When it was founded in 1819, Singapore represented the farthest reach of British imperial authority, and in 1824, the British and Dutch conspired to create a unique kind of border, lacing its way through maritime space, and allotting cartographic spheres to both parties. The major political effect of this division was the dismemberment of the Johor maritime empire. Its core, the Riau-Lingga Archipelago, became a laxly administered buffer zone for Dutch Batavia, while its dual-sovereign head—the sultan and the temenggong—landed, impoverished, on the British side in Singapore. Thus, this maritime empire gave way to a vacuous frontier-zone between two European rivals, each incapable of exercising the authority they claimed. This was the new site of ‘piracy’, as it had been for Hugo Grotius two centuries before; however, this time it was indigenous seafarers—not rival Europeans—who stood accused of rejecting the freedom of the seas.

1927 was a critical period in Pablo Neruda’s life. At the time, he was assigned to a diplomatic post in Rangoon. He was a promising poet and a young diplomat hungry to see the world. Southeast Asia represented a season of solitude that he alleviated with his marriage to Maruca, with whom he would have his only daughter. The girl would die at an early age. In this region, he envisaged Residencia en la tierra (Residence on Earth, 1933). Through the letters to his friend Héctor Eandi and his travel chronicles, we learn the inner landscapes that occupied Neruda’s creative mind. A memorable poem written in this period is “El tango del viudo” (“Widower’s Tango”), which describes his tempestuous relationship with Josie Bliss. This period has been revisited lately due to the confession of a sexual assault of a young Tamil woman under his service expressed in his memoirs.

Achieving the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement requires a rapid fossil fuel phase-out, mainly of coal power generation. However, the Southeast Asian region has been increasing reliance on coal power, which can be associated with higher stranded costs. This chapter conducted scenario analyses to estimate new installations and stranded assets in the electricity sector that align with the Paris Agreement in this region. The results showed that fossil fuel capacity stranding and new capacity installations must be around 62.8–93.2 GW (USD 224–272 billion) and 590–672 GW (USD 1.9–2.0 trillion) from 2021 to 2050, respectively, to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions and net-zero emissions. The magnitude of stranded assets would vary by technological availability. Stranded assets and new investment requirements for renewable energy become higher unless carbon capture and storage systems are commercially available. High gas prices, which undermine new investments in gas power plants, potentially reduce stranded assets but increase new installation costs for other technologies.

The introduction presents the main theoretical and empirical justifications of the book. It begins by highlighting the longstanding problem governments face as they puzzle over securing adequate amounts of staple foods: either to grow more of the foodstuff or purchase it from abroad. This historical and contemporary food security dilemma sets the stage for introducing the three primary cases of this study, those that struggle to find that ideal balance between promoting expensive domestic rice cultivation and buying cheaper foreign imports. It then explains how success in the Green Revolution radically shifted the views of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia of their position along this continuum. The introduction establishes the significance of the Green Revolution, substantiates its success, and addresses how this legacy over decades has shaped acute rice policy debates – and hence larger questions about rural development, poverty alleviation, and national food security. The introduction closes with a brief recapitulation of the main argument and an outline of the book’s chapters.

Chapter 1 sets the historical backdrop to the Green Revolution. First, it chronicles why the Green Revolution was deemed necessary in the first place, most notably due to the lack of technological breakthrough in rice production and the related meager public support for food-crop agriculture. Through this exploration, the chapter demonstrates the instructive point that the politicization of rice did not begin with the Green Revolution. Instead, it has a long history. But previous attempts at boosting paddy yields, for example, for a variety of reasons had failed. The chapter is arranged by case study. It starts with a careful look at pre-Green Revolution developments in the Philippines, followed by Malaya/Malaysia, and Indonesia. The narrative is organized chronologically within each section, which roughly starts with the early 20th century under colonialism and ends with the early independence period in the 1950s and early 1960s.

What is Buddhist monastic law? How should one think about its key texts, institutions and principles? This chapter answers these questions in the context of Sri Lanka and other parts of South and Southeast Asia, focusing especially on ideas of unity and diversity in law. The first part of this chapter summarises key ideas and principles found in the ancient code of monastic law, the Vinaya Piṭaka, which is thought to be the cornerstone of monastic legal texts and practices. The second (longer) part of this chapter introduces readers to a range of monastic legal sources outside the Vinaya Piṭaka, which also play key roles in the practice of monastic law in contemporary Sri Lanka. These sources include commentaries, constitutions, handbooks, judicial manuals, statutes, case law, social expectations and other normative sources produced by monks, state officials and Buddhist laypersons.

This chapter reviews how the Green Revolution unfolded in each of the three countries. It does not shy from reporting the mistakes and mishaps that transpired, from corruption and the hubris of policymakers to pest outbreaks and coercive policy implementation, on the ground. Crucially, the program’s legitimacy was saved by the state-managed, and western funded, rice imports in overcoming food shortages of the early Green Revolution. The chapter then covers how the cultivation surge finally came to fruition, birthing the production nationalists. Two of the more famous examples include Indonesian president Soeharto and Philippine president Marcos. In this way, rice imports, and later Green Revolution production, were decisive factors in prolonging the rule of each of these pro-West, conservative regimes. The chapter is also arranged per case study and chronologically within each case.

The conclusion recapitulates the book’s primary arguments; it extends them to two more rice sector cases in Asia (Japan and South Korea); and it offers some preliminary thoughts on the future viability of the rice industries in importing Southeast Asia.

This chapter examines rights, authority, and autonomy under the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in seventeenth century Southeast Asia. Exploring how the Company managed its employees, Asian treaty partners, and diverse populations under its rule, this chapter is divided into three sections. The first delves into the instruments that granted the Company a range of powers, including the Company charter, commissions, as well as employment and disciplinary contracts. In the 1640s these were later supplemented by the Batavian Statutes. The 2nd section explores the VOC’s interactions with Asian rulers by focusing on treaties and alliances. These treaties curtailed the liberty of Asian rulers, compromised their sovereignty, and reinforced their dependency on the VOC. The 3rd section shifts attention to the VOC’s administration of ethnic and religious communities under its rule.

This chapter examines the factors which influence the entrepreneurial ecosystems in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We present four stylised case studies of successful entrepreneurship featuring Asian unicorns: Bitkub, PrimaKu, Bolttech and Maya. The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Singapore is vibrant, with a growing number of start-ups and venture capital funding sources. Indonesia is seen as the home of somewhat surprisingly successful ventures, whereas the entrepreneurial ecosystems of Thailand and the Philippines are still at an earlier stage of development. The region’s entrepreneurial climate has been continuously improving, facilitating the emergence of more start-ups and a more supportive ecosystem. ASEAN economies embrace digital technologies and leverage them for economic and social advancement. E-commerce businesses in ASEAN have significant growth potential.