Asia is linked to the rise of Muslim kingdoms and the spread of Islam, itself a consequence of growing regional trade.

Indonesia pronounced a variety of Malay its official language when it gained independence, calling it Bahasa Indonesia. However, the language had already been used as the lingua franca throughout the archipelago since the 15th century. Since 1928, nationalists and young people throughout the Indonesian archipelago declared it to be Indonesia's only official language, as proclaimed in the Sumpah Pemuda "Youth Vow." Thus Indonesia was the first country to designate it as an official language. In several parts of Indonesia, in Sumatra and Borneo Islands, Malay is spoken as local dialect of Malay ethnic.

In Malaysia, the term Bahasa Malaysia, which was introduced by the National Language Act of 1967, was in use until the 1990s, when most academics and government officials reverted to "Bahasa Melayu," used in the Malay version of the Federal Constitution. According to Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, Bahasa Melayu is the official language of Malaysia. "Bahasa Kebangsaan" (National Language) was also used at one point during the 1970s. However, at present day, Malaysians prefer to identify their national language as Bahasa Malaysia once again. Similar to Malaysia in the mid 1990's, "Bahasa Melayu" was defined as Brunei's official language in the country's 1959 Constitution.

Indonesian and Malay are separated by some centuries of different vocabulary development, partly due to the influence of different colonial languages; Dutch in the case of Indonesia, formerly the Dutch East Indies and English in the case of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, which were formerly under British rule.

Some Malay dialects, however, show only limited mutual intelligibility with the standard language; for example, Kelantanese pronunciation is difficult even for some fellow Malay speakers to understand, while Indonesian contains a lot of words unique to it that are unfamiliar to speakers of Malay.

The language spoken by the Peranakan (Straits Chinese, a hybrid of Chinese settlers from the Ming Dynasty and local Malays) is a unique patois of Malay and the Chinese Hokkien dialect, which is mostly spoken in the former Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca in Malaysia, and the Indonesian Archipelago.

The Basic and Freedom of all Human

2009-09-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Human rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a non-binding declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, partly in response to the atrocities of World War II. Although the UDHR is a non-binding resolution, it is now considered to be a central component of international customary law which may be invoked under appropriate circumstances by national and other judiciaries. The UDHR urges member nations to promote a number of human, civil, economic and social rights, asserting these rights are part of the "foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." The declaration was the first international legal effort to limit the behaviour of states and press upon them duties to their citizens following the model of the rights-duty duality
Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world
The UDHR was framed by members of the Human Rights Commission, with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as Chair, who began to discuss an International Bill of Rights in 1947. The members of the Commission did not immediately agree on the form of such a bill of rights, and whether, or how, it should be enforced. The Commission proceeded to frame the UDHR and accompanying treaties, but the UDHR quickly became the priority. Canadian law professor John Humprey and French lawyer René Cassin were responsible for much of the cross-national research and the structure of the document respectively, where the articles of the declaration were interpretative of the general principle of the preamble. The document was structured by Cassin to include the basic principles of dignity, liberty, equality and brotherhood in the first two articles, followed successively by rights pertaining to individuals; rights of individuals in relation to each other and to groups; spiritual, public and political rights; and economic, social and cultural rights. The final three articles place, according to Cassin, rights in the context of limits, duties and the social and political order in which they are to be realized. Humphrey and Cassin intended the rights in the UDHR to be legally enforceable through some means, as is reflected in the third clause of the preamble: Whereas it is essential, If man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.

Some of the UDHR was researched and written by a committee of international experts on human rights, including representatives from all continents and all major religions, and drawing on consultation with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi. The inclusion of both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights was predicated on the assumption that basic human rights are indivisible and that the different types of rights listed are inextricably linked. This principle was not then opposed by any member states (the declaration was adopted unanimously, with the abstention of the Eastern Bloc, Apartheid South Africa and Saudi Arabia), however this principle was later subject to significant challenges.

The Universal Declaration was bifurcated into two distinct and different covenants, a Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and another Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Over the objection of the more developed states [Capitalist], which questioned the relevance and propriety of such provisions in covenants on human rights, both begin with the right of people to self-determination and to sovereignty over their natural resources. Then the two covenants go different ways (see, Louis Henkin, The International Bill of Rights: The Universal Declaration and the Covenants, in International Enforcement of Human Rights 6-9, Bernhardt and Jolowicz, eds, (1987))

The drafters of the Covenants initially intended only one instrument. The original drafts included only political and civil rights, but economic and social rights were added early. Western States then fought for, and obtained, a division into two covenants. They insisted that economic and social right were essentially aspirations or plans, not rights, since their realization depended on availability of resources and on controversial economic theory and ideology. These, they said, were not appropriate subjects for binding obligations and should not be allowed to dilute the legal character of provisions honoring political-civil rights; states prepared to assume obligations to respect political-civil rights should not be mitments. There was wide agreement and clear recognition that the means required to enforce or induce compliance with socio-economic undertakings were different from the means required for civil-political rights. See Louis Henkin, Introduction, The International Bill of Rights 9-10 (1981).

Because of the divisions over which rights to include, and because some states declined to ratify any treaties including certain specific interpretations of human rights, and despite the Soviet bloc and a number of developing countries arguing strongly for the inclusion of all rights in a so-called Unity Resolution, the rights enshrined in the UDHR were split into two separate covenants, allowing states to adopt some rights and derogate others.[citation needed] Though this allowed the covenants to be created, one commentator has written that it denied the proposed principle that all rights are linked which was central to some interpretations of the UDHR.

