Some have argued that essaying apples-to-apples comparisons on demo-cracy between Southeast Asia and the West is a mistaken approach because they have extremely different historical experiences. Traditionally, Southeast Asia experienced long periods of authoritarianism: the region’s precolonial rulers (chiefs, rajas, and sultans) were absolute rulers, exercising tight control over their subjects. In fact, the Hindu rituals conducted by Brahmin priests in many early Southeast Asian kingdoms in the Hindu-Buddhist period as early as the third to sixth century b.c. were meant to elevate the status of raja (king) to devaraja (god-king), sanctioning the rulers with a godly legitimacy to rule over their subjects.