ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


96 / C&RL News ■  February 2003

I N T E R N E T  R E S O U R C E S

Southeast Asian Studies

Online resources

by Lisa Klopfer

S outheast Asia is recognized as a political and geographical region, but explorations on the 
Internet delineate other possible boundaries and 
categories. Many Web sites cluster by function 
(commerce, education, politics) rather than re­
gion. The business, commerce and news Web 
sites, for example, tend to encompass a virtual 
network of larger cities and production areas 
in East and Southeast Asia that does not cor­
respond to a single region. The culture and na­
ture sites are also not as much regional as ar­
chipelagic, hopping from one park or ethnic 
enclave to the next. While commercial inter­
ests lean towards the m agnet o f East Asia, 
many of the academic centers are in Australia, 
the United States, and former colonial pow­
ers.

This article cites resources for the following 
countries: Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia 
(Kampuchea), East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Ma­
laysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and 
Vietnam. I have omitted sites that are only about 
the Vietnam War. I have selected resources that I 
consider to be most significant for academic stud­
ies, with a slight emphasis on Web sites that are 
more likely to be missed or overlooked in a simple 
search. In selecting Web sites from the ever-grow­
ing pool, I considered navigability and design as 
well as currency and the quality o f content. The 
Internet resources discussed here are only a small 
portion of what is available.

In te r n e t s e a rc h  e n g in e s
Global search engines and Web directories like

Google (http://www.google.com) do a good job 
for most Southeast Asian sites in English, Indone­
sian, or Malay. For languages that use other fonts, 
it is useful to go to specific search pages such as 
those listed on Search Engine Colossus at http:// 
www.searchenginecolossus.com/.

E le c tr o n ic  lis t s
• Com m ittee o n  R esearch  Materials o n  

Southeast Asia List (CORMOSEA). Hosted 
by Ohio University, this list is only accessible by e- 
mail. For more information, e-mail Kent Mulliner 
(owner of the list) mulliner@ohio.edu. To sub­
scribe, send a message to listserv@ohio.edu and in 
the body of the message type “subscribe cormosea 
your full name.”

• H-Southeast Asia List. Also hosted by 
Michigan State University, this list is part of H- 
Net Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine. It fo­
cuses on the history of Southeast Asia, posting 
discussion logs, book reviews, job announcements, 
and events. Archived messages may be read 
on the Web without logging in. A ccess: http:// 
www2. h-net .msu. edu/~seasia/.

• Southeast Asia List. This list, hosted 
by Michigan State University, distributes news 
on Southeast Asia events, announcements of 
conferences, publications, and calls for pa­
pers, and other items o f interest dealing with 
Southeast Asia. To subscribe, send a message 
to listserv@msu.edu containing the text “sub­
scribe SEASIA-L your full name.” Or subscribe 
via the Web. A ccess: http://list.msu.edu/cgi
bin/waPSUBED 1 =seasia-l&A= 1.

About the author

Lisa Klopfer is a librarian and assistant professor at Eastern Michigan University, e-mail: lklopfer@emich.edu

http://www.google.com
http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/
mailto:mulliner@ohio.edu
mailto:listserv@ohio.edu
mailto:listserv@msu.edu
http://list.msu.edu/cgi-
mailto:lklopfer@emich.edu


C&RL News ■  February 2003 / 97

Gateways
• AsiaSource. This huge portal is sponsored 

by the Asia Society. It links to news, business re­
sources, resources for teachers, a database of Asian 
foods, and recipes. If you only want to visit one 
site for Southeast Asia, this is the one. Searching 
the site is not as helpful as browsing deeper into 
the collections by clicking on links. A ccess: 
http://www.asiasource.org/.

Asia Source
• Asiaville. The site offers selected links to 

business and cultural information for most Asian 
countries, including all of Southeast Asia, except 
East Timor. Click on “sitemap” for a list of coun­
tries. Access: http://www.asiaville.com.

• East and Southeast Asia: Net Re­
sources. Maintained by Robert Y. Eng of the 
University of Redlands, this site provides pages 
of Internet resources with an emphasis on politi­
cal issues and history. While slightly less compre­
hensive than some of the Southeast Asia WWW 
Virtual Library pages, these have the advantage of 
being more frequently updated. Access: http:// 
newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/ 
AsianStudiesDept/.

