• OPINION

  Philippines' hollow victory over China

  News, Johanna Son, Published on 20/08/2018

  » In an Asean multilateral meeting in Cambodia in 2012, the Philippines' then-foreign secretary, Alberto del Rosario, found himself in an uncomfortable diplomatic situation.

• OPINION

  When the environment gets sidelined

  Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 23/07/2022

  » Myanmar's human, social and natural capital have been "rapidly diminishing" after the 2021 military coup, explains Win Myo Thu, a respected environmental campaigner who, for over three decades, has been working with local communities for better access to land, forest, water, food and a clean environment.

• OPINION

  When Asean just isn't Asean enough

  News, Johanna Son, Published on 13/09/2018

  » China's bullying may be the first of Asean's headaches to come to mind, but its weakest links are those that have been gnawing away at its insides -- and undermining its members' own "Asean-ness".

• OPINION

  Decarbonisation, the SE Asian way

  Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 29/09/2021

  » Carbon neutrality is a shared planetary destination, but Southeast Asian countries are laying out their own road maps -- including what some may call detours of sorts -- to getting there in the next three to four decades.

• OPINION

  In Mekong region, drug trade thrives

  Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 15/07/2021

  » An example of a resilient business model in hard times? Indeed, except that this describes how the synthetic drug industry has been expanding in East and Southeast Asia, home to the Mekong region which is the manufacturing and trafficking hub that supplies illicit drugs that reach not just the wider Asia but the globe.

• OPINION

  Vaccination in Southeast Asia: it's complicated

  Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 24/04/2021

  » 'So which wave of Covid-19 are you in?" is a question Southeast Asians ask of one another these days. A year after the lockdowns that their countries went into, many of them are, well, back in them again, even as vaccinations are underway in all countries in the region.

• OPINION

  The pressure cooker that is Thailand

  Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 11/11/2020

  » Thailand finds itself in a pressure cooker these days, dealing with pre-Covid-19 economic weaknesses, the lack of longer-term responses to the economic and social crises from the pandemic, and uncertainty about how much longer people can hold on before falling into poverty, losing jobs or closing small businesses.

• OPINION

  Covid and the climate crisis in SE Asia

  Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 17/09/2020

  » 'A global reset", "a sick planet", "health security" are huge, heavy phrases that have been swirling in the global psyche for most of this Covid-19-marked year. They speak of the "must-do-something" type of issues that weigh on the minds of people everywhere, including in Southeast Asia, as they hope for a post-pandemic period to come.

• OPINION

  For urban asylum seekers, uncertainty is the certainty

  News, Johanna Son, Published on 28/05/2018

  » Waiting, perhaps for something, perhaps for nothing much, perhaps tomorrow, or perhaps never. Being in a permanent state of uncertainty may well be what life is for many urban asylum seekers in Bangkok and other cities in Southeast Asia.

• OPINION

  Looking for 'Asean way' in Rohingya crisis

  News, Johanna Son, Published on 26/03/2018

  » In Asean's search for a role in the maze that is the political and humanitarian disaster unfolding from Myanmar's Rakhine crisis, it is finding that some paths are closed off, a few remain passable despite barriers -- and others are clear but way too risky to head into.

1 2 Next Last