Promoting maritime domain awareness has become an increasingly high priority area for many Southeast Asian governments. As a concept, maritime domain awareness essentially refers to gaining a shared picture and understanding of anything associated with …
After the 2002 Bali bombings and despite a concerted Indonesian security clampdown, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) never completely disappeared. In 2009, it made a dramatic reappearance with the twin bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz …
In May 2016, Rodrigo Duterte, the long-term mayor of Davao City, won a resounding victory in the Philippines national presidential election. He has since set in train a highly populist agenda that has seen internal …
The tri-border area (TBA) between Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia in the Sulu and Celebes seas has witnessed a spate of increasingly audacious hijackings since March 2016. By the end of June 2017, 23 actual …
In 2016, the Indonesian government released a white paper outlining the parameters for a future ‘global maritime fulcrum’ (GMF) strategy. The document reflects the significance of the littoral environment to the country’s national psyche and …
In May 2017, a band of militants connected to the Maute group (MG) attacked and laid siege to the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines after security forces attempted to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, the …
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a perennial problem in Southeast Asia. While it’s a region-wide phenomenon, it has been particularly pronounced in two areas. The first is the Gulf of Thailand, where the …
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s visit to Australia marked a significant leap forward for a bilateral relationship characterised by its fluctuations. The reduction of restrictions on some exports between the countries and the full restoration of …
The US has been involved in Southeast Asia for a long time. During the Cold War, the region assumed considerable importance as a theatre for countering the strategic threat emanating from the USSR. However, American …
Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim state, and because of the previous activities of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) it’s the Southeast Asia country with the most extensive experience of dealing with trans-border jihadist-inspired terrorism. It’s now …
There are growing fears that Southeast Asia is rapidly emerging as a new beachhead for the extremism of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Particular attention has focused on Indonesia, the world’s most …
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has declared its intent to establish a fully integrated Community that extends across the economic, political, security and social realms by the end of 2015. Such a regional …