Post world-war II in Southeast Asia, economic growth took priority and timber production became popular. Although countries flourished, the price to pay was the irreversible removal of tropical rainforests. At that time, indigenous people who had originated from forestry territories had stood up against logging practices in attempt to protect the forests but their love for nature had failed to pass onto others. Hence, for economic gain, forest land had to make way to follow governmental policies of land clearing for human activity. Later on, privatisation of land led to government having less say in logging practices.
The process of deforestation can be explained as a tragedy of commons whereby forests, being the common resource pool, got exploited by the growing population in SEA. It is surprising that hardly any protection was given to the forest, even though it is an important asset to the countries that depended it for economic gains.