The history of humanitarianism in Southeast Asia is fraught with wicked problems and controversial decisions. Stemming from decades of bloody interstate wars, large-scale natural disasters and protracted subnational conflicts, Southeast Asia continues to be regarded as an especially conflict-ridden and disaster-prone region. This reflects a broader regional trend: a 2008 paper by the United Nations Development Programme identified Asia as having ‘the highest incidence of armed conflicts’ globally, with many lasting for decades and featuring both state-based and non-state-based violence. The ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar, separatist insurgencies in southern Thailand and human trafficking across the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal are but a few examples of the panoply of complex humanitarian challenges that come to mind. Even so, as this chapter posits, Southeast Asia’s collective memory is defined as much by acts of violence and political coercion as by humane acts of altruism and moral responsibility. Indeed, the region’s varied cast of humanitarian actors operate at multiple levels (i.e. transnational, domestic, interpersonal) and, depending on their operational context, can be driven by political imperatives as well as principled ideas.