As the 12th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore, Professor Wang Gungwu traced the origins of the Southeast Asian region to understand how its cultures interacted with great ancient civilisations, and how these civilisations shaped local identities and cultures in the process. In particular, he drew attention to four civilisations that have had a significant impact in the region: The Indic, Islamic and Sinic civilisations, as well as modern civilisation which was brought about by Christian Europeans. In his inaugural lecture on 22nd November 2022, he focused on the influence of Indic civilisation on Southeast Asia for over a millennium.
Cultures and Civilisations
Distinguishing cultures from civilisations, Prof Wang observed that modern nation-building efforts have involved defining national cultures as the basis of shared identity, in part as attempts to be recognised as “civilised”.
Culture refers to something developed by and shared among a group of people, distinct from other groups. However, civilisations came of efforts from visionary leaders to develop principles addressing questions of the universe and the meaning of life. Those leaders could rise above their local cultures and use the idea of a common humanity to define a borderless civilisation under their care, bringing their civilisation to others.
Three ancient civilisations in particular have held a significant influence over the Southeast Asian region: The Indic, Sinic and Islamic. However, global history saw a major turning point when the European Age of Enlightenment gave shape to the idea of a fourth: Modern civilisation. This became the basis of nations, imperialist ambitions, and newly defined regions.
In the age of modernity, powerful European nations grew into imperialist civilisations, impacting Asian cultures and, indeed, the ancient civilisations that had been predominant in Asia.
Awareness of Local Cultures
Prof Wang referred to two concepts that guided his curiosity in understanding unexpected connections and relationships between cultures and civilisations.
Firstly, the idea of Ujong Tanah, an old name for Singapore referring to it as the “endmost land” at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. The second was the idea of merantau, a Minangkabau practice referring to a kind of wandering where a traveller seeks out experiences with no defined destination, and is expected to return home at the end.
Referring to his life experiences to anchor his observations of cultures, he related his family and personal history in Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
These are all places that are multicultural while also having their own distinct cultures, and interacting with the four civilisations mentioned.
Observing old maps that identified Singapore as Ujong Tanah, the Land’s End of Malaya, he wondered how the island fit into the region of Southeast Asia, while the region itself was a new construct that had no coherent identity. Rather, the region was identified as a strategic area by British and other Western powers, who saw that post-colonial India and nationalistic China would challenge colonial hegemony in this field.
Indic Influence on the Southeast Asian Region
Prof Wang explained that the mainland peninsula of Southeast Asia comprised river valleys that each hosted an agrarian economy and cultures of their own: The Red River, Mekong, Menam Chao Phraya, Salween and Irrawaddy. The consensus among researchers is that each of these peninsular cultures was inspired by ancient Indic civilisation, drawing ideas and institutions from the Indian sub-continent to enrich and empower themselves.
While some of the peoples in this ancient region were more closely related to Sinic civilisation, particularly the Viet people of the Red River valley, all were drawn to Mahayana Buddhism and developed their own versions of Indic values. In the historical Funan and Zhenla kingdoms, and the later Khmer empire, local elites were advised by Hindu and Buddhist teachers and prophets.
What we now know as Hinduism espoused distinct roads to rebirth, and Southeast Asian peoples selectively adopted these ideologies. The inclusivity of polytheist ideology, according to Prof Wang, enabled the civilisation to withstand threats from Islamic conquerors and the British empire across the ages. Eventually, the Mon, Thai and Burmese developed local versions of Buddhist authority, which later formed the foundations of their modern nation-states.
In the Nusantara archipelago, Indic influences were also found in deities, governance structures and artistic features. However, unlike the Peninsular cultures, Buddhism waned and Hinduism remained mainly in eastern Java and Bali, after the ruling elites turned mainly to monotheistic Islam. While few written records remain that document ties with the Indian sub-continent, monuments like Borobudur and Prambanan exemplify the depth of Indic spiritual and political penetration in the region.
As Prof Wang explained, neither the mainland nor archipelagic states established civilisations of their own. Rather, they shaped their own cultures by selectively incorporating aspects of Indic civilisation.
“During the formative centuries of their development, (Southeast Asian states) seemed confident that what they picked from that (Indic) civilisation was sufficient to make them civilised and strong,” he said.
