REVIEWS ‘silk’ is only one of several possible similes, such as ‘spices’ or ‘ceramics’. Roderich Ptak, Die Maritime While the vast ocean is an entity defined Seidenstrasse. Küstenräume, Seefahrt by physical conditions, its numerous und Handel in vorkolonialer Zeit. various segments are distinguished by Munich, C. H. Beck, 2007, 368 pp., 46 cultures and histories of exchange. The ills, 14 maps (Historische Bibliothek segmentation recorded in texts of the der Gerda Henkel Stiftung). Song Period (960–1281) is apparently based on Arab categorization. European Literally translated, the title reads ‘the advances connecting the Asian, Atlantic maritime silk road, its coastal areas, sea- and Pacific regions of the globe confine faring and trade in pre-colonial times’. the time frame of this presentation. This, as in the original German wording, Through an essay rather than an does not reveal the book’s rather semi- introduction, the author offers a nal approach and gist, which challenge discourse of the Mediterranean model the European-trained perspective and, by Fernand Braudel (La Méditerranée much more importantly, almost close a et le monde méditerranéen à l’époque gap while studiously pinpointing certain de Philippe II), a seminal work that has lacunae. reinforced interest in historical research The coastal area of present-day China into maritime relations elsewhere. is dotted with entrepôts that established Though triggered by this academic and operated maritime links across the stimulus, the Asian physical, geo- oceans, roughly between the longi- graphical factors require a distinctively tudes of 35ºE (the Red Sea) and 132ºE different approach, coupled with a (Kyushu, Japan and Moluccas, Indone- perspective originating from the East. sia). The researcher and author, profes- In great detail, ocean and drift currents sor of sinology at the Ludwig-Maximil- as well as wind directions are described ian University in Munich, Germany, in relation to challenges posed by reefs draws a parallel between Rome reaching and atolls, and examples given of the out towards the East, in succession to the time required for certain sea passages. Greeks, at a time when China began to Research findings are presented in make westward seaborne contacts with chronological order, however, in an India, in the epoch covered by Pliny the east-west direction, to probe how and Elder (p. 73). On the choice of the term in which way the sub-regions traversed ‘maritime silk road’, the author refers by the ‘maritime silk road’ grew to- to the recent publication by Liu Yingsh- gether, which structures emerged, which eng titled Silu wenhua. Haishang juan, changes occurred, and what particular presented in two volumes, one cover- perceptions were kept on record. ing maritime routes and the other land The maritime space covered by this routes (p. 18). As pointed out by Ptak, book encompasses Asia’s eastern oceans

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 243 244 Reviews with the Gulf of Bohai, the Yellow Sea, and the Caliphate of the Sassanids, and the East China Sea; the South China followed by the Omayyads, then Sea and Sulu Sea; the East Indonesian Abbasids, Asia’s eastern oceans were Seas; the Melaka Straits, the Andaman dominated by the Tang. Seaborne trade Sea and the Gulf of Bengal; the Arabian reinforced the spread of Buddhism Sea and the coast of East Africa; and the towards the east, while the South China Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Sea became the scenario of encounters Likening this maritime space to an between Southeast Asians, Chinese (oriental) tapestry carpet, the author and ‘Persians’. Also, across the Eastern traces what evolved from the early Indic / Indian Ocean trade and cultural beginnings to the turn of the present era transfer between India and Southeast AD, with foci on East Asia’s coasts into Asia intensified. From the west, Islam the Han Period (206 BC–220 AD); the spread across the lands bordering the virtually terra incognita of Southeast Red Sea and Persian Gulf, from where Asia; the underrated South Asia; and it reached out into the Western Indic the seemingly known coasts of West /Indian Ocean region (p. 138). Asia and East Africa. Han sources Around 950/1000, the maritime describe vessels designed, built and used space became absorbed by the pull of in warfare, implying technical expertise, the Far East, which held sway until knowledge of logistics, and navigation 1350, under the leadership of the Song skills (p. 60). After all, the settling of and Yuan, initially in Asia’s eastern migrants from present-day Indonesia oceans and expanding across the South on Madagascar did, in all likelihood, China Sea and the East Indonesian Seas, depend on proven navigation skills, and then reaching further east. At the suitable vessels, and rigid organization same time, trade links were extended (p. 62). across the Eastern Indic/Indian Ocean The growing together, ca. 1–600 AD, and beyond into the Western Indic/ of the ‘Eastern Ocean’ (Dongyang) Indian Ocean, as far as the Red Sea and and the ‘Southern Ocean’ (Nanyang), Persian Gulf, within the coordinates of followed by the unfolding of the West- Aden and Hormuz, Gujarat and Kerala, ern Ocean (Xiyang), as recorded in as depicted on the Jiuling shouling tu, a Chinese annals, and encompassing in map dated 1125 (p. 170). Period sources the Western Ocean, first, the Eastern report on improvements of the compass Indic / Indian Ocean and, then, linking- and inventions for navigating. For the up to the Western Indic / Indian Ocean, Song economy, profits from overseas complete with the Red Sea and Persian trade were substantial. Its pull effect Gulf, resulted in what the author para- made Hangzhou probably the biggest phrases as the Mare Euro-Asiaticum. maritime entrepôt worldwide. The use During the span of time of the Tang of Song coins in Southeast Asia sig- Empire in China (ca. 600–950/1000) nals the start of monetization (p. 165).

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Among the travellers and geographers created by that first-ever statal might was Wang Dayuan who, in the 1330s, ruling the seas of Asia, including reported in his Daoyi zhilüe about a political interventions far away from Chinese pagoda built in 1267, during the power base, logistics, control of the Song Period, near Nagapattinam on rear links, and state-run depots called India’s Coromandel Coast (pp. 191– ‘official places’ (guanchang) in such 192). Towards the end of the thirteenth locations as Palembang, Kalikut or and early in the fourteenth centuries, Melaka, or ‘official islands’ (guanxu) when the Mongols ruled over China and (pp. 241–242). Persia, the coasts of East Asia and Iran While the first to fourth decades of were under the control of one and the the fifteenth century saw the grand and same power. Early in the fourteenth cen- mighty seaborne missions of the Ming tury, there were virtually no obstacles to crossing the oceans and calling on ports maritime traffic between Quanzhou and near and far, other seafarers also plied the ports of West Asia (p. 204). the various maritime segments from The following 150 years are char- early in the fifteenth century onward. acterized as an epoch of turning points Increasingly, the Ryukyu Islands and in the course of fragmentation after Ayutthaya gained in importance. the end of the Mongol domination (ca. A conspectus highlights two distinc- 1350–1400). Of great significance was tive though related matters: the funda- the Ming state-run seafaring, beginning mental trends germane to Asians and early in the fifteenth century, upon the Portuguese in the maritime world after ascension of Emperor Zhu Di, known 1500, and a comparison of the Ming as the Yongle Emperor, in 1403, and state-run seafaring with the Estado da the start of an enormous ship-build- Índia of the Portuguese. ing programme, resulting in numerous Virtually contravening the author’s fleets, complete with ‘treasure vessels’ resolve to highlight the whole, pre- (baochuan) (p. 234). Among several cisely because it is more than the sum admirals, Zheng He and Wang Jinghong of its parts, a few salient points with a gained lasting fame. Zeng He com- focus on the part of Southeast Asia that manded seven large fleets across the eventually constituted early Siam are ‘Western Ocean’ (Xi yang), 1405–1433. highlighted here. Most probably, priority was given to The Gulf of Siam was probably one trade and diplomacy, with occasional of the busiest maritime trading zones military interventions of secondary for several centuries (p. 36). Chinese importance. This is substantiated by the texts report on sea links across the surge in tributary embassies received by ‘Little Western Ocean’ (Xiao Xiyang) Emperor Yongle, which characteristi- with the east coast of the Malay Peninsu- cally also entailed private transactions. la and onward via overland connections The author highlights innovations to its west coast, reasoning that vessels

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 246 Reviews from China could not directly navigate vessels enhance the reader’s perception. around its southern tip, owing to equa- Two appendixes enrich the presentation, torial calms (pp. 38–39, 46). The Nan one describing commodities in great Yue Kingdom was in contact with the detail, and another introducing various Malay Peninsula via seagoing vessels types of ships and ship-building, com- (p. 61). Han sources relate trade with plete with illustrations. Commodities Southeast Asia. References to the tanned discussed in extenso include cloves, seafarers of Southeast Asia (Kunlun ren) nutmeg, camphor, various woods, in Chinese texts attest to early Chinese spices, precious stones, animals, and scholars’ interest in the maritime world many more. The reference literature and seaborne exchange (p. 65). (pp. 334–351) is categorized into larger Chinese records contain intensive regions and epochs, and compendia on references to Srivijaya from the end of themes or regions such as commodi- the seventh century (p. 122). Srivijaya ties and geographic areas. An elaborate re-activated older tributary contacts index (pp. 355–368) listing topo- with China in the Early Song Period graphical names, individuals, dynasties, (p. 126). Song sources report on tribute empires, commodities and select embassies from Srivijaya during the subjects makes for a well-rounded tenth and eleventh centuries (p. 175). presentation. Zhu Yuanzhang sent delegations and re- This is a superb book. It deserves to ceived embassies from Zhenla, Angkor be translated into English for a certainly and Xianluo, the latter identical with the keen and large readership of scholars central region of present-day Thailand and interested lay persons. (pp. 221–222). These delegations pre- sented sapan wood, elephants, ivory and Karl E. Weber spices, among other items (p. 222). In 1390, an embassy from Xianluo arrived with 80 tons of ‘aromatic substances’ presented as tribute, not including the huge volume of commodities for private transaction (p. 222). This book is elegantly written and presented. Its content is structured for ease of comprehension of the enormous- ly complex subject matter. Thematic maps focusing on essentials elucidate routes, linkages, activities and events, supplemented by attractive reproduc- tions of illustrative historical maps. Pictures and sketches of boats, ships, or

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Ian Harris, ed., Buddhism, Power and uneven. Although they are brought Political Order. London and New York, together under the common theme of Routledge, 2007, 237 pp. Buddhism, power, and political order, individual authors discuss Theravada Ian Harris should be congratulated for Buddhism from different entry points, his efforts to bring together a collection historical periods, and disciplinary of fresh and thoughtful essays written by angles. It is difficult to pinpoint the nine leading scholars working on Thera- central arguments in the volume, which vada Buddhism in mainland Southeast begins with a discussion on compara- Asia. Given the ongoing political crises tive monastic education in Burma and in several Theravada Buddhist states, Thailand. In Chapter One, “Idealism and especially Burma, Cambodia, and Thai- Pragmatism: A Dilemma in the Current land, the release of this publication is Monastic Education Systems of Burma intellectually relevant and timely. and Thailand”, Ven. Khammai Dham- This edited volume is the product of masami discusses some common dilem- an intensive multidisciplinary sympo- mas of monastic education in Burma sium on the interface between religion and Thailand, such as whether or not the and politics in Theravada South and Sangha should embrace secular West- Southeast Asia, which Harris organized ern subjects, which are denoted by the in mid-April 2004 while serving as a derogatory term of “animal sciences” senior scholar at the Becket Institute, St (tiracchanavija), in their monastic cur- Hugh’s College, Oxford University. The ricula. Idealistic and pragmatic stances central theme of the volume deals with have emerged in both the Burmese and how and to what extent Theravada Bud- Thai Sangha regarding the goals and dhism has, as a religious institution and contents of monastic education. This culture, interacted and negotiated with dilemma is indicative of how Buddhist political and other forces of moderniza- orders in both countries have been strug- tion, such as secular education, forms of gling to make themselves relevant in the governance, kingship, and post-colonial modern world. politics in mainland Southeast Asian Burmese Buddhism and its role in countries (excluding Vietnam) since the politics are the contents in the next late pre-modern period. It particularly two chapters. In Chapter Two, “Rajad- focuses on the ways Theravada Bud- hamma Confronts Leviathan: Burmese dhism has defined and redefined “a Political Theory in the 1870s”, Andrew general concept of power conceived Huxley provides an account of Burma’s from a political perspective”. (p.3) Buddhist political theory through works Essays in this volume cover diverse by U Kyaw Htun and U Hpo Hlaing. subjects and different periods in politi- Huxley’s essay is well documented cal history of four modern nation-states. and thoughtful. His attempts to recon- The quality of the contributions is rather struct an unfinished work on traditional

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Buddhist kingship written by leading a criticism of the Western-centric para- Burmese Buddhist scholars demonstrate digm of a liberal representative polity. his own original scholarship. Through John Marston, in Chapter Five, “The a careful reading of these indigenous Cambodian Hospital for Monks”, tells scholars, Huxley argues that Burmese a story of how a Cambodian hospital Buddhist scholars, at least in the nine- for monks was built “at the moment of teenth century, were highly conscious of the country’s independence” (p.104). radical political and economic changes He points out that the construction of in the modern world. Juliane Schober, a hospital was indeed a modern project in Chapter Three: “Colonial Knowledge embedded in Cambodia’s traditional/ and Buddhist Education in Burma”, pre-modern cultures and institutions of demonstrates how monastic education kingship and Buddhism. It serves as an has been politicized by the government example of how reformed Buddhism in Burma and how modern knowledge is consistent with specific visions of was incorporated into Buddhist cur- modernity in the country. ricula. Schober shows the consistent The volume includes two chapters government manipulation of monastic on Lao Buddhism, which is usually a education, as well as its attempts to neglected area in the world of Theravada reorient its purpose to serve the politi- studies. Both chapters are concerned cal status quo. Monastic education and with the pre-modern Laos Buddhist Sangha affairs were always included as kingship and prophetic literature of the key elements in a national agenda and Lao people residing on both sides of the drew serious attention from the coun- Mekong. In Chapter Six, “Buddhism, try’s pre-modern and modern leaders. Power, and Political Order in Pre-Twen- The next two chapters deal with Bud- tieth Century Laos”, Volker Grabowsky dhism and politics in postcolonial Cam- examines when and how Theravada bodia. In Chapter Four, “Reconstruct- Buddhism became the dominant re- ing the Cambodian Polity: Buddhism, ligion and how it shaped the concep- Kingship and the Quest for Legitimacy”, tions of kingship in pre-colonial Laos. Peter Gyallay-Pap skillfully draws some He believes that Laos fully entered theoretical implications out of case stud- the Theravada world later than most ies of Khmer Buddhist political culture neighboring polities. Rulers and elite and tries to understand why Western lib- had embraced the religion around the eral or representative politics continue mid-fifteenth century. Lao kings took to be elusive in postcolonial Cambodia. the concepts of righteous king (dham- He argues that any attempts to under- maraja) and universal ruler (cakkavat- stand the political culture in Cambodia tin) seriously and the royal domains of must include the Buddhist monarchy, land and manpower were crucial in the the Sangha, and village-based society. In pre-colonial Lao Buddhist polity. In the a way, Cambodia’s model could provide following chapter, “Past, Present and

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Future in Buddhist Prophetic Literature in Pre-modern Siam”, by Peter Skilling, of the Lao”, Peter Koret deals with Lao presents a textual analysis of pre-mod- prophetic Buddhist literature in the ern Siamese ideals of political super- nineteenth and twentieth centuries and structure. He uses the model of the ritual considers how Buddhist Lao anticipated state to explain how political ideologies modernization and its consequences of kinship, Buddhist monastic order, and through prophetic literature. He argues Brahmans formed the hybrid complex that prophetic literature describing the cosmology for the Siamese ruling class. decline of Buddhism illustrates the He argues that these combinations were historical, cultural, and literary dimen- distinctively Thai. Skilling includes the sions of the meaning of the future as Brahmans into what otherwise is gener- prophesied in the past. This chapter is ally known as Buddhist polity and criti- written more like a preliminary study cizes the concept of legitimizing power. and its analysis needs expansion. His reading of Thai-language sources The two final chapters consider topics provides many new insights. on Thai Buddhist cultures from widely While one can admire the overall separated spectra. They discuss subjects contributions in this volume to the as diverse as a contemporary cult of a field of Theravada Buddhist studies, Buddhist earth deity with fertility power it should be noted that the book has its and legal literature in pre-modern Siam. disadvantages. The essays are not neatly Elizabeth Guthrie in Chapter Eight, tied together, and seem to be arranged “In Defence of the Nation: The Cult of rather by countries or bounded Bud- Nang Thoranee in Northeast Thailand”, dhist traditions rather than scholarly argues that the beliefs and practices themes. The related themes or contents surrounding the cult of Nang Thoranee in the individual essays are not always are embedded in contemporary Thai fully discussed in terms of theoretical or political and economic realities. The ethnographical comparison. The theo- cult can be seen as one of many emerg- retical and empirical highlights need to ing nationalist cults in the midst of the be more substantially and intensively country’s economic crisis and the Thais’ discussed right from the beginning. The psychological despair at takeovers by volume does not situate itself firmly or foreign financial interests. This chap- critically within the contexts of con- ter is descriptive by nature with less temporary scholarship in the field and illustrative theoretical and ethnographic the introductory chapter fails to address analysis. The place of the cult of Nang these needs. Thoranee in the northeastern Thai Buddhism, Power and Political Order popular religion is debatable, and so is is, in spite of these criticisms, a timely its modern political significance. and rich volume. Some of the individual The final chapter, “King, Sangha and chapters are stronger in their scholarship Brahmans: Ideology, Ritual and Power than others. The book remains a very

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 250 Reviews useful reader for students and others Nicol Guérin and Dick van Oenen, Thai with a serious interest in the complex Ceramic Art – The Three Religions. junctures between modern politics and Singapore, Sun Tree Publishing, 2005, the Theravada Buddhist worlds in main- 310 pp., 439 colour plates, 396 figures land Southeast Asia. and line drawings.

This beautifully illustrated book on Pattana Kitiarsa Thai ceramics is extremely interesting and engaging. It takes a very different approach to the subject than previous studies. Roxanna Brown, in her earlier review in the September–October 2005 Southeast Asian Ceramics Newsletter has written, ‘It is a work of interpreta- tion in contrast to past inventory-like books on Thai ceramics.’ The authors have examined ceramic production of the present-day Sukhothai region during the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries in the light of Thai history, culture and religion, with the focus of the work on the ‘ecclesiastical usage of Thai ceramics.’ Many new and stimulating ideas are introduced in the book; some are controversial and deserve serious discussion. The complex history of the early Thai states and the influences that shaped their philosophies, politics and religions are presented in an interesting, some- times lyrical, way. The evolution of Thai art, craft and architecture is discussed, with considerable detail devoted to the analyses of the motifs featured on the ceramics. The meaning of Thai figura- tive art has been the subject of much scholarly debate. The authors have examined a variety of ceramic vessels and figurines that may have been used in animist, Buddhist and Hindu ritual

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 251 processes. They have also tried to iden- Cult use and Animistic use’. A relatively tify some of the personages depicted limited number of figures and vessels in ceramic sculpture by reference to have been associated with Buddhist or their social milieu. Their findings are animist practice in the past. They include: speculative and will no doubt generate temple guardians, Naga and Makara debate. finials, ceramic sculptures of deities, This is a multifaceted study, covering elephants and architectural fittings, a lot of ground in its ten chapters. The balustrades and lamps, stemmed paan or difficulty of dating Thai ceramics is offering bowls and zoomorphic pouring addressed in an open manner, with an vessels, or kendi. Many previous writ- invitation to the reader to make adjust- ers defined the myriad of small ceramic ments should fresh evidence emerge. figurines of domestic and wild animals, The approximate terminus date for including buffalo, elephants, ducks, Sawankhalok production is given as chickens, anteaters, dogs, tigers and 1583, a date that is generally accepted. bears, as merely toys, but an exception The book has an encyclopaedic is the doll-like male and female kneel- number of photographs and drawings ing figures (often decapitated) holding of ceramic forms and decorative motifs; infants. These are discussed extensively it is certainly the most comprehensive in the book and the ‘decapitation theory’ collection published to date and each of the so-called tukata female and male topic is covered in depth. For example, figures is re-examined in some detail. there are many images of the traditional The authors have again carefully asso- hunchback water droppers and related ciated the entire group of models with figures, including the fascinating but various religious practices. They also largely ignored representations of draw some interesting comparisons with Chinese and other foreigners, perhaps related ceramics from China, Cambodia merchants or emissaries who attended and India. A separate section examines the Sukhothai and Sawankhalok courts. animal figures associated with Thai The Chinese and Thai figures are rela- Buddhism, especially elephants, but tively easy to identify by their hair styles, also monkeys, horses, deer and hares. A costumes and facial features, but other small but fascinating section follows on people wear a variety of head-dresses ‘Anthropomorphic Figurines.’ and some have elongated bearded faces The discussion of the large and and slanted, almond-shaped eyes, sug- expressive fragment of the ceramic gesting that they could represent people image of the head of Buddha in the from central or western Asia. Sawankhalok Museum is particu- The authors have grouped Sukhothai larly interesting. From the propor- province ceramics in a cultural context: tions of the face the authors calcu- ‘Reliquary use, Religious use, Offering lated that the original seated figure wares, Lustration wares, Semi Religious would have been 1.705 metres high.

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They compare the exaggerated arched research project at Sawankhalok during eyebrows to a late Sukhothai style the 1980s were medium-sized jars. A bronze sculpture described by Diskul in shallow cemetery was discovered be- Sukhothai Art (fig. 60). The image of tween kilns at Ban Ko Noi. The mainly a torso of a crowned deity with Thai unglazed stoneware baluster-shaped jars facial features, delicate moustache and with flared mouths, sealed with inverted beard on the dust jacket of the book is plain conical bowls, had been used for described as a ‘royal figure.’ It has an re-inhumation. They have been identi- urna in the form of a spiral surmounted fied by Don Hein as Mon. Larger burial by a flame similar to the one on the jars of a similar shape but with moulded brow of the face fragment of the Bud- decoration were made at the Supanburi dha. A similar design is found on early kilns. Baluster jars are also the subject Sawankhalok ‘fish and flower’ deco- of a detailed study in the section on rated underglaze stoneware, where it is ‘ecclesiastical vases’ and their form combined with a stylised ‘Thai orchid is discussed in relation to Indian and tree flower’ (Bauhinia variegata). The Khmer types, especially purnakalas. orchid trees with their striking purple Kendi, described in the book as ‘lustra- flowers still grow close to the ancient tion wares,’ are another example of a kilns at Sawankhalok. ceramic type that could serve multiple The book does not cover the consid- roles. They were also exported in large erable range of export wares from Sa- numbers. wankhalok and Sukhothai, produced, as Both writers are passionate collectors Piriya Krairiksh wrote in his foreword, of Thai ceramics and have spent several ‘between the mid-fourteenth to mid-six- decades travelling the world to study teenth century, at a time when Thailand public and private collections of Thai was then a major centre of ceramic wares. Much of this is evident in the production in the world, second only to background research of the book. The China.’ But there is an overlap between preface refers to their own extraordinary the two streams of ceramic production. collection — they have ‘permanent ac- For example, underglaze decorated and cess to about 800 pieces, few of which monochrome stoneware covered boxes had been published before.’ were exported to maritime Southeast Unfortunately the publisher has re- Asia in huge quantities. Their form and produced the map of Southeast Asia the lotus bud handles on the lids appear in small scale, making it impossible to be derived from much earlier Indian to read without a magnifying glass. A turned-stone reliquary containers. The photograph of a reconstructed kiln, pl. larger Thai boxes are often described as 33, is at Sukhothai, not Ban Ko Noi. reliquary containers, but the only exam- There are a number of attributions in the ples of ceramics used for burial purposes book that might be challenged, but that found by the Thai-Australian ceramic only makes the book more interesting.

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The present work is definitely a ‘must’ Bhawan Ruangsilp, Dutch East India for scholars and collectors of Thai and Company Merchants at the Court of Southeast Asian ceramics. Ayutthaya: Dutch Perceptions of the Thai Kingdom, c. 1604-1765. Leiden/ Dick Richards Boston, Brill. 2007, 279 pp., EUR 73.-

Thai scholars who have managed to command the seventeenth and eight- eenth century Dutch language suffi- ciently to get access to the sources of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) are rare indeed. Bhawan Ruangsilp might be the second scholar after Dhiravat na Pombejra who has done so. Her study covers the whole area of the VOC pres- ence in Siam, which, however, does not mean that there is much overlap with the work done by others. The classi- cal study in the field is without doubt George Vinal Smith’s work from 1977, The Dutch in Seventeenth-Century Thai- land. Although its author seems to have disappeared from Thai Studies, every- body who works with the VOC sources about Siam still depends on his efforts. His well-documented presentation of the facts from the archives covers only the seventeenth century; Bhawan adds much original material from the later period between 1694 and 1765. But the main difference with Smith is in ap- proach. Where Smith presents a reliable bone structure, the merit of Bhawan is that she has added some flesh. Bhawan’s perspective is reflected in the word “perceptions” in the subtitle of her book. Perceptions she sees “as a ‘cognitive’, ‘active’, and ‘selective’ search of an ordered world” and perceiv- ing is “an act of construction which is

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 254 Reviews guided by the pre-concept of the observ- a strategy to cope with the new develop- er as well as influenced by the immedi- ments around the king, in particular the ate circumstances around him” (p. 4). French presence and the political rise She wants to “ascertain how the VOC of Constantine Phaulkon. In Chapter Dutch observers developed their process Six we see how under King Phetracha of understanding and representing the the Dutch more and more withdrew and Siamese court, and what factors were had to give up the favored position they decisive in the construction of Dutch had attained at the inception of the reign. knowledge” (p. 5). In this constructive Chapter Seven, the longest chapter, is approach Bhawan goes a step beyond devoted to the eighteenth century. presenting the “pure facts” and tries to In this chapter historians of Thailand see how these facts were formed and may find much material new to them. what processes produced them. While We find here also, probably for the first this intention might be too ambitious time, a clear account of the differences to realize completely, it certainly results between the seventeenth and eighteenth in a method that differs from the older century interaction between the Siamese studies, Smith’s in the first place. and the Dutch. We see how Dutch pres- Bhawan succeeds in giving a the- ence and interaction changed, often in matic structure to a book whose topic response to different political regimes. is unavoidably chronological. The book The VOC became less involved with starts with a chapter that outlines the the court and after 1690 the Dutch relatively equal positions of Company retreated into the background as observ- and Court in commerce, politics, and ers. Bhawan talks of a growing sense of diplomacy. Chapter Two examines the disillusionment between the Dutch and position of the VOC men in Siam, with the Siamese during the eighteenth cen- special attention to the question of their tury as the possibility of gaining profit legal status within the jurisdiction of the from mutual trade diminished. She lets Siamese court. Chapters Three and Four us understand the eighteenth century describe a twofold learning process of VOC material more adequately. We may the Company men during the reign of add here her general remark from the King Prasat Thong. First, how they at- introduction (pp. 8–9) that, while in the tempted to find a “common language” seventeenth century the Europeans and to share with their Thai hosts, which the Thai were on a more or less equal they found in the “language of ritual”, level, European scientific advancement and second, how they tried to under- and the Enlightenment during the eight- stand the political culture and reality of eenth century shaped the way the Dutch Ayutthaya. Chapter Five examines the looked at Asian religions, life-styles VOC–Siamese relationship during King and forms of government and gave rise Narai’s reign, when changes in circum- to an increased sense of difference. stances forced the Dutch in Siam to find Over the years “fixed Dutch/European

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 255 categories” of the Dutch perception of Well documented and described in the Siamese court elite were created detail are the various limitations the (p. 221). Does this imply that their so-called unlimited power of the king perceptions became more prejudiced, was subjected to, in other words the with less space for inquisitive and sensi- limitations of Ayutthaya’s despotism. tive individuals? And is it true that the Although the courtiers had to suffer more we enter the eighteenth century the the king’s whims, they were also in more prejudiced perceptions became? a position to manipulate information We learn from her book that we have to and from him (pp. 10–11). In 1634 to distinguish not only between the Schouten therefore advised Van Vliet different periods, but also between the that the Dutch should not only treat the different VOC officials writing reports. king but also his officials discretely. This is well demonstrated by the differ- Ultimately “it was indeed negotiating ence in perception and observation of and arranging with the King’s servants Joost Schouten’s description of court which consumed most of their time, eat- ritual during the reception of the Dutch ing it up even more than attending court Embassy in 1628 (pp. 52–62) and the events.” (p.103). Bhawan’s description indifferent account of the same topic of the ruler’s monopoly in trade, his im- prepared by Jan Joosten de Roij in 1633, posing display of wealth, the measures who became irritated by the “unneces- the ruler had to take to prevent access sary flatteries and lack of substance” to wealth on the part of his officials to in the correspondence (pp. 62–64). We protect his own central position, and understand that Schouten was a per- the attempts of officials and nobles to son of rather unique capacities. It was accumulate wealth or power as soon not VOC policy that made him into a as the opportunity arose – all this can detailed and sensitive observer; it was serve as a textbook illustration of the his own understanding and ambition. centripetal and centrifugal tendencies Nowhere can we find such a complete of the mechanisms of Max Weber’s portrait of Joost Schouten as the one patrimonial bureaucracy. presented here. Apart from Schouten’s Bhawan follows a statement from classical and well-known Short De- VOC director Coenraad van Beuningen, scription of Siam, his unpublished texts who in 1685 observed that the VOC was from the dagregister (daily journal) “not just a Company of commerce but about the interactions with the court also of state”. She points to the hybrid may in particular impress the reader and character of the VOC as a merchant- provide the core material for Chapters warrior, a commercial and a political Three and Four about “learning the institution. It is not surprising that we language of ritual” and “learning Siam’s can distinguish the relations of the VOC politics.” with Asian states in (a) relations through “conquest of land or the coercion of

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 256 Reviews favorable trade conditions through the employees and the Dutch free burgh- medium of violence” and (b) relations ers and, in greater number, indigenous through gift-giving and diplomacy people who were attracted because of (p. 97). Siam obviously belonged to the the prospect of paid jobs and the protec- second type. We would emphasize that tion which the Company could afford. this state-like character forced the VOC Within the lodge the Dutch were more factory also to operate as part of a large or less autonomous, but in practice they bureaucratic machinery. Its functioning had jurisdiction over the whole settle- forced the officials to produce innu- ment as well, an arrangement based on merable documents – and sometimes a common understanding through which detailed accounts of daily events. The they could offer a kind of immunity VOC men had continuously to inform from local law enforcement. This Dutch their superiors in Batavia of the market settlement formed only a small section situation and all political and social of the total Ayutthaya population, less conditions that influenced the market. than one percent, not more than 1,500 The material Bhawan had to study is persons. To them the VOC fulfilled the without doubt also dry and boring, but role of a patron to dependent clients and, its great merit is that it is close to real- on the other hand, the VOC used them ity. Like most travel accounts, it was for all kinds of labor and services, as not written to entertain a greater public. carpenters, coolies, rowers or sailors. We find, therefore, almost eyewitness Bhawan describes this with detailed reports of many violent changes in the information about daily affairs and has Ayutthaya regimes of this period: Joost a good argument to qualify George Vinal Schouten about King Prasat Thong Smith by emphasizing that the Dutch (1629), Volkerus Westerwolt about King contacts went beyond the highest levels Narai (1656), Johannes Keyts about of court and khunnang. The Dutch also King Phetracha (1688), Arnout Cleur administered a small part of the popula- about King Prachao Sya (1703), Pieter tion of Ayutthaya, although this became Sijen about King Borommakot (1733), more and more evident in the course and Nicolaas Bang about Prince Tham- of the eighteenth century. Within this mathibet (1756–1757). community intimate relations between A fascinating addition to the literature the VOC men and Siamese women is the way Bhawan has pulled together developed and this “cohabitation and pieces of information into a description miscegenation” has produced many of the VOC settlement (pp. 41–53). This mestizo children, some of whom later Dutch settlement had evolved to include became a source of conflict between not only the Company lodge but also individual VOC men and the Siamese an adjacent village, referred to with the authorities. Only in rare circumstances Malay word kampong. Its population were children allowed to follow their was composed of descendants of VOC fathers to Batavia (pp. 51–52).