Hast & Southeast Asia: 
An Annotated Directory Of 

Internet Resources
• Library of Congress Country Studies/ 

Area Handbook Series. The Web site contains 
online versions of country studies previously pub­
lished by the Federal Research Division of the 
Library of Congress, a program sponsored by the 
U.S. Army. The historical overviews are useful, 
but researchers should note the publication dates, 
as some of these works are no longer current. 
A ccess: http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/.

• SEAsite— Southeast Asian Languages 
and Cultures. This site, sponsored by Northern 
Illinois University (NIU), is an excellent starting 
place for Southeast Asian studies. The sections 
about countries are rich, particularly for language 
studies; the site hosts a number of online lecture 
notes and images from NIU professors, and there 
is a trivia quiz game. A ccess: http://www. 
seasite.niu.edu/.

• Southeast Asia WWW Virtual Library. 
This directory keeps track of Web information 
sources for the Southeast Asian section of the

Asian Studies WWW Virtual Library. This is a 
starting place for exploration, but pages vary in 
how well they are maintained. The most useful 
information is not regional, but country specific. 
The site links to specific countries’ pages main­
tained by other participants in the WWW Virtual 
Ubrary Project. Access: http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/ 
wwwvl/southeast.html.

C o lle ctio n s and b ib lio g ra p h ica l 
resources

• Abia  South and Southeast Asia Art and 
Archeology Index. This online database con­
tinues the “Annual Bibliography of Indian Ar­
chaeology.” It indexes scholarly monographs, ar­
ticles in periodicals, Ph.D. theses, and relevant 
grey literature in multiple languages. The interface 
is difficult to manage and, at the time of evalua­
tion, the help files were not accessible. Nonethe­
less, a simple “all fields” search generates useful 
and unusual citations. Access: http://www.abia. 
net/.

• ANU Library Southeast Asian Serials. 
This database is from Australia National Univer­
sity in collaboration with the library of the Royal 
Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology 
(KITLV) in Leiden, the Netherlands. The index 
covers 130 journals published in Southeast Asia 
(chiefly Indonesia), Australia, Europe, and the 
United States. The earliest entries are from 1990. 
Keywords for searching are in English, even when 
the record is for material in Indonesian or a Euro­
pean language. Search by title, author, keyword, 
or year of publication. The results include a full 
bibliographic record and (in some cases) options 
to order the source from ANU or KITLV. Access: 
http://database.anu.edu.au/asia/indo/new/.

• Berkeley South/Southeast Asia Li­
b r a r y  S e rv ice  (SSEAL). 
While this site is primarily fo­
cused on the collections at Uni­
versity of California-Berkeley, it 
includes a solid women’s stud­
ies bibliography, as well as links 
to the major Southeast Asia jour­
nals, libraries, and book dealers. Access: http:// 
www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAl/SoutheastAsia/.

• The Digital Initiative Program , Uni­
versity o f Washington Libraries. This site 
hosts searchable image databases from a variety 
of regions, including Southeast Asia, on themes 
that include exploration, labor, art and architec­
ture, and the natural world. Images include pho­
tographs, documents, slide shows, and illustra-

http://www.asiasource.org/
http://www.asiaville.com
http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/
http://www
http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/
http://www.abia
http://database.anu.edu.au/asia/indo/new/
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/SSEAiySoutheastAsia/


98 / C&RL News ■ Februa ry 2003

tions. A ccess: http://content.lib.washington.edu/ 
index.html.

University of Washington Libraries
Digital Collections

In d iv id u a l c o u n t r ie s
Brunei
• BruNet. This is a comprehensive Internet 

service offering e-mail hosting and advertising as 
well as listings for news, tourism, and commerce 
resources. A ccess: http://www.brunet.bn/.

• G o v ern m en t o f  B ru n e i D aru ssalam  
official Web site. This site has English and Bahasa 
Brunei (Malay) content, with links to all the gov­
ernment ministries. It includes maps, an official 
history of the country, and online official news in 
both languages. A ccess, http://www.brunei.gov. 
bn/index.htm.

Burma (My n mαr)
• B ib lio g rap h y  o f  S e co n d a ry  B u rm a  

Studies L iteratu re. Created by Michael W. 
Charney, this is a very large PDF file (the docu­
ment is more than 130 pages), so viewing it over a 
telephone connection is not recommended. A c­
cess: http://www.seastudies.org/burmastudies/ 
secondary.htm.

• F re e  B u rm a. This site does not hide its 
political message, although it is difficult to deter­
mine who exactly maintains the page. A ccess: 
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/. It is funded 
in part by the Soros Foundation, which hosts its 
own site, The Burma Project, which contains cur­
rent information on human rights issues in Burma, 
as well as links to like-minded organizations. A c­
cess: http://www.soros.org/burma/.

