SOUTH KOREA: Embezzlement Scandal Digs Chang Jae-Ku’s Grave Deeper
After making headlines in June for dismissing the unionized reporters who called for his investigation, Chang Jae-Ku is once again in the spotlight, and his streak of misbehavior continues. The newspaper owner and chairman of the Hankook Ilbo media group now faces charges for embezzling US$11.6 million for his personal…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA: Embezzlement Scandal Digs Chang Jae-Ku’s Grave DeeperTHAILAND: Two More Important Books Derailed by Unofficial but Vicious Censorship
They’re at it again in Bangkok, reports the highly respected political website PRACHATAI. As its journalist Suluck Lamubol, writing for the site, tells us: “Asia Books, Thailand’s largest English language bookstore, on Thursday withdrew from their bookshelves two academic titles on Thai history, citing “political sensitivity.” The books concern the…
Full Article THAILAND: Two More Important Books Derailed by Unofficial but Vicious CensorshipSOUTHEAST ASIA: New Book on Asia’s Rise Through the Eyes of a Journalist
The ‘top 100’ anthology seeks to represent a perspective on the rise of Asia and its evolving relationship with the U.S. through a benchmark approach of columns that highlighted major historical events, from the handover of Hong Kong to China, to the Asian Financial Crisis, and to the rise of…
Full Article SOUTHEAST ASIA: New Book on Asia’s Rise Through the Eyes of a JournalistCHINA AND THE UNITED STATES: Can a More Sophisticated Journalism on Both Sides Help Improve the Relationship?
There is more than one definition to the word “trip.” At its simplest it just means going to some place not close from where you started. But on a deeper level, going on a trip can mean a journey of some unexpected dimension or consequence. Both definitions apply to Prøf.…
Full Article CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES: Can a More Sophisticated Journalism on Both Sides Help Improve the Relationship?GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: Egypt as Iconic Tragedy
To me, the Hobbesian state of nature unfolding now in Egypt is the colossal story of the current epoch. In our idealistic quest for political perfection, what sometimes happens? We create darkness. When we agree to see a regime deposed (or help push it over the cliff), it night well…
Full Article GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: Egypt as Iconic TragedySOUTHEAST ASIA: The Word ‘Kitaab’ Can Mean ‘Book’
LMU’s Asia Media writes: Interested in a terrific blog about writers and writing in Asia? Go to http://kitaab.org. It favors writers who can write, and writers’ festivals that are more than book conventions. Look up its coverage of the impending Singapore Fall Writers Festival. Kitaab, we are told by the…
Full Article SOUTHEAST ASIA: The Word ‘Kitaab’ Can Mean ‘Book’SINGAPORE: National Family ‘Pledge’ Notably Omits Single Parents and LGBT
STEPHANIE GARCIA WRITES – Singapore values family … but only if your family includes two parents, one mother and one father. On July 30, Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing introduced the nation’s first family pledge at a luncheon for those who participated in last month’s National…
Full Article SINGAPORE: National Family ‘Pledge’ Notably Omits Single Parents and LGBTVIETNAM: 50 Shades of Chains and Apple Lawsuits
YVONNE EPPS WRITES – Trashy fiction is an increasingly popular guilty pleasure, making one writer’s trash a corporation’s treasure. Racy Vietnamese novel Soi xich (The Chain) was sold on the Apple App Store without author and actress-singer Le Kieu Nhu’s permission, violating the copyright laws protecting the work. Although the…
Full Article VIETNAM: 50 Shades of Chains and Apple LawsuitsJAPAN: Who Needs Real “Likes” When You Have Cash?
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – Can you call yourself popular when most of your fans are fake? As more businesses and politicians are seeking attention via social media, services selling Facebook “Likes” and Twitter followers are appearing. The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan’s leading dailies, interviewed one purveyor of Internet fame,…
Full Article JAPAN: Who Needs Real “Likes” When You Have Cash?SINGAPORE: Author Sows Seeds for a Better Future
SHAMINI FLINT WRITES TO US FROM HER HOME IN SINGAPORE – Like many of you, I caught the environmental bug some time back. I belatedly realised that our lifestyles are unsustainable and our children are going to inherit the mess. In a panic, I began to write books (printed on recycled/sustainable…
Full Article SINGAPORE: Author Sows Seeds for a Better FutureTAIWAN: Yes, Young Man, You Could Be a Rape Victim, Too
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – Men are surprisingly alarmed to learn that they too can be victims of sexual assault. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education released a video three years ago entitled, If I Knew Boys Could Be Sexually Assaulted as Well. Uploaded to the internet about a month ago, the video…
Full Article TAIWAN: Yes, Young Man, You Could Be a Rape Victim, TooCHINA: Watermelon-Man Death Prompts Micro Blog Uproar
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – It never occurred to Huang Xixi that selling watermelons would be a business endeavor that could cost her the life of her husband. On July 27, police apprehended six urban management officers who reportedly attacked a married couple selling watermelons. The result left the man dead…
Full Article CHINA: Watermelon-Man Death Prompts Micro Blog UproarPACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: China Without Fear – Inside the Mind of Zhu Rongji
TOM PLATE WRITES: The biggest question about China at the moment is the buoyancy of its economy. Suddenly there are serious worries. In China, people might believe Americans wish for their economic collapse. This is not true. If only because of the intimate interdependence and indeed inter-reliance of our two…
Full Article PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: China Without Fear – Inside the Mind of Zhu RongjiJAPAN: Abe But No Lincoln
JEREMIAH FAJARDO WRITES – After two decades and a plethora of Prime Ministers, has political stability finally come to Japan with its united Diet? With the July 21 Upper House elections, Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) seized the second, upper half of the Diet in an acclaimed landslide victory.…
Full Article JAPAN: Abe But No LincolnTAIWAN: Is It Only ‘Transparently’ Corrupt?
BRIAN CANAVE WRITES – Transparency International has released its 2013 findings on official corruption and this year Taiwan took it on the chops. The annual assessments are widely respected, and can influence investment by foreign firms and the evaluations of other international agencies and nonprofits. For 2013, Taiwan’s politicians and…
Full Article TAIWAN: Is It Only ‘Transparently’ Corrupt?CHINA: Novelists With Killer Instincts
LEXIE TUCKER WRITES – On July 16, web fiction author Sollong passed away from literally working himself to death. Known only by his Internet pseudonym, which translates to “Snowfall for Ten Years,” Sollong’s real name is a mystery to everyone, except the management at Qidian.com, where he was employed as…
Full Article CHINA: Novelists With Killer Instincts