16
Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia
Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia
Aurel Croissant • Philip Lorenz
Comparative Politicsof Southeast AsiaAn Introduction to Governmentsand Political Regimes
Aurel CroissantInstitute of Political ScienceHeidelberg UniversityHeidelberg, Germany
Philip LorenzInstitute of Political ScienceHeidelberg UniversityHeidelberg, Germany
ISBN 978-3-319-68181-8 ISBN 978-3-319-68182-5 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68182-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017955823
# Springer International Publishing AG 2018Translation from the German language edition: Die politischen Systeme Südostasiens by Aurel CroissantCopyright# Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2016. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH ispart of Springer Science+Business Media. All Rights Reserved.This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part ofthe material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmissionor information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar ordissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in thispublication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exemptfrom the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in thisbook are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor theauthors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material containedherein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral withregard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer NatureThe registered company is Springer International Publishing AGThe registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To our students.
Acknowledgments
During our courses on different aspects of Southeast Asian politics, we often
wished we could recommend a single chapter to our students to prepare for their
presentations and papers on a given country. The fact that such chapters did not
exist is the ultimate reason for this textbook. It is a considerably revised and
updated version of a German book published by Aurel Croissant in 2015, and we
hope it will now be useful to political scientists, journalists, area experts, and others
everywhere.
Preparing this manuscript for publication we benefitted from the help of Stephan
Giersdorf, who contributed to the original draft of the Malaysia chapter; Thomas
Wencker, who drew the maps; Rebecca Abu Sharkh, who served as the native
English language editor; and Susanne Schneider and Janika Lohse, who helped
prepare the bibliography. We are grateful for their help.
While we did our best to avoid any formal and factual errors and inaccuracies,
some will inevitably remain in the text. We encourage the reader, to help us find and
correct them.
Since this book is ultimately the result of teaching Southeast Asian politics, a
part of our jobs we both thoroughly enjoy, we dedicate this book to our students.
vii
Contents
1 Government and Political Regimes in Southeast Asia:
An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Countries and Cultures of Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Southeast Asia in Colonial Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Southeast Asia Since the End of Western Colonialism . . . . . . 6
1.4 The Structure of This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 Brunei Darussalam: Malay Islamic Monarchy and Rentier State . . . . 15
2.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Constitutional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5 Political Parties and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 State Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.7 Civil–Military Relations and the Security Sector . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.8 Civil Society and Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.9 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3 Cambodia: From UN-Led Peace-Building to Post-Genocidal
Authoritarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2 Constitutional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.6 Political Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.7 State Administration and Decentralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.8 Civil–Military Relations and the Security Sector . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.9 Political Culture and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.10 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.11 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
ix
4 Indonesia: Challenges of Conflict and Consensus in the Era
of Reformasi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2 Constitutional History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3.1 Head of State and Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3.2 Parliament and Legislative Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.3 Other Agencies of Horizontal Accountability . . . . . . . 85
4.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.6 Political Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.7 State Administration and Decentralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.9 Civil Society and Patterns of Political Orientations . . . . . . . . . 99
4.9.1 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.10 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 Laos: The Transformation of Periphery Socialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.2 Constitutional Development and Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.3 System of Government and the Socialist Party State . . . . . . . . 121
