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STORY OF THE DAY • May 19, 2017 • 3 min read

Francisco Guterre Timor-Leste’s new president is unlikely to rock the boat

By Euan Black • May 19, 2017
Faced with a looming economic crisis, Timor-Leste went to the polls in March to decide on its fourth president. They chose Francisco ‘Lu-Olo’ Guterres, a resistance fighter who has promised reform but is likely to stay loyal to his political patrons

STORY OF THE DAY • May 19, 2017 • 3 min read

First fully online platform primed to transform Malaysian trading

By Will Feuer • May 19, 2017
Japan’s Rakuten Securities Inc. begins their push into Southeast Asia hoping to modernize online trading in the region - starting with Malaysia An electronic display board showing global stock market indices at the stock exchange in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 29 December 2014. Photo: EPA/Fazry Ismail

STORY OF THE DAY • May 19, 2017 • 3 min read

Smoking ban Duterte issues snap ban on public smoking in Philippines

By Euan Black • May 19, 2017
The president has followed through on his promise for a nationwide ban on public smoking, with a call for public enforcement that has some worried it may fan the flames of violent vigilantism

STORY OF THE DAY • May 19, 2017 • 2 min read

Global Finance names ABA Bank the 'Best Bank in Cambodia 2017'

By Southeast Asia Globe Editorial • May 19, 2017
PRESS RELEASE: ABA Bank has been named 'the Best Bank in Cambodia in 2017' in Global Finance Magazine’s 23rd annual awards, which judges banks around the world to find the best in each country

May 18, 2017 • 6 min read
Whatever happened to

Cambodia’s acid attack epidemic?

Almost two decades after pop singer Tat Marina came to symbolise the scourge of acid attacks in Cambodia, efforts to end the violence have seen major success
By Euan Black • May 18, 2017

May 17, 2017 • 2 min read

Male couple sentenced to 85 lashes for gay sex in Indonesia

Indonesia sentences gay men for the first time under new law, amid fears the country’s traditionally pluralistic society is losing its battle with radical Islam A man on trial for being in a same-sex relationship reacts as he listens to the judge at the Sharia court in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 17 May 2017. Photo: EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak
By Euan Black • May 17, 2017

May 17, 2017 • 4 min read

Cambodian National Police accuse top tycoon of role in large scale environmental crime

On Tuesday evening, police released a damning report supporting claims that the business magnate Kith Meng’s firms have been using a hydropower dam project as a front for illegal logging A photograph of severe deforestation in Prey Lang Forest, Cambodia. According to satellite data released by Global Forest Watch in 2015, since 2001, the Southeast Asian nation has lost over 1.75m hectares of forest, with its deforestation rate accelerating faster than any other country in the world. Photo supplied
By Euan Black • May 17, 2017

May 17, 2017 • 8 min read
Indonesia

The red-light district that everyone loves

Jakarta’s Kalijodo red-light district has been shut down, cleaned up and transformed into a vibrant public space. But the reimagining of the area didn’t come without a human cost
By Gabrielle Lipton • May 17, 2017

May 17, 2017 • 5 min read
Thailand

Selling ‘dictatorship as democracy’

Thailand’s rulers are doing everything in their power to stop the people from choosing who controls their country, writes exiled journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall
By Andrew MacGregor Marshall • May 17, 2017

May 16, 2017 • 2 min read

Thailand backs down on threat to shut down Facebook

The Thai telecoms regulator says it has no plans to block access to the social media giant after initially threatening to shut it down today if it didn’t block content deemed insulting to the monarchy A person uses a computer displaying the Thai Facebook login page in Bangkok, Thailand, 09 May 2017. Photo: EPA/Diego Azubel
By Euan Black • May 16, 2017

May 16, 2017 • 7 min read
Aboriginal art

Aboriginal art made in Cambodia

In Australia's far north, indigenous Australian artists are weaving a new pattern of trade with the help of disabled Cambodian artisans
By Mark Roy • May 16, 2017