Admittedly, as the chart shows, the number of cultural conflicts in Southeast Asia has, more or
less, grown steadily and now clearly exceeds the number of non-cultural conflicts. Still, it cannot be
said that specifically cultural conflicts have “dramatically” increased. It is much rather the case that
the overall number of conflicts has grown over the past six decades. Here, there is no pronounced
growth in cultural conflicts. A closer look reveals that the increase in cultural conflicts, which started
in 1998, can primarily be traced back to identity conflicts within the context of a process of democratization
in Indonesia (Sulawesi, Moluccas) that followed a phase of relative stagnation between
1991 and 1997, not to mention conflicts with Islamic groups in other states (e.g., Kumpulan Mujahideen
Malaysia and Jemaah Islamiah).
5.1.2 Cultural conflicts in Southeast Asia tend to escalate faster than in the rest of Asia
When looking exclusively at cultural conflicts over the course of time, we can clearly see a difference
between the region as a whole and Southeast Asia. In the sub-region, there are considerably
more bellicose conflicts than violent crises – while in all other parts of Asia the relation between the
two is relatively balanced. Unlike the rest of Asia, in Southeast Asia limited wars and wars are do-