ASEAN should enhance efficiency of fertiliser application, increase local fertiliser production, and fortify policies on pesticides and seeds.
Category Archives: Commentaries
Still Legally Relevant: The South China Sea Award After Ten Years
The 2016 arbitral ruling on the South China Sea has subtly shifted claimant states’ practices, a decade on.
To Lam’s Visit to China: Charting a ‘New Era’ in Sino-Vietnam Ties
To Lam’s recent visit to China helps Vietnam to realise its national ambitions. Hanoi is mindful of the risks of such an engagement, which will need to be managed carefully.
Is Penang’s Inter-faith Appreciation Under Threat?
The cancellation of a Hari Raya open house by a temple association in Penang has underscored the need to design interfaith engagements which are possible under certain conditions.
Corporal Punishment in Thai Schools
Legal changes have not meaningfully changed long-standing attitudes towards the corporal punishment of school children in Thailand, even among those who teach them.
World Bank Resurrects Industrial Policy: Ball is in Southeast Asia’s Court
The World Bank has made a volte-face on industrial policy. Southeast Asian countries will need to consider the new policy, but calibrate it across vastly different national contexts.
ASEAN in 2026: Great Expectations, Limited Effectiveness
ASEAN remains central to regional diplomacy, but it continues to be bogged down by structural limitations.
Trump 2.0 Hollowing US Human Connections to Southeast Asia
The US’ human and intellectual connections to Southeast Asia are gradually being undermined.
The Myanmar Crisis and the Challenge of Maintaining ASEAN Consensus
It is time for ASEAN to truly reckon with the meaning and practice of consensus-seeking, on issues where its eleven members stand far apart.
From Fragmentation to Cohesion: Charting a Course for Philippine Maritime Security Governance
How can the Philippines’ decision-makers on maritime security reduce their ‘seablindness’?