Social Equality and Meritocracy

2009-09-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Meritocracy is a system of a government or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities assigned to individuals based upon demonstrated talent and ability (merit). In a meritocracy, society rewards (via wealth, position, and social status) those who show talent and competence as demonstrated by past actions or by competition. Evaluation systems, such as formal education, are closely linked to notions of meritocracy.
This is opposed to other value systems, where reward and legitimacy is based upon possession of wealth (plutocracy), family connections (nepotism), property (oligarchy), friendship (cronyism), seniority (gerontocracy), popularity (democracy) or other historical determinants of social position and political power.
Technocracy is a form of meritocracy, whereby appointments for positions are made based on demonstrated technical expertise.
The term 'meritocracy' was first used in Michael Young's 1958 book Rise of the Meritocracy. The term was intended to be pejorative, and his book was set in a dystopian future in which one's social place is determined by IQ plus effort. In the book, this social system ultimately leads to a social revolution in which the masses overthrow the elite, who have become arrogant and disconnected from public sentiment.
Despite the negative origin of the word, there are many who believe that a meritocratic system is a good thing. Proponents argue that a meritocratic system is more just and more productive than other systems, and that it allows for an end to distinctions based on arbitrary criteria such as sex, race, wealth and social connections.[who?] Conversely, detractors of meritocracy point to the central dystopian aspect of Young's conception: the existence of a meritocratic class that monopolizes access to merit and the symbols and markers of merit, thereby perpetuating its own power, social status, and privilege.[citation needed]
Meritocracy has been criticized as a myth which merely serves to justify the status quo; merit can always be defined as whatever results in success. Thus whoever is successful can be portrayed as meriting (deserving) success, rather than success being in fact predicated on rational, predetermined criteria of merit.
The following governing principles comprise meritocracies: Job placement is not awarded due to experience or expertise, but instead it is awarded 1) on the basis of merit (although experience, expertise and seniority tend to result in greater merit), 2) on the conditions of the opportunity under the application of the job principle and 3) to one that specifies the rewards for job attainment. These principles however, do not account for injustices but disregard them. Not all meritocrats operate in this manner. Most evaluate the structure of job equalities and inequalities through human abilities and personalities that allow them to perform job tasks to the best of their abilities.
Social Darwinism is a social theory which holds that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is a model, not only for the development of biological traits in a population, but also can be applied to human social institutions. Social Darwinism was at its most popular from the late 19th century to the end of World War II. Proponents of Social Darwinism argue that the theory perfectly justifies social inequality as being meritocratic. Darwin himself only propounded his theories in a biological sense, and it is other theorists and thinkers who have used Darwin to show how ambition is justifiable.

Singapore is The East Asian Union Capital. NSP

2009-09-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

The East Asian Union (EAU) is an economic and political union of South Asian, Northeast Asian and Southeast Asian.

The EAU has developed a single market through a standardised system of laws which apply in all member states, ensuring the freedom of movement of people, goods, services, and capital. It maintains common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development.

A common currency, the yuan, has been adopted by all member states that are thus known as the East Asian zone.

The EAU has developed a limited role in foreign policy, having representation at the WTO, G8 summits, and at the UN. It enacts legislation in justice and home affairs, including the abolition of passport controls between many member states.

An international organisation the EAU operates through a hybrid system of supranationalism and intergovernmentalism. In certain areas, it depends upon agreement between the member states; in others, supranational bodies are able to make decisions without unanimity.

Important institutions and bodies of the EAU include the East Asian Commission, the Council of the East Asian Union, the East Asian Council, the East Asian Court of Justice, and the East Asian Central Bank. The East Asian Parliament is elected every five years by member states' citizens, to whom the citizenship of the East Asian Union is guaranteed.

http://www.nsp.sg/index.php

Rebuilt Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapura (Malaysia)

2009-09-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 27 million. The country is separated into two regions—Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo—by the South China Sea.

The country is located near the equator and experiences a tropical climate. Malaysia's head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (a term that is similar to King), an elected monarch and the government is headed by a Prime Minister. The government is closely modeled after the Westminster parliamentary system.

Malaysia as a unified state did not exist until 1963. Previously, the United Kingdom had established influence in colonies in the territory from the late-18th century. The western half of modern Malaysia was composed of several separate kingdoms. This group of colonies was known as British Malaya until its dissolution in 1946, when it was reorganized as the Malayan Union.
Due to widespread opposition, it was reorganized again as the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and later gained independence on 31 August 1957. Singapore, Sarawak, British North Borneo and the Federation of Malaya merged to form Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Tensions in the early years of the new union sparked an armed conflict with Indonesia, and the expulsion of Singapore on 9 August 1965.

Malays form the majority of the population of Malaysia. There are sizable ethnic Chinese and Indian communities as well. The Malay language and Islam are the official language and religion of the federation respectively.

The name "Malaysia" was adopted in 1963 when the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak formed a 14-state federation. However the name itself had been vaguely used to refer to areas in Southeast Asia prior to that. A map published in 1914 in Chicago has the word Malaysia printed on it referring to certain territories within the Malay Archipelago.

Politicians in The Philippines once contemplated naming their state "Malaysia", but in 1963 Malaysia adopted the name first. At the time of the 1963 federation, other names were considered: among them was Langkasuka, after the historic kingdom located at the upper section of the Malay Peninsula in the first millennium of the common era.

In 1850 the English ethnologist George Samuel Windsor Earl in volume IV of Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia proposed naming the islands of Indonesia as Melayunesia or Indunesia. He favored the former.

Archaeological remains have been found throughout peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. The Semang, an ethnic Negrito group, have a deep ancestry within the Malay Peninsula, dating to migration from Africa over 50,000 years ago. They are considered an indigenous people to the area.

The Senoi appear to be a composite group, with approximately half of the maternal DNA lineages tracing back to the ancestors of the Semang and about half to later ancestral migrations from Indochina. Scholars suggest they are descendants of early Austronesian-speaking agriculturalists, who brought both their language and their technology to the southern part of the peninsula approximately 5,000 years ago. They united and coalesced with the indigenous population.

The Aboriginal Malays are more diverse. Although they show some connections with island Southeast Asia, some also have an ancestry in Indochina around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, about 20,000 years ago.

Anthropologists support the notion that the Proto Malays originated from what is today, Yunan, China. This was followed by an early-Holocene dispersal through the Malay Peninsula into island Southeast Asia.

Ptolemy showed the Malay Peninsula on his early map with a label that translates as "Golden Chersonese". He referred to the Straits of Malacca as Sinus Sabaricus. From the mid to the late first millennium, much of the Peninsula as well as the Malay Archipelago were under the influence of Srivijaya.

