As the year ends, we wish our readers peaceful holidays and a hopeful New Year. But the arrival of 2026 invites more than celebration; it asks for reflection. History offers a clear lesson: human and economic progress is fragile where peace is absent. In a world increasingly shaped by division—across race, religion, and political belief—the pace at which conflict and instability are normalized should give us pause.

The current course is not sustainable, nor is it beyond correction. Responsibility rests not in the abstract, but with those who shape political, economic, and scientific decisions in every nation. The future of the planet depends on whether leadership can rise above immediacy and ideology, and recognize that peace is not a moral accessory to progress, but its essential precondition.

The Editorial Staff of ASEAN TODAY