Southeast Asia
![Indonesia’s elections and the local result](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/DSC_0030-mini.jpg?itok=HRwDqpDS)
Indonesia’s elections and the local result
Regional elections took place across Indonesia on 27 June, when local voters went to the polls to elect governors, regents, and mayors. The results offer a fascinating…
![International rescue: the Thai cave response](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-988660944-mini.jpg?itok=PtdNUFAT)
International rescue: the Thai cave response
As prime minister, Tony Abbott once called disaster response “an antidote to pessimism”. No less than eight countries – including China, the US, South Korea, and New Zealand …
![Hun Sen and his personality cult](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-532635210-mini.jpg?itok=8m_3_85w)
Hun Sen and his personality cult
A fiercely loyal armed force is essential to cementing a dictatorship, and the sheer military might of Cambodia’s Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander who has ruled the country…
![Vietnam: a month of mass protests](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/Vietnam%20flag%20WEB%202.jpg?itok=HwY0OUok)
Vietnam: a month of mass protests
June 2018 may go down as a new record for mass protests in Vietnam. Thousands of people across the three main regions of the country took to the streets, mostly in a…
![The big clean-up in Malaysia](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-975475824-mini.jpg?itok=CjUSZTqp)
The big clean-up in Malaysia
While the world is watching Malaysia, trying to explain the unexpected victory of Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) in last month’s elections, what is actually more important is…
![Vietnam: reconciling the diaspora](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/14254106735_bc33ec351b_o-mini.jpg?itok=dsAmS3bB)
Vietnam: reconciling the diaspora
In 2018, Vietnam and Australia marked the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations by upgrading their ties to a strategic partnership.
On this occasion, however,…
![Cambodia: the unfree press](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-856297176mini.jpg?itok=wtjE7Uyi)
Cambodia: the unfree press
The Cambodian government has continued tightening the screws on its already crippled free press, introducing severe prohibitions on election reporting ahead of the ballot in July,…
![Indonesia’s LGBT crackdown](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/LGBT%20Indo%20-%20WEB%20MIN.jpg?itok=Ws4N352j)
Indonesia’s LGBT crackdown
Last month, Indonesia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community was buoyed by a decision to remove the phrase “same-sex” from the article on fornication in…
![China eyes its next prize – the Mekong](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/Brennan%20banner%20-%20web%20MIN.jpg?itok=J0Qb0ER9)
China eyes its next prize – the Mekong
Beijing’s islands-building in the South China Sea and their militarisation, replete with surface-to-air missiles, is near complete. With guile, threat, and coercion, China…
![Modi plays by the “rules” at Shangri-La](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/Modi%20Shangri%20La%20-%20web%20MIN.jpg?itok=UaxKzgaL)
Modi plays by the “rules” at Shangri-La
Sometimes what politicians don’t say is as important as what they do say. So it was with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi’s keenly anticipated keynote at the Shangri-La…