A global shift towards decentralisation includes the spread of territorial autonomy for separatist minorities and Indigenous sovereignty movements. These trends and accompanying scholarship have evolved in isolation, to their mutual detriment. This paper has two goals. First, it identifies Indigenous autonomy as one form of territorial autonomy and one manifestation of Indigenous sovereignty. Indigenous autonomy resembles mainstream autonomy, but has distinct origins, powers, leadership, and scale. Second, while existing research focuses on Latin America and the Arctic, this paper looks to Asia. I identify four sets of cases: Existing autonomous regions not always seen as Indigenous, Indigenous subregions nested within autonomous regions, special subnational units rarely seen as autonomous or Indigenous, and recognised Indigenous peoples lacking territorial government. A clearer sense of Indigenous autonomy has the potential to deliver renewed, albeit partial sovereignty to Asia’s tribal peoples.

During the first, long tenure of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minster of Malaysia (1981-2003), the country embarked on a long-term strategy to achieve the status of a highly developed nation. This “Vision 2020” (Wawasan 2020) placed high-technology, especially Information and Computer Technology (ICT) at the centre of the country’s transformation, in line with the notions of “Knowledge Society” and “Knowledge Economy.” Within the political framework of that period, the government discourse was propagated through government agencies and institutions, including schools, universities, and the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), as well as by the media controlled by or in sympathy of the government. Positive visions of high technology in the future Malaysia were soon to be found in many publications, including in the now booming genre of science fiction for the youth. This article examines several of these textual scientific and technical imaginaries, including the novel Panrita by Arena Wati (1993), as well as popular science fiction novels and short stories.

It is found that often the plot centres on the notion of a journey. The youth novels mostly depict a concrete trip to planets and galaxies far away, while in one case, a time-machine brings the juvenile heroes to an early 20th century Malay anti-colonial struggle against the British. In these journeys, the utopian vehicles symbolise Malay/Malaysian agency and competence in science and high technology, being at par with other developed nations. In the award-winning novel Panrita, the voyage through these new Technoenvironments also encompasses a deep spiritual and religious meaning within Malaysian Islam. Given the great political emphasis on Malay language and culture in this period, de-centring away from the Anglosphere, the question is raised whether in the Malaysian case the English term should be localised, e.g. by the Malay term “lingkungan teknikal”, building on previous theoretical contributions in Malay, including that of Sohaimi Abdul Aziz (2013) on “teknoteks” (technotext).

This article discusses the localised provision of basic services (health, education, livelihood support) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, by taking the case of SONJO, a digital mutual aid community in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Through a Foucauldian governmentality analytical lens, we argue that SONJO showcases contradictory ways in which a locally and digitally self-governed community supports citizens’ welfare and well-being during a crisis. On the one hand, the community facilitates redistribution of resources by its leaders and members, ensuring the delivery of social services to those most in need. On the other hand, the community’s activation of localised practices of sambatan—rural Javanese practices of mobilising common resources in time of need—normalises the neoliberal transfer of state responsibilities and decision-making for basic services to citizens. The case study helps unpack the intertwining of neoliberal ideas—which champion individuals as self-reliant actors—and Javanese principles of harmony that emphasise social togetherness, communality, and empathy. Together, they render acceptable the unpaid labour of community members in managing services for fellow citizens within a local context marked by pervasive precarious work, underdeveloped welfare support, and recurrent natural disasters that disrupt livelihoods.

This article analyzes the role the transnational and colonial legacies in Siamese collecting practices in the nineteenth century and twentieth century. Through the case study of a Ganesha statue (Phra Phi Ganet) from Candi Singosari near Malang, East-Java, in the Bangkok National Museum (Phiphitthaphanthasathan Haeng Chat Phra Nakhon), this article argues that king Chulalongkorn, on his second trip to Java in 1896, was an active actor who was able to benefit from the Dutch lack of professionalisation in Javanese collecting practices to gather a large amount of objects, which he utilised to foster the creation of Thai national modernity and identity. As such, it argues we must understand this dynamic not as pure Westernisation but rather a refraction of the colonial model of Java, where Thai national identity was built on objects from outside Siamese borders. Based on the diary of Chulalongkorn as well as Dutch, Indonesian, and Thai archival sources, it shows how Chulalongkorn collected objects of Hindu-Buddhist nature that fitted his interest and legitimacy for royal authority, cemented by 1926. By doing so, this research allows us to reconsider the colonial collecting practices outside the coloniser-colonised dichotomy, the transnational aspect of modern nation-building, and their implications for museums across Southeast Asia and Europe today.

