The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is an anomaly in Indonesia’s corrupt institutional environment. As the KPK Law 30/2002 produced one of the world’s most effective anti-corruption agencies, critics and state powerholders had duplicitously argued for […]
A high-profile feature of current Vietnamese politics is the anti-corruption drive led by Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). As the anti-graft campaign enters its fifth year, Trong […]
The South China Sea remains a focal concern within the international community, grabbing headlines and placed firmly on the agendas of many bilateral and multilateral political and academic summits. While likely to remain relatively stable […]
Identified by The World Bank (WB) as among the top three fastest growing economies in East Asia in 2019, Vietnam’s economy last year again demonstrated its resilience in the face of a falling Manufacturing Purchasing […]
The victory of the Pakatan Harapan coalition in last year’s Malaysian general elections which saw the first-ever change of government via an electoral process raised widespread expectations for long-suppressed reform. In particular need of attention […]
After he won re-election last April, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo was eager to emphasise the liberating effects of not having to worry about re-election. In his second and final term, the President told the […]
Asean cooperation arrangements and Apec are important international assets. They contribute significantly to shared prosperity and political security in the Asia Pacific by building pillars for trade liberalisation, investment, the movement of people and — […]
After profound advances in manufacturing and services most observers now believe that Vietnam is well-positioned to meet its principal Vision 2035 goal of achieving upper middle-income status. But sustained agricultural gains are by no means […]
Government officials and heads-of-state in Asean appears to have a collective aversion to speaking up in public about Chinese transgressions and coercion in the South China Sea (SCS). Such reticence is based on misplaced fears […]
Global media and numerous ‘experts’ routinely assert that Sri Lanka was forced to cede a strategically important port to China after being lured into a debt trap by easy Chinese loans. This story has now […]
Singapore and Indonesia signed a $10 billion Bilateral Swap Agreement (BSA) in October 2018 allowing the two countries to assist each other through US dollar loans during financial stress. The move signals a willingness by […]
Amid shifting global power dynamics and intense pressure from the West, Cambodia’s foreign policy strategy in the coming years will aim to diversify its external relations, with a focus on South and East Asian countries. […]