Southeast Asia’s Ties with Sinic Civilisation
Indic cultural and ideological influence in the Southeast Asian region was imported also by overland travellers from northern India and Central Asia. These travellers were responsible for the spread of Buddhism to Sinic civilisation, and migration from southern China in turn brought Chinese Buddhism to Southeast Asia. At the same time, Chinese explorers and monks were drawn to the Buddhist “Western Heaven” thought to be in India, and this motivated travel to India as early as the 5th to 7th centuries.
Eventually, Buddhism lost its significance in India and the relationship between China and the Southeast Asian region was stimulated instead by maritime trade, supported by the Chinese imperial state from the 10th to 13th century. Historical evidence shows Chinese trade extending to the Luzon island and the Sulu Sea of what is now the Philippines; as well as commercial relations with Champa, the Khmer Empire and the ports of Java and Sri Vijaya.
Still, the Chinese merchants were less able to reflect and export the values of Sinic civilisation compared to their Indic counterparts. Thus, Sinic ideologies and values remained on the fringe of these Southeast Asian cultures, which were by then following a loose mandala system of state relations modelled on Indic systems. This allowed the states of the time to develop their own distinct cultures.
Singapore’s Position
Prof Wang asserted that for the first thousand years of recorded history, Southeast Asian states and cultures were most embracing of Indic civilisation. Rulers and elites incorporated Indic cultural and political elements in syncretic practices to shape local identities.
As for Singapore, given its position in the region, it is likely that there have always been travellers and migrants sharing their Indic civilisational experiences from across the Nusantara region. Though few details are known about Singapore’s role in the centuries of transformation immediately after European arrival, its strategic location was a catalyst for the massive changes that the Europeans would bring.
“The port-city was on the frontline of national empires. The (European) officials that were sent to run it believed that they were the standard-bearers of modern civilisation,” Prof Wang said.
“What they set out to do would have massive consequences on the ancient civilisations that had so far been sustaining the region.”
Question-and-Answer Session
The Question-and-Answer session was moderated by Professor Kwok Kian Woon, Vice-Chancellor at University of the Arts Singapore. In his opening remarks, Prof Kwok pointed out that the term civilisation has historically been associated with a connotation of superiority and dominance over lesser peoples, but Prof Wang’s framing has instead associated it with spiritual, intellectual and philosophical resources that cultures can continue to draw on today.
The first question asked why in the archipelagic Southeast Asian region, the Javanese were able to create a unique culture that eventually became dominant, and what differentiated them from those in other parts of Indonesia.
While there was no single answer, Prof Wang pointed out that the early settlers of Java were also the earliest adopters of agriculture given the fertility of the land. He hypothesised that this agrarian success may have given Java a stronger responsive connection to the agrarian society that was also the origin of Indic civilisation.
Commenting on how language has influenced Southeast Asia, Prof Wang emphasised that language is inseparable from culture and history is dependent on language, especially in the written form. Language offers a common basis of communication and memory, and without literacy, it would not be possible to acquire civilisation or communicate its ideologies. Even though there are few official records remaining from the arrival of Indic civilisation here, its impact is recorded in scattered inscriptions. Thus, while cultures do not need literacy to be transmitted, civilisations do — cultures can be carried through art forms, but civilisation contains the idea of certain essential truth that, he argues, requires literacy to endure and spread.
Questions were also posed about how history can inform our understanding of more modern issues such as digitalisation, the current identity of Southeast Asia in the decades that have passed since its conception as a region, and the current state of modern civilisation.
While Southeast Asia was only labelled as such in the 1940s by the British, Prof Wang pointed out that there have long been common Indic elements in the region. Moving in to the contemporary age, the idea of unending material progress is inherent to modern civilisation, and it poses challenges that we cannot yet know the answers to. The speed of change and new discoveries is unprecedented, giving rise to what may be a civilisation unlike any other in the past.
Prof Wang also emphasised two other concepts not yet explored: Empires and nations. He noted that early empires were largely domestic and centred on dynastic monarchies, but modern civilisation saw the rise of national empires such as France and the United States in the 18th century. Over time, the subjects of national empires themselves formed nations through decolonising struggles. However, nation-building proved to be more difficult than what early anti-colonial nationalists may have been prepared for.
Returning to his definition of civilisations as borderless, Prof Wang clarified that civilisation entails common aspiration towards spiritual, intellectual and physical changes, and this is a borderless diffusion of knowledge that anybody could adopt. In contrast, nations entail borders, sovereignty and exclusion, and these require systems of laws, prohibitions and violent enforcement.
Click here to watch the video of lecture I.