The Chinese and Indians established kingdoms in the area in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE—as many as 30, according to Chinese sources. Kedah—known as Kedaram, Cheh-Cha (according to I-Ching) or Kataha, in ancient Pallava or Sanskrit—was in the direct route of invasions of Indian traders and kings. Rajendra Chola, the ancient Tamil emperor who is now thought to have laid Kota Gelanggi to waste, controlled Kedah in 1025. His successor, Vira Rajendra Chola, had to put down a Kedah rebellion to overthrow the invaders. The coming of the Chola reduced the majesty of Srivijaya, which had exerted influence over Kedah, Pattani and as far as Ligor.

The Buddhist kingdom of Ligor took control of Kedah shortly after. Its king Chandrabhanu used it as a base to attack Sri Lanka in the 11th century, an event noted in a stone inscription in Nagapattinum in Tamil Nadu and in the Sri Lankan chronicles, Mahavamsa. During the first millennium, the people of the Malay Peninsula adopted Hinduism and Buddhism and the use of the Sanskrit language. They later converted to Islam.

Areas older than Kedah appeared in historical writings. The ancient kingdom of Gangga Negara, around Beruas in Perak, for instance, pushes Malaysian history further into antiquity.

"Pattinapalai", a Tamil poem of the second century CE, describes goods from Kadaram heaped in the broad streets of the Chola capital. A 7th-century Sanskrit drama, Kaumudhimahotsva, refers to Kedah as Kataha-nagari. The Agnipurana also mentions a territory known as Anda-Kataha with one of its boundaries delineated by a peak, which scholars believe is Gunung Jerai. Stories from the Katasaritasagaram describe the elegance of life in Kataha.

Between the 7th and the 13th century, much of Peninsular Malaysia was under the Srivijaya empire, which was centred in Palembang on the island of Sumatra. Following that, a wider Majapahit empire, based on Java island, had influence over most of Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia, and the coasts of Borneo island.

In the early-15th century, Parameswara, a prince from Palembang from the once Srivijayan empire, established a dynasty and founded the Malacca Sultanate. Conquest forced him and many others to flee Palembang. Parameswara in particular sailed to Temasek to escape persecution. There he came under the protection of Temagi, a Malay chief from Patani who was appointed by the King of Siam as Regent of Temasek.

Within a few days, Parameswara killed Temagi and appointed himself regent. Some five years later he had to leave Temasek, due to threats from Siam. During this period, a Javanese fleet from Majapahit attacked Temasek.

Parameswara headed north to found a new settlement. At Muar, Parameswara considered siting his new kingdom at either Biawak Busuk or at Kota Buruk. Finding that the Muar location was not suitable, he continued his journey northwards. Along the way, he reportedly visited Sening Ujong (former name of present-day Sungai Ujong) before reaching a fishing village at the mouth of the Bertam River (former name of the Malacca River). Over time this developed into modern-day Malacca Town. According to the Malay Annals, here Parameswara saw a mouse deer outwitting a dog resting under a Malacca tree. Taking this as a good omen, he decided to establish a kingdom called Malacca. He built and improved facilities for trade.

According to a theory, Parameswara became a Muslim when he married a Princess of Pasai and he took the fashionable Persian title "Shah", calling himself Iskandar Shah. There are also references that indicate that some members of the ruling class and the merchant community residing in Malacca were already Muslims. Chinese chronicles mention that in 1414, the son of the first ruler of Malacca visited Ming to inform them that his father had died. Parameswara's son was then officially recognised as the second ruler of Malacca by the Chinese Emperor and styled Raja Sri Rama Vikrama, Raja of Parameswara of Temasek and Melaka and he was known to his Muslim subjects as Sultan Sri Iskandar Zulkarnain Shah or Sultan Megat Iskandar Shah. He ruled Malacca from 1414 to 1424.

In 1511, Malacca was conquered by Portugal, which established a colony there. The sons of the last Sultan of Malacca established two sultanates elsewhere in the peninsula — the Sultanate of Perak to the north, and the Sultanate of Johor (originally a continuation of the old Malacca sultanate) to the south. After the fall of Malacca, three nations struggled for the control of Malacca Strait: the Portuguese (in Malacca), the Sultanate of Johor, and the Sultanate of Aceh. This conflict went on until 1641, when the Dutch (allied to the Sultanate of Johor) gained control of Malacca.

Britain established its first colony in the Malay Peninsula in 1786, with the lease of the island of Penang to the British East India Company by the Sultan of Kedah. In 1824, the British took control of Malacca following the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 which divided the Malay archipelago between Britain and the Netherlands, with Malaya in the British zone. In 1826, Britain established the crown colony of the Straits Settlements, uniting its four possessions in Malaya: Penang, Malacca, Singapore and the island of Labuan. The Straits Settlements were initially administered under the East India Company in Calcutta, before first Penang, and later Singapore became the administrative centre of the crown colony, until 1867, when they were transferred to the Colonial Office in London.

During the late-19th century, many Malay states decided to obtain British help in settling their internal conflicts. The commercial importance of tin mining in the Malay states to merchants in the Straits Settlements led to British government intervention in the tin-producing states in the Malay Peninsula. British gunboat diplomacy was employed to bring about a peaceful resolution to civil disturbances caused by Chinese and Malay gangsters employed in a political tussle between Ngah Ibrahim and Raja Muda Abdullah, and the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 paved the way for the expansion of British influence in Malaya.

By the turn of the 20th century, the states of Pahang, Selangor, Perak, and Negeri Sembilan, known together as the Federated Malay States (not to be confused with the Federation of Malaya), were under the de facto control of British Residents appointed to advise the Malay rulers. The British were "advisers" in name, but in reality, they exercised substantial influence over the Malay rulers.

The remaining five states in the peninsula, known as the Unfederated Malay States, while not directly under rule from London, also accepted British advisers around the turn of the 20th century. Of these, the four northern states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu had previously been under Siamese control. The other unfederated state, Johor, was the only state which managed to preserve its independence throughout most of the 19th century. Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor and Queen Victoria were personal acquaintances, and recognised each other as equals. It was not until 1914 that Sultan Abu Bakar's successor, Sultan Ibrahim accepted a British adviser.

On the island of Borneo, Sabah was governed as the crown colony of British North Borneo, while Sarawak was acquired from Brunei as the personal kingdom of the Brooke family, who ruled as white Rajahs.

