The Diplomat | Author
David Hutt
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 a correspondent for Asia Times.
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 a correspondent for Asia Times.
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.
November 24, 2023
In Cambodia, Foreigners Cannot Own Land. Or Can They?
By David Hutt
There are signs of growing tensions between the country's private sector and its rentier political elite.
November 22, 2023
Myanmar’s NUG Needs To Win the Peace
By David Hutt
As the collapse of the military junta begins to seem possible, attention turns to what might be established in its place.
November 17, 2023
How Far the Rot of Corruption Has Spread In Vietnam
By David Hutt
Nguyen Phu Trong believes he can purge and purify the Communist Party. But what if corruption is not a quirk of the system, but its essence?
November 07, 2023
Will Cambodia’s Private Debt Become National Debt?
By David Hutt
Private debt, much of it concentrated in the rapidly deflating real estate sector, has already emerged as a political problem for Prime Minister Hun Manet.
October 31, 2023
Can Laos’ Communist Party Recover From the Current Economic Crisis?
By David Hutt
The ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party has grossly mishandled the economy, but there is no political alternative – at least for now.
October 24, 2023
In Hun Manet’s Cambodia, It Is the Perception of Change That Matters
By David Hutt
The country's new prime minister is bound to the system created by his father. But for some foreign governments, it is enough that there is a new face at the top.
October 13, 2023
Hun Manet Backs Down On Tax, but He Cannot Deny a Hike Is Coming
By David Hutt
If the new-look government is to fulfill its grand economic promises, it will need to vastly increase domestic revenue collection.
September 20, 2023
Cambodia’s Thin-Skinned Princelings Are Forcing Newspapers Out Of The Country. It Isn’t All Bad.
By David Hutt
Given the perils of producing meaningful journalism within Cambodia, the future of the country's media might well lie abroad.
September 18, 2023
Is There Any Southeast Asian Autocrat That the US Won’t Do Business With?
By David Hutt
Hypocrisy is an inevitable part of power politics. But there are limits to how far a nation like the U.S. should compromise.
September 15, 2023
ASEAN Gives Laos a Reprieve Over Myanmar Crisis
By David Hutt
But let’s not get carried away with the bloc's new “troika” on Myanmar.
July 19, 2023
Cambodia’s Opposition Movement Needs To Start Anew. Taxation and Eco-Nationalism Should Drive It.
By David Hutt
It is time for the movement to step away from stale personal and political rivalries and embrace a more concrete, forward-looking platform.
July 13, 2023
The Problems With Bilahari Kausikan’s ‘ASEAN Realism’
By David Hutt
The outspoken former Singaporean diplomat's latest dispatch flies very wide off the mark.
Page 1 of 19