Future Southeast Asia Site News: May 2026

Cleaning up broken links from major news sites, trying to extract myself and Future Southeast Asia from the clutches of Google, a new (to me) news source, and an update on the weekly news round-up.

Greetings from Chiang Mai! I’m back in my semi-home base to recuperate from months of travel and to work through a backlog of trip reports from around Southeast Asia.

This post is my monthly update on what is happening at futuresoutheastasia.com.

Site news

Link maintenance

I occasionally run a broken link check on futuresoutheastasia.com to clean up dead links. The report usually shows sites that no longer exist or sites that haven’t bothered to redirect to a changed URL.

This time around, I have been disturbed to discover that The Phnom Penh Post has nuked its archive of old articles. I thought it might have been that they changed the URL, but the content of the article doesn’t appear when I search on the site.

I have seen URL changes on other news sites, such as when Tuoi Tre News changed its URL structure without redirecting the old links to the new address.

What is concerning about The Phnom Penh Post removing old articles is that they are the closest that Cambodia has to a newspaper of record. Although you cannot rely on a Cambodian publication for editorials on politics (no hot-takes on Hun Sen at the PPP), the newspaper is useful for recording the nation’s development history. News on when an airport opened, construction updates on a bridge, or when a fire burned down a historic building should be preserved on a reliable platform.

I have seen countless websites come and go since I first started publishing travel websites in 2001 (including some of my own websites). According to this report:

“Research shows 25% of web pages posted between 2013 and 2023 have vanished. A few organisations are racing to save the echoes of the web, but new risks threaten their very existence.”

It is disappointing to see major news sites remove the archive of their old posts. Fortunately, the old Phnom Penh Post articles are saved at web.archive.org, but the Internet Archive is also in danger. At this point, paper archives are still more reliable for long-term historical preservation.

The impending Google AIpocalypse and deGooglefying myself

This Month, Google committed to going all-in on AI-powered search results (see Google Search as you know it is over). The new search format has been switched off and on when I search in Thailand, and the AI results are so aggravating that I am now looking at other search alternatives.

I have a fine-tuned system of curating news for the weekly newsletter, so this new search format is disruptive to my workflow. Perhaps this AI-era Google is a good time for me to start weaning myself off The Big G.

I usually have two browsers open on my laptop. I use Brave browser for my logged-in Google account, and I use Firefox with DuckDuckGo set as the default search engine.

I am now looking at Vivaldi browser, which uses Startpage as the default search engine. Vivaldi also has a built-in feed reader and other features that aren’t on Brave.

I’m so committed to the Google ecosystem that it will be hard to fully de-Googlefy. I open a Gmail account every time I start a new site, and Google Maps are still the most useful way to embed a map on a website.

While I am trying to de-Googlefy myself, I noticed that most news sites in the region now have a Google News button on each page. Here is an example from The Straits Times with an “Add as a preferred source on Google” button.

Any site that is indexed by Google can add this link, so here is my link if you want to add me as a source in Google News.

www.google.com/preferences/source?q=futuresoutheastasia.com

Yes, here I am trying to break my Google addiction while encouraging you to add me as a source on Google News. Google remains my number one source of traffic, and second place is not even close.

I get a pitiful trickle of traffic from ChatGPT and Gemini, even though they steal content from my site to answer questions.

This month, I started seeing traffic from SmartNews, which I had never heard of until I checked my (urgh) Google Analytics. SmartNews is sending more traffic than all of the AI sites combined, which is to say not much traffic, but good to know that there is another news alternative.

When I opened the SmartNews link in my analytics, it took me to a Japanese landing page. It turns out they are from Tokyo, so this is another site to consider if you are looking for alternatives to US tech services.

I have now downloaded the SmartNews app to test it out in my quest to diversify away from Google.

Weekly news

I have not posted many new articles this month as I have been fixing up old articles. I publish the weekly news update every Wednesday for paid subscribers, which is a round-up of news related to transport and urban development in the region.

If you want guaranteed weekly updates from Future Southeast Asia, become a paid subscriber ($5 per month or $50 per year) and help support this site.

Here are the last month’s issues of the weekly newsletter (click article links to upgrade).

• Future Southeast Asia News [27 May 2026]

Indonesia pushes Giant Sea Wall plan, major upgrade of Wattay International Airport, Malaysia’s longest river-crossing bridge opens, Bataan–Cavite Interlink Bridge, missing link railway could end Bangkok crossing crashes, swathes of Hanoi demolished for development.

• Future Southeast Asia News [20 May 2026]

Phnom Penh’s heritage is under threat, Jakarta MRT Phase 2A on track for 2029 operation, Penang exploring bridge option as alternative to undersea tunnel project, research on the construction of underground railways in Yangon, why US is backing Philippine airport at former naval base, MRT stations on Circle Line to open on July 12, Bangkok rail crossing safety overhaul planned after deadly crash, Central Hanoi becomes giant construction site.

• Future Southeast Asia News [13 May 2026]

Ratanakiri Airport plan in northeastern Cambodia, Jakarta’s remarkable urban transit transformation, Vientiane approves 93 km of concrete roads, proposed Johor rail system, feasibility study for Sangley airport development, Thailand lines up six new airports, Vietnam bets on colossal capital renewal to drive growth.

• Future Southeast Asia News [6 May 2026]

Indonesia fast-tracks 575 km sea wall, transport plan drives Laos closer to becoming regional hub, ‘Second Dubai’ vision for Perlis, Bangkok’s Orange Line due to open in January 2028, Hanoi to Ha Long Bay in 23 minutes.

Thanks for reading Future Southeast Asia!