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Populism has become more prominent in many parts of the world. In Southeast Asia, populist politics have a long standing history that is inseparable from the context of power contestation. The politics of Thaksin Shinawatras family in Thailand, the recent rise of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, the return of the once retired Mahathir Mohamad to power in Malaysia, and the rivalry between Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto in the Indonesias presidential election in Indonesia, have illustrated a strong competition between different populist forces. Populism is portrayed as a response that rise from the discontent of neoliberal policies through popular and nationalist campaigns and jargons. Nevertheless, this analysis has limitation in explaining the struggle and interests of different classes supporting the rise of populism in Southeast Asia. This paper argues that populist politics are not entirely built on frustration over neoliberal economic policies. Instead, it has been shaped through new political alliances structured by different social forces and enhanced by the transformation of capitalist class which has a strong agenda for market oriented policies. Hence, populism does not necessarily become a threat to neoliberal policies. It reflects the broader context of class transformation in reformulating the capital expansion into different and wider scale.