History of Southeast Asia

At last, after promising it for a long time, here is the episode on East Timor! Meet Southeast Asia's newest country. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry?  Click here for the details on joining.  Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast! And here is the  Podcast Hall of Fame page ,...

Sorry again for making you wait five weeks. As compensation, this episode is the longest I have recorded in the past year. Today we finish up the narrative on the Philippines, covering the recent history of those islands from 1992 to the present. Overall it has been an up-and-down experience for Filipinos; from my point of view, life is getting better for them, but they still have a...

This episode of the podcast is the last one planned for Indonesia. Here we look at events in the world's largest archipelago, from 1998 to the present. Listen and you will understand what is going on in a large nation that often does not get much attention in the outside world. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my p...

This episode of the podcast covers Cambodia, from 1989 to the present. As you can guess from the title, it's mainly a story of how Cambodia has recovered from all the awful things that happened to it in the twentieth century. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will g...

Today we finish up the podcast's narrative about Vietnam. This time it won't be war stories, but the story of how Vietnam recovered from the wars it suffered in the twentieth century, and how it has become the exciting, growing country that visitors see today. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let t...

All right, Episode 112 of the podcast is now available! Today we pay another visit to Burma, to look at what happened from late 1988 to 2011. To start with, from this time onward, the country will usually be called Myanmar. During this period, the military is still in charge, and while the generals aren't as eccentric as Ne Win, the general who ran the show in Episode 101, they pull one crazy stun...

Today's episode is the first that is just about Brunei, a country that the podcast has mentioned many times in the past. It is also the last, because this episode covers Brunei up to the present. Although Brunei is one of the smallest countries in Southeast Asia (only Singapore has less land), and it is home to only a few hundred thousand people, its recent history is amazing, thanks to its oil we...

It has been five weeks since I gave you an episode, so thank you for your patience! This time we look at the Philippines from 1981 to 1992, the end of the Marcos presidency, and the presidency of Corazon Aquino. And since I told you previously that my wife is from the Philippines, this episode finishes with the story of how we met. Listen and enjoy! Do you think you would like to become a podcaste...

Today's episode covers Thailand, from 1976 to 2000. In the middle of the nineteenth century, modernization became the top priority of the Thai kingdom. While the Thais found it fairly easy to adopt new technology, they found it harder to switch from absolute monarchy to a more modern government, and they have been trying to do that since 1932. Listen in to find out if Thailand can get it right thi...

Here's a phrase I want you to remember: sabai di, pronounced "sa-bye dee." In the Thai and Lao languages it means "feel good." Just as Swahili speakers may say "hakuna matata" (no worries) when they are in a good mood, so the phrase sabai di summarizes the general mood in Laos. In fact, an old article from Time Magazine used the phrase to call Laos "The Land of Feeling Good." Now listen to the lat...

Spring is on the way! While you are waiting for the season to change, here is the next episode of the podcast. This episode looks at Vietnam from 1975 to 1986, and Cambodia from 1979 to 1989. During this time there were conflicts between Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge, and between Vietnam and China. Together we call these clashes the Third Indochina War, and because they were waged on a small scale,...

Here is the next episode at last! I couldn't go anywhere yesterday, because the area where I live is covered with ice and snow, so I finally had time to finish Episode 106. At the beginning of the episode, I will explain what kept me from finishing it at the beginning of February, as I had originally planned to do. Today the topic is Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, the grim period known as "the Pol Po...

This episode completes the historical narrative for another Southeast Asian nation. Here we see Malaysia from 1970 to 2021. In fact, one of the events covered, the 1MDB scandal, blew up after I started recording this podcast. Although Malaysia is not as rich as Singapore or Brunei, it comes in a respectable third place, and here you will learn how they did it. Do you think you would like to become...

Although it has been said in many times and many ways, Happy New Year! To start the new year right, listen to the latest episode of the podcast, which covers the history of Singapore from 1965 to the present. Singapore's government treats its subjects the way your parents treated you. You have been warned. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on...

Episode 103 of the podcast is now available, just in time for Beethoven's 250th birthday! Today we look at Indonesia during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. This was the time of Indonesia's long-lasting second president, Suharto. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get th...

This episode goes all the way to the eastern extremity of Southeast Asia -- western New Guinea. Geographically speaking, it's really part of the South Pacific region of the world, but it has been considered part of Indonesia since the Dutch claimed it, nearly two hundred years ago. Now we will look at what has happened there since the Dutch handed over western New Guinea to Indonesia, in 1962. Can...

With this episode, the second hundred episodes of the podcast will begin! Today we look at Burma from the 1950s to 1988, going up to the point just before the country was renamed Myanmar. During this period, the country had only two leaders, U Nu and Ne Win. U Nu tried unsuccessfully to turn Burma into a socialist state, while Ne Win was a dictator who did some wild things because he was also supe...

Turn your clock back an hour (if you are in a place that does that), and tune in to the podcast! After four years and four months, here is the podcast's 100th episode! Today we go to the Philippines, to look at those islands from 1957 to 1981, a period that includes the first part of the Marcos dictatorship. And then listen in to hear how I will celebrate, because completing 100 episodes is a big...

This episode looks at Thailand from 1957 to 1976. Here attempts are made to replace the military dictatorship with a true Western-style democracy, but the civilian government is too unstable to last, showing that the Thais still have much to learn. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I s...

For this episode, the narrative goes to Malaya, which was last covered in Episode 69, and to Singapore and the British-ruled areas on the north side of Borneo. We will hear how Singapore became independent, and how Malaya became Malaysia. Here is a simple map of Malaysia showing all the places talked about in this episode, including Singapore and Brunei. Do you think you would like to become a pod...

Today's episode begins a series of episodes on the recent history of Southeast Asia. We will start by looking at Indonesia from 1950 to 1967, when Sukarno was the country's first president. In 1961, Indonesia's President Sukarno visited Washington, D.C., to meet with John F. Kennedy. Both presidents were notorious womanizers, but while Sukarno was proud of it, in Kennedy's case the girl-chasing wa...

This episode is the longest for the podcast yet, because it wraps up the narrative that has continued since Episode 71. Yes, today you will hear how the Second Indochina War ended, in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos! So this is also the last episode of what I called "the Unofficial Vietnam War Podcast." For those of you who were listening when the podcast started covering the Vietnam War, thank you fo...

The previous episode of this podcast was a bit on the short side, so to make up for it, this episode is twice as long! Today we look at Vietnam and Cambodia, in 1973 and 1974. A cease-fire is signed for Vietnam in early 1973, which ends active American involvement in that country, but it fails to end the fighting. As for Cambodia, it takes two to make peace, and the communist Khmer Rouge don't eve...

This episode covers the war in Vietnam, also called the Second Indochina War, during 1972. North Vietnam launches a major offensive that is eventually defeated, thanks to American air power, but they are able to grab ten percent of South Vietnam's territory, and keep their soldiers in it afterwards. Meanwhile, the peace talks continue. The United States and North Vietnam finally reach an agreement...

Better late than never, as the saying goes! Sorry for the delays. This episode covers the war in Vietnam during 1970 and 1971. Also covered are events in the United States in the same time that affected the war: more antiwar protests, and the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code,...