Southeast Asia Thread

Since that a search on the forums does not end up with a result, here's a thread to discuss politics in the Southeast Asia region, which covers Philippines, Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam.

Issues pertaining to Vietnam can be posted on the East Asia thread while the Philippines has its own thread.

To start it off, there are a few issues that I think needs outsiders' views to properly understand.

First off, is it racist to have an official school which has teaching language that is different from the official language? One one hand, due to ethno-linguistic gap, it leads to racial segregation at the early ages despite the existence (and increasing rate) of other race students, which makes the already bad racial polarization worse. The opposition against it claimed that mother tongue education is a human right and to eliminate it is racism in itself. Both sides have a point, but the way our government do it pleases no one.

Secondly, does other non-English speaking nations use English extensively in the business environment? It was seen as controversial by Malay linguistic activists, claiming it erodes the status of the Malay language as a national language. The Malaysian business circles however, thinks that this is how we connect to the outside world. Yet the headscratcher here is it extends to local businesses which deals solely with locals, in a social environment that isn't English dominant most of the time.

Finally, do you think that ASEAN as a whole is capable to become a economy zone in its own right? I somehow doubt it, since that every nation seemed to be focusing on local matter than actually working together.

Got it.

Changed as requested.

edited 27th Sep '14 8:39:57 AM by murazrai

I will open this, although I'll caution everyone about getting too carried away over words like "oppression" and "imperialism". Those tend to incite arguments.

So, the following countries' news could be posted here: Philippines, Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Vietnam.

OP: can you put the following countries in your post, but highlighting that news about Vietnam can also be posted in the East Asia thread, and that Philippines has a thread dedicated to its politics?

edited 27th Sep '14 8:10:44 AM by Quag15

Anger over Indonesian democratic reversal

"In the early hours of Friday morning, Indonesia's House of Representatives did the unthinkable - passed a bill abolishing direct regional elections by an overwhelming majority."

They appear to be centralizing the authority to appoint local executives in the local legislatures. Hardly an authoritarian coup.

Most pundits reckon that this is the revenge of Joko Widodo's political enemies, though - he first rose to prominence through such elections.

I don't agree with the move myself, considering that being elected gives the accountability to the people that those appointed often lack.

It seems like a cheap move to entrench power in the hands of an entitled political class that doesn't like to see successful new blood emerging from outside their ranks.

If that's the case, it's extremely short sighted- all they are doing is encouraging their political opponents to fight for positions in those local legislatures even more.

It does look an awful lot like a political coup when you factor in the fact that Prabowo's "Koalisi Merah-Putih" bloc controls 31 out of the 34 regional houses. A lot of voters are worried that this could later lead to an authoritarian legislative board that would do its damnedest to get the new prez impeached, you see.

Indonesia's democratic practices are... flawed, to put it one way. But it's a system that, in the past few years, has brought it a host of effective, popular regional leaders and shifted the balance of power from the old political caste into the rising middle class. Jokowi started as that exact kind of figure, and his former running mate Ahok has gained a lot of street cred for being a high-profile, no-nonsense Chinese Christian governor to a Muslim-majority city . And though the voting public knows well that their respective parties have their fair share of megalomaniacs and petty corruptors, they're more than happy to be able to vote for people they can call "our candidate" - deservedly or otherwise.

The regional houses, though, are another matter entirely. The voting public doesn't tend to be nearly as well-informed on them - and most reps are seen as little more than expendable party puppets. Passing the new election bill will pretty much mean giving the domimant bloc (in this case, the KMP) a ton of free passes to strategic provincial posts - and from there eventually to the legislative house. And after a year of high-profile nepotism cases and the most divisive public poll in the nation's history, it's not a very appealing thought.

edited 29th Sep '14 6:57:52 PM by eagleoftheninth

CNN reports that the Thai king is in hospital due to a fever.

What the Malaysian Party of Moral Guardians has been up to lately: PAS rep: Government not Islamic, hence dengue outbreak

PAS president calls for control over ‘immoral’ activities

Stuff like this is in fact their main electoral platform: More Islamic-ness and moral uprightness. They are pretty popular and are gaining more support as time goes by. Nope, Malaysia probably isn't on the path to be a developed country by 2020.

Wonder what "non-moral" activities implies here.

Anything they don't like. "Revealing" outfits, alcohol consumption by non-Muslims (it's "insensitive"), concerts, art, books, the internet, it's a laundry list.

Never mind that the one state they run has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rates (and I suspect baby dumping as well).

Never mind that the one state they run has the nation's highest teen pregnancy rates (and I suspect baby dumping as well).

Not surprised. A SEX BAD attitude does not help much with teen sexuality (that age group can be fairly impervious towards attempts to stop them from doing stuff), but it does help at making sexuality less safe.

It is always funny that the western media conveniently forgets that the party mentioned is an ally to Anwar Ibrahim. Yes, I know The Star is a Malaysian newspaper. ABAI.

Considered how shaky the alliance is at the moment it may soon become irrelevant.

The Malaysian Bar Council and several other NGOs have marched on Parliament demanding the repeal of the Sedition Act.

Malaysia has won a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. They're already gibbering about the benefits of moderation. Don't expect anything to get done by the UN as always.

When it's biggest crack is caused by Anwar trying to screw the people of Selangor, him going away might actually be good for the opposition.

http://www.rappler.com/nation/72634-us-marine-olongapo-slay-probe

This case is a big headache in American-Filipino defense relations.

So you want to Pet the Dog in Malaysia? No, you can't. The event hoster is getting a lot of death threats.

And of course it's vice that is causing freak weather events, not.. freak events.

Attempting to burn Bibles is apparently A-OK though.

Yeah, I'm becoming increasingly unsympathetic to my countrymen as of late.

The Malaysian Sedition Act stays, and will be strengthened. - KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak declared at the Umno general assembly that the Sedition Act will not only be retained but strengthened to protect the sanctity of Islam and other religions.

Malaysians to blame for the retention of the Sedition Act, says MP. - PETALING JAYA: Malaysians have only themselves to blame for the retention of the Sedition Act 1948 as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had "noble will" to abolish it, but was made to think twice due to "idiotic" behaviour, said Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Thread is quite dead, contrast with the (relatively healthy) East Asia and South Asia threads. So here's a bump.

So, an AirAsia plane landed on water, which makes this the third time Malaysia's airlines got into trouble. It turns out that they're pulling weather data from BMKG without proper consultation.

Third time? I thought it was the second time.

I sense interference of some sort...

Blanked

Edited by FlowingCotton on Oct 12th 2020 at 2:12:49 AM

These incidents are being discussed over in the Aviation thread in Yack Fest.

Ah. I didn't count the one that was shot down in Ukrainian territory since, you know, it was in Europe and not Southeast Asia that it fell...