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Bhawan’s study demonstrates that A Traveler in Siam in the Year 1655: doing an archival study is like interview- Extracts from the Journal of Gijsbert ing. The answers one gets depend highly Heeck. Translated and introduced by on the questions and the perspective of Barend Jan Terwiel, transcribed from the the researcher. She has looked differ- handwritten Dutch manuscript by Renée ently to more or less the same sources Hoogenraad. Chiang Mai, Silkworm as others did before her. The result is Books, 2008, v+124 pp., pb, ills. a study that cannot be disregarded by anyone who has a serious interest in The history of Thailand during the the history of Ayutthaya. Its importance Ayutthaya period (c. 1350–1767) is goes far beyond Dutch–Thai relations. known for the paucity of contemporary Her sources are so close to reality that indigenous written sources. Historians she could write a book that sometimes are often obliged to consult foreign, has the character of an ethnographic especially Western, records in which study. the kingdom of Ayutthaya was known as Siam. Generally consulted, because Han ten Brummelhuis they are already published and trans- lated into English and/or Thai, are the accounts by French missionaries and diplomats. In recent years, a few more European source publications have ap- peared, such as the collection of writ- ings by the Dutch merchant Jeremias van Vliet (2005), and the records of the English East India Company in Siam (2007). Among the Western sources, Dutch records are probably the most extensive, but still very much under- explored and less accessible except to a limited number of researchers who read Dutch. To improve the situation, Dutch and Thai scholars have combined forces to make Dutch historical texts accessible to a broader public. The volume under review is the first in the series of source publications by the Editorial Committee for VOC Texts about Siam. Barend Jan Terwiel, one member of the commit- tee, undertook the task to translate and introduce the journal of Gijbert Heeck.

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Gijsbert Heeck was a medical at- despotic and cruel, Buddhist monks tendant in the service of the VOC (the are called “disciples of Satan”. (p. 42) Dutch East India Company), which Still, Siam’s material wealth, such as operated in the kingdom of Ayutthaya expressed in the construction of temples, from 1604 to 1765. He originally wrote managed to impress the Dutchman. It this journal during his two-month visit is typical for European observers of to Ayutthaya in 1655. The introduction Asia in Heeck’s time to refer to their by Terwiel explains the discovery of the superiority based on their adherence to manuscript. The text was first published Christianity, but often to be awed by in 1910–1911 in its original language, the material prosperity of the East. Af- with many omissions. The version under ter all, one must also bear in mind that review presents the first publication of Heeck’s intolerance was not directed the full text, both in original Dutch and only at some habits of the Siamese, but in English translation. is also shown in his harsh judgment of The journal has two levels. Firstly, it his colleague Joost Schouten, who was is an account of what Heeck observed executed in Batavia for having com- each day in Siam. Secondly, the author mitted sodomy, an act considered as expands his story by adding some infor- offending God. mation and assumptions with reference The journal provides some informa- to his previous knowledge. Heeck’s tion on Siam’s foreign trade policy powers of observation and representa- (including bans of export of wood tion give a vivid picture of seventeenth and rice), and more extensively on the century Siam. microeconomics (petty trade) of the In the introduction to the book, kingdom. The author records the prac- Terwiel points out the value of Heeck’s tice of various professions in the region journal for Thai history in several areas: between the capital city and the mouth foreign relations of Siam regarding the of the Chao Phraya River: farming, Dutch and the Portuguese; historical potting, woodcutting, boatbuilding, the geography of the lower Chao Phraya cultivation of fruit plantations, etc. River; gender studies; Dutch settlements Heeck’s journal is very informative if and technology transfer in Siam; and one wants to study the state of relations social and cultural life of Ayutthaya. between different groups in Siamese But Terwiel also reminds the readers society. It suggests several levels of of the limitation of Heeck’s powers unequal and exploitative relationships of observation. The journal betrays between the king and his subjects, its author’s lack of understanding or between the court elite and common- appreciation in particular when it con- ers, between the Dutch Company and cerns the indigenous court and religious the Siamese court, and between VOC rituals and beliefs. While the Siamese European employees and their indig- King (Prasatthong) is portrayed as enous female partners. Having related

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 259 an act of open hostility between the Anthony Farrington and Dhiravat na Dutch and the Portuguese at the river Pombejra, eds, The English Factory mouth in the beginning of his journal, in Siam 1612–1685, 2 vols. London, Heeck then describes the actual relations British Library, 2007, 1,439 pp. between the Dutch and the Portuguese living in Ayutthaya as a “Machiavellian Almost a century ago, as part of friendship”. (p. 61) Prince Damrong’s project to give Siam This translation of Gijsbert Heeck’s a western-style national history based journal has been executed with great on source materials, five volumes of care and accuracy. Baas Terwiel has selected seventeenth-century records done terrific work in interpreting and copied from western archives were identifying Dutch corruption of Thai printed by the Wachirayan Library in words. The VOC maps and illustrations both English and Thai. For some reason, reproduced here are of good quality and the selection was rather over-weighted very useful. This book and the above- with documents on the English East mentioned recent publications on this India Company (EIC), and the col- topic will help broaden new horizons in lection has since been a major source the study of Ayutthayan history. It is also for studies on early relations between valuable for those who are interested England and Siam. In this new publica- in historical European perceptions of tion, Anthony Farrington, scholar and the East, inter alia. We look forward archivist, has taken the EIC documents to reading the next book in this series, from the Wachirayan collection and the account of another VOC employee, added another two hundred sources. Cornelis van Nijenrode, from the year Some of the additions are complete 1621. documents, while many others are extracts which refer to Siam and the Bhawan Ruangsilp EIC. Most of these additions come from the India Office Records. A few are from other collections in the British Library, from the Records of Fort St George (Madras), from published anthologies such as Purchas and Hakluyt, and from the British Public Record Office. The editors state, ‘The aim of the present collection has been to trace all surviving material on the English factory in Siam and to present it, as far as possible, in its original form.’ The 759 documents, running to 1,300 pages, must be an exhaustive compilation of seventeenth-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 260 Reviews century records on Siam and the EIC. tion that the subject deserves. The enor- Dhiravat na Pombejra has contributed mous benefit from this comprehensive an introduction which elegantly sum- and convenient collection will probably marizes the story told in these sources. accrue to studies of other topics, includ- The two editors have added many useful ing Siam, Pattani, and Asian trade in footnotes, biographical notes on over general. fifty of the main characters involved, a The documents fall into three main glossary of places and obscure terms, a clusters. bibliography, and an index. In the first cluster of records from In truth, the EIC played a rather the 1610s, there is a fragmentary view minor part in the story of Siam in the of the importance and unique charac- age of commerce, and Siam played ter of Pattani. We see the queen as an rather a minor part in the story of the active merchant, buying up languishing EIC. In terms of trade at Ayutthaya, the stocks of cloth from English merchants English trailed some way behind the at knockdown prices, lending them Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Moors and money at very profitable rates, and (for a short time) the French. The EIC gouging them with port taxes. We also probably trailed somewhat behind the see her entertaining the foreigners: on English ‘interlopers’ or private traders. one occasion, ‘all the gentilitie were The EIC had a factory in Ayutthaya only commanded to dance, from the greatest for the two short periods of 1612–27 to the smallest, or att leaste to make a and 1674–85. On both occasions, the shewe or demonstration thereof, which factory had hardly opened before the caused no small laughter;’ and at another head office in London wanted to close ‘there was played a commedye all by it. The venture never turned in a profit. women.’ There is also a description of Most of the documents in this collection a slave revolt, which ended with much are about efforts to clear up some mess of the town burnt to the ground. Such or disaster – debts, personal squabbles, regal trade, jolly entertainment, and political crises, shipwrecks, deaths, rebelliousness were probably all much arson, and corruption. When the men- more common than most of the sources on-the-spot contemplated returning to and historical writings convey. Ayutthaya after the cataclysm of 1688, The second cluster of records con- London snapped at them, ‘Syam never cerns the Company’s first sojourn at did nor never will bring the Company the Siamese capital. By 1618, the Eng- twopence advantage, but many thou- lishmen on the spot had concluded that sands of pounds loss… and therefore Ayutthaya had more potential than spend none of our money about it.’ Pattani or any other port on the main- D. K. Bassett has written a series of land. But for European traders, Siam scholarly studies on the EIC and Siam had very little produce they wanted to which probably amount to all the atten- buy, and very few people to whom they

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 261 could sell. The port was primarily an In this period, the Company did at entrepôt, a point of exchange between least have a strategy. First, it refocused east and west. For Siam, European on Pattani and other peninsular ports traders were useful if they came with as the first stages of the events which goods that added something to the would eventually create British Malaya. market. For the kings, they were a bonus Second, it hoped to profit more from if they had soldiers and weapons which the Bay of Bengal trade and hence took the kings could use against rivals and special interest in the port of Mergui. rebels. But the English brought little to But the Company did not put the this party. They imported some Indian resources behind these ambitions. Both cottons which had many rival suppliers. plans exploded in their faces. The Com- They did a little gun-running, but never pany was outplayed at Mergui by the offered the kings any troops. They were Moors and the locals, resulting in the too late to muscle into the Siam-Japan massacre of 1687. Siam and the Com- trade, which gave the Dutch their prof- pany declared war on one another and its. They were really only petty hustlers indulged in competitive piracy. When on the fringes of Southeast Asian com- Ayutthaya discovered that the Company merce. was probably gun-running to Pattani and The frisson in reading the 1620s other truculent tributaries on the penin- documents comes from watching the sula, the Company introduced a smart Company merchants gaily cheating Greek to cover this up by schmoozing one another. A ship is dispatched from the Ayutthayan court and officialdom. Ayutthaya to the Company trader in Through language skill and native cun- another Asian port. Months later a letter ning – two qualities which the Company is received lamenting that on arrival the bosses in Siam seem to have totally hides had all been eaten by worms and lacked – Phaulkon was soon lording the spices damaged by sea water or rats. it over his former employer. Through As a result the sales proceeds are regret- these documents, we watch Phaulkon’s tably much less than expected…. Not rise and fall from the jaundiced but very surprisingly, when two or three of intimate standpoint of the Company’s these merchants chanced to meet in the men in Ayutthaya. same port, the dinner inevitably turned Phaulkon spirited goods away into a brawl with sword fights, gun play, from the Company warehouse while and challenges to duelling. having the Company’s books doctored Most of the documents (900 of the to show the goods were lost at sea, sold 1,300 pages) fall into the third cluster, to phantom buyers, or greatly depreci- about the fifteen years from the Com- ated because of damage. When chal- pany’s return to Ayutthaya in 1674 to lenged, Phaulkon brazenly accused the the aftermath of King Narai’s death and Company of ‘endeavouring to staine my Phetracha’s coup in 1688. creditt & reputation with scurrilous and

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 262 Reviews scandalous reports,’ while casually men- narrative of political events in Siam, and tioning ‘the great trade I managed for only of a superficial nature, except in His Imperiall Majestie my Great Master’ some of the 1688 pamphlets. in case the Company should dream of One clarification. On pp. 1371–2, seeking any official redress. Two months there is a table labelled ‘Ship arrivals and later the Company’s godown was gutted departures Madras/Siam 1689–1750,’ by fire, but it is impossible to tell wheth- with no explanation of the source of the er this was Phaulkon’s intimidation, an data or its significance. The editors tell inside job, or sheer drunken carelessness. me that the information was compiled A Company man who called Phaulkon from shipping movements at Madras re- ‘a Greek powder monkey’ finished up corded in the Diaries and Consultations in the stocks, subject to public ridicule. of the Madras Council (India Office By 1687, there were fifty Englishmen Records, series G/19), and that the table employed by Phaulkon in the service shows that English country trade ships of Siam – far more than ever worked continued to visit Siam after 1688 until for the Company in Siam. The King the final years of Ayutthaya. of England ordered them all to resign, The East India Company is the focus without any apparent effect. of this collection because the Company The final sections of this publica- had an institutional presence much more tion reprint several pamphlets issued in important than its Siam operation, and London on the backwash of the Mergui because it had a system for record- massacre and the events of 1688. Some keeping. But, as Dhiravat points out of these have appeared elsewhere, but in his Introduction, the non-Company others are less accessible, and read to- ‘country traders’ or ‘interlopers’ were gether they nicely present the sequence probably much more important but are from charge through counter-charge to much more difficult to study. These character assassination, legal threat, two volumes contain glimpses of these and philosophical lament – ‘we live in a figures. They also contain a huge profligate age which doth produce new amount of data, including several very prodigies of vilany.’ detailed trade accounts, and some One measure of the English lack of fascinating material on currencies interest in Siam is that these 1,300 pages and exchange rates, which will help of documents contain no significant a broader understanding of Southeast description of Siam, Ayutthaya, or the Asian trade in this era. Siamese, except a short one filched from the Dutch. This contrasts to the many Chris Baker writings by the Dutch, French, Portu- guese, Japanese, and Persians on Siam, and to the voluminous writings by the British on India. There is also very little

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Anthony Farrington, ed., Low’s Mission Ligor, and never met the ‘rajah’, but to Southern Siam, 1824. Bangkok, only his youthful son, who proved White Lotus, 2007, x + 126 pp. Price surprisingly competent a diplomat. not given. Low refused to divulge the subject of his request to meet his father, and Not content with producing, with Dr reasonably enough the ‘rajah’ refused Dhiravat na Pombejra, the magnificent to move and meet him until the subject two-volume compendium of texts in The was revealed. So Low hung out in the English Factory in Siam 1612–1685 in Trang River and sent numerous missives 2007, the now retired deputy director of to Nakhon, while the Siamese played the British Library in charge of the India the long-tried game of polite delay and Office and Oriental collections, Anthony inaction. The British had declared war Farrington, has also found the time to on Ava on 5 March 1824, the causus publish in the same year a slim volume belli being frontier incursions into India, detailing James Low’s abortive mission and by 10 May were in complete posses- to Nakhon Sithammarat in 1824. sion of Rangoon. By then, the need for Low was an unusual character. Along supplementary boats had passed; so had with Henry Burney, he was the only of- the need for support in any form from ficer in the Indian army who bothered Siam, and the limited authority of Li- to learn both Malay and Siamese; Low gor’s ‘rajah’ had also become obvious. produced the first account of Siamese All this is detailed in this delightful literature (reproduced in JSS 2007) little book. It takes the form of a gen- and the first grammar of Siamese in a eral introduction to Low, his report of Western language. Sent on a mission to his Mission, dated 1 August 1824, the what was known to foreigners as Ligor, journal of his mission from 5 May to 8 and simply Nakhon to locals, to find August in that year, and relevant official out if support might be forthcoming correspondence from March to July from its ‘rajah’ in the form of boats to 1824, which starts off with a ‘Secret supplement the planned British attack Letter from the Governor General of on Burma, Low was also deputed to India in Council’, Calcutta, 12 March discover the extent of the writ of its 1824, to the Governor of Penang, an- quasi-feudal ruler. During the course of nouncing ‘the declaration of hostilities’ the mission it became very clear that the with the state of Ava, the anticipated ‘rajah’, unlike the Malay kinglets further need of boats, and the possible occupa- south, was entirely subject to the rule of tion of Tavoy, Mergui and Junk Ceylon the ‘Emperor of Siam’, and did not dare (Phuket) – the last-named not to be. make a move without the agreement of The book concludes with a bibliog- his overlord. raphy of Low’s extensive writings and In fact, on this mission Low was not cartographic work in the region, helpful given permission to travel overland to end notes, and an index.

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Unlike the French expeditions of topos. Even Low has lapses, though, as 1685 and 1687-8, Low had the good with ‘to distinctly understand’ (p. 8). sense to take along an artist, probably Low returns several times to his recruited in Penang, Bun Khong, whose belief that the Malays of southern Siam works, reproduced elsewhere by the late ‘detest and fear the Siamese’, though Henry Ginsburg, are charming Siamese offers little proof of this. There was, of examples of the Company School. The course, no love lost for the Burmese, Low album in the British Library shows and what he terms ‘man-stealing’, a details of a Buddha statue being carried long-practised occupation, remained in procession, which has often been re- common: ‘the Siamese have carried produced; there is also a pencil drawing many thousands of Burman families of a Ramayana performance which Low into captivity’. He was probably right witnessed on 4 June at Phangnga, and to believe that the Siamese ‘entertain one of the arrival at Trang harbour of [the notion] that the attack on Ava is ‘the Boota or Boot’, i.e. the son of the only a prelude to one upon Siam.’ Like ‘Prince of Ligor’ on 24 June 1824. so many of his time – though, in the Low, well known for his maps and in- end, not of the authorities in Calcutta deed enriched by them (he was granted – he is convinced that ‘Salang’ (i.e. 2,000 Spanish dollars for his map of Junk Ceylon, otherwise Phuket) and its Siam, Cambodia, and Laos presented to inhabitants would be better off ‘if placed the Penang government in April 1824), by negotiation under British rule… dif- is not so well served here. The 1824 map fusing happiness, the chief end of good of Siam reproduced in this volume is government’, a thought, fortunately for on too small a scale to be of much use. the Thai treasury today, which remained A detailed one of southern Siam (or an no more than that. enlargement of the 1824 map of this He carefully explores the coast and part of the country) would have been details the products and economy useful for current readers. The cover of of the different southern provinces this volume, though, an enhanced ver- coming under the governancy of sion of the now faint drawing (found on Nakhon. There is a good deal of in- p. 12) of Low’s meeting with the Boota, formation here about the west coast, is extremely successful. in particular Phangnga and Phuket, It becomes a pleasure to read Low’s which were virtually depopulated and elegant, some might say pompous prose, unknown at the time. though while accepting that ‘gratulat- As an observer, he is often acute, and ing under the idea’ or ‘two inosculat- was very aware of the evils of corvée ing streams’ are terms that could be labour, leaving the women to work the expressed more directly, it is better than fields as well as cope with household certain would-be with-it historians’ use and family chores. He notes that the of terms like trope, Other, oecumene, or Chinese are very leniently taxed, in part

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 265 because they contribute to the flow of Tamara Loos, Subject Siam: Family, Law, funds to Bangkok. and Colonial Modernity in Thailand. In short this is a very good read, and Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, 2006, while one must be thankful that his 234 pp., Bt 625. expedition bore no fruit, one must also be grateful for his having left so fasci- nating a record of it. In Subject Siam, Dr Tamara Loos examines changes in family law in Thai- Michael Smithies land, formerly Siam, beginning in 1855, when Rama IV signed the first of several unequal treaties with foreign powers, and ending in 1935 when the govern- ment finally promulgated the family law code. In this period, at the behest of the crown, Siamese jurists who had studied abroad and various foreign legal experts rewrote Siamese family law. In the newly incorporated Muslim south, the country’s rulers created separate ‘na- tive’ courts for the application of Islamic family law, modelled after colonial forms of jurisprudence in neighbour- ing British Malaya. In the rest of the kingdom, after much debate, Siamese legal reformers eventually abolished polygyny and established monogamous marriage as the legal norm, following the conventions established by Siam’s neighbouring imperial powers. The debate over polygyny had important implications for the legal definition of a legitimate wife and the inheritance of wealth and status. After legal reforms in the reign of Rama VI, ideal male citizens were those who had stable mar- riages with “honorable” women, not with harlots, prostitutes, or mistresses. According to Dr Loos, family law was “the pivotal arena in which the leaders of Siam negotiated modernity, proved its

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‘civilized’ status to foreign powers, and cosmopolitanism, globalization, and legislated the meanings of modernity to modernity. Almost every fashionable its subjects” (p. 3). topic gets a nod. Of all of these, how- Dr Loos supports her arguments with ever, Dr Loos seems most obsessed with court cases drawn from the records of the concept of modernity. Indeed, she the Dika Court, the court of final appeal. is practically feverish with it. She uses This is because “all case records from the word seven times on p. 3, at least courts of the first instance, including 76 times by the end of the introduction. those decided in the Islamic courts, are She makes the concept do an enormous burned after ten years unless they have amount of work – sometimes it is the been appealed to higher-level courts” object of explanation, sometimes it is (p. 25). Dr Loos acknowledges that that which is supposed to explain, very these cases are in some sense unique often it is simply “negotiated,” whatever and that it is “doubly difficult to argue that means. The concept is so important that conclusions drawn from them apply to her discussion that it is worth paying broadly to Siamese society.” She con- it closer attention here. tends, however, that these records give Dr Loos admits that modernity is “access to the lives, loves, and concerns “notoriously difficult to define” (p. 19), of those – criminals, the lower classes, but proceeds to do so anyway. She im- women, and others – who have not mediately gets into a muddle. First she otherwise merited attention in Siam’s tells us that “Allusions to European histories.” (p. 26) These people still re- modernity ... refer to an archetype of ceive disappointingly little attention in modernity – one that never existed, this book, however. Subject Siam is “not even in Europe, except as an ideal” and a study of legal subjectivity ... of how that “this paradigm of modernity was litigants understood laws and engaged transported throughout the world by the legal system” (p. 25). It presents colonialism as a conceptual model.” very little, therefore, from the points of However, in the next paragraph she tells view of those ordinary Siamese whose us that “modernity refers to inseparable most intimate affairs – whose marriages, political, economic, social, and cultural divorces, inheritances, romantic and processes – all of which evolved in sexual lives – were profoundly shaped relation to colonial conquest – that de- by the kingdom’s changing legal envi- veloped in eighteenth-century Western ronment. Europe.” Modernity slips from referring This is perhaps because so much to an “archetype,” a “paradigm,” and a space in Subject Siam is devoted in- “conceptual model,” none of which are stead to mechanical genuflections and the same thing, to referring to a series of ostentatious gropings at the rosary “inseparable ... processes” (p. 19). beads of “postcolonial” theory: gender, Dr Loos develops a definition of law, heterosexuality, transnationalism, modernity from a mish-mash of writings

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 267 by other scholars, most notably Dipesh (kwampensamaimai, kwamtansamai), Chakrabarty. The philosophical rationale or their cognates, “modern” (samaimai, of modernity, she writes, “included the tansamai), or “to modernize” (tam- doctrine of progress, rationality, secular- haitansamai, tamhaipensamaimai). ity, individualistic understandings of the These words do not appear in the glos- self, mastery over the forces of nature sary or the index. In fact, Dr Loos gives by human knowledge, and the aboli- no account of what Siamese rulers, tion of ‘superstition.’” Economically, jurists, intellectuals, or anyone else for she contends, “modernity refers to the that matter meant when they used the global expansion of trade, capitalist de- word “modernity”, or how they related it velopment, and the institutionalization to issues of the family and legal reform. of market-driven economies, products, In fact, it is not clear from her discussion material wealth, and consumption.” that anyone in Thailand ever believed Politically, “modernity’s transforma- in an idea of modernity remotely like tions include the shifts from absolutism, the one she has assembled, let alone religious rule, and feudalism, to secular- an “alternative modernity.” This would ity, bureaucratically administered states, not be important if Dr Loos intended popular forms of government, rule of “modernity” only as an analytical cat- law, and territorial sovereignty that egory, though even then it has grave are characteristic of the nation-state” shortcomings. The definition she cob- (p.19). From this definition of moder- bles together is easily open to dispute nity, Dr Loos develops the concepts of as including too much or too little, as “alternative modernity” and “colonial being too vague, too Eurocentric, or modernity.” “Alternative modernity” as not describing a condition that ever refers to an “historically contingent and obtained in Europe, let alone elsewhere. contextually specific formulation of mo- Dr Loos’s concept of colonial modernity dernity,” modelled after, yet formulated is also of very dubious value since there against, European “modernity,” while is nothing inherently colonial about “colonial modernity” emphasizes “the modernity nor modern about colonial- fact that most countries around the globe ism. Indeed, many colonial situations experienced modernity under the radi- were profoundly non-modern, even by cally asymmetrical global conditions of her own criteria. The notion of alterna- imperialism” (pp. 20–21). tive modernity is equally problematic. All this raises several problems. For On one hand, it is not clear why an a book concerned with “modernity” in alternative modernity should be called Thailand, and one allegedly “attuned to a modernity at all. If any form of innova- the specificities of cultural practices” tion produces a modernity, then the term in that country (p. 19), it is astonishing can be of little analytical value. On the that Subject Siam contains no discussion other hand, if alternative modernities are of the Thai concepts of “modernity” formulated against a European moder-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 268 Reviews nity, it is not clear where the boundary Kelantan are used to speculate about lies between their being non-modern social and religious life in Patani” (p. and alternatively modern. What Dr Loos 89). If this were not enough to cast really needs is not alternative moderni- doubt on the claims she makes, Dr Loos ties but alternatives to modernity as an then fails to cite any primary sources on analytical concept. Indeed, it is of such Kelantan in the Arkib Negara Malaysia, little value and it is so poorly discussed Kuala Lumpur, or the Public Records that the book would be improved if the Office, Kew Gardens, and instead cites entire section on “Alternative Moderni- decades-old secondary sources by ties” (pp. 18–24) were removed. William Roff (1974) and W.A. Graham If Subject Siam is conceptually (1908). Furthermore, because she was weak, the empirical support for many denied access to documents relating of its claims is correspondingly feeble. to Patani in the National Archives in This is particularly evident in the third Bangkok, Dr Loos instead relies heav- chapter, “Colonial Law and Buddhist ily on a Thai master’s thesis from Sri Modernity in the Malay Muslim South” Nakharinwirot University by Somchot (pp. 72–99), in which Dr Loos argues Ongsakun, Kan-patirup kanpok-khrong that Siam “both suffered under a plural monthon pattani (p.s. 2449–2474) (The legal system imposed by imperial pow- Administrative Reform of Monthon ers and simultaneously forced a plural Pattani [1906–1931]) (1978), “which legal system on the Muslim population utilizes sources from this archive” in the South” (p. 74). By “the South,” (p. 74, fn. 7), though obviously in an Dr Loos means Patani, “the historical abridged and highly selective fashion. areas encompassed by the present day While problems with the use of sources provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Nar- in this chapter are particularly acute, athiwat” (p. 74). In her discussion of they are symptomatic of others found Islamic family courts there in the early throughout the book. twentieth century, she is undeterred The writing in Subject Siam is less by the facts that “the main documents than limpid. It is filled with awkward, extant ... are ephemeral Thai language lumbering, crook-backed sentences. Dr reports written by ... officials who came Loos writes, for example, that “While predisposed to interpret the methods of the notion of alternative modernity local administration as barbaric,” (p. acknowledges the indispensability of 89) and that “no Siamese documents European political thought to repre- on the Muslim practice of polygyny sentations of non-European political exist from this period” (p. 89). Dr Loos modernity, it refutes the value-ridden offers her own innovative but methodo- historicism embedded in defining peo- logically questionable solution, writing ple, practices, and concepts as non- or that “because of a lack of sources about premodern that serve to delimit the term turn-of-the-century Patani, sources on modernity” (p. 20, emphasis in original).

