Nationhood and nationalism in South Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: I have written a number of times about South Asia, not so much for sentimental reasons, for it is neither my birthplace nor ancestral homeland. Rather, I think that the region's experience in modern national development provides good analytical lessons, in both positive and negative light (to put it kindly), for many other developing countries — not least for its Asian neighbors.

One of the important lessons has to do with the very notion of nationhood, especially in a multi-ethnic setting. After the First World War, as the victorious major powers congregated in Paris to (hopefully) amicably settle scores and divide the spoils, US President Woodrow Wilson's notion of "national self-determination" became a basis for negotiations as to what to do with the various colonies or other incorporated territories of the major powers. It was thought, and indeed it became a vogue, that the peoples or inhabitants of the various colonies and far-flung territories should get to decide their own fates — whether they would like to remain as colonies, obtain some form of self-rule, or pursue outright independence.