Systems of patronage break down unless the man or woman at the top stays there. So he or she tends to cling to the position for as long as possible. Jewel-like historical examples embellish the book, but one in particular encapsulates this point. Sir James George Scott, a 19th-century observer of Burmese society, related that on hearing that William Gladstone had been replaced as Britain’s prime minister by Benjamin Disraeli in 1874, King Mindon Min responded with sympathy for Gladstone, whom he supposed must be in prison.
The competition for power is all the more desperate given the weakness of civic institutions in South-East Asia. Victims of violence and slaughter, such as those attacked in anti-communist massacres in Indonesia in the 1960s, receive little justice. Mr Vatikiotis tells how 40,000 people were killed on the island of Bali alone, now a paradisiacal destination for more than 4m tourists a year. But the bloodshed is barely discussed there amid the surfing schools and the yoga studios. Impunity festers too in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.
“Blood and Silk” is a timely book. In Malaysia voters anticipate an election; in Thailand a new king awaits coronation; and in the Philippines the army is fighting for victory against militants linked to Islamic State (IS). China’s growing influence, and uncertainty over the role America wishes to play in the region now that Donald Trump is president, are causing a shift in alliances. The magnitude of the abuses, deceptions, conflicts and scandals which have shaped South-East Asia’s politics over the past century is barely contained within the book’s pages. Yet Mr Vatikiotis has some advice for those trying to live and work in spite of them: “When elephants fight, stay out of the long grass.”