SE ASIA Culture

  (Redirected from SE Asia)
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia (orthographic projection).svg
Area 4,500,000 km2(1,700,000 sq mi)
Population ~ 618,000,000
Density 135.6 /km2 (351 /sq mi)
GDP (2011) $2.158 trillion (exchange rate)
GDP per capita(2011) $3,538 (exchange rate)
Time Zones UTC+5:30 (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) toUTC+9:00 (Indonesia)
Capital cities
Largest cities

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection ofgeological plates, with heavy seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two geographic regions:

  • Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Philippines, East Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore.
  • Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as Indochina, comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, West Malaysia and Vietnam;





A golden vestment similar to those worn by the HinduBrahmin Caste, found in Butuan (Philippines) Archeological Digs. This artefact shows the influence of Indian culture in Southeast Asia, also through trade.

Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago,[11] having moved eastwards from the Indian subcontinent.[12] Homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct.[13] Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, and the Philippines, may have migrated to Southeast Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BC,and as they spread through the archipelago, they often settled along coastal areas and confined indigenous peoples such as Negritos of the Philippines or Papuans of New Guinea to inland regions.[14]


Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao (Nusantara) maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD.[16] The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those ofAustronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years, some reaching the island of Madagascar. Their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellan’s voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships.[17]




Indianised kingdoms

Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia



Cambodia was first influenced by Hinduism during the beginning of the Funan kingdom. Hinduism was one of the Khmer Empire’s official religions. Cambodia is the home to one of the only two temples dedicated to Brahma in the world.[citation needed] Angkor Wat is also a famous Hindu temple of Cambodia.



The Cholas excelled in maritime activity in both military and the mercantile fields. Their raids of Kedah and the Srivijaya, and their continued commercial contacts with the Chinese Empire, enabled them to influence the local cultures. Many of the surviving examples of theHindu cultural influence found today throughout Southeast Asia are the result of the Chola expeditions

Spread of Islam

Kampung Laut Mosque in Tumpatis one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia, dating to early 18th century.


Children studying Koran in Javaduring colonial period.


Trade and colonisation


Records from Magellan’s voyage show that Brunei possessed more cannon than the European ships, so the Chinese must have been trading with them.

Malaysian legend has it that a Chinese Ming emperor sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to Malacca, with a retinue of 500, to marry Sultan Mansur Shah after the emperor was impressed by the wisdom of the sultan. Han Li Po’s well (constructed 1459) is now a tourist attraction there, as is Bukit Cina, where her retinue settled.

The strategic value of the Strait of Malacca, which was controlled by Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th and early 16th century, did not go unnoticed by Portuguese writer Duarte Barbosa, who in 1500 wrote “He who is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice”.



Strait of Malacca (narrows)





During World War II, Imperial Japan invaded most of the former western colonies. The Shōwa occupation regime committed violent actions against civilians such as the Manila massacre and the implementation of a system of forced labour, such as the one involving 4 to 10 million romusha in Indonesia A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result of famine and forced labour during the Japanese occupation.  The Allied powers who defeated Japan in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II then contended with nationalists to whom the occupation authorities had granted independence.







Mayon Volcano, despite being dangerously active, holds the record of the world’s most perfect cone which is built from past and continuous eruption.






Komodo Dragons in Komodo National Park, Indonesia

The vast majority of Southeast Asia falls within the warm, humid tropics, and its climate generally can be characterised as monsoonal. The animals of Southeast Asia are diverse; on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the Orangutan, the Asian Elephant, the Malayan tapir, the Sumatran Rhinoceros and the Bornean Clouded Leopard can be also found. Six subspecies of the Binturong or bearcat exist in the region, though the one endemic to the island of Palawan is now classed as vulnerable.


The Komodo Dragon is the largest living species of lizard and inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia.

The Philippine Eagle

The Philippine Eagle is the national bird of the Philippines. It is considered by scientists as the largest Eagle in the world,[24] and is endemic to the Philippines’ forests.

The Wild Asian Water Buffalo, and on various islands related dwarf species of Bubalus such as Anoa were once widespread in Southeast Asia; nowadays the Domestic Asian Water buffalo is common across the region, but its remaining relatives are rare and endangered.



Wallace’s hypothetical line between Australasian and Southeast Asian fauna


The shallow waters of the Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world’s marine ecosystems, where coral, fish and molluscs abound. According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on Earth. Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world’s coral reef biodiversity, making Raja Ampat quite possibly the richest coral reef ecosystems in the world. The whale shark, the world’s largest species of fish and 6 species of sea turtles can also be found in the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean territories of the Philippines.


While Southeast Asia is rich in flora and fauna, Southeast Asia is facing severe deforestation which causes habitat loss for various endangered species such as orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. Predictions have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century.[25] At the same time, haze has been a regular occurrence. The two worst regional hazes were in 1997 and 2006 in which multiple countries were covered with thick haze, mostly caused by “slash and burn” activities in Indonesia. In reaction, several countries in Southeast Asia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution to combat haze pollution.

The 2013 Southeast Asian Haze saw API levels reach a Hazardous level in some countries. Muar experienced the highest API level of 746 on 23 June 2013 at around 7 am.


The Keppel Container Terminal in the Port of Singapore. The Port of Singapore is the busiest transshipmentand container port in the world, and is an important transportation and shipping hub in Southeast Asia.


