07/09/2020: Pandemic Politics in Southeast Asia

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, East Asia National Resource Center, and the Elliott School of International Affairs’ Research Department will host Sigur non-resident scholar, Julia Lau, as she analyzes the present situation in each of these Southeast Asian nation-states and discusses how this crisis might lead to political change in the region in the coming years.

 

 

The global pandemic and governments’ ensuing public health and other policy responses have shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of pre-existing leadership, socio-economic infrastructure, and public policy within all regions. In Southeast Asia, the media spotlight has variously shone on how Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia’s current governments have dealt with the health, economic, political, and social fallout of COVID-19’s unrelenting spread. Each country has taken a slightly different approach to the crisis, with uneven results. In some cases, unforeseen repercussions spreading far beyond the public health domain are now causing citizens to question their leadership or demonstrate their opposition to certain policy decisions in interesting or unprecedented ways.