Reforming SOE’s      

Indonesia is at a fascinating crossroads. On the one hand, the country can choose a path toward long-term sustainable development, and on the other, high but potentially short-term growth rates. In the real world, to be in two places at the same time is impossible, but Indonesia aspires to do just that. (The Jakarta Globe)

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US-China power play puts heat on ASEAN   
  
The one-page guidelines agreed to last month are unlikely to arrest the deepening security dilemma among key claimants. They reportedly referred only to the possible implementation of uncontroversial ‘joint cooperation activities’, they are characteristically non-binding, and they required Southeast Asian state to drop their long held assertion of ASEAN’s right to develop a common position on the issue vis-à-vis China. (East Asia Forum)

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Poverty and growth in the Philippines   
   

Despite the Philippine economy having enjoyed one of its best growth periods in recent years, the poverty continues to rise, putting a strain on achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets the country has vowed to achieve come 2015. (East Asia Forum)

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Test awaits Mr. Noda’s Cabinet  
  

New Prime Minister Yoshikiko Noda inaugurated his Cabinet Friday. Its lineup and the composition of the Democratic Party of Japan leadership point to his utmost efforts to ensure unity in the ruling party, which has suffered from conflict between forces supporting former DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa and forces opposing the spread of his influence. The Cabinet lineup does not seem strong enough to give out a clear message as to what kind of nation the new administration would like to build. (The Japan Times)

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Putting Yingluck’s populist foreign policy in perspective      

The Yingluck’s Shinawatra administration has initiated the country’s first large-scale populist foreign policy, with a purported emphasis on common Thais. Included in the government’s policy statement as one of its 10 top priorities is the betterment of people’s knowledge of common border problems and of the impact of globalization, all with the aim of forging a consensus on foreign policy. (The Nation)

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