Southeast Asia Articles
Top Story -
News/Analysis
By
Fabio Scarpello
27 Jan 2010
World Politics Review
DENPASAR, Indonesia -- Under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, U.S.-Indonesia ties have progressively strengthened since he
first took office in 2004. President Barack Obama and Yudhoyono are working toward a "comprehensive partnership" that goes beyond cooperation on solely security concerns, but questions remain about whether it will have any
real effect on the ground.
By Brendan Brady
04 Jan 2010 |
World Politics Review
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Two days after Cambodia repatriated 20 Uighur
asylum-seekers fleeing China, the two countries signed trade agreements
worth more than $1 billion. Both countries deny
a deal was struck, but China's growing ability to leverage its economic
power in the region combined with Cambodia's weak rule of law have observers raising eyebrows.
By Fabio Scarpello
16 Dec 2009 |
World Politics Review
After more than a year of fighting, the resumption of peace
negotiations between the government of the Philippines and the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front was a welcome development in Mindanao,
an island mired in endemic violence. But although talks have resumed in earnest, persistent structural obstacles mean that hopes for a lasting peace remain slim.
By Luke Hunt
16 Dec 2009 |
World Politics Review
KUALA LUMPUR -- Insurgents in Thailand's southern provinces
have been raising the stakes in their bid for autonomy. Casualties blamed on shootings, bombings and military raids have become
an almost daily occurrence in recent months. And according to analysts, the Thai government needs a significant attitude adjustment to deal with the situation.
By Jason Miks
10 Dec 2009 |
World Politics Review
TOKYO -- Asia may already have an alphabet soup of regional economic and
security arrangements, but Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama seem
to believe there is room for at least a few more. Their proposals come at a time when regional trade agreements have been proliferating. But is there really a future for increased Asian integration?
By Damien Kingsbury
08 Dec 2009 |
World Politics Review
A little more than 10 years after the people of what is now Timor-Leste
voted for independence, this small, half-island country has compressed
into a few short years what many other post-colonial states have taken
decades to achieve.
By Fabio Scarpello
01 Dec 2009 |
World Politics Review
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has
talked tough since grisly details emerged last week of a massacre
in the Muslim-majority province of Maguindanao. But her words amount to little more than rhetoric in a country
where clan-based allegiances dominate the political landscape.
By Luke Hunt
30 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
PHNOM PENH -- The trial of a Khmer Rouge prison commandant who oversaw
the deaths of at least 12,000 people has wrapped up. But in his final
statement, Kang Guek Eav, also known as Duch, stunned the court by
asking for an acquittal. It was a complete about-face for a man who had acknowledged
he was guilty of crimes against humanity, although claiming he acted amid fear of
retribution.
By Fabio Scarpello
24 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Malaysia is often referred to as an example of a moderate
Muslim-majority state in the region. But a recent string of incidents has underlined tensions between its
Muslim majority and the Christian and Hindu minorities. Even more worrisome is the level of Islamization in the nation's
bureaucracy, which increasingly seems accountable
to no one.
By Nikolas Gvosdev
24 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
In the euphoria that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall, we forget
that prior to 1989, the division of Europe into two blocs, East and
West, was seen as a permanent feature of the international order. America's
own security architecture throughout the Pacific Ocean basin may now be
based on similarly impermanent divisions in Asia.
By Greg Lowe
18 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
BANGKOK -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's recent appointment of Thailand's former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, as an economic adviser was the diplomatic equivalent of precision bombing, whose shockwaves have sent relations between the neighboring Southeast Asian nations into a tailspin.
By Luke Hunt
18 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
Gripped by simmering cross-border tensions, a dysfunctional democracy and collective unease over the health of the monarchy, Thailand has seen its status as a major power in Southeast Asia and its influence in the wider region cast under a harsh light recently.
By Prashanth Parameswaran
10 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
In announcing his 37-member cabinet last month, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono lauded his new team as "credible and accountable," and expressed confidence in its abilities. However, many experts did not join in Yudhoyono's glowing encomium, and with good reason: Most of the cabinet-level appointments seem to be based on
considerations of political loyalty more than competence.
By Fabio Scarpello
10 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
DENPASAR, Indonesia -- The peaceful re-election of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono this year added yet another layer of political stability to Indonesia's democratization process. But a battle between the country's anti-corruption commission and the Attorney General's Office is an
indicator of some of the difficulties the country still faces, and could be a
legacy-defining moment for Yudhoyono.
By Colby Pacheco
06 Nov 2009 |
World Politics Review
This week's visit of a high-level U.S. diplomat to Burma is the latest in a series of moves geared toward engaging with that country's reclusive ruling military junta. Unfortunately, though the aims of the Obama administration are admirable,
effecting change in Burma is something the U.S. cannot accomplish if it
acts alone.
By Prashanth Parameswaran
08 Oct 2009 |
World Politics Review
The killing last month by Indonesian authorities of Southeast Asia's most-wanted
terrorist, Noordin Mohammad Top, was a major blow to Islamic
militancy in Southeast Asia.
But even as Jakarta's "law and order approach" to eradicating terrorism
continues to net key terrorist operatives, it has come under increasing
scrutiny for eroding the fabric of Indonesia's democracy.
By Luke Hunt
30 Sep 2009 |
World Politics Review
KUALA LUMPUR -- If timing matters in the art of diplomacy, then those
responsible for the death of Noordin Mohammad Top did the foreign
services of Indonesia and Malaysia a big favor. The killing of
Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist came as neighborly relations
were sliding rapidly into a political abyss -- amid declarations of a
"cultural war" over the historic origins of a traditional dance.
By Brian McCartan
31 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
YALA, Thailand -- After more than five years, Thailand's Muslim
insurgency shows no signs of abating. But despite concerns about the
possibility of connections to the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah, there are no signs of
the insurgency expanding or joining the ranks of international terrorism. Instead
it remains localized, which is where the Thai government hopes it will
remain.
By Luke Hunt
12 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysian authorities have stepped up border surveillance as more and more potential immigrants and refugees flee war-torn Central Asia and the Middle East, arriving here in search of passage onward to third countries like Australia. Despite the danger involved in making the passage and high risk of death, it still seems that many are willing to take their chances.
By Mark Oltmanns
10 Aug 2009 |
WPR Video
Thailand's southern insurgency has become
more violent of late, but Thai officials say the escalation is in
response to the government's increasingly effective counterinsurgency
strategy. Mark Oltmanns reports for WPR.
By Luke Hunt
10 Aug 2009 |
World Politics Review
CANBERRA, Australia -- Almost 1,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters so far this year, often risking their lives to make the trip in old and decrepit boats. Their sheer numbers -- four times more than for all of 2008 -- have left authorities worried, almost to the point of panic. The spike in arrivals seems to be linked to the current softer stance on immigration following the election of Kevid Rudd as prime minister.
