Francis E. Hutchinson
Roiled by political instability in the past few months, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin can afford to take a breather, for now at least. A survey by arguably the country’s foremost pollster shows him in a strong position.
Termsak Chalermpalanupap
The sudden departure of Thailand’s newly-appointed finance minister is a sign that premiership of Prayut Chan-ocha is failing.
Ian Storey
News that Thailand has “cancelled” its Kra canal project and replaced it with a land bridge has exercised Indian observers. But you cannot scrap a plan that has not been approved and Indian media reports say more about tensions with China along their land border than a centuries’ old Thai canal plan.
Melinda Martinus
Digital payment systems have proliferated across Southeast Asia, thanks to various platforms provided by banks, ride-hailing apps and fintech firms. For such payments to truly take off, the region needs to work on facilitating cross-border transactions.
Sithanonxay Suvannaphakdy
A bid to boost market access for agri-food trade in ASEAN is in jeopardy. Non-tariff measures (NTMs) – policy measures other than tariffs that can potentially hinder trade – have emerged as one of the key obstacles to agri-food trade, namely fisheries and agro-based products. NTMs increase trade costs for producers, importers and exporters through information, compliance and procedural...
Malcolm Cook
In a pandemic-afflicted year when the country braced itself for smaller remittances from its overseas workers, the Philippines has seen a lower-than-expected fall in such inflows. The OFWs, as they are called, have lived up to their reputations.
Dien Nguyen An Luong
A lawsuit filed against TikTok by a Vietnamese firm portends a tightening of controls on social media by the authorities.
Mohd Faizal Musa|Siti Syazwani Zainal Abidin
For years, the Islamic Renaissance Front has sought to bring progressive Islam to the front and centre in Malaysia. With a leadership change and increasing state repression, the group has its work cut out for it.
Dien Nguyen An Luong|Benjamin Hu
The relative success of Vietnam’s Covid-19 contact tracing app has sparked concerns about the privacy of users. Currently, however, app users are wont to give the government the benefit of the doubt.
Lye Liang Fook
China appears to have embarked on a new round of charm offensive. Yang Jiechi, who is a Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, is visiting Singapore and South Korea this week. While Singapore looks forward to consolidating its ties with China, it seeks to do the same with other key players in the region.