Book Reviews : Representative Government in Southeast Asia. By RUPERT EMERSON. With supplementary chapters by WILLARD H. ELSBREE and VIRGINIA THOMPSON. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1955. Pp. vii, 197. $3.50.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295600900120
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Author: Stanley Maron
• Subject Matter: Articles

183
Representative Government in Southeast Asia. By RUPERT EMERSON. With
supplementary chapters by WILLARD H. ELSBREE and VIRGINIA THOMP-
SON. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1955. Pp. vii, 197. $3.50.)
What is meant by representative? This is a question fundamental to all
discussion of democratic theory. In an area like Southeast Asia, where
constitution-making is a very contemporary preoccupation, the problem of
representation is a crucial one.
The conflict ranging around this problem in American constitution-
making was resolved by incorporating two modes of representation in the
Congress, that of population and that of the states, though the precise
nature of the interest entailed in the latter was not made clear. Representa-
tion in the British Parliament is more explicit, though more anachronous,
in that the House of Lords is traditionally concerned with the interests of
a specific segment of society whereas the House of Commons represents the
interests of the masses. In the Indian Parliament, the Council of States is
intended to function as a body representative of the wiser and more mature
minds of the country, and hence to act as a restraining influence on the
more &dquo;vulgar&dquo; members of the House of the People.
In addition to the bicameral principle of representation, the British
Parliament also allowed provision for the special interests of the universi-
ties. The Indian Parliament goes farther in having a number of reserved
constituencies for minority groups. Thus, representation is not merely a
matter of &dquo;counting heads,&dquo; as Jinnah often pointed out, but also involves
consideration of interests.
In Southeast Asia, the big political problem is to find the optimum
formula for balancing other interests against representation by popula-
tion. For the Burmese Union, the problem is one of giving adequate repre-
sentation to the member states; in Malaya, it is chiefly one of communities;
in Indonesia, it is considerably complicated by...