Southeast Asia
From the high horse: Malaysia’s problematic track record
Speaking at the ASEAN summit in Singapore this month, Malaysia’s “new” Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad gave counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi a taste of his notoriously acerbic…
Myanmar’s press freedom mirage
It has been a bad year for press freedom across Southeast Asia. Myanmar has been no exception.
Media freedom fell to new lows this month as a self-proclaimed anti-Rohingya…
Cambodia’s genocide verdict: better late than never
The verdict of the Khmer Rouge tribunal (The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, ECCC) on 16 November that found Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan guilty of genocide was…
Indonesia’s elections: Jokowi-Ma’ruf appeal to middle ground
Observers of Indonesian politics would be forgiven for predicting that Indonesia’s presidential election campaign would be highly divisive, based on the Gerindra opposition’s…
Indonesia’s election: Jokowi vs Prabowo
Indonesia is moving into election mode. There will be sweeping general elections in Indonesia in April next year for the presidency, the national parliament, provincial…
Indonesia: Bela Negara action plan and pandering to the military
Between Prabowo Subianto’s promise to “Make Indonesia Great Again” and Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s warning that “winter is coming”, all eyes in Indonesia are transfixed on the upcoming…
Xinjiang: outrage is not a policy
If the outrage about China’s forced re-education camps serves to do anything, it will be to again demonstrate that we have very short memories. Worse than being simply misguided,…
Elections a sham in Rakhine State
People go to the polls on Saturday in Myanmar, or at least some of them do.
On 3 November 2018, the Union Election Commission will coordinate by-elections across 13 electorates…
Indonesia: populism and politicisation of Islam
This is the second of two articles examining the politics behind Indonesia’s revised anti-terror law in the wake of the May family suicide bombings. The first article can be found…
Indonesia’s anti-terror law: crisis to consensus
This is the first of two articles examining the politics behind Indonesia’s revised anti-terror law in the wake of the May family suicide bombings. The second article is available…