Perhaps the easiest way of understanding how Molam fits in (or doesn’t) in Thailand is to think of it as comparable with the “Country & Western” music forever shunned by metropolitan New York and Los Angeles, but very much alive – out there – in Nashville and elsewhere in the South.

Nguyen Ba Hoi produces neither smartphones nor steel for export. Instead, he’s focusing on developing his country into a centre for innovation.

As a political underdog, new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had a legacy, a cause and a corrupt adversary to fight against. Aside from higher costs of living, the Lion City has little to inspire a change at the top.

Football is everything to Southeast Asians. Some take leave from work just to be able to catch a football match. Why is this so? Can any SEA nation make it to the World Cup?