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The struggle for political Islam in ‘new Malaysia’

The GE14 result reflects PAS' enduring influence, yet the PH parties together with IKRAM and ABIM offer a viable ‘Islamic alternative’ for pious Muslim voters.

A regime change glanced askance

The ‘cari makan’ or a rent-seeking political culture may be the hardest thing to reform in Malaysia, even under a reformist government. And human nature will make this almost impossible to do.

Has Rama X revived Thailand’s death penalty?

There are strong indications that Teerasak Longji submitted a petition for royal clemency. But unlike those condemned before him, his plea for clemency was rejected by His Majesty the King.

Sceptres of instability: why spirit mediums haunt Thailand’s junta  

Why are new forms of spirit mediums proliferating under the NCPO's rule? การกลับมาของร่างทรงในยุคขาลงของรัฐบาลทหาร 4.0 สะท้อนความไม่มั่นคงในชีวิตของคนไทย

Assessing the Rohingya crisis

With the expulsion of the Rohingya largely a fait accompli, the world must face up to engaging with a very different Myanmar.

PoP picks @ ASAA

PoP's completely biased top picks for the 2018 Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) conference

What’s behind the “purging” of the Thai sangha?

The reasons behind several recent demotions and arrests of high-ranking Bangkok monks are more politically conniving than simply an attempt to “purify" the sangha.

Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines

New Mandala's Philippines editor talks to Jonathan Miller about his new biography of the president.

Four years of the NCPO, four years of creative resistance—part two

Part two of Anon Chawalawan's compilation of the activist inventiveness that has survived the NCPO's four-year rule.

Timor-Leste is no failing state

Apocalyptic portrayals of the country's future distract us from what its real problems are, and how to address them.

Indonesia: The Years of Building Dangerously

A forgotten cultural frontier reveals Indonesia's version of mid-century modernism