Category: Opinion
The latest opinion from those committed to making our region fair, just and democratic.
HONG KONG on the BRINK AFTER CHAOTIC DAY OF PROTEST – ITS LEADERS NOW FACE HARD CHOICES
During the past month, Hong Kong has been rocked by protests on a scale unprecedented since anti-colonial demonstrations against British rule in 1967.
FORSEA Offers a Voice of Solidarity to the Freedom-Loving People of Hong Kong
Based on our shared democratic values and concerns for China’s anti-democratic, anti-people and anti-Environment policies in Southeast Asia, FORSEA stands in solidarity with the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong.
POST-ELECTION BLUES in INDONESIA: IDENTITY POLITICS and HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
It is high time the human rights movement lives up to the foundational motto of the Indonesian state, unity in diversity. To influence in this rough political climate, they need to strengthen civil society – by building coalitions based on affinity.
The PHILIPPINES: INCHING EVER-CLOSER to DICTATORSHIP?
It would do the president good to look at those who came before him, especially the all-popular Marcos, and learn that true power lies in the trust the people have in their leader.
The NEW REIGN of DIVISION HAS BEGUN in THAILAND
Royal absolutism is likely to pick up speed following the coronation. The possibility of consensus-making will diminish the more absolutism grows, and so too will the likelihood of political conflict.
TWO CANDIDATES, TWO WINNERS? THE INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS of 2019
Jokowi was accused of being a crypto communist. Prabowo of harbouring the wish to establish a caliphate. Thus the election results can be seen as an indication of how the nation defines its soul.
UPDATE ON THAILAND’s 2019 ELECTIONS
FORSEA's Regular column offering readers updates on the moves and manoeuvres following the March 24th elections in in Thailand, the first nationwide polls since the coup of 2014 that overthrew the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
THAILAND ELECTIONS USED TO EXPLOIT THE DEMOCRATISATION PROCESS
Writing in the The Washington Post, FORSEA's Pavin Chachavalpongpun explains how Thailand's junta has intentionally created the parliamentary interregnum as a delaying tactic to undermine democracy.
COMMUNISTPHOBIA and TWO SEXUAL MORAL PANICS in INDONESIA
In Indonesia, simultaneous campaigns of communist phobia and of homophobia portray both groups as enemies of the nation and condemn both for treacherously undermining the state’s morality and weakening its vigilance.
THAI ELECTIONS 2019
Military uniforms are out, the civilian look is in. Window dressing aside: The five-year military rule has done nothing but deepen the militarisation of the Thai political landscape.