Description

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This book looks at the three significant Muslim minority communities in Vietnam, Cambodia and Southern Thailand from the perspective of living in a predominantly monocultural, non-Muslim society, and how they function economically, socially, religiously and politically in this context. It particularly focuses on the time period from 1945 to the present day, from the end of the Second World War and the post-colonial era as this is a significant break-point and begins the recent era of local societies. The end of the Second World War brought about significant change in all three countries. All three had been occupied by the Japanese. (Thailand had joined an alliance with the Japanese, but this was a face-saving accommodation, leading to de facto Japanese government and rule.) After the Japanese defeat, the French colonial power attempted to reassert itself in Indo-China, followed by a similar American exercise of influence. In Thailand, a return to independence saw Thailand become a close ally and client state of the USA, a bulwark against Communist insurgency in the rest ofSoutheast Asia. By 1975 all three states were free of foreign control, and pursued policies of self-determination and independent development, albeit in dramatically different ways.