In capitalist Vietnam, 'repression as usual'
Vietnam is close to entry into the World Trade Organization, and is in the throes of transition from a communist to a capitalist economy. In the process, however, the government is demonstrating the falsity of the adage that economic liberalization inevitably leads to more democracy. In Vietnam, "business as usual" means "repression as usual". - Shawn W Crispin (Jul 5, '06)



Myanmar's long march to civilian rule
Myanmar's military rulers have begun a significant internal shakeup of the army and government in preparation for a planned political transition to civilian rule - though the main opposition party is still excluded. While uniforms are being exchanged for suits, many faces will remain the same, as will the chain of command. - Larry Jagan (Jul 3, '06)

Malaysia Disneyland rumors Mickey Mouse
Developer UEM World says it's serious about bringing a version of the famous theme park to Malaysia. But this Disney fantasy is pure corporate-government hype. - Gary LaMoshi (Jul 3, '06)

Thai politics sink deeper into the mud
Thailand's uncertain political future is murkier after explosive recommendations that five parties, including the ruling and main opposition parties, should be disbanded for committing election violations. It seems that political reforms have failed to take root, and the next government will have to overhaul the national charter. - < Richard Ehrlich (Jun 29, '06)

Malaysia piggybacks on China's boom
Perhaps more than any other Southeast Asian country, Malaysia has translated the rise of China into an economic opportunity with such measures as moving up the industrial value-added chain and developing win-win ventures, including low-cost English-language education for Chinese students. - Federico Bordonaro (Jun 29, '06)

Back to the drawing board in East Timor
Only a few months East Timor was looking like a success story, a model of nation-building. Then, seemingly overnight, it all collapsed into violence, ethnic dissent and political discord. As East Timorese struggle to restore political stability, the rest of the world ponders how things could have gone so wrong so fast. (Jun 29, '06)

Vietnam's southern takeover means business
A Communist Party reshuffle reflects the growing prominence of business-savvy southerners in Vietnam's national politics - the new premier and president hail from the south. The new  leadership is expected to help guide the north into making the WTO-mandated transition toward more capitalism. - Karl D John (Jun 27, '06)

India embraces Myanmar on its own terms
From India's view, it's well and good for the West to take a principled stand for democracy in Myanmar. They don't happen to live next door. As a neighbor to the generals, Delhi has to consider issues such as energy, security and trade between the countries - and China's influence in India's backyard. - Sudha Ramachandran (Jun 27, '06)

Filipino journalists bite the bullet
It's risky business being a journalist in the Philippines. Rights groups contend police are responsible for dozens of killings since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seized power five years ago. Some fear she may use the violence as an excuse to declare extended martial law so as to strengthen her hold on power. - Donald Kirk (Jun 26, '06)

A380 delays set back Airbus in Asia
The recent shock announcement of a six-month delay in deliveries of the double-decker Airbus A380 has sent Airbus into a crisis and may have set back the company's prospects in Asia, where it had found several customers for the jet. Though launch customer Singapore Airlines should get its first A380 on time, other Asian airlines will expect compensation. - Duncan Freeman (Jun 23, '06)

SPEAKING FREELY
Patents, medicines and lobbies
Trade negotiators have tried to balance protecting patents with providing the developing world with affordable medicines, but with little success. Trade ministers put far more energy into such issues as textiles and agriculture subsidies, because powerful interests back them. The world's poor have no such pressure groups. - M Javed (Jun 23, '06)

Japan plays peacemaker in Philippines
Japan is seeking a political profile in Asia commensurate with its economic weight. That has led it to try to mediate regional conflicts anywhere from Sri Lanka to Cambodia. Now it is seeking to help end the long-running Muslim insurgency in the Philippines. But it may take more than goodwill to resolve this complex conflict. - David Adam Stott (Jun 22, '06)

Indonesia's fizzling terrorist threat
Suspected terror mastermind Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, recently released from prison, will find that the Jemaah Islamiyah organization he supposedly heads is but a shadow of its former self. Indonesia has had considerable success in reducing the threat of terrorism, something that Washington is only now beginning to acknowledge. - Bill Guerin (Jun 21, '06)

