William Baldwin

Myanmar’s general election, due on November 8, has been condemned as “fundamentally flawed, depriving Burmese of their right to freely elect their government”, by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The democratic process was undermined by systematic problems, including the lack of an independent election regulator, the...

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. The Asean Regional Road Safety Strategy has been finalised, said the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He said the strategy, which followed the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, would...

The USS Lassen. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. The US says it plans to return to disputed areas of the South China Sea, with a naval commander saying it has conducted such operations globally "for decades". The sailing of a US naval vessel within an area claimed by...

Mandalay Palace. The highway will pass through the historic city of Mandalay in Upper Burma. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. The trial run for the India-Myanmar-Thailand (IMT) trilateral highway connecting south and southeast Asia is set to begin in December. "We are developing the protocol in advance and...

Photo: Wikimedia Commons. A recent upturn in private consumption and investment in Thailand has not stopped the economy struggling last month, according to recent data. The recovery in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy has been weak and growth has lagged since a military coup in May 2014. In...

Malaysia’s bonds are stabilising, firing up a debate on when to invest in Asia’s worst-performing debt. The country’s corporate dollar-denominated notes have returned 1.5 per cent this month, paring their losses for the year to 1.7 per cent, the biggest on a JPMorgan Chase &...

Sri Rafidah Aziz. Photo: Wikimedia Commons. Asean members have been told to buck up their ideas by former Malaysian minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz who said regional governments should stop talking about politics and instead take action to improve economic competitiveness. The former international trade and...