South East Asian government and business hails arrest of Hamadi

The arrest of Riduan bin Isomuddin alias Hamadi in Thailand can only be good news for business in South East Asia. Hamadi was responsible for severe damage to the economies of much of South East Asia, by instilling fear in foreign and local investors, increasing country risk and insecurity, driving away tourism dollars, and slowing down the participation of many South East Asian countries in the global economy.

Malaysia and the Iraq War

Malaysians are predominantly anti the Iraq war. And that's a under-statement. For the first time in living memory the Iraq war has unified the ruling Barisan Nasional government and their bitter rivals the fundamentalist PAS party. So much so that members from both political groups staged a demonstration outside the US embassy yesterday. It was a small gathering or perhaps 100 or so, but in Malaysian terms it was significant.

Will a war against Iraq reduce terrorism - or increase it?

Bush's tilts against the UN, accusing it of irrelevance and losing credibility, as well as statements that continue to emphasize that the US will go it alone in Iraq if necessary, does little to convince many that this war is more about terrorism and protecting the world than it is about increasing US power and influence by force of arms.

MalaysiaKini press release on police raid on offices

Malaysiakini press release dated Jan 20th 2003 on the police raid and confiscation of Malaysiakini computers following a complaint lodged against the newspaper by the ruling government's youth wing.

Korean Presidential Election focuses on South Korean/USA alliance

South Koreans go to the presidential polls today with the long-standing debate on the strategic military and cultural alliance with the USA as the key issue.

The Little Sheriff Cocks His Gun - Australia's Howard runs amok

Australians can do without the increasingly isolationist and panicked reactions of a hemmed in Australian conservative administration, who when under threat, their chief spokesman jumps into his Deputy Dawg costume and sneaks up to you with his pop gun.

How capitalism works in China

Nobody really thought that China's ruling elite would allow a free market similar to the West. The current leadership of course owe much to a system where ultimate power does not rest with entrepreneurship nor God, but the State.

Mahathir packs his Asian values baggage for Burma

Interestingly while the Western press focuses on the fact that Malaysian PM Mahathir will not be visiting recently freed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his current Burma/Myanmar visit, Xinhua does not think it worth a mention.

A Malaysia without Mahathir looms...

Only those who saw the scene at the Malaysian UMNO Annual Assembly either live or on the idiot box as PM Mahathir announced he was resigning from his party posts would be aware of the mass panic that reigned.

Malaysians confused at Mahathir's short time resignation

A day after Mahathir's shock resignation announcement and even more surprising fast retreat from the decision has given Malaysians something to yarn about all day.

As Kashmir threatens to boil over, Asian economies hold their breath

Following an escalation of terrorist attacks, the death of a political activist and a warning from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to border troops to prepare for a "decisive battle", the long Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan threatens to boil over and engulf the Greater Asian region as well in economic shock.

Myanmar takes one step forward with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was one hour ago released from house arrest, marking a significant, though preliminary, step forward in enhancing Myanmar's international stature and business credibility

Duangchalerm surrenders in Malaysia

The Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia today became the unlikely venue for the surrender of fugitive murder suspect Duangchalerm Yoobamrung.

The Kashmir Conflict: Webcast from Rice University

A Real Video Clip of a debate on the Kashmir Conflict from Rice University (US)

Malaysia's Mahathir a surprising ally in the US War against Terror? - Hardly..

Business Week today calls Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad a 'surprising ally' in the (US) 'War against Terror'. But to many in Malaysia, it's no surprise at all...

A Liberal Imperialism for Asia?

Robert Cooper in 'Re-Ordering the World: The long-term implications of September 11th' reviews recent economic history, albeit from a Euro perspective, and provides some explanation of the immediate willingness of the US and Britain to engage in a new imperialism

Malaysia's thin skin exposed again

It is not only Western countries that get a dose of the feisty Malaysian fragile ego.

Malaysia NOT a launch pad for WTO attacks - US FBI

Malaysia has a thin skin when it comes to perceived personal attacks. But its important to correct the misperception that Malaysia was somehow a base for the WTO attacks.

Thailand's Nation Group suspends political coverage on Thai TV

The Nation group, publisher of two of the region's most independent and quality newspapers - 'The Nation' and 'Krungthep Turakij', and the owner of Nation Channel UBC8, suspended all political programming on UBC8 from today,

Parajournos Coming Out the Ears

Well, as usually happens during crisis times in the Republic of the Philippines, the parachute journalists are as thick as flies, with an estimated 200 having now joined the jungle-ized Abu Sayyaf media feeding frenzy. Most of the parajournos spend their time tailing GI Joes, with early photo shots and stories being mostly sympathetic. Problem is, there’s not a whole lot going on and there aren’t enough real stories to go around.