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Even short sentences are often hope- means something like “instrument” or lessly vague, such as “The incongrui- “method.” ties and global migrations of colonial Dr Loos claims that Subject Siam translations and knowledge production is “the first book-length study that abound” (p. 30). Sentences are often integrates court cases, as well as legal crammed with obscure and annoying codes, into Siam’s history, and among jargon, such as “instantiations of mo- the first to analyze gender and families dernity” (p. 19), “acts of transgressing as categories with a history” (p. 25). It social status” (p. 37), “Euro-American is a pity, therefore, that it is so concep- imperial discourses” (p. 119), and tually flawed, empirically weak, and “polygyny’s multivocality” (p. 182). poorly written. Scholars of social and Many of the images Dr Loos conjures legal history need to subject Siam to are confused and imprecise. In one early much more careful study. paragraph, for example, she writes that “law was the pivotal arena in which Haydon Cherry the leaders of Siam negotiated mo- dernity...” (p. 3), and later in the same paragraph that “law, more than any other domain, provided the overarching pe- numbra under which other negotiations ... about the meanings of modernity took place” (p. 3). It is difficult to imagine, however, what could possibly pivot, or turn, upon an arena or how the law provided an encompassing “partially shaded area” in which modernity was negotiated. What it seems Dr Loos wants to say is that legal reform was “crucial” or “important” to Siamese attempts to become “modern,” how- ever they conceived that term. Dr Loos seems to have given little thought to her choice of words. When she writes that “Polygyny existed as Siam’s source of distinction in the eyes of imperial power and as a crucible through which the country would prove, through the abo- lition of polygyny and the adoption of monogamy, its transition to modernity” (p. 110), by “crucible” she apparently

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Han ten Brummelhuis, King of the the land tax. The klongs that were dug Waters: Homan van der Heide and the during this period were primarily for origin of modern irrigation in Siam. transportation, though farmers did draw Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, 2007, water from them into their fields. But xvi+409 pp., Bt 695. after about 1850, when trade increased dramatically (coincidentally with the The core of this important work of Bowring Treaty, says Brummelhuis), the scholarship is an account of the years variation in rainfall and frequent crop spent in Siam by J. Homan van der failures aroused interest in irrigation. Heide, the Dutch irrigation engineer Crop failures reduced rice exports and who was engaged by the government led to unwelcome decreases in govern- in 1902 to survey Siam’s needs and ment revenues. After a valuable survey prospects and to draw up plans for of the Chakri reforms made in the latter irrigation in the lower Menam delta. half of the nineteenth century, Brum- This core, focused on irrigation, is pre- melhuis says these reforms strengthened ceded by three remarkable chapters in the central government and made it which Brummelhuis surveys the social, more capable of undertaking irrigation economic, and political background projects. of “Old Siam”. These chapters and, King Chulalongkorn, impressed with indeed, the entire book are the fruits of irrigation systems he had seen during the author’s years of research into both his travels in Europe and Java, began archival and secondary sources, espe- in the 1890s to encourage a study of cially recent works by Thai and other the situation in Siam. Prince Damrong scholars. Along the way he provides and other ministers shared this interest, us with valuable commentary on the and it was decided to search for a Dutch historiography of Siam. irrigation expert – specifically a Dutch The title comes from an occasion in engineer in accord with Siam’s policy which King Chulalongkorn introduced of hiring foreign advisers from several van der Heide to a guest as “King of the different countries. Waters”. In addition to a recognition So it was that Homan van der Heide of his eminence in irrigation, this may was hired. Brummelhuis describes his have been a sly allusion to the belief in arrival in Bangkok in June 1902 and seventeenth century Siam that the Dutch his energetic beginning. With the help had no country of their own but lived on of W.A. Graham, R.A. Gilpin and oth- ships as landless buccaneers. ers, van der Heide studied existing data In Old Siam, Brummelhuis argues, on water. He traveled extensively into there was no real irrigation in the mod- the country, measured flows of rivers ern sense, nor was there much need and streams, and calculated distances of it. Rice farmers grew just enough and elevations. He also talked with rice rice for their own needs, and to pay farmers and local officials. He visited

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 271 the Rangsit area, where the Siam Lands, system; van der Heide also discussed Canals, and Irrigation Company (Bori- at length the many economic and social sat) had dug a system of klong, but he benefits that would accompany irriga- stated that this was not irrigation at all, tion. These went far beyond simply re- just water distribution, and that it had ducing the frequency of crop failure, and several problems (the powerful Borisat he used cost/benefit analysis to make was a private company controlled by the case that the project could be made high-ranking members of the elite). The to pay for itself. Government revenues company had been given the right to would rise from increased taxes, water dig these klong in a large unpopulated tolls and transport charges. He argued area east of the Chao Phya River and that the whole project should yield a net to claim the land on either side of them return to the government. to a distance of 40 sen. It made large Much of the rest of this book is profits from the sale of this land. Van concerned, one way or another, with der Heide later opposed the Borisat’s the debate over van der Heide’s Great plan to expand its operation into the Scheme, or some smaller variation of it. west bank. Brummelhuis takes the reader through Soon after his arrival, van der Heide this debate, using his archival research began sending reports on his activities to show the parts played by different and findings to the Minister of Agricul- participants. In the process he provides ture, Chao Phya Thewet, who forwarded fascinating glimpses into the workings them to other ministers and to the king, of the Siamese bureaucracy. who was impressed with his energy. On La Mahotière, a French engineer one of these early reports, King Chu- responsible for Bangkok’s water sup- lalongkorn noted, “He is exceptionally ply, strongly opposed van der Heide’s industrious!”, as indeed he was. scheme, and wrote a long memo criti- In December 1902, just six months cizing it. Van der Heide quickly wrote a after his arrival, van der Heide com- fiery rebuttal. W.A. Graham, an English pleted his 200-page “General Report adviser to the the Ministry of Agricul- on Irrigation and Drainage in the Lower ture, strongly favored the Great Scheme. Menam Delta”, a remarkable achieve- He praised van der Heide’s use of eco- ment in such a short time. Brummelhuis nomic analysis, and even suggested that summarizes the General Report, which the irrigation plan could also take care lays out an ambitious plan to bring the of Bangkok’s need for a potable water great Chao Phya River under control and supply and render unnecessary the rail- irrigate nearly all of the rice-growing way to Uttaradit (because of improved area of the delta. It would require a large water transportation). Brummelhuis investment and ten years to complete. notes that “there is not a single hint that The General Report was not limited Graham’s staunch support for Homan to technical analysis of the irrigation van der Heide had any effect at all.” The

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 272 Reviews financial adviser, Rivett-Carnac, flatly The archival record shows that he read opposed any irrigation activity at all “for many of the various reports, letters, and many years to come,” a total reversal memos, and often wrote candid com- of his previous position. Meanwhile, ments on them. Brummelhuis cites sev- Thewet equivocated, not knowing what eral instances in which he cut through to make of it all. the tangle to clarify issues. The matter was referred to a dis- By the end of 1903 the decision was tinguished special committee made taken – NOT to proceed with the Great up of the ministers most directly con- Scheme. Though bitterly disappointed, cerned: Princes Damrong (Interior), van der Heide responded by drawing up Thewawong (Foreign Affairs), Mahit a succession of smaller schemes, pieces (Finance), Narit (Local Government), designed to be compatible with the Great and Chao Phya Thewet (Agriculture). Scheme, if it were ever to be revived. He A commoner, Chao Phya Thewet, was also undertook some smaller projects, uncomfortable in that group. digging canals and installing locks, Van der Heide took an active role in and thereby winning the confidence of the protracted debate, and Brummel- rice farmers in several areas. They saw huis makes it clear that his personality that what he did worked. He also suc- became an important factor. He was a ceeded in establishing a Royal Irrigation very stubborn and determined man, but Department, of which he was the first he also lacked tact and was ill-mannered director. Brummelhuis shows that van by Siamese standards. These traits dam- der Heide continued to have difficult, aged his effectiveness. prickly relationships with the Siamese Brummelhuis tells us that as decision bureaucracy, especially the Ministry of time approached, “ubiquitous caution Finance and the Treasury. prevailed”. Much was at stake: irrigation Finally, when he returned after hav- competed with railways, while foreign ing taken a year’s leave, van der Heide loans to finance irrigation might jeop- realized that prospects for irrigation in ardize Siam’s independence (the French Siam were bleak. None of his smaller threat to the east was still alive in 1903). schemes had ever been approved, and The huge project itself had risks. Was his budget was repeatedly cut. He re- Siam capable of managing such a large signed and left Bangkok in 1909, seven project? It was well known that some years after he arrived. He had spent the early Dutch irrigation projects in Java prime of his life in this failed effort. had failed, and others had been studied Brummelhuis says the failure haunted for several years before being imple- him to the end of his life. He blamed mented. The Special Committee was the British for it. charged with this decision, but above Brummelhuis equivocates about them always loomed the dominant whether Siam made a mistake in not figure of King Chulalongkorn himself. going ahead with the Great Scheme in

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1903. But he suggests that the outcome Luigi Bressan and Michael Smithies, might have been different with a differ- Thai-Vatican Relations in the Twentieth ent cast of characters. If, for example, Century. Bangkok, Apostolic Nunciature, van der Heide had been reporting to 2006, 178 pp., ills. Prince Damrong, instead of the weak, timid Thewet, the outcome might have This volume arrives as the third of been different. a trilogy involving the same authors, As it happened, an irrigation project whose first two volumes were Siam and similar to the Great Scheme was built the Vatican in the Seventeenth Century in the 1950s with foreign loans and (2001), and, by Luigi Bressan alone, World Bank assistance. It was a great King Chulalongkorn and Pope Leo XIII success. (1998). The present concluding volume As noted, this is not a biography of of the trilogy was published in 2006, in Homan van der Heide, but one could the words of Michael Cardinal Michai wish for a little more information about Kitbunchu, Archbishop of Bangkok, the man. We are not even told whether “to celebrate the auspicious occasion his family came to Bangkok. On the of the 60th Anniversary of His Majesty’s very last page there is a single mention Coronation”, that of Phra Bat Somdej of a wife, riding with him in a farm cart Phra Paramindara Maha Bhumibol after World War II. Van der Heide had Adulyadej. National Socialist sympathies in the After the preface of Cardinal Michai 1930s and was arrested after the war. Kitbunchu and acknowledgements, He died in an internment camp in 1945 there follows an introduction covering at the age of 80. the advent of Christianity in Thailand Altogether, this is an impressive and and early contacts with the Vatican. valuable contribution to the economic Then Chapter 1, ‘The First Decade’, and social history of Thailand. covers the death of Pope Leo XIII in There is an excellent index and many 1903, who in 1897 had received in audi- useful photographs and maps ence King Chulalongkorn; the election of Pope Pius X in the same year; King James C. Ingram Chulalongkorn’s letter of congratula- tions on his election; the death of King Chulalongkorn in 1910, and the acces- sion of King Vajiravudh, who had ear- lier been part of King Chulalongkorn’s entourage visiting Pope Leo XIII in 1897; King Vajiravudh’s letter inform- ing the Pope of the death of his father, and his own accession to the throne; and a letter from Pope Pius X expressing

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 274 Reviews his sincere condolences on the death of creation of the Apostolic Delegation in King Chulalongkorn and best wishes to Thailand, 1957; the death of Pope Pius the new king. XII and election of Pope John XXIII Chapter 2, ‘The Second Decade’, in- in 1958. cludes letters from the Vatican to King Next, chapter 6, ‘The 1960s’, re- Vajiravudh informing His Majesty of counts in great detail the third Royal the death of Pius X in 1914 and election Visit to the Vatican from Thailand, this of Pope Benedict XV; from the Pope time that of Their Majesties King Bhu- announcing his election; and from the mibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit in King congratulating the Pope. Chapter 1960; the death of Pope John XXIII and 3, ‘The 1920s’, takes up documents election of Paul VI in 1963. Chapter 7, relating to the death of Pope Benedict ‘The 1970s’, recalls the establishment of XV in 1922; the election of Pope Pius diplomatic relations between Thailand XI; letters to and from the Pope and and the Holy See and the opening of King Vajiravudh; an unofficial visit to the Apostolic Nunciature in Bangkok, the Vatican of HRH Prince Mahidol; the 1969; private audiences with the Holy death of King Vajiravudh in 1925; and Father, Pope Paul VI, of the Buddhist the accession of King Prajadhipok. “Delegation of Messengers of Peace”, ‘The 1930s’, chapter 4, records the including Phra Thep Sophon and Phra visits to the Vatican of HRH Prince Dhamkosacharn, senior Thai Buddhist Damrong Rajanubhab in 1930 and then monks, 1971; of Dr. Thanat Khoman of their Majesties King Prajadhipok and in also 1971; of a special delegation Queen Rambai in 1934, including their of Thai Buddhist monks in 1972; and Majesties’ presence at the canoniza- documents between the King and the tion of St. John Bosco; the abdication Vatican on the occasion of the death of King Prajadhipok from England in of Pope Paul VI, the election of Pope 1935; the accession to the throne of King John Paul I, the death of John Paul I, Ananda Mahidol. and the election of Pope John Paul II Chapter 5, ‘The 1940s and 1950s’, – all in 1978. tells of the death of Pope Pius XI and let- Chapter 8, ‘The 1980s’, features the ter from Pope Pius XII to King Ananda news of the elevation of Archbishop Mahidol; King Ananda Mahidol’s visit Michael Michai Kitbunchu to the rank to Assumption Cathedral accompanied of Cardinal in 1983, and the state visit by Bishop Perot in 1946, a month before of Pope John Paul II to Thailand in His Majesty’s death; the accession of 1984. Pope John Paul II was met at the King Ananda Mahidol’s brother, King airport in Bangkok by the Crown Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej, to the throne in Vajiralongkorn on behalf of His Maj- the same year; Prime Minister Field esty, together with government repre- Marshal Phibul’s private audience sentatives, and from the airport went with Pope Pius XII in 1955; the Pope’s immediately to visit King Bhumibol

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Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit at the other by both the Kings of Thailand Grand Palace, and from there to visit and their court and the Popes with their the Supreme Patriarch of the Buddhist entourages, beginning in particular with Sangha in Thailand, before beginning the visit of King Chulalongkorn in 1897, to meet, in an unbelievably crushing despite the tense relationship at that time schedule, officials at Government between the Italian Government and the House, and his Catholic flock. After Vatican. that there were private audiences with The continual concern and warmth Pope John Paul II at the Vatican with of expression is evident, both in the HRH Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn in documents to and fro with repeated 1985 and with HRH Crown Princess blessings from the Popes on the King, Sirindhorn in 1988. his reign, his family and all the people Lastly, chapter 9, ‘Into the 21st Cen- of Thailand, and likewise from Their tury’, closes with moving messages be- Majesties for the Pope and the peoples tween His Majesty King Bhumibol and of the Catholic Church; such affection the Vatican on the occasion of the death was even more apparent during the of Pope John Paul II and the election of royal visits and papal audiences, not Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. to mention Pope John Paul II’s visit to What stands out in this third vol- Thailand. There was no hidden agenda: ume of the trilogy is the nature of the it was a transparent relationship, and the relationship between Their Majesties, Popes and the Kings were truly friends. the monarchs of Thailand, and their If in doubt, read the documents. governments, with the Popes and the As the Catholics of Thailand are Vatican over 400 years and climaxing noted for their love and loyalty to Our in the twentieth century. It could be Holy Father, the Pope, so is their grati- held, given the friendly relations over tude, love and loyalty to His Majesty the such a long period, that the purpose to King equally profound. What an amaz- begin with was basically political, in ing phenomenon in today’s world! No the sense that the royal governments wonder Catholics take a special pride have consistently respected the freedom in being Thai. of all religions within the Kingdom of In conclusion, it must be mentioned Thailand, and in its turn the Vatican that this book is extremely valuable for has been deeply appreciative of this. its presentation of clear photocopies Nevertheless the characteristics of the of the numerous relevant documents relationship go far beyond that. For, and their translations. This was accom- reviewing the relevant documents pre- plished through painstaking and thor- sented in this volume, one can only be ough research of the various archives moved by the sincerity, human concern, concerned both in Thailand and at the integrity and, one cannot help but notice, Vatican. In addition, the text is accom- genuine friendship displayed to each panied throughout by clear, historic

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 276 Reviews photographs of many of the events it Thak Chaloemtiarana, Thailand: The portrays, helping the reader to relive politics of despotic paternalism. Chiang in imagination those happy, blessed Mai, Silkworm Books, 2007, xxiii + 284 events. pp., pb, Bt 695. The book concludes with five pages of annexes containing lists detailing a Much value has been added to this chronology of Thai-Vatican relations new edition of an important book. In in the twentieth century; the reigns of terms of quantity, I estimate an addi- Thai monarchs and Supreme Pontiffs tional 30 per cent, if you include a new in the twentieth century; Thai envoys Foreword (13 pp.) and Postscript (30 to the Holy See and the presentation of pp.), an index and at least fifty photo- letters of credence; and Vatican envoys graphs that were not in the first edition to Thailand. And the very last page after of 1979. The publisher Silkworm Books the annexes contains enlightening de- has to be congratulated once again. The tails of the lives of its two authors, Luigi new edition has better paper, binding, Bressan and Michael Smithies. fonts and editing, though there are still Worth reading carefully. Worth pre- a few avoidable errors. serving! Thak Chaloemtiarana is a senior Thai political scientist who has long been at Sigmund J. Laschenski, S.J. Cornell University. He started his PhD research on the Thai military just a month or two before the November 1971 coup d’état which, in his new Foreword, he describes as ‘a coup against the ris- ing demands of civil society’ and ‘an attempt to rejuvenate and to maintain the political system that Sarit devised’. He turned his attention to Sarit himself – a ‘paternalistic despot’ (phokhun uppatham baeb padetkan). He asks the question whether in Thailand ‘the legitimacy of a civil leader[ship] can ever be based solely on legal-rational institutions’. The question is once again of con- temporary relevance. Many people have a feeling that Thailand’s political development has been, or is in danger of being, set back, maybe to the 1960s, or even to before 1932. Whether you have

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 277 read the first edition, as I did, or not, this group. He was to play a leading role in book is of great interest and relevance to forcefully suppressing the ‘Palace coup’ today’s political debates. The fact that a of 1949 and the ‘Manhattan rebellion’ Thai language edition was published in of 1951. 2005 is also a great help. Tak emphasises the importance of Sa- The structure of the book is not quite rit’s notion of ‘revolution’ (patthiwat), what you might expect, and I guess this which is how Sarit characterised his 20 owes something to its origins as a PhD October 1958 coup. Thak agrees that it thesis. It is not a biography of Sarit, nor was revolutionary in the sense given to is it a detailed account of all the activi- it in a Revolutionary Council statement ties and process and stages of his period of 1965 (Thanom’s period): of rule (1957–1963). Nor is there any substantial treatment of the Thanom- The revolution of October 20 1958 abolished democratic ideas borrowed Phrapas government (1963–1973), from the West and suggested that it would which tried to continue the Sarit system build a democratic system that would be of government. appropriate to the specific characteristics One-third of the book covers the and realities of the Thai. It will build a democracy, a Thai way of democracy. period covering approximately 1943– 1957, and this is very good. In the four The statement continues: main chapters (3–6) the emphasis is primarily on Sarit’s style of leadership, The Thai people in general do not wish his ideology of Thai-style political to have a part in national politics. They wish only for a leader who has khuntam leadership and the way he developed a (moral responsibility) and ability. A coherent system with ever-increasing majority of Thai people feel that the power in his own hands. The ways in power to rule belongs to the monarch ... which he controlled the bureaucracy, and the chao nai. ... The social division between the ruler and the ruled is absolute the military, the monarchy and the de- ... and the two classes could never be velopment process are key elements in equal in any way. the Sarit story. Sarit Thanarat, a north-easterner, Sarit tended to equate statism (rat- graduated from the military academy in thaniyom), which he promoted, with 1928. Unlike the leaders of the 1930s, phraratchaniyom (royalism), which he who were strongly influenced by the began to revive in a new form. Accord- West, Sarit and his henchmen were ing to Thak, Sarit believed that ‘social ‘indigenous products’. He was already mobilization should be minimised, for a colonel in the offensive in the Shan it caused the disintegration of traditional States in 1942. By 1957, as a Lieuten- institutions and values.’ Instead, the ant-General in command of the 1st Divi- overriding principle was samakhitham sion of the army, he was an (apparently (the moral principle of solidarity). This reluctant) member of Phibun’s coup is a slogan issued from many quarters that has strong resonances today.

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This was far from the populism of King and Queen between June 1960 say, Peron in Argentina, or the mass and Sarit’s death in November 1963. mobilization in fascist Italy or national- According to Thak, this helped legiti- socialist Germany. When I first arrived mise Sarit’s leadership and ‘minimise in Thailand in June 1962, I had just foreign criticism of the regime for being spent a few months in Franco’s Spain, dictatorial’. and from the first I felt strong echoes of Sarit arrested a great many politi- that regime. cians, journalists, writers and others Let me rehearse a few ‘facts’ from who were ‘suspected of communist Sarit’s six-year regime. For someone op- activities’. Many spent long periods in posed to Western political forms, Sarit prison, some disappeared. He had four was remarkably open to the West, and such suspects publicly executed. Sarit especially the USA. Urged by the World also authorised the public execution Bank, and listening to his civilian tech- of five arsonists, one heroin producer, nocratic advisers, Sarit heralded the first and one millenarian religious leader. I National Economic Development Plan have no way of knowing whether this in 1961. By 1960, 5,000 US troops were was all. Nor do I know of the extent stationed in Thailand; infrastructural of extra-judicial killings in the Sarit work began on roads, airfields, harbours period, of the sort that became wide- and so on. By 1964 the US had a mas- spread after his death. It is noteworthy, sive military presence that was to grow. however, that these executions, without The extensive road-building programme due process and in any case barely legal was chiefly to improve access for mili- under a clause in the constitution, were tary and officials in ‘insecure areas’. In all public and Sarit emphasised his these areas army Mobile Development personal responsibility for them. This Units spearheaded crude community is in marked contrast to the later style development schemes, causing ‘increas- of denials, disclaimers, distancing etc. ing bitterness and resentment among They were not massacres. villagers’. Thailand had thrown itself As a young British Council officer in enthusiastically into the Cold War from Thailand from 1962–64, I felt the same the early 1950s. Sarit strengthened the sort of stifling intellectual atmosphere Anti-Communist Activities Act of 1952 I had experienced in Madrid. There in 1958. were some rare exceptions that I knew Internationally, Sarit made good use of, a few of which I had the pleasure of highly talented civilian experts, such to be slightly involved with. One was as Thanat Khoman, Phote Sarasin, Puey the setting up of the Social Science As- Ungphakorn and others. Sarit ‘actively sociation Press by Sulak Srivarak, and and consciously directed the activity later the journal Sangkhomsat Parithat. of the monarchy.’ This led to overseas This was an exceptional beacon of civil state visits to twenty countries by the liberty and freedom of expression that

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 279 may have had consequences not antici- ticipation in the National Defense Col- pated by its sponsors. Cit Phumisak and lege 1956–79; ‘Harnessing the military’, Tongbai Thongpao and many others drawing on contributions to the army were in prison. Tak reminds us that ‘a journal Yuttakhot 1947–1969; and ‘The whole generation of intellectuals who role of the monarchy’, drawing on daily expressed a deep social consciousness, records of royal activities 1963–71. was eliminated.’ The Buddhist Sangha This latter source lists the amount and was ‘reformed’ to ‘facilitate political purpose of charitable donations received control and penetration.’ by the monarchy, which contributed to Sarit apparently had ‘an obsession the expansion and justification of an with cleanliness, purity and discipline’. independent base for the monarchy to I suspect that, on the back of some of intervene in social and political agendas, Phibun’s cultural regulations, Sarit and for its increasing independence from may have influenced much of what still government control and direction. passes for standard Thai public etiquette Thak’s approach is suited to his sub- in schools and official settings. ject. He is quite rightly concerned, from He declared opium use illegal from the outset, to investigate ‘the importance 1 January 1959. He banned pedicabs of historical and cultural constraints on from Bangkok in 1959. He cleared the the nature of [Thai politics]’, which had streets of beggars, hooligans, and stray hitherto been given insufficient attention dogs, and punished people for littering. by the mainly American scholars whom He stressed the importance of external he quotes frequently (Riggs, Jacobs, beautification of villages as a sign of Wilson, Yano et al.). He discusses most ‘development’. perceptively Sarit’s ‘popularity’ despite He banned rock-and-roll from official his ‘distasteful and tight-fisted [iron parties and dancing ‘the twist’ in pub- fisted, heavy handed?] rule’. His study lic places. (It was certainly the rave in could be seen as more of a hermeneutics private places!) A few initiatives were than a critique. Almost completely blatantly populist and truly popular, absent in the footnotes (there is no such as reducing the price of iced black bibliography) are references to Thai or coffee (oliang), a common and espe- Western critical or theoretical sources. cially working class beverage (though The prevailing approach is empirical traders cheated). This was in part a sign and culturalist (he agrees that Sarit’s of bias against Thai-Chinese people. style was ‘quite Thai in character’). He Thak’s research yields some fine also agrees with what he identifies as a details. Some of my favourite passages consensus among commentators at the concern the Lao crisis of 1957–62; the time, that Sarit’s regime was ‘success- influence of Luang Wichit on Sarit’s ful’, though this begs many questions. ideological thinking, ‘Socialising of the He asserts that Thai democracy ‘is still bureaucracy’, drawing on data from par- young and finding its way’ (it is, though,

