Thai Monuments Are Disappearing in the Dead of Night
This week’s student protests are part of a backlash against a monarchist elite trying to erase Thailand’s democratic history.
After Burma poll, conflict looms
Burma’s history is marked by insurgencies and ethnic tension. Next month’s poll could see them bubble over into armed conflict.
Saving Old Dhaka’s landmarks
Preservationists worry that in the rush to modernise Bangladesh’s capital, the city’s architectural legacy is being destroyed.
Bangladesh braces for divisive war-crimes trial
DHAKA – A SPECIAL tribunal in Bangladesh has indicted four members of the country’s main Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, on suspicion of committing mass atrocities during the country’s 1971 Liberation War. Those arrested, including party president Motiur Rahman Nizami and his deputy Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, have been remanded in custody indefinitely and are likely to...
Border spat set to drag on
YESTERDAY, Thai media reported that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and nationalist Yellow Shirt leaders had reached a “common position” on the 4.6-square kilometre disputed area adjacent to Preah Vihear temple. In a televised debate with the so-called Thai Patriots Network, a fringe group dominated by the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy, Abhisit agreed that the...
A mixed reaction to judgment day
KAMPONG THOM PROVINCE–IN the cafes of Stoung district, yesterday’s verdict in the case of Kaing Guek Eev, alias Duch, proved a hard sell. At one cavernous establishment on National Road 6, a broadcast of the proceedings vied for attention with a cheaply made Chinese action film.
Duch’s neighbours reflect on his life
KAMPONG THOM PROVINCE–THESE days, life in Chaoyot village, a collection of stilt houses nestled along the banks of the Stoung river, proceeds in much the same way it did 68 years ago, when Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, was born to parents of Khmer-Chinese extraction. It was here, in a small concrete home shaded by...
Taj Mahal-era structures disappear in Bangladesh
Across Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, squatters have taken up residence in the empty shells of Taj Mahal-era Mughal structures. The Urban Study Group is trying to preserve and revitalize some of the 17th-19th century buildings.
War crimes and Bangladesh
Is a war crimes tribunal being used to settle political scores? If so, it may unleash social chaos, reports Sebastian Strangio.
From carpet-bombing to friendship-building
As Cambodia and the United States celebrate six decades of diplomatic ties, the Post looks back at a relationship that has moved from alliance to alienation and back. By Sebastian Strangio & Neth Pheaktra.
Geopolitics behind a Cambodian conviction
PHNOM PENH – EARLY on November 24, 2000, about 70 gunmen slipped into the center of Cambodia’s capital city. After drinking and singing traditional songs at a karaoke bar, one unit of men moved towards a series of government buildings armed with AK-47 rifles, grenades and B-40 rocket launchers.
Good relations on the horizon
THOUSANDS are expected to turn out for a celebration at Preah Vihear temple today marking the two-year anniversary of its listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The July 2008 listing of the 11th-century Angkorian temple, the ownership of which has long been a point of contention between Cambodia and Thailand, sent bilateral relations into...
Bomb suspects handed over
CAMBODIA has deported two anti-government Red Shirt activists to Thailand, where they are accused of involvement in an attempted bomb attack in Bangkok last month. Kobchai Boonplod and Varisareeya Boonsom, both 42, were handed over to Thai officials at Phnom Penh International Airport yesterday, a move Long Visalo, secretary of state at the Ministry of...
