Stories from and

Southeast Asia Migration Routes and Statistics

  24 May 2015

The International Organization for Migration has released a map showing the routes taken by boat refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar when they sought shelter in several Southeast Asian countries. As of May 19, 2015, the IOM estimated that 4,000 refugees are still stranded in the sea while 3,200 have already...

Malaysia Launches New Logo as Chair of ASEAN 2015

  1 January 2015

Malaysia is the new chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for the year 2015. This year is crucial for ASEAN as the region takes steps to achieve full integration as a united community. The new logo represents “harmony, close partnership and aspiration of the people from the ten...

New Spider Species in Borneo Named After Missing Activist

  2 September 2014

A new spider species in Borneo discovered by Swiss scientists was named after Bruno Manser, an environmentalist who went missing in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia in 2000. Bruno Manser has been campaigning for the protection of the nomadic Penan people and against the destruction of Sarawak rainforest when...

Former Malaysian PM Blames Boeing for MH370 Disaster

  27 April 2014

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad wanted Boeing to take responsibility for the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airline flight MH370. He wrote in his blog: Boeing built this aircraft. Boeing must explain how all these means of tracking the plane can be disabled, can fail. Either Boeing technology is poor...

Malaysia's Water Shortage is a Natural and Man-Made Disaster

  23 March 2014

Water shortage has been reported in Selangor, Johor, Negri Sembilan, and Kedah in Malaysia. The Sin Chew Daily explains the cause of the problem: …the drought and water shortage in the Peninsula are both natural and human-induced disasters. The government as well as the people have an inescapable responsibility. Over-emphasising...

Solving Poverty in Malaysia

  3 March 2014

The group Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia is pushing for the passage of a Social Inclusion Act to address the problem of poverty in Malaysia: Top-down prescription is not working despite the claims otherwise by the government. For aid to really work, one needs to get into the fine-grain pockets of...

History of the Translation of the Bible into Malay Language

  11 January 2014

Robert Hunt's paper on the history of the translation of the bible into Malay could provide more background into the current controversy in Malaysia where hundreds of bibles were recently confiscated for containing the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God. Non-Muslims are prohibited by law in Malaysia to use ‘Allah’...

One Year in Asia

  5 January 2014

Antoine Lavenant, with his girlfriend spent a year in Asia – China, Laos, Cambodia, Thaïland, Malaysia, Philippines and Sri Lanka. The video is a brief record of their exciting journey.

Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia

  31 December 2013

The Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development has published a policy briefer that tackled the extent of human trafficking in Southeast Asia. Many Southeast Asian countries are at the bottom of a lot of the world's supply chains, including for food, garments, and technology. Yet few countries in...

Monitoring Media Bias in Malaysia

  19 November 2013

Tessa Houghton shares the findings of a study which monitored media bias in Malaysia during the 13th General Elections a few months ago: Malaysian citizens who relied on English and Bahasa Malaysia newspapers and/or television as their media source/s during the GE13 campaign were not provided with fair and accurate...

Why Malaysia's Fuel Price Hike is Wrong

  6 September 2013

Anil Netto uploaded the analysis of Institut Rakyat which described Malaysia's recent decision to slash fuel subsidies as a ‘wrong approach” to address the country's fiscal deficit. Wastage and corruption should be cut first and income-boosting policies should take effect before subsidies on essential goods should be open to reconsideration.

An Undeniably Racist Song, ‘Asian Girlz’ Sparks Controversy

  31 July 2013

Packed with Asian stereotypes and fetishes, song ‘Asian Girlz’ by ‘Day Above Ground’ has invited controversy and angry comments. Blogger Angry Asian Man typed down the entire lyrics to comment [if they have not] ‘run out of stereotypical Oriental stuff to list off, the song would have gone on for another ten minutes”. The...

State of Islam in Southeast Asia

  23 July 2013

Murray Hunter of the University Malaysia Perlis discusses the situation of Muslim-majority societies in Southeast Asia as well as the issues associated with the rise of Islam in the region. Poverty, literacy, education, displacement, feudalism, unemployment, suppression, and control is dispossessing Muslims within ASEAN. Government and Ulama are trying to...

Malaysian Internet TV Up with Viewers

  5 July 2013

KiniTV, a Malaysian Internet TV service recorded 7.2 million video views last May: KiniTV will be producing news reports and talk-shows that come straight from ordinary people and independent analysts, free from censorship and to promote dialogue and encourage transparency.