[This is a rough summary translation of our original post in Thai. New Mandala readers who can read Thai should go here for the full length article. The English spelling of names in this article are ...

Chin Peng, born Ong Boon Hua, 21 October 1924 to 16 September 2013 The passing of Chin Peng in Bangkok on 16 September 2013 brings to an end one of the longest of Asian political biographies. Chin ...

The Chinese philosopher Kong Fuzi (“Master Kong”, or “Confucius” to Western audiences) is reported to have said about 2,500 years ago that: If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with ...

1932 is usually described as the beginning of Thailand’s century-long coup season. Once upon a time when I sought to determine when this history of coups began I was surprised to find obscure ...

In Southeast Asia today, consumer choices are becoming increasingly linked to questions of identity, heritage, and even political expression. This connection, however, is not new. Its roots extend to ...

Some of the most important starting points in the study of Southeast Asia are those moments when significant recalibrations of economic or social policy occur. In Vietnam, back in 1986, the ruling ...

Sebuah penerjemahan artikel ini dalam berbahasa Indonesia telah terbit disini. ‘National races’ or taingyintha is among the pre-eminent political ideas in Myanmar today. It has animated brutal ...

One of the rationales underlying the persecution of the Rohingya by the Burmese state is that they are “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, having flooded Rakhine State (formerly known, and referred ...

One of the legacies Joko Widodo leaves Indonesia is a dramatically changed relationship between government and civil society. For the first decade and a half of the post-Suharto period, pro-democracy ...

How the issue of citizenship-for-votes plays out at GE13 remains moot but the certainty that Sabah remains BN’s fixed deposit no longer holds.

Findings from a nationwide survey commissioned by Yangon-based NGOs Colors Rainbow and &PROUD indicate that Myanmar’s general public are in favour of greater equality for the country’s LGBT* ...

Education is a key priority in global development agendas and its importance among intergovernmental organisations like UNESCO, UNICEF, and WHO is beyond doubt. But the voices and worldviews of ethnic ...