[precisely]

         

Andrew Hurrell (1995) argued that there is a certain ambiguity in the definition of regions and Southeast Asia is no exception. Historians, political scientists and area scholars have proffered several criteria: geographic, cultural, ethnic, religious, linguistic, systemic, political and economic to define Southeast Asia. The difficulty lies in the ‘lack of a dominant and defining land mass’; the diversity of faiths and languages; the different experiences of colonialism; and the influences of India and China, among others (Ba, 2000: 49-50).

Ortuoste, 2011