Opinion

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) shakes hands with Laos’ Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, during the Asean-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne, Australia, on March 6. Photo: Reuters

Asian Angle | ‘Plug and play’: how closer Australia-Asean ties can boost regional stability

Australia and Japan can help Asean leverage Australian and the Quad’s resources to manage the more assertive aspects of China’s regional behaviour.

17 Mar 2024 - 11:00AM
An electoral worker holds up a ballot showing a vote for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of outgoing Indonesian President Joko Widodo, during the vote counting at a polling station in Jakarta last month. Photo: AP

Asian Angle | A kidney for your vote: money politics in Indonesia’s 2024 elections

The practice of money politics in Indonesia is insidious, entrenched and not likely to go away any time soon, because it works, writes Burhanuddin Muhtadi.

16 Mar 2024 - 11:00AM
Bak kut teh soup. Photo: Handout

My Take | Malaysia’s outrage over cultural sensibilities is the new normal in politics

Calls for several Chinese “new villages” to get Unesco status and a pork rib soup to be a heritage dish have sparked a cultural clash in Malaysia.

15 Mar 2024 - 10:00AM
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during the Asean-Australia Special Summit 2024 in Melbourne on Wednesday. Photo: Asean-Australia Special Summit 2024/via AFP

Asian Angle | In Thailand, Srettha Thavisin is the prime minister, but is he really in charge?

Thailand’s politicians and foreign leaders have preferred to turn to Thaksin Shinawatra, even though the 75-year-old is serving a jail term for corruption.

10 Mar 2024 - 11:00AM
A family member of passengers and crew on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 writes on a memorial wall during a remembrance event marking the 10th anniversary of its disappearance in Selangor, Malaysia, on March 3. Photo: EPA-EFE

Opinion | Can Malaysia’s MH370 aircraft still be found, 10 years after it disappeared?

Previous searches in the Indian Ocean did not locate any wreckage, although several pieces of debris have washed up over the years.

9 Mar 2024 - 11:06AM
Travellers at Jewel Changi Airport. Photo: Bloomberg

My Take | In China, fake news about Singapore reflects hopes for better civic behaviour

Chinese social media is rife with claims that visitors to Singapore could face penalties for singing in public, not flushing the toilet or feeding pigeons.

8 Mar 2024 - 10:00AM
The front desk of the I-Soon office, is seen after office hours in Chengdu on February 20. Photo: AP

Opinion | China spies a dilemma as data leak exposes risks of using hackers for hire

Beijing is discovering the hard way, as the West has, the perils and advantages of outsourcing security to private companies to maintain plausible deniability.

3 Mar 2024 - 10:00AM
A Muslim woman weeps as she prays during a rally in Jakarta in October last year in support of the Palestinian people. Photo: EPA-EFE

Asian Angle | Indonesia’s divided Muslims unite around a common cause: the Israel-Gaza war

Israel’s months-long assault on the Palestinian enclave has galvanised opinion in Southeast Asia’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. But the politicisation of the issue, and its framing in religious terms, has also spawned unintended consequences

2 Mar 2024 - 10:00AM
A worker uses the tapping process to separate nickel ore from other elements. Photo: Reuters

Opinion | Can Australia, China put aside differences to drive green tech mining?

The ship might have sailed on Australia’s nickel industry, but there’s still time for lithium, rare earth and many other green technology minerals.

1 Mar 2024 - 10:13AM
Buildings in Hong Kong’s Central, Admiralty and Wan Chai. The city’s government has proposed issuing bonds to finance large-scale infrastructure projects. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Opinion | How infrastructure borrowing can benefit Hong Kong for decades to come

Debt financing is more efficient and equitable, with cutting spending and raising taxes unpalatable given the city’s current sluggish growth.

24 Feb 2024 - 10:00AM
A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra port in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The European Union is mulling sanctions on Chinese and Indian firms’ export of electronics to Russia. Photo: Reuters

My Take | Be it India or China, Europe would do well to avoid stepping on trade toes

EU’s potential sanctions on individual Chinese and Indian firms’ export of electronics to Russia will only reinforce perceptions of inequality.

23 Feb 2024 - 10:11AM
The skyline of Hong Kong. Photo: Getty Images

Opinion | Why Hong Kong’s economy needs to become more than just China’s superconnector

Hong Kong’s superconnector status has not enabled its economy to outperform other rival Asian hubs such as Singapore.

18 Feb 2024 - 11:00AM
An aerial view of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila, the Philippines. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Asian Angle | Why Manila airport’s US$3 billion revamp should be about more than just money

Privatising Ninoy Aquino International Airport presents Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s government with a historic opportunity to improve the Philippines’ infrastructure – but going with the highest bidder may not be the best idea.

17 Feb 2024 - 11:00AM
A China Coast Guard vessel manoeuvres near Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua near the Scarborough Shoal on February 8. Photo: PCG via Reuters

Opinion | Philippines counts the cost of tough South China Sea stance against Beijing

The country is seen as an unreliable destination for Chinese infrastructure investment, while tourist arrivals from the mainland have fallen.

16 Feb 2024 - 4:44PM
Members of PAS await the Federal Court’s decision on Kelantan state’s sharia law criminal enactment on February 9. Photo: AFP

My Take | What Kelantan’s upended sharia push reveals about PAS’ Islamist politicking

PAS had two years to push their sharia agenda while in parliament but remained silent. Now in opposition, they are blaming PM Anwar for the failure of Kelantan’s sharia bid as a ploy to rally their base.

16 Feb 2024 - 11:00AM
Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Photo: Reuters

Opinion | Indonesia’s next president will uphold Jokowi’s legacy. But will that be enough?

Whoever wins the election, fresh thinking and brave action will be needed to meet the developmental challenges facing Southeast Asia’s largest economy if it’s to become an advanced and prosperous nation by 2045.

4 Feb 2024 - 10:00AM
Up to 1.9 million people, or more than 85 per cent of the population, have been displaced throughout the Gaza Strip, some more than once, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees since the start of the Israel-Gaza war. Photo: EPA-EFE

Opinion | UNRWA funding cuts reflect the all-too-familiar politicisation of refugee aid

Refugee and humanitarian aid should be neutral and impartial, but funding is often used as a foreign policy tool to reward allies and punish enemies.

3 Feb 2024 - 10:00AM
A Philippine coast guard ship (right) sails past a Chinese coast guard vessel on May 14, 2019, near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP

My Take | South China Sea: Vietnam and Philippines aren’t out to ‘sabotage’ China

China recently accused Vietnam and the Philippines of forming a ‘clique’ over their South China Sea cooperation deal. It’s a term used by Beijing to accuse actors of harming its interests whenever it is called out for its behaviour.

8 Feb 2024 - 1:52PM
Border police watch over right-wing Israeli protesters attempting to block the road as aid trucks cross into the Gaza Strip at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on January 29. Photo: EPA-EFE

Opinion | What’s behind the staunch pro-Israel stance of some Pacific nations?

There is one hugely important characteristic of the region’s culture that has been overlooked: kinship.

29 Jan 2024 - 8:15PM
Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s former prime minister, speaks during the Nikkei Forum Future of Asia in Tokyo on May 26, 2023. Mahathir’s premiership between 1981 and 2003 institutionalised his thinking about Malays’ upliftment . Photo: Bloomberg

Asian Angle | Are the cracks showing in Malaysia’s model of multiculturalism?

Mahathir’s recent questioning of the Indian community’s loyalty was heavily criticised, but the debate reflects problems with Malaysia’s model of multiculturalism.

28 Jan 2024 - 7:25PM