Southeast Asia, By the Week

Editorial • STORY OF THE DAY • Jul 06, 2020 • 3 min read

Editorial Dirty money and cave rescues

By Andrew Haffner • Jul 06, 2020
With Cambodia recently designated a "high-risk" country for money laundering by the EU, followed the promulgation of a new law last week to combat illicit currency flows, we turn to experts to ask how effective efforts will be to stamp out the deep-rooted practice in the Kingdom. We also mark the two year anniversary of the Tham Luang cave rescue by speaking with those who risked their lives in the daring mission to save a Thai junior football team in 2018.

Editorial • STORY OF THE DAY • Jun 29, 2020 • 3 min read

Editorial The roving gibbons of Phnom Penh and Duterte’s legacy

By Alastair McCready • Jun 29, 2020
This week we look into why there are roving gibbons and hornbills in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. The answer, somewhat unsurprisingly, has to do with elite privilege and nepotism. We also mark four years since Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte's inauguration by asking why the divisive strongman is so reviled by his detractors, yet so loved by his supporters.

Editorial • STORY OF THE DAY • Jun 22, 2020 • 3 min read

Editorial Rainforests and safe buildings

By Alastair McCready • Jun 22, 2020
This week we mark World Rainforest Day with an op-ed from the Rainforest Alliance, in which they explain how Indonesia's indigenous communities play a crucial role in preserving their life-giving effects. We also mark the one year anniversary of the deadly Sihanoukville building collapse, which claimed 28 lives last June. We ask, despite new legislation, has anything substantively changed in the Cambodian building sector?

Editorial • STORY OF THE DAY • Jun 15, 2020 • 4 min read

Editorial Black Lives Matter and abandoned Angkor

By Andrew Haffner • Jun 15, 2020
This week, as the US is rocked by a moment of intense introspection and reflection on the issue of race and equality, we publish an op-ed on the role of the Khmer diaspora in the Black Lives Matter movement, sent to us by our friends over at the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association. We also have a selection of images depicting ancient Angkor as few have seen it in recent decades, with it largely devoid of visitors in recent months with the dramatic downturn in global tourism.

Editorial • Jun 08, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

Chef Bourdain and revival of the Moken

This week we pay tribute to the late, great Anthony Bourdain. Two years since his sudden passing, the chef's legacy across Southeast Asia is still visible to this day. We also turn to the Moken people of the Andaman Sea, a culture of sea nomads that has found a new lease of life through the pandemic.
By Alastair McCready • Jun 08, 2020

Editorial • Jun 01, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

North Korean business and the grande dame

This week we investigate whether North Korean business, reportedly all but squashed in Southeast Asia in compliance with UN sanctions, is alive and well in the region. Trip Advisor restaurant reviews certainly suggest so. We also take a look at the rich and turbulent history of the Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh, which has survived war and strife to become an ever present feature of the capital's landscape.
By Chia Chi Hsu • Jun 01, 2020

Editorial • May 25, 2020 • 3 min read

Human trafficking and UXO victims

This week we turn to the scourge of human trafficking, long an issue in north Vietnam's provinces bordering China. With the economic downturn in recent months, more women are being drawn over the border, lured on false pretences and sold into prostitution or marriage. We also take a look at UXO victims in Laos, among the world's most bombed countries that still today is heavily littered with US devices dropped in the 1970s. What kind of support are the countries thousands of amputees getting?
By Chia Chi Hsu • May 25, 2020

Editorial • May 18, 2020 • 3 min read

Peaking inside newsrooms, cheap narcotics and turtle conservation

Thanks for joining us on this incredible journey. This past week, we’ve covered stories from poets and newscasters, bureaucrats and garment workers. These headlines will take you to the front-lines of Southeast Asia’s ‘war on drugs’, to the farm fields of Cambodia and the lonely elders of locked-down Singapore
By Chia Chi Hsu • May 18, 2020

Editorial • May 11, 2020 • 3 min read

The people’s game

This week we take a rare delve into the world of sport as we profile the 'national football team' of the Karen ethnic group in Myanmar. A member of CONIFA, an alternative football body whose members consist of unrecognised states and separatists movements, it showcases the ability of football, and sport generally, to provide a platform for the voiceless. We also look at how Southeast Asia's indigenous forest communities could play a role in preventing the next pandemic, as well as how Facebook is influencing the spread of 'fake news' in Myanmar during lockdown.
By Chia Chi Hsu • May 11, 2020

Editorial • May 04, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

There’s something in the water

With viruses on everyone's mind, this week we turn to pharmaceuticals fast finding their way into the world's water supplies as people consume (and expel) antibiotics at unprecedented rates in human history. We also delve into the murky history of Cathay Pacific flight 700Z, which was mysteriously downed by a bomb in mid-air after taking off from Bangkok's Don Mueang airport in June 1972. The case remains unsolved to this day – did one alleged culprit, a Thai policeman no less, get away with murder?
By Andrew Haffner • May 04, 2020

Editorial • Apr 27, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

A slice of history

This week, the Globe marks two significant dates in Vietnamese and Cambodian history. On April 29 1970, US and South Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia to fight the Viet Cong, a campaign that would ultimately result in a significant political victory for growing maoist rebels the Khmer Rouge. April 30 1975 would also see Saigon fall to North Vietnam, with South Vietnam's government surrendering unconditionally, ending the war. As ever, we're also calling for submissions for our Tales of the Pandemic series looking at how life has been impacted across the region due to Covid-19. Get in touch with your personal essay!
By Alastair McCready • Apr 27, 2020

Editorial • Apr 20, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

On a personal note

This week, the Globe's editor Alastair McCready wrote his own Tale of the Pandemic, offering his insights into what it was like to lose his father this month whilst being unable able to return home to visit him. We'll also be bringing you all the latest Covid-19 updates from across the region.
By Andrew Haffner • Apr 20, 2020