IT HAS just a little more than a year before its five-year term ends, but Myanmar’s ruling National League of Democracy (NLD) still has a lot of promises left unfulfilled.

WITH STILL no new government as of early May 2019, free speech in Thailand continues to be restricted by special laws imposed by the military junta, officially known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which seized power from an elected civilian government in May 2014.

POLITICAL FREEDOM and civil liberties are in a downward spiral globally. Democracy is not only in retreat, but is under assault in Southeast Asia.

BY ALL indications, President Rodrigo R. Duterte has no love lost for independent and critical media.