Powered by IR Society at NYU
IR Insider is a production of NYU's International Relations Society. Our goal is to explain and discuss issues in IR in an engaging and thought-provoking fashion. We are written by students, for students, about issues students care about.
Source: Daily Times
In the aftermath of the deadly earthquake and tsunami that wreaked havoc on Sulawesi island and effectively wiped out the city of Palu, the World Bank has announced that it will provide a loan of up to US$1 billion to the Southeast Asian nation. Current estimates have recorded the total physical cost of the earthquake at US$531 million.
Read More
Depiction of the ongoing US-China trade war. Photo: Retail in Asia.
Prolonged trade war between the United States and China may pose profound threats to ASEAN and the global economy, warned Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Chan Chun Sing, during an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Oct. 7.
Read More
Victims being treated by medical team members outside a hospital. (Source: Muhammad Rifki / The Times of Israel)
On Friday morning, a three-meter-high (10 feet) tsunami triggered by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake unleashed devastation on the Indonesian city of Palu. With a population of 350,000, Palu is located on the island of Sulawesi, one of the hardest hit regions of the Indonesian archipelago.
Read More
Malaysian oil palm smallholders protesting the ban outside the EU Embassy in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. (Source: Azneal Ishak/ Malay Mail)
With the European Union (EU) voting overwhelmingly to ban the use of palm oil in transport fuels, the future of Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil farmers is looking increasingly bleak.
Read More
Emergency workers conducting a search and rescue operation in Itogon, Philippines. (Source: The New York Times)
While the U.S. is currently battling Hurricane Florence, Southeast Asia faces a natural threat of its own: Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which stormed through the Philippines over the weekend and claimed dozens of lives in its deadly path.
Read More
Two lesbian women who were publicly caned six times on Sept. 3, 2018, in Malaysia. (Source: USA Today)
On Sept. 3, 2018, two Malaysian women were caned for having sexual intercourse in a car, placing Malaysia’s ultraconservative anti-LGBTQ laws in the global spotlight. The harsh sentence passed down by the Islamic courts was roundly condemned by many human rights groups such as Amnesty International, who called it “a terrible day for human rights”. In the remarks, the judge added that the caning was “a lesson and reminder … [to] the members of society”.
Read More
Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha showing his inked finger after voting in the local council elections in 2017 (Source: Southeast Asia Globe)
The leader of the now-defunct Cambodian opposition party, Kem Sokha, has been released from prison on Monday, Sept. 10, after being detained for nearly a year on charges of treason.
Mr. Sokha is the head of the outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and has been placed in solitary confinement since his arrest in September last year, following a complete crackdown on opposition groups and the media by the Cambodian government.
However, his release is highly conditional - almost resembling a house arrest. The 65-year old is only permitted to travel within a few blocks from his house and is not allowed to meet his party’s former leaders, nor his supporters, or participate in any rallies organized by his party. Sokha is also banned from meeting with any foreign nationals.
According to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Mr. Sokha was granted bail due to his health conditions. Mr. Sokha suffers from a myriad of health problems including high blood pressure and diabetes. His family also claimed that jail time has caused his health to deteriorate, resulting in him requiring shoulder surgery.
The Municipal Court emphasized that the case against him would not be dropped. If convicted of treason, Mr. Sokha could face up to 30 years of jail time.
Sokha escorted by police following his arrest in September last year. (Source: The Phnom Penh Post)
His arrest was widely regarded as a political move by the incumbent Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, to stifle opposition.
In Sept. 2017, Mr. Sohka was accused of treason after the emergence of a video clip of him speaking at a seminar in 2013 about receiving advice from U.S. pro-democracy groups. The CNRP has vehemently denied those allegations.
Shortly after his arrest, the CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court of Cambodia, on the grounds that it was plotting with the U.S. to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen, a strongman who has led the Southeast Asian country since 1985.
The CNRP was Cambodia’s largest opposition party, winning three million votes, or roughly 44% of the popular vote, in Cambodia’s 2013 general election. Its abolishment paved the way for Hun Sen’s governing Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to romp to victory in Cambodia’s general elections earlier this year. The CPP ran largely unopposed and won all 125 parliament seats with 77.5% of the vote, turning Cambodia into a one-party state.
On Sunday, April 28, over 1,000 people in the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai publicly protested against a luxury housing development on forested land.
Read More
Overseas Filipino workers (OFW) arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila on February 12, 2018 after repatriation from Kuwait. (Source: ABS-CBN News)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Sunday that the ban on Filipino workers from going to Kuwait is now permanent, intensifying diplomatic tensions between the Southeast Asian country and the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation.
Read More
Rohingya refugees making their way to refugee camps in Bangladesh. (The Conversation)
Last Thursday, a senior Myanmar minister expressed his concerns over the “very poor conditions” of Rohingya refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, insisting that the upcoming monsoon season should be the catalyst for the repatriation of the country’s beleaguered Muslim minority.
Indonesia’s largest sulfur mine is rapidly transforming into a tourist destination with many miners quitting their jobs to become tour guides. However, international attention is quickly shifting to the extreme working conditions experienced by the sulfur miners.
Read More
Vietnamese refugees escaping their war torn country. (CNN)
The United States is looking to send thousands of Vietnamese immigrants, most of whom are refugees, back to the communist-ruled country, despite the existence of a bilateral agreement between the two nations that protect many of them from deportation, according to the ex-US Ambassador to Vietnam.
Read More
(Photo: sheep exported from Australia to Saudi Arabia. Source: The Maritime Executive)
The Australian television program 60 Minutes recently released a video showing appalling treatment of livestock that were exported from Fremantle, Australia and sent to Doha, Qatar.
Read More
PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang (Left), BN Chairman Najib Razak (Center), and Pakatan Chairman Mahathir Mohamad (Source: The Star)
With Prime Minister Najib Razak calling for the dissolution of parliament on Friday, the 14th Malaysian General Elections will have to take place within the next 60 days.
Read More
(Anastasia Vashukevich, Source: AP)
Last February, two Belarus nationals, Anastasia Vashukevich and Alexander Kirillov, were arrested in Pattaya, Thailand. Now, the two offer what they describe as evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections, in exchange for asylum in the US.
Read More
(Malaysia News Today)
A Singaporean parliamentary committee examining potential legislation to weed out “fake news” is coming under fire from activists who claim that the committee had misrepresented their views and threatened those who attempted to give evidence.
Read More
(Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton. Source: The Australian)
Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton recently came under fire for asserting that white farmers in South Africa “should be granted Australian emergency visas” when asked about the current debate over land redistribution in South Africa.
Read More
(The New York Times)
Under the false pretence of helping Filipino workers achieve the American dream, human traffickers have been sending them to other countries such as Russia and Turkey, where they are exploited for manual labor, according to Jalilo Dela Torre, the top representative of the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment in Hong Kong.
Read MoreLast weekend, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Australian Special Summit was held in Sydney. It was the first ever ASEAN Summit in Australia. Before the summit, many Australians took to the streets to protest the Australian government for hosting it
Read More
Photograph of President Duterte