The overseas Chinese community has played a large role in the development of the economies in the region. These business communities are connected through the bamboo network, a network of overseas Chinese businesses operating in the markets of Southeast Asia that share common family and cultural ties.  The origins of Chinese influence can be traced to the 16th century, when Chinese migrants from southern China settled in Indonesia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries.  Chinese populations in the region saw a rapid increase following the Communist Revolution in 1949, which forced many refugees to emigrate outside of China.


Seventeen telecommunications companies contracted to build the Asia-America Gateway submarine cable to connect Southeast Asia to the US[29] This is to avoid disruption of the kind recently caused by the cutting of the undersea cable from Taiwan to the US in the 2006 Hengchun earthquake.


Indonesia is the only member of G-20 major economies and is the largest economy in the region.  Indonesia’s estimated gross domestic product (nominal) for 2008 was US$511.7 billion with estimated nominal per capita GDP was US$2,246, and per capita GDP PPP was US$3,979 (international dollars).

Stock markets in Southeast Asia have performed better than other bourses in the Asia-Pacific region in 2010, with the Philippines’ PSE leading the way with 22 percent growth, followed by Thailand’s SET with 21 percent and Indonesia’s JKSE with 19 percent




Ethnic groups

Ati woman – the Negritos were the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia



Thai Theravada Buddhists inChiang Mai, Thailand



Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosquein Brunei, an Islamic country with strictSyariah rule.

Religions and peoples are diverse in Southeast Asia and not one country is homogeneous. In the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, Hinduism is dominant on islands such as Bali. Christianity also predominates in Philippines, New Guinea and Timor. Pockets of Hindu population can also be found around Southeast Asia in Singapore, Malaysia etc. Garuda (Sanskrit: Garuḍa), the phoenix who is the mount (vahanam) of Vishnu, is a national symbol in both Thailand and Indonesia; in the Philippines, gold images of Garuda have been found on Palawan; gold images of other Hindu gods and goddesses have also been found on Mindanao. Balinese Hinduism is somewhat different from Hinduism practised elsewhere, as Animism and local culture is incorporated into it. Christians can also be found throughout Southeast Asia; they are in the majority in East Timor and the Philippines, Asia’s largest Christian nation. In addition, there are also older tribal religious practices in remote areas of Sarawak in East Malaysia and Papua in eastern Indonesia. In Burma, Sakka (Indra) is revered as a nat. In Vietnam, Mahayana Buddhism is practised, which is influenced by native animism but with strong emphasis on Ancestor Worship.


A paddy field in Vietnam.

The culture in Southeast Asia is very diverse: on mainland Southeast Asia, the culture is a real mix of Indian (Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand) and Chinese (Vietnam and Singapore). While in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, the culture is a mix of Chinese, Indian, Western and the indigenous Austronesian culture. Also Brunei shows a strong influence from Arabia. Vietnam and Singapore show more Chinese influence in that Vietnam was in China’s sphere of influence for much of its history and Singapore, although being a Southeast Asian nation, is home to a large Chinese majority. Indian influence in Singapore is only evident through the Tamil migrants,  which influenced, to some extent, the cuisine of Singapore. Throughout Vietnam’s history, it has had no direct influence from India – only through contact with the Thai, Khmer and Cham peoples.

Rice paddy agriculture has existed in Southeast Asia for thousands of years, ranging across the subregion. Some dramatic examples of these rice paddies populate the Banaue Rice Terraces in the mountains of Luzon in thePhilippines. Maintenance of these paddies is very labour-intensive. The rice paddies are well-suited to the monsoon climate of the region.






The Royal Ballet of Cambodia (Paris, France 2010)







Of the court and folk genres, gong-chime ensembles and orchestras make up the majority (the exception being lowland areas of Vietnam). Gamelan orchestras from Indonesia, Piphat /Pinpeat ensembles of Thailand and Cambodia and theKulintang ensembles of the southern Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi and Timor are the three main distinct styles of musical genres that have influenced other traditional musical styles in the region. String instruments also are popular in the region.


The Terengganu Inscription Stonein Malaysia, written in year 1303. It is the oldest written artefact with Jawi script on it.




In Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, the Malay language is now generally written in the Latin script. The same phenomenon is present in Indonesian, although different spelling standards are utilised (e.g. ‘Teksi’ in Malay and ‘Taksi’ in Indonesian for the word ‘Taxi’).



from CDC

Travel Health Insurance


If you need to go to a hospital or clinic overseas, you will probably be asked to pay out-of-pocket for any services, which could be very expensive. Even if a country has nationalized health care, it may not cover people who are not citizens. Before you go, you should consider your insurance options in case you need care while you’re abroad, especially if you have existing health conditions, will be away from home for a long time, or will be engaging in adventure activities such as scuba diving or hang gliding.

If you have health insurance in the United States, find out if it will cover emergencies that happen abroad. Ask if your policy has any exclusions, such as for preexisting conditions or adventure activities. If your health insurance coverage is not adequate, consider buying a short-term supplemental policy. Look for a policy that will make payments to hospitals directly.

Medical Evacuation Insurance

patient being loaded onto helicopter

If you are traveling to a remote destination or to a place where care is not likely to be up to US standards, consider buying medical evacuation insurance. This can be purchased separately or as part of your travel health insurance policy. This insurance will pay for emergency transportation from a remote or poor area to a high-quality hospital. Make sure that the policy provides a 24-hour physician support center.

We recommend having Travel Insurance 

Asia Pacific Hilton Hotels as Low as $46



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