Low-lying and densely populated coastal areas with thousands of small islands spreading across Southeast Asia are highly prone to sea level rise caused by global warming. Accurate sea level change maps in Southeast Asia are of great importance to scientists and decision makers in the region interested in past and present sea level change. Improving near-coast satellite altimetry data processing will extend the coastal sea level record back in time and allow accurate mapping of sea level change in the region as well as supporting various potential applications of sea level data in the coastal zone. Our initial comparisons of sea level trends show good agreement between global sea level reconstructions in areas and times of larger signal to noise associated with strong decadal sea level variability forced by low frequency wind forcing.