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David Hutt

David Hutt

David Hutt is a journalist and commentator. He is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), and a columnist at The Diplomat and Radio Free Asia.

David Hutt is a journalist and commentator. He is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), a columnist at The Diplomat and Radio Free Asia, a contributor to the Economist Intelligence Unit and DW, and an associate editor at Contemporary Southeast Asia. He also writes the Watching Europe In Southeast Asia newsletter.

David Hutt has been Southeast Asia columnist at The Diplomat since 2016, writing weekly about Southeast Asian politics. He was formerly based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He was president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia between 2018 and 2019. He can be followed on Twitter @davidhuttjourno.

Posts by David Hutt
June 12, 2025

Does Cambodia Really Want to Take Its Disputes With Thailand to the ICJ?

By David Hutt
Phnom Penh's threat to internationalize the dispute could give it a bargaining chip during bilateral negotiations.

May 29, 2025

Cambodian Soldier Killed in Clash With Thai Army Along Disputed Border

By David Hutt
Recent months have seen an awakening of long-dormant maritime and territorial disputes between the two nations.
May 20, 2025

Online Outrage Is (Mostly) Not a Crime, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court Rules

By David Hutt
Two recent rulings have established important safeguards for online speech, but there is a sting in the tail.

May 14, 2025

Is ASEAN Falling Short, or Are We Expecting Too Much?

By David Hutt
Due to its cultural and political diversity, Southeast Asia lacks the ideational substructure on which to build an organization akin to the European Union.

April 30, 2025

It’s Time To Liven Up Compulsory Voting

By David Hutt
Australia and Singapore, two of the 20-odd nations with compulsory voting, are set to go to the polls this weekend.

April 28, 2025

The Opinion Poll and Democracy

By David Hutt
The purpose of an opinion poll should be to discern not just what the public thinks but also what it understands.
April 08, 2025

The Latest ‘State of Southeast Asia’ Survey is a Time Capsule – From Last Month

By David Hutt
Conducted around the time of President Donald Trump's inauguration, the survey has little to say about the turmoil now engulfing the globe.

March 14, 2025

Filipinos Needed to See Duterte in the Dock

By David Hutt
Since his arrest, the ex-leader, his family, and his supporters have presented a spectacle of unrepentant self-pity.

March 12, 2025

What’s Behind Thailand’s Planned Border Wall With Cambodia?

By David Hutt
The wall will probably never be built. But it may prod the Cambodian authorities into taking belated action against the country's online scam syndicates.

March 09, 2025

Southeast Asia Must Learn to Defend Itself 

By David Hutt
Would any of the region's governments lift a finger to maintain peace on behalf of a neighbor?

March 07, 2025

There Are No Robin Hoods in Vietnam These Days

By David Hutt
More undergraduates from one of the world’s five remaining communist states were opposed to the redistribution of wealth through taxes than their peers in uber-capitalist Singapore or Malaysia.
February 27, 2025

Trump Is Ditching America’s European Allies. Don’t Be Sure He Won’t Abandon Its Asian Allies, Too.

By David Hutt
For the pathological pacifist who now occupies the Oval Office, nothing is off the table.

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