Stories about East Asia from November, 2012
Even Under New Leadership, China Looks Bleakly to the Next Decade
The week-long 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China finally came to an end on November 14, 2012. A new generation of leaders, headed by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, took over from the previous leadership headed by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. One Chinese social media user comments, "Ten years ago, people had so much hope for a new pollcy, but the result was just disappointment. Ten year later, we don't have any hope, thus there will be no disappointment."
Anti-Falun Gong Campaign in Hong Kong
Large scale anti-Falun Gong campaign has appeared in Hong Kong since the new Chief Executive C.Y Leung came into office. Dictionary of politically incorrect HongKongese posted a photo map of anti-Falun Gong banners in Tsim Sha Tsui and translated some reports about the political background of the anti-Falun Gong organization....
Chinese Intellectuals’ Silence Amid Tibetan Self-Immolations
Last week New York Time ran an article about the silence of Chinese intellectuals amid waves of Tibetan self-immolations. Gao Yu, a Chinese human rights activist commented [zh] on Twitter: Chinese people are so good at being indifferent. That's why there is the so-called phenomena of Xiang Lin Sao [a...
Hong Kong: Peaceful protest in solidarity with Gaza
Outraged by the Israeli air strikes attacks in Gaza earlier this week, peace activist in Hong Kong has organized a peaceful protest in the coming Sunday (November 18, 2012) to express their solidarity with the victims in Gaza.
Hungary: Why Do We Have To Pay Attention To China?
‘Az igazi Mao’ blog [hu] is trying to draw attention to the contemporary China that Hungarian citizens may not be too familiar with; its title refers to a Hungarian experimental documentary, The Real Mao, which tells a fake story of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. In a recent entry, ‘Az igazi...
Spotlight on Cambodia’s Human Rights Record
Various civil society groups are urging global leaders who will attend the 21st summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh to raise the agenda of human rights protection with the Cambodian government.
Philippine Child Labor Data Portal
The Philippine government, in partnership with several child and labor groups, has launched a web portal on child labor “to share relevant data, foster communication, improve program monitoring and automate child labor case referrals” in the country.
Four Hundred Prisoners to be Released by Myanmar
Myanmar is set to release 452 prisoners today, November 15, 2012. The amnesty was announced by the government which could be an act of political goodwill in light of the anticipated state visit by United States President Barack Obama to Myanmar. The government also released prisoners when President Thein Sein...
Human Rights and Impunity in Cambodia
The list of political killings over the past 20 years is bone-chilling. While there is a public uproar after each case, officials do nothing and there are no consequences for the perpetrators or the government that protects them. Human Rights Watch documents the rise of political killings and other human...
Less Censorship in Thailand?
Jon Russell reviews the latest Google Transparency Report for the period of January to June 2012 and notes that there were fewer requests made by the Thailand government to censor websites that insult the monarchy.
Chinese Dissident Hu Jia Complained about 18th Party Congress
Environmental and AIDS activist Hu Jia who had been sentenced to 3.5 years imprisonment and now under house arrest complained about the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Twitter on November 13. Tweet translated here[zh]: I have been forced to leave Beijing for 20 days because of...
Police Raid Video Blogger's Home in Japan
Japan's police raided the house of a video blogger who films anti-nuclear protests, for evidence of charges against a violent protester. Every Friday, anti-nuclear activists gather in front of the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo and various places in Japan to carry out protests. While mainstream media rarely covers these anti-nuclear protests, videos from citizen media are crucial to tell the story.
Hong Kong Gay Rights Parade
Beijing Cream has a collection of videos and photos from the Hong Kong Gay Rights Parade which took place in last weekend. GdotTV, a local LGBT video production team has also uploaded a video at Youtube on the parade.
Freedamn is Just Another Word With Chinese Characteristics
A list of “English terms” has been circulating in Chinese social media in the past few days. The intentional mis-spelling of the English terms are used as satires to describe the political culture in China.
Petronas’ Deepavali Ad Angers Malaysian Indians
In conjunction with the Hindu festival of lights, Deepavali, Malaysian oil company Petronas aired a controversial advertisement on YouTube that enraged many Malaysian Indians as it allegedly portrayed Indians in a bad light.
Laid-off Workers Turn from Victims to Debtors in Taiwan
Taiwan's Council of Labour Affairs (CLA), a government body in charge of protecting labour rights, wants to sue workers who were laid-off by private factories sixteen years ago. The council seeks money from the Legislative Yuan to bring legal action against more than 2,000 workers, who they say never returned the 'loan' the government offered as compensation for being laid off.
Political Reform in China: Neither old way nor odd way
The ministry of Tofu translated some micro-bloggers’ comments on Chinese President Hu Jintao's talk in the 18th Party Congress about political reform. Hu stressed that the Chinese's reform will be neither old way nor odd way, which in a nutshell points to “no way” as highlighted by micro-blogger Xu Xiaonian.
Promoting Indonesia's Batik through Social Media
batikantik writes about the success of #batikday in Indonesia which has become a social media movement promoting Batik as global heritage of humanity. Batik is a traditional textile art and craft in Indonesia.
A blogger's lament over the 18th Party Congress in China
Stan from China Hearsay lamented about 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress in China: boring official news, internet connection disrupted, unproved rumors and speculations.
If there were Elections in China…
A micro-blogger, pretending to be in New York, composed an imagined map of election results if the Chinese Communist Party were to compete with Kuomintang from Taiwan. (via Tea Leaf Nation)
Critique of Southeast Asia Human Rights Declaration
The ASEAN Human Rights Declaration makes references to balancing the rights with responsibilities. We are of the view that this provision is based on a false premise that individual rights negate communitarian responsibilities. This is erroneous as we contend that the nature of universality, inalienability and indivisibility of individual rights...
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