Benny Subianto

Aug 20, 2024 | eastasiaforum.org | William Jones |Shafi Mostofa |Benny Subianto |Pieter E. Stek

On 7 August 2024, Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the Move Forward Party and banned its executives from holding political office. In doing so the court has positioned itself as the country’s arbiter of truth, ethics and national interests. Move Forward, Thailand’s largest parliamentary party, pledged to reform the lese majeste law — a law that makes it a crime to defame or threaten the Thai monarch in the country’s criminal code.

Aug 17, 2024 | eastasiaforum.org | Shafi Mostofa |Benny Subianto |Pieter E. Stek |Michael C Montesano |Shafi Md Mostofa

Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, resigned and  amid a powerful student movement that gripped the nation in mid-2024. While Hasina initially rose to power through democratic elections in January 2009, her rule quickly morphed into an authoritarian regime marked by manipulation, suppression and human rights abuses. Hasina’s government held three elections during her tenure, each mired in allegations of rigging and manipulation.

Aug 16, 2024 | eastasiaforum.org | Muhammad Husaini Fikri |Muhammad Rafi Bakri |Benny Subianto |Pieter E. Stek

Jakarta is exhausted from carrying the burden of being Indonesia’s capital city. With a population that reached 10.6 million in 2022, the city struggles with overcrowding in its 661.5 square kilometres. Indonesia passed legislation in 2022 mandating the relocation of the capital to Nusantara. According to research by the National Development Planning Agency, shifting the capital city to Nusantara will benefit the national economy by contributing to a 0.1 per cent rise in GDP.