Indonesian dancer, clerics go toe-to-toe
Gyrating dance routines and gutsy popular songs have brought Inul Daratista widespread adulation in Indonesia, as well as condemnation. Muslim clerics are pushing for new laws against pornography that would see her act curtailed. But Inul, a devoted Muslim, is fighting back, saying her opponents have their priorities all wrong. - Duncan Graham (Jun 20, '06)

Another unhappy birthday in Myanmar
One more birthday, one more year under house arrest for Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The country's hopes for democracy stay securely confined too, even as the country is supposedly moving to civilian rule. Suu Kyi says she's willing to compromise, but none of the generals on the ruling junta is listening. - Larry Jagan (Jun 19, '06)

Brain drain saps the Philippine economy
The Philippines is finding that sending maids overseas is one thing, but sending pilots, doctors and geologists is quite another, as an increasing exodus of skilled workers threatens to shut down entire sectors of the country's already-struggling economy. - David L Llorito (Jun 19, '06)

AN ATol INVESTIGATION
World health: A lethal dose of US politics
The battle lines are drawn and millions of lives are at stake. The World Health Organization's late chief bowed to US efforts to prevent access to cheap life-saving drugs, hindering some of the organization's own programs. The WHO's Thailand representative was an early casualty of the infighting. Now rich and poor countries will battle it out over the organization's leadership, across a divide that could become a full-blown schism within the world body. - Dylan C Williams (Jun 16, '06)

Multiple bombings rock Thai peace plan
The unprecedented scale of Thursday's attacks - at least 40 simultaneous explosions - in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south marks another dangerous escalation of a conflict that the politicians are struggling to address.  (Jun 16, '06)

Temasek's undue diligence
It's no secret that Singapore's Temasek Holdings has been aggressively diversifying by investing elsewhere in Asia. But recent Temasek deals in Malaysia and Thailand have triggered nationalistic friction in those countries, and analysts wonder whether the firm has become sloppy in its pre-purchase due diligence. - Lawrence Lau (Jun 16, '06)

Minorities wary of Islamist overtures
Malaysia's opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia is reaching out to non-Muslims, including Chinese and Indians, in an attempt to mount a credible political challenge. Some of its promises are tempting, but until it renounces its Islamic agenda, the response can be expected to be cool. (Jun 14, '06)

Japan Inc smitten by Vietnam
Seeking an alternative to dependence on China, Japanese firms are flocking to Vietnam, with manufacturing, high-technology and services firms all expanding rapidly. Present are not only big names such as Honda, Yamaha, Toyota, Sony and Canon, but a vast number of smaller companies as well. - Hisane Masaki (Jun 14, '06)

Indonesia strikes back at Islamic hardliners
Indonesia's Islamic extremists have been using violence as a first resort against their opponents, often with a wink from authorities. But last month they went too far when they attacked former president Abdurrahman Wahid, provoking the Yudhoyono administration to unleash a counter-offensive. - Gary LaMoshi (Jun 13, '06)

Asian Highway network gathers speed
The monumental Asian Highway network, which will weave through 32 countries and link Asia with Europe, is making progress, with a section in Vietnam the latest to be finished. While many issues such as customs procedures remain to be addressed, the completed system could well become more important than its Silk Road ancestor. - Raja M (Jun 13, '06)

What Egypt could learn from Southeast Asia
Indonesia learned the hard way that stalling political reform for "stability" just postpones the inevitable. Egypt should take a leaf from Indonesia's book, stop making excuses, and move rapidly toward democracy. Southeast Asia's Muslim nations have learned it's a mistake to think that delaying reform holds radical Islamists at bay. - Michael Vatikiotis (Jun 13, '06)

The real 'long war' is in Myanmar
Shan state resistance fighter Yawd Serk says unity is the only way to achieve freedom for his people. But disunity is the reality throughout Myanmar's Shan and Karen regions after nearly 50 years of armed resistance. Both ethnic groups have more than one army, and the generals in Yangon are happy to use one or the other as a proxy. - Michael Black and Roland Fields (Jun 9, '06)

