Peter Lee | May 18 | Asia Times

What's the standoff between China and the Philippines over an atoll in the South China Sea all about? Is it a matter of seafood and sovereignty ... or gas fields and gambling?

To an outside observer, the antics of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia over conflicting territorial claims smack of farce auditioning for tragedy, and ridiculous claims abound.

Washington | May 17

Al Jazeera - Rewards for reforms include first US ambassador to South Asian nation in 22 years and easing of investment sanctions.

Barack Obama, the US president, has declared a "new chapter" in US relations with Myanmar as the US moved to restore full diplomatic relations with the Asian country.

"As an iron fist has unclenched in Burma, we have extended our hand, and are entering a new phase in our engagement on behalf of a more democratic and prosperous future for the Burmese people," Obama said in a statement on Wednesday.

In the statement, Obama said the US is rewarding democratic reforms in Myanmar with announcement of the country's first US ambassador in 22 years and an easing of investment sanctions.

BBC News, By Kate McGeown, May 14

Manila - When night falls in Manila, a wave of young people scurry into the skyscrapers which criss-cross the city.

They're call centre agents, and because most of their clients are on the other side of the world, the night shift is their busiest time.

Last year, with more than 600,000 call centre workers, the Philippines officially overtook India as the world's call centre capital.

Patrick Winn | Washington | May 15

Global Post - Last month, influential Democratic Sen. Jim Webb proposed "moving forward on trade" with Myanmar, a reforming quasi-democracy currently sealed off from American investors by a thicket of sanctions.

Now we've got a longtime Myanmar observer from across the aisle, Republican Sen. John McCain, suggesting Uncle Sam should pull out the weedwhacker.

May 10

CNN - A Chinese military newspaper has warned that the country's armed forces will not allow anyone to challenge China's sovereignty of a tiny island outcrop in the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines have been involved in a tense standoff since April 10 when the Philippines Navy accused Chinese boats of fishing illegally in waters off the Scarborough Shoal, some 130 miles (200 kilometers) from the Philippines island of Luzon.
They attempted to arrest the crew but were blocked by Chinese surveillance vessels deployed in the area.

Both countries claim the shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island. Analysts believe the area is rich in mineral resources, natural gas and oil.

"We want to say that anyone's attempt to take away China's sovereignty over Huangyan Island will not be allowed by the Chinese government, people and armed forces," said a report in the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

"Don't attempt to take away half an inch of China's territory," it warned.

** China urges the Philippines to ensure citizens' safety
** Chinese Embassy issues safety alert to citizens
** Solid evidence supports China's sovereignty claim over Huangyan Island(Xinhua)
** Aquino Open to China Oil Deal Despite Sea Spat
** DFA to pursue diplomatic consultations

Mark Townsend | May 5

The Observer - Senior British diplomats introduced an extraordinary "licence to kill" law in an attempt to legalise retrospectively the colonial-era killing of 24 villagers by UK troops in Malaysia, the Observer can reveal.

The Batang Kali massacre took place on 12 December 1948, as British troops carried out a counter-insurgency operation against Chinese Malayan communists. The shootings took place after a 16-man patrol group of Scots Guards surrounded a rubber estate at Sunga Rimoh by the Batang Kali river. The bodies of several unarmed villagers were reportedly mutilated and the village was burned to the ground.

An informal investigation of the incident, carried out in 1949, exonerated all the soldiers involved. But claims of a cover-up by families of the victims have ensured that the killings in the village of Batang Kali remain one of the most contentious in British colonial history.

Some have described the episode as "Britain's My Lai," a reference to the murders of Vietnamese villagers by US forces in Vietnam. The campaign for a thorough investigation into the incident will reach a climax in London this week when a court will finally rule on whether to open an official inquiry into the killings. Although some of the Scots Guardsmen are still alive, the victims' families are not seeking criminal prosecutions.

Ahead of the hearing, the Observer has seen documents revealing that after the killings the British authorities hastily passed a regulation empowering troops in the country to use "lethal force" to prevent escape attempts.

