Category: Asia-Pacific

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential elections has drawn mixed reactions. Thailand hopes that a Trump presidency will adhere to a “balanced” foreign policy, while Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia have expressed concerns that he will dismantle the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Indonesia cautioned its citizens not to react negatively to Trump’s anti-Islamic stance and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte welcomed Trump’s victory because both are “alike”.

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) – Philippines’ outspoken President Rodrigo Duterte while unplugging U.S. President’s much-publicized “Pivot to Asia”, has also challenged the United States to help promote cooperation in the region not confrontation.

Duterte provoked alarm in diplomatic circles last month (October) by announcing his country’s “separation” from the United States and realignment with China while on a visit to Beijing.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has also signaled a similar realignment of foreign policy during a visit to Beijing. In a commentary published in the China Daily he said that former colonial powers should not be lecturing to countries they once exploited on running their internal affairs.

By Stella Paul

In the upper Himalayan villages of India, hundreds of women have been finding a livelihood in the fiber of a pariah plant: the itchy nettle.

MANA VILLAGE, India (IDN) – Under a grey sky in Mana, the last Indian village before the border of Tibet begins, 36-year-old Bhotiya woman Gayatri Raut is trying hard to sell a basketful of knitwear to the visitors. A few more weeks and the entire population of Mana will migrate to a village far down the mountain to avoid heavy snowfall and extreme cold.

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 11th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN | Lotus News Features) – The first ASEAN Buddhist Conference held on September 22-23 at Nakhonpathom Rajabhat University, about 100 km from Bangkok, brought together Buddhist Bhikkunis (nuns), Bhikkus (monks) and lay Buddhists from across Asia in a bid to form alliances to empower the increasing community of Bhikkunis in Asia.

This is the first in a series of features on the South Pacific produced in collaboration with Wansolwara, an independent student newspaper of the University of the South Pacific.

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) – Two women’s rights activists have raised alarm bells about the need to protect Solomon Island children, especially girls, from being exploited by foreigners, who are involved in the South Pacific island nation’s logging industry.

The activists, Sister Doreen Awaiasi and Lynffer Maltungtung, say there are countless incidents in which under-age girls and young women are given to foreigners by their parents, or are lured by riches, but not much is being done to stop these or to educate the locals against engaging in such illegal acts.

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the tenth in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN | Lotus News Features) – President Barack Obama’s ‘pivot to Asia’ policy that realigned U.S. relationship to Asia, is largely regarded favourably in this region. Yet, his farewell visit to Asia ‘unpivoted’ a darker side of America’s involvement in Asia – of horrendous war crimes committed by the U.S. in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s for which Washington is yet to be held accountable.

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the ninth in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN | Lotus News Features) – The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will gather in the Laotian capital Vientiane from September 6-8 for their first summit meeting since the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) came into being at the beginning of this year. However, one item which is crucial to such community building, the construction of new rail lines linking most of the 10 member nations may not be a major agenda item.

By Kalinga Seneviratne*

This article is the eighth in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

BANGKOK (IDN | Lotus News Features) – Mindfulness, the meditative practice, which has its roots in Buddhism as Vipassana Bhavana, encourages people to focus on the present, rather than on the anxieties of the past or future.

In the previous decade, however, it has become somewhat of a fad around the world. Particularly in the U.S., it is now everywhere: in schools, law firms, banks, governments, and even in the U.S. military. They are all offering mindfulness sessions to staff.

By Naimul Haq

DHAKA (IDN) – Twenty-year-old Aklima Khatun gave birth to her first child on August 27 at a small clinic run by the government. The clinic, known as community clinic (CC), offers affordable but reliable maternal health services. Unlike the widely adopted traditional home deliveries, Aklima chose safer delivery in the hands of skilled birth attendants and in a hygienic environment.

All this was possible because Aklima had attended a safe motherhood programme, which promotes maternal healthcare and health education needed for mostly the poor and illiterate mothers. It is part of a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funded project. The project aims at improving a maternal healthcare programme by revitalizing and enhancing effective care and monitoring.

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – The stunning victory of 21-year-old Singaporean swimmer Joseph Schooling in the 100m butterfly at the Rio Olympics on August 12 has reignited debate about importing foreign sporting talent to raise the profile of local sports, especially in the international arena.

It was the tiny island nation’s first ever Olympic gold medal and Southeast Asia’s first Olympic Gold in swimming.

Schooling beat his childhood idol and perhaps the greatest swimmer of all-time Michael Phelps of the United States as well as Commonwealth Games champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa and the 33-time European champion Laszlo Cseh of Hungary. All three of them tied for silver medal while the young Singaporean took the gold with a new Olympic Games record.