Mong Palatino · June, 2013

Latest posts by Mong Palatino from June, 2013

Thailand Cuts Rice Subsidy Price

  30 June 2013

The Thailand government has announced the reduction of rice subsidy price that it gives to four million farmers. The program was meant to improve the savings of farmers. Critics blame the rice pledging program for the huge financial losses in the rice sector.

Singapore: From Haze to Hail in Less Than a Week

  29 June 2013

From #sghaze to #sghail. After the record level haze pollution, Singapore was struck by rainstorms carrying hail this week. The haze caused by forest fires in Indonesia is the worst air pollution in Singapore in years. Many people welcomed the rains which poured down on Singapore early this week because it helped in easing the haze situation but they were surprised by the hail which hit the country Tuesday afternoon.

Myanmar's Internet Freedom Forum

  28 June 2013

Faine Greenwood writes about the first Internet freedom forum in Myanmar and the challenges facing the IT community: The event revealed optimism about opportunities for a newly connected society, even as bloggers and observers expressed uncertainty about growing tension between a desire for openness and a need for stability in...

Soldiers Go Online to ‘Fight’ for Monarchy

  28 June 2013

Thai online journal Prachatai features the military unit Rangers Task Force 45 whose members were instructed to go online and promote or defend the monarchy. Soldiers of the unit reportedly left 1.69 million comments on online forums and other social media portals in a period of four months last year....

Bankruptcy in Malaysia

  28 June 2013

iMoney.my creates an infographic about bankruptcies in Malaysia. Almost 20,000 bankruptcy cases were recorded in 2012 or about 53 Malaysians who went bankrupt everyday.

Thai Monk On Abortion and Buddhism

  27 June 2013

Takato Mitsunaga of Prachatai interviews Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, a feminist and Buddhist monk, about the spread of abortion in Thailand. About 300,000 abortion cases are reported in Thailand where majority of people believes in Buddhism. Bhikkhuni Dhammananda discussed some misconceptions about Buddhism and how it relates to abortion.

Southeast Asia: The Great Haze of 2013

  26 June 2013

Since last week, a thick haze has enveloped Singapore and some parts of Malaysia caused by forest fires mainly in Indonesia. The haze brought air pollution levels to a record high in the region. Malaysia placed two districts under state of emergency while Singaporeans were advised to remain indoors.

Malaysia Launches Dengue Web Portal

  20 June 2013

To fight dengue, Malaysia's Ministry of Health launched a GIS-based web portal called I-Dengue, “which aims to provide the public with the latest information on dengue hotspots and preventive measures on how citizens can avoid getting the disease.” Dengue is a tropical virus with no known cure that is carried...

Burmese Blogger Calls for Religious Tolerance

  17 June 2013

dawn_1o9, a young Burmese blogger, expresses her disappointment over the reported cases of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in some parts of Myanmar: I'm a Buddhist. I'm a Burmese living in Myanmar. But I just don't have anything against the Muslims living in Myanmar….what makes me a true Buddhist is...

Investigative Journalism in Indonesia

  17 June 2013

Akhlis Purnomo laments the state of investigative journalism in Indonesia. …there has not been much of investigative journalism in Indonesia. Most of them are not even investigative, but more like reportage on everyday issues….These are then labelled as investigative by producers and TV stations.

Dengue Outbreak in Singapore

  13 June 2013

Singapore recorded 4,632 dengue cases in 2012. This year it went up to 9,847 already. This is a record high for Singapore which last experienced a dengue outbreak in 2005. The National Environment Agency has launched the ‘Do the Mozzie Wipeout’ campaign to promote awareness about dengue prevention

Dog Thefts in Vietnam

  13 June 2013

Mike Tatarski clarifies that most Vietnamese do not eat dog. However, there is demand for dog meat which gives rise to dog thefts: The main reason this trade continues is money. Dog meat is expensive, costing $5-$10 per kilogram. This provides incentive for something that has been big news recently:...

Environment Impact of Mining in Indonesia

  13 June 2013

An article published at mongabay.com exposes the destructive environment impact of mining in remote Indonesian towns.Some scholars fear that “parts of Indonesia now have the highest levels of mercury contamination on earth.”

How Southeast Asian Leaders Use Twitter

  11 June 2013

Twitter has been a very useful tool for Southeast Asian leaders who needed to communicate directly with their citizens. Indonesia's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the most popular leader in the region with 2.4 million followers. Meanwhile, Malaysia's Najib Razak is his country’s most popular Twitter personality with 1.6 million followers. The Philippines' Noynoy Aquino is also a prominent Twitter user with 1.5 million followers.

Situation of Cartoonists in the Philippines

  10 June 2013

Art professor Neil Doloricon laments the exodus of cartoonists in the Philippines: Cartoonists in the Philippines are rare breed, they are on the brink of extinction so to speak. Most of our par excellent cartoonists already migrated to other countries…They went abroad not only to earn more but because they...

Singapore’s ‘Largest Blogger-led Protest’ Bats for Media Freedom

  10 June 2013

An estimated crowd of 2,000 people joined a protest assembly in Singapore’s Hong Lim Park last June 8, 2013 to oppose the government’s new licensing scheme for news websites. Organized by the ‘Free My Internet’ movement, it was reported to be the ‘largest blogger-led protest’ in Singapore.

Singapore Memory Project

  5 June 2013

Initiated in 2011, the Singapore Memory Project aims “to collect, preserve and provide access” to Singapore's history. Further, “it aims to build a national collection of content including print, audio and video to preserve them in digital form, and make them available for discovery and research.” The project hopes to...

‘Free My Internet’ Movement Rises in Singapore

  3 June 2013

Singapore’s new licensing scheme for news websites announced by the Media Development Authority was quickly denounced by many netizens as a censorship measure. A group of concerned netizens called the ‘Free My Internet’ movement has called on the public to join a rally this coming Saturday, June 8, 2013, to demand the withdrawal of the controversial regulation.

Artists Dodge Censorship in Myanmar

  3 June 2013

Artist and former political detainee Htein Lin talks to Art Radar Asia and discusses Myanmar's current art scene and politics: For visual art exhibitions, there are still some censors. Some artists [have stopped] inviting the censors from the Information Ministry, so now there are some art exhibitions without censorship but...