Stories about East Asia from February, 2006
Indonesia: Presidents Day
I'm your huckleberry feels democracy has given a better choice of presidents to Indonesia.
Malaysia: Learning Language
On rosesnchaos’ Livejournal blog, she talks about how she feels her English has deteriorated because of the hodgepodge of Chinese, Malay and English she hears around her: “It's the speech of lay society, but it's just so common here in Malaysia, even among educated folks. Speaking proper English will come...
Malaysia: More Plagiarism
Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia is experiencing tulan (read his post to see what it means): He's discovered someone named Vivian Chew submitted a photograph he took to a local newspaper and won some money. “BLOODY HELL! Who is this Vivian Chew? Makes me wanna chew Vivan Chew.”
Singapore: Leap Backward
Singaland senses in the latest government budget a step backward for Singapore: “The most telling sign is the decision to build 2-room flats for sale. The government had stopped building two- and three-room flats for sale in the 1980s as Singaporeans became well off and wanted to live in bigger...
Singapore: Missing Singaporeans
Littlespeck.com wonders where are all the missing Singaporeans. The number of new registered voters has risen slowly, despite a rising population, leading to the conclusion that many Singaporeans are going overseas to work, study or do business.
Vietnam: Visiting Pagodas
Our Vietnamese God describes visiting pagodas in Vietnam. “Food served at pagodas is usually good, really healthy but a wierd thing is that sometimes they make it into animal shapes, which I'm still confused about.”
Hong Kong: Horse city
SimonWorld picks up on local media reports surrounding the establishment of a new company specially to organize equestrian events ahead of the 2008 Olympics. Do the 80-strong workforce need offices in downtown Hong Kong, or closer to the stables in the New Territories, he muses.
North Korea: Food aid argument
Scott Bruce of NKZone notes an essay by South Korean scholar Wonhyuk Lim on food aid to North Korea. “The end of the Cold War showed that even “an evil empire” was full of normal people and leaders who could bring about an enormous change when it was engaged with...
Hong Kong: Writing oneself
Glutter completes a 18,000-word post, seven days after the break-up with her man, and emerges saying she has written her way out of it.
Hong Kong: Sexual hoopla
EastSouthWestNorth reports, with pictures, on the opening day of Hong Kong's Sexual Cultural Festival 2006, which featured a demurely dressed inflatable doll and an anatomically correct hoopla stall.
China: Why unenforced laws matter
Chinese Law Prof notes the appearance of a new book by Kevin O'Brien and Lianjiang Li, Rightful Resistance in Rural China, saying it shows how legal texts can be socially meaningful even when they are not in any practical sense enforceable by courts or other state institutions.
China: Blogger in church
Shanghai-based blogger and Microsoft employee Wang Jianshuo goes to church, and gets something out of the service despite not being a Christian.
Indonesia: Blog to You
Indonesian blogger Nagasundani asks “What is blog to you?” Some people, he says, write about their own life. His own answer: “For me this blog helps me to develop my writing and capture my imagination on spot. How deep I can write about sex, dirty things, evil inspiration, anything far...
Laos, Singapore: Swords to Ploughshares
Preetam Rai visits the Singapore air show. The sight of the weapon merchants’ wares reminds him of what he had seen in Laos: war material turned into flowerpots.
Malaysia: Blogger Probe
Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi looks like he might be investigated for his coverage of a local controversy over an allegedly disrespectful cartoon published in the New Straits Times. He writes: “Let the law take its course and let justice be seen to be done.”
Myanmar: Damning the Dams
Dathana at the Blog of Nyein of Chan Yar complains about the environmental damage bound to be caused by a planned series of dams on the Salween River along the Thai-Myanmar border: “Burma stupid generals just know how to get money. They do not consider how much damage will be...
Singapore, Thailand: Photoblogging Protests
Singapore-based themediaslut is photoblogging protests in Thailand against business mogul and PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who last week dissolved parliament and called snap elections as a response to the public outcry over the tax-free millions earned from the sale of a controlling stake in his Shin Corp. to Singapore's Temasek Holdings.
Vietnam: Memories of Hanoi
Six Months in Hanoi, on his last night in Vietnam's capital city, shares three memories: a rain-soaked ride on the back of a motorcycle, approaching a temple altar, and waiting out a storm in an Internet cafe.
Computer Crash: Food Overload
Was your umbilical cord attached to a computer when you were born? It may sound like a strange statement, but the truth is that some of us think that. Especially if you happen to be in the middle of the Ecuadorian Andes and there is no telephone or Internet for...
Cambodia, Malaysia: Blogmeet
Cambodia-based blogger and cartoonist Jinja reports on a meeting he set up with Malaysian bloggers on his trip to Kuala Lumpur. “We also chew over the idea that we should have some more exchange within Southeast Asia. Maybe a regional portal, or a Cambodia/Malaysia blogger exchange? Most of us have...
Indonesia: Mining Politics
Yosef Ardi reflects on the long involvement of U.S. mining company Freeport McMoran in Indonesian politics. Freeport, which operated a massive mine — the largest copper and gold mine in the world — in Irian Jaya (now West Papua) province, is shutting down its operations.
About our East Asia coverage
Oiwan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
Nevin Thompson is the Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
