Southeast Asia Thread

Thai assembly begins impeachment hearing against former PM Yingluck - (Reuters) - Thailand's parliament began an impeachment hearing against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday that could lead to her being banned from politics for five years and stoke tension in the divided country.

edited 8th Jan '15 10:31:51 PM by Krieger22

Indonesia executions: Brazil and Dutch envoys recalled - Brazil and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia after the execution of two of their nationals for drug trafficking.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/focus/10/28/14/retired-justices-raise-concerns-over-bangsamoro

This is old, but relevant to the current Bangsamoro autonomy thing after the MILF ended years of fighting.

The OIC has allegedly rejected the Bangsamoro peace pact.

Anwar Ibrahim has been found guilty of sodomy by the Malaysian Federal Court

Again??

With another person.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/10/us-malaysia-anwar-idUSKBN0LD2F520150210

He's already sentenced. Some countries are expressing disappointment while Razak insists that the courts did a fair job...

It's not Najib's fault that Anwar botched his own defence.

PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz has died.

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/indonesia-will-stop-sending-its-women-work-maids-overseas-says-jokow

Jokowi wants to do this eventually.

In light of high profile maid abuse in Malaysia & denial of citizenship rights in HK, this isn't surprising.

Unlike in Manila, where they're still seen as a strategic asset to the economy.

Village in Cambodia sees 230+ people infected with HIV, suspected to have been spread via local "doctors" reusing needles.

Lee Kuan Yew, first prime minister of Singapore, on life support.

Glimmer of hope for Bali Nine duo - SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott offered a glimmer of hope for two men facing imminent execution in Indonesia after phoning President Joko Widodo, who he said was “carefully considering his position”.

Hollande seeks climate alliance with Philippines - MANILA: French President Francois Hollande called for a climate change “alliance” with the Philippines that could spur similar co-operation between rich and poor nations at a crucial UN summit.

And for something completely different, a pro-government blogger here is holding an unofficial survey on PM Najib's popularity ratings. Take it with a grain of salt, but things don't look good.

American blogger killed in Bangladesh machete attack: "...Avijit Roy, a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin, and his wife and fellow blogger, Rafida Ahmed, were attacked on Thursday while returning from a book fair. Ahmed was seriously injured."

Sad news...

This news is more suited to either South Asia thread or the General U.S. politics thread.

By the way, I noticed something...this thread isn't as lively as politics thread in other regions, which somewhat baffles me. Perhaps the politics in the region are uninteresting or of a less impact to the world?

Anyway, I find the GST to be implemented in Malaysia somewhat dodgy. Taxing travelers importing goods on top of the import duties? Isn't that stack taxing? How the custom officers enforce this, considering that the enforcement is very lax? Also, what happens to downloadable products of over RM 500 purchased from foreign websites? I doubt that the system can be done well.

edited 28th Feb '15 8:27:40 PM by murazrai

Less impact, I guess. There's also a bigger lack of knowledge of politics in regards to this region.

As for stack taxing, the logic of it doesn't... stack up.

I don't think it's less interesting. It's more likely that we just don't happen to have people from this region or with connections to this region posting stuff frequently. If we had someone from Vietnam active in OTC they'd probably post interesting stuff from day-to-day politics in Vietnam and we'd react to that. Same with any other country, obviously.

I suppose it must also be that this region's getting less attention from the media that OTC regulars tend to follow. Either the relevant countries don't have powerful lobbyists in Western media or they're just not dealing with superpowers in a sort of open competition the way the Middle East and Africa are. Now, obviously Southeast Asia is a very active political battleground between the likes of China, India, the US, Australia, Taiwan, and Japan; but maybe those events are stable and gradual enough that they don't make news until they stack up and there's pressure somewhere.

Personally I think most of my country's politicians are not that important in my life and mostly hypocritical. Even though I am actually grateful to one National Front's current minister because if not for his project when he is a chief minister, I may not be in the career path that I am now. For Anwar Ibrahim, let him rot.

edited 28th Feb '15 9:00:29 PM by Blurring

Blanked

Edited by FlowingCotton on Oct 12th 2020 at 2:08:28 AM

Only thing that's major in Manila is whether the Bangsamoro Basic Law will pass considering the massacre of police officers and a video of Moro fighters executing them by shooting them in the head.

Found this recently too in Indonesia:

Controversial car deal between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Foreign citizens on death row moved to Indonesian 'execution island' -An Indonesian court on Feb. 24 denied to stay the executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. They were sentenced to death as leaders of the so-called "Bali Nine." The men and seven others were arrested in 2005 trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia. President Joko Widodo has denied clemency.

The Malaysian Prisons Department has rejected a request by Anwar Ibrahim to attend Parliament - PETALING JAYA: Jailed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will not be allowed to attend Parliament’s opening session on Monday.

PAS is to go ahead with hudud bill in Kelantan - KOTA BARU: The door is closed to DAP in its bid to stop PAS from bringing its hudud Bill to Parliament, says state PAS deputy commissioner (I) Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah.

So sad with Anwar, man.

And I think it's hopeless for the Indonesia case unless the countries can strongly show evidence that can get their nationals off the death penalty.