Stories about East Asia from March, 2006
Singapore: a gay party cancelled
On the cancellation of Feelin’ Good, a party organised by gay and lesbian media and events company Fridae, Mr. Brown quotes and links to conflicting statements from Fridae and the police. Fridae says the Ministry of Sound informed them that the police demanded the cancellation of the event because it...
Indonesia: the military's business empire
Indonesia Today says the armed forces is so powerful that it has amassed its own business empire that include interests in luxury hotels, golf courses and commercial banks. The military has promised to divest itself of such interests. The sale of its share in one of these banks is valued...
Malaysia: gold medals in badminton
True-blue Malaysians, not imported talents, won 4 gold medals in badminton in the recently concluded Melbourne XVIII Commonwealth Games. Wormie of A Worm's Perspectives says the way to go is to keep on training Malaysian nationals instead of relying on imported talents.
Malaysia: disturbing survey results
A survey conducted by Merdeka Center, a research firm made up of professionals from various social science fields, draws a shuddering reaction from Brand New Malaysian. The survey respondents agreed with the characerterization of the the three largest ethnic groups in Malaysia as follows–Malays are lazy, Chinese are greedy and...
Thailand: cooking school
Over at Thai-blogs, Richard Barrow, an English expat living in Thailand for 10 years learns about Thai food and cooking, including the different kinds of rice. He recommends one cooking school in particular.
Myanmar: asylum for refugees
Still on the “material support” issue that denies entry to Burmese refugees and asylum seekers to the U.S., Burma Underground writes a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of State, and encourages readers to copy the letter and send...
Singapore: ruling party (dirty) tactics
A few disgruntled S'poreans are reacting vehemently over the ruling party's tactic of scaring voters that if the ruling party loses, housing subsidies will be lost and residential areas will eventually become slums.
Japan: Sumoto River recovers
Justin at Cosmic Buddha sees the first signs of life—maybe carp, maybe mullet—on the Sumoto River since a disastrous typhoon two years ago.
Malaysia: Rising Islamism?
Colors of Life worries that, as Islamist political power rises in the country, the dice has been cast against a “Malaysian” Malaysia.
Philippines: More on Rent Control
Another Hundred Years Hence responds to a reader, a Filipino-American who owns some apartment buildings in New York, who argues that rent control may help the urban poor stay in cities and protect them from gentrification.
China: Bopomofo manual
The blogger at Pinyin News introduces some new literature on various Chinese input systems. “I certainly don't recommend using zhuyin, [otherwise known as bopomofo] but it's nice to know the information on how to type it (both by itself and for character input) is available and put forward so clearly.”
Singapore: Staying Skeptical of Scripture
Singapore's Salt * Wet * Fish reposts a 2004 entry from his old LiveJournal that continues to have resonance: a reflection on a passage by Buddhist nun Thich Nhat Hanh on remembering that spiritual texts are meant to provoke insight, and should not always be taken on face value.
China: Government searches
Virtual China‘s Jason Li dishes out a treat for his insomniac readers with a link to a new section of Chinese-language search engine Baidu which only searches within Chinese government Web sites, which basically means .gov.cn sites and China Central Television (CCTV).
Thailand: Dodging the Question
Thai blog Bookish reflects on the beleaguered Thai PM's evasion of a question posed to him on a TV talk show: Did he make a mistake transferring his company's shares to his son rather than to a blind trust, as required by the Thai constitution?
China: Comrade dancer
Frances at Supernaut, who returned to Guangzhou this month, posts on the transsexual former PLA soldier Jin Xing, organizer of this year's Shanghai International Dance Festival and her eponymous dance theater.
Vietnam: The Rest of the Country
Virtual Doug tries to grasp how Việt Nam’s rapid economic growth is affecting its countryside, where 80% of its people live.
Hong Kong: Scary Superman
The biggest threat to Hong Kong's democracy, security and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is none other than Li “Superman” Ka-shing, argues Tom Legg at Daai Tou Laam.
China: Sexual harassment issues
Ray Zhou from Not Only Movies blogs on bumps in China's development of anti-sexual harassment laws. “What if the teacher is gay and is more likely to be physically attracted to male students? Should the pronouncement be revised to include scenarios of any sexual orientation?” he writes.
Thailand: The Question of Democracy
Does general election ensured a truly democractic government? Is it a neccesity? Or an election could come down to a level of merely a tools to keep certain people in power? And in a such case, what should you do?
Quo vadis, Philippines?
The lifting of Proclamation 1017, or the State of National Emergency, has not done much to quell the political unrest in the Philippines. Joseph Estrada, the president booted out of office in 2001 after a failed impeachment trial, finally took the witness stand in his trial for plunder. Willie Galang...
The Magic of Food: A Global Edible Review
#1: From the UK, Blog Jam The traditional pickled pig's feet dish is one of our favorites. Of course you may have at least a dozen good excuses why you "think" you don't like them. Just forget for a moment where they come from, send to the back burner of...
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