Southeast Asia in a Time of Coronavirus

Launching: Southeast Asia in the time of coronavirus

Our new series looks at coronavirus in Southeast Asia through diverse lens, and invites authors and readers to reflect and speculate on what we can learn from this crisis and all it brings.

Letter to coronavirus

From Timor-Leste, 'this is not a friendly letter. You’re like the black storm clouds that block us from seeing the moon.' Dadolin Murak reflects on what humanity might learn from the challenges we are facing.

COVID-19 LATEST

Southeast Asia During COVID-19

The sick man of Asia: COVID-19 lockdowns and cyclical expansion of healthcare inequalities

This public health problem demands a radically different solution.

“SOUTHEAST ASIA IN A TIME OF CORONAVIRUS” SERIES

Without social safety nets, Indonesia risks political instability over COVID-19

Economic disasters have a history of bringing down governments in Indonesia; COVID-19 impacts hardest on the disadvantaged in an already fragile system.

Cambodia’s Hun Sen regime introduces repressive emergency laws under cover of COVID-19

Fears of escalating repressions are growing as the state of emergency laws are used to arrest opposition affiliates and a journalist.

Nick Cheesman talks to Sara Davies about her new book on the politics of disease outbreaks in Southeast Asia

Sara Davies joins us for a coronavirus pandemic special on New Books in Southeast Asian Studies to talk about health security and political sovereignty in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Dignified quarantine: indigenous strategies for containing COVID-19 in Indonesia

“For hundreds of years, we’ve been practising so-called self-quarantine. Long before the recent COVID-19 outbreak. We called it besesandingon.”

The Singapore Bureau: lessons from Asia’s first early warning system for epidemic diseases

History lessons on epidemic disease monitoring systems from the League of Nations' Singapore Bureau.

Heightened contradictions: Duterte and local autonomy in the era of COVID-19

The President's handling of the Social Amelioration Program in the regions seems to betray an intention to consolidate centralised power.

Have reports of Bali’s death been greatly exaggerated?

With tourism making up a relatively small portion of Indonesia’s GDP, investment and household consumption do the heavy lifting in this trillion-dollar economy.

Indonesia’s agro nationalism in the pandemic

"Can Indonesia have food security without security?" Colum Graham looks at who really benefits from the government’s recent measures to address Indonesia’s food crisis.

Who will look after Lola during the pandemic?

Filipino grandmothers often bear the brunt of providing and caring for their families. The Duterte government's COVID-19 response overlooks them.