Archive: Dec 2020



STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 17, 2020 • 6 min read

Migration The Wait: Podcast spotlights the struggles of refugees in Indonesia

By Julia Winterflood • Dec 17, 2020
For decades, Indonesia has served as an open-air prison for thousands of refugees and asylum seekers stuck in limbo awaiting resettlement. Hoping to shed light on their plight, two women have documented their stories for new podcast, The Wait

STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 16, 2020 • 2 min read

Food Lab-grown meat to make historic debut at Singapore restaurant

By Agence France-Presse • Dec 16, 2020
In a culinary first, lab-grown chicken meat will make its debut at a Singapore restaurant this weekend, after the company behind the product announced its inaugural commercial sale on December 16

STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 16, 2020 • 7 min read

Opinion Corruption should be the issue that binds Thailand together

By Mark S. Cogan • Dec 16, 2020
Thailand's military generals seized power in 2014 vowing to end the kingdom's endemic corruption, but what has followed has been a weakening of the very institutions needed to combat graft. Professor Mark S. Cogan argues the antidote lays in a thriving democracy

STORY OF THE DAY • Dec 15, 2020 • 9 min read

Migration Rohingya trafficking network sells dreams, delivers violence and extortion

By Sam Jahan, Haeril Halim and Peter Brieger/AFP • Dec 15, 2020
Boatloads of Rohingya landing across Southeast Asia are victims of complex human trafficking networks run by a dizzying web of players, from crime bosses and corrupt cops to poor fishermen, rickshaw drivers and even Rohingya themselves

Dec 15, 2020 • 11 min read
Covid-19

Cambodian education in the time of Covid: Ripping up the textbook

Covid-19 has forced all areas of Cambodian society to adapt, nowhere more so than in the education sphere. In Cambodia, schools, teachers and students have had to be more flexible than ever before as the pandemic rips up the textbook
By Alexi Demetriadi • Dec 15, 2020

Dec 14, 2020 • 7 min read
History

[Photos] Ancient Angkor as seen through the decades

On December 14, 1992 – after miraculously surviving decades of war, strife and looting – Angkor Wat was officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here, we've scoured through the pictorial archives to uncover some of ancient monument's more iconic moments
By Dani Gill • Dec 14, 2020

Dec 12, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

One year with Covid-19

It may be too early to hope, but a wave of promising new vaccines could have us all breathing easier before long
By Andrew Haffner • Dec 12, 2020

Dec 11, 2020 • 7 min read
Migration

In Malaysia, why has solidarity turned to hostility for Rohingya refugees?

Once a safe haven for Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution, this year has seen a rapid shift in Malaysian sentiment towards the community as hostility has grown among the public and government. How did the country arrive here, and so quickly?
By Huei Ting Cheong • Dec 11, 2020

Dec 11, 2020 • 11 min read
History

Britain’s My Lai? Remembering the Batang Kali massacre in Malaysia

On December 12, 1948, British troops massacred 24 civilians in the village of Batang Kali at the height of communist insurgency, the Malayan Emergency. Some regard it as Britain's My Lai, with the relatives' of those killed continuing their search for the truth to this day
By Christopher Hale • Dec 11, 2020

Dec 11, 2020 • 8 min read
Covid-19

Filmmaker casts light on Singapore’s sex workers under lockdown

In squeaky clean Singapore, the reality of life for the city-state's thousands of sex workers remains an under-told story. As part of this year's FreedomFilmFest, director Jessica Lee hopes to shed light on the lives sustaining this murky industry under lockdown
By Ashley Tan • Dec 11, 2020

Dec 10, 2020 • 3 min read
Covid-19

Burying the dead: Myanmar’s Muslim Covid volunteers

Unable to rent apartments, a team of volunteers in virus-ravaged Yangon live in a cemetery isolated from their families. They provide a crucial funeral rite to the city's Muslim community, as they lay coronavirus victims to rest each day
By Lapyae Ko/AFP • Dec 10, 2020

Dec 10, 2020 • 7 min read
Opinion

Cambodia scrapping Human Rights Day is a worrying sign of the times

This year is the first time since 1993 that International Human Rights Day will not be a public holiday in Cambodia, with its symbolic shunning a sign of the wider deterioration of human rights and democracy in the Kingdom says CCHR executive director Chak Sopheap
By Chak Sopheap • Dec 10, 2020