Southeast Asia
Securing the future prosperity of the Greater Mekong Subregion
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries have made stunning progress over the past quarter century. Once plagued by poverty, they are now economic success...
Vietnam continues to reduce poverty
Poverty in Vietnam continues to fall, particularly amongst ethnic minorities, who saw their rate of poverty decline significantly by 13 percentage points, the largest...
Thai universities must look beyond ranking
Bangkok – The recent 2018 Asia University Rankings published by the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine is calling attention for the state of Thai...
Malaysia’s Efforts in Improving Education: Lessons for Developing Countries
Malaysia’s efforts to tackle education challenges, particularly through the establishment of a ‘delivery unit’ that tracks results, can help other countries seeking to improve...
Asia’s dark underbelly: Conflicts threaten long-term stability and development
A host of conflicts, stretching across the Asian landmass from the Middle East to Southeast Asia and northwest China, are likely to spark violence,...
Our teachers need a stern lesson
It is no surprise that our local news reports on education have usually been replete with how bad the Thai learning system is.
From a...
Kidnapping and ant-Shiite rhetoric stirs Malaysian debate about Saudi-inspired ultra-conservatism
Allegedly kidnapped, forty-three-year old Malaysian activist Amri Che Mat, a foreign exchange trader and mountain climber, has not been heard of since he went...
Imagining a Shared ASEAN: New memories, old wounds
Bangkok – Imagining peace is a noble concept but what does it take to achieve it?
Where does peace begin?
In modern day Southeast Asia, this...
CPTPP Serving Vietnam as Opportunities and Challenges
CPTPP is originated from the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP) (it is also so call P4) signed in 2005 by Singapore, Chile, New...
Time to Divest from Myanmar? Not Quite
In an op-ed that ran in the Guardian last week, Hannah Lownsbrough of the NGO SumOfUs put forward a highly provocative take on the...