• Irraw ad d y. This is an English-language 
online magazine published by exiled Burmese cov­
ering popular culture, politics, and business. There 
are interviews with leading intellectuals, such as 
Vaclav Havel and Aung San Suu Kyi. Some ar­
ticles are available without subscription. The site 
may not load properly in Netscape browsers. A c­
cess: http://www.irrawaddy.org/.

• M yanmar.com. In contrast to the previous 
three sites, Myanmar.com is an officially sanctioned 
portal to news and government resources. Access: 
http://www. myanmar. com/.

• Selective W orks o n  M yanm ar History, 
Culture, A rch e o lo g y  an d  L iteratu re After 
In d ep en d en ce. This subject guide from the 
University of Washington Libraries has just ar­
rived on the Web and is still being built. It in­

cludes full-text English-language articles in PDF 
format and a set o f short biographies o f major 
figures in recent Burmese history. Best viewed with 
Internet Explorer. A ccess: http://www.lib. 
washington.edu/asp/myanmar/.

Cambodiα
• C am bodia in  M o d em  H istory: Beauty 

and Darkness. This site is maintained by Bruce 
Sharp, an American who is married to a Cambo­
dian exile. It contains a small co lle ctio n  o f 
essays, personal histories (in English), and pho­
tographs documenting the Pol Pot years and 
its aftermath into the present time. Clearly a 
labor o f love, it is not comprehensive, but is 
compelling. A ccess: http://www.mekong.net/ 
cambodia/.

• C am b odian  G en ocid e P ro g ra m . On a 
larger scale, Yale University’s Cambodian Geno­
cide Program documents the horror that ended 
1.7 million lives. There are links to full-text news­
paper and journal articles and photograph collec­
tions. The core o f the site is made o f up data­
bases: a bibliographic collection containing records 
of nearly 3,000 primary and secondary documents 
dealing with atrocities in the Khmer Rouge re­
gime; a biographic index o f more than 19,000 
records on Khmer Rouge military and political 
leaders and some victims of the Khmer Rouge; 
and a photographic database of more than 5,000 
prisoner mug shots taken at the Tuol Sleng Prison. 
A ccess: http://www.yale.edu/cgp/.

East Timor
• B ib liograp h y o f  E ast Tim or. Bibliogra­

phy o f East Timor by Robert Lawless is a well-
maintained online bibliography of scholarly books 
and articles on East Timor society and history. 
A ccess: http://coo m bs .anu.edu.au/Biblio/ 
biblio_etimor.html.

• E a st T im o r A ctio n  G roup. East Timor 
Action Group is one of the leading organizations 
supporting the independence of East Timor. The 
main advantage of its Web site for academic users 
is the large set of links to other East Timor and 
Indonesia sites. A ccess: http://etan.org/resource/ 
websites.htm.

• M o th er J o n e s  E a s t T im o r R e fe re n ce  
S ection . Mother Jo n es East Timor Reference 
Section is a simply organized set of pages with 
basic facts about the country and a glossary. It 
is a nice starting place for beginners. A ccess: 
http://www.motherjones.com /east_timor/ 
reference/.

http://content.lib.washington.edu/
http://www.brunet.bn/
http://www.brunei.gov
http://www.seastudies.org/burmastudies/
http://www.ibiblio.oig/freeburma/
http://www.soros.org/burma/
http://www.irrawaddy.org/
http://www
http://www.lib
http://www.mekong.net/
http://www.yale.edu/cgp/
http://coombs
http://etan.org/resource/
http://www.motherjones.com/east_timor/


C&RL News ■  February 2003 / 99

• United Nations Transitional Admin­
istration in East Timor (UNTAET). This site 
contains a wealth of United Nations documents 
(in PDF format), a background chronology begin­
ning in I960, and a good-quality map of the whole 
island. Access: http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/ 
etimor.htm.

Indonesia
• Atlas Mutual Heritage. Atlas Mutual Heri­

tage is a database containing a complete survey of 
Dutch East India Company settlements and illus­
trative material of these settlements (maps, paint­
ings, drawings, prints). It may be searched in En­
glish or Dutch. The illustrations may be viewed 
at d ifferent sizes. A ccess: http://www. 
atlasmutualheritage.nl/.

