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…
Full Article MALAYSIA: ‘Allah’ is a no-go for Non-MuslimsVIETNAM: Paracel Islands for the Silenced People
YVONNE EPPS WRITES — It’s a new year and with Tet rounding the final corner, Vietnam can finally turn over a new leaf. Or it can indulge in more media constriction, give or take. This week marked the 40th anniversary of China’s invasion of Vietnam and its taking of the…
Full Article VIETNAM: Paracel Islands for the Silenced PeopleCAMBODIA: 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…
Full Article CAMBODIA: Lights, Camera, Oscar Nomination!LOS ANGELES: Trying to Keep Japan in Perspective
TOM PLATE WRITES IN HIS SYNDICATED NEWSPAPER COLUMN: Try it, you might like it: a sense of proportion. Avoid the extreme cry of apocalypse now — or, at least, of apocalypse soon. Stretch your intellectual and historical horizons to appreciate Japan as an expanse of more than just a few…
Full Article LOS ANGELES: Trying to Keep Japan in PerspectiveTAIWAN: 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…
Full Article TAIWAN: Taiwanese-Brazilian Teen Captures Media’s Attention… AgainNORTH KOREA: Squabble over Name-Calling an Obstacle to Progress
RYAN LIPPERT WRITES – Tension between North and South Korea is old news, but a recent offer by the North offers a ray of hope that it’s possible for relations to cool down. Earlier this week, North Korea proposed that the two countries tone down their usually confrontational language. If…
Full Article NORTH KOREA: Squabble over Name-Calling an Obstacle to ProgressJAPAN: ANA Commercial Sparks Social Media Wildfire
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – On paper, promoting a sense of international awareness sounds like a logical quality for an airline to convey in its commercials. Such ads can assure customers of a friendly, welcoming environment. Yet, as All Nippon Airways (ANA) has found, this is hardly achieved by poking fun at…
Full Article JAPAN: ANA Commercial Sparks Social Media WildfireLOS ANGELES: Hong Kong – “New York in a Chinese Fortune Cookie”
The following interview with Asia Media founder and editor in chief Tom Plate was conducted by G. Bruce Smith of the firm of SMITH WRITING & PR in Culver City, California (http://www.smith-writing-pr.com). The occasion is the U.S. release of Professor Plate’s new book IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUTURE (Marshall…
Full Article LOS ANGELES: Hong Kong – “New York in a Chinese Fortune Cookie”INDONESIA: IS ‘JOKOWI’ THE GREAT NEW HOPE?
TOM PLATE WRITES IN THE JAKARTA POST: Our favorite optimist of Asia is at it again, and may the gods of our future bless this learned man. He is Kishore Mahbubani (KM), the savvy Singapore policy-school dean and acclaimed author whose most recent book “The Great Convergence” might almost be…
Full Article INDONESIA: IS ‘JOKOWI’ THE GREAT NEW HOPE?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…
Full Article KOREAN ART: FROM K-POP TO STRING THEORYSINGAPORE: ‘The Era of E-Asia Has Dawned’
From Our Friends at the influential Asia Media Information and Communication Centre in Singapore comes the announcement of the 2014 Asia media conference, to be held next year in Thailand (domestic events permitting…). The announcement: “Globally, the last decade has seen exponential growth in the use of mobile technologies and…
Full Article SINGAPORE: ‘The Era of E-Asia Has Dawned’THAILAND: NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY
TOM PLATE WRITES IN HIS INTERNATIONALLY SYNDICATED COLUMN: – A country of beauty is in danger of turning into a beast. The Kingdom of Thailand, the land of the smiling people, the gorgeous countryside and a storied history as the once-upon-a-time Siam, now has a severe case of the political…
Full Article THAILAND: NO WAY TO TREAT A LADYCHINA: Why Beijing Needs to Take It Slowly
A BOOK EXCERPT. Adapted from “In the Middle of The Future: Tom Plate on Asia,” to be published here in the U.S. next month by Marshall Cavendish International. TOM PLATE WRITES: Asia did not achieve its current status on the world stage as an overnight success. Hardly. But despite millennia…
Full Article CHINA: Why Beijing Needs to Take It SlowlyWASHINGTON: 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
Full Article WASHINGTON: Respect for Democracy in Thailand Deserves SupportSOUTH AFRICA: The Death of a Great Man
TOM PLATE WRITES – Moral stature is obviously a rare quality. So when it is very apparent and right in front of you, hitting you between the eyes without any ambiguity, it is unforgettable even as a transitory presence, and especially unforgettable due to its almost invariable absence. On two occasions…
Full Article SOUTH AFRICA: The Death of a Great ManBOOK REVIEW: Party Crasher
WRITES TOM PLATE (in his symdicated newspaper column) – Have I been wrong? Some critics suggest my newspaper columns since 1995 on the politics and economics of the Mainland have been (oh … ) overly sympathetic toward China. I just don’t know. But no one can afford to be…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: Party Crasher