Pluralist Constitutions in Southeast Asia

This book examines the presence of ethnic religious political and ideational pluralities in Southeast Asian societies and how their respective constitutions respond to these pluralities. Countries covered in this book are Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar the Philippines Singapore Thailand and Vietnam. The chapters examine: first the range of pluralist constitutional values and ideas embodied in the constitutions; secondly the pluralist sources of constitutional norms; thirdly the design of constitutional structures responding to various pluralities; and fourthly the construction and interpretation of bills of rights in response to existing pluralities. The 'pluralist constitution' is thus one that recognises internal pluralities within society and makes arrangements to accommodate rather than eliminate these pluralities.