By Nigel Cory Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was charged with sedition on September 24 for statements he made at a political rally three years earlier. Shortly before, on September 19, a Malaysian court sentenced a student activist to a…
By U Zaw Htay U.S. president Barack Obama’s historic visit to Myanmar in 2012 brought hope to the people of this country, which sits at the crossroads of China, India, and mainland Southeast Asia. President Thein Sein’s return visit to…
By Kriti Sapra Not only is the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a jihadist group which seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, making waves in the Middle East, increasingly it is worrying…
By Nigel Cory The revived proposal to introduce hudud, or Islamic penal code, in Malaysia’s northeastern state of Kelantan by opposition party, Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), has touched off another round of heated debate about the role of religion…
By Huy Duong A dangerous clash has flared up between Vietnam and China over the latter’s deployment of an oil rig near the disputed Paracels. One option for Vietnam is to submit the dispute to the UN Convention on the…
By Courtney Weatherby President Thein Sein’s failure to fulfill his promise in July 2013 to release all remaining political prisoners by the end of the year attracted criticism from a number of international observers and human rights groups. However, there…
By Kathryn Tinker December 15 marked the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Lao agronomist Sombath Somphone. Sombath was stopped by traffic police and escorted to a pickup truck while driving home in Vientiane last December, and his whereabouts have…
By Phoebe De Padua Constitutional reform is a pressing topic in Myanmar, as the country pursues all-encompassing reforms in a new rules-based political system. Most discussions about amending the current constitution, written by the former military regime in 2008, have…
By Greg Poling & Noelan Arbis Thailand’s Constitutional Court on November 20 ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment to change the structure of the Senate was unconstitutional. The amendment bill, which passed its final reading in parliament on September 30,…
By Ernie Bower & Noelan Arbis Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah announced on October 22 that Brunei would implement a Sharia penal code system beginning April 2014. The new measures would broaden the judicial capacity of Sharia laws, which are currently limited…