5.4 Political Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.5 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.6 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.7 State and Decentralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.9 Civil Society and Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.10 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6 Malaysia: Competitive Authoritarianism in a Plural Society . . . . . 141
6.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.2 Constitutional History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.3.1 Head of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.3.2 The Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6.3.3 Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.6 Political Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.7 Federalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.8 Civil–Military Relations and the Security Sector . . . . . . . . . . . 164
6.9 Political Culture and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.10 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
x Contents
6.11 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
7 Myanmar: The Challenging Transition from Military
to Democratic Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.1 Historical Background and Current Political Challenges . . . . . 179
7.2 Constitutional History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7.3.1 Head of State and Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.3.2 Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
7.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.6 Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7.7 State Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.8 Civil-Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.9 Political Culture, Civil Society, and Media System . . . . . . . . . 202
7.10 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8 Philippines: People Power and Defective Elite Democracy . . . . . . . 213
8.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
8.2 Constitutional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
8.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
8.3.1 Head of State and Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
8.3.2 Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
8.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
8.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8.6 Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
8.7 State Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
8.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
8.9 Political Culture and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
8.10 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
8.11 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9 Singapore: Contradicting Conventional Wisdoms About
Authoritarianism, State, and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
9.2 Constitutional History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
9.3.1 President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
9.3.2 Prime Minister and Cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9.3.3 Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
9.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Contents xi
9.6 Political Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
9.7 State Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
9.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
9.9 Political Culture and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
9.10 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
9.11 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
10 Thailand: The Vicious Cycle of Civilian Government
and Military Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
10.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
10.2 Constitutional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
10.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
10.3.1 Head of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
10.3.2 The Executive and Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
10.3.3 Mechanisms of Horizontal Accountability
and Watchdog Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
10.4 Legal System and Judiciary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
10.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
10.6 Political Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
10.7 State Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
10.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
10.9 Political Culture and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
10.10 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
10.11 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
11 Timor-Leste: Challenges of Creating a Democratic and Effective
State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
11.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
11.2 Constitutional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
11.3 System of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
11.3.1 President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
11.3.2 Prime Minister and Council of Ministers . . . . . . . . . . 341
11.3.3 Parliament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
11.3.4 Interactions Between Presidency, Cabinet,
and Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
11.4 Legal and Judicial System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
11.5 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
11.6 Political Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
11.7 State Administration and Stateness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
