Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 47/3 (December 2025)

Contents

• Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 47/3 (December 2025)
  [Whole Publication, ISSN: 1793284X]
• Preliminary pages

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• 1. Responsive Centralism: The Political and Regulatory Landscape of Vietnam’s Digital Transformation, by Tien-Duc Nguyen, Linh-Giang Nguyen, authors see abstract

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  Digital transformation is not just a technological upgrade; it is a comprehensive process that reconfigures authority, redistributes resources, and reshapes visibility both within the state and across society. While many governments have pursued digital transformation, the outcomes have varied significantly, with some achieving rapid progress and others stalling due to institutional inertia and policy incoherence. This article uses Vietnam as a case study to explore how a highly centralized political regime can initiate and sustain extensive digital reform. Through a political economy lens, it argues that the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has strategically positioned digital transformation as integral to socialist modernization and as a pillar of performance-based legitimacy. Three interrelated causal factors underpin this elite consensus: the CPV orchestrated bureaucratic coalitions and facilitated cooperation between state-owned and private sector actors; favourable enabling conditions—technological, economic and institutional—reduced perceived risks and aligned incentives for reform; and reinforcing feedback mechanisms strengthened political will and generated self-perpetuating momentum. Vietnam’s experience enriches broader discussions on digital transformation and state governance.
• 2. Beyond Government: Assessing Parliamentary Influence over Malaysia’s South China Sea Policy, 2000-25, by Lam Choong Wah, author see abstract
  Research on Malaysia’s behaviour in the South China Sea has largely centred on the executive’s response. This article applies Philip Norton’s framework of pluralist, elitist and institutional power to assess the extent to which the Malaysian House of Representatives has influenced the government’s management of the South China Sea dispute. Drawing on qualitative analysis of parliamentary records from 2000 to 2025, it examines key debates on Malaysia’s maritime claims. The findings suggest that parliament has not fully exercised its constitutional authority of scrutiny. Instead, it has functioned primarily as a forum for the executive to disseminate information and for MPs to raise questions and seek clarifications. The central reasons lie in the lack of a qualitative difference in South China Sea policy between government and opposition parliamentarians, as well as in the institutional weakness of parliamentary oversight mechanisms and autonomy. However, recent reforms hold the potential to strengthen parliament’s capacity to influence executive decision-making, including on South China Sea policy. More broadly, the article demonstrates the value of applying a parliamentary studies framework to analyse foreign policy disputes involving multiple branches of government.
• 3. The Pheu Thai Party’s Decline in the 2023 Thai General Elections: An Analysis of Chiang Mai’s Provincial Results, by YoungJoon Koh, Aim Sinpeng, Naruemon Thabchumpon, authors see abstract
  The 2023 general elections in Thailand delivered an unexpected setback to the historically dominant Pheu Thai Party (PTP), the first election since 2001 in which it failed to come first. In the PTP’s northern stronghold of Chiang Mai Province, the emergent Move Forward Party (MFP), which won the national ballot, captured nearly all of the constituencies. This article investigates the factors underlying the electoral decline of the PTP and its predecessor parties, with a focus on developments in Chiang Mai. Drawing on macro-level electoral data and 20 original in-depth interviews, it argues that the PTP’s waning appeal is rooted in its diminishing resonance on key ideological issues and its continued reliance on entrenched patronage networks. The electoral results are best understood as part of a gradual shift in votes away from the PTP to opposition parties between the 2011 and 2019 elections, culminating in the MFP’s breakthrough in 2023. If it is to regain its top spot, the PTP must reimagine its welfare strategies and reaffirm its democratic commitments if it is to regain lost ground in future elections.
• 4. Beyond Compliance: The Impact of International Arbitration on the South China Sea Disputes, by Christian Schultheiss, author see abstract
  In 2016, an arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) delivered its ruling in The Republic of the Philippines v. The People’s Republic of China. What impact did it have on the South China Sea dispute? At first glance, almost none, and the case seems to demonstrate the inability of international courts to enforce compliance with the law of the sea or to constrain great powers. However, this article shows that, despite China’s non-compliance, the ruling has had a profound impact on the dispute. It encouraged greater convergence among Southeast Asian claimant states, established a baseline for negotiations, removed the ambiguity surrounding China’s claims and left Beijing’s position more isolated in legal exchanges. Therefore, this article demonstrates that the contribution of international tribunals to international security should not be assessed solely through the lens of compliance. While compliance is one possible impact, it is not the only one. A focal point theory of adjudication offers an explanation of how international rulings can shape state behaviour and generate broader effects.
• 5. The Military’s Disposition to Intervene in Myanmar: Sustenance and Newfound Challenges, by Roshni Kapur, Amit Ranjan, authors see abstract
  The February 2021 coup abruptly ended the military-civilian political system in Myanmar, shortly after the popular National League for Democracy won the 2020 general elections. A series of peaceful protests and strikes erupted immediately after the military takeover, including the emergence of a trans-ethnic movement that forged intra-group unity to stop the junta from controlling the state machinery. This article addresses three central questions: How has the military regime sustained its dominance? Why have civilian-military relations in Myanmar remained unbalanced throughout most of its post-independence history? And why is a military government facing such formidable resistance for the first time? It argues that Myanmar’s military, like its counterparts in many other postcolonial states, has long regarded itself as the sole guarantor of security and custodian of the nation. It has leveraged insecurity and the threat of lawlessness to maintain its rule. The article provides theoretical and policy insights, along with primary data, to support these arguments.
• BOOK REVIEWS
• BOOK REVIEW: The Vietnam People’s Army: From People’s Warfare to Military Modernization? By Zachary Abuza, by Nguyen The Phuong, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace. By Marites Danguilan Vitug and Camille Elemia, by Ian Storey, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Blue Security in the Indo-Pacific. Edited by Ian Hall, Troy Lee-Brown and Rebecca Strating, by Scott Edwards, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: The Third Indochina War: An International History. By Ang Cheng Guan, by David Hutt, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Malaysia-China Relations: Progress, Partnership, Prospects. Edited by Chow Bing Ngeow, by Ong Kian Ming, author

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• BOOK REVIEW: Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds. By Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li and Mark Bo, by David Capie, author

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