Briefing MONTHLY #101 | October 2026

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Kim Aris was 11 years old in 1988 when his mother Aung San Suu Kyi left the family home in England to return to the country then known as Burma to nurse her dying mother. After being placed under house arrest in 1989, Suu Kyi did not return until 2012.

Aris has now not seen his 81-year-old mother since she was imprisoned by the military junta following the February 2021 coup. After publicly campaigning for proof of life, he finally got some reassurance this month via a phone conversation with Suu Kyi. Meanwhile Min Aung Hlaing, the general-turned-president who led the coup, has made significant gains in diplomatic engagement with several regional governments.

Also this month we look at campaigning ahead of Taiwan’s local elections. These are widely viewed as a mid-term assessment of President Lai Ching-te’s administration and come amid institutional gridlock with different sides controlling the executive and legislature (see NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH).

With the long-awaited Western Sydney International Airport finally open, thoughts naturally turn to travel. Short-term stay data from the ABS provides a snapshot of where Australians go and where our international tourists come from (see ASIAN NATION).

Thanks for reading,

Emma Connors
Briefing MONTHLY editor

As anyone who has lived in Southeast Asia knows, Indonesia's forest fires are an annual event. This year they are particularly bad. Last month, hotspot detections in Kalimantan and Sumatra reached their highest level since 2015.

Fires burning across Borneo, Sumatra and nearby islands are tearing through forests and dried peatlands. Blazes in peat areas are difficult to put out because flames smoulder below the surface, releasing harmful gases such as methane, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide. Haze from the fires has blanketed cities in Indonesia, drifting north and east into Malaysia and Singapore, and even reaching the Philippines and Vietnam.

In June this year, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was now in an El Niño phase. El Niño events affect global weather, and the accompanying prolonged dry conditions make forest fires much worse.

In the last El Niño in 2023, Indonesia experienced a significant surge in fires, with the total area burned reaching 1.16 million hectares (2.87 million acres), a fivefold increase from 2022. Forecasts suggest the current event could become a very strong El Niño, potentially among the most significant in decades.

While weather conditions exacerbate fires, it’s humans who start them.