Power

Political reporting and analysis on the big questions facing the region.

Power • STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 25, 2018 • 7 min read

2018 in review Southeast Asian leaders’ most controversial quotes

By Lily Hess • Dec 25, 2018
This year has been a whirlwind of surprising news and geopolitical drama in Southeast Asia, with three elections, infamous imprisonments and a meeting in Singapore of two of the world’s most caricaturesque political figures. One constant though, is the propensity of the region’s leaders to serve up memorable quotes. Southeast Asia Globe offers these shocking, funny, bizarre and sometimes sad remarks from different leaders in our neighbourhood as a parting glance at an eventful 2018

Power • STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 18, 2018 • 15 min read

Belt and Road Operation Mekong

By Bernhard Zand • Dec 18, 2018
China is exercising a level of economic influence on the Mekong states not seen since the height of its imperial might

Power • STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 15, 2018 • 6 min read

Press Freedom He wanted to expose Cambodia’s virginity trade. Now, he’s in prison

By Matt Surrusco • Dec 15, 2018
A Cambodian translator helped foreign journalists film a documentary about alleged sex trafficking in the Kingdom. Authorities now claim the film’s subjects said they were paid to be in the film. The translator’s wife, who visited him in prison, tells Southeast Asia Globe that her husband is afraid, sick and innocent

Power • Dec 14, 2018 • 10 min read
Khmer Rouge tribunal

‘Astonishing failure’ or ‘justice for millions’?

After nearly 20 years and $320m in cost, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) landed its first genocide conviction of high-level officers in the Pol Pot regime. A looming judicial stalemate on the fate of two more cases could lead to the ECCC’s termination
By Charles Dunst • Dec 14, 2018

Power • Dec 10, 2018 • 5 min read
Opinion

Rapping against dictatorship

An exiled Thai academic writes that the response by the military junta that rules Thailand to the recent viral video sensation by the group Rap Against Dictatorship is a sign of things to come
By Giles Ji Ungpakorn • Dec 10, 2018

Power • Nov 15, 2018 • 8 min read
Pridi Banomyong

Thailand’s “Father of Democracy”

Thailand’s first popularly elected prime minister, Pridi Banomyong, was instrumental in the overthrow of the Kingdom’s absolute monarchy and the creation of the nation’s first constitution. But as the palace-backed military junta continues to pave the way for the long-promised return to elections, his fierce struggle for democracy is being written out of the Kingdom’s chequered history.
By Paul Millar • Nov 15, 2018

Power • Nov 13, 2018 • 14 min read
Anti-China sentiment

Seeing red

China is investing billions in Cambodia’s economy. But as more and more Cambodians raise fears of crime, corruption and colonial ambition, could rising public resentment lead to racially motivated violence?
By Paul Millar • Nov 13, 2018

Power • Nov 11, 2018 • 13 min read
World War I

The Great War’s impact on Southeast Asia

World War I introduced nations around the world to deadlier weapons, bloody battles and each other. Though Southeast Asia was left relatively unscathed by the war, the reverberations of the conflict were felt in the region for decades
By David Hutt • Nov 11, 2018

Power • Nov 05, 2018 • 3 min read
Sar Kheng

Is Hun Sen’s long-time rival really a ‘democratic alternative’?

Cambodia's Interior Minister Sar Kheng has long been hailed by Western diplomats as a more liberal alternative to Prime Minister Hun Sen's decades-long strongman rule. But with the factional heavyweight growing increasingly strident in his criticism of corruption and incompetence within the ruling party, just what has the former Khmer Rouge cadre done to deserve this reputation?
By Paul Millar • Nov 05, 2018

Power • Nov 01, 2018 • 3 min read
Mahathir-Anwar power transition

‘People first – that’s what democracy should be’

It was no secret that when the then-92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister after an historic election win earlier this year, he planned to give up the position to rival-turned-ally Anwar Ibrahim. But how exactly will that play out?
By Amanda Kaufmann • Nov 01, 2018

Power • Oct 30, 2018 • 4 min read
Rap Against Dictatorship

Thai rap group causing stir with viral song that slams junta

A recently released song by a Thai rap group that criticises Thailand’s military-led government has gone viral and sparked controversy in the country
By Lily Hess • Oct 30, 2018