•  In sid e Indonesia  magazine. Sponsored 
by the Australian interest group Indonesian Re­
sources and Information Programme, this maga­
zine offers selected essays in English by experts on 
topics such as globalization and press freedom. 
Subscription is required for the complete set of 
articles. The site also hosts Indonesian-language 
learning activities. Access: http://msideindonesia. 
org/.

• Learning and Research Site on  Indo­
n esia, S outheast Asia, and th e Islam ic 
World. Created by John MacDougall, an Ameri­
can expert on Indonesia, this text-only site con­
tains a wealth of links to online publications and 
other resources. Slide down the page to “panel 
two” for the most complete list of regional publi­
cations in Indonesia to be found on the Web. Ac­
cess: http://www.indopubs.com/.

• National Library o f Australia Indone­
sia Site. This is a good starting place for Indone­
sian studies. It hosts and links to bibliographies, 
library resources, and a wide range of Internet 
sites. Access: http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/indo/.

• Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collec­
tion. The Indonesia section of this collection hosts 
15 current and 4 historical (colonial era) maps in 
large JPEG image files. A ccess: http://www.lib 
.utexas.edu/maps/indonesia.html.

• Sejarah Indonesia. This year-by-year 
timeline of Indonesian history from 1500 to the 
present was created by Charles A. Gimon, an 
American entrepreneur. The timeline text is in 
English with illustrations. There is no bibliogra­
phy or references cited list. A ccess: http:// 
www.gimonca.com/sejarah/.

• Tem polnteraktif. This is a major news 
analysis Web page, a spin-off from the Tempo

weekly magazine. It is available in English, Japa­
nese, and Indonesian. It covers current events in 
Indonesia and Southeast Asia, complete with let­
ters to the editors and cartoons. A ccess: http:// 
www.tempointeractive.com/index‚uk.asp.

Laos
•  Lao Study Review. This is an online jour­

nal of the Lao Studies Society, which was estab­
lished in 1991. A ccess: http://www.global. 
lao.net/laostudy/laostudy.htm.

•  Lao Vision M agazine. This site, produced 
by expatriates in the United States, focuses on the 
concerns of expatriates, including maintaining 
cultural heritage. Each issue must be downloaded 
in PDF to be read. Access: http://www.laovision. 
net/.

•  Vientiane Tim es (the official paper). (Ac­
cess: http://www.vientianetimes.gov.la/). This 
site is not to be confused with the commercial site 
VientianeTimes.com ‚ which bills itself as “the 
gateway to democracy” and carries news of a more 
critical bent, and has a much more complete set 
of links to Lao commercial, cultural, and political 
Web sites. A ccess: http://www.vientianetimes. 
com/Others.html.

Malaysia
• Malaysia Kini. This site offers independent, 

alternative news in English and Malaysian. Only the 
last seven days are available without a paid sub­
scription. Access: http://www.malaysiakini.com/.

• Orang Asli Archive. Produced by Keene 
State College, the Orang Asli Archive is a reposi­
tory for unpublished documents, films, tapes, and 
other recordings relevant to the indigenous people 
of peninsular Malaysia. The Web site carries a 
map and population statistics for orang asli, a small 
number of full-text articles, and information 
about the collection at Keene State. A ccess: 
http://www.keene.edu/library/orangasli/.

• Sejarah Melayu. This site hosts a history 
of the Malay Peninsula in English with lovely 
images but no references. The links section offers 
connections to Malay libraries and historical and 
travel sites. Unfortunately, this site comes with 
pop-up ads. A ccess: http://www.geocities.com/ 
Tokyo/Flats/3795/malays.htm.

Philippines
• Tagalog 2002. Tagalog 2002 is much more 

than a language resource. There are English- 
language essays on contemporary culture, a

(co n tin u ed  on  p a g e  106)

http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/
http://www
http://msideindonesia
http://www.indopubs.com/
http://www.nla.gov.au/asian/indo/
http://www.lib
http://www.gimonca.com/sejarah/
http://www.tempointeractive.com/index%e2%80%9auk.asp
http://www.global
http://www.laovision
http://www.vientianetimes.gov.la/
http://www.vientianetimes
http://www.malaysiakini.com/
http://www.keene.edu/library/orangasli/
http://www.geocities.com/


106 /  C&RL News ■ February 2003

perience I had with leading my library’s organiza­
tional redesign project for three years taught me 
how to manage complex and emotionally charged 
issues, while staying focused on the end goal. I also 
gained extensive experience leading groups in dis­
cussions and in making decisions. I have excellent 
listening skills and can articulate key points clearly. 
I am truly interested in getting to know other people 
and developing effective relationships with them.