Myanmar: Missing the wood for the trees
Environmental watchdog Global Witness thought it could replicate its successes in Cambodia and Africa by focusing on how logging fuels conflict in Myanmar. The fact is, Yangon's generals use the logging trade as a means to buy a shaky peace with Kachin rebels. In the meantime, Myanmar and China continue their lucrative trade in logging. - Samuel Blythe (Jun 8, '06)

SPEAKING FREELY
A tale of two cities
A global shift of capital from West to East is under way. While one of the main reasons - the "Chindia" growth story - is well known, less publicized has been a shift of private bank accounts from traditional havens such as Switzerland to the free ports of Singapore and Hong Kong. - Mark Lazell (Jun 7, '06)

A bridge too far for Malaysia's premier
A series of politically charged policy decisions - the latest being the suspension of a grand bridge project - has put Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, on a collision course that is testing Abdullah's grip on power. - Mageswary Ramakrishnan (Jun 6, '06)

Vietnam's WTO challenge
The US-Vietnam agreement on Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization is a milestone in Vietnam's economic reforms. The country still faces many obstacles, however, including an opaque legal system, an underemployed rural population and looming reductions in foreign aid. - Karl D John (Jun 5, '06)

Myanmar tangles, tangos with the UN
Despite their defiance in extending the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's generals are still under considerable pressure to make overtures to the democratic opposition. It seems likely that the junta will make some concessions, such as allowing Suu Kyi more visitors, but the specter of UN sanctions still looms. - Larry Jagan (Jun 2, '06)

BOOK REVIEW
Some heroes, many villains
Restless Souls: Rebels, Refugees, Medics and Misfits on the Thai-Burma Border by Phil Thornton
Australian journalist Thornton has spent the past six years living in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. It proved a good perch from which to examine life along the border with Myanmar. He records everything from Karen rebels to drug dealers to UN fat cats. It is an excellent account of human suffering in a forgotten conflict. - Bertil Lintner (Jun 2, '06)

AN ATol INVESTIGATION
Killing season in the Philippines
At an average of two a week, left-leaning political activists in the Philippines are being murdered, cut down in clinical attacks that don't distinguish between those in the underground guerrilla movement and those in open, legal struggle. The killing spree signifies that those who seek to roll back democracy and push the country toward a more authoritarian system are in the ascendency. And the government views the situation as just a sad coincidence. - Herbert Docena (Jun 1, '06)

Indonesian cement deal cracks
Cemex's decision to refuse a government buyout has exposed a fundamental fault line in Indonesia's economy. The national government is eager to promote foreign investment, but at the same time it wants to devolve more authority to the provinces, which have more nationalist ideas about economic development. - Bill Guerin (Jun 1, '06)

Malaysia primed for M&A deals
Though Malaysia's stock market was among Asia's weakest in 2005, interest is being rekindled by a wave of proposed, or speculated, merger and acquisition deals. Lion Forest Industries and RHB Capital, among others, have been mentioned as potential takeover targets. - Laurence Lau (May 31, '06)

Singapore makes an honest bet
US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands beat the odds by winning the contract to build Singapore's first "integrated resort", which will include a casino, on the downtown bay front. This time, to the surprise of many, the fix wasn't in for Singapore Inc. - Gary LaMoshi (May 30, '06)

China's ports threaten SE Asia's
An amazing seven of the world's top 20 container terminals are found in China, reflecting the dizzying growth in the country's maritime trade. With the intensifying competition between Asian ports caused by the "China factor", Southeast Asian ports have their work cut out for them if they are to keep up. (May 30, '06)

As East Timor burns ...
Four years after independence, East Timor is once again under foreign occupation. The deployment of Australian, Malaysian and Portuguese troops has brought order to the capital but doesn't solve the internal problems that led troops to mutiny. The only solution may be the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. - Loro Horta (May 26, '06)