Following the Japanese Invasion of Malaya and its subsequent occupation during World War II, popular support for independence grew. Post-war British plans to unite the administration of Malaya under a single crown colony called the Malayan Union foundered on strong opposition from the Malays, who opposed the emasculation of the Malay rulers and the granting of citizenship to the ethnic Chinese.

The Malayan Union, established in 1946 and consisting of all the British possessions in Malaya with the exception of Singapore, was dissolved in 1948 and replaced by the Federation of Malaya, which restored the autonomy of the rulers of the Malay states under British protection.

During this time, rebels under the leadership of the Malayan Communist Party launched guerrilla operations designed to force the British out of Malaya. The Malayan Emergency, as it was known, lasted from 1948 to 1960, and involved a long anti-insurgency campaign by Commonwealth troops in Malaya. Although the insurgency quickly stopped there was still a presence of Commonwealth troops, with the backdrop of the Cold War. Against this backdrop, independence for the Federation within the Commonwealth was granted on 31 August 1957.

In 1963, Malaya along with the then-British crown colonies of Sabah (British North Borneo), Sarawak and Singapore, formed Malaysia. The Sultanate of Brunei, though initially expressing interest in joining the Federation, withdrew from the planned merger due to opposition from certain segments of its population as well as arguments over the payment of oil royalties and the status of the Sultan in the planned merger. The actual proposed date for the formation of Malaysia was 31 August 1963, to coincide with the independence day of Malaya and the British giving self rule to Sarawak and Sabah.

However, the date was delay by opposition from Indonesian government led by Sukarno and also attempts by Sarawak United People's Party to delayed the formation of Malaysia. Due to these factors, a 8-member United Nations team has to be form to re-ascertain whether Sabah and Sarawak truly wanted to join Malaysia.

The early years of independence were marred by the conflict with Indonesia (Konfrontasi) over the formation of Malaysia, Singapore's eventual exit in 1965, and racial strife in the form of race riots in 1969.

The Philippines also made an active claim on Sabah in that period based upon the Sultanate of Brunei's cession of its north-east territories to the Sulu Sultanate in 1704. The claim is still ongoing.

After the 13 May race riots of 1969, the controversial New Economic Policy—intended to increase proportionately the share of the economic pie of the bumiputras ("indigenous people", which includes the majority Malays, but not always the indigenous population) as compared to other ethnic groups—was launched by Prime Minister Abdul Razak.

Malaysia has since maintained a delicate ethno-political balance, with a system of government that has attempted to combine overall economic development with political and economic policies that promote equitable participation of all races.

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At 710.2 km2 (274.2 sq mi), Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast Asia. This is substantially larger than Monaco and Vatican City, the only other surviving sovereign city-states.

Before European settlement, the island now known as Singapore was the site of a Malay fishing village at the mouth of the Singapore River. Several hundred indigenous Orang Laut people also lived along the nearby coast, rivers and on smaller islands.

In 1819, the British East India Company, led by Sir Stamford Raffles, established a trading post on the island, which was used as a port along the spice route. Singapore became one of the most important commercial and military centres of the British Empire, and the hub of British power in Southeast Asia.

The English language name Singapore comes from Malay Singapura, "Lion-city", but it is possible that one element of its name had a more distant original source.[ Pura comes from Sanskrit puram, "city, fortress", and is related to Greek polis, "citadel, city". Singa- comes from Sanskrit siṃha, which means lion.

Today the city-state is referred to as the Lion City. Studies of Singapore indicate that lions probably never lived there, not even Asiatic lions; the beast seen by Sang Nila Utama, the founder of Singapore who gave it the name meaning "Lion City", was most likely a tiger, probably the Malayan Tiger. Alternatively, it could simply be a reference to the ancient Sinhapura as described in the Mahabharata.

The first records of settlement in Singapore are from the 2nd century AD. The island was an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally had the Javanese name Temasek ('sea town'). Temasek (Tumasek) rapidly became a significant trading settlement, but declined in the late 14th century. There are few remnants of old Temasek in Singapore, but archaeologists in Singapore have uncovered artifacts of that and other settlements. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Singapore island was part of the Sultanate of Johor.

During the Malay-Portugal wars in 1613, the settlement was set ablaze by Portuguese troops. The Portuguese subsequently held control in that century and the Dutch in the 18th, but throughout most of this time the island's population consisted mainly of fishermen.

On 29 January 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island. Spotting its potential as a strategic geographical trading post in Southeast Asia, Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the British East India Company on 6 February 1819 to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British trading post and settlement.

Until August 1824, Singapore was still a territory controlled by a Malay Sultan. Singapore only officially became a British colony in August 1824 when the British extended control over the whole island. John Crawfurd, the second resident of Singapore, was the one who officially made Singapore a British possession. He signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on 2 August 1824 in which the Sultan and the Temmenggong handed over the whole island to the British East India Company thus marking the start of the island's modern era. Raffles's deputy, William Farquhar, oversaw a period of growth and ethnic migration, which was largely spurred by a no-restriction immigration policy.

The British India office governed the island from 1858, but Singapore was made a British crown colony in 1867, answerable directly to the Crown. By 1869, 100,000 lived on the island.

The early onset of town planning in colonial Singapore came largely through a "divide and rule" framework where the different ethnic groups were settled in different parts of the South of the island. The Singapore River was largely a commercial area that was dominated by traders and bankers of various ethnic groups with mostly Chinese and Indian coolies working to load and unload goods from barge boats known locally as "bumboats".

The Malays, consisting of the local "Orang Lauts" who worked mostly as fishermen and seafarers, and Arab traders and scholars were mostly found in the South-east part of the river mouth, where Kampong Glam stands today.

The European settlers, who were few then, settled around Fort Canning Hill and further upstream from the Singapore River. Like the Europeans, the early Indian migrants also settled more inland of the Singapore River, where Little India stands today. Very little is known about the rural private settlements in those times (known as kampongs), other than the major move by the post-independent Singapore government to re-settle these residents in the late 1960s.

