Good on you StillinMalaysia. I do not begrudge those who have left or about to leave. It’s a fundamental human right, but may I appeal to those overseas not to forget their kith and kin, and friends who are still in Malaysia. There are lots of ways you can help make Malaysia a better place from overseas. Talk to your local politicians and organisations. Those in Australia have done their fair bit as we can see that a group of Austrlaian senators have come out and criticised the Malaysian government. The more pressure the better. Join or not initiate groups in you area to support those fighting for a better Malaysia, not just the Pakatan Rakyat parties but also the many non-government organisations such as Aliran. All these organisations need financial and material contributions … it is too much to ask?
And the garment industry: What is often overlooked is that in terms of actual investment in Burma, the most important investors have been the United Kingdom, Singapore, France and the United States. With regard to the latter, this is despite the Clinton Administration’s sanctions against new investment imposed in 1997. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs/FDI_&_Garments_Industry_in_Burma.htm
Maybe the “family problem” is within the party itself. Maybe some of the old guards are not ready Bouasone’s new policies(especially about corruption).If having minor wives is a problem. They should arrest 90% of the men in Vientiane.
Why you said humanitarian aid (something she and the NLD did make much more difficult in the past, working with lobbyists who forced the withdrawal of the Global Fund, etc.) when Global Fund’s decision to withdraw from Burma had nothing to do with lobbyists or ASSK and the NLD, we can only have a good guess. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4166418.stm
Poor governance not sanctions is where you should be pointing your finger at. Unless of course you’d rather they carried on watering the proverbial poison plant.
That she’s as bad as they are, or she doesn’t really care, is a tired old line that’s been peddled ad infitum ad nauseum. You could try better.
Hate to be the one to state what should be the obvious, but the only hope for Thailand of getting out of this mess is to stop obsessing about the Institution. If it is to continue to exist, its place in the society should be defined in such a way that the country can move forward without the hindrance caused by the the old ways with all their trappings.
I suspect her pro-sanctions position has been the price of US support, and therefore a price of the constant good publicity she has received in the West. One wonders how well she would have done without paying so dearly: perhaps not badly at all. Her pictures make vastly more alluring copy than those of Than Shwe.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s response on sanctions was, frankly, ridiculous. She said (1) she never opposed humanitarian aid and (2) sanctions have no humanitarian impact. First off, no one was asking her about humanitarian aid (something she and the NLD did make much more difficult in the past, working with lobbyists who forced the withdrawal of the Global Fund, etc). But having brought humanitarian aid into the debate, she could have said not only “I don’t oppose it” but called for a massive increase in humanitarian aid, something which could save thousands of lives over the coming year. She didn’t. Which shows her priorities. Then she said sanctions have no humanitarian impact but provided no evidence, even anecdotal. What about the thousands of jobs lost? The thousands of jobs never created as a result? The tourists who never came? The factories that were never built? The millions of people who might have had a chance at a decent live? YES the government’s policies are to blame as well. But why punish the Burmese people twice? Does she want to be as responsible as the government for the Burmese people’s situation? I don’t think she really cares.
[…] APEC agenda for 2003, and used APEC to promote financially-repressive policies associated with ‘Thaksinomics’. A Thai study of SFIs published by the APEC Economic Committee endorsed the engagement of these […]
I recognize Assange and Khun Kawpoi… but who’s the other guy? Prem? I don’t recognize him without his body.
Do you think that Prem, Anand, and Sitthi will be charged with lese majeste for their scurrilous defamation of the Crown Prince to a foreign diplomat? I’d imagine it’ll be a sure thing, right?
They’re all looking at life sentences for sure, at their age.
ASEAN is divided since the beginning. Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are not full-fledged democracies. They depend greatly on China for their survival. Unlike EU the ASEAN has no means to make them more democratic or more reflective of their people’s desire and aspirations. So sad!
I’m impressed with her performance. She is in command of all the facts necessary for a quick and reasonable answer to each question. She squashed the issue of sanction or no sanction on Burma/Myanmar at present by saying it does not affect the humanitarian efforts and aids and the present trade is just profiting the junta and its cronies. No doubt she stands one shoulder above all the politicians and junta leaders at present in Burma. The Burmese people have rightly hope in her.
It is interesting that Bouasone stated that he was resigning due to “family problems”. There may be more truth to that statement than meets the eye, although the situation might be quite different than some would imagine. Earlier in the year people in Laos were predicting that Bouasone might be forced to resign due to the large number of minor wives he has taken in recent years. This was apparently an embarrassment to the Party. I guess having many minor wives could certainly be considered “a family problem”.
