Commentaries

On 17 March 2018, the armed forces of Cambodia and China began two weeks of combined military exercises to celebrate 60 years of bilateral relations. The “Golden Dragon 2018” exercises are taking place in Kampong Speu province and involve 307 personnel from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and 215 soldiers from China. The exercises will include anti-terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief training. According to senior RCAF officers, China will subside most of the costs of the exercises.

2018/31, 19 March 2018

When Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed his support for Australia to join ASEAN in his interview with Fairfax Media on 15 March, he was thinking way outside of the box, and literally outside the scope of the ASEAN Charter which reserves membership only for those states located in “the recognised geographical region of Southeast Asia.”

2018/30, 19 March 2018

There is speculation as to whether former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad will stand in Langkawi for GE 14. If he does, will the islanders go with the party that has always been in power or the personality seen as the driver behind Langkawi’s development. In fact, the ruling party was, for the longest time, run by that same person. The question is whether the people are angry enough with current conditions to forsake the party for the person who now has a different political platform.

2018/29, 19 March 2018

On Sunday 4th March, the Indonesian police arrested a member of the hate speech group called the “Family Muslim Cyber Army”, or the Family MCA. Only last week, the police had caught several other members across the archipelago.

Among the Family MCA’s many fabrications was raising the spectre of the Indonesian Communist Party threat, a sensitive issue frequently used by religious conservative groups to discredit the government. The group earlier spread fake news about attacks on Islamic preachers. The police found that among the 45 cases of religion-related attacks that went viral in social-media, only three were proven to have actually taken place.

2018/28, 19 March 2018

When Rex Tillerson was appointed as Secretary of State in the early days of President Trump’s administration, talking heads were confident that the former Exxon CEO would smoothen some of President Trump’s rough edges and leverage on his experiences as CEO of one of the world’s largest multinational corporations to provide some stability to US foreign policy. The sudden but not entirely unexpected termination of his appointment, or “Rexit”, has only served to compound existing uncertainties towards the US’ yet-to-be-defined Asia policy.

2018/27, 16 March 2018

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is under pressure to deliver promised infrastructure projects ahead of the 2019 legislative and presidential elections.  Since 2014, Jokowi has promised to accelerate major projects such as 1,000 kilometres of new toll roads, 3,200 kilometres of railway track, 15 new airports, two dozen seaports, 33 new dams, and power plants capable of producing 35,000 megawatts (MW) of power by 2019. However, the delivery of projects has been alarmingly slow. Recently, the government had to admit that only 3.8% of its ambitious 35,000 MW electricity procurement program, launched in May 2015, had been achieved; apparently the State Electricity Company (PLN) had faced financial issues.

2018/25, 16 March 2018

In the next week or two, the Philippine government plans to issue its first panda bond (a renminbi-denominated bond issued by a non-Chinese borrower to investors in China). The planned ¥1.46 billion ($200 million) issuance, if successful, would be a win-win-win development for the Philippines and China.

2018/26, 16 March 2018

Revisions to Indonesia’s Law on Legislative Bodies (MD3) were first passed by parliament (DPR) on February 12th. President Jokowi mulled over whether or not to sign the new law. After a month of equivocation, he chose not to add his signature to the MD3. However in Indonesia, a bill passed by the parliament automatically becomes law after 30 days, regardless of whether it has the President’s formal stamp of approval.

2018/24, 15 March 2018

One highlight of China’s National People’s Congress session in March 2018 is the restructuring of China’s State Council, or cabinet, to improve its governance and effectiveness. Among the proposed changes is the creation of a new state-level International Development Cooperation Agency (IDCA) that will integrate the foreign aid work functions of the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.