Editor’s August Note

Published on Aug 20, 2010 by Luke Hunt

Bajau Boatman Further contributions include coverage of potential peace talks in the Southern Philippines by Karl Wilson who traveled to Mindanao and interviewed the chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Luke Hunt who ventured to Sandakan on the north east coast of Borneo. Hunt also provides extensive coverage of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. This includes analysis of the sentencing in Case 001 and a Photo Feature. The Photo Feature section is also bolstered by an assignment to Semporna, also on Borneo,  for the annual Bajau Boat Festival. Clients include The Times, The Diplomat, The South China Morning Post, Spectrum, Voice of America and Radio Australia. Ed. .

A Philippine Peace Process

Published on Aug 19, 2010 by Luke Hunt

Filipino Refugees in Kota Kinabalu Can the new Aquino administration broker a lasting peace agreement with the MILF in Mindanao? Luke Hunt and Karl Wilson report for The Diplomat. In a clearing just outside the southern Philippine town of Sultan Kudarat the leader of the country’s biggest Muslim group contemplates an uncertain future. After 40 years of conflict, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), hoped the new Philippine government of President Benigno Aquino would finally do what past presidents have failed to do—bring peace to this south-eastern corner of the Philippine archipelago. .

Revisiting the Killing Fields

Published on Aug 4, 2010 by Luke Hunt

The trial of the first Khmer Rouge leader by the Cambodia Tribunal leaves Cambodians with a mix of relief and frustration. Luke Hunt Reports for The Diplomat. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, stood as Judge Nil Nonn read the charge sheet. Around him, Muslim Chams and Buddhist monks sat patiently with ordinary Cambodians, diplomats, aid workers and journalists. Among them were hundreds of victims—survivors of the Khmer Rouge—who along with millions more across the country waited anxiously for the verdict. Late last month, a freshly-built courthouse on the outskirts of Phnom Penh became the focus of justice in a nation craving admonishment of the Khmer Rouge and international recognition that atrocities committed here between April 1975 and January....

Stiletto by Max Kolbe — July, 2010

Published on Aug 1, 2010 by Luke Hunt

Fifty-nine journalists were killed because of their job in the first six months of 2010, the Switzerland-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) says, up from 53 for the same period in 2009. According to the Geneva-based organization, journalists are more in harm’s way in Mexico where they are hunted by organized crime while The Philippines, Pakistan, Honduras and Nigeria were not far behind. PEC Secretary General Blaise Lempen noted that journalists were exposed in countries which were witnessing internal problems. That goes for the likes of 75-year-old radio commentator, Jose Daguio. The Filipino was shot dead in his home in Tabuk City becoming the first journalist murdered during the Aquino administration. Police said a lone gunman attacked Daguio, a semi-retired reporter....

Justice at Last for Pol Pot’s Victims

Published on Jul 27, 2010 by Luke Hunt

Anne Barrowclough and Luke Hunt for The Times Standing motionless behind bulletproof glass and under the unforgiving gaze of hundreds of relatives of his victims, the Khmer Rouge’s notorious torturer-in-chief was sentenced yesterday to 30 years in prison in a ruling that reverberated through Cambodia. Kang Kek Ieu, or Duch, the ruthless .