Category: NEWS

The latest news and reports on Southeast Asia, from FORSEA Board Members and special guest writers.


Upcoming FORSEA podcast series: “Dissenting Voices Across Southeast Asia”

The goals of this series is to provide a space outside of face-to-face debates and unilateral exposes for deeper discussions about major challenges facing human security in the region and obstacles to democracy and free expression.

/ August 2, 2020
Student protests Bangkok Royalist Marketplace

Thai Royalists Must Change Tactics in Dealing with Free Speech

After printing "I'm losing faith in the monarchy" on a tee shirt, a critic of the monarchy was locked in a mental asylum. Not surprisingly, it did little to reassure Thais that authorities were acting in their best interests.

/ July 24, 2020

FORSEA co-hosted a Special On-line Seminar: The Future of Crisis-Torn Rakhine State in Myanmar, with the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, SOAS, and Free Rohingya Coalition

"Our seminar today embarked on the long term program of de-imagining and de-colonizing Myanmar as an internally colonial state and re-imagining a new type of genuinely post-colonial society and a cluster of autonomous regions with a set of inclusive national and regional identities based on common good, multiculturalism, and respect for all faiths".

/ July 17, 2020

Quick-take reflections on Singapore’s elections

The 2020 Singaporean general election was held on 10 July, electing MPs to the 14th Parliament of Singapore. The PAP, in power since 1965, won 83 of 93 parliamentary seats or 61.2% of the vote – down from nearly 70% it had in the 2015 poll. The opposition Workers' Party secured 10 seats - its best result.

/ July 12, 2020

Thailand is caught in the Sino-US rivalry that has shaped a new world order

Thailand's current Prayuth government may like to think that Thailand could play a balancing game between the United States and China. But the Thai domestic problems have compromised its position.

/ July 9, 2020

Soldiers’ Court-Martial Myanmar’s Latest Sham, say Rohingya Groups

Activists' organisations denounce lack of transparency and say it's foolish to expect justice from Myanmar’s military.

/ July 6, 2020

“The Slow Burning Genocide” of Myanmar’s Rohingyas

Art has the power to remember the past, build connections across time and space, and contribute to the ongoing fight for justice in our communities. The Thread Exhibit combines artwork and technology to bring light to the voices of the Rohingya people.

/ June 29, 2020

Scientists Renew the Green Revolution

Asian cultivated rice is the world’s most important staple, producing food for half the global population. It is now more important than ever as an additional 112 million tonnes of rice are expected to be needed to be produced on shrinking land by 2035.

/ June 26, 2020

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights Breaks its Silence of Thai Abduction

APHR calls on parliamentarians in Thailand and Cambodia to hold their governments to account by asking for regular reports on their respective efforts and progress in finding the whereabouts of Wanchalearm Satsakit.

/ June 11, 2020

FORSEA condemns the abduction of Thai dissident in Cambodia

We wish to condemn the state abduction of Wanchalearm and urge the international community to further seek truth behind this heinous act.

/ June 5, 2020