Kuala Lumpur | April 28

AP - Police unleashed tear gas and chemical-laced water Saturday at thousands of demonstrators who staged one of Malaysia’s largest street rallies in years, demanding fair rules for national elections expected soon.

Malaysian police said in a statement that 222 people were arrested. Lawyers said most were expected to be released soon after having their details recorded, but it was not immediately clear if they would be charged later with any offense.

Officials said three demonstrators and 20 police were injured.

Oops.

Unexploded cluster munitions have been found for the first time in Sri Lanka, a UN expert on land mines has claimed.

In an email, Allan Poston said that small bombs from the weapons were discovered in the north of the country, near to where a child was killed in an explosion last month.

The government has denied that it ever used cluster bombs during the civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels.

They are banned under an international treaty that took effect in August 2010.

The treaty has been signed by more than 60 countries, but not Sri Lanka, China, Russia, India, Pakistan and the US - who all argue that the bombs are a legitimate weapon of war when used properly.

It's been over a year since we were told that a leaked UN report into "credible allegations" of war crimes represented Sri Lanka's "Srebrenica moment" and still there's been no movement towards finding justice for tens of thousands of civilians.

Yangdon | Apr 6

AFP - Myanmar's army-backed ruling party on Friday said it would lodge an official complaint about poll irregularities after being trounced in by-elections by democracy opponents led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed Suu Kyi's party or its supporters were involved in some incidents, including campaigning too close to polling stations during Sunday's by-elections.

The allegations centre on Yangon and nearby Kawhmu, where Suu Kyi ran and won, but many claims were not explicitly directed at her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Former Yangon mayor Aung Thein Linn said the complaints were not meant to question the credibility of the vote.

"We are objecting to the process, not the (opposition) party," he told reporters.

Suu Kyi has vowed to press ahead with lodging her own complaints over irregularities against the NLD, despite an overwhelming win that saw the party take 43 of the 45 available seats.

The USDP won just one seat in parliament - the only one not contested by the NLD.

Washington | Apr 5

AFP - The United States said Wednesday it will ease restrictions on investment to Myanmar and quickly appoint an ambassador as it seeks to boost reformers who allowed landmark elections in the long-closed nation.

In its latest gestures under a three-year diplomatic drive on Myanmar, the United States said it would step up aid and allow select officials to visit but stopped short of easing the bulk of two decades worth of biting sanctions.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the "leadership and courage" of President Thein Sein after the opposition swept Sunday's by-elections, giving Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi her first seat in parliament.

"The United States will stand with the reformers and the democrats both inside the government and in the larger civil society as they work together for that more hopeful future that is the right of every single person," Clinton told reporters.

Clinton announced "the beginning of the process" of a "targeted easing of our ban on the export of US financial services and investment" to the country formerly known as Burma.

She said the step on investment was "part of a broader effort to help accelerate economic modernization and political reform."

But she warned: "Sanctions and prohibitions will stay in place on individuals and institutions that remain on the wrong side of these historic reform efforts."

So it turns out that the Burmese people actually like democracy...altho only 45 seats were up for grabs, the Aung Sun Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy swept nearly all the available seats, 43.

And while this is a small fraction of the available power (in total, the legislature in both houses numbers over 500, with the military junta apportioned about 1/3 to hand-pick legislators), it's a signal of the dynamic of the population.

Mark Magnier | New Delhi | Mar 30

LA Times - India's military spending plan has arms merchants jockeying for a deal. Their only obstacles are political infighting, corruption and bureaucracy.

Sailor-suited Russian models touted their nation's submarines. Indian officers posed for pictures atop foreign-made armor-plated vehicles.

And working the room at New Delhi's aging exhibition center were French, British and American arms merchants from global defense giants, elbowing each other aside in the search for a deal at Defexpo India 2012, the country's biggest-ever weapons trade show.

Fueled by superpower ambitions and rivalry with China but hampered by a creaky domestic defense industry, India is on a military buying spree that's made it the belle-of-the-global-military ball.

"India's a little yokel with pockets full of cash and everyone's trying to mug it," said Ajai Shukla, a defense analyst and former army colonel.

