Laos Mulls Reforms

Published on Aug 27, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Latter day communist countries still carry the legacies of their past. Somewhat secretive and sensitive to criticism, authorities in one-party states tend to hide at the slightest hint of criticism. It’s a routine in East Asia that is as common in Laos as it has been in Vietnam, China, or even North Korea.But more recently the government of Thongsing Thammavong in Laos has been making some very different noises. His government has lashed-out at the faceless bureaucrats behind the nation’s dilapidated health services, a bungling judiciary, and even the state-controlled press.Read more in The Diplomat..

Propping Up Dictators

Published on Jul 24, 2012 by Luke Hunt

It was all smiles and “brotherly love” as Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh received full state honors and a 21-gun salute from Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeouin Taipei late last month.Jammeh, making his ninth trip to this diplomatically isolated island republic 100 miles off China’s southern coast, has called Taiwan “one of the best friends Gambia has ever had.”Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out a press release calling the impoverished West African nation “an important ally” before writing that “the close partnership and brotherly bonds between the two countries remain strong.”Read more from Cain Nunns in The Diplomat..

Backslide: Burma & Malaysia

Published on Jul 10, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Malaysia and Burma remain poles apart in most aspects of life—religion, ethnicity, and politics—but where they seem more akin in recent times has been in trying to improve relations with the West while introducing much needed reforms at home.Those reforms have been welcomed by the people of both countries and the international community but it remains a difficult process with Malaysia again raising fears of a revival of media oppression and Burma living up to its past with the detention of  political activists.Read more in The Diplomat..

Gillard May Drop Malaysian Deal

Published on Jul 1, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Prime Minister Minister Julia Gillard says she will take seriously advice from an expert panel looking at the asylum-seeker issue, even if it recommends dumping her government’s Malaysian people swap deal.Ms Gillard last week established the panel – made up of former defence chief Angus Houston, former top diplomat Michael L’Estrange and refugee advocate Paris Aristotle – to assess all asylum policy options.Read more in The Australian..

Taiwan and the Mob

Published on Jun 15, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Taiwan’s Coast Guard published a composite of potential disguises for fugitive ex-lawmaker Lo Fu-Chu in late April.  In one picture, he looks like a Dutch leader of a peacekeeping force, complete with beret and handlebar moustache. In another, he’s done up like one of the Gallagher brothers from seminal British rock outfit Oasis.  A coifed mop frames his usually balding head as the handlebar gives way to a goatee.But it’s probably the shot of Lo in black ’70s aviator shades, ala late Colombian drug czar Pablo Escobar, that’s the most fitting. For Lo wasn’t just any Taiwanese politician failing to turn himself in for a four-year money laundering and insider trading prison sentence.From Cain Nunns in The Diplomat..