[…] the program was unveiled a few months ago, Nicholas Farrelly wrote about the impact of the program on the credibility of Thailand’s political institutions […]
[…] (US$12.45) banknote and several coins to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the capital, Vientiane. Oliver Tappe, writing for New Mandala, analyzes the design of the […]
It’s a shame that not much about the military regime’s complicity in drugs, drugs trafficking and money laundering hasn’t come out yet. Maybe it’s not accessible to the person who leaked those cables. We can even say that what is leaked about Burma is not even ‘the tip of the tip of the iceberg’. How about the list taken from the safe of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok? Our man in Washington is not ‘leaking’ much either. Maybe he’s afraid that he might implicate himself with some of the revelations he made because it’s a situation of dobing in someone who was hunting while he himself was fishing. His hands might not be as clean as he want them to be since ‘the culture of impunity’ was with the military intelligence since before the military takeover in March 1962. There are victims who are still alive and kicking despite the ill treatment they received while they were being detained at various MI safe houses across the land. Let’s hope some will shed light on those subjects as well.
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New Mandala’s Christmas dancing elves
Most of us will definitely not be able to show this level of fitness at the age of 90+
Crackdown on Not The Nation readers
Save it for the April fools’ day Andrew, it’s too good to be discarded too soon.
Why is Malaysia experiencing a brain drain?
Good on you StillinMalaysia. I do not begrudge those who have left or about to leave. It’s a fundamental human right, but may I appeal to those overseas not to forget their kith and kin, and friends who are still in Malaysia. There are lots of ways you can help make Malaysia a better place from overseas. Talk to your local politicians and organisations. Those in Australia have done their fair bit as we can see that a group of Austrlaian senators have come out and criticised the Malaysian government. The more pressure the better. Join or not initiate groups in you area to support those fighting for a better Malaysia, not just the Pakatan Rakyat parties but also the many non-government organisations such as Aliran. All these organisations need financial and material contributions … it is too much to ask?
Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
Sorry, correction. The Burma Campaign UK’s position paper, July 2006:
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/reports/Aid_Paper.pdf
The Global Fund’s own fact sheet published 0n 18 August 2005.
http://www.theglobalfund.org/content/pressreleases/pr_050819_factsheet.pdf
As for tourism:
http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/uploads/Campaigns/How-tour-operators-are-supporting-Burma-regime.pdf
And the garment industry:
What is often overlooked is that in terms of actual investment in Burma, the most important investors have been the United Kingdom, Singapore, France and the United States. With regard to the latter, this is despite the Clinton Administration’s sanctions against new investment imposed in 1997.
http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs/FDI_&_Garments_Industry_in_Burma.htm
The inescapable conclusion…is that recent and current economic policy making in Burma is not just ill-conducive to sustained economic growth, but is actively destructive of the country’s prospects. Burma’s Economy 2010 by Sean Turnell
http://www.burmapartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Burma-Economy-September-2010.pdf
New PM in Laos
Maybe the “family problem” is within the party itself. Maybe some of the old guards are not ready Bouasone’s new policies(especially about corruption).If having minor wives is a problem. They should arrest 90% of the men in Vientiane.
Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
Evidence, Soe Thane? Where’s yours?
At least the Burma Campaign, UK, came up with a proper position paper in 2006:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/10/29/us-act-now-burma-commission-inquiry
Why you said humanitarian aid (something she and the NLD did make much more difficult in the past, working with lobbyists who forced the withdrawal of the Global Fund, etc.) when Global Fund’s decision to withdraw from Burma had nothing to do with lobbyists or ASSK and the NLD, we can only have a good guess.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4166418.stm
Previous threads in the NM have also dealt with the issue:
http://www.newmandala.org/2009/09/29/burma-sanctions-limited-western-symbolic/
http://www.newmandala.org/2009/10/12/rethinking-the-burmese-sanctions/
Poor governance not sanctions is where you should be pointing your finger at. Unless of course you’d rather they carried on watering the proverbial poison plant.
That she’s as bad as they are, or she doesn’t really care, is a tired old line that’s been peddled ad infitum ad nauseum. You could try better.
Wikileaks and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn
Hate to be the one to state what should be the obvious, but the only hope for Thailand of getting out of this mess is to stop obsessing about the Institution. If it is to continue to exist, its place in the society should be defined in such a way that the country can move forward without the hindrance caused by the the old ways with all their trappings.
Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
I suspect her pro-sanctions position has been the price of US support, and therefore a price of the constant good publicity she has received in the West. One wonders how well she would have done without paying so dearly: perhaps not badly at all. Her pictures make vastly more alluring copy than those of Than Shwe.
Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s response on sanctions was, frankly, ridiculous. She said (1) she never opposed humanitarian aid and (2) sanctions have no humanitarian impact. First off, no one was asking her about humanitarian aid (something she and the NLD did make much more difficult in the past, working with lobbyists who forced the withdrawal of the Global Fund, etc). But having brought humanitarian aid into the debate, she could have said not only “I don’t oppose it” but called for a massive increase in humanitarian aid, something which could save thousands of lives over the coming year. She didn’t. Which shows her priorities. Then she said sanctions have no humanitarian impact but provided no evidence, even anecdotal. What about the thousands of jobs lost? The thousands of jobs never created as a result? The tourists who never came? The factories that were never built? The millions of people who might have had a chance at a decent live? YES the government’s policies are to blame as well. But why punish the Burmese people twice? Does she want to be as responsible as the government for the Burmese people’s situation? I don’t think she really cares.
Thaksinomics and Thailand’s credit culture
[…] APEC agenda for 2003, and used APEC to promote financially-repressive policies associated with ‘Thaksinomics’. A Thai study of SFIs published by the APEC Economic Committee endorsed the engagement of these […]
New Mandala’s Christmas dancing elves
Merry Christmas NM Hive!
New Mandala’s Christmas dancing elves
I recognize Assange and Khun Kawpoi… but who’s the other guy? Prem? I don’t recognize him without his body.
Do you think that Prem, Anand, and Sitthi will be charged with lese majeste for their scurrilous defamation of the Crown Prince to a foreign diplomat? I’d imagine it’ll be a sure thing, right?
They’re all looking at life sentences for sure, at their age.
ASEAN Divides
ASEAN is divided since the beginning. Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are not full-fledged democracies. They depend greatly on China for their survival. Unlike EU the ASEAN has no means to make them more democratic or more reflective of their people’s desire and aspirations. So sad!
Dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
I’m impressed with her performance. She is in command of all the facts necessary for a quick and reasonable answer to each question. She squashed the issue of sanction or no sanction on Burma/Myanmar at present by saying it does not affect the humanitarian efforts and aids and the present trade is just profiting the junta and its cronies. No doubt she stands one shoulder above all the politicians and junta leaders at present in Burma. The Burmese people have rightly hope in her.
New PM in Laos
It is interesting that Bouasone stated that he was resigning due to “family problems”. There may be more truth to that statement than meets the eye, although the situation might be quite different than some would imagine. Earlier in the year people in Laos were predicting that Bouasone might be forced to resign due to the large number of minor wives he has taken in recent years. This was apparently an embarrassment to the Party. I guess having many minor wives could certainly be considered “a family problem”.
From Village Scouts to Cyber Scouts
[…] the program was unveiled a few months ago, Nicholas Farrelly wrote about the impact of the program on the credibility of Thailand’s political institutions […]
New Mandala’s Christmas dancing elves
Its hilarious just looking at it. But for the non-Thai speakers, what is the significance of Assange and the other two.
Inflation and iconography: the new 100,000 Kip banknote in Laos
[…] (US$12.45) banknote and several coins to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the capital, Vientiane. Oliver Tappe, writing for New Mandala, analyzes the design of the […]
Candid details from Wikileaks about Burma
It’s a shame that not much about the military regime’s complicity in drugs, drugs trafficking and money laundering hasn’t come out yet. Maybe it’s not accessible to the person who leaked those cables. We can even say that what is leaked about Burma is not even ‘the tip of the tip of the iceberg’. How about the list taken from the safe of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok? Our man in Washington is not ‘leaking’ much either. Maybe he’s afraid that he might implicate himself with some of the revelations he made because it’s a situation of dobing in someone who was hunting while he himself was fishing. His hands might not be as clean as he want them to be since ‘the culture of impunity’ was with the military intelligence since before the military takeover in March 1962. There are victims who are still alive and kicking despite the ill treatment they received while they were being detained at various MI safe houses across the land. Let’s hope some will shed light on those subjects as well.
Speculation on Thailand’s succession
Worth clicking on the link to see the whole article; the middle link at the bottom of the post.