Has the prospect of Myanmar’s Asean chairmanship in 2014 tamed the region’s ‘problem child’?

Meetings of the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have always been assured of attention-grabbing headlines since Myanmar joined the Association in 1997.

Having carved up the country’s assets amongst themselves, Myanmar’s ruling elite are ready to milk the cash cow that is their country.

Driven by their divergent agendas regarding the military-ruled Burma, external and local interests are ignoring the country’s power and economic realities while singing the praise 
of Naypyidaw.

Cambodia needs quality, not quantity, when it comes to growth.

In the 20th century, we learned the World Bank's mantra of growth at any cost too often overlooks important quality-of-life issues, such as life expectancy at birth and schooling.

Australia recently lifted its month-long suspension on live-cattle exports to Indonesia, but the debate about animal welfare in religious slaughter still rages on

The recent furore over the suspension of live exports of cattle to Indonesia by Australia has stirred up a recurring debate in discussions about the halal meat industry.

In Cambodia, a tribunal set up to try the leaders of the Khmer Rouge has triggered intense contest between competiting approaches to justice, each inextricably bound up in politics

The  Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is only partly about bringing Khmer Rouge leaders to justice. It is also a site where emerging principles of global justice may be explored, validated and normalised.

The decision of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call an early poll will do little to root out the causes of the nation's current political turmoil

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has given his word: the nation, submerged in political uncertainty, will likely go to the polls in June. In March, his Democrat Party released a policy statement promising to increase the minimum wage by 25% over the next two years, provide education loans for 250,000 university students, issue more community land titles and establish a 2,500-strong taskforce to help suppress drug usage and trafficking.

Europe should consider the return of great power politics in Asean a timely opportunity to redefine its own role in the region

The largest part of the financial crisis of 2008-2009 washed up on Western shores. Some Asian observers such as Kishore Mahbubani, who have long predicted the West's downturn, now call it the European financial crisis. What is certain is that the euro-rollercoaster and uncertainty will not stop with a new coalition government in Greece. European debt levels in some countries will continue to call for attention.