In a brief by the Asia Society Policy Institute, Bryanna Entwistle and Shay Wester cover President Trump’s first stop on his Asia tour: the ASEAN Leaders' Summit in Kuala Lumpur. On the sidelines, he presided over the signing of a number of deals, including a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia, and “reciprocal trade” deals with Malaysia and Cambodia, respectively.

In an article for the University of the Philippines, Weena Gera discusses the flood control controversies in the Philippines, where billions in infrastructure budget and government funds were plundered by public works contractors, leading to "ghost projects."

In an article for Mekong Independent, Ly Lin and Danielle Keeton-Olsen discuss the license suspensions of more than a dozen casinos in Cambodia, several of which are suspected of involvement in spiraling global scam operations, following international sanctions and mounting pressure. Some of the casinos on the list of 14 suspensions have links to the recently sanctioned entities, such as Cambodian Heng Xin Real Estate Investment Co. Ltd., and Jin Bei Group Co. Ltd.

In a report for the Early Warning Project, Made Supriatma discusses the risk of mass atrocities against Indigenous Papuans in Papua, Indonesia. Despite developments in the region's administrative structure, increased military presence, and revived transmigration and food estate development programs, marginalization still fuels Papuan nationalism.

In an article for East Asia Forum, Ronald Tundang discusses gaps in ASEAN's health systems, which leave millions without reliable access to essential medicines. Tundang proposes that, to bridge regional gaps, ASEAN's least developed countries could follow the "ASEAN Minus X" model to establish a sub-regional facility, combining a patent-licensing hub with pooled procurement, which would facilitate WTO-compliant licensing, aggregate demand, and uphold quality benchmarks.

In an article for the Association for Asian Studies, Anna Zulueta and Alexa Theodoropoulos enter into a dialogue about the legacies of colonization and authoritarian rule, and how in spaces like Brown University, where the absence of Filipino representation persists, linguistic representation and curricular reforms are the first steps in rectifying historical injustices.

Nicholas Kuipers discusses his new book, States Against Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2025), specifically how Indonesia's civil service examination is a method of bureaucratic selection. Despite its meritocratic measures, Kuipers asserts that these exams can reinforce existing inequalities within society. Drawing on large-scale surveys, experiments, and archival documents, States Against Nations provides a thought-provoking perspective on the challenges of bureaucratic recruitment and unearths the tension between state- and nation-building goals.

In this paper published by NYSEAN Partner ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Shad Saleem Faruqi asserts that Malaysia’s judiciary must be independent to carry out a range of vital duties, including: protecting the Constitution, keeping the government within the remit of its functions, and mediating disputes between the state and citizens, as well as between citizens.

Shad Saleem Faruqi is a Malaysian legal scholar and professor of law at the University of Malaya, currently holding the Tunku Abdul Rahman Chair as Professor of Constitutional Law. He is also the fourth holder of the Tun Hussein Onn Chair in International Studies at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia effective July 2019 to June 2021.