Rebuilt Brunei

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Brunei, officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace, is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and in fact it is separated into two parts by Limbang, which is part of Sarawak.
Brunei, the remnant of a very powerful sultanate, regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984 and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The power of the Sultanate of Brunei was at its peak from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The Sultanate's suzerainty is thought to have extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. European influence gradually brought an end to this regional power. Later, there was a brief war with Spain, in which Brunei's capital was occupied.
Eventually the sultanate was victorious but lost territories to Spain. The decline of the Bruneian Empire culminated in the nineteenth century when Brunei lost much of its territory to the White Rajahs of Sarawak, resulting in its current small landmass and separation into two parts. Brunei was a British protectorate from 1888 to 1984, and occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II.
There was a small rebellion against the monarchy during the 1960s, which was suppressed with help from the United Kingdom. This event became known as the Brunei Revolt and was partly responsible for the failure to create the North Borneo Federation. The rebellion partially affected Brunei's decision to opt out of the Malaysian Federation.

Rebuilt Philippines

2009-09-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

The Philippines is the world's 12th most populous country, with an estimated population of about 92 million people. Its national economy is the 47th largest in the world. The Philippines was a former colony of Spain and the United States. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. Ecologically, the Philippines is one of the most diverse countries in the world.

The name Philippines was derived from King Philip II of Spain in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas, in honor of the Prince of Asturias (Spain) during his expedition to the islands, originally referring to the islands of Leyte and Samar. Despite the presence of other names, the name Filipinas was chosen as the name of the archipelago.

The official name of the Philippines changed throughout the course of its history. During the Philippine Revolution, it was officially called República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the period of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, until the Commonwealth period, American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands, a translation of the original Spanish name. It was during the American period that the name Philippines began to appear, a name that has become its common name. The official name of the country is now Republic of the Philippines.

The earliest evidence of human inhabitants on the island include the 40,000 year old Tabon Man of Palawan and the Angono Petroglyphs in Rizal, both of whom appear to suggest the presence of human settlement prior to the arrival of the Negritos and Austronesians. The Negritos began to settle on the islands 30,000 years ago, before the end of the last ice age.
Speakers of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, a branch of Austronesian, began to arrive in successive waves beginning about 6,000 years ago, displacing the early settlers.

During 2205 to 2106 B.C.E., The Ifugao, fled their ancestral homeland in mainland Asia and migrated to the Cordilleras. Thereafter, they established a plutocratic society and built the Banaue Rice Terraces on the highland regions of central Luzon.

At around 300–700 C.E., the peoples of the islands began to trade with Indianized kingdoms in the Malay Archipelago, adopting influences from both Buddhism and Hinduism.

There was no unifying political state encompassing the entire Philippine archipelago. Instead, the region was dotted by numerous semi-autonomous barangays (villages) under the sovereignty of competing thalassocracies ruled by Datus, Rajahs or Sultans or by upland tribal societies ruled by chieftains. States: such as the Kingdom of Maynila and Namayan, the Dynasty of Tondo, the Madya-as Confederacy, the Rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu and the sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu existed alongside the highland societies of the Ifugao and Mangyan. Some of these regions were part of the Malayan empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit and Brunei.

In the year 900 the Dynasty of Tondo centered in Manila Bay flourished via an active trade with Chinese sea-traders in the area. Later serving as a smuggling nexus after the Chinese imposed restrictions on their foreign trade. During this time, the Lord-Minister, Jayadewa: presented a document of debt forgiveness to Lady Angkatan and her brother Bukah, the children of Namwaran. This is described in the Philippine's oldest known document "The Laguna Copperplate Inscription".

By year 1011 Rajah Sri Bata Shaja, the monarch of the Rajahnate of Butuan sent a trade envoy under ambassador Likan-shieh to the Chinese Imperial Court demanding equal diplomatic status with other states. The request being approved, opened up direct commercial links with the Rajahnate of Butuan and the Chinese Empire. Thereby diminishing the monopoly on Chinese trade by their rivals: the Dynasty of Tondo and the Champa civilization.

By the 12th century several exiled datus of the collapsing empire of the Srivijaya led by Datu Puti led a mass migration to the central islands of the Philippines, fleeing from Rajah Makatunao of the island of Borneo. Upon reaching the island of Panay and purchasing the island from Negrito chieftain Marikudo, they established a confederation of polities and named it the Confederation of Madya-as centered in Aklan and they settled the surounding islands of the Visayas. This confederation reached it's peak under Datu Padojinog and during his reign the confederations' hegemony extended over most of the islands of Visayas.

In 1380, Karim ul' Makdum and Shari'ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab trader born in Johore, arrived in Sulu from Malacca and established the Sultanate of Sulu. At the end of the 15th Century Shariff Mohammed Kabungsuwan of Johor introduced Islam in the island of Mindanao and he subsequently married a local princess and established the Sultanate of Maguindanao. Islam had spread to other parts of the Visayas and Luzon by the 16th century.
However, during the reign of Sultan Bolkiah in 1485 to 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei decided to break the Dynasty of Tondo's monopoly in the China trade by attacking Tondo and establishing the state of Selurong (now Manila) as a Bruneian satellite-state. A new dynasty under the Islamized Rajah Salila was also established to challenge the House of Lakandula in Tondo. Islam was further strengthened by the arrival to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia.

In 1521, Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived at Samar and Leyte and claimed the islands for Spain. Colonization began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi, arrived from Mexico in 1565 and formed the first European settlements in Cebu. In 1571, the Spanish occupied the kingdoms of Maynila and Tondo and established Manila as the capital of the Spanish East Indies.

The colony was governed as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1565 to 1821 and administered directly from Spain from 1821 to 1898.

The fragmented nature of the islands made it easy for Spanish colonization. The Spanish then attempted to bring political unification to the Philippine archipelago via the conquest of various local villages but they were unable to subjugate the Sultanates of Mindanao and the highland villages of northern Luzon. The Spanish introduced elements of western civilization such as the code of law, western printing and the Gregorian calendar alongside new food resources such as maize, pineapple and chocolate from Latin America. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed from Mexico City via the Royal Audiencia of Manila, before it was administered directly from Madrid after the Mexican revolution. The Manila Galleons which linked Manila to Acapulco traveled once or twice a year between the 16th and 19th centuries. The Spanish military fought off various indigenous revolts and several external colonial challenges, specially from the British, Chinese pirates, Dutch and Portuguese. Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianity and founded schools, universities and hospitals.

