Commentaries | FULCRUM

Restoring Multilateralism: Can Regional Cooperation Arrangements Fill the Void?

With the US backing out of multilateral trade deals, there is a possibility that the EU could link up with two expansive networks – the CPTPP and RCEP – to form a mega trading bloc.

Trump’s Tariffs Will Withstand the Supreme Court

A decades-long governance evolution in the US has vested the Executive Branch with tremendous power when it comes to trade.

Conservative and Religious: Filipino Evangelicals Go MAGA

American conservatism and evangelicalism have found their way into the Philippines.

Towards a New Flying Geese Model in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian economies and other Asian countries are grappling with tremors in industrial structures due to tariffs and supply chain disruptions. It would be helpful to revisit the Flying Geese model to understand industrial transformation and development.

All That Money Cannot Buy: Patterns of Satisfaction in Malaysia’s Happiness Index

Malaysia’s Happiness Index shows that ploughing resources into health, family life, education and faith yields dividends.

Malaysia’s Participation in the Global Sumud Flotilla: Solidarity or Pageantry?

Malaysia made a spectacle of its support for the GSF, revealing the tension between moral leadership and moral theatre in the country’s Palestine policy.

Post-Sri Mulyani, Indonesia’s Unrestrained Growth Ambitions Carry Serious Risks

Sri Mulyani’s successor Purbaya has already signalled a greater willingness to support Prabowo’s populist programmes — in ways that could potentially over-expand credit, raise debt burdens, and erode investor confidence.

Advancing RCEP Integration: Forging a More Resilient and Inclusive Economic Future

The potential of RCEP can only be unlocked when micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, which constitute the backbone of the ASEAN economies, can navigate and utilise its provisions with ease.

Grand Compromise or Grand Damage to Thailand’s Party System?

Thailand has been caught in a series of political compromises made between strange bedfellows. If this continues, voters will become more cynical about the political system’s ability to deliver outcomes that hew to the popular mandate.