News
Southeast Asia struggles to tackle haze despite long-term dangers
A toxic smog settled over Malaysia and Singapore for most of September fuelled by fires that had been raging in neighbouring Indonesia for weeks. Schools were forced to close, N95 masks to filter the polluted air’s most dangerous particulates were rationed, and doctors reported a surge in patients ...
Kate Mayberry
Hunting the hunters
On a cliff overlooking the southwest plains of Cambodia, there is a bullet-ridden casino. Built in the 1920s, when Bokor was a hill resort largely reserved for wealthy French colonials, during the 1970s and 1980s it became the front line in the battle between the ...
Building Cohesive Societies: Southeast Asian States Take On Gargantuan Challenge – Analysis
Several Southeast Asian governments and social movements are seeking to counter mounting polarization and inter-communal strife across the globe fuelled by the rise of civilizationalist leaders who think in exclusionary rather than inclusionary terms. In the most high-brow of various initiatives, King Abdullah of Jordan is ...
James M. Dorsey
Feature: Mekong river binds regional countries, peoples together as lifeblood of Southeast Asia
Narongchai, a volunteer tour boat guide on the Mekong river in northeast Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom, has been doing this job for 16 years. “The Mekong is our mother river, binding everyone in the basin,” said Narongchai, describing the cross-border river part of his life. “The water ...
Guo Xinhui
ADB boosts support for region
In prioritising Southeast Asia in its assistance, the multilateral lender would get involved in many operations in the region, said Ramesh Subramaniam, the director general of the bank’s Southeast Asia department. Subramaniam told the ADB annual meeting yesterday that the development lender would invest around US$5 ...
Khine Kyaw
Wealthy Countries' Trash Overwhelms Southeast Asia
Wealthy countries are exporting millions of tons of plastic waste to Southeast Asia where the recycling systems are becoming overwhelmed, leading to widespread pollution problems, according to a joint investigation by Greenpeace and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). In early 2018, China banned the import of plastic waste ...
Southeast Asia to suffer intense, more frequent drought without government action: UN and Asean report
Drought in Southeast Asia may become even more frequent and intense if countries do not take steps to reduce its impact, according to a joint study from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and ASEAN. “Ready for the Dry Years: ...
Will China Undermine Its Own Influence in Southeast Asia Through the Belt and Road?
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s grand plan to revive ancient trading routes over both land and sea. Since its inception in late 2013, how China has influenced Southeast Asia through the BRI has become central to the debate on China’s keynote global outreach ...
Xue Gong
Southeast Asia's energy majors pivot sharply to green power
Southeast Asian energy companies, long dependent on fossil fuels, are rapidly turning to renewable energy to answer the mounting demand for electricity in the fast-developing region. In Indonesia, StarEnergy looks to capitalize on native geothermal resources, made possible by the more than 100 active volcanoes that ...
A Changing World: Southeast Asia, testing the resilience in the driving force of the world
The region that grows the most in the globe faces major challenges after years of rapid development: from the ageing of the population to the transformation of its economic model. []Southeast Asia has proven to be invincible capitalizing economic liberalism in the industrial era. Now, the ...