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 280 Reviews already older than the entire Soviet com- Pasuk Pongpaichit and Chris Baker, munist regime). He asserts that ‘Thai eds, Thai Capital after the 1997 Crisis. democracy has made great progress Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, 2008, xv since 1932.’ The September 2006 coup +309 pp., paperback. was a setback. So we might conclude, and some The aim of this book is to analyze would applaud while others reserve how Thai domestic capital has fared judgement, that this eminent scholar is since the watershed crisis of 1997. The cautious and even rather conservative aim is a worthy one. In the boom decade in his judgements, and on the whole before 1997 domestic capital played a optimistic about the future direction of notable part in economic growth. High Thai political culture and institutions. I rates of domestic savings, cheap labour, would count myself among those who government encouragement and liberal might welcome a more critical, certainly bank lending policies all fuelled growth sceptical, and theoretically informed rates which were among the highest in analysis. Even within the remit of the the world. Foreign capital flowed in first edition, greater attention might too, often in joint ventures with Thai have been give to the role of the USA, partners, and often in conjunction with and more extensive treatment given to advanced technology and skilled foreign the Thanom-Phrapas years. But this is management. Given the depth of the probably asking for a different book. 1997 crisis, the shock to established I much enjoyed this book. It is read- patterns of business behaviour, the sub- able and well written. I think Thak’s sequent rise (and fall) of Thaksin and his approach to Sarit’s style of political TRT party, and the changed domestic leadership is pertinent for a contem- and international economic environ- porary understanding not only of the ment, it is, indeed, appropriate that a Sarit years, but of the Sarit legacy that study should be made of the way the reaches beyond 1973 into the present; Thai economy has been able to adapt. I am sure this book will and should The question is, though, does the present remain a classic. book succeed in its aim? Thai Capital… is the product of a Andrew Turton research project funded by the Thailand Research Fund. Fourteen researchers, most of them from Thai academia, con- tributed to an original study published in Thai in two volumes in 2006.Now we have an English version, pruned and updated, with eight substantive papers (instead of the original thirteen), twelve contributors (ten from the earlier pub-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 281 lication together with the two editors the survival and development of busi- who each have a jointly-written piece ness. The level of economic analysis is here), and an introduction and conclu- limited. Thus we are told unhelpfully sion contributed by the editors. that one Chiang Mai entrepreneur in Of course, one must approach any the 1960s ‘left school and became a publication of collected academic pa- market labourer… ferrying goods by pers on tip-toe. Inherent problems with tricycle. He progressed from tricycle to such compilations are manifest: uneven a truck, and gradually expanded until he quality, lack of uniformity in approach was the largest transport contractor in and length, gaps in coverage and overlap the city…’ (p.222). Similarly Charoen among the papers. ‘rose to dominate the liquor business Let it be said at the outset that this in part because of his extraordinary tal- book is, by and large, unified in theme, ent for managing and manipulating the eminently readable, and, without excep- monopoly, and in part because many tion among the papers, informative and of his potential rivals abandoned the original. While allowing the contributors business as too old-fashioned.’(p.151). latitude to develop their own approaches The Crown Property Bureau ‘not only and arguments, the editors have organ- survived the crisis but also emerged far ized the material intelligently to give stronger’ due to ‘excellent management direction and coherence to the volume. and strategic restructuring’ (p.184). In Thus we have a lengthy initial chapter Rayong, among the three prominent which takes an overall look at the way business families, ‘the Pitudecha clan the crisis affected the structure of Thai from Ban Khai emerged strongest from big business. This is followed by three the crisis. Perhaps because it had been papers on ‘Sectors’ (automobiles, retail- the most godfather-like of the families, it ing and mobile phones), two ‘Survivors’ had the resources to shift away from the (liquor and the Crown Property Bureau), old mode of primitive accumulation and two ‘Localities’ (Rayong and Chiang into a new economy of manufacture, ex- Mai), and finally two under the rubric porting, and urban services’. (p. 213). ‘Prospects’ (Thai overseas investment Several points can be made about and ‘rents and rent-seeking’). these essentially narrative accounts. Looked at differently, nearly all the First, no number of particulars can pro- papers here, with the exception of the duce a generalization. In other words, opening chapter, are straightforward the multiplying of case studies still narrative accounts of particular Thai leaves untouched what should be the companies and entrepreneurs, drawing core theme of the subject – the size, for their material largely on the financial structure and overall direction of Thai press and, often, on interviews. All these domestic capital after 1997 and the chapters, without exception, allude to forces which determined them. Second, the significance of political links for that bane of conference collections,

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 282 Reviews incomplete coverage, becomes all too – oddly, his name does not appear on evident. There is nothing on the role of the contents page. Siamwalla laments the banking sector – surely critical; and the lack of dynamism and risk-taking nothing on any government-supported by Thai capital throughout the decade mega-project. And is there any general following the crisis, yet one can read conclusion to be gleaned from stud- this book from cover to cover without ies of Rayong and Chiang Mai, with so much as a hint of these shortcomings nothing on Bangkok, the South, or the or their causes. Northeast? Separate mention, though, must be Third, while undoubtedly interesting made of the opening chapter. This sub- and even fascinating, accounts that are stantial piece, ‘Companies in Crisis’, based on interviews and the financial is based partly on some detailed and press can go no further than such sources invaluable data provided by the eminent allow. The arguments presented here are Japanese scholar Akira Suehiro. The thus often rather simplistic. Of course, core of this paper is contained in tables one cannot expect detailed archival re- that chart the changes in the relative search and studies of company accounts standing of the leading business groups for a period so recent and for businesses between 1979 and 2000, and which so secretive. But at least the level of show the concentration of shareholding analysis could be more profound. We and the extent of family control over the are given an account of the rise of post- period 1996–2006. Here is the reality of crisis multinational retailing, without the crisis, the changing fortunes of the even a mention of the collapse of the dominant business groups, their survival baht (which gave huge and long-lasting or disappearance, and their vulnerability advantages for foreign acquisition), nor to foreign acquisition. The data bring of the collapse of domestic bank lend- out clearly the continued, even growing, ing. There are attempts here and there to concentration of assets in the country, discuss the search for ‘economic rent’ as and even in banking “the old controlling a motive force for the direction of capital family still hung onto control in four of investment, though this often amounts to the top five” (p. 55). no more than describing market imper- Like the crisis itself, this book has fections bought by political favours. both positive and negative features. Finally, the chosen format for these Positive, certainly, is the information studies makes it impossible to stand contained in the case-studies presented back from the particular and to present here. The stories of the Rayong and an overall picture (though the editors do Chiang Mai family-controlled busi- attempt something of the sort in their nesses, of the rise of Thaksin’s mobile introductory and concluding chapters). phone empire, of the survival of the A case in point is the brief and percep- Crown Property Bureau, of the clashes tive Foreword by Ammar Siamwalla between the competing interests in the

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 283 lucrative liquor business, and others, Rory Mackenzie, New Buddhist are instructive and fascinating. They Movements in Thailand: Towards are also depressing. Everywhere politics an Understanding of Wat Phra and political affiliations intrude. Lurk- Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke. London ing just below the surface, or sometimes and New York, Routledge, 2007, 253 visible upon it, are corruption and po- pp., notes, index and bibliography. litical favours, and even violence and criminality. Indeed the book is more The topic of this book, comparing about the darker side of politics and two new but quite different Buddhist business than about economics. Far movements, is highly relevant to un- from opening and liberating markets, derstanding what has been happen- the crisis enhanced the active participa- ing amongst primarily middle-class, tion of business in politics, reaching its urban-based Thai Buddhists over the apogee in the Thaksin era. Positive also, past three decades. Rory Mackenzie’s as already mentioned, is the opening key findings, that both the Santi Asoke chapter, which will certainly be mined and Wat Phra Dhammakaya move- for its wealth of data. Negative is the ments reflect “a disenchantment with book’s lack of any overall perspective traditional expressions of mainstream on the performance of Thai domestic Thai Buddhism and a desire for Bud- capital, and the lack of any economic dhist solutions for contemporary living” analysis in most of the chapters. (p. xi), mirror the views of many more All in all, though, this is a book to thoughtful Thai Buddhists and also read and to reflect upon, and to make catch the tenor of much public discourse us wonder yet again at the extraordinary about Buddhism in Thailand, in both the power of Sino-Thai business groups to Thai- and English-language press, over survive and adapt to changing circum- the past twenty years or more. However, stances. given the continuing importance of Buddhism to notions of Thai identity, Malcolm Falkus and the prominence of debates about the appropriate and proper forms of Buddhist religious practice in Thailand today, I was disappointed that this book did not offer more. The original fieldwork for this book seems to have been quite limited, and the report of field research at Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke reads more like a day-by-day diary – “I did this, then I did that” – than a systematic analysis of new empirical information.

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The author draws on a diverse range of ple, I was initially nonplussed by refer- theoretical and analytical frameworks. ence to a book on the 1992 Thai political For example, in considering the Wat crisis by an author I had never heard of, Phra Dhammakaya movement, Macken- listed both in the text and bibliography zie draws on work by Glock and Stark, as “K. Thefravit”. I assumed this was Bryan Wilson, Roy Wallis, and Lance a European or North American com- Cousins – all in half a dozen pages. mentator. However, after some reflec- However, these frameworks are merely tion I realized that the citation includes listed in sequence one after the other, a spelling error (repeated even in the without any consideration of the extent bibliography) and Mackenzie is in fact to which they are consistent, or perhaps referring to a book by the Thai academic contradictory. This creates a scatter-gun Khien Theeravit! In both the text and effect and a lack of intellectual focus. the bibliography, the author follows the The author seems more concerned to Western system and lists Thai authors quote every possible authority rather by surname, rather than adopting the than to sift the information at hand and accepted academic standard of listing come to a considered conclusion about Thai authors by first name. which particular form of analysis pro- For me the most interesting part of vides the most fitting and intellectually the book is a small anecdote on pages insightful approach. 36 and 37 about an Englishman who The transcription of Thai is idiosyn- apparently went by two names, Wil- cratic, erratic, and unrelated to any of the liam Purfurst and Richard Randall. This academically accepted systems for rom- Englishman was ordained as a Buddhist anising Thai. On many occasions it took monk at Wat Paknam in 1954 by Luang me some time to decipher what Thai Phor Sot, the abbot who established the term the author intended, distracting dhammakaya meditation system that in me from the arguments the author tries later decades became the foundation to make. Amongst the many examples of the Wat Phra Dhammakaya move- are te am (for thiam, “false, artificial”), ment. Purfurst (aka Randall), who took laa te (for latthi, “belief, cult”), pom bi the Pali name Kapilavaddho, later had … (for phom pai …, “I went to …”), a falling-out with Luang Phot Sot and monetee (for mulanithi, “foundation”), returned to England in 1956, where, lukanuwat (for lokanuwat, “globaliza- according to Mackenzie, he became an tion”), patepattam (for patibat tham, important force in the development of “to engage in Buddhist practice”), and Theravada Buddhism in Britain. mi gin neua (for mai kin neua, “not eat- Those interested in contemporary ing meat”). Considerably more can be Thai Buddhism will find this book most added to this list. useful as a summary of what has been The editing is the sloppiest I have written on the topic in English over the come across in many a year. For exam- past couple of decades, rather than as

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 285 a source of new insights. The author Duncan McCargo, ed., Rethinking quotes the Bangkok Post so often that Thailand’s Southern Violence. Singapore, this newspaper seems to be his primary National University of Singapore Press, source of information. Not even The Na- 2007, 225 pp. tion gets much of a look-in, let alone the Thai-language press, which the author One of the challenges in publishing ignores completely. The book is prima- academic studies on violent contempo- rily an extended, poorly edited literature rary conflicts is how well what one has review that compiles secondary sources written stands the test of time, since in a mostly uncritical format. It would by its very dynamic nature a situation seem that very little if any work has of violent conflict can rapidly change. been done in transforming this text from Moreover, violent conflict presents its original format, a PhD dissertation some extreme methodological problems submitted to the International Christian for academic inquiry: accessing the con- College in Glasgow, into a monograph. flict zone for sufficient periods required The publisher, Routledge, certainly to gather usable data; being able to sift needs to pull its socks up and make sure through the misinformation circulat- that raw, error-strewn texts such as this ing in the propaganda war; conditions are subjected to at least a modicum of of martial law; and even the ability to professionally competent editing. obtain information from those involved in the conflict, who, out of an under- Peter Jackson standable desire to protect themselves, may not be willing to offer information, or else the information they offer may out of necessity be highly partisan or deliberately designed to misinform. The case of the conflict in southern Thailand, currently Southeast Asia’s most violent, is a particularly acute example of this challenge. To the prob- lems stated above can be added the dif- ficulties that researchers face coming to terms with the cultural and linguistic differences of the local population, and even the existence of Thailand’s draco- nian lèse majesté law, which prevents any critical discussion of matters relat- ing to the monarchy, which undeniably has taken a close interest in the situation in the south. Perhaps it is for all of these

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 286 Reviews reasons that, as has often been pointed of seven essays written by some of the out, the violence in southern Thailand most prominent Thai and international is one of the “murkiest”, most difficult scholars working on the conflict in to understand conflicts in the region, if southern Thailand. One of the book’s not the world, today. strengths is that the broad range of is- Rethinking Thailand’s Southern Vio- sues covered by the essays, including lence thus comes as a welcome attempt the politics of monuments in the south to address these challenges. The book (Chaiwat Satha-Anand); the relation- is an updated version of a collection of ship between the violence in southern essays that were first published in a spe- Thailand and the political struggle cial issue of the journal Critical Asian between Thaksin and “network monar- Studies in March 2006, based on papers chy” (Duncan McCargo); the Thaksin presented at a workshop held in Pattani government’s “hawkish” response to the in February 2005. The stated aim of the violence (Ukrist Pathamanand); socio- volume is to help provide some answers economic factors behind the violence to the question, “what lies behind the (Srisompob Jitipiromsri with Panyasak violence in the Thai South” (p. 3). Writ- Sobhonvasu); the role of “jihadism” and ten at a time when the international “war Islamist ideology (Wattana Sugunnasil); on terror” was still being vigorously pur- local perceptions of the conflict (May sued and explanatory frameworks based Tan-Mullins); and the representation on studies of international terrorism had of the conflict in the terrorism studies considerable influence on the way the literature (Michael K. Connors). The violence in the south was represented in result is a well-rounded perspective on the media and in much scholarship, the the reasons for the conflict. One can essays in this book aim to “challenge the always make criticisms, not always reader to question conventional catego- fairly, of what or who else might have ries and lazy assumptions” such as “the been included in an edited volume; in Thai state”, “militant groups”, “Muslim this case one feels that a “Patani Malay” communities” and “security agencies” voice may have given the collection an (pp. 8–9). The book’s principal message additional important point of view. is that the answer to the question of the The book will be particularly noted reasons for the violence lies in under- for its inclusion of the second half of standing Thailand’s – and the southern McCargo’s famous and controversial region’s – political and social context. “network monarchy” thesis – the first Having stated an overly modest claim of half, “Network monarchy and legiti- making a “small start” in the direction of macy crises in Thailand”, was published finding answers to the question above, in a 2005 issue of the journal, The the book has clearly succeeded. Pacific Review, and ought to be read Rethinking Thailand’s Southern in conjunction with the essay in this Violence is a tightly edited collection volume. McCargo’s essays count as

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 287 the most novel contribution to the now royalist regime installed after the coup voluminous scholarly literature on the made much of this expectation, with the outbreak of violence in the south since newly appointed Prime Minister and 2004. “Network monarchy” is the term former Privy Counselor Gen. Surayudh he uses to refer to “the dominant mode Chulanond making a highly publicized of governance used in Thailand since apology to the local Muslim community 1980”, in which “the monarchy operates for the previous government’s handling through proxies led by former prime of the conflict. In fact, the conflict in- minister and Privy Council President tensified following the coup, with the Prem Tinsulanond”. According to Mc- number of violent incidents, deaths Cargo, Thaksin aimed to displace net- and injuries significantly jumping. So work monarchy governance with a more the natural question is to ask why. It is centralized form of political control tempting also to ask whether the criti- headed by the Prime Minister himself. cism of Thaksin’s handling of a severe Significantly, the political management national security issue in the south, of the south since the early 1980s was especially by influential figures allied centred on a “governance network” with or part of McCargo’s “network headed by Prem, himself a southerner monarchy”, was part of a coordinated and a key figure in the suppression of movement to discredit Thaksin with the communist insurgency in the 1970s the eventual aim of overthrowing his and 1980s. The violence in the south, a government. highly sensitive and complex part of the This collection of essays will remain country, given its ethnic and religious essential reading for scholars and others mix, lucrative trade in smuggled goods, who seek to examine how the conflict and entrenched interests of the military, broke out. Has it stood the test of time? can thus be viewed as the main bat- The limitation of understanding the tlefield in Thaksin’s attempt to “wrest conflict as merely a local version of an control” of Thailand from “network international terrorist struggle is now monarchy” (pp. 39–67). widely accepted. Subsequent studies Overshadowing most of the essays of local factors behind the conflict add in this volume is the figure of Thaksin, to, but do not in general contradict, the and his government’s widely criticized main theme of the essays in this volume. handling of the conflict. Following the Yet if we accept McCargo’s argument overthrow of Thaksin by a royalist coup of another struggle, between “network on 19 September 2006 it was expected monarchy” and forces loyal to Thak- by numerous professional observers, sin, which continues through the time including many academics, that the of writing this review (late 2007), the situation in the south would improve, volume poses perhaps the biggest given that supposedly the main prob- question which has yet to be answered: lem, i.e. Thaksin, was now gone. The to what extent does this conflict con-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 288 Reviews tinue to cloud our understanding of Maurizio Peleggi, Thailand: The Thailand’s southern violence? Worldly Kingdom. Singapore, Talisman An eagerly awaited monograph on the Publishing, 2007, 256 pp. situation in the south is currently being prepared by the editor of the volume Thailand: the Worldly Kingdom under review, Duncan McCargo, based should be welcomed by students and on his own fieldwork of a year in the general English-speaking readers with region. That book may answer this and strong scholarly or even mundane other unanswered questions thrown up interest in the country’s modern history. by this volume. It is a fresh and up-to-date reinterpreta- tion of this history. Maurizio Peleggi Patrick Jory pieces together chains of events and stories of Thailand’s nation-build- ing project in the past two centuries. He unveils the underlying fact that the complex historical processes that make Thailand ‘a worldly kingdom’ are essentially global. The emergence of Thailand is indeed closely tied with international connection, exposure, influence, and negotiation. A history of Thailand, as well as other modern nation-states, would be incomplete if written with a sole focus on local processes and a series of famous heroic contributions of ‘great men’. Peleggi argues that Thailand as a modern nation- state has come into existence through reaction with the world. Civilization and globalization, the two most encompass- ing forces that have powerfully reshaped the world, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, not only define Thailand’s state formation and its na- tionhood, but also play a very important role in determining the Thai identity, or Thainess. For him, such identity is ‘a syncretic product’, resulting from the ‘translation, assimilation, and adapta- tion of exogenous ideas, practices and

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 289 materials to the indigenous socio-cul- countries around the globe in the past tural terrain.’ (p.21) two hundred years. Peleggi’s approach to understanding While the scholarly success and Thailand’s modern history, by his own impacts of Peleggi’s attempt to write a confession here, is ‘unorthodox’ (p.8). Thai edition of global history remain to It is a trendy global history approach, be seen, his move is admirably creative which resituates Thailand in the wider and experimental. The fundamental part process of the emergence of the mod- of Peleggi’s approach is an analytical in- ern world. In employing this approach, sight of both archaic and modern global Peleggi intends to move away from at processes which have created ‘a diffuse least three existing historiographical geo-cultural space’ (p.11). The historical conventions, namely, (1) recounting process and imagination are fuelled by historical actors and events in chrono- diffusion, interaction, adaptation, and logical or linear framework; (2) describ- localization of layers of geo-cultural ing chains of historical events from a spaces, such as Indic, Sinic, European, ‘from-above’ perspective or through American, Theravada Buddhist, and in- agencies of great men, e.g., kings, digenous geo-cultural terrains. Peleggi noblemen, and the elite; and (3) explores actions and reactions, conti- narrating historical changes from the nuities and discontinuities within and/or popular or ‘from-below’ perspective of between these geo-cultural spaces as commoners. Putting this book into the his major themes of modern Thai his- particular context of Thai and Southeast tory. Instead of arranging the domain Asian historiographies, he apparently of modern Thai history into periods, wishes to demystify the ‘exceptional- reigns, or centres of political power, ity of Thai nation building’ (p.8) by he opts for the thematic treatment. interjecting an alternative view of Included are the themes of landscapes, claims, such as Thailand never having boundaries, institutions, ideologies, mo- been a colonized country, or Thailand’s dernities, mnemonic sites, and others. emergence of the modern nation state These themes make up the book’s seven owing a great deal to modernizing chapters, highlighting ‘the relationship initiatives launched by wise and power- of the forces constitutive of [sic] the ful modernizers. These views he consid- Thai nation-state to the constellation ers rather overrated, if not patriotically of phenomena—from imperialism to biased. There is no such exceptional or nationalism, from urbanization to the uniquely Thai path that gave birth to diffusion of mass media, from the insti- the Thai modern nationhood, because tutionalization of religion to the politici- Thailand has been part of a common zation of youth’ (p.8). These themes are global process and shared cultural carefully chosen and extracted from the experience of modernity with her vast quantity of historical sources. Southeast Asian neighbours and most Peleggi’s thematic treatment of mod-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 290 Reviews ern Thai history is an answer to existing ing in the geo-cultural spaces beyond volumes, particularly Keyes (1987), or with less exposure to globalization Wyatt (1982), Pasuk Pongphaichit and are methodologically neglected. Third, Chris Baker (2000), and Scot Barmé thematic analysis, while providing some (2006). Like these works, Peleggi’s comprehensive picture of the bounded book is written for general readership. subject, is selective rather than intensive His smooth prose is readily accessible. or exhaustive by nature. This approach He weaves together selective events opens itself to the criticism of what is a and presents them in an easy-to-grasp historical theme and how a theme can manner. However, Peleggi’s book is be identified out of some complex, dis- different from the rest with its global ap- orderly and disjointed events or against proach and insistent arguments pertinent the actors’ complicated motivations. A to the global process. It stands sharply theme usually carries plural and multi- apart from Keyes’ insistence on Bud- vocal contents, therefore, and could be dhist fundamental contributions to, and either overlapping or repetitive. Wyatt’s emphasis on agency of kings Finally, the book contains too many and noblemen in, the making of the minor factual and spelling errors. The modern Thai nation state. It is different decision to transliterate all personal from Pasuk and Baker’s political-eco- names, especially names of kings, princ- nomic focus. It also refuses exclusively es and other public figures, is rather to explore the roles of commoners or anti-conventional and problematic. The popular media in the historical process, transcription of Thai terms does not methodological and theoretical stances strictly follow the rules set forward by adopted by Barmé. the Royal Institute. Inconsistencies or There are some limitations and misspellings of Romanized Thai words weaknesses in Thailand: the Worldly are numerous throughout the book. Kingdom. First, Peleggi’s emphasis on e.g., thansamai or samai mai, not than civilization and globalization leads to samaimai (p.10), san chao or hing phi an unavoidable and too intensive analy- for spirit’s shrine, not ban phi (p.50), sis of external influences. The global names of folk dance genres in the North version of Thai history which Peleggi and Northeast (p.51), sao praphet song, presents is not global enough. There are not sao praphet ying (p.89), or Chao- few discussions on Siamese civiliza- praya, not Chaophrya (p.189). Some tion and globalization from European English translations of Thai terms are or American perspectives. Second, a rather awkward, e.g., kan phatthana, not global history implies concentrations phatthana for development (p. 11, 17), on global contacts, which are most phum panya thongthin, not phum panya likely represented by Bangkok and for local knowledge or native wisdom its political leaders, the cosmopolitan (p.21). There are many factual errors: the elite and wealthy tycoons. People liv- government offered a general amnesty

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 291 to the Communist Party of Thailand Don McCaskill, Prasit Leepreecha, (CPT) in 1979, not 1980 (p.18), Puey and He Shaoying, eds., Living in a Ungphakorn was a one-time governor, Globalized World: Ethnic Minorities in not director, of the Bank of Thailand the Greater Mekong Subregion. Chiang (p. 73), a location for a new national capi- Mai, Mekong Press, 2008, pb, xi+374 tal proposed by Phibun was Phetchabun, pp., Bt 895. not Phetchaburi (p. 124), the stronghold of the Communist Party of Thailand in Living in a Globalized World is an Isan covered not only Sakhon Nakhon, indication of new times in the research but many neighboring provinces in the and publication about the region, both northeastern part of the region – indeed, in its focus on China and mainland the first armed fight between a CPT unit Southeast Asia, and in the collaboration and the government force took place in among scholars from Thailand, Laos, Nakae district, Nakhon Phanom (p. 132) Vietnam, and China. This is a new and – or making Thao Suranari the wife of positive development, and hopefully in- Nakhon Ratchasima’s governor rather dicates a trend of thinking past national than deputy governor (p.187). There are boundaries. The nicely designed cover also many misspellings and inaccuracies of the book shows (someone dressed as) in the bibliography. an ethnic minority woman talking on a Peleggi’s book may look too general cellphone and simultaneously working for serious students of Thai and South- on a laptop computer. She has an ipod, east Asian history, but his global history but it is unplugged because she is al- approach should spark some interesting ready on the phone and the internet. The debates in the field. Some of his insight- picture draws on a stereotypical contrast ful views and brave treatments of the between tradition and modernity, the global formation of modern Thai na- local worlds of ethnic minorities and tion-state and identity should offset the the global realities that they are being factual errors and shortcomings appear- pulled into ing in the book. Thailand: the Worldly The introductory chapter, written Kingdom is the most up-to-date reader by the three editors, relates some of on the introductory history of modern the features of globalization, such as Thailand. an increasing interconnectedness that may undermine the ties of culture and Pattana Kitiarsa place, and gives an overview of national integration policies in the four countries. The bulk of this chapter is concerned with the results of surveys in Dai, Hmong, and Mien study villages. The findings persistently make statements in relation to ethnicity, such as that “77

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 292 Reviews percent [of Hmong in Vietnam stated] patriline among the Akha and matriline that they had a strong knowledge of among the Karen. Khwanchewan and the culture compared to 18 percent in Panadda’s account of conversions Thailand and only 6 percent in China” stresses individual and family decisions (36). The samples are small, between 17 in relation to village factionalism and and 52 people in each setting, the largest a range of options for affiliation. For from a town of 10,000 people. In the some, there are on-going shifts among study villages, “individuals were asked Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant net- to be interviewed by local representa- works. At least for Karen, Ywa refers tives, often the village headman” (27). equally to their creator spirit, the Bud- In at least two of the study areas, Doi dha, and the Christian God, and “many Pui village in Chiangmai and the Dai see them as the same being” (82). Culture Park in Yunnan, the inhabitants Prasit Leepreecha writes on “The make a living from looking ethnic to role of media technology in reproduc- tourists. To rely on answers to survey ing Hmong ethnic identity.” His chapter questions administered by a government contains a valuable account of the per- official and without any follow-up, from vasive Thai-ization that he experienced people whose livelihood depends on growing up in Thailand, and how he enacting certain ethnic stereotypes, is later reconnected to Hmong identity and fundamentally naïve. culture as a budding academic. Prasit The chapter “Religious conversion shows the complex interconnections that and ethnic identity: The Karen and Akha facilitate contemporary Hmong senses in northern Thailand”, by Khwanchewan of identity. In the 1980s, Hmong in Thai- Buadeng and Panadda Boonyasaranai, land became aware of fellow Hmong in is based on more convincing research China and the West through a Hmong methods, and builds on considerable magazine published in the USA. The familiarity with the research settings. cultural knowledge that had been the The authors suggest that previously, preserve of elders and experts is now people engaged with identity in relation accessible to anyone literate in Hmong. to kin-groups and village membership, Video CDs serve to create transnational and argue that “ethnic identity, based links among Hmong peoples, and, along on common descent and shared culture, with embroidered story cloths, en- has been constructed as part of the able the remaking and reproduction of greater process of modernization and Hmong history. This includes a film that globalization” (62). This is an important combines fiction and history and ends argument, and one that challenges the with the defeat of Pathet Lao forces by ethnicist framework of the introductory the Hmong. Alongside such fantasy out- chapter. Traditional religious practices comes, internet communication helps among Akha and Karen united and di- build a more positive self-esteem that vided people by village and kinship, by counters the pervasive vilification of Hmong people in Thailand.