In 1863 a Spanish decree introduced education, establishing public schooling in Spanish.
After the British occupation of 1762–1764, the Spanish opened Philippine ports to world trade. Wealth increased and many criollos and mestizos became rich. The influx of Spanish and Mexican settlers secularized churches and government positions traditionally held by the criollos. The ideals of revolution also began to spread through the islands. Criollo insurgency resulted in the Novales mutiny, and the revolt in Cavite El Viejo in 1872 that would lead to the Philippine Revolution.

The first official census in the Philippines was carried out in 1878. As of December 31, 1877, the country's population was recorded at 5,567,685 persons.

An ideology of a revolution grew after colonial authorities executed three progressive secular priests, Mariano Gómez, José Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (known as Gomburza), who were accused of rebellion, in 1872. This would inspire a Propaganda Movement in Spain, organized by expatriate patriots José Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Mariano Ponce, lobbying for political reforms in the Philippines. The movement produced a newspaper, La Solidaridad. Rizal, who wrote the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, returned to the Philippines and established the organization La Liga Filipina which also called for reforms. He was exiled to Dapitan, where he met Josephine Bracken. He was executed on December 30, 1896, on charges of rebellion.

Andrés Bonifacio, meanwhile, established the secret society Katipunan in 1892, which sought independence from Spain through armed revolt. Bonifacio and the Katipunan started the Philippine Revolution in 1896. A faction of the Katipunan, the Magdalo of Cavite province, challenged Bonifacio's position as the leader of the revolution. Emilio Aguinaldo took over from Bonifacio (who was executed afterwards) and formed the Republic of Biak-na-Bato in 1897. A ceasefire was agreed at the Treaty of Biak-na-Bato, which led to the revolutionary leaders to depart for Hong Kong, in exile, officially ending the revolution on May 17, 1897, though rebel activities continued regardless of the treaty.

The Spanish-American War began in Cuba in 1898 and reached the Philippines after the United States invaded the islands and fought Spain in the Battle of Manila Bay. Aguinaldo collaborated with the United States, returned from exile and declared Philippine independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898, and established the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic in Malolos, Bulacan the following year after Spain's defeat. Meanwhile, Spain ceded the islands together with Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam, to the United States for $20 million during the Treaty of Paris. This led to the Philippine-American War, during which, Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901. The war (along with the Moro Rebellion), continued until 1913. At least 34,000 Filipinos lost their lives as a direct result of the war and as many as 200,000 may have died as a result of a cholera epidemic and guerrilla warfare.

As a result of the Jones Law and the subsequent Tydings-McDuffie Act, the Philippines became a Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was officially inaugurated in November 15, 1935. Manuel L. Quezon was elected as president in 1935, with the task of preparing the country for sovereignty. During his term numerous tasks regarding agrarian reform were initiated, including the colonization of Mindanao, an area considered as part of the hinterlands at the time. He also faced several challenges from leftist groups, such as the Sakdalista. Apart from this, his projects also included the establishments of a new capital and the formation of a unifying National Language.

Efforts to prepare the country for independence were hampered by the Japanese invasion during World War II. Despite an effort to defend the country in Bataan and Corregidor, the country was occupied and was turned into a controlled government by various foreign and local political dictators run by José P. Laurel. Numerous war crimes were committed during the years of the occupation, such as the plight of comfort women and the Bataan Death March. In exile, Quezon continued representing the Commonwealth in forums such as the Pacific War Council and the United Nations until his death in 1943. The islands were liberated in 1944–1945, beginning in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where General Douglas MacArthur led the Allied Forces and the United States Military (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps) and escorted Sergio Osmeña, Quezon's successor, back to the country. The liberation ended after the Battle of Manila, killing almost 100,000 people, bringing the death toll for the country to at least a million dead. On July 4, 1946, the United States granted the Philippines its independence from colonial rule.

Rebuilt Indonesia

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The Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands, and with an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the largest Muslim population in the world. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the seventh century, when the Srivijaya Kingdom traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually adopted Indian cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II.

Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. The Javanese are the largest and most politically dominant ethnic group. Indonesia has developed a shared identity defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a majority Muslim population, and a history of colonialism including rebellion against it. Indonesia's national motto, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" ("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"), articulates the diversity that shapes the country. However, sectarian tensions and separatism have led to violent confrontations that have undermined political and economic stability.

The name Indonesia derives from the Latin Indus, meaning "India", and the Greek nesos, meaning "island". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians — and, his preference, Malayunesians — for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago".[6] In the same publication, a student of Earl's, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia. Instead, they used the terms Malay Archipelago (Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East (de Oost); and even Insulinde.

From 1900, the name Indonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for political expression. Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularized the name through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. The first Indonesian scholar to use the name was Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in the Netherlands with the name Indonesisch Pers-bureau in 1913.

Fossilized remains of Homo erectus, popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest that the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to South East Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE, and confined the native Melanesian peoples to the far eastern regions as they expanded. Ideal agricultural conditions, and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the eighth century BCE, allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE. Indonesia's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade. For example, trade links with both Indian kingdoms and China were established several centuries BCE. Trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history.

From the seventh century CE, the powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished as a result of trade and the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported with it. Between the eighth and 10th centuries CE, the agricultural Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java, leaving grand religious monuments such as Sailendra's Borobudur and Mataram's Prambanan. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century, and under Gajah Mada, its influence stretched over much of Indonesia; this period is often referred to as a "Golden Age" in Indonesian history.

Although Muslim traders first traveled through South East Asia early in the Islamic era, the earliest evidence of Islamized populations in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in northern Sumatra.[17] Other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam, and it was the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences, which shaped the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia, particularly in Java. The first Europeans arrived in Indonesia in 1512, when Portuguese traders, led by Francisco Serrão, sought to monopolize the sources of nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in Maluku. Dutch and British traders followed. In 1602 the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and became the dominant European power. Following bankruptcy, the VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, and the government of the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a nationalized colony.