11.8 Civil–Military Relations and Security Governance . . . . . . . . . 355
11.9 Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
11.10 Media System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
11.11 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
xii Contents
12 Vietnam: The Socialist Party State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
12.1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
12.2 Constitutional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
12.3 System of Government and the Socialist Party State . . . . . . . . 375
12.4 Parties and Party System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
12.5 Judicial and Legal System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
12.6 Electoral System and Elections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
12.7 State Administration and Decentralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
12.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
12.9 Political Culture, Media System, and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . 393
12.10 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
13 Conclusions: Comparing Governments and Political Institutions
in Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
13.2 Constitutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
13.3 Legal Systems and Constitutional Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
13.4 Systems of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
13.5 Elections and Electoral Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
13.6 Political Parties and Party Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
13.7 State and Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
13.8 Civil–Military Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
13.9 Political Legitimacy and Civil Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
13.10 Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
Contents xiii
List of Abbreviations
ABS Asian Barometer Survey
AFP Armed Forces of the Philippines
AFPFL Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League (Myanmar)
APM Parliamentary Majority Alliance (Timor-Leste)
APODETI Timorese Popular Democratic Association
ARMM Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Philippines)
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BERSIH Commission for Free and Fair Elections (Malaysia)
BI Bank Indonesia
BIA Brunei Investment Agency
BJT Proud Thai Party (Thailand)
BLDP Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party
BMA Bangkok Metropolitan Area
BN National Front (Malaysia)
BNDP Brunei National Democratic Party
BPK Audit Board (Indonesia)
BS Socialist Front (Malaysia)
BSPP Burmese Socialist Program Party
BTI Bertelsmann Transformation Index
CDA Constitutional Draft Assembly (Thailand)
CDC Community Development Councils (Singapore)
CDF Chief of Defence Force (Singapore)
CEC Chief Executive Committee
CGDK Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea
CNE National Election Commission (Timor-Leste)
CNRP Cambodian National Rescue Party
CNRT National Resistance Council (Timor-Leste)
COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
COMELEC Election Commission (Philippines)
CPA Council for Presidential Advisors (Singapore)
CPF Central Provident Fund (Singapore)
CPM Communist Party of Malaya
xv
CPP Cambodian People’s Party
Communist Party of the Philippines
Chartthaipartana Party (Thailand)
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
CPV Communist Party of Vietnam
CSO Civil Society Organizations
CTP Chart Thai Party
DAP Democratic Action Party (Malaysia)
DDR Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
DDSI Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence (Myanmar)
DIM Problem Inventory List (Indonesia)
DP Democrat Party (Thailand)
DPD Regional Representative Council
DPR People’s Representative Council
DPRD Regional People’s Representative Council
DRV Democratic Republic of Vietnam
ECCC Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
EDSA Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (main Metro Manila Highway)
ENEP Effective Number of Electoral Parties
EPU Economic Planning Unit (Malaysia)
F-FDTL Falintil-Defense Forces of Timor-Leste
FALINTIL Liberation Armed Forces of Timor-Leste
FDI Foreign Direct Investment
FNL National Liberation Front (Vietnam)
FRETILIN Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor-Leste
FUNCINPEC United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and
Cooperative Cambodia
GAD General Administrative Department (Myanmar)
GAM Movement Free Aceh (Indonesia)
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GDSI General Department of Strategic Intelligence (Vietnam)
GLC Government-linked Companies (Singapore)
GRC Group Representation Constituencies (Singapore)
GRU Gurkha Reserve Unit (Brunei)
HCMC Ho Chi Minh City
HDB Housing and Development Board (Singapore)
HDI Human Development Index
HRP Human Rights Party (Cambodia)
ICP Indochina Communist Party
IMF International Monetary Fund
INGO International Non-Governmental Organization
INTERFET International Force in East Timor
ISA Internal Security Act
ISF International Stabilization Force
ISP Internet Service Provider
xvi List of Abbreviations
JBC Judicial and Bar Council (Philippines)
KBL New Society Movement (Philippines)
KKN Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism (Indonesia)
KNP Coalition for National Unity (Philippines)
KomnasHAM National Human Rights Commission (Indonesia)
KOTA Association of Timorese Heroes
KPI Indonesian Broadcasting Commission
KPK Corruption Eradication Commission (Indonesia)
KPNLF Khmer People National Liberation Front (Cambodia)
KPU General Election Commission (Indonesia)
