To realise his vision of a ‘global maritime fulcrum’, Indonesian president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo needs to solve the tricky problem of coordinating Indonesia’s sprawling maritime security domain. He will need to overcome ...

Whether it is Prabowo Subianto or Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s next president will have to deal with an increasingly assertive China. Tensions in the South China Sea will be his first major test.

China has not effectively communicated its grand connectivity ideas to South and Southeast Asian countries. Beijing urgently needs to improve its communications with external parties and seek feedback so as to counter media ...

Advocates of the Chinese territorial claim to the islands of the South China Sea frequently cite vague historical references in support of their arguments. In order to be properly assessed, the exact references should be ...

At the centre of the current debate on reforming Indonesia’s electoral system is how to reduce the number of parties. Despite the broad agreement on its necessity, such a change will be difficult to achieve given the current ...

While conventional, low-intensity, asymmetric, or non-linear conflict scenarios are plausible for East Asia’s strategic flashpoints, the next major conflict involving China will likely start in cyberspace.

Indonesia’s confrontation of Malaysia in the 1960s saw a campaign of bomb attacks against civilian targets in Singapore including MacDonald House. Several Indonesians were captured, tried and hanged. What was the objective ...

The ongoing UMNO general assembly is proving heated amid the twin scandals of 1MDB and party political donation. However it ends, a new page is being opened in the tumultuous history of UMNO.

ASEAN’s approach to stabilising rice markets and averting crises has focused on having sufficient rice stocks as a buffer. Insights from stabilisation in currency markets show that reserve size is not as important as the ...

The Jakarta terrorist attacks signal the extension of Islamic State operations to Southeast Asia. The threat of an IS province in the region is likely to continue for over a decade.