( “.Internet resources, ” cont.f ro m  page 99)
bibliography of core titles, and a guide for school 
teachers, as well as language lessons, grammar, glos­
saries, poems, songs, short stories, riddles, and more 
in Tagalog. Access: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Ta- 
galog/Tagalog_mainpage.htm.

• Mindanao Homepage. This is a commer­
cial site, but the virtual city tours (not interactive) 
cover more information than most, including maps, 
local sites o f interest, and local history. Access: 
http://www.mindanao.com/.

Singapore
• KnowledgeNet Singapore. This site bills 

itself as the “Authoritative Singapore History 
Site.” It bases the authority in part on its associa­
tion with the National Archives o f Singapore. 
This sophisticated site presents multiple databases 
o f text and images through three major entry ways: 
biographies, landscapes, and chronologies. There 
is also a forum for students, an e-journal with full- 
text articles (some o f them reprinted from pub­
lished sources), and links to a small number o f 
unusual Singapore history Web pages (such as the 
Germans in Singapore). Access: http://www. 
knowledgenet.com.sg/.

• National University of Singapore Digi­
tal Library. This collection includes original 
documents and bibliographies. PDF files include 
an 1830’s travel diary and a Chinese-language news­
paper. Best o f all is Tim Yap Fuan’s “A  Sense o f 
History: a select bibliography on the history o f 
Singapore” (based on the print edition o f 1998), 
as well as a bibliography of Singapore literary criti­
cism. Access: http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ecoll/ 
projects.html.

Thailand
• Information on 76 Provinces. Hosted 

by the royal Golden Jubilee Network, this site 
contains images and descriptions of cultural life 
in each province. Access: http://kanchanapisek. 
or.th/kρ8/oncc/.

• Leeds Thai Politics Bibliography. This 
comprehensive (but not current) bibliography of

Finally, I am dedicated to the profession, and I 
love being a librarian. I am a librarian because I 
personally cherish the values libraries stand for—  
respect for differences, freedom o f inquiry, free­
dom o f expression, and open access to informa­
tion. As your president, I will enable us to work 
together to keep ACRL strong and effective while 
strengthening our ow n positions in our institu­
tions. ■

books and articles (no links to full text) was pro­
duced in 1998 by Michael Nelson o f the Univer­
sity o f Leeds. Access: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ 
thaipol/thaibibl.htm.

• Thai Fiction in Translation. Created by 
Marcel Barang, a journalist living in Thailand, this 
site offers a menu o f Thai short stories, novels, or 
excerpts that have been translated into French or 
English. Access: http://www.thaifiction.com/.

• Yao Religious Culture Bibliography. 
Created by Barend ter Haar in Leiden, this bibli­
ography covers scholarship o f the Chinese and 
Thai regions o f the Yao people. Many o f the cita­
tions are in European languages. Access: http:// 
www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/yao.htm.

Vietnam
• Indochina Arts Partnership. This site 

is the result o f a partnership between U.S. and 
Vietnamese cultural institutions. The Web page 
carries a calendar o f arts events, lists o f artists 
and exhibitions, one online exhibition, and links 
to related Web sites. It uses graphics heavily and 
does not appear to work on some Netscape brows­
ers. Access: http://www.iapone.org/.

• The Vietnam Project, Texas Tech 
University. The Vietnam Center is dedicated 
to scholarship o f the American experience in 
Vietnam, but the Web site provides a rich vari­
ety o f materials unrelated to the American as­
pects o f the Vietnamese revolution and war. 
The Virtual Vietnam Archive contains nearly 
half a million digital documents, videos, and 
sound files available for download. Access: http:// 
www.viemam.ttu.edu/.

• Vietnamese Language Homepage. 
From Arizona State University, this page has 
links to online language learning resources. Access: 
http://www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/. ■

M o r e  a b o u t S o u th e a s t A s ia

See the full article on the Web at http:// 
www.ala.org/acrl/resfeb03.html.

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Ta-
http://www.mindanao.com/
http://www
http://www.lib.nus.edu.sg/ecoll/
http://kanchanapisek
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/
http://www.thaifiction.com/
http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/bth/yao.htm
http://www.iapone.org/
http://www.viemam.ttu.edu/
http://www.public.asu.edu/~ickpl/
http://www.ala.org/acrl/resfeb03.html