Southeast Asia
Australia–Indonesia: strangers next door
At the weekend, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will meet with President of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on the margins of the Australia-ASEAN Special Summit. Although…
ASEAN summit brief: joining the club, infrastructure games, Jakarta’s power team, and business links
Membership or not
Our experience with Vietnam and the Philippines over the past few years only serves to show why the newly revived idea of Australia joining the Association of…
Tamil rap artists resisting poverty and discrimination in Malaysia
M.I.A, the world’s most celebrated Tamil rapper, uses modern Tamil melodies and rhythms in her work, but does not actually rap in Tamil. She is British, but the majority of…
ASEAN is not South East Asia
The upcoming ASEAN-Australia Special Summit has led to a surge in analysis of the Association of South East Asian Nations and Australia-ASEAN relations in Australia.
In February,…
The Timor Trough – two separate shelves
In her article “How Australia crossed a line in the Timor Sea”, Kim McGrath claims that Australia had evidence supporting Indonesia’s claim in maritime boundary negotiations …
Quality over quantity: Indonesia’s education challenge
Two enduring ideological themes have informed Indonesian education policy almost since the Repulic was founded. The first has been an “education for all” approach, and the second…
Elections in Thailand, maybe, but still in the middle of a muddle
This is meant to be the year that Thailand’s junta finally rolls out elections, but already the government has been backtracking, plagued by one corruption scandal after the…
Shrugging Indonesia’s inferiority complex
Under President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo, Indonesia has been accused of lacking a coherent foreign policy, particularly when compared to the overtly internationalist outlook of…
Sensitivity as Indonesia grapples with a measles outbreak in Papua
The Indonesian Government is grappling with a measles outbreak in the Papuan district of Asmat, where at least 65 children have died since the epidemic began in October. Almost…
Malaysia’s election – electric and exhausting
In media studios, food courts, street stalls, and offices, I watch Malaysian political observers and insiders perform the same routine.
First, they sigh and look …