Diamonds were made desirable in the 20th century mainly by a marketing campaign from De Beers, a big South African producer of the stones. Both the demand and the rarity are, however, largely artificial. IN THE marketplaces of planet Earth diamonds are both desirable and scarce, and that makes them expensive. Yet Mr Vatikiotis has some advice for those trying to live and work in spite of them: “When elephants fight, stay out of the long grass.” Print Pages See full article The magnitude of the abuses, deceptions, conflicts and scandals which have shaped South-East Asia’s politics over the past century is barely contained within the book’s pages. China’s growing influence, and uncertainty over the role America wishes to play in the region now that Donald Trump is president, are causing a shift in alliances. In Malaysia voters anticipate an election in Thailand a new king awaits coronation and in the Philippines the army is fighting for victory against militants linked to Islamic State (IS). Impunity festers too in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand. But the bloodshed is barely discussed there amid the surfing schools and the yoga studios. Mr Vatikiotis tells how 40,000 people were killed on the island of Bali alone, now a paradisiacal destination for more than 4m tourists a year. Victims of violence and slaughter, such as those attacked in anti-communist massacres in Indonesia in the 1960s, receive little justice. The competition for power is all the more desperate given the weakness of civic institutions in South-East Asia. Sir James George Scott, a 19th-century observer of Burmese society, related that on hearing that William Gladstone had been replaced as Britain’s prime minister by Benjamin Disraeli in 1874, King Mindon Min responded with sympathy for Gladstone, whom he supposed must be in prison. Jewel-like historical examples embellish the book, but one in particular encapsulates this point. So he or she tends to cling to the position for as long as possible. Systems of patronage break down unless the man or woman at the top stays there. Hun Sen, Cambodia’s prime minister, has been in charge since 1985. In America former presidents plan libraries and speaking tours by contrast, leaders in South-East Asia fear their own decline. “And your life is worth far less if you don’t.” His understanding comes from time spent both as a journalist, pestering officials, and as a peace negotiator, challenging them. “Power is regarded as an absolute attribute…you either have it, or you don’t,” Mr Vatikiotis writes. The most intriguing insights regard the nature of power itself in South-East Asia. An array of interview subjects, from Malaysian bigwigs with faded clothes to Javanese taxi drivers who believe in royal magic, provide small glimpses of humanity amid a landscape darkly portrayed. Corruption, violence and religious extremism follow in cycles of misery: “When the water is high the fish eat the ants when the water is low the ants eat the fish,” goes a Cambodian saying he records. In his analysis of the power structures which define the region, Mr Vatikiotis, a private diplomat, analyses the role of monarchies and elite groups in perpetuating political uncertainty. This is precisely what makes “Blood and Silk”, Michael Vatikiotis’s frenetic overview of politics in South-East Asia, so ambitious. Sweeping takes often fail to encapsulate the complexity of ancient cultures, languages and people that are to be found from the tip of Timor-Leste to the top of Myanmar. Home to more than 640m people, the variety of the region’s 11 countries defies most analytical attempts at clustering them together. SOUTH-EAST ASIA is adorned by jungles, islands and gleaming skyscrapers. Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia.
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