Southeast Asia

im looking into some new borders for various southeast asian nations in my ATL. i decided to expand the add another country, Laos, into the mix (in the old version, Laos and Vietnam were merged together as "Indochina")

aside from that, though, im looking into some plausibility factors concerning two or three nations in particular at the moment: Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia. ill admit that my ATL is kind of ASB in that it is loosely based on a pre-existing work, so im trying to figure out how plausible one border from the source material in particular is. according to a map, roughly the southern half of Thailand goes to Cambodia, along with all of continental Malaysia

anyway, ill default to roughly OTL borders if all else fails, but im trying to figure out if theres any plausible way that Cambodia ITTL could come to control these regions. the history and PODs of this ATL which is relevant to this region is roughly as follows:

  • during the Pacific War (1937-1946), Japan invades much of the Asia-Pacific region, annexing the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan and establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo. They also invade the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina, which ultimately causes the colonial governments in these regions to collapse. Japan is allied to the United States ITTL, so they are virtually unhindered. The Japanese invasion forces eventually falter and they retreat, mostly because of Chinese interference.
  • with the region in disarray, the Indochinese natives rebel against the remainder of the French colonial government and expel them from the region, which then splits into the three countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (or their equivalents of that time; my actual knowledge of this time and place is relatively limited and could be easily remedied if I wasn't so sleepy).
  • communism does not spread to this part of the world or to China. As a result, there is no communist dominance in Cambodia and China and no Vietnam War.
  • China, still imperialist, over the remainder of the 20th century, invades several other regions of eastern Asia following Tibet (specifically, they invade Mongolia, Indonesia, and Manchukuo), and as a result become much more powerful and influential.
anyway, to reiterate, my question here is "Is there any plausible way for Cambodia to take over southern Thailand and Malaysia?". my ATL is still in development, so while i want to keep many aspects, there are many others which are still fluid and subject to change. this is one of the fluid parts :) any help on this? this is especially important to me because southeast asia is the last part of my newest map that i need to finish up before i can properly present it in the map thread and finish it up with new colors

id also prefer to keep the focus on cambodia itself for this thread: there will be another time and place where we can deal with the pretty much utterly ASB parts also mentioned as being part of this ATL, but its not here
 
so im trying to figure out how plausible one border from the source material in particular is. according to a map, roughly the southern half of Thailand goes to Cambodia, along with all of continental Malaysia
In the 1500's the Kymers [Cambodia] and the Thai's [Thailand] were fighting over over what is today south Thailand/north Malaysia. OTL the Thai's Won, ATL ???????

during the Pacific War (1937-1946), Japan invades much of the Asia-Pacific region, annexing the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan and establishing the puppet state of Manchukuo
OTL Japan got Tiawan in 1895, Korea in 1905, Manchuria in 1933. ?Why so late In your TL?
 
according to a map, roughly the southern half of Thailand goes to Cambodia, along with all of continental Malaysia


This is a difficult proposition to accomodate with the Khmers as they are wedged (ala Poland) between two larger and more powerful states in Thailand and Vietnam. The sultanate of Pattani (Southern Thailand) logically should go to Malaysia, shared culture / religion / history. For the Khmers to get southern Thailand and Malaysia will require a POD in the 15th to 16th century. The difficulty then will be with them keeping an ethnically diverse state together with the advent of colonialism and or dynastic decay.

Another option that you could utilise would be for the Cham to unify southern Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. You would then have an Islamic ruling class... as an idea. However if you want a POD later then that it would be incredibly difficult. I am presently writing a Cambodian TL set during the WW 2 period and after - perhaps PM me for more ideas.
 
OTL Japan got Tiawan in 1895, Korea in 1905, Manchuria in 1933. ?Why so late In your TL?
im an idiot, thats why :p i keep forgetting that they got those parts much earlier. ITTL, they get those possessions when they did and as they did IOTL, but i just keep forgetting that since i havent done much research into this part of the TL just yet
This is a difficult proposition to accomodate with the Khmers as they are wedged (ala Poland) between two larger and more powerful states in Thailand and Vietnam. The sultanate of Pattani (Southern Thailand) logically should go to Malaysia, shared culture / religion / history. For the Khmers to get southern Thailand and Malaysia will require a POD in the 15th to 16th century. The difficulty then will be with them keeping an ethnically diverse state together with the advent of colonialism and or dynastic decay.

Another option that you could utilise would be for the Cham to unify southern Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. You would then have an Islamic ruling class... as an idea. However if you want a POD later then that it would be incredibly difficult. I am presently writing a Cambodian TL set during the WW 2 period and after - perhaps PM me for more ideas.
i think ill just make that area unified as malaysia, then. thanks for your help, both of you :)
 
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