For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over the archipelago was tenuous outside of coastal strongholds; only in the early 20th century did Dutch dominance extend to what was to become Indonesia's current boundaries. The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during World War II ended Dutch rule, and encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement. Two days after the surrender of Japan in August 1945, Sukarno, an influential nationalist leader, declared independence and was appointed president. The Netherlands tried to reestablish their rule, and an armed and diplomatic struggle ended in December 1949, when in the face of international pressure, the Dutch formally recognized Indonesian independence (with the exception of The Dutch territory of West New Guinea, which was incorporated following the 1962 New York Agreement, and UN-mandated Act of Free Choice).

Sukarno moved from democracy towards authoritarianism, and maintained his power base by balancing the opposing forces of the Military and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). An attempted coup on 30 September 1965 was countered by the army, who led a violent anti-communist purge, during which the PKI was blamed for the coup and effectively destroyed. Between 500,000 and one million people were killed. The head of the military, General Suharto, out-maneuvered the politically weakened Sukarno, and was formally appointed president in March 1968. His New Order administration was supported by the US government, and encouraged foreign direct investment in Indonesia, which was a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth. However, the authoritarian "New Order" was widely accused of corruption and suppression of political opposition.

Rebuilt Vietnam

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Vietnam ( Vietnamese: Việt Nam), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east. With a population of over 86 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world.

The people of Vietnam regained independence and broke away from China in AD 938 after their victory at the battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive dynasties flourished along with geographic and political expansion deeper into Southeast Asia, until it was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. Efforts to resist the French eventually led to their expulsion from the country in the mid-20th century, leaving a nation divided politically into two countries. Fighting between the two sides continued during the Vietnam War, ending with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

Việt Nam was adopted as the official name of the country by Emperor Gia Long in 1804. It is variation on "Nam Việt," (南越, Southern Việt) a name for the country used in ancient times. In 1839, Emperor Minh Mạng renamed the country Đại Nam ("Great South"). In 1945, the nation's official name was changed back to "Vietnam". The name is also sometimes rendered as "Viet Nam" in English.

The area now known as Vietnam has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, and some archaeological sites in Thanh Hoa Province purportedly date back several thousand years. Archaeologists link the beginnings of Vietnamese civilization to the late Neolithic, Early Bronze Age, Phung-nguyen culture, which was centered in Vinh Phuc Province of contemporary Vietnam from about 2000 to 1400 BCE. By about 1200 BCE, the development of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting in the Ma River and Red River plains led to the development of the Dong Son culture, notable for its elaborate bronze drums. The bronze weapons, tools, and drums of Dongsonian sites show a Southeast Asian influence that indicates an indigenous origin for the bronze-casting technology. Many small, ancient copper mine sites have been found in northern Vietnam. Some of the similarities between the Dong Sonian sites and other Southeast Asian sites include the presence of boat-shaped coffins and burial jars, stilt dwellings, and evidence of the customs of betel-nut-chewing and teeth-blackening.

The legendary Hồng Bàng Dynasty of the Hùng kings is considered by many Vietnamese as the first Vietnamese state, known as Văn Lang. In 257 BCE, the last Hùng king lost to Thục Phán, who consolidated the Lạc Việt tribes with his Âu Việt tribes, forming Âu Lạc and proclaiming himself An Dương Vương. In 207 BCE, a Chinese general named Zhao Tuo defeated An Dương Vương and consolidated Âu Lạc into Nanyue. In 111 BCE, the Chinese Han Dynasty consolidated Nanyue into their empire.

For the next thousand years, Vietnam was mostly under Chinese rule. Early independence movements such as those of the Trưng Sisters and of Lady Triệu were only briefly successful. It was independent as Vạn Xuân under the Anterior Ly Dynasty between 544 and 602. By the early 10th century, Vietnam had gained autonomy, but not independence, under the Khúc family.

In 938 CE, a Vietnamese lord named Ngô Quyền defeated Chinese forces at the Bạch Đằng River and regained independence after 10 centuries under Chinese control. Renamed as Đại Việt, the nation went through a golden era during the Lý and Trần Dynasties. During the rule of the Trần Dynasty, Đại Việt repelled three Mongol invasions. Buddhism flourished and became the state religion. Following the brief Hồ Dynasty, Vietnamese independence was momentarily interrupted by the Chinese Ming Dynasty, but was restored by Lê Lợi, the founder of the Lê Dynasty. Vietnam reached its zenith in the Lê Dynasty of the 15th century, especially during the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497). Between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Vietnamese expanded southward in a process known as nam tiến (southward expansion). They eventually conquered the kingdom of Champa and part of the Khmer Empire.

Towards the end of the Lê Dynasty, civil strife engulfed much of Vietnam. First, the Chinese-supported Mạc Dynasty challenged the Lê Dynasty's power. After the Mạc Dynasty was defeated, the Lê Dynasty was reinstalled, but with no actual power. Power was divided between the Trịnh Lords in the North and the Nguyễn Lords in the South, who engaged in a civil war for more than four decades. During this time, the Nguyễn expanded southern Vietnam into the Mekong Delta, annexing the Champa in the central highlands and the Khmer land in the Mekong. The civil war ended when the Tây Sơn brothers defeated both and established their new dynasty. However, their rule did not last long and they were defeated by the remnants of the Nguyễn Lords led by Nguyen Anh with the help of the French. Nguyen Anh unified Vietnam, and established the Nguyễn Dynasty, ruling under the name Gia Long.

Vietnam's independence was gradually eroded by France in a series of military conquests from 1859 until 1885 when the entire country became part of French Indochina. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education was developed, and Christianity was propagated widely in Vietnamese society. Most of the French settlers in Indochina were concentrated in Cochinchina (southern third of Vietnam whose principal city was Saigon). Developing a plantation economy to promote the exports of tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee, the French largely ignored increasing calls for self-government and civil rights. A nationalist political movement soon emerged, with leaders such as Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, Phan Dinh Phung, Emperor Ham Nghi and Ho Chi Minh calling for independence. However, the French maintained control of their colonies until World War II, when the Japanese war in the Pacific triggered the invasion of French Indochina in 1941. This event was preceded by the establishment of the Vichy French administration, a puppet state of Nazi Germany then ally of the Japanese Empire. The natural resources of Vietnam were exploited for the purposes of the Japanese Empire's military campaigns into the British Indochinese colonies of Burma, the Malay Peninsula and India.

