Julia Lau
Despite earlier misgivings about his overly domestic focus, President Joko Widodo’s recent trip to Australia underscores how he has matured as a statesman and improved bilateral ties with Indonesia’s southern neighbour. Indonesia’s growing middle power influence was illustrated by Widodo’s subsequent visit to Papua New Guinea.
Hoang Thi Ha|William Choong
Analyses about the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) tend to focus on its four-way formal structures. An examination of the bilateral and plurilateral interactions between Quad members, as well as those between Quad members and other regional states, suggests that their coalition building is much more nimble and flexible.
Aries A. Arugay|Surachanee Sriyai
Recent elections in Thailand and the Philippines have seen the use of disinformation. Currently, policy options to tackle such a phenomenon remain limited.
Max Lane
A small new party is sticking to its ideological guns but will probably not make much of a dent in the established elite’s stranglehold on Indonesia’s electoral politics.
Melinda Martinus|Farah Nadine Seth
The ASEAN Digital Integration Index (ADII) shows that the area of digital skills and talent is ASEAN’s worst-performing indicator of the six digital integration benchmarks used to measure digital integration. This Long Read offers some analysis of the underlying causes of this dismal performance and identifies three opportunities to enhance digital skills.
Francis E. Hutchinson
The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) has parted ways with Pakatan Harapan to contest the upcoming state elections. Although some have written the youth-focused party off, there might yet be method to its madness.
Sharifah Afra Alatas|Nadirah Norruddin
The growing Muslim middle class’s appetite for consumer goods with halal and religious-inspired branding raises challenging questions about whether conspicuous consumption sits well with expressions of religiosity.
Lee Hwok-Aun
Amid the political spectacle, Malaysia should critically consider the meagre roles and resources of state governments. The irony is that states, in following their own election cycles, end up augmenting federal dominance and disempowering themselves.
Sivarin Lertpusit
Illicit nominations of Thais as shareholders in businesses run by Chinese operators are threatening local concerns. This highlights a dense network of transnational criminal activity that the Thai authorities are up against.
Joanne Lin
Joanne Lin examines the challenges to ASEAN’s unity ahead of the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ and related meetings, and highlights why ASEAN needs to move towards a more flexible modus operandi.