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Nguyen Van Thang and Nguyen Thi ties,” He Shaoying, Lou Hailin, and Luo Minh Nguyet describe “Changes in Ping write on “The inheritance of Dai healing practices among the Hmong culture and the preservation of Dai in Vietnam,” and Tran Van Ha and Le park in Xishungpanna,” and Liu Jiang Minh Anh write on “The transformation writes on “Khmu identity and survival of rituals in two Mien villages in North- in globalizing China.” The chapter on east Vietnam.” The former chapter deals hydroelectric dams shows how national with the Sapa area of Lao Cai province, policy threatens local livelihood, in this and the latter Quang Ninh province. case Lahu, Yi, Hani, and Dai peoples. Both are well informed and insightful, The government has policies aimed at and show the complex interplay of gov- mitigating any negative cultural impact, ernment policies, economic changes, but so far these efforts all seem aimed at tourism, and international aid. The latter attracting tourists to culture shows and chapter shows and explores a resurgence ethnic parks. The case of the Dai Culture in ritual activity by the 1990s. It men- Park shows what appears to be a genuine tions that many of the younger people boost to the preservation of culture, and intermarry with ethnic Vietnamese and turns out to be a corporate profit-venture are more keen on karaoke and Vietnam- run by outsiders who relegate local Dai ese pop music than local ritual practices. to low-paid jobs. The park fits a larger But the ethnic label Mien is misdirected effort to expand tourism to help with in this case, and seems to draw on an ed- economic development, but there are itorial decision to replace official labels various disjunctures between national, (such as Yao and Kariang) with local corporate, and local interests. group-references that are more varied. “Somehow, I still think that my ID The authors mention that they worked card is not quite right” (234). This among Than Phan people (141), who quote is from a Khmu woman in Yun- are one kind of Yao (variously spelled nan. Khmu are not recognized as a Dao, Zao, and Dzao in Vietnam). The nationality in China, and the authori- material on language, lineage names, ties insist that they register as Bulang, and ritual practice is significantly dif- Hani, or Dai. Liu Jian’s informative ferent from what is known about Mien chapter describes some of the Khmu peoples. The choice of the Mien label people’s history along the Lao border, creates an artificial similarity with other and the shift from swidden farming to cases in the book, and detracts from this rubber cultivation. Promoted as a move valuable study. to prosperity, rubber farms have had Three chapters on China show varied devastating ecological consequences aspects of contemporary changes in and have created significant economic the southwestern region. Xiong Zhang, vulnerability related to international Jinrong Liu and Ma Li write on “Hy- market prices, something the Khmu had dropower development on the Lancang: already experienced with sugar-cane A recommendation for affected minori- farming in the 1980s.

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Given this knowledge, it is some- appears to reinforce national boundaries what disturbing to learn in the follow- and ethnic divides. Chinese scholars ing chapter that Chinese entrepreneurs study matters in China, Thai scholars are establishing rubber and sugarcane Thailand, and so on. For the most part, cultivation across the border in Laos. the scholars are ethnic majority people Houmphan Rattanavong’s chapter on (along with a Westerner) looking at their “The changing livelihoods of the Akha minorities. There are important excep- in Muang Sing and Muang Long in tions in the book, and it would be a nice Laos” describes various challenges to experiment to have a similar group of Akha livelihood. Many adverse effects researchers trade places and make sense relate to the eradication of opium cul- of ethnicity, development, economic tivation and a move to the lowlands. disparities and the like in each other’s The chapter concludes with a range of countries. Among the things to explore, suggestions for a reasoned approach aside from trends in development and to the range of social, ecological, and change in minority areas, is the impor- economic problems in the area. tance of national research traditions and Don McCaskill’s chapter on the to what extent they lend particular shape “Transformation of Hmong Culture to how we understand the basic matters and Identity” combines a theoretical of identity, culture, national histories, discussion of globalization, objective and global dynamics. This book raises and subjective realities, with the results a range of excellent questions, and pro- of surveys and interviews in Doi Pui vil- vides valuable cases with which to think lage on Doi Suthep, above Chiangmai about the changes taking place in the City. In contrast to the fieldwork-based region. One of the unanswered questions chapters that make up most of the book, is how the Greater Mekong Subregion the material comes across as superficial. becomes a framework for engaging In spite of the theoretical ambitions of with the world, and what difference it the chapter, the material never goes makes that this notion is actively backed beyond verbal statements about such by the Asian Development Bank. If a things as “the most important things in major financial institution can define Hmong culture” (303) and a list of the how scholars demarcate their fields, it “most important factors that caused the is certainly worthy of some explora- changes to Hmong culture” (310). In tion. Studies of ethnic minorities are the book’s Epilogue, Pinkaew Launga- still important, but it is to be hoped that ramsri ably draws together some of the other dimensions of globalization and book’s collective findings in a discus- the making of regions also come into sion anchored to the dynamics of state view as cultural and social phenomena control, globalization, and the negotia- worthy of serious study. tion over tradition. The book is an example of new kinds Hjorleifur Jonsson of collaborations, but at the same time it

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Nancy Eberhardt, Imagining the Course between two opposing forces: the soul of Life: Self-Transformation in a Shan (khwan) and the spirit (phi). Although Buddhist Community. Chiang Mai, both life forces are in a transformative Silkworm Books, 2006, xiv+244 pp., continuum of births and deaths, the pb, Bt 695. separation between the two realms, the life-world khwan and the spirit-world Drawing on two extended periods of phi, is essential in maintaining the well- ethnographic fieldwork in the 1980s and being of the body and self. Through 1990s conducted in a Shan village in pat phi (sweeping away the spirits) and Mae Hong Son province, Eberhardt has haung khwan (calling the souls), the written a compelling account of Shan spirit is driven away, the soul is propi- perceptions of selfhood, life trajectories, tiated and thus there is a reconnection and well-being as articulated in every- of khwan and body in a reinstalled self. day life experiences, ritual practices, The connection between khwan and and community activities. Central to self is, however, disrupted at the time her argument is the dialectical and fluid of death, when khwan becomes phi, set- relationship between individual self and ting off on a new passage of life to be society embedded in the Shan theories reborn again. Yet the path towards this of human development, the theories transition can be divergent, depending she would rather call “Shan theories of on the nature of death (usual or tragic) person development” (p.165), as they and degree of emotional attachments of transcend the rigid and linear course of the dead to loved ones and home. Merits change. A contribution to the field of made for the deceased through proper ethno-psychological study, the book not funerals and offering ceremonies such only fills the recognizable gap in the lit- as kotsaa, a merit-making ceremony erature on indigenous world views and performed in the eleventh lunar month practices of selfhood and ‘life course’ for those who have died in the previous in mainland Southeast Asia, but also year, are therefore crucial to facilitate offers a reflexive formulation of how the process of transformation and to such issues can be contemplated beyond ensure the disconnection between the the conventional boundaries between life and spirit worlds. Buddhist doctrine and popular religion, But self is never an empty entity or a culture and psychology, mind and body, complete coherence since birth. The sto- thought and feeling, and individual and ries of rebirth are captivating accounts society. of how past selves and present souls are Opening with an account of a healing constantly re-interconnected in the actu- rite, Eberhardt delves into the heart of the al world. As the deceased is reborn into a Shan thinking and practice of a healthy new child, the process of guiding the self self. For the Shan, the body is not only towards maturity starts anew. Eberhardt a physical entity, but a contested site nicely draws a common thread between

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 296 Reviews spirits, souls, and children, showing how length in order to see how this theatrical each share a basic nature of immature rite represents a site of multiple forms of self—the temptation and susceptibility maturity-making. Her way of capturing of being lured by desires. The hungry this ritual is interesting and her inter- spirit can be manipulated and control- pretation revealing. Whereas much of led through human rites. The wandering the literature on Buddhism and gender soul needs the right treat to be persuaded emphasizes gender inequality, Eberhardt to return to the body. The wild child is highlights the agency aspect of gender to be tamed and taught to know how to relations, the role of woman sponsors in be self-restrained. All of these are sig- the ritual and the social meaning embed- nificant processes in which selves are ded in their active involvement. In so domesticated and made mature. doing, she demonstrates to the reader Shan people maintain their health how Paui Sang Long is simultaneously a and well-being personally and collec- unique rite of passage for boys and a rite tively through ritual assistance. The of maternity for middle-aged women. story of three annual rituals which were As the ordination symbolizes the path performed in one day, illustrated by towards adulthood of young boys, it Eberhardt, is a good example of how is also enthusiastically anticipated by the technology of rituals is extensively women. Through the devoted role of employed by villagers to sustain vari- mae kham, the sponsor of the novice ous levels of healthy life. The mei wan ordination, the rite of Paui Sang Long (repairing the village) is aimed at pu- comes to mark the rite of maturity for rification and revitalization. The liang both men and women, by which women tsao moeng (feasting the village guard- sponsors also gain respectable status and ian spirit) is to reaffirm the reverential prestige through their dedication. relationship with the guardian spirit For the Shan, maturity as a form of whose power protects the livelihoods self-transformation does not end when of village members. The song phi (send- one achieves adulthood, but continues ing away the spirits) leads bad spirits while aging. In old age, one learns to out of the realm of the human world. understand life and reality more deeply These are only a few of the countless through detachment from the worldly rituals performed by the Shan in order world, the process Eberhardt calls “the to ensure the well-being of the self. Ritu- second socialization”. Long years of als as cultural strategies thus allow the knowledge and experience, and closer Shan properly to prepare themselves to connections with Buddhist practices, al- cope with the uncertainty of the world low old people, especially temple-sleep- they live in. ers, to gain insightful contemplation of Paui Sang Long, the well-known life, ‘personhood’, and self-control, a Shan novice ordination, is another ter- significant moral stage of human devel- rain of ritual Eberhardt explores at great opment looked up to by the young ones in the community.

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Imagining the Course of Life is a rich Vatthana Pholsena and Ruth Banomyong, and engaging ethnography. Eberhardt’s Laos: From Buffer State to Crossroads? stories are entertaining; one can feel the translated by Michael Smithies. Chiang lively presence and energetic involve- Mai, Mekong Press, 2006, 225 pp., ment of the anthropologist in everyday Bt 525. life of the Shan world as she moves from one ritual to the other. Focusing At first glance, the sub-title of this on specific events, yet with broader book From Buffer State to Crossroads? cultural reflections, this ethnography is a suggests that what is on offer is an fascinating achievement of how dualism historical argument about how Laos between personal understanding of self has evolved over the past two decades, and human development and structural with just some doubt insinuated by that imperative of the cultural world can be coy question mark. But this is mislead- resolved without abandoning its ten- ing. What the book is about, rather, is sion. The final chapter also suggests revealed by its original French title: further terrains of exploration, includ- Le Laos au XXI siècle: Les défis de ing changes and their implications, l’intégration régionale (Laos in the significant topics that deserve closer 21st century: The challenges of regional investigation. integration). This is a work of great value, not The approach the two authors have only to the field of ethno-psychology adopted is analytical, rather than his- in particular but also to students of torical. The first three chapters make the mainland Southeast Asia more broadly. case for Laos as a buffer state; examine Those who are particularly interested its subsequent integration into the As- in ritual, selfhood, and human develop- sociation of Southeast Asian Nations ment will find the book both insightful (ASEAN); and assess the continuing and illuminating. importance of relations with Vietnam and Thailand. The next four chapters Pinkaew Laungaramsri analyse the situation Laos faces today: the problems posed by aspects of its un- derdevelopment; by subregional trans- portation and communications links; by cross-border contacts and influences; along with some of the social responses to changes taking place. The argument that Laos had devel- oped as a buffer state between expand- ing Vietnamese and Siamese empires, which had been in conflict with each other for ‘over a thousand years’, was

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 298 Reviews first made by Hugh Toye in his book the suzerainty of Siam. Even then they Laos: Buffer State or Battleground were not buffer states: they were tribu- (1968). This, for Toye, provided the his- tary meuang of the expanded Siamese torical basis for what he believed should mandala. But they also maintained po- have been the role of Laos during the litical relations with Vietnam and China Cold War: to be a neutral buffer state, in as well as Siam, relations which ebbed preference to becoming a battleground and flowed in proportion to the relative for contending ideologies. Pholsena and power and interests of each. Banomyong broadly accept the notion The culture of Lao foreign relations of Laos as historically a buffer state, as was never shaped by the idea of neu- they indicate by their sub-title and in trality or being a buffer between con- their introductory chapter. Given this tending powers. It was shaped by the context, Laos as crossroads is a new infinitely flexible political structure of departure, though as the authors point the meuang, whose nested hierarchical out (pp. 131–134), it was always linked relationships comprised the mandala by trade to the region. of Meuang Lao. No fixed frontiers held I read Lao history rather differently. antagonistic kingdoms apart. Trade and The movement of peoples in mainland diplomacy in the form of tribute mis- Southeast Asia has historically been sions kept the Lao kingdoms in constant from north to south, following the flow contact with the region. Even after the of great rivers (the Irrawaddy, the Chao destruction of Viang Chan (Vientiane) Phraya, the Mekong), or down the coast in the Lao-Siamese war of 1827-28, Lao of Vietnam. Conquests were at the ex- meuang, most notably Luang Phrabang, pense of the Pyu, the Mon, the Khmer but also the Sipsong Chau Thai, Xiang and the Cham. The Lao were part of Khuang and some lesser meuang on this north-south movement, along with the Mahaxai Plateau, kept up regional the Burmese, Siamese and Vietnamese. contacts designed not to maintain some The kingdom (mandala) of Lan Xang kind of neutrality, but to preserve a de- that the Lao constructed on the middle gree of independence through a flexible Mekong was not a buffer state: it was accounting of power relationships. a kingdom of comparable extent and Only with the arrival of antagonistic might to Siam and Dai Viet, a kingdom European powers was the notion of a which successfully defended its unity buffer state introduced into Southeast and independence from invaders from Asian political thought – and then, as both east and west. Pholsena and Banomyong acknowl- Only after Lan Xang split into three edge, it applied to Siam, not Laos. The (Luang Phrabang, Viang Chan and Lao territories were divided: what is Champasak) in the early eighteenth Laos today was part of French Indo- century were these weakened Lao china; the rest remained part of Siam. kingdoms eventually forced to accept The French justified their rule over

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Laos (and Cambodia) as protection from satisfy realist analysts, but it worked Siamese domination, only to open the fairly well in the past. way to domination by Vietnam. This interpretation dispenses with Only with the advent of the Cold War the notion of Laos as a buffer state as was independent Laos cast in the role a temporary Western imposition, an of a buffer state between communist aberration in the historical pattern of North Vietnam and capitalist Thailand. mainland Southeast Asian regional re- But it was a role that rested solely on lations. What we now see is a return to the interference of outside powers. Laos more flexible and more firmly histori- was in fact not neutral, but divided into cally grounded relationships, but in the spheres of control: Chinese in the north modern guise of ASEAN. (after 1962), Vietnamese down the east- Pholsena and Banomyong devote ern mountains, and US/Thai along the the best part of a chapter to considering Mekong valley. After 1975, Laos was why Laos (and Vietnam and Cambodia) tightly tied to Vietnam. It took the Third joined ASEAN, and the challenges and Indochina War to begin to unravel Vi- benefits this poses for Vientiane. While etnamese ‘regional hegemony’, and the the authors give due weight to the end ‘solution’ of the Cambodian conflict in of the Cold War and the UN ‘solution’ 1993 to complete it (despite the continu- in Cambodia, they do not, I think, take ing Lao-Vietnamese ‘special relation- sufficient account of the extent to which ship’ – on which more below). the Lao decision depended on Vietnam. Laos as a neutral buffer state was an This is not to say that Lao reasons for invention of the West, an intrusion of joining ASEAN were the same as those Western strategic thinking into South- of Vietnam: just that if Vietnam had not east Asia. Once the West withdrew, joined, Laos would not have become a once Vietnam no longer possessed the member. prop of the Soviet Union, the countries For Vietnam, security in the face of a of Southeast Asia could begin to re- rising China was the first consideration. vert to the regional relationships they Given the events of 1979 and disputed previously enjoyed. The ‘great power’ sovereignty over islands in the South in the region is once again China. But China Sea, Vietnam was desperate not there is no military/strategic alliance to face China alone. China would be less among mainland Southeast Asian likely to attack a member of ASEAN states to ‘balance’ Chinese power and than to teach an isolated Vietnam a no buffer between them. Security for second ‘lesson’. But this was not a pri- mainland Southeast Asian states derives, mary concern of the Lao. Pholsena and as it traditionally did, from diplomacy Banomyong examine three sets of ex- underwritten by moral expectations, planations of why Laos joined ASEAN, recognition of China’s status, and the which are really accounts of what Laos mutual benefits of trade. This may not stood to gain. A neo-institutionalist

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 300 Reviews argument is that Laos would benefit forces fought side-by-side under the rain from inclusion in ASEAN’s cooperative of American bombs. Yet this was the multilateral institutions to raise its voice period when the all-important military in world forums. A realist view would relationship was consolidated. be that Lao national security would be For it is the military relationship protected, not as in the case of Vietnam above all that has caused the ‘special re- from China, but from Thailand, which lationship’ to persist, not that in its cur- fought a more recent border war with rent form it is ‘multidimensional’. Since Laos in 1988. the death of Laos’s first state and party The authors prefer a constructionist president, Kaysone Phomvihan, who perspective. They argue that joining was half Vietnamese, his two successors ASEAN permits Laos to contribute to have both been army commanders. It is building a ‘security community’, by true, however, as the authors argue, that means of which it would be able to pur- the relationship is mutually beneficial sue a genuinely neutralist foreign policy in terms of both trade (legal and illegal, of peace and friendship with all other mainly timber) and security. Vietnam states (even if some friends, like Viet- has always understood the relationship nam, remain more equal than others.) as strategic, as protecting its long and Though the authors do not stress this vulnerable western frontier. point, such a policy has the benefit of The analysis of the ‘tense’ relation- ensuring that Laos continues to receive ship between Laos and Thailand is much aid and investment from the widest pos- more searching and revealing, as one sible cross-section of donors. might expect from authors who are, re- A chapter is devoted to examining spectively, Lao and Thai. But here again bilateral relations with both Vietnam there is a curious lacuna. No mention is and Thailand. The roots of the ‘special made of the event that still bulks large relationship’ with Vietnam are found in Lao national consciousness – the in the events of 1945 when, at the di- sack of Viang Chan. Just as the Thai rection of the communist controlled can never forget the utter destruction of Vietminh front, Vietnamese living in Ayutthaya at the hands of the Burmese, Laos seized power in the Lao Mekong so the Lao can never forget the equally towns alongside the Lao Issara (Free total destruction of Viang Chan and the Lao) nationalists and a handful of Lao brutal treatment of its ruling family. Marxists. From there we jump to the The relationship with China is only establishment of a Pathet Lao liberated mentioned in passing, as ‘an increasing zone in northeast Laos in 1953, thanks influence’. But it is more than that. The to Vietminh forces. And from 1953 we Chinese presence in Laos is growing leap to the present. There is no mention steadily. Substantial numbers of Chinese of the decade of warfare from 1964 to have moved into northern Lao towns, 1973, during which Lao and Vietnamese where much of the commerce is now in

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 301 their hands. Chinese companies have updated for the English edition, but built factories, established plantations still run a few years late. “The last three and begun mining. Their expanding po- years” mentioned at one point actually litical influence has been at the expense refer to 2000–2003.) of the Vietnamese. Already the Lao are In chapter 5 the authors address careful to balance their relations with that question mark in their title: does Hanoi and Beijing. Once the last of the the future of Laos lie in becoming the revolutionary generation of Lao military crossroads (or in their terminology, the leaders have retired, the balance may ‘logistics platform’) of mainland South- well tip in China’s favour. east Asia? Forms of, and improvements Chapter four moves directly to the to, transportation and communications Lao economy, but the reader is not sure are discussed with the help of tables on why. No attempt is made to set the chap- such matters as comparative transport ter in the context of the transition from costs and time spent at frontier cross- buffer state to crossroads. The discus- ings. The roles played by ASEAN sion is informed and informative, and agreements and the Asian Development one assumes that the point being made is Bank in promoting its Greater Mekong that Laos is ill-prepared to stand as some Sub-region project (which includes the kind of sub-regional economic hub. The Chinese province of Yunnan as well as weakness of Lao financial institutions mainland Southeast Asian states) are and the country’s economic dependency examined, but the authors rightly con- are stressed. This is contrasted with self- clude that such theoretical concepts as sufficiency in food production. ‘growth areas’ (triangles, quadrilaterals) Economic dependency is indicated by including parts of Laos and ‘economic the country’s balance of payments defi- corridors’ following transport routes cit, which the authors argue will not be across the country “still have to prove quickly reversed by the construction of their worth on the ground.” large dams (notably the Nam Theun II) Nevertheless, as the authors correctly and sale of hydropower to Thailand, the assert in chapter 6, there is no possibility only buyer. There is, however, no dis- that landlocked Laos can remain semi- cussion of mining. Yet in 2005 and 2006, isolated from the global changes sweep- the value of Lao exports grew faster than ing the rest of Southeast Asia. A massive for any other ASEAN member state, increase in tourism, increasing labour thanks largely to the boost provided by migration, epidemics such as HIV/Aids mineral exports from the large Austral- and SARS, and smuggling of timber ian owned and operated gold and copper (the example they examine), livestock mine at Sepone in central Laos (which and wildlife, all cut across borders and also provided substantial revenue to force Laos to confront the challenges the Lao government.) (Statistics in the of expanding regional integration. But French publication of 2004 have been then, as the authors point out, to claim

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 302 Reviews that historically Laos was isolated from Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h, The Armies the region was to perpetuate a myth. of Angkor: Military Structure and Chapter 7 turns to social change, the Weaponry of the Khmers, translated by failure of Marxism, the crisis of political Michael Smithies, Bangkok, Orchid legitimation and the resurgence of Bud- Press, 2007, xiii + 178 pp., Bt 1,350. dhism. The attitudes of Lao youth are re- vealed through answers to the Vientiane Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h, Orchid Social Survey, and the chapter ends with Press, and Michael Smithies as transla- a brief note on ethnic minorities in the tor of the original French edition, are all face of resettlement and regional inte- to be congratulated for the publication of gration. Each is of interest, but treated this book with its intriguing subject. As as separate issues. Jean Boissellier points out in his Preface, The conclusion is inconclusive, be- the study of narrative bas-reliefs in the cause at the end of the day the authors temples of Angkor have been of great present no clearly argued case, either in importance for our understanding of a terms of direction of change or of the society that left behind such a limited economic and political challenges Laos number of written—or, more correctly, faces today. Both can be glimpsed but incised—records. Today, as scholarship could have been presented in a more has advanced so substantially, it is all too connected way. That said, any book on easy, even for a less-than-casual visitor Laos is a welcome addition to a woe- to Angkor, to fail to recognise how much fully small literature, and this book is has been deduced from approximately packed with useful information that 1,200 inscriptions, many of which have will be new to most readers. There is a little to do with the material life of the chronology that runs from 1353, the date Angkorian period. It is in these circum- of the founding of Lan Xang, to 2005, stances that the importance of narrative and a useful bibliography and index. The bas-reliefs has long been recognised. translation from the French by Michael Lunet de Lajonquière, whose fame rests Smithies runs smoothly, making the on his having been responsible for map- book an easy read. ping temple sites throughout Cambodia in the first two decades of the twentieth Martin Stuart-Fox century, observed in 1911 that temple bas-reliefs constituted ‘a veritable mine of information’ about Angkorian society and urged scholars to exploit this ‘mine’. This was a challenge partially met by George Groslier, in his Recherches sur les Cambodgiens, d’après les textes et les monuments depuis les premiers siècles de notre ère, published in Paris

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 303 in 1921. And through his work, and that a limited number of ‘war machines’, of others, much information has been for example, a chariot-like mount with assembled about daily life in Cambodia. defensive shielding used by warriors to The bas-reliefs along the outer galleries launch their spears (figure 29, page 37) of the Bayon are, of course, the best- or other primitive ‘ballistae’, including known sources in this regard. ones mounted on elephants, the arma- Yet, again quoting Boisselier, surpris- ments of the Khmer army were ‘fairly ingly enough the armies so frequently primitive’ and included swords of vari- displayed in these bas-reliefs have not ous types, axes, bows and arrows and received the attention they deserve, and spears. it is here that our gratitude must go to From his examination of the bas- the present author. In meticulous detail, reliefs, the author concludes that the and sensibly using line drawings rather Khmer armies of the period under than photographs for the greater clar- review were composed of four basic ity this achieves, deals with the entire corps: war chariots, cavalry, elephants gamut of military aspects associated and the infantry. To this he adds a further with the royal armies that existed during classification, allies and mercenaries, the reigns of Suryavarman II and Jaya- while giving separate attention to en- varman VII and which were depicted emies, and treating the use of boats for on three key temples: Angkor Wat, the warfare as a separate classification. In Bayon and Banteay Chmar. In doing so, his detailed examination of these vari- Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h sets himself ous fighting arms the author comes to three aims: the selection of bas-reliefs a conclusion that would not surprise and the study of the weapons used by the soldiers of many wars, past and present. different constituents of the army; the Impressive though the cavalry might study of these constituent parts and their have been, and intimidating as the el- relative importance to each other; and, ephants surely were, in the end it would finally, an examination of the crowds of seem that the most important role in people surrounding the armies that are any battle was that played by the group depicted. All of this is done against the known for centuries, irreverently, as the conclusion that, contrary to the assump- ‘poor bloody infantry’. As the author tions of various previous commentators, puts it, the elephants were ‘so impres- the Khmer armies were not modelled on sive, so numerous, so cumbersome, and traditional armies in India. possibly so useless’. Images of tanks, In each of the sections just mentioned incompetently used as they were during the author approaches his task in detail, the First World War, before their role so that what follows is greatly simpli- was rethought by strategists as diverse fied and should be seen in this light. In as Liddell Hart, Charles de Gaulle and terms of weaponry, Jacq-Hergoualc’h Hans Guderian, immediately come to makes clear that, with the exception of mind. And likewise with his analysis

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 304 Reviews of battles fought on water, the images Joyce Clark, ed., Bayon: New perspec- that he conjures up sit more closely with tives. Contributors: Ang Choulean, accounts of Salmis or even Lepanto than Olivier Cunin, Claude Jacques, T.S. any later naval engagements in which Maxwell, Vittorio Roveda, Anne- armaments and manoeuvrability played Valérie Schweyer, Peter D. Sharrock, a vital role. To the extent the bas-reliefs Michael Vickery, and Hiram Woodward. have a story to tell, it is of the boats Bangkok, River Books, 2007, ix–409 of rival armies seeking to join battle pp., numerous colour and b/w ills, alongside each other, with the hope of bibliography, glossaries, index. each boat’s crew that it could board and overcome its opponents. Last of the ‘temple-mountains’ built Following his discussion of acces- at Angkor, the Bayon embodies sev- sories and camp followers, the author eral centuries of architectural tradition offers a tightly formulated ‘conclusion’ – even if borrowings from Angkor reinforcing his arguments for the para- Wat, the earlier twelfth century state mount importance of the infantry and temple, are the most evident. In ad- the uniquely Khmer character of the dition, the Bayon is the first and only army. But he does more, for he allows Buddhist Khmer state temple and, con- his imagination, soundly based on what trary to Borobudur (which is in a way he has written and analysed previously, its Javanese counterpart), it was from to give us a picture of how he believes the beginning conceived and built as a the army appeared as it marched off to Buddhist monument. That, however, in battle. It is a vision of colour and noise, the Angkorean context, does not imply of a ‘shimmering multitude of parasols, structural differences with Brahmanistic standards and insignia’, of bells and monuments, but signifies another old strummed instruments and ‘the boom- Khmer tradition most probably nour- ing gong’. As he writes, ‘what a din that ished by fresh ideas derived from India must have made!’ around the end of the eleventh century, Specialist in character though this perhaps even later (but definitely be- book undoubtedly is, its appearance will fore the exodus from India of Buddhist be welcomed by all those for whom a theologians alluded to by Tāranātha, visit to Angkor is more than an occasion the Tibetan historian). It is on such a for a brief, if wondrous, excursion. The double architectural and ideological author is to be commended for his con- basis that the Bayon was ‘invented’ tribution to our greater understanding by individual or numerous artists and of a society that still remains so elusive theologians from the retinue of Jayavar- in many ways. man VII, bearing in mind that theology and political science were there closely Milton Osborne linked, and also remembering that the initial construction was followed by one

