Category: Opinion
The latest opinion from those committed to making our region fair, just and democratic.
Kemunduran Demokrasi di Indonesia dan Perlawanan Papua Barat
Di kalangan pembela hak asasi manusia,kelambanan pemerintahan Joko Widodo atas penyelesaian berbagai pelanggaran hak asasi manusia di Indonesia telah memicu kekecewaan yang meluas terhadap kepemimpinannya. Sementara situasi hak asasi manusia pada umumnya, dan khususnya, di Papua Barat, telah memburuk dengan meningkatnya represi dan kekerasan negara terhadap aktor masyarakat sipil termasuk terhadap para jurnalis.
Indonesia’s National Police Declare War on Hardline Islamic Group
Indonesia’s National Police, long believed to have abetted the creation of the thuggish Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as an underground force to carry out extrajudicial tasks against police targets, clearly have decided the organization has outgrown its usefulness and are cracking down violently.
Leading scholars’ consensus was clear: Neither ICJ nor ICC on their own will deliver Rohingyas from hell
On 15 December 2020, a group of leading scholars and experts from Canada, USA, and Ireland involved in the global campaign to end Myanmar’s genocide of Rohingyas held a legal roundtable, jointly organised by the Free Rohingya Coalition and FORSEA.
Structure and Agency in Thai Military Politics
Thailand’s current protests have dragged a pleasure-seeking monarch away from his Bavarian retreat and into the heart of national politics as he stumblingly ventures out of royal compounds for selfies and overexuberant adoration from bused in crowds. Thus far, hard power has not been fully deployed against the demonstrators and the military’s role in all this remains unclear. The military must be brought under more coherent leadership before Thai praetorian...
Thailand’s King: Above and Beyond Politics
Why are the people of Thailand rising up against this king today when the previous one drastically restricted Thai democracy?
Our ASEAN Region has Flawed Democracies, Not Full Democracies
Former Malaysian cabinet member and MP Tan Sri Sayed Hamid Albar talks to FORSEA on the state of democratization in his native country, and across the region.
Thai Royalty Attack on Exiled Critic
In cyberspace, the Thai Palace and its proxies are taking an aggressive approach. But this approach will eventually be counterproductive, since social media users today, mostly in their youths, have access to alternative information about the monarchy and refuse to be “brainwashed” by the state, like their predecessors.
Beyond Trump: A Political Economy of American Power in the Asia-Pacific
Private corporations and public institutions in the US have pursued fairly consistent policy-level linkages with Asian-Pacific nations that seek to preserve American geostrategic dominance in this highly important area. Institutional power thus limits the impact of political change.
How Biden’s victory affects US policy on China in Southeast Asia and benefits the region
A future focus on international co-operation and the possible end of the trade war thus open the possibility for Southeast Asian nations to not only restore their economies but also to lessen their dependence on either China or the United States.
Votes have changed little in Myanmar since Suu Kyi assumed State Counsellorship 5 years ago
Myanmar’s second experiment with the parliamentary democracy is irredeemably flawed: The constitutional framework in which democratic process is located is categorically anti-democratic.