On May 9, 2018, after more than six decades in power, Malaysia’s ruling Barisan Nasional was voted out of office.Just a few years prior, democracy and the rule of law in the country almost died. At the height of the scandal involving government fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), then prime minister Najib Razak fired dissenters in his cabinet, sacked the attorney general and shut down media companies.But the rot synonymous with a toxic one-party system runs deeper and started a long time…
Indonesian volcano Mount Sinabung erupts again, spewing massive column of smoke and ash skywards
An Indonesian volcano erupted on Tuesday, sending a massive column of ash and smoke 2,000 metres into the air, coating local villages in debris.Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island – which has been rumbling since 2010 and saw a deadly eruption in 2016 – spewed the thick plume after activity picked up in recent days.Disaster agency officials said the eruption has the “potential” to affect flights, but it had not issued a formal notice for planes to avoid the area.Local residents living along rivers…
Thai election: official Thai election results may herald pro-junta government
The official results of Thailand’s March 24 election due this week are set to boost a push by a pro-military party to form a governing coalition, unless an imminent court ruling complicates the picture.The party, Palang Pracharath, is a proxy for the junta government and is duelling for power with an anti-junta alliance. Many small parties are expected to get parliament seats in the official count and are likely to back the pro-military group, said Punchada Sirivunnabood, an expert in Thai…
Japanese warships off Okinawa could soon carry ground troops as Tokyo keeps eyes on Beijing
Japan is considering deploying ground troops aboard Maritime Self-Defence Force warships in waters off the country’s southwest. It would be the latest enhancement of the nation’s capabilities in the region and a clear signal to Beijing that Tokyo will defend its territory, analysts said.Quoting unnamed government sources, the Yomiuri newspaper reported officials had weighed having as many as 300 members of the Ground Self-Defence Force’s (GSDF) Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade operate from…
Lessons learned from a year at Malaysia’s levers of power
As we near the first anniversary of Pakatan Harapan’s historic electoral victory on May 9, many will write about the achievements and failures of the new Malaysian federal government. I want to reflect instead on three lessons I learned in the past year, especially from this vantage point of being in federal government for the first time.First, people do not vote out of material interests alone. Many politicians tend to think that economic interest drives voters, and they thus promise…
Coronation of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn gives rare glimpse of Thai royal relations
A normally inscrutable king pulls his sister in for a hug and selfies of royal siblings rebound across Instagram – the coronation of Thailand’s Rama X has provided people a rare glimpse into a highly-private family cocooned by palace protocols.King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 66, was crowned on Saturday in a sumptuous ceremony rich in symbolism and ritual.The monarchy is the apex of Thai society and projections of its power are unmissable in the kingdom, from towering portraits of the stern-faced king…
There are Filipinos in Alaska – they’re called Alaskeros, and they’ve been there for more than 200 years
Jerry Manolo always dreamed of seeing snow. He grew up in the Philippines, where the average year-round temperature is 26.6 degrees Celsius, but daydreamed of living in a rustic log cabin hidden among glacial, snow-capped mountains, hiking over frozen lakes and sledding down powdery white hills.When he told friends and family of these visions, they thought he was crazy. But Manolo didn’t listen. In 2003, he visited the coldest state in the United States, where the average low in the chilliest…
In ‘New Malaysia’, reality bites a year after historic Pakatan Harapan victory
M AY 9, 2018 will probably be remembered as the day Malaysians registered to vote were all doing the same thing: out queuing up to cast their ballot, and then waiting until 3am to know the results. Then waiting again for another 18 hours for the new government to be sworn in.Everybody has their own story of that day, of the camaraderie among voters at the polling stations, of the tensions and frustrations of the slow results and the utter joy at realising a new government had been elected,…
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn crowned Rama X in symbolic ceremony in Bangkok
The three-day coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn began at the Grand Palace in Bangkok on Saturday with a dazzling display of pageantry marked by Hindu and Buddhist rituals that came two and a half years after his father’s death.At 10.09am, a time picked by astrologers, the holy ablution ceremony began – a symbolic purification ceremony using water collected from around Thailand.A canon-salute marked the moment, while horns and pipes were played and Buddhist monks chanted.King Vajiralongkorn…
Two dead, thousands evacuated as Cyclone Fani pummels India’s Orissa
Two people died on Friday after Cyclone Fani slammed into eastern India, officials said, as the storm sent coconut trees flying, blew away food stands and cut off power and water.The monster weather system, which made landfall at the eastern city of Puri in the morning, is one of the strongest to come in off the Indian Ocean in years, with winds gusting at speeds of up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour.In recent days authorities in Orissa state, where 10,000 people died in a 1999 cyclone,…