I think it's a mistake to over-emphasize this as the reason for conflict. A big problem was that the majority ethnic or religious groups tended not to take kindly to the creation of nation states for minorities they had traditionally invaded and slaughtered at will prior to colonial rule. Indonesia, for instance, annexed lands the predecessor Javanese empire never had control of, including West Papua and East Timor. To set up a state for Alawites would have meant immediate war after independence. The whole point of letting overseas territories have their independence was to end the steady stream of casualties and the minimal benefits from European-style colonialism, which re-invested government revenues from the colonial territories in colonial infrastructure instead of building Taj Mahal-type white elephants in the metropole like the Mughals.
Your point is well taken. My purpose was not to blame dead English guys but to emphasize the lack of national identity in most residents of the Middle East.
I assume you mean the Dutch East Indies as the predecessor empire.
The Dutch retained control of Western New Guinea for more than 10 years after the lost the rest of their empire.
East Timor was a Portugese possession throughout the colonial period, conquered by Indonesia in 1975 and granted freedom in 1999.