Kawhu | Apr 1

AFP - Voting began on Sunday in Myanmar elections seen as a test of the government's budding reforms, with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi standing for a seat in parliament for the first time.

A victory for Suu Kyi would cap a remarkable transformation for the 66-year-old icon of the pro-democracy movement, who spent most of the past 22 years locked up by the generals who ruled the country for decades.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party swept to a landslide election victory in 1990 but the junta never recognised the result.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year, was not a candidate herself on that occasion because she was under house arrest.

Her party is contesting 44 of the 45 seats at stake in Sunday's vote - not enough to threaten the ruling party's majority, but a seat in parliament would give the opposition leader a chance to shape legislation for the first time.

Polling stations opened at 6:00 am (2330 GMT Saturday) and were due to close at 4:00 pm, with more than six million people eligible to vote. The results are expected within about one week, according to election officials.

Rangoon | March 30

BBC - Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spoken of irregularities ahead of Sunday's by-election.

Speaking ahead of the 1 April vote, she said the election campaign could not be considered ''genuinely free and fair''.

But the Nobel laureate said she was ''determined to go forward'' and did not regret taking part in the poll.

Naw Noreen | January 12

DVB - A Karen National Union delegation who met with government officials today for ceasefire talks talks say they have reached an agreement for a truce in the volatile eastern state.

A reporter in the Karen town of Hpa-an said both sides had agreed to a four-point ceasefire. “There are four points: the ceasefire itself, as well as opening of liaison offices, freedom to move around in the region without weapons, and to follow up with more talks”.

It becomes the strongest signal yet that peace may finally come to a region devastated by the world’s longest-running civil war, although deep scepticism still remains. The KNU’s vice-chairman, David Thakabaw, told DVB earlier today: “Our past experience dealing with the government has always been tricky. They’re not very honest – they say good words but today is just like before [when talks broke down].”

Rangoon | January 13

BBC - Burma's most important political dissidents have been freed - the latest of a series of prisoner amnesties.

Those freed include veterans of the 1988 student protest movement, monks involved in the 2007 demonstrations and ethnic-minority activists.

The highest profile is Min Ko Naing, a leader of the failed 1988 uprising.

Washington | January 13

The Telegraph - The US has warned of a "real and very credible" threat of a terrorist attack in Bangkok, the first such warning in recent memory.

US ambassador Kristie Kenney's warning came as Thai authorities arrested a Lebanese Hezbollah suspect.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yumbumrung said police had stepped up security after the arrest and he was confident the situation would be contained.

Ms Kenney was elaborating on an "emergency message" sent by the embassy to American citizens earlier Friday warning of a possible terrorist attack.

Joceline Tan | January 8

The Star - Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s track record since his 2008 political comeback has been marked by missed opportunities. He is once again at a critical crossroads while his Pakatan Rakyat coalition struggles to find an alternative candidate for prime minister.

DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim looked a little tense during a packed press conference on Tuesday. He had a big week stretched ahead before his D-Day in court and he obviously had lots of things on his mind.

He kept his answers short and simple but managed to raise some eyebrows among reporters when he said that, “if I am jailed, involved in an accident or shot, we are prepared ....”.

What was he trying to say, some had asked. Who on earth would want to see him in an accident at this point in time? Surely not his supporters and the last thing his adversaries would want was to see him turned into a martyr.

Yangon | Dec 29

AFP - At least 15 people were killed and dozens more injured in a large unexplained explosion and fire in Myanmar's commercial hub and former capital Yangon early on Thursday, officials and witnesses said.

Residents in several areas of the city were woken by the blast around 2am local time (1930GMT), which appeared to have occurred at a medical warehouse in the eastern township of Mingalar Taung Nyunt, sparking a large blaze, witnesses told AFP.

A security official at the scene said 10 men, including three firefighters, and five women had died while at least 65 people were injured, including some 30 firemen.

"We are still trying to make the list. We are also trying to find out the cause of the explosion and the fire," he told AFP.

Fire rescue services were still working to put out the flames, but "were able to control the fire", the official said.

"We heard a very loud noise from the explosion and saw smoke in the sky. Our building was also shaken by the explosion. We have no idea what's happening," a resident in nearby Botahtaung township told AFP.

