Ideology was more important than religion and culture for the growth of

nationalist movements in the period before World War Two. How far do
you agree?
While religion and culture like Buddhism, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai and
Catholicism laid the foundation for nationalist movements to take place as
they fostered unity within the locals and provided the basis for national
leaders to gain their support, it was ideologies from outside influence such
as nationalism and communism that provided direction and strategies for
nationalists to progress towards independence. Hence this essay seeks to
argue that ideology was indeed more important than religion and culture
for the growth of nationalist movements because not only did it expand
the support base further after religion and culture did, it trimmed down
diversity between nationalist groups and provided tried-and-tested
strategies for nationalist groups to progress towards independence in
ways religion and culture were never able to.
Ideology compensates for religion and cultures weakness by giving
nationalist movements proven strategies to work towards independence
thus allowing the scope of tactics of nationalist movements to evolve in
pursuit of nationalism. Communism for example, refined the
organisational structure of nationalist groups and shaped the nature of
nationalist movements for the advancement of their nationalistic aims.
This can be seen in Vietnam. Led by Ho Chi Minh, the Indochinese
Communist Party (ICP) founded in 1930, aimed to use revolutionary tactics
to secure independence from French colonial rule to establish a
communist state. It provided leadership for the 1930-1931 Nghe An and
Ha Tinh revolt following the temporary collapse of the French authority in
those provinces. Moreover, communism was able to help ICP secure a
strong support base in Tonkin and Annam. Since ideology is able to
transcend regional boundary and territorial division under the intolerant
French rule which religion and culture were unable to previously, its
contribution to the growth of nationalism is therefore significant. The
inspiration given by communism can also be seen in Indonesia. Indische
Sociaal-Democratische Vereening (ISDV) formed in 1914 had a support
base of urban labourers. In 1920, it renamed itself Partai Komunis
Indonesia (PKI) and adopted radical communist methods of uncooperation
and uprisings like the PKI revolts in 1926 and 1927 to advance their
nationalist agenda. Not only did they want to overthrow their colonial
masters, they also wanted to set up a communist state after gaining
independence. As such, ideology contributed to the growth of nationalist
movements in a way religion and culture has failed to do so by providing
them with tried-and-tested strategy that could actually advance them
towards independence.
On the other hand, religion and culture provided a common platform for
the pre-war SEA nationalist to effectively reach out to the masses
especially in the rural areas and acquaint them with the idea of
nationalism which they would otherwise by alien to, thereby greatly

broadening the scope and support base of nationalist movements. For

example, in Vietnam, Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, established in 1926 and 1939
respectively were successful in using religion to propagate their anticolonial sentiments in Cochin China, thereby enlarging their support
bases. Given that the presence of the French and their authority in the
region was strong, so much so that any movement could take place there
is a miracle, its impact on growth was therefore significant. The influence
of religion and culture in the development of Southeast Asia nationalism
can also be seen in Indonesia. In 1912, Sarekat Dagang Islam renamed
itself as Sarekat Islam and under the charismatic leadership of
Tjokroanminoto who inspired loyalty, respect and effective organisation of
the movements through the appeal of religion, the membership base of
the group grew quickly to 2million people. This highlighted the
effectiveness of religion and culture as a common platform between the
nationalists and the masses in broadening the scope of nationalist
movements and subsequently allowing them to grow in terms of
membership base.
Be that as it may, ideology is more effective in augmenting support bases
and enlarging the scope of membership because even though both
ideology and religion and culture have the tendencies to divide nationalist
groups due to the inherent conflict between certain ideologies and beliefs,
unlike religion and culture, ideology itself has the ability to reunite the
various nationalist groups and pull them together. Due to the diversity of
Southeast Asian nations, religion and culture is exclusive in nature.
Although the appeal may be large, they missed out a lot other significant
nationalist groups which may amount to become crucial allies. As such, it
enfeebles unity and the strength of nationalist movements. For example,
the staunch anti-communist monarchical nationalists leading Cao Ddai
and Hoa Hao made it impossible for them to work together with the
Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), a prominent communist nationalist
party in Vietnam, thus disuniting the nationalist movements. Likewise in
Indonesia, due to rivalry between the communist and the modernist and
Islamic reform faction led by Agus Salim, SI was struggling to hold on to its
dual identity as a conservative religious organization and a revolutionary
party. As such in 1920, the communist withdrew from SI to form Partai
Komunis Indonesia (PKI). This caused SI to fade into political insignificance
and they were never able to gain early prominence again. In this way,
both ideology and religion and culture divide nationalist movements.
However, in contrast, ideology is able to overcome this limitation and at
the same time appeal to the broad segments of the local populations, thus
creating the basis of an all-encompassing nationalist movement and
forging common national identities. For example, in Indonesia, sukarno,
using nationalism, was able to smooth over all differences nationalists has
between Islam and communism and unify the different nationalist groups
for their common goal of independence. His success was elucidated by
(PPPKI) in 1927 which symbolised a united front of all Indonesian
nationalists. While PPPKI failed to achieve most of its intended goals due

to internal conflict over issues of cooperation with the Dutch and the role
of Islam, PPPKI was nevertheless instrumental in the proclamation of the
Sumpah Pemuda (youth oath) of 1928, in which nationalist symbols of
Indonesia were secured, namely the national flag, the national anthem,
Indonesia Raya and the national language Bahasa Indonesia, hence,
laying the foundation for the forging of a common Indonesian identity.
Similarly in Burma, the Thakins, students of Burma, were able to unify the
Pongyis and the communists under Dobama Asiayone in 1935 through
nationalism. The communists were atheists whereas the Pongyis were
Buddhists. Unifying the two forces was definitely not easy and by virtue
that ideology was able to do that, it is more effective than religion and
culture because it has the ability to reunify nationalist movements in the
midst of divergence and augment support bases and the scope of
membership, now with the support of rural masses through its broadlyencompassing nature that espouses differing beliefs and ideas for the
common goal of nationalist movements.
In conclusion, ideology is definitely more important in contributing to its
growth because even though there were diversity set apart by both
ideology and religion and culture, ideology has the ability to reunite and
pull the nationalist groups together which religion and culture was unable
to, thereby making it more effective in creating a stronger and a more
cohesive united front for the nationalist movement. Also, it is able to
expand the support base of nationalist groups better than religion and
culture into areas they were previously unable to have their influence in.
For any nationalist movements worth their salt to flesh out effectively,
unity and support bases are of paramount importance. By virtue of the
fact that ideology is more successful than religion and culture in uniting
the nationalist groups and gaining absolute support bases from the
masses, it is definitely more significant in contributing to the growth of
nationalist movements.