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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

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.

July 12, 2023

Is Vietnam’s Economic Blip a Blessing in Disguise?

By David Hutt

The current stagnation could shock the ruling Communist Party into putting economic policy back into sensible hands.

July 05, 2023

We Know Microfinance Harms Cambodia’s Poor. What Can Be Done About It?

By David Hutt

Much ink has been spilled identifying the many problems with the sector, but much less so about possible ways forward.