MARLENA NIP WRITES – Drug trafficking charges loom over a French woman, an Indonesian maid, and three Malaysian men. About a pound of processed cannabis and 36 pot plants were allegedly confiscated from the quintet by police in the nation’s capital Sabah. If found guilty, the group face the death penalty, with zero room…
Category: Uncategorized
JAPAN: Social Media Backlash Over Dolphin Slaughter
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – Spreading awareness of animal cruelty through hashtags can make an issue go viral faster than you can say “Save the Dolphins.” If you’ve seen the Academy Award-winning documentary The Cove, you’re familiar with Japan’s yearly Taiji Cove dolphin slaughter. Despite numerous pleas by nature conservation groups…
HONG KONG: Mainland’s War on Hong Kong Publications
LAUREN CHEN WRITES – Mainland authorities continue to usurp Hong Kong press freedom by silencing dissenting voices. Publisher Yao Wentian was arrested on what appear to be bogus charges of smuggling prohibited items, and has been detained for almost three months. Wentian is head of Morning Bell Press, a Hong Kong…
LEBANON: A ‘Selfie’ Protest to Stop the Violence
NICOLE SABA WRITES – It all started with a series of deadly car bombings that happened in December. Other than the target of the initial explosion – Mohammed Chatah, former Finance Minister of Lebanon – four others lost their lives that day. Among them was Mohammed Chaar, a sixteen-year-old boy,…
THAILAND: Blue Bloods Versus New Bloods
ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – The “Bangkok shutdown” is drawing a darker, deeper line between the country’s rural, poor, pro-government Red Shirts, and the reform-oriented Yellow Shirts. While strong influences of sadkina (ศักดินา) – Thai feudalism – make corruption an old friend in Thailand’s national politics, reform is still a new beast…
BANGLADESH: Journalists Under Arrest
KIARA BRAMASCO WRITES – Three Bangladeshi journalists were arrested January 16 for publishing what Information Minister Hansanul Huq Inu called a “baseless” story. The story in question was a report in the online and print editions of the pro-opposition Daily Inqilab that Indian security forces had helped Bangladeshi officials contain…
HONG KONG: Chinese Communist Party Supporter as Chief Newspaper Editor?
LAUREN CHEN WRITES – Kevin Lau Chun, editor in chief of the Ming Pao newspaper, transferred suddenly to the parent company’s new unit for electronic books and teaching materials. This action has been perceived as a threat to editorial independence. Word on the street is that Lau’s replacement will be Chong Tien-siong, Malaysian journalist and…
MALAYSIA: ‘Allah’ is a no-go for Non-Muslims
MARLENA NIP WRITES – Imagine not being able to use a certain word because your ideals don’t match those of the ruling party. Then imagine being under investigation by your government for using said word. That’s the case for a Catholic priest in Malaysia after saying the word “Allah” at…
CAMBODIA: Lights, Camera, Oscar Nomination!
ARACELI PALAFOX WRITES – Amid political conflict and social uprising, Cambodia finds a sense of solidarity in the nation’s first Oscar nomination. Cambodian director Rithy Panh’s “The Missing Picture” is among the five final nominations in the “Best Foreign Language” film category. Panh’s “The Missing Picture” is a largely autobiographical work, telling the story…
TAIWAN: Taiwanese-Brazilian Teen Captures Media’s Attention… Again
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – What happens when an 18-year-old Taiwanese-Brazilian boy, who was the focus of a custody battle between his parents’ families, returns to Taiwan after nearly a decade? Essentially what you’d expect. The local media latched on to his return, covering it with the same intensity as his childhood custody…
KOREAN ART: FROM K-POP TO STRING THEORY
Asian art from the Republic of Korea and from all over the globe’s many Korean diasporas has become an awesome trend on the contemporary art scene. Like K-Pop, K-Art is sweeping the world. Over the past year, Korean Eye 2012 became an internationally acclaimed collection of key works by 33…
WASHINGTON: Respect for Democracy in Thailand Deserves Support
The following comes courtesy of the Honorable Kurt Campbell, a former top State and Defense Department official, in his FaceBook posting 22 December: CommentShare 18 Shares 4 Posted by Andrew MacGregor Marshall on Sunday, December 22, 2013
CAMBODIA: Cambodian National Rescue Party Breaks Free From CPP Control
ARACELI PALAFOX WRITES – With control over the nine television stations in the country, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) continues to be the head puppet master of Cambodia. Its success in the July election reminded the people of Cambodia who’s hands pull the strings. Yet, this same election came with…
AFGHANISTAN: Bombs Blow up People but Media Blows up Morality
VITTO BANEZ WRITES – Western Afghan religious leaders claim the media is displaying material that is un-Islamic. The mullahs assert that said material is inflicting more harm than a suicide bomb. Farouq Hussaini, the spokesman for the council of Muslim scholars, articulated this belief in his statement that “suicide attackers…
ISRAEL: 21st Century Ethnic Segregation
AHMAD ALKHUZAM WRITES – One would assume that civilization has come a long way since the injustices of apartheid. But Negev Bedouins face the reality of being forced to pack up and leave. The Israeli government will finalize the parliamentary bill for the Prawer plan, which will forcibly relocate up to 70,000 Negev…
THAILAND: Might Equals Right?
ELIZABETH NAAI WRITES – Thailand’s Democrat Party leaders are using momentum from the country’s current protests to further their own, longstanding cause: The overthrow of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinowatra and the dominant Pheu Thai Party. Protests first erupted between royalists (locally coined as “yellow shirts”) and those loyal to Thaksin (the…