ABSTRACT
Hesitation about governmental imperialism was indeed one dimension of liberalism – but the transformative potential of the ideology is perhaps what probably mattered most in Southeast Asia. Rather than giving a sense of the narrative of the way liberalism was worked on, responded to, and developed in the nineteenth century, the October 2016 speech presents liberalism almost as a new ideological danger. To understand why this is the case – and how best to respond – it is helpful to examine the narrative of liberalism in the region close to Australia, Southeast Asia. Stress on the individual rather than communitarian values came across as sharply prominent in Australian approaches to citizenship and education. The liberal heritage, to be sure, has been influential well beyond Australia – including in some quarters in Asia – and recently there have been initiatives to formulate and celebrate that heritage, partly with an eye to meeting the challenge of alternative traditions.
