Governance

Governance • STORY OF THE DAY • Jul 01, 2020 • 7 min read
In Partnership with 1

The balancing act: How Vietnam should manage the superpowers

By Alex Shykov • Jul 01, 2020
For decades, Vietnam has been a geopolitically significant theatre of competition for the superpowers. Today, leaders in Hanoi must navigate and leverage the competing interests of China, the US and Russia to protect its citizens, national integrity and economy

Governance • Jun 26, 2020 • 5 min read
Editorial

We need to talk about Japan: Tokyo’s damaging role in Southeast Asia

While China is often criticised for the negative influence it wields over Southeast Asian affairs, Japan's role in backing authoritarian regimes and promoting rights abuses in the region remains far less publicised, but arguably no less pernicious
By Alastair McCready • Jun 26, 2020

Governance • Jun 24, 2020 • 9 min read

Get your act together: Cyber security and nuclear energy in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia continues to explore the potential for nuclear energy to meet its power needs, but with cyber attacks a growing threat globally, some fear Asean isn't prepared to deal with the hostile actors who may seek to bring these systems down
By Jonathan Lim • Jun 24, 2020

Governance • Jun 22, 2020 • 7 min read
Cambodia

A year since Sihanoukville collapse, has Cambodia reformed its building sector?

Cambodia has enacted a sweeping new legal approach to construction since the deadly Sihanoukville building collapse that killed 28 workers and their family members. But with legislation in hand, has anything changed for the labourers building the Kingdom a year on?
By Andrew Haffner • Jun 22, 2020

Governance • Jun 18, 2020 • 4 min read
Singapore politics

Holding Singapore polls during pandemic harms fairness, rights group says

With Singapore looking set to hold its general election in July, rights group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights have said that going to the polls during a pandemic will only worsen an electoral process already skewed in favour of the ruling People's Action Party
By Lee Ying Shan • Jun 18, 2020

Governance • Jun 17, 2020 • 9 min read

As the great powers vie for influence, how can ASEAN stay united?

The importance of economic, political and security cooperation among ASEAN member states has become increasingly apparent in recent decades. But as the great powers vie for influence in the region, the cracks in this fragile unity are at risk of growing
By Thi Mong Tuyen Tran and Jun Jie Lee • Jun 17, 2020

Governance • Jun 11, 2020 • 6 min read
Editorial

Card swapping: The Mekong countries’ problem with activist kidnapping

When Thai activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit was bundled into a car in Phnom Penh on June 4, he became merely the latest in a string of forced disappearances in the region. With several authoritarian governments coexisting in close proximity, the peculiarly Mekong country issue of activist kidnapping shows no sign of abating
By Alastair McCready • Jun 11, 2020

Governance • Jun 10, 2020 • 6 min read
Analysis

As Thailand recovers from Covid-19, its volatile domestic politics returns

While the Covid-19 crisis has placed life on hold in Thailand in recent months, the country's chronically tumultuous domestic political scene is rearing its head again. Researcher Sek Sophal discusses what the kingdom's post-virus political landscape could look like
By Sek Sophal • Jun 10, 2020

Governance • Jun 04, 2020 • 3 min read
Duterte's Philippines

UN: People killed with ‘near impunity’ in Philippine drug war

A UN report on June 4 called for an independent investigation into rights abuses in the Philippines as it accused President Rodrigo Duterte's infamous drug war of unleashing widespread and systematic killing with "near impunity"
By Agence France-Presse • Jun 04, 2020