Thomas is a director with the Foreign Policy and Security Studies programme. His interests lie in the strategic-security challenges of Southeast Asia, including the impacts of major power dynamics on ASEAN. He looks mainly at the South China Sea dispute, political-security cohesion within ASEAN and Malaysia’s security and foreign policies. Thomas also focuses on government policies towards refugees, asylum seekers and other displaced people in Malaysia, as well as the impacts of the crisis in Myanmar on the region. He is a member of the Malaysia Study Group on Myanmar, convened by Universiti Malaya.