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 305 or several revisions (to say nothing of Hiram Woodward’s foreword con- post-Jayavarman VII avatars). tains, as usual, stimulating suggestions These various orientations determine (especially about Buddhist “layers” the framework of any investigative which may be identified). Michael study about the Bayon: one cannot avoid Vickery’s task in the ‘Introduction’ was questioning traditions, inventions and more complicated, for he had to present revisions and it may better to deal with the preceding research, to summarise in the several disciplinary fields involved an integrated overview the other papers separately. The present book is made and to express his own ideas. For the up of ten papers (including a foreword past, the presentation is rapid and, as and an introduction), which guarantees often with this book, work done in the multiplicity. This being the case, not 1960s (especially Dumarçay’s) is over- being the integrated study which was looked, with the result indicated above planned at the start (see the editor’s with the Bayon ground plan. An excur- preface), it looks very much like those sus on the name of the Bayon could have festschrifts where each author deals been enhanced by the first mention of with his own topic in his own way and the Bayon in Europe found in the Eng- with little regard to what may be found lish edition (1864, v.II p.2) of Mouhot’s in the other papers. Internal cross refer- diary (which is far more complete than ences are few and connection between the French one referred to here): known ‘materialistic’ and ‘idealistic’ (Vickery’s as Prea sat Ling poun, it meant, accord- terms) specialists is rarely evident. Thus ing to Mouhot, “the Pagoda where they one is surprised to see that nobody has play hide and seek.” As regards the told Vickery that the (so-called) Dufour vexed problem of the certain Shaivite ground plan of the Bayon is not to be upsurge during the thirteenth century taken as a reference: like all pre-Du- (notwithstanding Claude Jacques), the marçay Bayon ground plans, it is errone- Jayavarman VIII hypothesis seems a ous and marked by several oddities such little late for a phenomena which had as a supplementary but non-existent seemingly quietened down by the time tower on the western side of the monu- of Zhou Daguan’s sojourn in Angkor. ment (it may be said in the defence of In any case, as I have related elsewhere, Vickery that the same Dufour plan illus- the Indian and sectarian origin of that trating the Bayon appears in a scholarly violent fundamentalist but short-lived Angkor guidebook recently published phenomenon is more likely than its at- in Bangkok and Geneva). Lastly, some tribution to a deliberate royal policy of topics are dealt with repeatedly in one of Jayavarman VII’s successors. several papers and one looks in vain for Claude Jacques, in ‘The historical at least a kind of integrative synthesis development of Khmer culture from the (e.g. about the face-towers or the so- death of Sūryavarman II to the sixteenth called ‘gallery passages’, alias kui). century’, expands on the theory he has

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 306 Reviews been developing for some years and tenth century more than of the twelfth. which denies any decline at Angkor after Dealing with the events of 1177, the the death of Jayavarman VII. To give it a author follows Vickery but with some ‘materialistic’ ground, he lengthens the curious arguments (Chams being excel- construction period of the monuments of lent sailors, they do not need a Chinese the so-called Bayon style, while attribut- guide, or as there is a good land route, ing to the rule of Jayavarman VIII (in why come via the Mekong and the the second half of the thirteenth century) Tonle Sap?). More interesting is the some specific changes brought to older development dealing with the control of monuments (Phimai, Baphuon, as well Champa by the Khmers during the reign as Angkor Wat or Beng Mealea). How- of Jayavarman VII and the emphasis on ever, archaeological and architectural the expression ‘the 32 year war’ applied evidence put forward are mere hypoth- to the period of Khmer occupation in eses, as is the replacement of the Bud- Cham inscriptions. dha statue in the sanctum of the Bayon As usual, T.S. Maxwell’s paper, ‘Re- by a Harihara image, to say nothing of ligion of the time of Jayavarman VII’, the interpretation of the notes of Zhou is a very stimulating one, even if one Daguan. Claude Jacques’ paper ends is inclined to differ on many points. with an excursus about the “gallery pas- It starts by a presentation of the com- sages” or kui. On that point I must add ing of Indian religions to South-East that such temporary structures built with Asia, interestingly but surprisingly thin walls and light covering are most leaving out reference to the numerous probably those ‘provisional temples’ imported Indian Sanskrit texts, which (balālaya, balagha, etc., literally ‘infant are the backbone of Indian culture in temples’), which in the Indian tradition South-East Asia. Some statements may are used to shelter the cult image (or a be doubtful, such as the opposition of a substitute for it) of a temple or chapel southern Funan where Viṣṇu would have during repairs or under construction. been predominant while the north was A.–V. Schweyer’s paper, ‘The con- the field of the cult of Śiva, but he insists frontation of the Khmers and Chams in rightly on what he calls ‘Hindu-Bud- the Bayon period’, starts with a tedious dhist tendency’ or ‘coalescence’, giving military history of Khmer-Cham rela- some good examples (e.g. Prasat Ampil tions between circa 1050 and Jayavar- Rolum and inscriptions K. 162–163). man VII, in the middle of which is He could have added that Khmer archi- inserted a short excursus on ‘Khmer tecture as a whole is non-sectarian and influence on Cham art’; however, the that the shift of a cult-place from one statues dealt with are testimonies of creed to another is easy and not rare Khmer colonial art at the time of Jaya- (e.g. Bat Chum in the tenth century). varman VII, while temples of Banhit Lastly, when dealing with the immediate reflect Khmer architecture of the late background of Jayavarman VII, it would

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 307 have been better to have taken notice of hara image replaced that of the Buddha the important Mahayanist temples built at the time of Jayavarman VIII. Let us in the decades preceding his reign and remember, however, that of the two god- where plenty of place is allowed for desses whose presence in inscriptions Brahmanic themes (e.g. Beng Mealea leads to the creation of those hypothetic and the series of ‘temples d’étapes’ Harihara, one (Dharaṇī) is a common (staging-post temples) between Ang- Buddhist deity, while the other (Pārvatī) kor and Prah Khan of Kompong Svay). is said in the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra to be After a confused presentation of the a future Buddha! Further on, Maxwell Bayon’s ‘short inscriptions’, comes an questions the rationale of worshipping excursus of several pages on the face numerous ‘separate images of the same towers. Maxwell seems inclined, like aspect of the same Buddha in a single nineteenth century travellers, to look for temple’. Let us remember the more their invention outside Cambodia, that is than one hundred Śivaliṇgas occupying to say, in India, but where? It is not very each a chapel in the Phnom Bakheng clear. He establishes a dubious parallel temple at Angkor or are installed in between those faces applied to a tower’s the galleries of Bṛhadīśvara temple in main body and Indian śukanāsa pedi- Tanjore in South India. The same kind ments which pertain to foreparts (and of remark may be made about what is are exact counterparts of the numerous said concerning the installation of a new Khmer porch pediments). While leaving image near an older one, a triviality in aside once more the textual background, Cambodia as in India; this being the Maxwell then emphasises in a footnote case, Maxwell well shows the Khmers’ the idea of ‘Southeast Asian voyagers profound knowledge of Indian culture, visiting India and returning with useful knowledge which allows them to invent elements of that culture’, for which it new interpretations for their own use. would be good to be given at least some T.S. Maxwell appends to his paper a positive arguments. Regarding the short synchronistic edition and translation of inscriptions, he elaborates on their role all ‘The short inscriptions of the Bayon and on their absence in some places and contemporary temples’. Though where images could have been installed, convenient, it is however difficult to use while not mentioning the problem of without going back to the more precise the date of their engraving and of their works of Coedès or Groslier. possible relative chronology. Then deal- Olivier Cunin covers the materialistic ing with the gods they list, he extends aspect of the temple but his paper ‘The some remarks made by Coedès in 1913 Bayon: an archaeological and architec- to suggest that the Buddha of the central tural study’, the longest of the book, has sanctum of the Bayon is in fact the Hin- been little used by other authors. It is du god Harihara. We have already seen lavishly illustrated by numerous plans that C. Jacques suggested that a Hari- and cross-sections (most of them seem-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 308 Reviews ingly based upon Dumarçay’s), as well precise hints about possible connec- as useful axonometric or bird’s eye view tion with Nepal face stupas and lastly reconstructions. In its reconstruction of elaborates three interpretations: Heva- the outer gallery, Cunin proposes that jra, Vajradhāra and Vajrasattva. Hevajra it comprised eight face towers, using is very popular, as shown by several simultaneously some elements of such bronze images and a single huge but di- towers found in the ‘Commaille heaps’ lapidated and dismembered statue found and the Banteay Chmar model; the near the eastern gate of Angkor Thom. hypothesis is interesting, but remains However, its multiple heads would to be verified by actual reconstruction make it unsuitable for face towers (this of some, at least, of the supposed face may or may not be so). Vajrasattva and towers. However, his most important Vajradhāra share several features and contribution is to propose a rearrange- appear quite frequently in Jayavarman ment of the chronology of the construc- VII monuments: Vajradhāra especially tion work of the Bayon, a rearrangement in hospital temple libraries, while Vajra- based upon several criteria, among sattva is often found on internal lintels which and for the most part comprise the of Buddhist shrines (at Prah Khan of study of magnetic variation of sandstone Kompong Svay it appears on lintels of by the University of Waseda petrology small shrines and has been subsequently team. The result is a chronology more deprived of upper arms, probably in or- compact than Dumarçay’s (especially der to be more coherent with Theravāda concerning the third level); it seems iconography!). Sharrock’s argument as a whole quite convincing, even if (based inter alia upon votive tablets some new findings may appear a little showing the Mahayanist pantheon, see doubtful (e.g. concerning the gallery of Woodward’s article of 1981) leads him the second level). Some remarks seem finally to propose the Vajrasattva face as a little hasty (e.g. about the so-called the one seen on the Bayon towers. While library-like towers 50 and 51 and their admiring Sharrock’s well-documented relation to towers 19 and 20). This be- ‘theological’ argument, I wonder if it ing the case, one may again deplore the takes into account the Bayon’s political fact that Peter S. Sharrock is, amongst aspect and function. the other authors, the only one who has Vittorio Roveda, in his paper, ‘Re- applied an idealistic eye to the results of liefs of the Bayon’, deals with the O. Cunin’s very materialistic study. monument’s iconography as a whole The faces of the Bayon (and some (excepting the faces on the towers) and other monuments) have often been dealt in a general way looks at it more or with, but the paper by Peter D. Shar- less in a synchronic mode. The paper is rock, ‘The mystery of the face towers’, an inventory (first of the reliefs of gal- is welcome. It furnishes a fair review leries, then of the pediments and some of the present state of the studies, gives lintels of towers), followed by some

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 309 proposals of interpretation. The inven- fifteenth century and that the sixteenth tory is quite cursory, especially for the century marks an important date in this galleries, where a good visual memory interpretation. of the reliefs is often needed to follow To conclude, this collective work is descriptions as given, but there are very more stimulating in the divergent inter- good photographs of some of the hid- pretations it gives to some specific sub- den pediments of the second level tow- jects than as a general presentation of the ers. For the interpretation of the outer present state of studies of the Bayon. It gallery, Roveda follows the views of is therefore a good addition to the bibli- Vickery and Schweyer about the naval ography dealing with the most puzzling battle, adding new questionable argu- period of Angkorean history. Lastly, ments (the boats are not sea-going ships) we should indicate that the fine general and proposes that it is a ‘mythic’ (rather, appearance of the book is impaired by ‘mock’) battle commemorating the non- use of a very small type and of an even existent historical one. The arguments smaller one for footnotes, which are vir- he gives against the identification of tually illegible. Narrower margins and Malyan rebellion are probably more the suppression of some figures of little specious (Cham inscriptions tell us that interest would have contributed to a less Cham troops attended the event but do tiresome reading without increasing the not appear on the carved scene). Con- number of pages. Misprints are few but cerning the inner gallery, the distinction one of them concerns an old master of between original and re-carved images Khmer epigraphy, Au Chhieng, whose is sometimes questionable (e.g. about name is misspelt (Au Chhing) in the Śiva’s image in room VIII), but it is text as in the index, but not in the bib- well-known that there may be endless liography. In that last the reference to discussions about this point. Jacques Dumarçay’s seminal Atlas has The conclusion of the book is given been muddled: it should be ascribed to by Ang Choulean, whose paper has a 1967 and not to 1973, which is the date title ‘In the beginning was the Bayon’ I of the book co-authored with B.-Ph. would willingly reverse, as the legacy of Groslier. the past reflected in the Bayon is often left aside in this book. This being the Bruno Dagens case, Ang Choulean shows us how the Bayon is at the centre of re-appropria- tion by the present-day Khmer cosmogi- cal myths figured at Angkor, primarily the Churning of the Sea of Milk. He also reminds us that the reinterpretation of the Bayon, as of Angkor as a whole, has been a continuous process since the

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Olivier Cunin and Baku Saito, The Face of their locations in much less accessible Towers of Banteay Chmar. Tokyo, Goto areas. In addition, the work had to be Shoin Publishing, 2005, 141 pp. carried out with serious time constraints, making the shooting chaotic, according The monumental and awe-inspir- to the photographer. Trees and branches ing stone faces of Angkor that smile had to be removed from faces before so enigmatically upon the Cambodian they could be photographed and the countryside have intrigued Western art- best angles for shooting pictures were ists and scholars for more than a century, often on top of wobbling piles of stone. but for one Japanese photographer they Banteay Chmar, which has not been have become a passion. Baku Saito restored, remains one of Cambodia’s began travelling to Cambodia in the most extensive ruins. early 1990s. His frequent solo excur- Undaunted by such challenges, Saito sions brought him in touch with a land was able successfully to complete the visited at the time by only a few foreign project. He photographed 31 new travelers. The scenery and architecture faces and documented the existence of captured his imagination and in 1994 he others which have fallen to ruin. His decided to photograph all of the monu- efforts culminated in The Face Towers mental stone faces that still existed at of Banteay Chmar, a valuable work Angkor. The project to document all 228 documenting an important aspect of the of the faces took six years and culmi- reign of the late twelfth century Khmer nated in the publication of a UNESCO ruler Jayavarman VII, whose face is sponsored book “Bayon I – The Faces believed to have served as the inspira- of the Towers, Part I Plates”. tion for the large stone images. The While Saito’s photography of all the book, which is in both English and Japa- faces of Angkor met with great acclaim nese, is divided into two main sections. and an UNECSO sponsored exhibition, The first part consists of one hundred the photographer was not satisfied with pages of photographs in both color and his work because he soon discovered black and white. This is followed by a that similar faces to those appearing at chapter written by Olivier Cunin, based Angkor Thom and the Bayon could be on research he carried out at the Insti- found at two other locations in Cam- tut National Polytechnique, Lorraine, bodia: Banteay Chmar, a site which France, for a Ph.D. thesis demonstrating lies over 100 kilometres northwest of that there are additional face towers at Angkor and close to the Thai border, and Bayon which are today in ruin. Preah Khan at Kompong Svay, which is The book’s photographic section located to the east of Angkor in an area commences with color photographs of know for iron mining. Banteay Chmar, its adjacent satellite Both sites posed enormous challenges temples and Mebon and also includes to the determined photographer because color photos of Preah Khan of Kom-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 311 pong Svay. Captions tend to be poetic, other architectural sites in Cambodia such as, “Pediment bathed in sunlight / which have monumental faces. Under Banteay Chmar (entrance of the main the section “Where Are the Face Tow- temple)”. This section is followed by ers Found”, the author briefly refers black and white photos of all the faces to Preah Khan of Kompong Svay. The found at each site with precise informa- section also includes an inventory of tion about each one’s location. face towers which are in ruin. This is The second part of the book presents accompanied by a series of black and an extremely detailed 40-page text by white photographs, where stone sections Cunin. The chapter starts with a compre- believed to be part of the face tower are hensive list of sources for scholars who highlighted in color. have visited and written about the monu- Any serious visitor to Banteay ment in the past. As the author points Chmar, “the citadel of the cats” as the out, up until the 1920s these faces were impressive Khmer ruins are called, originally mistaken as representing one would find reading this book extremely of the Hindu gods, possibly Brahma or useful in serving to explain the layout Siva, due to the mistaken classification and design of the almost overwhelm- of the Bayon period to a much earlier ing fields of stone rubble. Members of era. Only in 1924, when a carving of a recent Siam Society trip can attest to the Avalokitesvara was discovered at the fact that reaching the site is still a the Bayon, was the monument correctly difficult journey over bumpy roads and linked to a later date and Mahayana touring the monument requires prow- Buddhism. ess at climbing over mounds of uneven Unfortunately, as the author also stone. How Saito in a short time man- points out, due to its remote location, aged to photograph all the faces and Banteay Chmar has suffered from ex- accurately remember where each image tensive pillaging. Cunin mentions that is located in the maze of stone rubble is in 1999 Thai border police found a large difficult to imagine. section of the western gallery, which However impressive Saito’s efforts, was being smuggled into Thailand. The Face Towers of Banteay Chmar Those in Thailand at the time remember does have certain limitations. One main that the large gallery section with an drawback is the fact that the book is image of the Avalokitesvara was placed written in two languages and certain sec- on display at the National Museum in tions, such as “For the Catalogue” and Bangkok before it was returned to Cam- the “Editorial Notes”, are poorly trans- bodia, where the pieces are now kept at lated into English. Book distributors the museum in Phnom Penh. tend to avoid multi-language books for Cumin’s text is supported with maps, reasons which are apparent in this book. plans, photographs and detailed draw- As the present reviewer does not know ings which include comparisons with Japanese, no comments can be made as

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 312 Reviews to the quality of the translation of Olivier Zhou Daguan, A Record of Cambodia, Cunin’s text. Another problem concern- the Land and its People, translated ing the book is the inclusion of photo- with an introduction and notes by Peter graphs of the face towers of Preah Khan Harris, foreword by David Chandler. of Kompong Svay without the provision Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books, 2007, of a separate text and explanation about xv + 150 pp. this monument. The explanatory text written by Olivier Cunin only covers For anyone with more than a passing Banteay Chmar. While Preah Kahn is interest in the great Cambodian empire mentioned in passing in Cunin’s text, the centred on Angkor, the name of Zhou book would be more balanced if a short Daguan is immediately familiar, though separate section about this monument for some of a certain age, including the had also been included. present reviewer, there is still a tendency Despite the problems mentioned to think of this obscure but immensely above, anyone wishing to visit Banteay important observer of Angkor in the Chmar would find in this volume ex- thirteenth century by the pre-pinyin ren- tremely useful introduction to this lit- dering of his name as Chou Ta-kuan. His tle-known site. The many diagrams and importance stems, of course, through drawings which accompany Cunin’s text the fact of his being the only eyewitness help to make sense of a complex archeo- chronicler of the city of Angkor and its logical site. Baku Saito’s attempt to doc- inhabitants while it was still a major, if ument the challenging archaeological fading, power in mainland Southeast sites of both Banteay Chmar and Preah Asia. Khan of Kompong Svay is admirable, Until quite recently, it is a fair as- and is well complemented by Olivier sumption that most Anglophone readers Cunin’s precise text. Any visit to these will have encountered Zhou Daguan two remote Khmer sites would be in the translation from French of Paul enhanced by a thorough study of this Pelliot by J. Gilman d’Arcy Paul, first book. published by the Siam Society in 1967. And, since 2001, these same Anglo- Jane Puranananda phone readers have had the opportunity to consult a more up-to-date and elegant rendering of the French by this journal’s editor, Michael Smithies, published again by the Siam Society. Few readers, whether Anglophone or Francophone, will have gained access to Zhou Daguan by returning to the French translation of this work by Paul Pelliot, published in 1902, let alone the first translation from

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Chinese into French accomplished by times intrudes on his account of sexual Jean-Pierre-Abel Rémusat in 1819. practices, most of which he reports on Now, for the first time in over fifty hearsay rather than through personal years, Peter Harris has provided us observation. with a translation of Zhou’s text, work- To what extent does this new trans- ing directly from Chinese into English. lation overtake those previously avail- And he has done so with a very detailed able? I would suggest that this is a accompanying scholarly apparatus question that can be answered in two that places Zhou Daguan in his place ways. At one level the existence of and time, while explaining his reasons Harris’s version certainly does not for varying his translation from those mean we should cast previous French offered by his predecessors working into English versions into the outer from French into English. One point darkness. A non-specialist reading Paul to which the translator gives particular or Smithies will still come away with emphasis is the fact that Zhou Daguan’s a broadly satisfactory understanding ‘record’, as we have it, is only part of of what Zhou Daguan had to say, with the document he prepared after spend- the essentials of his account well and ing a little less than a year in Cambodia truly available. Indeed, at first glance, in 1296–97. this new translation appears like a For those not schooled in a deep paraphrase of earlier versions of Zhou’s knowledge of Chinese history, what text. Take, for instance, the ‘chapter’ Harris has to say about Zhou’s back- headed ‘Agriculture’ in the Paul trans- ground makes for fascinating reading. lation and ‘Cultivating the Land’ in As Harris says in his introduction, after Harris. The first sentence of this section establishing that Zhou was born near the in Paul reads: Chinese port city of Wenzhou in south- eastern China, this ‘is not a place many Generally speaking, three or four crops a year can be counted, for the entire people outside China have heard of’, Cambodian year resembles the fifth and but its character as a dynamic and open sixth moons of China, and frost and snow location, peopled by individuals with are unknown. a ‘strong sense of identity . . . pleasure seekers and bon vivants’, gives clues Whereas in Harris it is: to the sort of person Zhou would have been. And it is indeed possible to see in In general crops can be harvested three or four times a year, the reason being that reading Zhou’s account of Angkor that all four seasons are like our fifth and sixth he was, as Harris suggests, a man appre- months, with days that know no frost or ciative of good living and able to enjoy snow. what he sees. Yet this débrouillard view of the world went hand in hand with On other occasions there are rather a degree of prudishness which some- more than minor differences in the

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 314 Reviews rendering provided by Harris. Consider So, and at a second level, for anyone as an example the section dealing with concerned with the minutiae of transla- ‘Villages’. In Paul’s version it reads: tion, the detail of flora and fauna, and the contested nuances in undertaking a Each village has its temple, or at least translation from the original Chinese a pagoda. No matter how small the village may be, it has a local mandarin, called the text, Harris deserves high praise. His mai-chieh. Along the highways there are explanations are admirably detailed resting places like our post halts; these and informed by references to Chinese are called sen-mu (Khmer, samnak). Only historical texts, the abundant French recently, during the war with Siam, whole villages have been laid waste. literature on Angkor, and the linguistic work of Michael Vickery and the late The Harris rendering of this passage Judith Jacobs. is: The book is helpfully illustrated with twenty-six photographs chosen to focus In every village there is a Buddhist on issues raised in the text. temple or pagoda. Where the population The author and Silkworm Books is quite dense there is normally an official are to be congratulated for making this called maijie who is responsible for the security of the village. Resting places important new contribution to Ang- called senmu, like our posting-houses, are korian scholarship available to a wide normally found along the main roads audience. As the result of repeated wars with the Siamese the land has been completely laid to waste. Milton Osborne

In the lengthy footnote (99) that relates to this passage Harris explains his reasons for doubting that it can be read to suggest Buddhism was by this time ‘paramount in villages’; he expands the role assigned to the maijie, pointing out that it may be a Chinese rendering of the Khmer for a village headman, mai s’rok; and his translation, with ‘wars’ in the plural contrasts with the singu- lar reference to conflict in Paul. This, as another reviewer, Chris Baker, has suggested, raises unanswerable ques- tions about the extent to which conflict between Angkor and the rising Siamese states to the west was already a feature in the fourteenth century.

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Okna Veang Thiounn, Voyage du roi by the monarch and his wide-eyed Sisowath en France. Translated from entourage, as they encountered a pleas- Khmer by Olivier de Bernon. Paris, ing, tumultuous, hospitable and almost Mercure de France, 2006, xx + 267 entirely different world. pp. Thiounn punctiliously reports every stage of the long sea-voyage, starting On 7 May 1906, the sociable 66- with a visit to Saigon, which ‘had been year-old Cambodian monarch, Siso- conquered by the French’ (p. 42) and wath (r. 1904–1927), embarked on a where the King had a tooth removed. three-month-long journey to France. Stops and ceremonies followed in Sin- The voyage was dutifully recorded in gapore, Ceylon and Port Said before the Khmer by his Palace Minister, okna Cambodians, arriving in France, were Veang Thiounn (c. 1860–1944). greeted (p.105) by ‘the entire popula- Thiounn’s text was never published tion’ of Marseilles: ‘People said that in his lifetime, but to commemorate they had never heard or seen anything the centenary of the occasion, it was like it. They had never seen the French recently printed in Khmer in full. Olivier people so enthusiastically welcome a de Bernon’s deft and accessible transla- monarch from anywhere in the world.’ tion into French brings this charming, Soon afterwards, Thiounn lists doz- belle époque account to the attention of ens of hotels, shops and banks in twenty-first century readers. Marseilles – the names presumably In 1906, France was ‘at the apogee taken down from innumerable cartes of its power’, as de Bernon writes, and de visite. De Bernon heroically attempts Cambodia was a jewel in its imperial to decode the Khmer transcriptions of crown. King Sisowath, unlike his older these names, which appear en bloc and brother Norodom (r. 1863-1904), was remind us that Voyage en France records justifiably regarded as a friend as well as the surfaces of everything seen, met a protégé of France. The overriding pur- and experienced by Sisowath and his pose of his visit was to display France entourage. Significant and apparently to the King of Cambodia and the King meaningless events receive the same of Cambodia to France. Judging from deadpan, fastidious treatment. The cos- Thiounn’s account and others published tumes that the king wore and the routes at the time, the visit as an exercise in he travelled, for example, are set down public relations was an unqualified in as much detail as what he said when success. he called on the President of the French The appeal of Voyage en France Republic. Everything that Sisowath did stems from the zest and thoroughness of in the eyes of the Khmer, after all, was of Thiounn’s account, especially whenever sublime importance, and was recorded it frees itself from its dutiful format to in a vocabulary reserved specifically for display Thiounn’s excitement, shared those with royal blood.

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 316 Reviews

Sisowath’s corps de ballet performed he lost one bet, won another, and was in Marseilles at the Colonial Exhibi- loudly cheered by the crowd. At the end tion. It was its first appearance outside of the day, he presented a carved silver the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. box to one of the winning jockeys. The evening was a great success, and In Paris shortly before going home, Thiounn tells us (p. 134) that the king, Sisowath sponsored an hour-long per- arriving at the theatre in his ‘glittering, formance by the royal ballet at a ‘garden multi-colored clothing was as beauti- party’ given in his honor for 30,000 ful as a god descending into the world people at the Elysée Palace (pp. 208– of men.’ In his introduction, however, 210). de Bernon points out that this public The Cambodians then spent three performance aimed at strangers cleared days in Nancy and eight more in Paris, the way, as time went on, for a gradual before departing for Marseilles and their ‘modernization’ and cheapening of a voyage home on l8 July. Unfortunately, sacred artistic genre. Thiounn’s account breaks off inexplica- From Marseilles, the Cambodians bly on 6 July, when the king arrived in travelled to Paris, where the crowds Nancy, although we know from other were consistently ‘delirious’ (p. 177). sources that the rest of the visit was as Their seventeen-day visit was crowded crowded and as happy as the days that with presentations, formal visits and had gone before. celebrations. Voyage en France celebrates a signal When Sisowath called on Armand moment in what Alain Forest has called Fallières, a perhaps forgettable Presi- the ‘painless colonization’ of Cambodia. dent of the Republic (p. 162), he Forest’s optimistic assessment has been expressed his gratitude to France for astutely called into question by Penny helping Cambodia to flourish, adding Edwards and others, but the fact remains that he considered France to be ‘like that the survival of Cambodia as a quasi- a mother and a father’ to his country. sovereign state in the nineteenth century M. Fallières responded graciously by owes much to France. The enduring repeating the king’s remarks, without Francophilia of the Cambodian royal the parenthood clause. family and older members of the elite Officially, Sisowath visited a range of is genuine, a generally positive legacy ministries, high-ranking figures and in- of the colonial era. In the ‘blame game’ stitutions. He absorbed everything cour- that occupies so much writing about teously and with pleasure. His ceremo- contemporary Cambodia, France has nial schedule was lightened by shopping less to answer for, we would argue, than excursions, visits to Fontainebleau, two many other powers, including the Unit- nights at a circus and one at the Opera ed States, China, and Cambodia’s larger (Samson and Delilah), as well as an neighbors. With these ideas in mind, and afternoon at the races (pp. 88–90), where for friends of Cambodia tout court and

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 317 for la belle époque, this delightful book Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: can be read with pleasure, without being Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and taken, as the visit certainly was not, too Samuel Barron on Tonkin, introduced seriously. and annotated by Olga Dror and K.W. Taylor. Ithaca, NY, Cornell Southeast David Chandler Asia Program Publications, 2006, 290 pp. $23.95 (paper), $46.95 (cloth).

