Brunei, a Malay state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, has a population of under half a million and one of the highest standards of living in the world, thanks to its large reserves of oil and gas. The country is governed by […]

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, with a Prime Minister who is head of government and a King who is head of state. Cambodia remains under the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen (in power since 1985), following a military coup orchestrated by Hun Sen in 1997. Hun Sen’s government is […]

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, has in the past had a relatively good reputation for plural religious identity united under a monotheistic state ideology, however, this reputation was largely in decline during the term (2004-2014) of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (“SBY”). Under president Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”), elected 2014, there was […]

Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a landlocked country, bordering Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China. The state gained independence from France in 1953 and is one of the few remaining one-party socialist states with a fast-growing economy1https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/la.html. However, it is estimated that a third of the country’s 6.5 million people live below […]

Malaysia is a federal, multi-territory constitutional monarchy, split across two land masses: Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. There is a degree of freedom of religion or belief among the significant non-Muslim religious minorities including Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. However, rising attention on the small number (~1%) prepared to identify as […]

The country was officially renamed Myanmar by the military regime in 1989, though this remains controversial with many ethnic minorities and activist groups that use its former name of Burma. A gradual democratization process led the civilian National League for Democracy and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi to victory […]

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands, of which seven host the majority of the 109 million population, the second largest population of countries in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).1https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/philippines-demographics/ Spanish and US influences remain strong, especially in terms of religion (mainly Roman Catholic) and government. Nominally […]

Singapore is a city-state of 5.7 million inhabitants.1https://www.singstat.gov.sg/modules/infographics/population Known for its rich cultural diversity, the island nation is considered to be among the most religiously diverse nation in the world.2https://www.pewforum.org/2014/04/04/global-religious-diversity/ Singapore became an independent and sovereign state in 1965, after leaving the Federation of Malaysia, of which it had been a […]

Thailand is a country which is very rich in its diversity. Once governed by an absolute monarchy (Chakri Dynasty), it is now a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch is viewed as a living god. The nation’s democracy has been punctuated by at least 12 successful coups d’état since 1932.1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/05/20/thailands-army-says-this-definitely-isnt-a-coup-heres-11-times-it-definitely-was/; https://www.ft.com/content/88970d60-e1b0-11e3-9999-00144feabdc0 […]

Timor-Leste is a democratic sovereign state in southeast Asia with a population of approximately 1.1 million, of which it is estimated that 97.6% are Catholic (Catholicism was introduced to the country a result of Portuguese colonisation), 1% are Protestant and 0.2% are Muslim. For many East Timorese, animistic traditions coexist […]