-are often distrusted by the politicians, who, although often intellectuals themselves, are more populistic and even demagogic. Criticism by political leaders has appeared to weaken the position of the intellectuals, making them less prone to oppose the often unrealistic aspirations of their political superiors. For all these reasons, effective criticism by these groups within the government is insufficient and ineffective.

Those intellectuals remaining outside the government often express themselves through organizations which could contribute to improvement of the quality of public opinion, providing as they do a vague, unorganized opposition to government. But for the most part, the intellectuals remain alienated from the centers of public life. They are disillusioned and unhappy about the course of events, including the government's inability to utilize their talents.

Intellectuals and Specialists: A new sector of the intellectual class is beginning to develop with chemists, engineers, accountants, statisticians, doctors, and lawyers forming the nucleus. This sector is more specialized and professional and less generally interested in cultural and political matters. It could, however, form the basis for future stable and progressive societies. Though small in number, the high prestige of these people, especially in the cities, enables them to influence acquaintances, clients and others outside of their professions. Nevertheless, they usually lack direct political influence and a popular following.

Overseas Chinese form a significant part of these intellectual groups only in Singapore and Malaya, where educated Chinese outnumber educated Malays. Elsewhere, in Southeast Asia, however, the professional classes include only a few Chinese members. In addition to the frustrations affecting other intellectuals, the Overseas Chinese intellectuals tend to be susceptible to the appeal of association with the mainland and fear discrimination because of their alien origin. Upper-Rank Military Officers. Most of the upper-rank military officers are young men strongly desirous of technological improvements within the society. At present, many senior officers have been Westerntrained either in the West or by Western methods; many have received a technical education in engineering colleges and are thus more favorably disposed toward Western life. If the Army itself is not in power, senior army officers often maintain close contact with the ruling elite.

Voluntary Associations and Interest Groups

There is a growing body of private and voluntary associations and interest groups whose influence will undoubtedly increase in the future. Although few in number at present, trade union and employers associations, professional and business associations, and welfare organizations perform significant functions on behalf of their members, including providing regulations for those within the association or

negotiating and bargaining with each other. Until recently, the family or village circle played this role and provided for such needs. Both the Philippines and Indonesia have a large number of such associations; their numbers are growing in Burma, South Viet-Nam and Malaya. In Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, individualism and ideas of personal responsibility make associations less popular.

These associations often are subject to governmental interference and political influence, but they constitute at best an extra arena for the practice of democracy and group responsibility outside the official life of the country.

VALUES

The transitional societies of Southeast Asia, contending with the disruptions accompanying modernization, appear simultaneously confounded, dismayed and enlightened by the changes occurring in their societies. As they become caught in the economic and social tide inseparable from the age of technology, many people undergoing urbanization remain uprooted and divorced from their traditional cultures and values, without acquiring adequate substitutes.

Practically all of the Southeast Asian nations are culturally and ethnically heterogeneous, traditional values strongly centered in religious orthodoxy are powerful among them, belief in the efficacy of supernatural forces is common, xenophobia is characteristic, kinship and stratification promote particularistic loyalties, lack of technological skills and illiteracy prevail and internal communications remain inadequate. Nearly all these nations confront a preponderant peasant majority, which, if it is not apathetic and withdrawn into its parochial life, is quietly or actively resistant to efforts to modernize it.

In efforts to bridge the gap between traditionalism and modernity, the influence of "modernizing" indigenous elites and interested Westerners appears most successful if it includes an appeal to the more deep-lying values which are part of a country's patterns. New norms are most likely to be acceptable when they are carefully designed to harmonize with selected traditional values. Successful change can occur within the society when types of resistance are recognized and understood, when technological innovations bring with them products valued in the culture, when innovations are carefully planned and when the elite and rising middle class work closely together.

Principal elements of Asian cultures and values will be examined in order to determine their importance in Southeast Asia and to weigh their resistance or adaptability to change. These principal values include moral, spiritual and religious; those relating to knowledge and education; social status and the family; attitudes toward authority, obedience and cooperation; and economic factors including attitudes toward work and leisure.

Moral, Spiritual and Religious Values

Contrary to the basic sense of individual determinism commonly accepted in the West, the Asian lives in a universe determined by the will of God, not man. Throughout the Buddhist-Hindu arc of Asia, there is widespread acceptance that the material world is merely an extension of the "real world" of the spirit and that all striving for material success is but an illusion. Thus, Asians see man's relationship to nature and the universe as pre-determined, which leads to a fatalistic acceptance of life as it is-Asia's law of Karma.

Spiritual values dominate the lives of Southeast Asian people: their religion provides a system of morality, a guiding philosophic principle for the sophisticated believer, a source of inspiration for ardent nationalists and meaningful symbols for the religious devotees. Despite acceptance of the formal religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam, animistic beliefs are also dominant among a majority of people in Southeast Asia.

Buddhism. Buddhism is probably the most important unifying cultural force in Southeast Asia. It predominates in every country except Malaya, Indonesia and the Philippines and is an integral part of an eclectic Confucianism in South Viet-Nam. In practice and theory, Buddhism is not necessarily incompatible with or opposed to the development of science and technology. Like Christianity, Buddhism cautions man against undue materialism and insists upon the dominance of spiritual values. Freedom of man is proclaimed to a high degree in Buddhism as the doctrine of individual self-development but is tempered by the doctrine of Karma. Fundamentally Buddhism stresses the rational processes of the individual in attaining salvation by understanding, and above all it stresses the concept of knowledge as a part of this process. Its stress on complete equality of caste, color and creed, its real brotherhood of man and its fundamental anti-materialism discourage selfishness and provide the basis for a social conscience. Unfortunately, in its sojourn among authoritarian governments, these aspects of Buddhism have not always been developed. Because of its tenets, Buddhism has and may continue to be used to support policies of neutralism as a middle path in a changing world.

