Reading ASEAN’s Sentiments in a Year of Crosswinds
Joanne Lin|Jasmine Yeo
Joanne Lin and Jasmine Yeo show how insights from two major regional surveys in 2025 capture the forces shaping ASEAN’s confidence in a year of shifting global winds.
Articles
ASEAN Power Grid: Gleaning Best Practices from Worst Cases
Mirza Sadaqat Huda
As Southeast Asia focuses on building the ASEAN Power Grid, there will be a higher chance of success if interconnections are designed to be modular and embedded within a broader regional integration agenda.
Private Investment, Public Burden: Indonesia’s ‘Whoosh’ Lesson
Romora Edward Sitorus|A. Prasetyantoko
Indonesia’s first high-speed train project is historic but its government now has to prevent it going off the rails as costs spiral and boomerang onto the state and taxpayers.
Islamic Soft Power: Malaysia Well-Positioned to Consolidate its Global Leadership on Halal Branding and Governance
Syaza Shukri
Malaysia has successfully transformed halal governance from religious compliance into a strategic tool of soft power. Through the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) and the Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), halal became both a moral brand and an economic driver across food, finance, tourism, cosmetics, and logistics.
Indonesia’s Slow Disaster Response: President Prabowo Constrained by His Own Agenda
Made Supriatma
Poor advice and a seeming refusal to acknowledge the reality and scale of the problem have hampered the Indonesian president’s response to the disastrous floods across Sumatra.
Sabah First? 2025 State Election Shows Voters Want Results Not Slogans
Arnold Puyok
The 17th Sabah elections evinced a mix of the predictable and the surprising. Despite the show of support for the ‘Sabah First’ slogan, the fragmented politics of the state will continue.
Building BRICS? Anwar’s Worldview and Malaysia’s Foreign Policy
Isabelle Chua|Francis E. Hutchinson
Malaysia’s decision to join BRICS demonstrates its long-standing adherence to strategic equidistance. It also bears Anwar Ibrahim’s personal imprimatur.
Flood Control in the Philippines: When Corruption Bedevils Climate Change Mitigation
JC Punongbayan
The fact that the Philippines requires flood control measures is beyond dispute. But the problem goes far deeper.
Momentum or Mirage? Anutin’s Risky Road to Re-Election
Napon Jatusripitak
Anutin Charnvirakul’s recent dissolution of the Thai Parliament is a tactical move to preserve incumbency advantages going into elections next year. Still, he might end up with an unwieldy “grand compromise” coalition that will give him little wiggle room.
Rebalancing Indonesia’s Trade Policy: After Prabowo’s First Year
Deasy Pane|Siwage Dharma Negara
Indonesia has its work cut out for it given tough headwinds in global trade, but the present government’s attempts to tack its sails may give the country a chance to move in the right direction.