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  • Myanmar: Examining the Discord between the Arakan Army’s Words and Actions
    Fiona Raval.    ·   26 Mar, 2026    ·    #5906    ·    Commentary    
    Recent reports document accusations against the Arakan Army (AA) of detaining, extorting, and abusing refugees returning to Maungdaw from Bangladesh. As Myanmar’s civil war continues unabated, instances of brutality and human rights violations agai ...
  • Cambodia’s Democratic Mirage: Power, Repression, and the Struggle for Change
    Pragati Madhogarhia.    ·   26 May, 2025    ·    #5890    ·    Commentary    
    On 7 January 2025, Lim Kimya, a former Member of Parliament for the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) was shot dead in Bangkok, Thailand. His colleagues, members of the Cambodian opposition, say they have suffered dozens of arrests, imprisonment ...
  • Family Politics: The Marcos-Duterte Feud and the Future of the Philippines
    Pradeep Nadig.    ·   19 Feb, 2025    ·    #5886    ·    Commentary    
    The Philippine government is currently being led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the unpopular former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of the controversial former President Rodrigo Duterte. They ...
  • Why India Matters to Singapore
    Fiona Raval.    ·   13 Feb, 2025    ·    #5885    ·    Commentary    
    President of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam concluded a four-day state visit to India on 18 January 2025. The first Indian tour by a Singaporean president in a decade, it commemorated the 60th anniversary of India and Singapore establishing bilater ...
  • What Factors Influence Thailand’s Approach to Refugees?
    Fiona Raval.    ·   26 Apr, 2024    ·    #5874    ·    Commentary    
    Thailand is looking at a new wave of refugees and asylum-seekers with the establishment of mandatory military service in Myanmar. The junta in Myanmar has recently activated the country’s conscription law, creating widespread panic and the possibil ...
  • Lost Bets: Rethinking India’s Myanmar Strategy
    Fiona Raval.    ·   27 Dec, 2023    ·    #5863    ·    Commentary    
    The Tatmadaw usurped power in Myanmar through a coup in February 2021. In the two and a half years since, India has been tolerant of the junta and hasn’t yet interacted with the pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG). Further, in taking ...
  • What the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Is and Isn’t
    Riya Shah.    ·   15 Sep, 2022    ·    #5830    ·    Commentary    
    In May 2022, US President Joe Biden unveiled the much-awaited Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). Launched on the sidelines of the Quad Summit in Tokyo, Biden was joined in-person by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan ...
  • Will AUKUS Push ASEAN to the Indo-Pacific’s Margins?
    Harris Amjad.    ·   08 May, 2022    ·    #5816    ·    Commentary    
    The September 2021 Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) announcement made no mention of ASEAN. The omission is significant because the three AUKUS member countries are ASEAN dialogue partners. While the US has reemphasised ASEAN centrality in the Indo-Pacific, ...
  • Digital Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia: Emerging Trends
    Angkuran Dey.    ·   22 Feb, 2022    ·    #5808    ·    Commentary    
    In October 2020, as a petition asking for the Thai king to be declared persona non grata in Germany started to gain traction, the Thai government blocked access to the site, Change.org. That same month, the government also asked Internet providers to ...
  • Decadal Trends 2010-2020
    India in its Neighbourhood
    Ashutosh Nagda.    ·   29 Dec, 2021    ·    #5802    ·    Commentary    
    Geographically, the neighbourhood is typically a country’s first point of diplomacy. India’s relationship with its neighbouring countries (NCs)—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—has similarly ...
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