Look before you leap. This is a venerable American saying. Look carefully before you leap emotionally. So if I were one of the good people of the Republic of Korea, for whom my admiration is deep, long-standing and well known (as my Japanese friends understand well), I would be prudent…
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Openly Gay HK Legislator Comes Out Swinging on the Fast Beat!
In a move sure to leave Beijing squirming, media outlets and LGBT activists (for, of course, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) have praised Raymond Chan Chi-chuen as the first Hong Kong legislator to come out of the closet. Chan, a former disc jockey and CEO of the Internet radio station Hong…
PHILIPPINES: Filipino Radicals Try to Play Nice
Surprise, surprise! The Philippines’ largest Muslim insurgent group, the pro-violence Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), rejected the call from Al-Qaeda to attack US targets over an anti-Islam film that originated in the states. Is this a new extremist morality? No, just a temporary tactic in the extremist war, it seems.…
BANGLADESH: Asia Foundation Study Raises Key Issue for Development
Despite Bangladesh’s relatively weak international recognition as a major garment manufacturer and exporter, it is in fact one of the world’s largest garment manufacturers, being only second to China. As a result, Bangladesh’s economy has been consistently improving. The economic growth, however, has come with many sacrifices and hardships for…
NORTH KOREA: Kim Jong-il Is Set for ‘Resurrection’
Although the late leader, Kim Jong-il, died of a heart attack back in December, he is to rise again from the political grave. Early next year his preserved body will be on public display, joining the late Kim Il-sung in public gaze. The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports…
MALAYSIA: ‘If a True Love’s Blog Can Break the Spell…’
Nothing says true love more than dedicating a blog to your loved one– at least, that’s what Abil Fikri Ahmad thought (and did) when he created abil4fauziah.blogspot.com. But this isn’t just any ordinary site. This stay-at-home husband created and dedicated his blog for his wife (or dear as he calls…
HONOLULU: Fabulous China-U.S. Travel Exchange for Journalists
The 2012 China-United States Journalists Exchange is revving up for the third time. The amazing program kicks off November 23 and runs to December 8, 2012. With leadership change in China, the US Presidential Election, and the growing importance of China-US relations in global affairs and the global economy, the 2012…
China Blog Blotter: Fighting to Upgrade the Status of Women
For a nation as influential and economically robust as China, its laws for the protection of women are laughable. Let’s not even get into the discussion of women’s representation in politics or business, but just the most basic rights of safety for women. As a developed nation, China is pathetically…
HONG KONG’S FERRY TRAGEDY: The Shame of the News Media
SPECIAL TO ASIA MEDIA FROM HONG KONG. By Alice Wu — Perhaps all too often my favorite former professor used to say, “there are no stupid questions.” But it was just his way of encouraging learning and inquisitive minds. For that, I know countless are grateful. That’s what schools are…
Pacific Perspectives: Things I Have Been Right About — And From the Start!
Okay, so it is a rather short list…. still… Los Angeles — This column probably will get obnoxious. At least I hope so. Delightfully, it’s about things I said would happen and, guess what? They happened. You could look it up: The judgments enumerated, in one way or the other,…
SINGAPORE: Would Western Values Really Have Worked?
Journalism takes on many different forms in the modern world. Western nations boastfully tout a free press system, while some countries have a media system controlled by the government. Other states lie somewhere in between the two, inclining toward a system of privately held media corporations that are still required to answer to the government.
China Blotter: Netizens Against Corruption, Step One Complete
Remember back in March when the Chinese government tried to hush the scandals surrounding Communist Party Boss Bo Xilai? Well, thanks to the perseverance of free speech advocacy with Netizens at the frontlines, keeping mum was no longer an option on at least one of them. Something had to be…
THAILAND’S CONTROVERSIAL THAKSIN VISITS LOS ANGELES — AND LMU
Thaksin Shinawatra (pictured left with his sister, Yingluck, the current Thai prime minister) is undoubtedly the most controversial politician ever to become prime minister of Thailand, an oft-ignored country in Southeast Asia with a population and landmass greater than Britain or Italy. (But who besides a Thai knows this?) Elected…
BANGLADESH: Govt. Accuses Economist Magazine of ‘Poor Journalism’
The Bangladesh government is unhappy with The Economist, the famed international weekly published out of London. More specifically, Bangladesh’s government seems to believe that The Economist has not practiced accurate or impartial reporting on two recent feature articles on Bangladesh, titled “Banged about” and “Hello, Delhi”. On June 14th, 2012,…
ARABS AND THE OLYMPICS: Serious Mixed Feelings about So-Called Saudi ‘Progress’
Editor’s note: Asia Media Staff writer Latifah RahmDel is visiting the United States this month – on holiday from United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, where she is a student. She files this from New York: “Being an Arab in the States during the Olympic Games is…
CHINA: Following in Singapore’s Footsteps … Censorship by Another Name
Will Chinese television veiwers have anything good left to watch? The State Administration of Film, Radio and Television recently published six new guidelines that ban remakes of foreign TV series, as well as shows based on online games. The rules also require that revolution-themed TV series clearly differentiate between friend…