Land disputes are crowded with environmentalists, farmers and greedy developers who work hand in glove with local politicians. Clashes have persistently tested Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and demand from the likes of palm oil plantations is as strong as the loggers’ ability to fell and clear.

In Cambodia, land and ownership is a perennial sore point as the country continues to piece itself back together after 30 years of war that included two decades of absurd communist dictates. Slums occupying vast tracts of prime real estate in the capital are capturing the eye of Korean developers who want the country’s poor to move along with little or no compensation.

Vietnam, where some in power still think communism and capitalism need not be an uncomfortable fit, has proven to be even more contentious. But one man, Doan Van Vuon, has defied the odds and emerged as a national hero after challenging his country’s bullying authorities.

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Cambodia’s garment industry represents 90 percent of the country’s exports and employs more than 300,000 workers by some estimates. It survived the 2008 global financial crisis, although job losses were registered across all special economic zones. But despite its vital contribution to the local economy, the garment sector has been facing criticism that it has been able to maintain global competitiveness only at the expense of providing its labor force with better working conditions and benefits. Indeed, the statutory minimum wage of Cambodia’s garment workers is currently the lowest in the Mekong region.

Last year, more than 200,000 workers in the garment sector went on strike in protest over their pauperized working conditions. The government responded by reminding employers to strictly enforce the occupational safety and health standards required by law.

To further highlight the demands of garment workers, the Asia Floor Wage network organized Cambodia’s first ever People’s Tribunal on Minimum Living Wage and Decent Working Conditions early this month. It was also the first tribunal in the Asia-Pacific aimed at establishing a standard on the issue of fair pricing for garment manufacturers and, in particular, strengthening the bargaining power of female workers within the global supply chain.

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Timor-Leste wants help. Australian troops are pulling out of the country leaving it much to its own security devices as it wallows as the poorest in Asia, with a recent report revealing 54 percent of the nation’s children under the age of five are stunted because of malnutrition.

With that in mind, East Timor’s Foreign Minister Zacarius Albano da Costa has been scouting for support, with the country increasingly pitching its future on joining the 10-member trading bloc, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Top of its support list is Thailand. Bangkok was among the first countries to recognize Timor-Leste’s independence and established diplomatic relations in 2002. The recent 10-year anniversary provided a backdrop for some backroom maneuvering in Bangkok with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The longstanding feud between Israel and Iran was apparently elevated to a new level this week after explosions occurred in New Delhi and Tbilisi, while another bomb plot was foiled in Bangkok. Three men have been arrested in the Thai capital and the country’s top police official, Gen. Prewpan Dhamapong, has said that they are Iranians who had planned to attack Israeli diplomats.

Iranian officials have denied such accusations. However, many believe that Tehran, which recently announced new advances in its nuclear program, dispatched its surrogates to the aforementioned cities to attack Israeli diplomats in retaliation for the assassination of several of Iran’s top atomic scientists.

Why Bangkok was the location for one of the planned attacks is an interesting question. Thailand has a significant Turkic population, and Bangkok specifically has many Iranian, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz immigrants living there.

Against a backdrop of continuing violence and instability, the United States must be prepared to take a stronger stand on Papua. Rising tensions there risk complicating critically significant U.S.-Indonesia relations, unnecessarily distracting from the strategically important “rebalancing” towards the Asia-Pacific recently announced by the Obama administration. 

By any measure, Indonesia looms large in U.S. foreign policy. Its status as a “Comprehensive Partner” speaks to the country’s political, economic and strategic significance. Moreover, as an influential player in multilateral forums both regionally and internationally, a strong relationship with Indonesia is invaluable in wider U.S. efforts at engagement in the Asia-Pacific – spanning diplomatic, trade and economic matters, through to security concerns such as extremism and maritime issues.  In the context of the recent strategic rebalancing towards the Asia-Pacific, this significance will only increase in coming years, as the United States seeks to leverage existing relationships with Asian allies and partners. Keeping a healthy bilateral relationship on track will be one crucial element – among many – assisting this delicate maneuver. 

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