Stories about East Asia from July, 2005
Singapore: SG Entrepreneurs
A new blog devoted to entrepreneurship has been launched in Singapore. It's actually kinda interesting, since the Singaporean economic model has not been particularly entrepreneurship-heavy, unlike, say the Hong Kong or Taiwanese economic models…
Philippines: State of the Nation Address
The Sassy Lawyer casts her critical eye on President Gloria Arroyo's State of the Nation Address.
Malaysia: Proton board ousts Mahaleel: What the news (really) says and what it (really) means to consumers
Brand New Malaysian has an analyssi of the latest executive shakeup at Proton, Malaysia's national car manufacturer.
China: Security Guards Attack Street Peddlers
China Digital Timespoints to these shocking images of security guards assaulting street peddlers. The site's in Chinese, but the headline reads “Nanning TV night crew took video of an incident in which security guards from a seaside KTV [karaoke w/ private rooms] beat people up”.
Hong Kong: The Root of All Evil?
Is money the root of all evil? Simon World reports on the case of a 60-year-old woman who was caught smuggling HK$2.2 million (about US$283,000) in cash hidden inside hollowed-out root vegetables.
Indonesia: Learn the language
Macam-Macam reports that overseas applicants for work permits will be required to learn Bahasa Indonesia if their job requires them to interact with Indonesians.
China: Why The Visitors From Beijing Cried At The Sight Of Bottle Of Remy Martin
EastSouthWestNorth translates an article about what happened when a group of education volunteers were treated to a banquet.
China: Looking for 5 million bloggers
China Herald wonders where the 5 million Chinese bloggers figure comes from.
China: Has the future tone of Sino-Japanese relations just been set
Angry Chinese Blogger wonders if the appointment of a new Japanese ambassador to China forshadows slightly strained relations in the future.
Cambodia: Photo of Cambodia and Her People
Tharum's Web points to the Flickr Cambodia feed as a way for foreigners to become more familar with his country.
China: ma-lie-lao-tai mentality
Bingfeng Teahouse pushes back on the issue of internet filtering, arguing that concerns about Chinese internet filtering are somewhat overblown and spring from an antiquated mindset.
Hong Kong: Activist Says Chinese Hackers Read His E-mails
Glutter reports that a Hong Kong democracy activist says that his emails have been monitored by an unknown hacker inside China. This is another worrying development for for the future of ‘one country, two systems’.
Singapore: “Asia's Mandela”
The Singaporean blog Omeka Na Huria has a lengthy profile of Chia Thye Poh, “Asia's Mandela”.
Singapore: S$400,000 spent to rename Marina Bay… Marina Bay
Singabloodypore wonders why the government spent nearly half-a-million dollars (Singapore) to conclude that the best name for the redeveloped Marina Bay area was… Marina Bay.
Flickr Pick from Japan
“Maikosan in the Heat” by aakaakaakaakaak
News from the Chinese Blogosphere
This week, Tencent Company, which own QQ, the most popular IM software in China, decided to comply with local government demanding the creator and administrator of QQ group to hand in their real identity and personal profile. The QQ group was one of the features provided by QQ, which allows...
Malaysia: Unpeg Day 1: Bank Negara intervenes
In the wake of yesterday's decision to unpeg the Malaysian ringgit from the US dollar, it seems as if Bank Negara promptly intervened to prevent a run-up in the value of the Malaysian currency, notes Jeff Ooi.
Philippines: Gloriagate Forum
A “Blogging Gloriagate” forum is being organized for August 4 at the University of the Philippines College of Law.
Cambodia: Interview with Lux Mean: Teaching Cambodians in Rural Areas To Blog
Cambodia4Kids has an interview with Lux Mean, the man who's going around Cambodia teaching people how to blog.
Singapore: Xiaxue hacked
Daryl Sng is reporting that popular Singapore blogger Xiaxue has had her blog and email broken into. Mr.Brown notes that another Singaporean blogger also had her blog hacked and recommends that Singapore bloggers change their passwords (he also gives good hints on how to pick a good password).
Malaysia: Are we staring at RM3.20?
Malaysia lost no time in following China's move to decouple its currency from the US Dollar; Jeff Ooi reports that Bank Negara Malaysia has abandonded the US Dollar peg, replacing it with a managed basket of currencies, effective immediately.