Southeast Asia and New Zealand: A History of Regional and Bilateral Relations.

• Author: Farrell, Brian P.
• Position: Book Review

SOUTHEAST ASIA AND NEW ZEALAND: A History of Regional and Bilateral Relations

Editor: Anthony L. Smith

Published by: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (co-published by Victoria University Press/NZIIA, Wellington), Singapore, 2005, 392pp, $39.95.

When South-east Asians look or think Down Under, they tend to glance at Australia and perhaps overlook New Zealand. Many do not necessarily differentiate between the two Western polities below them, seeing them as twin legacies of colonial expansion. New Zealanders, on the other hand, think first of the Pacific Islands when they think of non-Australian neighbours--but many indeed think first of South-east Asia when they think of Asia. That conceptual framework suggests the contribution this unassumingly excellent collection of essays can make. New Zealanders can now turn to an up to date collection destined to become the starting point for students wanting to learn more about New Zealand's relations with and perceptions of Southeast Asia. South-east Asians have more to gain, by exploring the longstanding and multi-faceted connections a distinct but small Western society built with their region, and the role it played in regional history. Indeed, the title really should be New Zealand and Southeast Asia, which better reflects the sources and focus of most essays. The editor might be a bit unfair to claim this is the first systematic study of this topic, but it certainly now supersedes volumes of the 1970s and 1980s.

It is unreasonable to expect 12 essays written by a varied group of scholars, diplomats, and officials to produce a collection uniform in standard, depth and approach. Some essays stick very close to state-to-state and government-to-government relations, giving little more than passing mention to broader intercourse. Some provide new material and analysis, others synthesise our current knowledge. There are no passengers; all chapters give us at least a satisfactory discussion of their piece of the larger pie. Together, as the editor points out, they suggest a broad trajectory of New Zealand's historical engagement with South-east Asia: seen first as a security problem connected to British Empire defence policy, then after the Second World War as a security problem coming to occupy the very centre of New Zealand policies of collective security and forward defence, concurrently as an area requiring more attention in foreign aid and development in a wide variety of ways, more and more as...