By Farish A Noor
Allow me to begin by stating categorically that I am a committed Southeast Asian-ist and a committed ASEAN-ist.
In
my work as a lecturer I have constantly reminded my students of the
constructed nature of Southeast Asia today, the relative newness of our
political borders, and the newness of our nation-states. I have also
emphasized the shared overlapping histories of the many diasporas that
populate this complex and sometimes confounding archipelago of ours.