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success and failures of pre-ww2 nationalist movements in sea

political: mostly failure

military/cultural/religious: success

success:

defending indigenous culture and traditions: they felt that the introduction of western practices and values were hindering or threatening traditional and village ways of living. thus, these groups set out to preserve such traditions within the nation. they looked to ways of fortifying their culture through methods such as a common indigenous language.

footwear controversy in BURMA: where the YMBA protested the way in which Europeans wore footwear into the Buddhist temples. they felt disrespected. yet success is seen through the concessions the British gave when they allowed Burmese abbots to determine the appropriate attire in monasteries and places of worship

in CAMBODIA 1941, the french tried to promote progress of the Khmer language by romanizing it. this sparked off dissent amongst the monks who felt like it was an attack on the Khmer traditions. french attempts to make use of education and official documentation to romanize the language failed eventually.

—> thus, attempts of nationalist movements to prevent changes or dilution of their traditions were successful. in many of these cases, colonial powers did not see nationalist movements as threats to their rule and even supported some and encouraged their growths. e.g MALAYA, where british sought to encourage cultural movements in fear that repression would instigate or aggravate more radical movements.

armed conflict against colonial regime: some nationalist movements were successful in carrying out armed conflicts against the colonial regimes despite the supposed military superiority of the colonial powers. and these anti colonial movements were able to be sustained over a long period of time.

in INDONESIA 1925, the PKI embarked on a course of violent revolutions, disrupting key industries in Java and Sumatra. [successful because they managed to sustain themselves for a few years still despite being under heavy suppression by the dutch authorities and strikes being forcefully put down]

in BURMA 1930 the Sayasan Rebellion saw rebels attack evidences of the british colonial rule such as police posts, plantations and collaborations between peasants, village men and Saya-san (monk) [successful as the british had to call in reinforcements from India, to suppress the movements, and this rebellion managed to awaken public opinion within the country, calling for more awareness within the people and dealt a severe blow to the prestige of the British colonial government]

how to determine if it was a success or failure? -> if the british brought in reinforcements to suppress the movement,