One of the standard laments by historians and teachers of early modern Vietnamese history is the relative pau- city of primary source materials that can take us beyond the often frustratingly terse style of the various court chroni- cles. These chronicles tend to emphasize events at the court, descriptions of mili- tary conflicts, social upheaval, and other affairs of state. They rarely offer any glimpses into the more mundane aspects of Vietnamese lives, or even much detail regarding life in the capitals themselves. Beginning in the seventeenth century, as increasing numbers of Europeans made their way to the shores of Dai Viet, we begin to have travelers’ accounts that offer eyewitness descriptions of some of these sociological details. While often confused in the details and betraying some lack of comprehension of certain elements of Vietnamese society or culture, these accounts are invaluable complements to Vietnamese official court histories. The volume under review here, Views of Seventeenth-Century Vietnam: Christoforo Borri on Cochinchina and Samuel Barron on Tonkin, makes two of the earliest and best-known European accounts of Dai Viet avail- able to a wider audience. This volume

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 318 Reviews includes the texts of complementary the original Barron account. These very and largely contemporaneous accounts early images depicting elements of life by European residents in the northern in the northern capital of Thang Long and southern Vietnamese courts in the are invaluable for representing such seventeenth century. As such, they are things as a marriage procession, the a natural pairing, enabling the reader to civil service examination compound, the compare the situations in the northern courts of the Emperor and the Lord, and Trinh and southern Nguyen realms at military and naval exercises. this time. Christoforo Borri’s account Of the two prefatory essays, Dror’s is is based on his five years of residence the lengthier and more detailed, offer- in the southern realm between 1617 ing a substantial survey of Borri’s life, and 1622, just prior to the outbreak of peregrinations, scientific inquiries, and the protracted civil war between the the problems he encountered with the Trinh and Nguyen (1627–1672). Samuel Jesuit hierarchy for his scientific views. Barron’s report is based primarily on His sojourn in Cochinchina was only his residence in Thang Long in the late a short part of his life, most of which 1670s and early 1680s, though he had was spent in Europe moving between been born in Tonkin, and lived there Portugal, Italy, and Spain. Although for some time as a boy. Thus, each quite intriguing as an account of this represents the insights of a man who complicated man and the difficulties had spent substantial amounts of time he encountered over the course of his living in the Vietnamese realms, making career, Dror’s lengthy essay strays well them particularly valuable. Barron, who beyond the circumstances of Borri’s was fluent in Vietnamese, was perhaps description of Cochinchina. While it the more thorough informant, though offers some very useful background Borri’s account is also an indispensable to the text and its creation, I found the source for this period. detailed information about Borri some- This republication of the two accounts what extraneous. Her essay concludes is substantially enhanced by the lengthy with an exploration of the recently introduction to the texts, written by Olga published, selective translation of Bor- Dror for the text by Borri, and Keith ri’s work into Vietnamese, which offers Taylor for Barron’s account. Further- very useful insights into the ways in more, the editors have richly annotated which Vietnamese scholars continue to the texts themselves, offering clarifica- amend or expurgate historical sources to tion and commentary on some of the protect nationalist sensibilities. Taylor’s more obscure elements of the texts, account of Barron’s life is much briefer, particularly the transliterations of cer- ten pages versus Dror’s fifty for Borri, tain Vietnamese terms. I was also very necessitated by the sketchier mate- pleased that the volume includes twelve rial available on Barron. On the other illustrations, which were contained in hand, it does offer sufficient context

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 319 for understanding Barron’s illuminating gling the two belief systems in ways insights regarding the nature of society that extended well beyond the existing and politics in Tonkin. Moreover, it Vietnamese syncretism of the two. Not usefully situates Barron’s account as surprisingly, the description of religious being in part a response to Jean-Bap- beliefs and practices is very much set tiste Tavernier’s 1680 description of in the context of the Christian mission Tonkin, which was based on secondary and its attempts at gaining converts. materials and apparently riddled with Thus, the lens Borri uses substantially errors. Overall, the presentation of this skews his depiction of religious prac- supplementary material is very well tices. Nonetheless, it is useful when done, though I lament the absence of an read with the cautions provided by the index, and would have preferred more annotations. professionally drawn maps than those Samuel Barron was the son of an Eng- included here. lish trader and a Vietnamese woman, What about the contents of these and apparently lived for some years in accounts themselves? Borri’s account is affiliation with the English factory out- valuable on numerous fronts. He offers side of Thang Long. His account reflects a brief description of a wide range of an informed knowledge of significant aspects of Cochinchinese society and elements of early seventeenth century culture. He describes local produce, Vietnamese society. Fortunately for us, common elements of diet and drink, it parallels Borri’s account in numerous and dress — largely in silks. The work aspects, similarly examining trade, lo- includes explanations of local habits and cal produce, geography, habits, medical practices (such as marriage rituals), and practices, and the status of scholars and the roles of scholars and physicians in education. He provides a more detailed society. Borri provides an account of the account of the political structures in role and training of elephants and offers the north than Borri did for the Nguyen a description of the rhinoceros. He talks realm describing the nature of the di- about education, government structures, vided rule between the Trinh lords and and the Nguyen arts of war. He describes the largely ceremonial Le Emperors. language, climate, and trade. In short, He gives particular attention to numer- Borri offers brief snapshots of many ous state rituals, including the annual significant elements of Nguyen material “heaven and earth” sacrifice, which life. He also addresses their spiritual was overseen by the Emperor, and also lives, for, being a Jesuit priest, Borri imperial funerals and their elaborate was particularly concerned with such processions. His account concludes with issues. His account of Vietnamese reli- a brief survey of religious beliefs, which gious practices offers a rather confused diverges from Borri’s in that it makes depiction of Buddhism and Daoism, as virtually no reference to Christianity Dror points out in her preface, intermin- or to the Catholic missions, only offer-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 320 Reviews ing a confused account of the alleged Virginia Morris with Clive A. Hills, A early Chinese exposure to Christianity. History of the Ho Chi Minh Trail: The Mostly, it consists of basic descriptions Road to Freedom. Bangkok, Orchid of the two chief ‘sects’ he sees in Tonkin, Press, 2006, 180 pp., ills. namely, Confucianism and Buddhism. In sum, this volume is a very wel- The book is the outcome of the come contribution to the study and author’s year-long journey along the teaching of early modern Vietnamese tortuous Ho Chi Minh Trail, which runs history. While many historians of through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Vietnam are acquainted with these two although she spent much of her time accounts at second hand, I would guess travelling in Laos. It is a well-balanced that few have read them in their entirety, travelogue intertwined with history and an opportunity that now presents itself. weaves a clever dialogue between the Furthermore, these are welcome in the past and the present. One of the main classroom as well, for they offer read- purposes of the book is to give Laos a ily accessible texts that enable students place in the history of the Vietnam War, to gain insights into some of the more or, as the author rightly refers to it, the ordinary aspects of seventeenth century Indochina War, because ‘Laos was writ- Vietnamese life. The editors are to be ten out of its history’ (p.26). greatly commended for combining these The history of the Ho Chi Minh or texts and through their context-setting Truong Son Trail dates back to 1959. prefaces and annotations bringing them The violation of the 1954 Geneva Ac- to life for a new audience. cord by the United States of America and the South Vietnamese regime by George Dutton the failure to hold a general election in Vietnam in July 1956 led North Viet- nam in 1959 to reinstate Resolution 15, which revived the revolutionary war to unify the North with the South (p.6). This marked the beginning of the his- tory of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which, until the end of the Vietnam War, was known among the North Vietnamese as the Truong Son Trail or Duong 559 (p.11). In May 1959, the Special Military Action Group, or the 559th Transporta- tion Unit, was formed, with the respon- sibility to build the road which would transport men and military supplies to

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 321 the battlefield in the south. Initially, the War is well described: route was to be confined to just inside the border of Vietnam, but to avoid the …Scars were not just physical but problems of infiltrating the DMZ, it was mental, and families were torn between love and politics. We were just the re- decided that the route would be built minder of a string of broken promises down the western side of the Truong Son from all sides…. (p.42) mountains in Laos. In the mid-1960s, Lieutenant General Dong Si Nguyen Her ‘epic journey’ on the Trail, which was appointed the commander of the led her to travel hundreds of kilometres 559th Unit and it was under his com- by various forms of transport through mand and leadership that the successful lower Laos, reveals two striking fea- construction and expansion of the Trail tures; i.e., the suffering this small took place. country and its people had to endure The Trail in Laos covered the larger during the war and after and its fantastic part of southern Laos. The American air ethnic diversity. As for the suffering, raids and the heavy bombing towards the author’s passage through many vil- the end of the 1960s on the Trail in Laos lages in order to find the Trail and to see pressured Hanoi to build more roads in war equipment damaged during battles Laos. This was to avoid the risk of one reveals some of the ugly features of the main supply route being completely Vietnam War. Since a major proportion blocked, as the leadership in Hanoi of the Trail ran through Laos, it was decided that ‘never again would there be heavily targeted by American air raids. only one main road’ and the 559th Corps She also reminds us of the damage the set about opening multiple bypasses in war has caused to human beings. The vulnerable locations’ (p.39). The Trail’s chemical warfare – especially the use penetration into this already politically Agent Orange or dioxin – caused serious destabilised kingdom in the 1960s did damage, both to humans and to the envi- not work in its favour. It further divided ronment. When Virginia Morris and her the locals between those who supported team arrived at Ban Lang Khang, they the Pathet Lao communists, the Neutral- found that the trees there were small ists and the Royalists. Together with because the area had been chemically their bitter memories of the colonial sprayed and even today women give period and the American and other birth to malformed children and their Western involvements during the Viet- livestock die (p.37). There is no need nam War, it is not surprising to find that to mention the Unexploded Ordnance in many places in Laos where the author (UXO) that still kills local people when and her companions visited, their pres- they farm their land, which will take ence was met with mistrust among the many years to clear entirely. Lao and roused painful memories. This Even though her journey reminds us chapter of Lao history and the Vietnam of the pain and suffering the war caused,

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 322 Reviews there are also pleasurable moments society – the army, the youth, students when she touches upon other subjects. and women, to name but a few – each of Her visits to the villages of many ethnic whom took responsibility for a particu- inhabitants add interesting aspects to the lar aspect. Neither the heavy American book. This is due to the fact that ‘Truong air raids in Laos or in North Vietnam nor Son boasts an array of linguistic groups, the severe natural environment could all of which practise their own political deter the determination to build the and cultural beliefs…’ (p.70). Her expe- roads to reach South Vietnam. riences of cultural variations and differ- One of the most outstanding achieve- ences practised by many different ethnic ments of the Trail was the building groups in Laos, such as black magic, of a pipeline to supply fuel from the animism and supernaturalism, logically North to the South. By 1968, there was led her to conclude that ‘I had ceased to a chronic shortage of fuel in the South resist any seemingly illogical actions. and ‘if the fuel did not go south, noth- The more at peace I was with them the ing else would’ (p.99). Brigadier-Gen- greater my ability became to identify eral (present rank) Phan Tu Quang and other cultural phenomena’ (p.74). Brigadier-General (present rank) Mai As the title of the book suggests, it Trong Phuoc were given the command is not just an account of the negative to oversee the fuel pipeline project. aspects of the Vietnam War. On the It was indeed a very daunting task contrary, it glorifies the role the Trail because: played in this chapter of Vietnamese history. Many chapters describe the …Apart from the lack of skilled great achievement the Ho Chi Minh workers, the pipeline had to be carried to position piece by piece, and much of Trail represented and the successes it the line had to be hung from trees, laid brought to North Vietnam, culminating along mountainsides or buried in shallow in the freedom and unification of the trenches. The most pressing affair was that country. Chapter by chapter, the author the Soviets did not agree with the project and refused to supply large quantities of takes readers back into the history of pipeline or send experts to advise, on the Vietnam and the Vietnam War from the grounds that it would fail…(p.99) 1950s. The successful story of the pains- taking effort by Hanoi to build the Trail Against all odds, the pipeline project against all odds, as retold to the author materialised and ‘it had taken the Trail by Nguyen Si Dong and other military into a new era. They had minimised leaders involved in the Trail project, losses of fuel and human lives, and there enables readers to understand clearly was no need to transport bulk fuel by why Hanoi won the battle. The North road’ (p.99). Vietnamese effort to build the Trail Did the Americans know what was demonstrates how this project drew going along the Trail, given that they together so many sectors of Vietnamese possessed advanced reconnaissance

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 323 technology? They surely did, but the how many had been French or American question was how effective they were in supporters? And of those who had, how many were still doing so today? I got the responding to their enemy’s activities. feeling that some locals were pleased After the Paris agreement was signed to see us and wanted to speak, whereas on 27 January 1973 and the American others I suspected even lied to Mr.Vong air raids came to an end, the military [the author’s guide in Laos], reluctant to discuss these matters with foreigners! leadership in Hanoi increased its activi- For them, ‘The Trail’ was still secret and ties to reach the South. The Truong Son politically their lips were sealed. So sadly Trail officially became known as the these questions might never be answered Ho Chi Minh Trail and played a vital as this important part of history dies out with the individual. (p.127) part to allow the mobile army from the North to reach the South at, as General Unlike the tortuous Trail itself, the Vo Nguyen Giap put it, ‘lightning speed’ book is written in a concise and straight- (p.135). Only two years after the Paris forward style and gives readers a multi- agreement was signed, Saigon and the faceted viewpoint, embracing history, southern regime fell into the hands of politics, anthropology and a travel diary. Hanoi on 30 April 1975. The Vietnam The main feature of the book — cover- War eventually came to an end and for ing an aspect of the complicated history Hanoi, the Ho Chi Minh Trail had ful- of the Vietnam War — makes reading filled its duty as the ‘road to freedom’. it both pleasurable and thought-provok- However, in the author’s opinion, the ing. strategic and logical importance of the Trail has not been recognised, and has even been played down by the West. Sud Chonchirdsin We certainly cannot ignore the impor- tance and the achievements of the Trail, but the question is whether the freedom and the victory the Trail brought about is for everybody? Tourists now can enjoy some scenic routes of the Trail which were troubled areas in the past and certainly involved trouble for many people involved. The author poignantly observes that:

…We had heard stories, met people and seen the routes, but how much did I really know?...I wondered how many locals had truly contributed their ‘eyes and ears’ to the People’s War, as in Viet- nam; how many were mere bystanders;

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 324 Reviews

Elizabeth H. Moore, Early Landscapes sites and key trends, beginning with of Myanmar. Bangkok, River Books, hunters-and-gatherers and concluding 2007, 271 pp., ills. in ca. 900 A.D., when Pagan is thought to have become inhabited by Burmans. Isolated for decades, Burma (Myan- The Introduction is a synopsis of the mar) was a virtual terra incognita until subsequent chapters, together with a the country slowly opened to foreign useful survey of the development of investigators, beginning largely in archaeology in Burma, beginning with the early 1990s. This new openness, the British and taking the story up to coupled with spurts of energy on the the present, including the important part of the Department of Archaeol- role of aerial photography. The first ogy, has meant that the nation’s early four chapters are devoted to the early archaeological record is finally coming pre-historic material, presenting for out of the shadows. Scores of arti- example the Neolithic presence of pol- cles by Burmese and foreign scholars ished stone tools throughout much of the since the early 1990s have broadened country. Included here are also some of our horizons considerably, notably the possible megalithic sites of Upper an entire issue of Asian Perspectives Burma. The Pyu and Mon are treated (40/1, 2001) devoted to Burma in 2001, in a lengthy penultimate chapter, while followed by an updated overview in the last chapter is a summation. 2006 by Bob Hudson and Pamela Many sites the author has covered Gutman (“The Archaeology of Burma in her articles over the years, but this [Myanmar] from the Neolithic to handy volume unites this material in a Pagan” in Southeast Asia: From pre- continuous narrative. Indeed, the fresh history to history, London, 2006). discoveries in the Upper Chindwin in Elizabeth Moore’s Early Landscapes Upper Burma, the Samon valley south is, however, the first comprehensive of Mandalay, and along the Sittaung, survey to appear between the covers of Salween (Thanlwin) and Tavoy (Dawei) one book, replete with over a hundred rivers have expanded our vision of early color illustrations, numerous maps, line Myanmar immeasurably. Also, the im- drawings and an extensive bibliogra- mense scale of Burma’s early walled phy. Moreover, much of the material cities is conveyed by a handful of war- has never been illustrated or has been time aerial photographs drawn from the tucked away in poorly distributed re- Williams-Hunt Collection at SOAS. ports published in Burma. The bulk The Samon region has yielded an of the photographs were taken by the astonishing number of Bronze-Iron Age author during decades of field research, findings over the last three decades, studying first-hand the principal sites much, unfortunately, the product of and public and private collections. looting. Especially impressive is a wide The ambitious scope of the work is assortment of beads, such as carnelian, a summary of the major archaeological with affinities to Pyu ornaments and

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 325 what is also found in Lower Burma. notably a motif depicting alternating The Samon valley appears to have con- lozenges-and-circles. Also, at least one nections to the Yunnan bronze cultures type of votive tablet at Winka relates of the Dian, a focus the author sees as to a common type found in Thailand. shifting to South Asia with the rise of That this important material was ex- Buddhist kingdoms and the earliest cavated so long ago and has only now inscriptions. come out indicates the extent to which For the historic period the most excit- the archaeological record in Burma ing new finds are those near Tavoy, from is so poorly known. Other new riches Thagara, where excavations in 2001 include three standing Buddha bronzes revealed brick structures and remark- found south of Twante, across the Ran- able sandstone figures with connec- goon (Yangon) River from Rangoon, tions to Indian sculpture, Pagan, and to discovered accidentally by a farmer in other Southeast Asian cultures. Equally 2005. The three relate to other bronzes important are previously unpublished in the area and to one discovered long remains from the Buddhist monasteries ago from the Thaton area. This material excavated at Winka, an early Buddhist and much more rounds out our picture of site near Thaton. Excavated over twenty Lower Burma, especially the Delta and years ago by U Myint Aung, none of the lower peninsula bordering Thailand. the most impressive finds had been Indeed, the material from Lower Burma illustrated until the appearance of this in this new book irrevocably redresses publication. A large terracotta plaque in the previous focus on the Pyu sites in the Moulmein (Mawlamyine) Museum central and Upper Burma. from Winka features two rampant lions Burma has been blessed with a rich disposed in a fashion reminiscent of tradition of chronicles, beginning in lions depicted in relief on the laterite earnest in the sixteenth century. The wall (‘Hsindat-Myindat’) in Zothoke. chronicles touch on major pre-his- Even stronger parallels exist with the fa- toric sites, such as Sri Ksetra, Tagaung mous terracotta roundels from Kyontu, Beikthano, but their direct bearing on only 25 km northeast of Pegu (Bago), events in the first millennium has yet suggesting a homogenous cultural zone to be established. The shortcomings of uniting a major swatch of Burma’s later chronicles and Chinese sources are coastline, that is, from the Thaton region noted in the introduction, but this later to Pegu. For decades the Kyontu terra- body of indigenous history continues to cottas appeared in a vacuum, unrelated muddle our understanding of Burma’s to anything, but these finds near Pegu past. Indeed, these diverse chronicles can now be tied to developments much provide the matrix for the government’s further down the coast. In a broader desire to confirm myths gleaned from context some of the discoveries from these sources. The recent discovery of Winka share an affinity to stone work Pyu material at Tagaung and the rush from Dvaravati Mon sites in Thailand, to vindicate the chronicle accounts is

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 326 Reviews only one example. (“Such findings Wil O. Dijk, Seventeenth-century [from Tagaung] will also be able to Burma and the Dutch East India rebut with evidence the scoffs at Company, 1634–1680. Singapore, Myanma history books as though what Singapore University Press, 2006, xvii was said in them were legendary.”, New + 348 pp., 12 maps (with appendices in Light of Myanmar, March 9, 2004). CD-Rom). The author, however, carefully sifts the hard archaeological evidence and the In 1939 the renowned historian of chronicles, but readers unfamiliar with South-East Asia, D. G. E. Hall, observed the pitfalls of the chronicles may find that the history of the Dutch East India the close juxtaposition of archaeologi- Company (VOC) in Burma received cal descriptions with the later myths a almost no attention. That remained true trifle confusing. Also, some of the in- for some 60 years, before Wil Dijk un- formation cited from the chronicles is dertook her doctoral research at Leiden perhaps given too much weight, such University on this subject. Although the as the splitting of three groups upon the research is based mainly on the records legendary demise of Tagaung, known written by VOC employees, this book in the chronicles (p. 236). On the other is not merely a history of trade between hand, this valuable legendary material Europeans and Asians in the early mod- will be of great interest, especially for ern period. As those familiar with these those new to the subject. records can confirm, in order to trade The cornucopia of newly-published effectively the VOC merchants also discoveries, skillfully woven together became perceptive of local politics and with more well-known material, makes society. Besides writing an extensive this essential reading for those inter- history of the VOC-Burmese relations ested in the early history of Burma and from 1634 to 1680, the author seeks to mainland Southeast Asia. As such, it is a reconsider issues relating to Burmese landmark that one hopes will encourage economic history, Burmese political and similar publications. military historiography, and the history of VOC’s operations in Burma. Donald M. Stadtner The book begins with the historical background of seventeenth-century Burma, which was stabilized and in- creasingly centralized under the rule of the Restored Toungoo Dynasty (1597–1752). The Company’s men-on- the-spot had the opportunity to observe and report local conditions in Burma; these included natural resources, law, military capacity, the monetary system, the Buddhist religion and ethnic ten-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 327 sions. As in many other places in early purchasing power of the indigenous modern Asia where the political elite people. Interestingly, the Company also governed economic activities, the records also refer to the wages of its VOC had to contact the Burmese royal own employees operating in Burma court for permission to trade in the king- and those of the Indian workers on dom, which made the observance of the the Coromandel Coast. The author’s court protocol essential for the survival assumption that Burma’s standard of of the Dutch. living was considerably higher than that What attracted the Dutch Company of contemporary Coromandel must still to come and settle in Burma, or the be counterchecked with other sources ‘Kingdom of Pegu’ as the Dutch often (p. 142–143). called it, was that the kingdom offered VOC records confirm the conde- the opportunity to trade with the Bay of scending attitudes of the Burmese Bengal and China. As the author puts towards the Peguans as well as the it, the VOC’s Burma trade was textile- animosity between Burma and Arakan. based, which was part of the ‘ancient in- Contrary to the existing understanding, ter-Asian sea-borne traffic between the Dijk proves that the Burmese court did Coromandel Coast and Burma across not procure arms from the Dutch and the Bay of Bengal’ (p. 115). Impressive other foreigners, but took them away details of sailing conditions between the from these people, presumably for Bay and Burma are given here. There security reasons (p. 40). was a long list of rivals for the Dutch in The political history of Burma from this trade: the Portuguese, the Muslims 1649 to 1669 shows a precarious situ- (‘Moors’), the English, the Danes, and ation in which the kingdom’s integrity the French. Also appealing to the VOC was threatened by Chinese raiders, re- was Burma’s commercial connection volts in the south, and a regicide. How- to China. But, like other foreigners, the ever, basing her argument on VOC’s Dutch were not allowed to access the increased shipping activities, the author Burmese-Yunnanese border, especially suggests that these two decades were the at the market town of Bhamo. They had ‘golden years’ of the Company trade in to buy Chinese goods from the Burmese Burma. Importantly, she emphasizes court and local merchants. that, despite difficulties and setbacks, Economic history of early modern VOC’s Burma trade was profitable Burma has to be seen in a new light. throughout (p. 196). VOC sources reveal that textile imports The greatest strength of this book is were cheap and meant for everyday the author’s ability to make utmost use use by common people, contrary to of her chosen sources. It is misleading the earlier assumptions that they were to think that the VOC, thus the Dutch, luxuries intended for the elite. This and archives are the prerogative of the his- new statistics on wages paid to Burmese torians of Indonesia. More and more labourers indicate the fairly substantial research into the histories of other Asian

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 328 Reviews countries based on these sources has the fundamental shift in its commercial appeared and will come to light. Dijk’s priorities, from the intra-Asian trade to study offers a lot of unique new data on direct trade between Asia and Europe, both Burma and the VOC. As the author which reduced the Company’s need for states herself, the detailed nature of the trade with Burma. These explanations business data allows a precise evalua- are lucid and sensible, but not quite sat- tion of volume of trade and profit and isfactory. Besides suffering from similar loss of VOC’s Burma trade. Readers will circumstances of frustrating Thai rules benefit from both the clear structure of and regulations and royal monopolies of the analysis and the extreme details of goods, the VOC trade with neighbouring commercial data recorded by the Com- Ayutthaya was declining in the second pany, presented as appendices in the half of the seventeenth century, or did attached CD-Rom. The data includes, not grow. Still, the Company stayed on among other things, Dutch imports into almost until the fall of the Thai kingdom and exports from Burma, a listing of in 1767. VOC ships plying the Burma trade, the In sum, this book is a rewarding exchange of gifts between the Company answer both to the personal connection and the Burmese court, a glossary of of the author to Burma and to D. G. E Indian textiles for the Burmese market, Hall’s challenge to use Dutch sources to textile prices in Burma and India, and study Burmese history. The result of the the wages of the VOC employees, the study shows that although its political Burmese, and the Indians. centre was set in the hinterland, early As mentioned before, Dijk man- modern Burma was significantly part ages to prove that Burmese trade was of the intra-Asian trade and maritime flourishing despite the turbulences in interactions, and that Europeans like the mid-century. However, I wish the those in the VOC were determined to author had explained more how Burma make the most of its offerings. This succeeded in maintaining its position, book strengthens the image of Burma, or how the Burmese court coordinated which was, besides being a territorial its commercial activities in the time of power of mainland South-East Asia, a troubles. Dijk explains that the VOC dynamic trading polity in Asia. It offers decided to leave Burma in 1680 because an insightful reading with a great deal of of the many unfavourable conditions new information for not only economic in the Kingdom, such as restrictions on historians of Burma and the VOC but the export of Burmese goods and the also for those interested in historical prohibition of access to Bhamo, as much interactions between Asia and Europe. as difficulties within the Company, including its financial troubles, the effect Bhawan Ruangsilp of wars in Europe, and turmoil within the Dutch Republic. But most of all, she ascribes the Company’s withdrawal to

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Ma Ma Lay, Not out of Hate, translated Way, a young woman who lives in a by Margaret Aung-Thwin. Chiang Mai, small town in the rice-growing regions Silkworm Books, 2006, 216 pp. of Lower Burma. The story opens with Way Way ex- When US-based Margaret Aung- citedly peeping at the next-door house, Thwin first decided to translate the which is awaiting the imminent arrival Burmese language novel Monywei of a new member of staff for a British Mahu into English, she was not able trading firm based in Rangoon called to locate a copy of the book. Anna Bullock Brothers. The furniture that has Allott, a Burmese language teacher at been moved into the house is so grand London University’s School of Oriental and the servants are so smartly dressed and African Studies, had to send her that everyone in the neighbourhood as- photocopied chapters from England. sumes the new arrival is a British man Their efforts resulted in an admirable – a rarity in the town – and are surprised outcome: Monywei Mahu, or Not Out to find out that he is, in fact, Burmese. of Hate, became the first Burmese novel U Saw Han, the new Burmese Bul- to be translated into English outside of lock Brothers representative, may not be Burma. First published in 1991, this British but he is an incurable convert to latest 2006 edition was released by Silk- all that is English. He wears a pith hel- worm Books in Thailand and is still one met and peppers his speech with English of only a handful of novels translated words: “Cheers,” he says, or “Cheerio”, from Burmese into English. “Sorry”, and “Good night”. A helpful introduction by Allott plac- To begin with, Way Way is in awe es the novel in its literary and historical of this new arrival and enamoured of context. Not Out of Hate was written by his worldly manners. She becomes em- Ma Ma Lay (1917–1982), a pen-name barrassed by her family’s small-town for a female Burmese journalist, short- Burmese ways, ashamed of the teapot story writer and novelist. The Burmese with its broken spout and the way cof- language edition of Not Out of Hate, fee served by her aunt has been sloppily published in 1955, was so popular that spilled into the saucers. Way Way goes it ran to at least five editions. Composed so far as to reorganise the household eat- before the era of oppressive government ing arrangements, so that family mem- censorship in Burma and set in colonial bers sit on chairs and eat off a dining times just before the outbreak of the Sec- table rather than sitting on mats spread ond World War, the novel is an honest over the kitchen floor. Her attempts to and heartbreakingly grim portrayal of make the house look “sophisticated and the dichotomy between British, or West- Westernised” are met with scorn by her ern, values and the traditional Burmese brother, who proclaims, “It’s a white way of life. The tensions are portrayed man’s house!” through the ill-fated love story of Way

