CJC Preliminary Examinations 2012 Paper 2 - Question Paper

1 CATHOLIC JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS 2012 HISTORY 9731/02 Paper 2 Southeast Asian History, 1900 - 1997 27 August 2012 0800 – 1100 h (3 hours) No Additional Materials are required. READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name and home tutorial group on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer any three questions. INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES All questions in this paper carry equal marks. Start each answer on a fresh sheet of paper. You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in your answers. This question paper consists of 4 printed pages

2 © CJC 2012 | HISTORY 9731/02 | PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Section A You must answer Question 1. Regional Cooperation in ASEAN, 1967 – 1997 1. Read the sources and then answer the question. Source A ASEAN has made remarkable strides in economic co -operation since its very humble beginnings. Starting with bold and innovative approaches in the late 1980s and early 1990s, ASEAN leaders began to develop more ambitious means of economic co -operation, at the same time that political/diplomatic imperatives were falling in importance. This culminated in the creation of an ASEAN Fr ee Trade Area (AFTA) at the Fourth Summit in 1992. Since then, ASEAN has expanded coverage of AFTA, expedited the liberalisation process and has embarked on deeper regional economic integration accords. While many of these latter initiatives are only now being developed, they are indicative of the intentions of the ASEAN leaders to create a unified marketplace in a wider Southeast Asian region. ASEAN Economic Bulletin, “Economic Cooperation after 30 years”, November 1997. Source B ASEAN played a promi nent diplomatic role during the Cambodian conflict, especially in keeping the issue in the political limelight at the United Nations. In attempting to bring pressure to bear on Vietnam to withdraw, however, it did not act alone but was part of an internati onal division of labour, including China and the United States, which employed complementary military and economic instruments of coercion. There was a period during the late 1980s when ASEAN, under the leadership of Indonesia, which had been accorded an i nterlocutor role in dealing with Vietnam, held a series of informal meetings in Jakarta in an attempt to find a comprehensive solution to the conflict on a regional basis but without evident success. An academic article on the ASEAN peace process, 1999. Source C Just a little over four years after ASEAN’s establishment, the ASEAN foreign ministers found themselves “convinced that the time is propitious for joint action to give effective expression to the deeply felt desire of the peoples of South East Asia to ensure the conditions of peace and stability indispensable to their independence and their economic and social well -being.” They then expressed their determination “to exert initially necessary efforts to secure recognition of, and respect for, So uth East Asia as a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality, free from any form or manner of interference by outside Powers.” This is the well -known ZOPFAN Declaration. It explicitly pledged ASEAN, for the first time, to cooperate in security matters, specifi cally to keep the region insulated, to the extent possible, from big power conflicts, such as the then still-raging war in Indochina, or from the machinations of one big power or another, such as the US support for the 1958 rebellions in Indonesia or China ’s erratic international behaviour at the time of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. A comment by the former Secretary – General of ASEAN, Rodolfo C. Severino in his research paper entitled “Towards an ASEAN Security Community”.

3 © CJC 2012 | HISTORY 9731/02 | PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Source D The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), composed of twenty-one foreign ministers who meet annually, and its associated processes, is trying to build on sand. The ARF can do little to help security in the wider Asia-Pacific region, and in some circumstances might work to undermine it. Even in ASEAN’s own front yard, the ARF has done nothing to improve security. Four years after the ARF was formed, what is most striking is ASEAN’s deepening disarray and China’s unremitting strategic pressure in the South China Sea. Co nsensual and procedural approaches along the lines of the “ASEAN model” simply cannot work if one party will not play. Southeast Asia’s economic crisis has also undermined the confidence of the ASEAN states, as well as their defence purchasing power. Robyn Lim, “The ASEAN Regional Forum: Building on Sand”, 1998. Source E Presenting the ASEAN way as a manifestation of cultural preferences obfuscates the true nature of the process. The refusal of the ASEAN states to create strong, binding institutional structures is not simply an example of an Asian antipathy towards such structures. Rather, it reflects the fact that the ASEAN states do not wish to sacrifice sovereignty or independence of action to a supranational body. They do not share the level of co nsensus or recognition of common interests necessary to sustain strong institutional obligations… However, the ASEAN way is also symptomatic of ASEAN’s institutional weaknesses. A delicate approach to regional relations is necessary because ASEAN lacks th e higher level of community and integration that would allow it to support binding, strongly institutionalised structures… As we shall see, weaknesses ASEAN’s sense of community have become particularly acute in the post-Cold War era. Adapted from Shaun Narine, “Explaining ASEAN: Regionalism in Southeast Asia”, 2002. Now answer the following question. How far do sources A -E support the view that ASEAN regional cooperation from 196 0 to 1997 saw more failures than successes?

4 © CJC 2012 | HISTORY 9731/02 | PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Section B You must answer three questions from this section. 2. “Religion and culture were key characteristics of pre -war Southeast Asian nationalist movements.” How far do you agree? 3. How far can the impact of the Japanese Occupation, from 1942 to 1945, on Southeast Asian nationalist movements be considered an exaggeration? 4. Assess the view that communism played a central role in the political development of independent Southeast Asian states. 5. “In newly independent Southeast Asian states, policies towards the minorities aff ected national unity.” How far do you agree with this statement? 6. “Southeast Asian states have been effective in dealing with conflicts to protect regional peace and stability.” Discuss the validity of the statement from 1960 to 1997. **** End of paper ****