Religion and Nationalism

Many SE Asians was extremely religious, because religion provided an emotional anchor through easily understood tenets. In the face of hard times, they became a familiar and potent rallying point for many SE Asians. When rallied, many such groups either evolved into political groups devoted to nationalist aims, or became a source of power exploited by nationalist groups themselves. 


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In Burma, the power of Buddhism as a nationalist force is seen in the “Shoe Incident” of 1916 in Burma, in which the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA), a society of Buddhist intellectuals dedicated to Buddhist education and Burman history, successfully rallied many Burmese to protest against what they perceived to be disrespect against the religious beliefs of the Burmese. They managed to garner so much support that the British were forced to back down on the issue and give the Burmese religious authorities the right to decide what proper decorum within temples was.  


In Indonesia, the earliest nationalist and proto-nationalist (pre-nationalist) movements were often religious in nature. For instance, Sarekat Islam, which achieved a peak membership of 2 million in 1919, began as an economic and religious movement whose leadership was eventually replaced by members whose avowed aim was independence. 

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