Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi) order on March 23, 2016 that the Masela Block use an onshore Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) refinery ended six months of intrigue — and years of delay — about Indonesia’s […]
In the capitals of America’s Asia allies, two phenomena are combining to intensify already uneasy relations with Washington. The first is China’s continued assertiveness in the South China Sea. Beijing’s militarisation of these contested territories […]
Lao PDR has announced a new leadership team amid calls for the country, as the Asean Chair for 2016, to unite Asean on territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Laos’ leadership changes every five […]
Asean is on the lookout for ways to accelerate trade facilitation and eliminate trade barriers by 2025 under its new 10-year Asean Economic Community (AEC) roadmap. Extensive research has demonstrated the vital role of global value […]
Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s former prime minister, seems to have missed the mark with the Citizen’s Declaration that he has so vigorously supported. The bulk of the Declaration is directed at Prime Minister Najib Razak and […]
Vietnam will hold its parliamentary election in May 2016. The three key positions of president, prime minister and chairperson of the National Assembly will all be elected. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this […]
Last year was a year of retrospection and affirmation for Singapore. Marking the country’s 50th year of independence, 2015 saw a year-long series of state-sponsored events and projects to celebrate the nation’s achievements. The effect […]
Last year was somewhat of a challenging one for the Malaysian economy. Political disruptions and economic shocks rocked the nation. Prime Minister Najib Razak has been strenuously committed to undertaking fiscal reform. He has repeatedly […]
The winner of the upcoming 2016 Philippine general election looks set to inherit an underwhelming legacy of lackluster GDP growth and a shortage of infrastructure. Once again in 2015 government under-spending on projects, lower exports, […]
Signing onto the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in Atlanta last October and the high-level state visits of half the politburo to the United States put Vietnam in the international spotlight and, when the dust had […]
In architecture, there is a dictum that ‘form follows function’. The architect decides what a building is being used for and then designs the building for those purposes. However, in Vietnam’s process of economic reforms, […]
In his first year in office, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) failed to deliver on his promises of reform. As former New York governor Mario Cuomo nicely put it: ‘We campaign in poetry, but when […]