Southeast Asia

Despite its diversity, ASEAN member states have one common trait: state repression. This is in contrast to ASEAN´s aspiration to be people-centered. How repression looks on the ground can illustrate the example of the Bersih movement for fair elections in Malaysia.

In 1967 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded. This dossier sheds light on the institutional framework of ASEAN and analyses with contributions by civil society and academia, where social and ecological justice has, or should have, its place in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is a patchwork of networks, life-worlds, trading systems and cross-cultural pathways of human interaction. These interactions have always existed in different shapes, as a look to the rural borderlands shows.

“Mountainland” is an ongoing long-term project by the photographer Sascha Richter that surveys the lives and societies of Zomia. The pictures presented here were taken as first part of the project in October 2016 in the Northwest of Vietnam. More parts of the series can be found here. [gallery]

Much of Myanmar’s natural resource wealth is located in ethnic areas. There are deep-rooted ethnic grievances, many of which related to the – justified – claim that past military governments have plundered what is perceived as the minorities’ own resources.

In times of increased ASEAN economic integration the official rhetoric around migration is one of free labour markets, opportunities and exchange. However, there are indications that ASEAN's migration management is in fact a "politics of return".

The forest fires in Borneo and Sumatra are the worst fires in almost 20 years. Experts agree that slash-and-burn agriculture is their immediate cause. What can be done to improve the situation?

The tension between the imperatives of “market sovereignty” and the entrenched principle of “state sovereignty” of authoritarian oligarchies will define the open-ended tendencies and outcomes of the ongoing regionalisation process in Southeast Asia.

Although ASEAN’s efforts to balance economic growth and environmental sustainability are growing, they are often overshadowed by the group’s economic integration agenda.

Some countries, as Vietnam, fear it, others, like Thailand, have high hopes - what can be expected of ASEAN's neo-liberal project? About its future perspectives and an alternative vision.

Southeast Asian cities will play a critical role in the unfolding of the ASEAN Economic Community, which is to be launched at the end of 2015. A discussion of the inter-linkages among economic growth, urbanisation, consumption, and the environment.

Our office in Phnom Penhh is working with civil society organizations to create a critical dialog on environment, gender, social justice and inclusion within the general public and communities.

The Foundation's Southeast Asia program, being restructured in 2015, will focus on highlighting how globalization and integration in the ASEAN countries have an impact on people’s lives.

The definition of "good life" depends mostly on political, economical and cultural circumstances, but due to the effects of climate change and global warming, it also depends on issues of nature and environment. Georg Koessler investigates the relationship between climate change and living conditions.

Six months have passed since Yingluck Shinawatra was elected to the first female Prime Minister in Thailand. Since her election she provoked a variety of debates, which are connected to her femininity. 

Due to political conflicts in Thailand over the last few years, new media have been widely used as tools in public discussions. The Heinrich Böll Stiftung Southeast Asia Regional Office organized a public discussion forum to stimulate discussion between representatives of different groups about the protection of freedom of expression and access to information.

Under the impression of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, our regional office in Bangkok organized a forum together with other organizations to exchange knowledge and draw conclusions for the local situation in Thailand.

With the general elections and the release of  Aung San Suu Kyi, November 2010 was a remarkable month full of emotional ups and downs for Burma/Myanmar. The Burmese student Ma Hnin Moe tells her view of the situation.

In November 2010 Myanmar went to the polls for the first time in 20 years. While the elections have been written off by the west and welcomed in Asia, the issues around this seminal event are far more complex on a closer look. This article will aim to shed some light on the background to the elections, what changes the new structure is likely to engender and what Myanmar’s main future challenges will be.

In the three years since its enforcement, the Thai Computer Crime Act has led to 117 court orders to block access to 74,686 Internet URLs. A situational report supported by our Southeast Asia office concludes, that "no one can deny that the Thai people’s right to freedom of expression and opinion in the online world is in crisis."