Rebuilt Cambodia

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The Kingdom of Cambodia, (formerly known as Kampuchea, Preăh Réachéa Nachâk Kâmpŭchea, derived from Sanskrit Kambujadesa), is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh. Cambodia is the successor state of the once powerful Hindu and Buddhist Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula between the 11th and 14th centuries.

A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as "Cambodian" or "Khmer," though the latter strictly refers to ethnic Khmers. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, but the country also has a substantial number of predominantly Muslim Cham, as well as ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and small animist hill tribes.

The country borders Thailand to its west and northwest, Laos to its northeast and Vietnam to its east and southeast. In the south it faces the Gulf of Thailand. The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the Mekong River (colloquial Khmer: Tonle Thom or "the great river") and the Tonlé Sap ("the fresh water lake"), an important source of fish.

The first evidence of an advanced civilization in present day Cambodia are artificial circular earthworks estimated to be from the 1st millennium BC. During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, the Indianised states of Funan and Chenla coalesced in what is now present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. These states are assumed by most scholars to have been Khmer. For more than 2,000 years, Cambodia absorbed influences from China and India, passing them on to other Southeast Asian civilisations that are now Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The Khmer Empire flourished in the area from the 9th to the 13th century. Around the 13th century, Theravada Buddhism was introduced to the area through monks from Sri Lanka. From then on Theravada Buddhism grew and eventually became the most popular religion. The Khmer Empire declined yet remained powerful in the region until the 15th century. The empire's centre of power was Angkor, where a series of capitals was constructed during the empire's zenith. Angkor could have supported a population of up to one million people. ^[Angkor, the world's largest pre-industrial civilization, and Angkor Wat, the most famous and best-preserved religious temple at the site, are reminders of Cambodia's past as a major regional power.

After a long series of wars with neighbouring kingdoms, Angkor was sacked by the Thai and abandoned in 1432 because of ecological failure and infrastructure breakdown. The court moved the capital to Lovek where the kingdom sought to regain its glory through maritime trade. The attempt was short-lived, however, as continued wars with the Thai and Vietnamese resulted in the loss of more territory and Lovek was conquered in 1594. During the next three centuries, the Khmer kingdom alternated as a vassal state of the Thai and Vietnamese kings, with short-lived periods of relative independence between.

In 1863, King Norodom, who had been installed by Thailand, sought the protection of France from the Thai and Vietnamese, after tensions grew between them. In 1867, the Thai king signed a treaty with France, renouncing suzerainty over Cambodia in exchange for the control of Battambang and Siem Reap provinces which officially became part of Thailand. The provinces were ceded back to Cambodia by a border treaty between France and Thailand in 1906.

Cambodia continued as a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953, administered as part of the colony of French Indochina, though occupied by the Japanese empire from 1941 to 1945. After King Norodom's death, France manipulated the choice of king and Sisowath, Norodom's brother was placed on the throne. But the throne became vacant in 1941 with the death of Monivong, Sisowath's son, and France passed over Monivong's son, Monireth, feeling he was too independently minded and enthroned Norodom Sihanouk, who was eight years old at the time, thinking he would be easy to control. But France was wrong, and under the reign of King Norodom Sihanouk,Cambodia gained independence from France on November 9, 1953.

It became a constitutional monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. When French Indochina was given independence, Cambodia lost official control over the Mekong Delta as it was awarded to Vietnam, though the area had been controlled by the Vietnamese since 1698 with King Chey Chettha II granting Vietnamese permission to settle in the area decades before.

In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father in order to be elected Prime Minister. Upon his father's death in 1960, Sihanouk again became head of state, taking the title of Prince. As the Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality in the Cold War. However, Cambodians began to take sides, and he was ousted in 1970 by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak with the back-up support of the United States, while on a trip abroad. Settling in the next alternative country, Beijing, China, Sihanouk was forced to realigned himself with the Chinese communist. Soon the Khmer Rouge rebels would use him for gaining territory in the regions. The King urged his followers to help in overthrowing the pro-United States government of Lon Nol, hastening the onset of civil war.

Between 1969 and 1973, Republic of Vietnam forces and U.S. forces bombed and briefly invaded Cambodia in an effort to disrupt the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge. Some two million Cambodians were made refugees by the war and fled to Phnom Penh. Estimates of the number of Cambodians killed during the bombing campaigns vary widely, as do views of the effects of the bombing. The US Seventh Air Force ruthlessly argued that the bombing prevented the fall of Phnom Penh in 1973 by killing 16,000 of 25,500 Khmer Rouge fighters besieging the city. However, journalist William Shawcross and Cambodia specialists Milton Osborne, David P. Chandler and Ben Kiernan argued that the bombing drove peasants to join the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia specialist Craig Etcheson argued that the Khmer Rouge "would have won anyway", even without US intervention driving recruitment although the US secretly played a major role behind the leading cause of the Khmer Rouge.

The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975. The regime, led by Pol Pot, changed the official name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea, and was heavily influenced and backed by China. They immediately evacuated the cities and sent the entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They attempted to rebuild the country's agriculture on the model of the 11th century, discarded Western medicine, and destroyed temples, libraries, and anything considered Western. Over a million Cambodians, out of a total population of 8 million, died from executions, overwork, starvation and disease.

Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately one to three million. This era gave rise to the term Killing Fields, and the prison Tuol Sleng became notorious for its history of mass killing. Hundreds of thousands fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand. The regime disproportionately targeted ethnic minority groups. The Cham Muslims suffered serious purges with as much as half of their population exterminated. In the late 1960s, an estimated 425,000 ethnic Chinese lived in Cambodia, but by 1984, as a result of Khmer Rouge genocide and emigration, only about 61,400 Chinese remained in the country. The professions, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, were also targeted. According to Robert D. Kaplan, "eyeglasses were as deadly as the yellow star" as they were seen as a sign of intellectualism.

In November 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia to stop Khmer Rouge incursions across the border and the genocide in Cambodia. Violent occupation and warfare between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge holdouts continued throughout the 1980s. Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989, culminating two years later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The United Nations was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire, and deal with refugees and disarmament.