By Hung Nguyen The Seventh Plenum of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) met from May 2 to May 11 to discuss, among other things, “possible ways to perfect the political system, [strengthen] party building, and [promote] the party…
By Lynn Kuok The elections in Malaysia on May 5 saw the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) remain in power, marking 56 years of uninterrupted rule since independence. When the coalition, led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), lost…
By Murray Hiebert Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on May 5 held onto power in the toughest election fight the ruling coalition faced in over 40 years, but the challenges are far from over. For the first time since the…
Who is he? Hu Pang Chow is a member of the opposition party Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) Supporters Congress. Hu used to be a teacher and is a Christian of Chinese descent. PAS is Malaysia’s largest Islamic-based political party. Why…
Who is he? Chung Hong-won is the new prime minister of the Republic of Korea under the Park Geun-hye administration. Born in Hadong, South Gyeongsang province, he majored in law at Sungkyunkwan University and passed the national bar exam in…
Who is she? Ambiga Sreenevasan is the chair of Bersih, a non-government electoral reform group in Malaysia. A lawyer by training, she served as president of the Malaysian Bar Council from 2007 to 2009. Beside electoral reform, she is also…
Who is he? José Serofia Palma is the archbishop of Cebu, an ecclesiastical province of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. Pope Benedict XVI appointed and installed him to his post on January 13, 2011, replacing Ricardo Cardinal Vidal,…
Who is he? Sukhumband Paribatra of the Democrat Party is the current governor of Bangkok, and has held the position since 2009. Sukhumband has had a number of successes, including the extension of the BTS Skytrain and the development of…
By Aung Din [Editor’s Note: Key players will shape Burma in 2013, for better or worse. As a guest contributor to cogitASIA, Aung Din will examine their current role in Burma, and their potential impact in the coming year, in…
Who is she? Lee Li Lian is the member of parliament (MP)-elect from the Workers’ Party (WP) representing Punggol East, a single-member constituency in Singapore. She won the seat in a by-election on January 26 following the resignation of Michael…
