Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials have come under fire for being granted prime real estate in the capital at preferential prices under a state program, contradicting their reformist pledges to shun perks of power in a country impoverished by decades of misrule.
Category: Southeast Asia
Eight Years Later—Malaysia’s Sedition Act Is Still In Place
Passed during colonial rule three years after the British re-imposition from Japan, Malaysia’s Sedition Act of 1948 still remains the law of the land despite
These officials flouted lockdown rules in Myanmar, Malaysia, and the Philippines
In Malaysia and the Philippines a particularly strict enforcement of these measures saw thousands of arrests and heavy penalties for violations from March onwards.
But a number of government officials were caught violating the very quarantine protocols they were supposed to oversee.
Today: Bhumibol’s Ascent To The Throne
Today marks the day Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended to the throne upon his brother’s death in 1946. With his death marking the end of the world’s longest reigning monarch, the seventy years of his reign have been marked with both controversy and esteem.
Bhumibol’s reign saw Thailand’s monarchy survive tumultuous decades of conflict and war in the greater Mekong region. Through socialist revolutions nearby and coups at home and abroad, Bhumibol’s reign was a constant throughout.
A Dismal Lack of Concern For Human Rights
With up to 1 in 10 adult Uyghurs in China’s westernmost province of Xinjiang in re-education camps, life in the region’s internment system drudges on—arduously. Your mother is sent hundreds of miles away for burying your dead father in the traditional Muslim custom instead of cremating him. Your brother is sent thousands of miles away to a residential school for stuttering when speaking Mandarin. Your brother-in-law has saved up several months’ salary to pay smugglers to take him and your sister out of the country—if caught he may never see your family again.