Southeast Asia: The Effects Of Global Social Change
Southeast Asia consists of 11 different countries that lie mainly between eastern India to China. It is a diverse group of states that are influenced by China and India. The region includes high numbers of Muslim countries, as well Buddhist countries, and also Hindu, Christian and Animist communities. They are most famously known for their beautiful mountainous regions and exquisite beaches. Not only do they have beautiful views, but they have incredible cultural and indigenous groups. Though the culture is very rich and historic, it has gone through many changes throughout time that has in turn, changed the lives of many throughout these communities. For example, throughout the mountains of Muang Sing (a small district in northern Laos bordering China and Burma) were heavily rural and underdeveloped, but not unpopulated. Through these Akha villages and small communities, they are used to a strict set of traditions and all working together to form to survive. Although, the socialist government has changed in the past decade turning to investments in China and as a result negatively impacted the community. Many of the Akha people have moved to the lowlands to reap these new opportunities. Another way in which the region has faced new hardships is through many socioeconomic factors. For example, the Lisu people (an ethnolinguistic group living in northern Thailand and Burma, and southwest China). With the Opium industry and the crops they gathered, it was able to shape their social structure.
Although, changes in government policies, shifts in international policy, and bureaucratic policies came into effect which negatively impacted local farmers. Resources became scarce and in turn effected marriage number, mortality and fertility rates. Not only did government affect the Lisu and Akha people, it also affected millions with restrictions on famers’ rice production. With many policy tools and intervention of the government it has heavily impacted the many lives who depend on their crops as main source of income. In total, the many government interventions within Southeast Asian has shown negative impacts in the Akha people, the Lisu people, and rice farmers. The Akha are an ethnic group living throughout the hills of the Upper Mekong region. For centuries, they have thrived upon low numbers of resources and have been in able to turn many crops such as rice, opium, maize, and cotton into main sources of income. Although, since a brief stint in the early 1990s, many of these communities have disappeared into the lowlands and valleys. Many theories have been put forth as to why this may have happened, whether it was men and women searching for new opportunity, or in search for better education. Ultimately though, the main reasons are due to a response from opium prohibition and government policies that overlook shifting cultivation. With development due to opening up the economy to donor aid, and investment, it has resulted in many Akha people to flee. And with more and more people leaving, the Akha people no longer can depend on the natural resources that surround them for needs, now they must depend on selling labor. It was noted by Kathleen Adams in Everyday Life in Southeast Asia, how “relocation has altered mainstay communal livelihoods and more closely integrated the Akha into contemporary forms of modern citizenship with moral obligations for economic integration”. Many of the Akha people remain uneasy about moving towards the lowlands and completely changing a history and cultural functions they have followed their entire lives. It is with this that many Akha communities have become broken and are in serious danger. The Akha aren’t the only group of people who are affected by government policies, the Lisu people have also been heavily impacted. The Lisu people are an ethnolinguistic group living throughout northern Thailand, northern Burma, and in southwest China. Southeast Asia is such a strong trading partner with the rest of the world, the Lisu contributed to this in their strong impact in the Opium crop business. It was an excellent crop and almost perfect for the conditions of the region which in turn created a strong agricultural community. Households thrived upon the benefits of this crop. Sadly, the economy became to fall as Thai state took control over the mountain lands on which Lisu lived and put in place many sanctions to ultimately differ the progress of the crop. Lands were overtaken and have suddenly become scarce along with the resources available.
Throughout the book Everyday Life in Southeast Asia, Kathleen Adams notes how, “with the end of the opium economy, the demographic cycle of Lisu households was, as were inter-household relations”. The end of the economy put a gigantic hit on the incomes of many farmers which in turn effected fertility rates, with many families not being able to afford having children. This also eafected marriage rates among young women as many families could not afford an offering to give to their brides. With this, more women were resorting to prostitution in the lowlands or suicide. With the domino effect of the end of the opium economy, this demonstrated severe consequences for the Lisu people in many ways. Another way in which government policies have affected the lives of many throughout southeast Asia is through the rice industry. As mentioned earlier, southeast Asia is a very heavily dependent upon their trade for many sources of income and wealth. One of the main exports is rice. Although in the past decade, the government has had many interferences and restrictions put forth at the expense of the famers’ likings. They have put in many sanctions to specifically help the consumers and the agricultural community but hinder the rice community. The revenues were put into agricultural extension in different crops and set different taxes to reduce price fluctuation. Laiprakosup noted how, “When a government subsidizes the rice sector, farmers have more incentive to increase their productivity; however, when it heavily taxes farmers, they are discouraged from increasing their productivity since the more they harvest, the more tax burdens they have to bear”. With the more taxes that the farmers have been bearing, it has caused the industry to become hindered, and in turn, hurting all communities that rely upon the income from their crops. In conclusion, the government interactions between many sectors of the regions have called for many negative impacts throughout the community. The Akha people were heavily hindered with many of their populations relocating to the lowlands and causing for their villages to create havoc with many disputes and lack of resources to survive. The Lisu people watched the fall of the Opium community negatively impact their marriage rates and lead to a large number of young women resulting to suicide or prostitution. Also, the rice farmers have been hindered by taxes that aim to protect the consumers while hurting the farmers and the communities that rely upon them. With the many of impacts that this region faces, there are countless of effects they have faced from their governments. Culture is dynamic and definitely does change over time. Although, the people of Southeast Asia are heavily traditional and cultural that with the world changing, it causes many impacts upon their traditional ways of life.
Bibliography
- Adams, Kathleen M., and Kathleen A. Gillogly, eds. 2011 Everyday Life in Southeast Asia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Laiprakobsup, T., & Thailand Research Fund. (n.d.). The policy effect of government assistance on the rice production in Southeast Asia: Comparative case studies of Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21665095.2019.1568900.
