I'll do the best I can, but I don't know if I can remember everything without looking at the histories of the individual countries. Also, your question is limited to the age of imperialism, and I'll need to open it up to answer.
By Southeast Asia, we mean Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines. I'm not sure about Papua.
In colonial times, French Indochina included Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh defeated the French (financed by the Americans) at Diem Bien Phu in 1954, I think the French pulled out of SE Asia after that defeat, so that would've opened up Laos and Cambodia. In Vietnam itself, there was of course a government in South Vietnam that was eventually defeated. There was a communist insurgency in Laos (the Pathet Lao) in the late '50s and/or early '60s that was engaged in the Cold War era. I don't know about Cambodia ... the Khmer Rouge came later, after independence.
Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah were all British. (Brunei was probably in there too.) The father of Malaysian independence was Tengku Abdul Rahman; Singapore split off in around 1965 under the leadership of Lee Kwan Yew. Brunei is an independent enclave run by the sultan ... that probably has to do with not sharing oil wealth. I don't remember how they managed to keep North Borneo and Sarawak under the Malaysian umbrella.
The Brits were pushed out in the early '50s as the age of imperialism came to an end. Malaysia saw a Communist Emergency in the early to mid-50s, and there was a border war with newly independent Indonesia (Kalimantan) around the time Sukarno came to power in Jakarta.
The Dutch never wanted to leave the East Indies, but after the Japanese occupation in WWII, they were eased out. I think this reflects the end of imperialism.
In the Philippines, the Spanish were there for 400 years, then the Americans grabbed it in 1898. The Americans promised independence but never granted it because the natives weren't yet ready for it. (The Brits said the same thing all over the world.) Emilio Aguinaldo fought the Americans for years -- Eisenhower & MacArthur were there as young officers -- but eventually they caught him. (The Moros ... I think that was part of it ...) In the southern Philippines (Mindanao, esp) there are a lot of Muslims ... that's close to Borneo, so there's the connection. Anyway, this causes some continuing conflict in that country.
After WWII, the Philippines were granted independence by the Americans. I forgot who came before Marcos ... there was some guy whose name is on the tip of my tongue -- maybe Magsaysay -- but I forgot the details.
Thailand (Siam) was always independent -- the only SE Asian nation to do so. It remained that way because historically, it was a buffer between French Indochina and British India.
Burmese independence came in around 1954 under the leadership of Gen. Aung San, the father of Nobel prize awardee Aung San Sou Kyi. After the British pulled out of India in 1947, Burma was unsustainable.
That's all I can remember without hitting the books ...
2006-12-10 07:42:52
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answer #1
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answered by bpiguy 7
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France in Viet Nam was expelled by force. Of course they rejected America's offer of aid and threw themselves into communist slavery, so I doubt they qualify as independence.
2006-12-10 05:36:18
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answer #2
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answered by Marcus R. 6
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Yes. India, Cambodia, Vietnam, and may others.
2006-12-10 05:33:51
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answer #4
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answered by Sophist 7
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