1. New Nations of Southeast Asia

2. Malaysia British colonies on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Borneo got their independence in the 1950s – The major trading city Singapore is in Malaysia, as the is oil-rich Sultanate of Brunei (which is located on the island of Borneo)

3. Sultan of Brunei’s Car Collection

4. Malaysia Malaysia has a very diverse population – People of Chinese and Indian descent have dominated businesses – The government has made sure that the native Malays benefit from the prosperity of the country

5. Myanmar Myanmar, which used to be called Burma, has not done well It is run by a very strict military that does not allow the people to speak out There is ethnic tension, as the majority Burmans have dominated business and government

6. Indonesia Indonesia is the former Dutch East Indies Indonesia is made up of over 13,000 islands and hundreds of ethnic groups – This makes unification and governing difficult Over half of the people are Javanese 90% of the people are Muslim – But there are substantial Catholic, Buddhist, and Hindu minorities

7. East Timor Indonesia seized East Timor from Portugal in 1975 – They battled with the predominantly Catholic Timorese for years – East Timor declared their independence in 2002

8. Problems in Indonesia Muslims regularly fight with Christians in the Moluccas, a group of eastern islands Chinese are discriminated against on the island of Java Rebels in Papua, New Guinea, have tried to break away and get their independence Muslim rebels in the northwestern end of Indonesia have also tried to break away

9. Philippines The Philippines are predominantly Catholic with a Muslim minority They got their independence from the United States in 1946 Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965, but made himself dictator soon after In 1986, he allowed free elections and Corazon Aquino was elected He refused to leave and was forced out

10. Rebellion in the Philippines Communist rebels and Muslim rebels have been fighting against the government for many years – The U.S. has helped the Filipinos fight against these rebels