When it was announced last year that the upcoming Indonesian presidential elections would be a rematch between Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, there have been endless analyses over Indonesia’s identity politics. The usual narrative was that Jokowi represented a more liberal approach to Islam while Prabowo was more conservative, and that issues surrounding religion could be the deciding factor of the elections.

2018 was a great year for Vietnam’s economy.The country’s business environment grew tremendously at the start of the year with over 26,000 new enterprises established. In addition to that, the government there highlighted that foreign direct investment (FDI) disbursement reached over US$3.8 billion in the first three months of the year, up 7.2 percent from 2017.

United States (US) President Donald Trump grabs the most headlines, but the cult of the strongman leader is most developed in Asia. The continent abounds with rulers – including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the strongest of them all, Chinese President Xi Jinping – who make a virtue of centralising power.Obviously, leadership styles vary.

Southeast Asia’s been home to almost half of the biggest growth drivers in the past half-century. To keep investors interested, it’ll have to make the right moves across technology, education and infrastructure, according to Diaan-Yi Lin, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co.Among 71 developing economies of the past half-century, 18 are responsible for the lion’s share of growth, with eight of those within Southeast Asia, a September McKinsey report showed.

After a turbulent past few months, the performance of the Indonesian rupiah in the exchange market is finally looking up. The Indonesian rupiah was trading at 13,370 rupiah per United States (US) dollar on Wednesday. The central bank, Bank Indonesia expects the rupiah’s performance in the foreign exchange market to be less volatile. The rupiah hit rock bottom at the start of the month with their worst performance in two years. The rupiah hit a two-year low of 13,800 to the US dollar.

Malnutrition is a global plague. However, it is a more acute problem specifically in the Asian region.

Thailand’s economy grew faster than economists estimated last quarter, boosted by strong exports and rising tourist arrivals.Highlights of the GDP report Gross domestic product rose 4.3 percent from a year ago after expanding a revised 3.8 percent in the previous three months, the National Economic and Social Development Board said the median estimate of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was 3.9 percent GDP rose a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in the third quarter compared with the previous

Indonesia's economy grew more slowly than expected in the third quarter, dimming hopes that a high-profile drive to boost Southeast Asia's biggest economy will hit its GDP target this year.The economy expanded 5.06 percent in the July-September period from a year ago, a little below market expectations and off the government's target of 5.2 percent growth for 2017.President Joko Widodo came to power in 2014 on a pledge to boost annual growth to seven percent annually but his go

Da Nang, Vietnam will play host to the 2017 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Week from November 6-10.APEC is the leading economic forum in the Asia Pacific region with a focus on supporting sustainable economic growth and prosperity of economies within the region. To date, it is the only such intergovernmental grouping in the world with a commitment to reduce trade and investment barriers without requiring its members to enter legally binding obligations.

In Singapore, sand is just as precious a resource as oil and water. Securing a steady supply is proving to be trickier these days.By filling the sea along its coasts with imported sand, the tiny island nation has expanded its physical size by about 24 percent since 1960, according to data from the Singapore Land Authority. At just 278 square miles, the country is smaller in size than New York City.