KRIS Constitution or the Federal Republic of Indonesia
KY Judicial Commission (Indonesia)
LDP Liberal Democratic Party (Malaysia)
Liberal Democratic Party (Philippines)
LEDAC Legislative-Executive Development Council (Philippines)
LGBT Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender
LGC Local Government Code (Philippines)
LGU Local Government Units (Philippines)
LP Liberal Party (Cambodia)
Liberal Party (Philippines)
LPAF Lao People’s Armed Forces
LPRP Lao People’s Revolutionary Party
LSM Self-reliant Community Institutions (Indonesia)
LWU Lao Women’s Union
MA Supreme Court (Indonesia)
MACC Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission
MAF Malaysian Armed Forces
MCA Malaysian Chinese Association
MDB 1Malaysia Development Berhad (Malaysian Sovereign Wealth
Fund)
MIB Malay Islamic Monarchy
MIC Malaysian Indian Congress
MILF Moro Islamic Liberation Front
MINDEF Ministry of Defence (Singapore)
MK Constitutional Court (Indonesia)
MMP Multi-Member Plurality
MNLF Moro National Liberation Front
MOD Ministry of Defense
MOE Military-Owned Enterprise
MOHA Ministry of Home Affairs (Myanmar)
MP Member of Parliament
MPLA Malayan People’s Liberation Army
MPR People’s Consultative Assembly (Indonesia)
MRHA Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (Malaysia)
NAP New Aspiration Party (Thailand)
List of Abbreviations xvii
NASC National Assembly Standing Committee (Laos)
NCCC National Counter Corruption Commission (Thailand)
NCMP Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (Singapore)
NCPO National Council for Peace and Order (Thailand)
NDF National Democratic Force (Myanmar)
NDSC National Defense and Security Council (Myanmar)
NEC National Election Commission (Cambodia)
NEP New Economic Policy (Malaysia)
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NLD National League of Democracy (Myanmar)
NMP Nominated Members of Parliament (Singapore)
NP Nationalist Party (Philippines)
NPA New People’s Army (Philippines)
NPC National People’s Coalition (Philippines)
NRP Norodom Ranariddh Party (Cambodia)
NTUC National Trade Union Congress (Singapore)
NU Nahdlatul Ulama (Indonesia)
NUP National Unity Party (Myanmar)
Nationalist Unity Party (Philippines)
OB “out of bounds”
ODA Official Development Assistance
OECD Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development
OFW Overseas Filipino Workers
OIC Organisation for Islamic Cooperation
OPM Organization for a Free Papua (Indonesia)
Office of the Prime Minister (Malaysia)
PAD People’s Alliance for Democracy (Thailand)
PAKAR People’s Awareness Party (Brunei)
PAN National Mandate Party (Indonesia)
PAO Provincial Administrative Organization (Thailand)
PAP People’s Action Party (Singapore)
PAS Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party
PBB Moon and Star Party (Indonesia)
PBS Sabah United Party (Malaysia)
PD Democratic Party (Indonesia)
PDI Democratic Party of Indonesia
PDI-P Democratic Party of Indonesia Struggle
PDK Party of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia)
PDP-Laban Philippine Democratic Party-Power of the Nation
PDR People’s Democratic Republic
PDRC People’s Democratic Reform Committee (Thailand)
PKB National Awakening Party (Indonesia)
PKI Communist Party of Indonesia
PKP Communist Party of the Philippines (Huk)
PKR People’s Justice Party (Malaysia)
xviii List of Abbreviations
PKS Prosperous Justice Party (Indonesia)
PM Prime Minister
PMBU Prime Minister Bodyguard Unit (Cambodia)
PMO Prime Minister’s Office
PMP Force of the Filipino Masses
PNI National Party of Indonesia
PNTL National Police of Timor-Leste
POLRI Police of the Republic of Indonesia
PPP People’s Prosperity Party (Indonesia)
PPT People’s Party of Timor
PR Proportional Representation
PRB People’s Party of Brunei
PRS Sarawak People’s Party (Malaysia)
PSD Social Democratic Party (Timor-Leste)
RAM Reform the Armed Forces Movement (Philippines)
RBAF Royal Bruneian Armed Forces
RCAF Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
RI Republic of Indonesia
RIS Federal Republic of Indonesia
RMR Royal Malay Regiment
RTAF Royal Thai Armed Forces
RTM Radio Television Malaysia
SA Singapore Alliance
SAF Singapore Armed Forces
SAP Social Action Party (Thailand)
SCM Supreme Council of the Magistracy (Cambodia)
SDA Singapore Democratic Alliance
SDP Singapore Democratic Party
SEA Southeast Asia
SLORC State Law and Order Restoration Council (Myanmar)
SMC Single-Member Constituency
SMP Single-Member Plurality
SNI National Intelligence Service (Timor-Leste)
SNTV Single Non-Transferable Vote
SOE State-Owned Enterprise
SPDC State Peace and Development Council (Myanmar)
SPP Singapore People’s Party
SRP Sam Rainsy Party (Cambodia)
SRV Socialist Republic of Vietnam
STAE Secretariat for Electoral Administration (Timor-Leste)
TAO Tambon Administrative Organization (Thailand)
TNI Indonesian National Armed Forces
TRT Thais love Thais
TVRI Television of the Republic of Indonesia
UDT Timorese Democratic Union
List of Abbreviations xix
UEC Union Election Commission (Myanmar)
UMNO United Malay National Organization
UN United Nations
UNA United Nationalist Alliance (Philippines)
UNMISET United Nations Mission to Support East Timor
UNMIT United Nations Integrated Mission in East Timor
UNTAC United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
UNTAET United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor
USDA Union Solidarity and Development Association (Myanmar)
USDP Union Solidarity and Development Party (Myanmar)
UUD Basic Law (Indonesia)
VFF Vietnamese Fatherland Front
VGCL Vietnam General Confederation of Labour
VOC United East India Company (Netherlands)
VPA Vietnamese People’s Army
WGI World Governance Indicators
WVS World Value Survey
xx List of Abbreviations
