How Did Tradition And Culture Influence The Development Of Asian Nationalism?

At first glance, it is easy to assume that pre-war Southeast Asian nationalism was indeed primarily influenced by tradition and culture but further inspection and analysis of the history during that era would prove otherwise. In this paper, I will argue that although tradition and culture did initially influence the development of Southeast Asian nationalism, its indigenous and traditional influence waned as external Western ideology overshadowed it.
In British Burma and Dutch East Indies, tradition and religion played a dominant role in influencing the aims, methods and ideological outlook of their nationalism movements- but only op till the 1920s. In Burma, the Young Men Buddhist Association (YMBA) was formed in 1906 with moderate aims concerned
In Dutch East Indies, the influence of Western ideologies was evident as the newly-emerged nationalist groups Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI) and Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI) all clearly highlighted the influence of Western ideology, being influenced by communist and democratic ideals respectively, rather than religion and tradition (Owen, 2005.) 1927 marked an important year in the calendar of the East Indies nationalists as the PKI attempted a revolution to overthrow the Dutch government, illustrating even more clearly the dominant and presiding influence of Western methods of aggression and the Western ideology of democracy and freedom that had never before been expressed in their nationalist aims (Taylor & Francis, 2001.) Thus, from 1920s onwards, the influence of tradition and religion had greatly waned as the influence of external Western ideologies became the driving force behind the direction and development of pre-war