The ILO is making slow but sure progress towards SDGs on human trafficking and forced labour in Myanmar, writes Gary Rynhart.
Jokowi’s Macron moment: moving fast or moving together?
Indonesia’s labour unions refer to the new omnibus legislation proposed by the government as RUU Cilaka, which sounds like the Bahasa Indonesia word for “wretched”.
Justice in Myanmar: the view from Auntie’s shop
Brutal violence and nasty racist politics have a long history in Myanmar. To survive, people compartmentalise.
Was Majapahit really an empire?
A critical reflection on the emergence, dominance and legacy of Java’s historic ‘empire’.
How Christianity consolidated royalist, Buddhist “Thainess”
What do the late King Bhumibol and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have in common? They're both alumni of Catholic private schools.
Illiberalism and democratic illusions in Myanmar
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ တင်းမာသောအမြင်သဘောထားနှင့် ဒီမိုကရေစီလှည့်စားမှုများ - ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံအခြေခံဥပဒေပြင်ဆင်ခြင်းအား နိုင်ငံရေးစွမ်းဆောင်မှုအဖြစ် အသုံးချခြင်း
Jokowinomics gambles with Indonesia’s democratisation
Jokowi's controversial new cabinet aims to secure buy-in from elites for large-scale economic reform. Will the wager pay off?
Excusing the inexcusable: re-thinking political legitimacy in the Philippines beyond the notions of support and loyalty
The role of excusing what others find inexcusable is a crucial part of understanding Filipino politics.
A historical ‘record’ of Thai elections
During the 1960–70s, Thai government agencies distributed vinyl records to raise awareness of elections. As historical documents, they offer insight into the country's turbulent political history.
Thailand Unsettled #2: Reconciliation (with Jatuporn Prompan and Suriyasai Katasila)—Part 1
How can Thailand “move on” from a decade of mass political contestation—unrest which was halted, but hardly resolved, by large-scale state violence and the military’s eventual seizure of power?
Thailand’s new left-wing political parties: rivals or allies?
"The advent of the Commoners’ Party represents a more exciting, radical break with the status quo [than the Future Forward Party]—one that has so far kept class privilege of the likes of Juangroongruangkit intact," writes Kriangsak Teerakowitkajorn.
Flexibility, but not security, in Thailand’s platform economies
เศรษฐกิจแพลตฟอร์มจากมุมมองของแรงงานในประเทศไทย Platforms such as Uber and Airbnb entice labourers into job insecurities that may not be perceptible in the short term.
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.
Thailand Mapped กำเนิดเมืองไทยจากแผนที่
‘Thainess’ only truly laid down its roots at the end of the 1970s. ความเป็นไทยหรือการเป็นคนไทยเพิ่งจะลงหลักปักฐานจริงๆก็ในปลายทศวรรษ 1970 เท่านั้นเอง
A letter from the editor
Farewell and good riddance to 2017, and thanks to all New Mandala contributors and readers throughout the year.
LIVE NOW: Our race to the bottom?
CONFERENCE | JAKARTA
"Civic space, human rights, and the trajectory of democracy in ASEAN countries"
LIVE VIDEO: Indonesia Update Conference 2017
ANU's premier Indonesian studies event will explore the nationalist zeitgeist [re]emerging under Jokowi.
Privilege, victimhood, and gay Indonesia
A journalist's reflections on reporting Indonesia’s anti-LGBT crackdown from a position of western privilege.
Engaging young learners in rural Myanmar
How inspiration and creativity is vital for Myanmar's education system.