New Mandala

The mounting tension between Thailand and Cambodia is providing a distinctly unfriendly and unneighbourly backdrop for next month’s Southeast Asian Games in Laos, the motto for which is ‘Generosity, Amity, Healthy Lifestyle’ (see the official website here). Of course, this is why the games are so interesting: they provide a celebration of ‘friendship’ and shared [...]

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The Asean summit will be the first occasion the Burmese junta’s Prime Minister, Thein Sein, can meet exile Burmese CSOs [Civil Society Organizations]. Thein Sein will meet with nine other Asean leaders on October 23.
Thein Sein threatened to boycott the last Asean meeting if Thailand proposed Burmese exile groups have a representative at the Asean [...]

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Lillehammer, Albertville, Lake Placid. Major sports events have a way of putting obscure places on the map. This was the hope harbored by Laos’s Communist leaders when they offered Vientiane, the capital, as the host of the Southeast Asian Games this December.
But so far the greatest legacy of the games is a record deficit that [...]

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In February 2010 the Southeast Asian Centre of the Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University (ANU), is hosting a workshop on the topic of ‘Intersections of Area, Cultural and Media Studies’.  All of the details on the workshop are available here. The organising committee is seeking expressions of interest from prospective participants.  For further [...]

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The Malaysian government is again embroiled in a corruption scandal, this time with an estimated taxpayer cost of RM4.6 billion (A$1.53 billion). Rather than implementing reforms to improve transparency and accountability, in the usual pattern of Malaysian politics the government continues to shift blame and shuffle paper. This scandal comes amidst promises by Prime Minister Najib to [...]

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The adoption of the Terms of Reference of the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) on 20 July 2009 is another major milestone following the ASEAN Charter which was ratified at the end of 2008. It may seem that ASEAN is moving towards a “Rules-Based entity” which respects the rights of individuals.
The ASEAN Charter [...]

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42 years after the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the regional grouping has recognised the importance of human rights. Or has it?
The 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting adopted the Terms of Reference for the ASEAN human rights body which will be named, the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights. Perspectives from both [...]

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