Last week, a blast caused by an explosive device killed one woman and wounded another in northern Yangon.

Elisha Maldonado | Nov 29

IBT - Malaysian lawmakers approved a ban on street demonstrations Tuesday, right after hundreds of lawyers and activists took to the streets to commit that very act, protesting against the legislation, and chanting "freedom to the people" all the while.

The Peaceful Assembly Act must still be approved by the upper house, the Senate -- it was approved by the lower house of Malaysian Parliament -- but the passage is expected to be an easy one as the Senate is dominated by government members, The New York Times reported.

According to Prime Minister Najib Razak's ruling coalition, the act is intended to be proportionally harmonious in its striving for public order and the right to peaceful assembly. Malaysian and international rights groups, however, say the legislation is repressive as it bans street rallies and imposes tough restrictions and penalties for demonstrators; violators would face fines of up to 20,000 ringgit, or $6,000.

On President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 66th birthday, November 18 2011, Sarath Fonseka was sentenced to three years in prison.

In what was called the “White flag” case, he was charged with flouting Emergency Regulations by telling Frederica Jansz of the Sunday Leader newspaper that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had ordered surrendering Tamil Tigers leaders to be shot dead. The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had been fighting for almost thirty years for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka. They were defeated in May 2009.

Fonseka was already a prisoner at Welikada Prison. Court martials had sentenced him to 30 months hard labour for engaging in political activity while in the army, and irregularities in the procurement of arms.

I hate flying and rarely do I have anything good to say about carriers, domestic or international. But, if you are ever in South East Asia and are looking for cheap, quality, on time air travel you can do no better than Airasia.com. The service was impeccable. The planes are all new Airbus jets. The flight attendants kind and helpful. The ease of check in and purchase unreal. The destination list is also superb. Highly recommended.

Traveling with a physical disability gives one a unique window on a society's mores and values. Often we are taught that places in Asia are less compassionate than the US. This is not true. But traveling with a physical disability--even a temporary one--also gives one insights into the quality of a place's transportation infrastructure. Malaysia and Taiwan are cleaning our clocks on everything from infrastructure to manufacturing. Having endured more than 48 hours of travel from Kuala Lumpur via Taipei to Los Angeles with a shattered collar bone and broken rib brought it home to me. All of their public investments are paying off. Mass transit is highly effective. Highways are clean, smooth and without potholes, this in places that get lots and lots of rain. Airports work and are incredibly efficient. But when I got to Los Angeles? It was a mad house of disorganization.

Also, the TSA seemed to go out of their way to make life miserable for me, forcing me to remove my sling--a sling of cloth and plastic rings mind you that had made it through the TSA x-ray detector with no problems while on my body--and run it through the x-ray machine on its own. They were rude and didn't care that I was in serious pain. They were unhelpful with my shoes, which are a bitch to tie one-handed. Then, the flight from LA to Austin the airline people seemed to go out of their way to make my life miserable. I had to request a supervisor's supervisor in order to pre-board due to physical disability.

All of this in contrast with the kindness of the South East Asians. Sometimes I can't help but to think we live in a culture that actively likes to cause pain to those already hurting.

. . . or collar bone is broken in three places. I'm scheduled for surgery Monday morning. It's going to be a few more days yet until we return to regular blogging. My apologies. It is good to be home, however. I'd post the photo of the x-ray but I can't get the doc's office to forward it. But this is a pretty good approximation of what mine looks like.

Also, sometime tomorrow I'll post the full last set of photos, some of which are hilarious, with the right context. Dad even shot a few videos, too, so there will be plenty of laughter, as well.

November 11

Reuters - Two Malaysian states are set to change their Islamic laws to punish Muslims who engage in homosexuality, increasing the prospect of gay Muslims being punished under both federal and state religious laws and adding to concerns about rising intolerance.

In Malaysia, homosexuality is punishable by law by caning and up to 20 years in prison, but the amendments planned by the Pahang and Malacca religious authorities would give the state governments additional powers.

If the proposed changes come into force, jail terms could run consecutively if a gay Muslim person is punished under both laws.