The average person in Southeast Asia has little knowledge of, or interest in, foreign policy. Attitudes towards foreigners are often based on personal contacts. […] Nevertheless, events are moving rapidly in Southeast Asia, and generalizations that may be true at present may not be valid in the not too distant future. Attitude-forming groups—religious, educational, military, labor, and others—as well as political parties are active in varying degrees of intensity.

(1) The swift victories of the Japanese over the colonial defenders destroyed the myth of Western superiority and the need for alien guardians in these countries, (2) the goodwill of local populations toward the Japanese at the outset of the occupation gradually turned to hostility in the face of the invaders’ cruelty and neo-colonial policies, (3) nationalism, which had first appeared before the war, accelerated under Japanese rule and emerged at war's end as the most powerful force in Southeast Asian politics, (4) evolutionary social change metamorphosed into revolutionary upheaval, producing new attitudes, awareness, organizations, and occupations, and (5) the local population gained experience in administration, political organization, and military affairs, with a resultant confidence in their ability to govern and defend themselves.