North Korea's creepy-crawly capitalism
From Cafe Pyongyang in Vladivostok to outlets for its home-made version of Viagra, North Korea is embracing capitalism beyond its borders in an effort to earn badly needed hard currency. At the same time, US financial sanctions are putting a big crimp in these activities, many of which are certainly shady. Keep squeezing until the regime collapses, says Washington. Let capitalism bloom, contend others. - Bertil Lintner (May 25, '06)

Philippines' mining down in the dumps
A toxic spill at an Australian-run mine in the Philippines last October triggered opposition that has virtually shut down new mining investments nationwide, though a mere 17 kilograms of fish were killed. Miners say that such overreactions prevent the country from reaping the benefits of historically high metal prices. - David L Llorito (May 25, '06)

Malaysian Disneyland rumored
Reports have emerged that Malaysian officials, including Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, are meeting in Japan with the operator of Tokyo Disneyland to discuss building a new Disneyland in the city of Nusajaya, just across the Johor Strait from Singapore. - Laurence Lau (May 24, '06)

Russia plays nuke card with Vietnam
Russia is bidding to build Vietnam's first nuclear power station, the latest example of Moscow's turning its nuclear technology into a foreign policy tool. Also, aware that Western interest in Vietnam's commodities has been increasing, Russia is avidly pursuing many mining tie-ups with Vietnam. - Sergei Blagov (May 23, '06)

Don't count on a Suharto accounting  
Elected as a reformer, Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono must decide what to do with corrupt former strongman Suharto. The betting is that Suharto will get some kind of amnesty, but any deal that fails to retrieve some ill-gotten gains could anger the masses. It is a make-or-break decision for Indonesia's first directly elected president. - Bill Guerin (May 22, '06)

Lese majeste laws on trial in Thailand
Thailand has strict lese majeste laws, which all too often are used by commoners more to injure their political opponents than to protect the reputation of the revered monarch. Freer expression all around would enhance the country's reputation. Even the king thinks so. (May 19, '06)

SPEAKING FREELY
Trying time for Cambodia's judiciary
Cambodia's judiciary is going to be on a steep learning curve as it teams up with 13 international judges on the Khmer Rouge tribunal. That the Cambodians lack judicial experience is hardly surprising: their predecessors were themselves wiped out during Pol Pot's genocidal reign. - Verghese Mathews (May 18, '06)

RISKY BUSINESS
Indonesia's economic reform tightrope
The Indonesian economy is growing at a respectable pace, but it is barely enough now to keep up with its population. President Susilo Yudhoyono is working hard to speed growth through foreign investment, often bucking strong nationalist sentiments. Pending natural-resource deals will put his globalization sentiments to the test. - Federico Bordonaro (May 18, '06)

Foreign shoots spread Bollywood's reach
Bollywood's newest trend is shooting films overseas, in locations as disparate (and seemingly unlikely) as Malaysia, Switzerland, South Korea and Poland. The phenomenon has been welcomed by foreign governments, who realize that such shoots often bring a surge of curious Indian tourists in their wake. - Priyanka Bhardwaj (May 18, '06)

Bearing fruit: The hunt for fuel
The biofuels trend has reached Asia in a big way. In Indonesia, the government is pondering teaming up with Malaysia to become the "OPEC" of palm oil, usable as a "biodiesel" motor fuel. India is aggressively exploring alternatives like the jatropha "wonder plant" and ethanol. Biofuels are no slam-dunk, though: their viability without subsidies remains questionable, as is their impact on overall agriculture. (May 17, '06)  


 Indonesia eyes palm oil
- Bill Guerin

'Wonder plant' for India
- Siddharth Srivastava

Myanmar on laughing gas
For years India snubbed the generals in Yangon, but its growing need for Myanmar's gas has prompted a turnaround. For its part, the junta is happy to play its two giant neighbors, India and China, against each other while laughing all the way to the bank. Bangladesh is the odd man out of this cozy triangle. - Sudha Ramachandran (May 17, '06)