Category: Opinion

The latest opinion from those committed to making our region fair, just and democratic.


A Consensus on the Efficacy and Value of ASEAN Summit on Myanmar: Understand & Appreciate Myanmar People’s Analyses of Their Oppression

"ASEAN is not capable of dealing with Myanmar’s Civil War/Revolution while the UN is abdicating its responsibility". An in-depth Facebook LIVE discussion – a post mortem discussion – on the Five Point Consensus from the recent ASEAN Summit on Myanmar with views from three top discussants: Tan Sri Dr Sayed Hamid Albar, Professor Michael W. Charney, and Dr Khin Zaw Win.

/ April 26, 2021
Zarni-FORSEA-opening-address

Interview with Maung Zarni on Violence in Myanmar and Being a Scholar-Activist

Burmese scholar-activist Maung Zarni discusses the relationship between scholarship, activism, and truth-telling; his childhood in Burma and his formative influences among other topics.

/ April 26, 2021

FORSEA Statement on ASEAN Summit on Myanmar: Time to Engage All Parties in the Worsening Conflicts

Amidst vociferous criticism and protestations against the invitation of Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the coup regime to the special Summit on Myanmar, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is going ahead with its Summit on Myanmar in Jakarta. It is NOW time for ASEAN to engage all parties in Myanmar’s worsening conflict.

/ April 23, 2021

China’s Re-establishment of the Maritime Silk Route (MSR): Its effect in the Philippines & Asian Geopolitics

The South China Sea is the perfect spot for the attainment of China's long-term goal in military affairs, in political development, in economic growth and cultural change. Meanwhile, 61% of the public in the Philippines and 51% in Vietnam say they are very concerned about a possible military confrontation with Beijing.

/ April 16, 2021

“Federal Army for Federal Democracy”: The Dawn of Myanmar’s New Politics

Myanmar's peoples of all ethnic backgrounds are undergoing a revolutionary process. Ms Suu Kyi may have to be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice: give up her centre stage in order that a revolution can grow and succeed in its revolutionary mission: a federal army and federal democracy. Otherwise, the pursuit of federalism in Myanmar will continue to be the Achilles’ heel for all democrats and federalists, the majority and...

/ April 9, 2021

Informational Autocrats are on the rise in Southeast Asia: Opinion by a Co-Founder of FORSEA

Thai authorities want to arrest Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a co-founder of FORSEA and associate professor at Kyoto University. In an interview with DW, Pavin slams the new generation of autocrats who are engaged in information manipulation.

/ April 8, 2021

The Geopolitics of the Global War on Terror Third International Conference on Islamophobia, Istanbul, Turkey, 28 March 2021

The whistleblower on Myanmar's genocide of Rohingyas, Maung Zarni, dissected the 4-decades of policies and practices of genocidal persecution of the national minority who live in their ancestral home region of Western Myanmar.

/ April 7, 2021

Like China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, Thailand’s regime hunts down its opponents around the world

What is happening to dissidents in Thailand must be exposed and discussed within the context of the ruthless tactics adopted by the despotic regimes of China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. It is time that the West sees the true nature of the Thai monarchy: a despotic regime that harasses, threatens, and kills its critics.

/ April 5, 2021

Enforcing Alliances: Containing China in East Asia

China has accrued formidable economic power, and is now beginning to channel greater quantities of that power into military modernization. Its primary purpose is overseas force projection in a great arc ranging from the Sea of Japan to the Indian Ocean. Asia’s Pacific rim states have become a primary target for incorporation into a China-centered world system that aims to exclude American influence.

/ April 2, 2021

สมยศ พฤกษาเกษมสุข–ขอให้ศาลตัดสินโทษประหารชีวิตเพื่อยุติปัญหาทั้งหมด

จุดมุ่งหมายของบทความนี้ก็เพื่อต้องการให้สังคมไทยลุกขึ้นมาเรียกร้องความยุติธรรมให้คุณสมยศ และผู้ต้องหามาตรา 112 คนอื่นๆ องค์กร FORSEA สนับสนุนอิสรภาพของคุณสมยศ และผู้นำการประท้วงคนอื่น และขอประนามการกระทำของรัฐไทยในกรณีคุณสมยศ และเรียกร้องให้มีการยกเลิกกฎหมายอาญามาตรา 112 โดยเร็ว

/ March 30, 2021