Straight Talk Southeast Asia
Straight Talk Southeast Asia is a weekly podcast series that covers politics in Southeast Asia, analysing elections, conflict, political risk, governance and human rights. Along with dissecting the political muck, Bridget Welsh and Zachary Abuza engage with those shaping politics and its outcomes in the region.
Environmental Activism Facing Pressure in Indonesia
This episode looks at the Human Rights Watch report entitled Grabbed Land, Silenced Justice: The Persecution of Environmentalists and Indigenous Leaders in Indonesia with researcher Andreas Harsono.
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301-Tariffs
This episode looks at the late July decision to impose Section 301 tariffs on Southeast Asian countries with Dr. Deborah Elms.
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Electoral Turning Points in Malaysia
This episode looks at broader electoral changes taking place in Malaysian politics after three state elections in which the governing coalition leading the Anwar Ibrahim Madani government has lost ground.
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About the hosts

Bridget's Website

Bridget Welsh is an independent scholar, political analyst and consultant on political risk currently based in Kuala Lumpur. She is currently an Honorary Research Associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia (UoNARI-M). 

She is also a Senior Research Associate of the Hu Feng Center for East Asia Democratic Studies of National Taiwan University and a Senior Associate Fellow of The Habibie Center. She specializes in Southeast Asian politics, with a focus on Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Indonesia.

An author and editor of numerous books, reports and articles, her latest book Crisis and Community: Covid-19 in Malaysia was released in July this year.

Zachary Abuza (on hiatus) specializes in Southeast Asian politics and security issues. He is the author of five books, including a recent study on Vietnamese military modernization (Lynne Rienner, 2025). 

He has worked on a host of public and private sector consulting and research projects. He is a frequent commentator in the press and was a columnist for Radio Free Asia and Benar News before these services were defunded.  He has twice served as a U.S. Congressional witness. He has lived and travelled extensively in Southeast Asia.

EPISODES

Listen to "Straight Talk Southeast Asia" on Spreaker.

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