Too much democracy
T.F. Rhoden
Something is missing at the heart of Thai democracy.
Category: Southeast Asia
Coma-tose
Nguyen Quan
New poetry from Nguyen Quan
On the move
Martin Stuart-Fox
Rapid urbanisation has transformed Laos from a backwater to a regional hub.
Exile wounds
Michael Freeman
Ocean Vuong’s poetry describes a world of memory, desire and violence.
Life as a shopping mall
Pim Wangtechawat
How Bangkok’s middle class live out their fears and fantasies in shopping malls.
Fallen idol
Andrew Selth
Since she assumed power, Aung San Suu Kyi has suffered a spectacular fall from grace.
Eulogy for the street
Liam Moore
Poetry by Liam Moore
In parentheses
Philip Cornwel-Smith
The enfant terrible of Thai literature breaks rules and conventions to get to the truth
Back to Mandalay
Joseph Woods
How a poem laden with colonial clichés gained such a hold on the Western imagination.
The singing dissident
Nguyen Qui Duc
How the former pop singer turned into a protest artist.
Vietnam’s book market
Pham Trang Nhung
Why Vietnam’s young writers are going online
Watching the watcher
Julia Wallace
Cambodians are turning to social media to keep an eye on their political masters.
Pablo and Josie
James Jennings
When Pablo Nerduda landed in Burma.
Rakhine ramifications
Peter Firth
How the Rohingya disaster will affect Myanmar’s economic prospects
Letters
Ron Steinman, Robert McCormick, Andrew Stewart
Readers respond to our review of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War
Above & below
Justin Mott
Vietnam as seen from above and below
Peace matters
Christopher Goscha
How war could have been avoided in Vietnam
Frontier flux
David Eimer
How Aung San Suu Syi has failed to deliver peace to the borderlands of Myanmar.
The humaniser
Tillman Miller
In the wake of Donald Trump, writing about refugees has become a political act.
Khmer ways
Jack Weatherford
Who wrote the only surviving written account of the Khmer Empire?
Monumental
Aedeen Cremin
The brilliant career of archaeologist Pascal Royere
MaBaTha
Matthew J Walton, Ma Khin Mar Mar Kyi and Aye Thein
A detailed examination of the Buddhist nationalist group that is causing havoc in Myanmar.
Winter 1954
Tran Dan
Tran Dan’s classic war novel, Crossroads and Lampposts, in English for the first time.
Now we’re 50
Ooi Kee Beng
Is ASEAN a miracle? Or just a 50-year-old talkshop?
Intoxicated
Ross West
France extended its power in Vietnam by taking over the production of alcohol.
State rebels
Liam C Kelley
The Chinese outlaws recruited by the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty to fight against the French.
Poetry
Soe Nay Lynn, Amy Doffegnies
“Soe Nay Lynn”, “Vignette” “Pay Pay* at Phoe Htoo Teashop” & “The sky and its two stars”
Milieu
David Payne
Nineteen young Vietnamese writers are showcased in a new collection of short stories.
On the street
Neil Moody
What is more important in street food – the food or the street?
Dressing up stories
Max Crosbie-Jones
A profile of Thai artist Jakkai Siributr
Uncle Ho’s retreat
Michael Tatarski
Where Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist movement.
Death in Yangon
Sean Gleeson
A slow Sunday afternoon in Yangon is shattered by the sound of gunshots.
I am the Five
Miguel Jerónimo
The “Adhoc five” might be behind bars, but they’re not forgotten
Poetry
Ocean Vuong, David Chandler
The latest in verse from around the Mekong region
The Rohingya
Julia Wallace
The long struggle for citizenship
Power and democracy
Sebastian Strangio
Hun Sen and his party have won every election since 1998
The stubborn writer
Khai Q Nguyen
Few people outside of Vietnam have heard of Nguyen Binh Phuong
The secret war
Martin Stuart-Fox
CIA involvement in Laos redefined the organisation.
Cronies Inc.
Nick Freeman
When Aung San Suu Kyi stopped supporting US sanctions against Myanmar, it changed everything.
Borderlands
Vu Duc Liem
The true history of the Cambodian-Vietnamese border.