Buddhism and Change. Buddhism teaches the inevitability of change. Social mobility, either upward or downward, is to be expected, and is made possible through various combinations of religious achievement -merit-gaining, favorable marriage, political success, and, increasingly, secular education. In the Buddhist countries of Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and to a limited extent, South Viet-Nam, identification with any form of Buddhism inevitably invests the participant with a high degree of social acceptability and facilitates his achievement of status in society.

Nevertheless, a contradiction appears in Buddhist countries between the acceptance of change and anti-materialist teachings. As more mate

rial goods become available-particularly in connection with Western aid programs-conflict occurs within society, primarily in the urban centers. The temporary dominance of Karma and anti-materialism often justifies the lack of positive action by Asian administrators, which in turn aids in discouraging mass political participation in economic and social programs. The knowledge that the world is sorrow, that present suffering stems from a previous incarnation, that the only hope of peace of soul is not to improve this world, but to escape from it, are powerful reasons for inactivity, and often for passive acceptance of external phenomena. Disasters are met with relative equanimity because of the conviction that in the next cycle, a fresh start can be made. This frequent attitude of passivity and reliance upon providence often makes it difficult to help Asians help themselves.

Westerners, guided by a sense of responsibility for performance in a limited time, may encounter annoying barriers and setbacks, which are often erroneously attributed to laziness or indifference. Reference to the Buddhist belief in change may help in overcoming local indifference or resistance in such situations.

Leading Buddhists are becoming increasingly aware that traditional concepts must be modified to tolerate certain Western influences. Many Buddhist leaders have recognized that Buddhism must seek accommodations with Western-induced changes if it is to preserve itself and its influence in individual and national affairs.

Islam in Indonesia and Malaya. Religion in Indonesia is an inextricable partner in politics, and proponents of theocratic and secular philosophies vie with one another for favor of the masses. As in Malaya, where Islam is also the dominant religion, many still profess devotion to Islam but are less observant of its rituals.

Indonesian Muslims share something in their common faith, but for most of them, Islam is not the unifying force that it has been in much of the Middle East. In addition, the underlying paganism of the Indonesians gives Islam a different undertone from Islamic practice elsewhere in the world. And regional differences come into play. Thus, although Islam is undoubtedly an influential force in Javanese cultural development, it can best be described as "folk Islam," while an evangelical Islamic purism prevails elsewhere in Indonesia. Although Islam is dominant in Indonesia, it also confronts other religions such as the Hinduism of the Balinese and the Christianity of approximately 2,500,000 Indonesians. Islam and Change. Islam leaves less room for change than does Buddhism and within Muslim communities there is a stronger desire to maintain a status-oriented society. Life moves from day to day, and Indonesians and Malays alike feel that there is little need to look into the future. Time is not the moving backdrop of action that it is in the West. An indirect and subtle approach to problems is traditionally valued above directness and speed. This is changing among urbanized Malays and Indonesians, yet while socialized planning is becoming a watchword, the concept evidently appeals more than the reality of the approach.

Philippine and Vietnamese Catholicism. Catholicism dominates thinking in the Philippines, is influential among a small minority in South Viet-Nam, and aids in offering the society a purposefulness not often seen elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Significantly, it is the Church which has become the most potent organized political force outside the political parties.

Confucian Vestiges in South Viet-Nam. The existence of an eclectic Confucian doctrine together with Buddhism and Catholicism is important in shaping not only religion but a way of life in South Viet-Nam. Social organization rests on the Confucian doctrine of universal harmony in which heaven, earth and man each have their appointed place and their minutely prescribed relationships with each other. Confucianism stresses individual perfection whereby each, through education, learns to fulfill properly the role necessary to continue universal balance.

As a result, the individual Vietnamese is frequently faced with the impossible dilemma growing out of conflict between his own necessities and values and those values imposed by society. Humanist, individual and Marxist values have been particularly difficult to harmonize with approved Confucian values. His attempt to obey all these conflicting values has helped to earn the Vietnamese a reputation for insincerity.

Attitudes of Youth toward Religion and Morality. Not surprisingly, it is among the younger generation that traditional religious values are being challenged and changed most. Problems of delinquency and declining moral standards of youth are becoming more common throughout the area, particularly in the cities.

Attitudes toward Knowledge and Education. As one of the highest values on the Asian social scale, education is one of the most potent single factors of common concern to the many and varied countries of Southeast Asia. Significantly Southeast Asia and the West differ in their attitudes concerning education. In the former, the value of education rests more on the status and prestige it confers than on the substantive learning which it implies. Education is relatively difficult to obtain and is therefore a necessary qualification for advancement. In Thailand, for example, civil service pay is largely regulated by the number of degrees which an individual holds.

Although education is also considered a means of advancement in the West, it is primarily valued for its substantive content. The spirit of Western intellectualism is little understood in Southeast Asia, while the American tradition of the uneducated "self-made man" is non-existent.

Education in Southeast Asia is increasingly valued as a patriotic duty. This involves not only the pride of nationalism-providing a more deep seated and durable basis for national loyalties-but also a genuine desire to enter a new and better era. The elites are anxious to borrow foreign educational methods primarily to bring their country up to date.

Furthermore, literacy has become the necessary lubricant in the development of modern political machinery throughout the area. Illiteracy