- ABRI
- Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia; Armed Forces of the Indonesian Republic
- AFPFL
- Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League
- ASA
- Association of Southeast Asia
- ASEAN
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- BCE
- Before the Common Era (BC)
- CE
- Common Era (AD)
- DRV
- Democratic Republic of Viet Nam
- GCBA
- General Council of Buddhist (from 1920 Burmese) Associations
- ICP
- Indochinese Communist Party
- ICS
- Independent Chinese Schools (Malaysia)
- ILO
- International Labor Organization
- ISEAS
- Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
-
JAS
-
Journal of Asian Studies
-
JSEAS
-
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
- KMT
- Kuo Min Tang (pinyin Guomindang) “National Peoples’ Party,” the ruling nationalist party of China before 1949, and thereafter in Taiwan
- KPM
- Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (Royal Packet Navigation Company)
- MCP
- Malayan Communist Party
- NGO
- Non-Government Organization
- NIT
- Negara Indonesia Timur; State of East Indonesia
- NU
- Nahdlatul Ulama
- PKI
- Partai Komunis Indonesia
- PNI
- Partai Nasionalis Indonesia
- PRB
- Partai Rakyat Brunei; Brunei People’s Party
- PRC
- People’s Republic of China
- PRRI
- Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (Revolutionary Government of the Indonesian Republic – rebels of 1958–9)
- SEAC
- South-East Asia Command
- SLORC
- State Law and Order Restoration Council (Burma)
- UMNO
- United Malays National Organization
- VOC
- Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; [Dutch] United East India Company