🇹🇭 The Week Ahead: a monster week in Bangkok courtrooms

Hello friends!

I am so, so curious to see what’s about to happen in Vietnam. Is Putin actually showing up like everyone says? Or is this another false start in a visit that’s been floated several times in recent years?

This week I’ve got a Myanmar update for Friday and deeper looks across the region for premium readers tomorrow and Thursday. If you’re not on that list and would like to be, please join us!

See you then,
Erin Cook

🇻🇳 The Russians are coming! (Probably)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly set to visit Hanoi at some stage this week, according to widely cited reports from the Moscow-based business newspaper Vedomosti. No firm dates have been announced, though Reuters puts it at June 19-20. The Russian delegation is expected to visit after Putin swings by Pyongyang which is supposedly happening any day now. 

🇹🇭 Thailand Courts all the attention this week

The Constitutional Court is booking overtime this week in Bangkok with three heavy hitters popping by tomorrow, Reuters reports. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is in for the complaint brought by 40 senators last month that alleged the PM had breached the constitution with his cabinet reshuffle. Senators Direkrit Jenkrongtham, Somchai Swangkarn and Praphan Khunmee will represent the group (who are on the way out with elections underway) who say the appointment of Phichit Chuenban, a former lawyer for Thaksin Shinawatra, was outrageous. Phichit resigned in late May.  

Thaksin himself will be formally indicted in the lese-majeste — and the less headline-grabbing computer crime — charges the same day. He may very well pass by Move Forward, whose hearing into the complaint filed by the Election Commission is also set for Tuesday. The electoral agency alleges the party has violated the constitution in its calls for reforming lese-majeste, a claim the party wholly denies. 

🇹🇭 Last order of business for the Thai senate: a special hearing on marriage equality

Late last month, Fortify Rights noted that the senate had flagged an ad-hoc parliamentary session to pass the last hurdle for marriage equality in the country. It would be Southeast Asia’s first marriage equality law. “The Senate should pass the marriage equality bill in the same form as approved by the House of Representatives to ensure equal rights to marriage for LGBTI+ couples. The Senate has an opportunity to advance justice and equality for LGBTI+ persons by approving the final bill,” Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn, Human Rights Associate at Fortify Rights, said in the press release on May 30. 

🇵🇭 On the anti-Sinovac propaganda campaign, what will Marcos Jr say? 

A jaw-dropping report from Reuters over the weekend has revealed a Pentagon campaign to spread anti-Sinovac, the China-made COVID vaccine, across Filipino social media from mid-2020 until mid-2021. The report is staggering and ought to be read in full. As you’d expect, the reaction has been outrage and hurt online. But come Sunday evening Canberra time, I still haven’t heard a word from Malacanang. With the US and the Philippines working so closely on defence and security in recent years, this surely must smart. 

🇲🇾 Malaysian police widen investigation for footballer acid attacks

This hideous story doesn’t have the same big-picture impact a lot of what we talk about on a Monday does, but I think it is so alarming and Faisal Halim is so brave in sharing that we ought to talk about it. 

Faisal, a Malaysian professional footballer, was attacked and acid thrown on him at a mall in Damansara, Selangor, on May 5. He addressed the media last week for the first time since the attack and was very emotional while showing the extent of his injuries, including fourth-degree burns that left him in hospital for weeks and undergoing several surgeries. 

“I don't know if I can return to football or not, I just hope people can pray for my return to the soccer arena. I want to continue living my life normally like other people, like other players. I hope the perpetrators can be caught as soon as possible and charged in court,” he told media last week, as reported by Channel News Asia. 

Police have come up short on investigations — and another two odd cases involving footballers narrowly dodging attacks are yet to be accounted for — and are searching hard for answers. “We are looking at a wider scope in terms of the investigation. We have recorded the statements of several individuals at the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). So far we have not established the motive behind all three of the attacks on the footballers, including on Faisal,” Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Commissioner Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain told media at the same press conference. 

Reads not to miss

The Road Ahead for Indonesia — One of the Fastest Growing Economies in Asia (Newsweek)

Indonesia’s president-in-waiting, Prabowo Subianto, took to Newsweek to lay out his vision for the next five years. Most of it is nothing new to anyone who followed the campaign — we love Jokowi! Free lunch for school kids — but the portion on foreign policy was certainly intriguing to me. 

In keeping with this vision for our country's geopolitical position, we will continue our strong cooperation with China as an important power in our region, an important economic partner, and a people with whom we have a long, shared history. But at the same time, we will work to expand and deepen our close partnerships with the U.S. and the West. This is important for us, underwritten not just by shared interests and cooperation in a number of areas, but also by shared values, as we shape some of the biggest democracies in the world.

What fuels Thai ex-PM Thaksin's drive to broker peace in Myanmar? (Nikkei Asia)

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has gotten himself right back onto the centre stage of Thai politics, including with the country’s response to the crisis in Myanmar. But why? With decades of experience in the political elite, Thaksin may be ‘uniquely qualified,’ this op-ed argues. 

After the VOA report came out, Myanmar's military criticized Thaksin for taking actions that could be seen as "supporting terrorists." Members of opposition groups in Myanmar, meanwhile, visited Japan in mid-May and held a news conference in Tokyo. Asked about their meetings with Thaksin, representatives of the prodemocracy National Unity Government declined to comment, while a member of the Karen National Union said only that some armed ethnic groups had met with him.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told Reuters in late April that "the military government is losing strength," and said, "Maybe it's time to reach out and make a deal," referring to its loss of regional strongholds. It appears that Thaksin is trying to seize the opportunity, while leaders in Myanmar are cautiously watching his moves.

Over Half of Singaporeans Now Support Gay Marriage. Why Wasn’t It Bigger News? (Rice Media) 

Rice isn’t too impressed with the Straits Times’ recent reporting on polling that had a fascinating data point buried paragraphs down: 54% of respondents want marriage equality or another form of legal recognition, while 57% want to see LGBTQ+ couples have the opportunity to adopt. This shows a city-state a mile ahead of the one step forwards, multiple steps backwards seen in recent 377A reforms. Now what?

Did the survey even present a narrative of neutrality? We dug deeper, and there were so many findings to the contrary. 73 percent of Singaporeans believe LGBTQ individuals should be protected from discrimination. A whopping 66 percent believe transgender teens should be allowed to seek gender affirming care with parental consent, 11 percent higher than the global average. 

Crucially, neutrality cannot be constructed, even if you’re scared to present something controversial. Data cannot be cherry-picked to prove a ‘neutral’ insight. Because that’s old news.

🎧 This week on Reformasi

Winter has set in in Canberra and I think it’s made me even more of a Nusantara cynic. Someone must pay for how cold I am, why not planned capitals? Co-host Kevin O’Rourke chats with Piotr Jakubowski of Nafas about air pollution in Jakarta.