Commentaries | FULCRUM

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.

Trump in Kuala Lumpur: Upstaging ASEAN?

US President Donald Trump’s decision to attend the upcoming ASEAN Summits in Kuala Lumpur has put the Malaysian authorities in a pickle.

MAGA Show on ASEAN’s Stage: Guarded Expectations

President Trump will make a spectacle of his presence in Kuala Lumpur, but is unlikely to offer ASEAN the reliable, long-term engagement it seeks.

Malaysia’s Islamic Authorities Risk Sowing Societal Confusion through Hasty Bans on Some ‘New Age’ Practices

By indiscriminately condemning as heretical some ‘New Age’ practices, such as those involving healing and astrology, Malaysia’s Islamic authorities could inadvertently undermine some Malay cultural traditions.

How Stablecoins Could Destabilise Southeast Asian Economies

For all the recent excitement around stablecoins, they bring significant risks that warrant proactive policy responses.

Anutin’s Rise and the People’s Party’s Test

By supporting the Bhumjaithai minority government, the People’s Party has embarked on a political gambit: working with the party’s erstwhile enemy in exchange for some degree of reform in the medium term.