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 330 Reviews

It is perhaps not surprising that Way different. Way is so impressionable. She leads But her pleasure is fleeting. When an isolated life. Her mother abandoned her ill father’s tuberculosis worsens and the family to become a nun in faraway he is moved to Rangoon for treatment, Sagaing, the holy centre of Buddhist she becomes a captive in her husband’s learning in Upper Burma. Her siblings house, forced to abandon the familiar are both married and no longer live in and comfortable Burmese traditions the family home. While Way Way looks of her childhood. U Saw Han is con- up to U Saw Han, he in turn is besotted siderably older than her and takes full by her innocence and malleability. But control of her day-to-day existence. In what begins with a young and simple his eyes, she is “a precious little doll” or girl’s curiosity rapidly deteriorates after “a delicate piece of porcelain” – some- the family allows U Saw Han to marry thing to be mollycoddled and moulded Way Way. into his image of the ideal Westernised Much of the tension in the couple’s woman. doomed relationship is tantalisingly Way Way follows her husband’s lead. played out over food. At the first meal She wears the clothes he recommends, in which Way Way and her family are even forsaking Burmese sandals for invited to dine at U Saw Han’s house, “lady shoes”, or closed-toe shoes, which she frets over the use of cutlery (which she gleefully kicks off as soon as he she is not accustomed to, as Burmese leaves for work so that she can walk traditionally eat with their hands): about the house “Burmese style, free and unhampered”. “She…became worried all over again It is always at the dining table that the as to how to use the knives and forks couple’s differences are exacerbated. set near each plate. She was thoroughly intimidated by the sight of things she had In deference to her husband, Way Way never seen before. She had occasionally quashes her desire for Burmese food. eaten a chicken pilaf with a spoon and She eats the bland fare her husband danbauk fork at a [Indian biryani] shop favours and dutifully devours eggs and in Rangoon, but never had she seen such an array of cutlery as on U Saw Han’s milk. Secretly, though, she longs for table. She was so frightened that she could the pungent delicacies of their native hardly look at it.” cuisine: hot chilli peppers, raw garlic cloves and powdered dried shrimp. As it turns out, she performs quite Though she occasionally sneaks over well during the meal and is even able to her family home to feast on Burmese to take some pleasure in her first ex- food, she fears that her husband will perience of English cuisine, admiring find out when he smells the garlic on the composition of chicken, potatoes, her breath. green beans and red beets on her plate In one excruciating scene, U Saw and reflecting that the taste is pleasantly Han unexpectedly visits Way Way’s

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 331 family home and finds her eating with underbelly of colonialism. The sear- her brother. Way Way is literally caught ing tensions between the two sides are red-handed as her fingers are smeared examined within the intimate confines with curry sauce, “all sticky and gooey of one Burmese family and a single and delicious”. U Saw Han’s displeasure relationship between a husband who at his wife returning to the uncouth ways aspires to being British and a wife who of her upbringing is extreme. It is as if only knows how to be Burmese. Played he has stumbled upon an unspeakable out against the rising tide of Burmese crime and his controlled fury is almost nationalism and the chaos of the Japa- sinister. A “cold chill” passes over Way nese occupation of Burma in the Second Way when she sees her husband and her World War, the narrative has a desper- face turns ashen when she realises she ate inevitability. As Way Way’s brother has been discovered. revels in the advance of the Japanese Events come to a dramatic head when army and the retreat of the British, her Way Way receives a telegram from Ran- husband stubbornly clings to his West- goon saying that her father is danger- ern lifestyle; their pantry is stocked with ously ill. U Saw Han forbids her from his favourite Western brands of whisky, going to pay her respects, afraid that cigarettes, soap, toothpaste, English tea his “little flower” will catch her father’s biscuits and tinned butter. As a good highly-contagious disease. Her father Burmese wife, Way Way caters to her dies the next morning and a distraught husband’s needs and tries to please him Way Way leaves to attend his funeral, till the bitter end, forsaking traditional after which she escapes to her mother’s treatments for her illness that have been nunnery in Sagaing. Her brief moment offered by her family and sticking with of delirious freedom comes to an end the failing scientific knowledge her when she learns she is pregnant and so husband adheres to. Yet she continues returns to her husband. The fates, how- to dream of her old way of life – a way ever, are against the union between these of life that has been forbidden by her two disparate souls. Way Way loses the husband and is no longer accessible to baby and is diagnosed with tuberculo- her. sis, the disease that killed her father. Each day, U Saw Han makes Way True to his Western ways, her husband Way take a walk around the garden for nurses her with scientific rigour, which exercise. On one of her daily perambu- involves a gruelling regimen of daily lations, the emaciated Way Way hears injections. Unable to muster the strength the cries of food vendors in the streets to fight against his ministrations of milk around her house. “Mohsein baung! and medicine, Way Way wastes away Nice and hot!” cries one vendor. Way and succumbs to her illness. Way used to eat the steaming cake with Not Out of Hate is a compelling story her family over breakfast, and recalls that explores the dark, psychological how it was generously sprinkled with

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 332 Reviews freshly shredded coconut and ground Françoise Douaire-Marsaudon, sesame seeds. “Kaunghynin baung!” Bernard Sellato, Chanthal Zheng, eds, yells another vendor, conjuring up in Dynamiques identitaires en Asie et Way Way’s head fond memories of her dans le Pacifique. I. Enjeux sociaux, family eagerly helping themselves to économiques et politiques. II. Pratiques handfuls of warm and sticky rice. Even symboliques en transition. Aix-en- just to listen to these cries seems like Provence, Publications de Université a crime and, though the restrictions de Provence, 2006. Volume I, 240 pp., enforced by U Saw Han are now im- Volume II, 208 pp. possible for Way Way to shirk off, it is only with a joyless sense of duty that she Twenty-four papers from an inter- acquiesces: “Her mouth watered as she national symposium organized by the heard each vendor, and then she thought Maison Asie Pacifique and the Center of the bread and butter awaiting her on for Asia Pacific Area Studies of the the table in the house and her appetite Academia Sinica Taiwan, convened at left her.” Marseille, 23–25 June 2005, are pub- lished here in two volumes. The authors Emma Larkin are affiliated with five French institutes of higher education, as well as three from Taiwan. Seven contributions are translated versions, though the original titles are not given. In Volume I contributions on socio- logical, economic, and political facets are presented, preceded by the editors’ introduction. Under the title of ‘Des Ang-yi au Rotary. Sociétés, associations, fonda- tions, clubs. Solidarité et linguistique chez les Chinois de Thaïlande’ [15–28], Jean Baffie highlights different modes of solidarity among Thailand’s Chinese communities. He distinguishes between secret societies, vernacular associations, patronymic groups, charitable associa- tions, and prestigious clubs. Lan-Shiang Huang traces the suc- cessive establishment of different groups of Chinese immigrants in one particular harbour settlement on the

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 333 coast of Annam. In his ‘Établissement by age, profession, conduct during the et transformation des villes chinoises transaction, self-expressed motivation, outre-mer au Viêt-Nam : le cas de Hôi and pretensions. An’ [29-41], he considers the different The growing demand for one of Chinese communities that evolved from the highest-priced non-timber forest the fifteenth century, resulting in the products of Southeast Asia, swiftlets’ emergence of Hôi An as a major port (‘birds’) nests, triggered research con- and trade centre. ducted by Bernard Sellato and reported Reflecting most recent develop- as ‘Les Chinois mangent-ils vraiment ments, findings of two research projects ces nids d’hirondelles? Environnement, into extending the middle classes in commerce, transformations sociales et Taiwan in the 1990s are presented by ethnicité à Bornéo oriental (XVIIe–XXe Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao under the siècle)’ [107–125]. This study highlights title ‘Favoriser les recherches sur how the state infringed on the source la classe moyenne en Asie de l’Est of livelihood of a coastal tribe, how the et du Sud-Est: essai de programme’ shift to the formal market triggered the [43–49]. formation of social classes among the The rationale of an ethnic group na- Dayak, and how this polarized a group tive to the coast and offshore islets of of Punan, thus also adversely affecting Malaita Island, Solomon Islands, to people in the interior of Kalimantan. retain its traditional mode of trading, The clash between modern market- complete with shell-money as their cur- ing and traditional production, trade, rency, was studied by Pei-Yi Guo in ‘De exchange, and gift-giving determined la monnaie à la dynamique d’initiative; by gender is the theme of a contribu- la monnaie de coquillage chez les Lan- tion titled ‘Le marché et le travail: galanga contemporain, Iles Salomon’ ambivalences et contradictions à Wallis [53–75]. The Langalanga associate (Polynésie Occidentale)’ [127–147] by ethnic identity with their currency and Paul van der Grijp. Disputes erupted resist modernization. out of lack of knowledge about the local Reasoning that something has been mentality, conflicting vested interests, remiss in the study of prostitution, es- and the structure of the economy that pecially with regard to addressing male cannot supply produce in the quantity roles and vital issues of public health, and of the quality required for and by a Laurence Husson focused his research formal, central market. on the male clients. In his contribution A case study on the interaction of for- titled ‘Les clients locaux et les tour- eign investor and domestic labour force istes sexuels en Asie du Sud-Est sont is based on evidence of Taiwanese en- d’anonymes rois’ [77–105], the author terprises operating factories in Vietnam. identifies the vast majority of clients Its author, Hong-Zen Wang, presents as Asians, and analyzes this clientele findings under the title of ‘Analyse post-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 334 Reviews coloniale de pratique de management Addressing the criticism of APEC, des Taïwanais au Viêt-Nam’ [149–167]. the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-opera- The entrepreneurs’ managerial and com- tion, as not meeting expectations, David mercial practices are guided by authori- W. F. Huang analyzes the declarations tarian principles, provoking resentment of the leaders of its member countries by the Vietnamese labourers. and official documents, focused on The pros and cons of Taiwan’s inde- the two guiding principles: trade as pendence are discussed with regard to well as investment liberalization, and ethnic affiliation and social class in the economic as well as technological de- contribution titled ‘Ethnicité, classe et velopment. His conclusion to ‘Définir politique nationale à Taïwan’ [171–195] le cadre institutionnel de l’APEC: une by Mau-Kuei Chang. The author sheds étude préliminaire’ [223–237], is that, light on this issue at the global, regional, though APEC is nothing but a forum, its and national levels. Emphasis is placed members conduct themselves as if real on history and cultural heritage, con- institutional constraints were imposed cerns which both unify and separate. upon them. Mass violence is diagnosed as a Volume II presents contributions on pervasive, endemic phenomenon in cases of migration, diffusion, accultura- Southeast Asia, owing to its history of tion, intervention, and reconciliation, murderous warfare between countries, and are summarized below, again pre- ethnic groups, majority against minor- ceded by the editors’ introduction. ity, and belligerent Western colonialism. Ethno-archaeological evidence, upon With reference to Northeast Asia, Jean- which Jean-Michel Chazine chanced Louis Margolin identifies the mechanics when joining speleologists on their of mass murder, and offers a typology explorations in the interior of East of massacres in his contribution titled Kalimantan, leads him to formulate a ‘Statut de la violence de masse en Asie provocative hypothesis, as reported in du Sud-Est’ [197–213]. ‘Des Tuamotu à Bornéo ou “le long péri- The People’s Republic of China as an ple des Océaniens” revisité’ [17–24], upcoming giant is, according to Laurent and throws doubts on existing theories Gédéon, not only on an economic but concerning the origins of Austronesians also a diplomatic and military offensive. and Pre-Austronesians. As stressed in his contribution titled A comparison of texts on alchemy, ‘Montée en puissance internationale one written in the China of the fourth de la Chine et géopolitique chinoise en century, the other composed in Eu- mer de Chine méridionale’ [215–222], rope during the sixteenth century, led its relations with neighbouring coun- Philippe Che to study the cause of their tries are strained by claims to maritime similarity. As he points out in his contri- territory that could escalate to become bution ‘La transmission des savoirs de a major geopolitical conflict. la Chine à l’Europe à travers le monde

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 335 arabe’ [25–31], the instructions on how identitaire au sein de la communauté to produce gold and silver, as well as Hoa du Viêt-Nam de 1975 à nos jours’ experiments using mercury, had been [87–107]. Formerly self-esteemed as passed on by Arab merchants. superior on account of background and To study an example of how accultur- adherence to Confucianism, the Hoa of ation really is the result of a reciprocal Cholon suffer the collective trauma of projection, Fong-Mao Lee appraises ‘Les social demotion. possibilités de l’intégration des commu- The interfacing of society, religion nautés taoiste en Malaysie par delà les and politics is highlighted in the con- disparités ethniques et géographiques’ tribution titled ‘L’Église catholique à [35–53]. Efforts by Malaysia’s Chinese Taïwan. Nouvelles approches culturelles community to get Taoism recognized et politiques de la construction nation- as one of the official religions failed, in ale’ [109–120] by Chantal Zheng. She the absence of charismatic leaders and juxtaposes the politically oriented Pres- the need to forge a structure above and byterian Church, which lends support to beyond ethnic affiliation. the independence movement, and the The penetration of Confucianism Catholic Church, derogatorily labelled and its adoption in Vietnam is the gist the “Kuomindang Church”. of the contribution by Van Thao Trinh An ancestors’ cult, centred on the titled ‘Indochine: identification d’une belief that the deceased do not go to société confucéenne (le Viêt-Nam de heaven but pass on to the “island of the 1802 à 1858)’ [55–85]. Setting out from dead” in the Tanimbar Archipelago, is its ‘importation’ during the second and reported by Simmone Pauwels in her third centuries, the author underlines contribution titled ‘Le christianisme the co-existence of Buddhism, Taoism dans l’île de Selaru (Moluques, Indoné- and Confucianism until in the fourteenth sie orientale)’ [121–126]. Evangelized century, when Confucianism was de- by Dutch Protestant missionaries in creed the state ideology. Highlighted is 1917, the locals have practised some its strong impact on the contemporary sort of fusion, reasoning that their time- literature, family structure and meri- honoured deity named Hula Sou (Moon tocracy, resulting in the adoption of the and Sun) is identical with the Christians’ Chinese patrilineal clan system. God, whom they call Tuhan Allah. Those members of the Chinese com- Polynesians converted to Christianity munity of the Hoa, inhabitants of the by the middle of the nineteenth cen- city of Cholon since the seventeenth tury are still in the process of adjusting century who stayed on after reunifica- their traditional cults to the Christian tion in 1975, found themselves as ‘the belief. As Françoise Douaire-Marsau- losers among the losers’. How miserable don reports in her contribution titled they feel is related by Michel Dolinski ‘Christianisation et ancestralité à Tonga, in his contribution titled ‘Évolution Wallis et Futuna’ [127–132], on Futuna

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 336 Reviews the murderer of a priest in 1841, who in other words, the communists. became the first martyr in Oceania, was Gender relations are the beacon of recently pronounced a ‘negative hero’, Taiwan’s three matrilineal societies of yet a ‘hero’ nonetheless, who acts as the Kavalan, Amis and Puyuma. The mediator on divine matters. significance of these symbolic systems Disentangling the thread that leads and corresponding rules of interaction one to comprehend the research findings are reported by Pi-Chen Liu in the of Paul Mus, the great orientalist, is the contribution titled ‘Cerfs à chasser, gist of the contribution titled ‘La soci- coqs/cochons à sacrificier. Politique de ologie de Paul Mus, entre théorie et sens sexe chez trios groupes austronésiens sur l’altérité vietnamienne’ [135–148] matrilinéaires de Taïwan’ [191-205]. In by Laurent Dartigues. Recognizing all three societies, ritual practices are the scholar as a veritable intercessor symbolically carried out using a totem between two worlds, the author high- animal – executed by men who act as lights the theoretical framework and mediators with the supernatural – and the anthropological model created by not by women. Paul Mus. Given the variety of topics and ‘White supremacy’ ruled colonial geographical spread, it is not feasible populations, defining life in the cul- to highlight any particular aspect, or tural, social, economic and political else recommend some over others. spheres. The study by Gilles de Gantès However, it seems justifiable to draw titled ‘Les métis franco-indochinois à attention to those contributions which l’époque coloniale. À l’interface des render research findings on phenomena dominants et des dominés ou à leur of direct relevance for Southeast Asia. marge?’ [149–171] is focused on the Variation is also evident in the pres- people of mixed blood, who, despite entations. While most by far are made their double identity, had no place in complete with footnotes and/or listed colonial society, rejected by the French references (‘bibliographie’), some seem and the Vietnamese. sparingly documented, and a few leave Between 1948 and 1956, Bayard, one wondering if there really had been a Catholic magazine for children and no relevant research hitherto conducted youth, published a cartoon featuring and results published. The contributions Europeans who had gone into the world by Che, Dolinski, de Gantès, van der to preach the gospel or to colonize. Grijp, Guo, Husson, Margolin, Sellato, That analyzed by Alain Guillemin in and Wang contain numerous useful his contribution titled ‘“Parachutés au references to the pertinent literature Laos”. La guerre du Viêt-Nam racontée published in the French, European or aux enfants catholiques’ [173–189] Asian languages. relates the expulsion of the Japanese To readers interested in anthropol- and the mission to subdue the ‘rebels’, ogy, archaeology, ethnology, history,

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 337 linguistics, political science, sociology, Noorhaidi Hasan, Laskar Jihad. Islam, and the broad spectrum of related inter- Militancy, and the Quest for Identity facing, this set of collected papers might in Post-New Order Indonesia. Ithaca, prove to be a mine of information that NY, Cornell University Press (Cornell holds some valuable trouvailles. Southeast Asia Program Publications (Studies on Southeast Asia, 40), 2006, Karl E. Weber 220 pp.

The presentation of facts, narration of events, explications of intersections or interfacing, and rigorous diagnosis are accomplished here almost to perfection – except for the flawed ‘Conclusion’. For the jihad in the Moluccas approx- imately 7,000 fighters of the Holy War Force, Laskar Jihad (LJ) volunteers, were deployed to Ambon, beginning 30 April 2000. Their arrival imbued the local Muslim struggle with the spirit of jihad and intensified the aggressiveness. This stimulated Christian Moluccans to organize themselves. The commander- in-chief, Thalib, was acknowledged na- tionally as a hero. The greatest achieve- ment of LJ was perhaps its successful dissemination of propaganda in Bahasa Indonesia and English. Laskar Jihad Online became an interactive channel, conveying messages worldwide. The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid sent a combined battalion to Ambon. The decisive attack in Kebun Cengkeh led to the defeat of LJ fighters on 24 June 2001. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, allegations linking LJ to al Queda multiplied. Thalib admitted that he had met with Bin Laden and that a Bin Laden envoy had met him in Ambon. Thalib, however, accused Bin Laden of

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 338 Reviews being a sectarian (khariji), ignorant of amalgamation of doctrinaire-revivalist proper Islam, thus repeating the harsh ideas and a militant battle cry’. The key criticism of Bin Laden he had published criteria under deliberation are tawhid, in the journal Salafy seven years earlier. ‘to accept and believe in the oneness Laskar Jihad Online published a fatwa of God and His absolute authority’; ahl by the highest Saudi ‘ulama, declaring al-Sunna wa’l-jama’a, the followers of that Bin Laden deviated from proper the Sunna of the Prophet and the first Islam because of his rebellion against generation of Muslims (Salif al-Salih); the Saudi Arabian government. Indo- al-Wala wa’l-bara, al-wala meaning ‘to nesian government ministers met with love, support, help, follow, defend’ and representatives of Muslim and Chris- al-bara, meaning ‘to despise, desert, tian parties in Malino, South Sulawesi denounce; hizbiyya, involvement in where, on 12 February 2002, the Second partisan politics; and hakimiyya, gov- Malino Agreement was signed. Five ernance belongs to God, owing to God’s days after the bombing in Bali, on 12 absolute sovereignty. October 2002, LJ disbanded. Paradoxically, the Salafis accuse the Tracing the evolution of the ideol- Muslim Brotherhood of being enmeshed ogy, the author focuses on the Salafi in the sins of bid’a, reprehensible in- Islamic propagation movement, da’wa, novations, especially because of its representing the most puritanical sect of ambition to unite the Muslim umma. The Islam, Wahhabism, and its expansion. Salafis oppose their rivals’ active in- The Salafis call themselves ‘the people volvement in partisan politics, hizbiyya, of the Prophetic Traditions’. The four for the following reasons : (1) it deviates main aims of the Salafi da’wa are to from the way of faithful Muslims; (2) its teach, purify, revive, and disseminate. leader comes perilously close to the sins The Salafis ‘believe that the Muslim of bid’a; (3) its members are committed umma failed to avoid various forms to the doctrine of al-wala wa’l-bara on of polytheism (shirk), reprehensible the basis of their loyalty to a particular innovation (bid’a), and superstition leader rather than the Qur’an and Sunna; (khurafa)’. Salafi communities multi- and (4) it teaches fanaticism. The Salafis plied, which led to the emergence of insist that one devastating result of the foundations. Beginning in the 1990s, hizbiyya movement is the spread of a they no longer needed to organize their revolutionary spirit among Muslims. activities secretly, upon the launching of A total rejection of democracy distin- an official Islamization strategy. guishes the Salafis from members of Addressing the antagonism of ‘apo- the Muslim Brotherhood and Jama’at-I litical Salafism’ and ‘jihadist activism’, Islami. the author set the theme by stating that Salafis’ inconsistency in their atti- ‘the jihad discourse among Laskar Ji- tudes toward political activism seems had fighters exemplifies a successful unequivocal given the fact that they pio-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 339 neered the call for jihad in the Moluc- the Jama’at al-Da’wa ila al-Qur’an wa cas. Salafis’ repudiation of political Ahl-I Hadith, a strict Salafi faction and activism is not an intrinsic part of their Saudi Arabian ‘principality’ led by Jamil ideology, but rather a tactic and strategy. al-Rahman, which developed the most What they mean by jihad is clearly an hostile attitude towards non-Muslims, armed war as a manifestation of the frequently attacking journalists and hu- completeness of a Muslim’s submis- manitarian workers, resorting to icono- sion to God, which constitutes a higher clasm, destroying statues and monu- obligation than the pilgrimage, prayer, ments, and attacking local religious or fasting. Given the contemporary practices they considered anathema to scenario, with President Abdurrahman Islam; (5) Thalib’s appointment, im- Wahid determined to foster democracy mediately upon his return from Afghani- in discord with the military establish- stan, as both the director of and teacher ment that fanned the conflict rather than at the Pesantren al-Irsyad Tengaran; smothered it, the Salafis construed an (6) Thalib’s visit to Yemen, in 1990, to emergency to justify their appointment deepen his insights into Wahhabi teach- of a contemporary imam who would ings with Muqbil ibn Hadi al-Wadi’I, unite them. Thus, Thalib had himself ap- known as a Salafi ideologue par excel- pointed leader, thereby disregarding the lence, and then succeeding in gaining Salafists’ repudiation of any hizbiyya, support that facilitated the dispatch of i.e. political partisanship. hundreds of Indonesian youth to study The militancy of the Salafist move- at the Islamic teaching centers associ- ment is explained as the interfacing ated with al-Wadi’i; (7) the Sururiyya of nine factors: (1) the Hadramis’ role issue, inflamed by Thalib to highlight in the dynamics of Islam in the archi- the conflict between the Salafis and, pelago; (2) the impact of the Persatuan particularly, the Muslim Brotherhood Islam (Persis), a reformist organization so as to reinforce his relationships with established in 1923 whose members prominent Salafi authorities in Middle engaged in the Sarekat Islam (Islamic Eastern countries; (8) the wide propa- League, SI), active in criticizing na- gation of the utopian scenario through tionalism, communism, and secularism; the periodical Salafy; and (9) the net- (3) the biography of the founder of LJ, work centered in the Ihyaus Sunnah, Thalib, born into a Hadrami family ac- the pesantren established by Thalib in tive in al-Irsyad, a modernist Muslim or- 1994 at Degolan Kaliurang, north of ganization of predominantly non-sayyid Yogyakarta. Hadramis, and granted a scholarship, in Indonesia’s transition to democracy 1986, to study at the Mawdudi Islamic challenged the Salafi movement to en- Institute in Lahore, Pakistan, where he gage in realpolitik shortly after the col- volunteered to join the mujahidin in lapse of the New Order regime in May the Afghan War; (4) Thalib’s support of 1998. The constellation that was deemed

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 340 Reviews conducive is diagnosed as caused by six structure as well as network. FKAWJ factors: (1) With Habibie in power and also did not deny having received given his attempt to involve hard-line financial support from the transnational Muslim organizations in helping him Salafi da’wa network. resist opposition challenges provided Most LJ members were ethnically access for the Salafis to institutional Javanese, aged between twenty and action, particularly when the challenge thirty-five years, almost half of them faced by Habibie mounted in relation students, dropouts or graduates from to the emergence of Megawati Sukar- science and engineering departments noputri as a candidate for president. (2) of a dozen universities. These recruits The conflict between Christians and asserted their claim to be true Muslims Muslims in the Moluccas erupted on by trading their Javanese (abangan) 19 January 1999, and reached its peak names for Arabic (Islamic) ones. after Wahid came to power in October Wherever they clustered and set- 1999. In their battle against Wahid, the tled, they constructed enclaves, called Salafis enjoyed the support not only of ‘titik daura’ (‘turn’, i.e workshop sites), hard-line Muslim organizations but also a social system centered on modest of military elites, who saw the chance mosques or musallas, smaller places to utilize militant Muslim groups to re- to pray. The Salafis’ enclave culture taliate against Wahid for sacking them reinforced a hegemonic masculinity, from key military positions. (3) In Janu- a configuration of gender practice that ary 2000, the Salafis issued their jihad legitimized the patriarchy as well as po- resolution and proclaimed the establish- lygyny. The Salafi enclave did not have ment of the Forum Komunikasi Ahlus any particular political agenda. Nor did Sunnah wal-Jama’ah (FKAWJ), which it have a specific programme of action. was openly hostile to Wahid’s political What it pursued was apparently mere stance, thereby mobilizing a consensus. rhetoric. It formed a domain in which (4) By projecting the Moluccan conflict a resistance identity was created. This as evidence of a conspiracy to under- resistance oscillated between two poles: mine Islam and destroy the territorial enclave and jihad, which can transform integrity of Indonesia, the Salafis com- marginality into centrality and defeat bined religious rhetoric and nationalist into patriotism. sentiment. (5) The determination to fight Research is based on content and jihad required the Salafis to request discourse analyses of a wide range of fatwas from religious authorities in the publications, including LJ internal docu- Middle East whom Thalib visited in or- ments, speeches, talks, public sermons, der to persuade them personally. (6) To and two stints of intensive fieldwork recruit and dispatch voluntary fighters, with visits to Jakarta, Bandung, Cirebon, the FKAWJ organization was crucial Semarang , Salatiga, Solo, Yogyakarta, with its hierarchical and bureaucratic Surabaya, Makassar and Ambon. Inter-

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96 Reviews 341 views were conducted with LJ group contribution in terms of participation in leaders and members, sympathizers, real battles, LJ claimed the public role veterans of LJ missions in the Moluc- of heroes predestined to sacrifice their cas, common people, local militia lives in defending Moluccan Muslims. members, and leaders of Muslim and This is both a perturbing and elucidat- Christian communities, totaling around ing research study. The reader is chal- 300 persons. The author also recorded lenged to grasp the sheer complexity of life histories, participated in collective LJ dynamics in its turbulent context, as prayers and religious gatherings, and reflected in the somewhat complicated contacted institutions and organizations narration and diagnosis of an episode to trace the relationship between LJ and that sadly caused the death of many other Islamic groups. people. A list of abbreviations, glossary, What the author offers under the extensive bibliography supplemented by label of ‘Conclusion’ (pp.215–221) are listings of newspapers and magazines as assorted findings already presented in well as websites, and a highly detailed various chapters; some fallacies, few index enhance the timely usefulness of research hypotheses, and authentic this book. conclusions underpinned by original research. Karl E. Weber The author’s authentic and salient conclusions deserve to be summarized as follows: (1) The Salafis’ resort to violence by LJ proves that their repu- diation of political activism was more a strategy to deal with the distressing and discouraging political situation that prevailed under the New Order regime. (2) The decision to resort to violence went hand-in-hand with the radicaliza- tion of its ideology. (3) Deprived youth felt that jihad is one way to express their resentment and frustration. By joining the LJ, they had the opportunity to flaunt their new religious identity, negotiate their illusory strength, and resist their own sense of marginalization. (4) This action was an endeavor to shore up their self-image as the most committed de- fenders of Islam, and thereby reinforce their identity. (5) Despite its limited

Journal of the Siam Society 2008 Vol. 96