This article examines contemporary expressions of human to more-than-human interaction through the lens of technoenvironments, understood as evolving networks that bind non-animate and animate life together, shaped by mutual agency, care, and resistance. We relate technoenvironments both to multinatural cosmologies recounting mythical origins of human society in Southeast Asia through the union of mountains and the sea, and to modern approaches derived from contemporary feminist political ecology. We explore performative practices which express and shape understandings of the co-becoming of humans and more-than-humans at case studies in Indonesia and Vietnam. The first analyses an art performance in Yogyakarta Indonesia, where participants from different classes, genders, and educational backgrounds co-create mandalas articulating their imaginaries of organic agriculture. Beans, plantlets, soil and plastics became actants in their own right. The second case studies performative protests by diverse citizens of Hanoi - students, families with children, artists, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community - in response to plans to fell more than 6,000 trees. This challenged the hegemony of science-based discourse by affirming the mutual affective relationships between humans and trees. In both cases, living matter such as trees, plants, seeds, and soil becomes agents in the performative representation of people’s entanglements with their more-than-human environment. We compare the performativity of environmental protest and art along the dimensions of 1) representation, 2) creative expression, and 3) multispecies relations. To conclude, we reflect on how the cosmologies of Southeast Asia inform current multispecies relationships in the context of technoenvironments both in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Vietnam’s foreign policy – centred on multilateralisation, diversification, and international integration – has transformed the country’s economic fortunes and elevated its international standing. Throughout the Doi Moi era, Vietnam has cultivated a strong network of bilateral and multilateral frameworks to further its economic aspirations and protect its national sovereignty. It has leveraged astute diplomacy to navigate challenges and seize opportunities. Since the Thirteenth National Party Congress, which set a goal for Vietnam to become a developed nation by 2045, these challenges have become increasingly pronounced. Protectionism, great-power politics, an undermining of the rules-based order, ever-present tensions in the South China Sea, as well as pandemic- and war-related disruptions to supply chains, have complicated Vietnam’s quest for national security and its effort to ensure peace and stability in pursuit of its economic targets. Amidst such a fraught environment, strategic autonomy has become a buzzword among smaller states that seek to maintain the benefits of interdependence while actively alleviating the risks associated with heightened geopolitical tensions and dependent relationships. Scholars of Vietnamese foreign policy likewise argue that Vietnam’s foreign policy seeks to bolster its strategic autonomy. However, little effort has been made to clarify what exactly this entails. The present study defines the concept in the Vietnamese context by asking, “Where and how does Vietnam seek to strengthen its strategic autonomy?” It argues that Vietnam’s pursuit rests on three core components, which it examines through Vietnam’s responses to US–China rivalry, the Russia–Ukraine war, and the country’s evolving approach to infrastructure development, energy security, and foreign direct investment.

This study examined resilience to flooding in Hoi An Ancient Town, a historical World Heritage Site in Vietnam. The town has been affected by flooding since at least the 17th century, and floods have recently increased in frequency and severity under the impacts of climate change and urban development. This study used the Adversity Acceptance as Resilience framework, which focuses on people’s abilities to comprehend, acknowledge, and adapt to challenges, to analyse the results of empirical research comprising on-site observations, examinations of historical and contemporary documents, and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. The long experience that Hoi An residents have with flooding has informed a community understanding that is closely tied to different stages of predicting, preparing for, coping with, and recovering from floods. Residents have learned to predict the onset and retreat of floods by observing changes in the natural environment, adapted the layout and architecture of the town to flooding, and developed comprehensive measures to prepare for flooding each year. This proactive and holistic approach to flood management is deeply rooted in transgenerational knowledge, as exemplified by the flood marks provided on buildings to serve as both symbolic reminders of previous floods and indicators of possible flooding scenarios. Advances in modern technology have allowed weather forecasts and social media to play significant roles in flood management strategies as well. Finally, floods have even been incorporated into the tourism experiences offered by the town. Indeed, floods are woven into Hoi An’s identity, illustrating how environmental challenges can be transformed into opportunities for cultural sustainability.

Contemporary research on politics and elections in Southeast Asia focuses heavily on clientelism in its analysis. Such analyses emphasise the rising importance of “brokers” who connect politicians to voters, often through vote-buying or other forms of corruption and dependency. Here we argue that the broker system can only be a temporary phenomenon, capable of reinforcing clientelistic ties in the short term, but subject to ongoing erosion of the same shifting relationships that made brokers necessary. Indeed, we argue, the broker system is already being replaced by different forms of networks that are less subject to vertical hierarchies and personal ties. This article examines the changing dynamics of political organisation in contemporary Thailand, concentrating on familial dynasties, Red Shirts, and student networks. The study argues that modern communication technologies enabled and political events motivated the creation of new types of networks to challenge the established clientelistic relationships. The Red Shirts network combines vertical patron-client relationships with horizontal, community-focused interactions afforded by modern media. Students’ networks have largely abandoned traditional hierarchical structures in favour of more egalitarian, decentralised, and online-oriented organisational forms. Even familial dynasties, which have relied most heavily on brokers, have begun to adapt new techniques to supplement their use of brokers. The article concludes that emerging participatory political networks, founded on innovative technologies and adaptive strategies and shaped by class, regional, and generational disparities, are transforming political engagement in Thailand and challenging the entrenched clientelistic relations that underpin the current conservative social order.

The revival of Confucianism in China reflects an effort to infuse soft power with moral authority and signals an attempt to turn ethical credibility into political legitimacy amid strategic ambition. This study examines the reception of China’s Confucian moral diplomacy in Southeast Asia, a region shaped by diverse ethical and religious traditions. Drawing on data from the sixth wave of the Asian Barometer Survey, the analysis explores how Confucian social ethics and political values affect perceptions of China’s influence at domestic, regional, and global levels, and how these relationships vary with democracy, economic ties, and territorial disputes. The results show that moral integrity, not cultural familiarity, sustains acceptance. Social ethics foster approval only when China’s actions demonstrate reciprocity and sincerity, whereas political Confucianism, rooted in hierarchy and competence, gains traction under conditions of stability and cooperation. Across contexts, Confucianism functions less as a cultural export than as a moral framework guiding how publics interpret conduct. The findings reveal a broader transformation in international politics, suggesting power now depends more on the integrity of behaviour than on the allure of culture.