Government

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak’s appointment at the economic helm late last August was followed by rapid-fire launches of stimulus measures to revive the slowing economy. Measures worth more than 400 billion baht were announced but disbursement of the funds was slow, snagged by red tape. ...

Myanmar’s Union parliament has set 17 March as the deadline for the lower and upper houses to submit their nominations for president. Holding its first session today with MPs elected last November, the Pyidaungsu announced that parliamentary committees would start discussing the presidential nominees on 17 March. Keep reading ...

Thailand’s Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the inaugural US-ASEAN summit in United States next week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee revealed on 5 February. The event will be held at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California from 14-18 February on the invitation of US President Barack ...

Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party on 4 February nominated Shwe Mann, one of the country’s most powerful politicians, to head a prominent legal advisory panel, as the freshly elected parliament prepares to choose a new president. Shwe Mann, the No. 3 in the junta ...

In a country now saturated with smartphones and an information-hungry population, it was only a matter of time before someone developed an app for civic engagement with the newly elected National League for Democracy-led government. Enter Ko Soe Lin Htoot, a 32-year-old computer designer who hopes ...

Even though Myanmar’s NLD controls both houses of parliament, ethnic minority MPs are ready to take on the majority to improve ethnic rights. The representative of the Zomi Congress for Democracy, which won two upper house and two lower house seats, said that even with a small ...

The US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the biggest trade deals in history, was signed in New Zealand on 4 February as protestors demonstrated over fears for jobs and sovereignty. The ambitious deal, promising the elimination of nearly all tariffs among the 12 member nations, aims to break ...

Laos’ National Election Committee will soon announce the list of candidates standing to be potential members of the National Assembly (NA) and Provincial Assemblies (PAs) on 20 March. Committee Member and President of the NA’s Law Committee Prof. Dr Davone Vangvichit told Vientiane Times on 3 February that ...

The corruption situation in Thailand continued to improve in December last year as indicated by the semi-annual index compiled by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. The index was at 55 in December last year, the highest level in six years, compared to 49 ...

It had been a long wait: Almost three months since the election that swept Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to victory, but also decades of being kept on the sidelines by military control. Finally on 1 February, Myanmar’s NLD MPs took ...