My first meeting with the stern-faced Wolters in late August 1967
was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. In no uncertain terms was
I made to understand that undertaking the PhD in Southeast Asian history
would be no picnic. The first phase in the formation or “disciplining” of a
student in this field was the learning of French, the language of much of the
pioneering work on early Southeast Asia. Wolters had instructed me even
before I came that I was expected to have read George Coedes’ Les etats
hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie before I could enroll in his classes. If I
couldn't read French yet, then I had to pick it up in one semester. And if I
wanted to study Indonesia, as I had indicated, I would have to learn Dutch and
Bahasa Indonesia as well. Languages were a crucial component of Southeast
Asian studies. Wolters then handed to me his thick reading list consisting of
the texts that one had to read, the academic lineage and intellectual issues
one had to be familiar with, in order to be inducted into Southeast Asian
historiography.