ABSTRACT
The period 1990-2000 was the most tumultuous and dynamic in the history of Southeast Asian media industry – and set the foundation for the region’s multichannel, new media environment. It marked a step-change in the communications landscape: when international commercial forces entered a sphere of activity that had previously exclusively been an arm of the state. Broadly, two strands of development evolved within the ASEAN nations: the state centrist in Malaysia, Singapore and, until mid-1998, Indonesia; and the diffuse – and highly commercial – in Thailand and the Philippines. The implications arising from this evolution for the conduct of political, social and economic life have been far-reaching.