So you are coming back?

Sitting here in South East Asia, one cannot be blamed for musing on the sudden interest shown by the US to our small part of the world. During the Asian crisis, the US withdrew attention from South East Asia, despite being a leading investor and profit-maker in our 10 year bubble. There were other places to focus on - a South Korea more strategically regionally, other emerging markets, and a China which makes yankees go gaga at the profit potential. Suddenly the US seems interested.. but business is not the reason...

US relations with Asia

As the most influential nation on earth for quite a few decades now, the US has always been acutely aware of the inevitable threat to their position from Japan and China. Yet the USA's foreign strategy has been a rojok of mistakes, relying on their leading position rather than any coherent strategy...

Is Osama winning the war?

The past week may well be remembered in years future as the time the US Bush administration lost their global plot. For while there has been a gradual and pernicious shift away from a specific war on terrorism to a war on the the USA's favourite longer term flogging boys, a Bush emboldened by popular acclaim in his response to the former is seeing the opportunity to up the ante. ...So I'm writing him a letter...

GMA as Dubya Disciple: Open mouth, insert foot?

…Ate Glo may have made a huge blunder at her weekly press con on Friday, sounding like a Filipino version of Dubya at his patriotic, xenophobic best. To be specific, she said that those who opposed the RP-US war games were "not Filipinos," rather they were "Abu Sayyaf lovers." GMA is now being lambasted from all directions . . . One of the underlying problems is a rather glaring logical flaw in the Balikitan exercises . . . Raoul has to ask: How come the Balikatan exercises were shifted not only to the Southern provinces, not only to Mindanao -- but to the very heart of the hostilities? And how come, if you're going to put American GIs on patrol with the Filipino troops, are they shackled with early-Vietnam advisor type restrictions? Makes one wonder what the hidden agenda is, and what kind of shadowy back rooms deal have been made...

Tripwire in the RP

The Arroyo administration is giddy with delight about the positive, kid glove coverage the country has unexpectedly been receiving in the global press . . . the administration's Cabinet team is first rate (with a smart bunch of Wharton and Harvard MBAs), and the key guys are making the right fiscal and economic moves. But if American lives are lost in Mindanao, betcha the Dubya administration will be screaming bloody murder and issuing urgent requests to the GMA administration to let the US of A send in the forces required for resolution. In which case there's no reason to believe GMA won't open the barn door wide. At that point, all bets are off. The quagmire thing, remember?

Malaysia a primary operational launchpad for September 11

Newsweek magazine is claiming today that Malaysia was "a primary, operational launchpad" for the September 11 attacks on the US. - No kidding Sherlock... -

Commies on the comeback trail

The first month of January, 2002, has been a seemingly auspicious one for the Arroyo administration. Glorietta (AKA GMA or Ate Glo) is basking in the glow of the TIME mag cover dubbing her the "Iron Lady" and jetting off this week to Britain to hobnob with Tony Blair and the original Iron Lady herself.

The malaise of Chinese banking

While communist China seems now to officially embrace the tenets of free trade and consumerism, at first a seemingly gross contradiction in terms, it's main problem remains shaking off entrenched corruption. Both the West and East are shackled by corruption, which the US Enron investigation will highlight for sure, but loosening party cadre power is an even bigger challenge for China than Enron and the like are for the US...

So there are cronies in America too?

Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad always provides good quotes, one of the better in referring to the difference between his own and his ex-deputy Anwar Ibrahim's mates - '...there are good cronies and bad cronies..'. A crony may well be in the eye of the beholder, as seems to be Paul Krugman's point in today's article in the New York Times..

New Taiwan Passport Irks China

It was a smart move for Taiwan to change the wording on the front of their passports to include the Romanised word for better international recognition. Most people, even in International Business don't know the difference. .. Yet China, as predictably as a Palov Dog, reacted with typical beligerence.

Fear and Loathing in Cambodia

Thailand's own "Tommy Suharto" and youngest son of New Aspiration Party's (NAP) senior pollie Police Captain Chalerm Yubamrang is in the news yet again, as his family fled an explosion at a Cambodian casino...