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This Week in Asia /

Opinion

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during an event in October 2025. Photo: AFP
Malaysia

Asian Angle | Malaysia’s PM term limits could backfire unless election cycles are set

To secure his legacy, Anwar Ibrahim must ensure his reform doesn’t accidentally encourage the very political instability he seeks to prevent.

Asean

Asian Angle | What a US-China ‘grand bargain’ would mean for Southeast Asia

Diplomacy

Asian Angle | China has a worthy blueprint to improve the UN. Why is the West ignoring it?

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Asean

Asian Angle | To win the future, Southeast Asia must rewrite its industrial rule book

Success relies on five key pillars, including deeper regional coordination and targeted industrial upgrading.

A semiconductor chip with “Made in Malaysia” on it. Electrical and electronics now account for 40 per cent of Malaysia’s exports. Photo: Shutterstock
A semiconductor chip with “Made in Malaysia” on it. Electrical and electronics now account for 40 per cent of Malaysia’s exports. Photo: Shutterstock
Indonesia

Asian Angle | Indonesia’s digital 2045 ambition rests on a fragile seabed spine

With few domestic repair ships and convoluted laws, Indonesia struggles to safeguard the 115,000km of cables powering its digital future.

Protests around the world

Opinion | From memes to the streets: Gen Z’s fight back against corruption

Youth-led movements are too often treated as fleeting emotional outbursts, even though they express structured political demands.

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Myanmar

Asian Angle | How uneven borders fuel Myanmar’s vast and resilient scam economy

Fieldwork along the borders of China and Thailand reveals how uneven controls allow fraud networks to thrive despite crackdowns.

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Advertisements for gambling sites and what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings at the notorious KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand’s border province of Tak, on September 17. Photo: AFP
Advertisements for gambling sites and what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings at the notorious KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand’s border province of Tak, on September 17. Photo: AFP
Bangladesh

Asian Angle | Bangladesh needs ‘structural’ change, but how will it get there?

As Bangladesh heads into elections next year, it must tread the challenge of political transition with more care and thoughtfulness.

Malaysia

Asian Angle | Sabah’s election proves Malaysians want results, not slogans

Local parties crying ‘Sabah First’ largely flopped as voters rejected empty identity rhetoric for proven service records.

The Philippines

Asian Angle | Greed and pork barrel politics fuel the Philippines’ fatal floods

Filipinos are paying the ultimate price for a system that favours corrupt lawmakers’ pet projects over scientifically sound flood control.

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Rescuers carry a resident of Cebu City, the Philippines, past cars swept away in floods brought by Typhoon Kalmaegi on November 4. Photo: AFP
The Philippines

Asian Angle | Is the new Philippines-Germany defence pact built to last?

Rising anxieties over Beijing and Moscow have united Berlin and Manila in an axis that must now be institutionalised to ensure it endures.

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German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (left) mets his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro Jnr in Manila last year to discuss defence cooperation. Photo: Reuters
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (left) mets his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro Jnr in Manila last year to discuss defence cooperation. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Opinion | From Singapore to Taiwan, Japan must face its past for Asia’s future

Lasting peace in Asia demands that Tokyo abandons its historical revisionism and refusal to acknowledge past crimes.

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Vietnam

Asian Angle | Vietnam’s anti-drug police are speaking Gen Z, and it’s working

Ho Chi Minh City’s police have found a way to wrap dry state messaging in viral humour, mirroring China’s digital playbook.

Thailand

Asian Angle | The Thai influencer bringing viral warfare to Cambodia’s border

Gun Jompalang is a self-styled ‘justice crusader’ with over 9 million followers but no commander. He’s not a soldier, but he is waging war.

Self-styled social media influencer Gun Jompalang with Thai officers. Photo: Handout
Myanmar

Opinion | Why China is succeeding in Myanmar while the West has been sidelined

The West’s incoherent strategy is no match for a ruthless, integrated Chinese approach that leverages economic links to its advantage.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing in Moscow in May, on the sidelines of celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing in Moscow in May, on the sidelines of celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II. Photo: Xinhua
Vietnam

Asian Angle | The hidden domestic agenda behind Vietnam’s baffling foreign policy

To Lam’s recent pilgrimages to North Korea and Cuba signal ideological loyalty, even as he pushes a hard-nosed reform agenda at home.

Britain

Opinion | Self-interest is now the main driver of Britain’s Asia policy

There are a great many reasons why the UK government should pay more attention to the Asia-Pacific, but that does not mean that it will.

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Taiwan

Opinion | Reinventing Kaohsiung: Taiwan’s port city transcends its industrial past

From shipyards and smokestacks to a smart, green metropolis, Kaohsiung shows urban renewal can succeed in the unlikeliest of places.

Pier-2 Art Centre in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is home to museums and performance spaces and easily accessed by public transport. Photo: Donald Low
Pier-2 Art Centre in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is home to museums and performance spaces and easily accessed by public transport. Photo: Donald Low
The Philippines

Opinion | The Philippines’ political chameleon: Juan Ponce Enrile’s complicated legacy

His journey from martial-law architect to defector reveals the shifting loyalties that shaped his career and the nation’s history.

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Thailand

Asian Angle | Thailand’s youth mental health crisis is fuelled by neglect and legalised weed

Young Thais are beset by anxiety and debt – and turning to readily available cannabis to self-medicate their isolation and despair.

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Nepal

Asian Angle | Nepal found out what Thailand already knew: digital repression is risky

The tactics vary, from Myanmar’s internet blackouts to Indonesia’s subtler control, but the results are the same: resentment and resistance.

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Protesters burn tyres in Kathmandu earlier this year. Following the protests over social media bans and government corruption, Nepal lifted its restrictions. Photo: AFP
Malaysia

Asian Angle | Malaysia is not Palestine. False equivalence fuels ethnic polarisation

Such rhetoric paints Malays as the dispossessed natives of their own land and non-Malays as the occupiers.

Malaysia’s National Day celebrations held in Putrajaya on August 31. Photo: EPA
Malaysia’s National Day celebrations held in Putrajaya on August 31. Photo: EPA
Thailand

Asian Angle | Thailand’s ‘China plus one’ successes mask a middle-income quagmire

FDI figures hide the painful truth: an ageing workforce, structural challenges and low-value assembly threaten economic stagnation.

Diplomacy

Opinion | Diplomacy in the age of populism is fast, fickle and unbound by the rules of old

Swift, informal deals can quickly defuse crises, but without a new rules-based order, global stability is being held hostage to chance.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | What Syria’s post-war pivot to China reveals about the new world order

Damascus views engagement with Beijing as a pathway to legitimacy, leverage – and the US$216 billion it needs to rebuild.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa (right) disembarks from a plane during a state visit to Russia on October 15. He is expected to visit Beijing this month. Photo: Syrian Arab News Agency/AFP
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