By Mahinda Seneviratne* OSAKA, Japan | 8 September 2025 (IDN) — As the sun rose over the picturesque, volcanic mountain region of central Kyushu in Japan, four young women from Myanmar were reporting for work as house maids at a local ryokan (Japanese-style inn). They are part of the growing number of migrant workers evident […]
Thailand: Myanmar Refugees Exploited By Brokers and Police Claim New Report
By Jason Tan Bangkok | 18 July 2025 — A report released this month by the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there are over 4 million refugees from Myanmar living in Thailand, more than half of them undocumented, with law enforcement authorities in the borders areas of northern Thailand referring to them […]
A Holistic Approach to Advance the ASEAN Power Grid
By Matthew Wittenstein, Kieran Clarke and Yejin Ha* BANGKOK | 16 July 2025 (IDN) — The ASEAN Power Grid (APG) is a key cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s strategy for greater regional integration, energy security economic growth and achieving a sustainable, low-carbon future. With the region’s energy demand projected to more than double by 2050 and […]
China Is Not a Miracle About to Be Performed
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 1 July 2025 (IDN) —The Nobel-prize winning economist, Robert Fogel, believes that China will grow at an average rate of 8% until 2040, by which time it will be twice as rich as Europe in per capita terms. His model is based partly on so-called geometric growth. An example: […]
Kuala Lumpur Summit Reflects Shift To The East In The Global Economy
By Kalinga Seneviratne BANGKOK, Thailand | 6 June 2025 (IDN) — The last week of May marked an important landmark in the shift in the global economy to the East when countries representing over 2 billion people and a combined economy of over US$ 25 trillion came together to chart a new path for a […]
Trump’s Hostility Towards China
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 20 May 2025 (IDN) — President Donald Trump’s antagonism towards China existed before the Coronavirus. Despite his bonhomie with President Jinping Xi whenever he meets him, he has gone all out with his trade war. He refuses to negotiate an extension of the nuclear weapons reduction agreement with Russia […]
Myanmar: Military Leadership Prioritizes Its Survival Following Earthquake Aftermath
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS | 16 May 2025 (IDN) — The 28 March earthquake, measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, has hit Myanmar hard. It was the strongest since 1912, with its epicenter in Mandalay, the country’s second-most populous city, the United States Geological Survey reported. The official death toll continues to rise. By the […]
Japan’s Largest Bank’s Role in Financing Indonesia’s Fire and Haze Crisis
By Alex Helan The writer is a Senior Researcher at Rainforest Action Network. LONDON | 4 May 2025 (IDN) — Trade shocks and geopolitical restructuring likely mean economic instability is the new norm and will be compounded by climate and natural shocks like the fires in Indonesia, Brazil and the United States. Banks’ role in […]
It Is Time For Asia’s MAGA – A Non-Military Quad Alliance
By Kalinga Seneviratne* BANGKOK | 29 April 2025 (IDN) — The current international tariff saga based on a notion of “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) ideology promoted by President Donald Trump and supported by millions of Americans should, one would hope, trigger Asia’s own MAGA (Make Asia Great Again). The latter is shaping up more the […]
Stickergate: A Bell that Tolls for All
By Tisaranee Gunasekara* “This isn’t just about Palestine, it’s about everyone’s right to dissent…” Clare Hinchcliffe (Middle East Eye, 20.3.2025). COLOMBO, Sri Lanka | 26 April 2025 (IDN) — Zoë Rogers is 21, English, a dog-lover. In August 2024, she, together with five others, crashed a modified prison van into Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons […]