ASEAN: Outlook for 2019 Part 1
Eijas Ariffin
6 January 2019
2018 proved to be a tumultuous year for the region. Some ASEAN countries faced major challenges. For example, Indonesia was struck by disasters multiple times from earthquakes to a tragic plane crash to a devastating tsunami. Elsewhere, countries were navigating their respective democratic paths. Cambodia and Thailand saw its institutions challenged with HE winning an allegedly rigged election in Cambodia while Thailand’s junta continued to delay elections it promised to hold. While in Malaysia, democracy flourished as its 60-year-old ruling party was surprisingly defeated in the country’s 14th general elections.

As a region, ASEAN has undeniably grown in importance. Southeast Asia is quickly establishing itself as an Industry 4.0 hub. Geopolitically, it has become a valuable site of contention with major powers such as the United States (US) and China looking to establish their influence over the region.

2019 will be an interesting year as many of 2018’s issues will enter the new year unresolved. In this two-parter, The ASEAN Post takes a look at some of the major issues that could define the region in 2019...
https://theaseanpost.com/article/asean- ... 019-part-1

ASEAN: Outlook for 2019 Part 2
Eijas Ariffin
7 January 2019

Aside from election fever and concerns over free trade, it is likely that Southeast Asia will play a much bigger role in global geopolitics in 2019. The growing importance of the region in the shifting landscape of geopolitics could be seen during last year’s ASEAN Summit in Singapore where heads of state from all over the world including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, United States (US) Vice President Mike Pence and many more were in attendance.

In part two of “ASEAN: Outlook for 2019”, The ASEAN Post will look at some of the major geopolitical issues that could shape the future of the region...
https://theaseanpost.com/article/asean- ... 019-part-2