As a westerner, I had doubts over the alliance between Jokowi and Subianto. Was it really right, from a point of view where democracy means majority vs minority, that a government represent nearly all the political factions in a country? That was the case when Subianto joined Jokowi in the government.

Shoeb Kagda, the founder of the Indonesian Economic Forum, believes that this is just the normality. Indonesian democracy is not interested in neverending ideological battles, but in delivering results for the people. Indonesian leaders can’t afford to lose time, they need to get things done because the country still needs colossal structural reforms, first of all in the job market.

Southeast Asia shows that the west, entangled in a parliamentary system that can’t decide on anything, does not have a monopoly of what democracy really means.

Russia will be a key player in Manila’s defense buildup – With Chester Cabalza by Mirko Giordani

Rodrigo Duterte is Machiavellian and believes in a fundamental principle in foreign policy: mind your business and stay out of mine. The dirty war against drug lords is not very popular in the West, but Duterte doesn’t care. If the West is judging him and punish The Philippines, he doesn’t have any problem to bond with Beijing, even if the Philippines’ army doesn’t agree.

Lucio Pitlo is not speaking about some general disagreement between the Philippines and the West. During the siege of Marawi, the West didn’t sell weapons and ammunition to Manila over human rights concerns in the drug war. Duterte didn’t have any problems asking weaponry to China and Russia, which diligently fulfill Duterte’s demands.
When you have ISIS-backed Islamists attacking a city of your country, who can blame Duterte’s decision to be pragmatic and ask two unusual partners for help?

Rodrigo Duterte is famous for his quite unusual and soft stance towards China. Filipinos, in general, have a deep distrust for China and you maybe believe that they distrust Duterte for his “love affairs” with Beijing. Wrong! Duterte has been enjoying the highest approval rate since the Marcos’ Administration.

But what is the state-of-the-art of Manila’s economic dealings with Beijing? The Philippines are, together with Brunei, the South East Asian country, which has had the lowest level of Chinese investment. Differently from countries like Malaysia, where the political backlash against Chinese conditions on lending money, The Philippines never found themselves in that position. The Philippines are in desperate need of foreign investments, and the Chinese capitals are the easiest available on the shelf.

Do Europeans and Americans have their share of responsibility for putting The Philippines in the arms and hands of Chinese money? Yes, they have. There is the credence that money from democratic countries can help to democratize authoritarian regimes. Now, Duterte’s regime is not even near to perfect democracy. It is a regime in a fierce war against drug lords and terrorists, striving for a better economy and less poverty. It is what it is, no less and no more. Differently from western money, Chinese money doesn’t look at the human rights record of The Philippines, and they are more than welcomed for this reason.

Shoeb Kagda is the founder of the Indonesian Economic Forum, and knows very well what it Indonesia's long-term challenge: passing from being a lower-income economy to a middle-income economy.
The country needs structural reforms, and Jokowi, elected for his second term, pledged for deep structural reforms, especially in the job market. The country, however, not only needs the political will of his leader, it needs capitals to modernize the infrastructures and its digital and telecommunication network.

European capitals may play an important role in Indonesia, but there are still some hurdles. In fact, European money and trade deals usually come with ethical and moral standards to be met before the deal is made. Shoeb is right in saying that this is a complete “non-starter”. The palm oil issue is, sadly, the best example of how dysfunctional is the relationship between the EU and Indonesia.

Today let's take a dive and go deep in the SEA. Manu Bhaskaran, CEO of Centennial Asia, today gives us insightful overview of the current hottest topics to follow in Southeast Asia: Mahatir's ups and downs with China, Duterte's appeasement with Beijing, the economic consequences over Vietnam and Singapore of the US-China trade war and Widodo's desperate need to unleash Indonesia's economic capabilities through structural reforms. Have a liste to Manu's opinions!

For this podcast, Thailand is a brand-new argument. I have dealt extensively with Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and India, but today I am metaphorically traveling along the Mekong river, arriving in beautiful Thailand. With Don Patan, which is a security analyst based in Thailand, I have spoken about the Malay insurgency in the south.
I was interested to know about the peace talks between the BRN (Barisan Revolusi Nasional), which is the most important insurgent group in the Malay-speaking region, and the Thai Army. According to Don, the Barisan is not the only insurgent faction in the south, but it is the strongest because has real and huge grassroots support base within the Malay population and the madrasas. Furthermore, BRN has strong religious credentials, despite being clearly an ethnonationalist group. Other insurgent factions were cut loose when the funds from Arab states finished back in the 90es, and their leaders live in exile overseas. Don believes that Malay population agrees with the insurgents, but profoundly disagree with the brutality.

A journalist by profession, Akshobh Giridharadas was based out of Singapore as a reporter and producer with Channel News Asia, Singapore covering international business news. He writes on diverse topics such as geopolitics, business, tech and sports. His previous endeavors include working at ESPN STAR and FOX networks. He is a two time TEDx speaker and is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts specializing in international affairs.

With Giridharadas I have spoken extensively about Indian current problems, like education and job creation. However, the focus of our conversation revolved around the Kashmir issue. Does Pakistan have the moral standing to bring the Kashmir issue to the international arena and to criticize India for not respecting human rights? According to Giridharadas, there is no such thing. Pakistan has a very bad record on human rights in Baluchistan and it is a country which is not famous for hosting several minorities, differently from India. Kashmir is and Indian issue, and a Pakistani intervention is not only not respectful of the Indian sovereignty, but also hypocritical.

Douglas H. Paal is a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase International (2006–2008). He was on the National Security Council staffs of Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush between 1986 and 1993 as director of Asian Affairs and then as senior director and special assistant to the president.

According to Mr. Paal, from 1980 until mid-1990, ASEAN countries were more compliant and receptive about human and labor rights records. This has happened because the US, Europe and Japan were the principal trade partners of ASEAN countries and they pretended such high standards. Nowadays China appears to be the dominant actor in the region and Southeast Asian countries have leverage against the western moralistic approach regarding trade deals. However, despite demanding high labor and human rights standard in exchange of trade advantages is not negative at all, in some cases, it can be wrong and even paternalistic: this is the case of palm oil. Indonesia and Malaysia, in fact, are de facto blocking the creation of a strategic partnership between ASEAN and EU because the latter is not willing to buy palm oil over unjustified health and environmental issues. According to Paal, on the palm oil issue science is absolutely in the side of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Speaking about the American engagement with Southeast Asia, Mr Paal reminded the period between 1980 and late 1990, when American investment bankers and businessmen were flooding in Jakarta, Singapore and Bangkok hotels to finalize important deals. Southeast Asia was considered back then the future of the world economy, until 1997, when the bubble burst. From that point, the US attention shifted to China and only once in a blue moon an American official lands in Southeast Asia, as Mike Pompeo did some weeks ago. On the contrary, EU and single European countries, like Germany, Italy and France, can be better-positioned towards Southeast Asia. However, they lack in strategic approach and their moves seem more tactical and not long-term oriented. In addition, southern countries like Greece, Italy and Spain are getting so much entangled with China and BRI that they need to keep their partnerships with Southeast Asia to a lower level than in the past.

Countries can’t escape their history, and Vietnam is not an exception. It has a history of having fought wars both with the USA and China, two countries from which it tries to maintain cooperation while preserving strategic independence.

Vietnam is a socialist country and, for obvious reasons, enjoys a special political relationship with China. However, members of Vietnamese Politburo, far away from being open supporters of Beijing, they are quite pragmatic. China, despite the tensions over the South China Sea, represents the first trade partner for Vietnam, and hard facts can’t be ignored.