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.
Chheang Vannarith
This Long Read examines the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA), which came into force in January 2022. It argues that in order to promote industrialisation and export diversification, developing countries need to adopt an integrated industrial-trade-investment strategy. China, as a global trading power, can play a significant role in this process.
Phan Xuan Dung
Vietnam is planning to import more electricity from hydropower facilities in Laos. Such an arrangement, however, poses a threat to the food security and livelihoods of Vietnamese living in the Mekong Delta.
Norshahril Saat|Ahmad Muhajir
Many politicians eyeing Indonesia’s two top political jobs are performing the Hajj this year. While doing so might boost their political capital, it is unlikely to bag them an outright victory at next year’s polls.
David Scott Mathieson
Five weeks after the country was hit by a Category 5 cyclone, the military junta in Myanmar continues to stonewall the delivery of much-needed aid to affected civilians. In particular, this highlights ASEAN’s continued inability to persuade the junta to implement the Five Point Consensus.