by Quimar Yazima

Within the borders of the Southeast Asian region, there exists both cultural and physical differences and multiplicity. Southeast Asia extends from India to Australia. Generally, the region of Southeast Asia is divided into to two parts: the Mainland Southeast Asia and the Insular Southeast Asia. The mainland Southeast Asia, mainly, consists of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. These countries are attached to the mainland portion of Asia. On the other hand, the Insular Southeast Asia refers to the territories of Philippines, Indonesia, East Timor, Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia. Roughly, the land area of Southeast Asia, when combined, is about half of the continental U.S. or equal to that of Europe.
Southeast Asia is noted for its maritime orientation and location. All of the countries in the region, except Laos, have a shoreline and a sufficient port for ships. Thus, Southeast Asia has been and continues to be a strategic region (Phillips, 2006). This is, primarily, because of the waterways that exists in the key locations such as the Strait of Malacca. This strait becomes very useful especially for transportation and trading purposes. It is even recognized as one of the great shipping wonders of the world. Aside from that, Southeast Asia is also known for its rich natural resources and its large biodiversity. However, though, it is rich in natural resources, the region is currently facing severe deforestation. This is mainly because of the cutting of trees which are being used for commercialization and industrialization, as well as, the modernization of the Southeast Asian countries. Another reason for this damage is because of the warfare that is happening in some countries of the region such as in Cambodia and Vietnam.
The region of Southeast Asia has a lot of commonalities. A great example of this is their membership in the ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Aside from that, with its geographical relative features, the countries have similar climatic conditions. As written by Alexander Pope, all of the countries, partially or wholly, lie in the path of the monsoons. Also, much of the countries in the region reside across the ring of fire, a zone known for earthquakes and volcanoes that surrounds the Pacific Ocean basin (Phillips, 2006). In addition, in terms of its land resources, Southeast Asian countries largely depend on agriculture, with the exception of Singapore. In here, it generates a big part of their economies and gives employment to many people. In some way, the raw materials that are being produced from the natural resources that are found in the region make them an important commodity to other regions.
Moreover, the region of Southeast Asia has undergone similar situation centuries ago. With the invasion of the Western powers, especially the European countries, all of the countries, except Thailand, became colonies of a foreign regime. The conquest eventually took place because of the interest of the Western countries in the natural resources that the regions have. Besides that, the conquest also served as a manifestation of the strength and power of the European states. For a fact, Myanmar and Singapore were colonized by the Great Britain, Indonesia by the Netherlands, the Philippines by Spain and later by USA, and Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were colonized by France.
Another common feature that is observed in the region is the liberation of the women. Unlike other regions of Asia, Southeast Asia has been towards improving the status of women in the society. For instance, education for both sexes have been substantial and the employment opportunities for women are better and numerous. This is shown in the increase of female participation in the labor force. Aside from that, women in the region are not restricted and are even free to decide on their own. The kinds of dress that they wear are of their own choice. In fact, there are already groups that support the rights of women in the society just like the Gabriela in the Philippines.
In studying about Southeast Asia, there is an amount of differences that could be seen in the region. Primarily, because of the different empires and countries that have invaded Southeast Asia, it has significantly affected the kind of culture and tradition that each country is practicing in the present time. As a result, each of the country has different beliefs from one another. For instance, the mainland Southeast Asia is mostly dominated by Buddhism. However, on another part, Islam is widely practiced in the insular states such as Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This is basically, because of the Muslim conquest that took place in Malaya and Indonesia in the 13th century AD. The Philippines, on the other hand, follows Catholicism because of the Spaniards who introduced the religion. Besides the culture and religion being affected by the foreign powers, the government system that each country has in the region is also distinctive. For instance, Thailand follows a system of monarchy, Philippines, on one part, is a democratic country with its government system patterned to the American system, Burma is noted for its dictatorial rule and Laos and Vietnam has a communist regime.
At present, terrorism in Southeast Asia is increasing and becoming a major threat to its security. Places like Aceh, Indonesia, and Jolo Island in Southern Philippines have been converted into training camps (Keo, 2011). There are even terrorist networks such as Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf that recruits young men and women to join them in their cause of destroying the “infidels”. It is, then, said that Islamic fundamentalism is deeply rooted in certain parts of Southeast Asia. Additionally, there are reports that say some of the terrorist groups in Southeast Asia are connected to terrorist groups in Southwest Asia, like the Al Qaeda. In Indonesia, for example, both Jemaah Islamiah and Kumpulan Militan/Mujahideen Malaysia have associations throughout the region and their Afghan-trained members are believed to have served major roles in expanding the Al Qaeda network in the region (Huang, 2002). Another example, in Malaysia, the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad admitted that their police have identified 50 Malaysians with Al Qaeda connections. With such, Al Qaeda has already and greatly penetrated the region by establishing local cells, training Southeast Asians in its camps in Afghanistan and financing and cooperating with indigenous radical Islamist groups (Mayin, et. al., 2004). This enables the terrorist groups in the region to expand more and use their power to threaten the stability of each country.
Talking about connections in the region, migration is becoming a significant trend in its development. It, generally, resulted to small scale individual movements of migrant labor, which in the case of the Philippines, represents a very important source of overseas earnings (Walsh, 2004). Labor migration, in this sense, becomes a source of national income for the country. Another kind of migration that is occurring in the region is the desire of the refugees to flee persecution, particularly, in Burma wherein a lot of its citizens sought refuge in Thailand. With all these, the patterns that are present in Southeast Asia make them different from other regions. They showcase the combination of different cultures and traditions, as well as the religions that are influenced by their foreign invaders. These qualities of region results, then, to the curiosity and interest of the states in other parts of the world, thus, it encourage them to learn more about the region.