Author Archives: admin

Thailand’s Twelve Turbulent Months

By admin | February 4, 2015

Written for The Diplomat Thailand is coming to the end of very difficult year, which brought violent street protests, an election boycott, martial law, a coup, media censorship, the appointment of a new military-backed government, and a royal divorce. Here, we look back at what has transpired over the past 12 months. January: Tens of […]

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A Disastrous New Year in Southeast Asia

By admin | January 31, 2015

Written for The Diplomat For several Southeast Asian countries, 2014 ended disastrously: the Air Asia QZ8501 crash, intense flooding in eastern Malaysia and south Thailand, and the destruction caused by Typhoon Jangmi (known locally as Seniang) in the Philippines. The devastating consequences of these tragedies are still being felt today in the region as governments […]

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Southeast Asia’s Top Stories in 2014

By admin | January 28, 2015

Written for The Diplomat As we welcome the new year, we look back and review the top news stories in the Southeast Asian region in the past 12 months. These news events were also widely reported and discussed in the international media: 1. Thailand coup. After months of intense street protests, the army of Thailand […]

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Southeast Asian Laws That Ought to Be Repealed in 2015

By admin | January 18, 2015

Written for The Diplomat Singapore’s anti-gay sex law, Malaysia’s Sedition Act, Thailand’s anti-royal insult law (lèse majesté), Philippine libel law, Vietnam’s media regulation laws, Brunei’s Sharia law – all these notorious laws made news this year and they ought to be reviewed, if not outright repealed, in 2015. Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code […]

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What I Saw in New York: An Angry America Rising for Justice

By admin | January 15, 2015

Written for Manila Today In 2008, the world was mesmerized by the victory of Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States. Everybody wanted to follow the example of the USA, a nation that overwhelmingly voted for change. In 2014 the world is horrified by what is happening in the USA: Michael Brown, […]

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From Abra to Sarangani: The revolution in four deaths

By admin | January 9, 2015

Written for Bulatlat Tatay Francis Morales. Arnold Borja ‘AJ’ Jaramillo. Recca Noelle Monte. Rendell Ryan ‘Perper’ Cagula. AJ, Recca, and Perper were martyred NPA revolutionaries while Tatay Francis was an environmental activist who succumbed to leukemia. Their untimely deaths meant so many things to many people especially to loved ones who already shared moving tributes […]

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Why a communist threat will make the world a better place

By admin | January 4, 2015

Written for Bulatlat A specter is badly needed today, the specter of communism. It is not enough to expose the evils of capitalism; we must offer and revive a leftwing alternative. To borrow a few words from a philosopher, we have already interpreted capitalism in various ways – the point however is to change it. […]

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Malaysia Accused of Mistreating Refugees

By admin | December 24, 2014

Written for The Diplomat A documentary produced by Al Jazeera has portrayed the Malaysian government as neglectful of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in the country’s detention centers. The claims were supported by Richard Towle, the representative for Malaysia of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). “Refugees are treated as illegal […]

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The real lessons from Hagupit

By admin | December 21, 2014

Written for the CNN “Seeing the first set of images from the typhoon zone in the Philippines is like experiencing a dreadful sense of déjà vu: Flooded roads, fallen huts, small buildings with the rooftops ripped off, and dead animals littering the streets. If this devastation appears eerily familiar, it is because we also saw […]

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Cartoons as Social Commentary and How Our Animated Heroes Reproduce Conservative Values in Society

By admin | December 13, 2014

Published by Manila Today Cartoons do not merely entertain, they also instruct and influence the emotion and thinking of children and adults alike. Even governments sometimes ban cartoons for transmitting messages they deem harmful, subversive, and inappropriate for public viewing. For Filipino kids who grew up in the 1970s, they learned the meaning of Martial […]

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