The Philippine Islands 1493–1898 was a compilation of documents translated from the Spanish and edited by Emma H. Blair and James A. Robertson. The former was the brains behind the project. The editors received assistance from a reviewer, one James A. LeRoy, who introduced himself as an expert in Philippine matters. The personal correspondence amongst the three persons showed how The Philippine Islands 1493–1898 was constructed. Blair fully trusted LeRoy's knowledge and consulted him with doubts about translation. In turn, LeRoy advised Robertson to select documents for publication and warned him about unreliable Spanish, Filipino and English scholars. The correspondence helps to explain how The Philippine Islands 1493–1898 developed into a political tool in the service of the United States in order to explain the problems the Americans confronted in their new colony – a Spanish inheritance and the difficulties of training uneducated Filipinos for self-government.

The labour movement in colonial Indonesia is an important part of Indonesian history. The accepted convention is that after 1926, there was little or no labour activity in the colony, or at least little of any consequence. This article argues that much was going on but that it was of a different character from earlier years because of the limitations imposed by the colonial government. The Indonesian Study Club, based in Surabaya and led by Dr Sutomo, had a central role. The creation of labour unions was part of a broader effort to create enduring linkages between the western educated Surabaya elite and Surabaya workers.

This article analyses the problem of food supply in Leyte, Philippines, during the Japanese occupation, which has not been studied in depth so far. It focuses on the interaction that took place among the Japanese occupying forces, anti-Japanese guerrilla groups, the Filipino collaborators, and the local residents over the procurement of foodstuffs. It also aims at clarifying the factors contributing to the disruption of the policy formulated by the Japanese and the Filipinos on the island. It is apparent in this study that the political and social characteristics in the province as well as the agricultural depression inherited from the American colonisation period brought about an outcome, which was different from the policy implemented in Manila.

This article investigates the history of women's relationship to political Islam in Indonesia over the last century. It addresses three questions: how Islamic women have been politically active in Indonesia, how Indonesian women have been affected by political Islam, and how they have influenced political Islam. Independence marked a turning point. In the colonial period, women were more active within radical Islamic organisations than in moderate ones. Since independence, however, the situation has changed. Instead, the role of women has strengthened in moderate organisations while radical Islam has kept women in the background.

The tawassul is a ritual invocation popularly used in West Java at grave visits and in other Islamic observances. In simple terms, it consists of two acts; the naming of figures who are considered as mediators (wasilah) between a supplicant and Allah, and the making of an offering for the benefit of the mediator. Participants in tawassul hold contrasting understandings of what is achieved by performing it. Furthermore, the invocation is easily adapted for diverse settings while retaining its basic syntax. This multivocality and flexibility provide keys to understanding the popularity of the tawassul as a religious observance for Sundanese Muslims.

The paper begins by documenting the meanings the labels ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Taoism’ carry locally and highlights the complexities and ambiguities in discussions that invoke them. I then present data which demonstrate significant points of convergence between these two religious traditions, viewed as ‘ethnic religions’ and asserted to be ‘different’ in the Singaporean context. The turn to the organisational domain is instructive in revealing how ‘Hindu’ and ‘Taoist’ institutions have talked about their respective religions in the public sphere. This focus allows me to highlight overlaps in the two sets of discourses, to ask why these affinities should exist and to reflect on the sociological implications of such a phenomenon.

This article explains the ways in which power and factional struggles broke out and ended in post-independence Burma. In so doing, it argues that the key to a proper understanding of the situation resides in a careful examination of the internal power structure of an existing government. On the basis of the historical analysis as explicated in the article, it may be surmised that the existence of a hegemon that is able to mediate between factions while not relying on them in turn for his own influence and authority, yields a good possibility of a stable government. Conversely, the absence of such a hegemon results in an unstable government. Stability, however, being simply a condition, does not naturally predispose a hegemon towards virtuous governance.