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.
Obama Visits China-Tilting Cambodia
Authoritarian Hun Sen plays the US off China, but the US takes long-term view
REVIEW: ‘Aid Dependence in Cambodia’, by Sophal Ear
PHNOM PENH – On November 22, 2011, at Cambodia’s United Nations-backed war crimes court, one of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge rose to address the chamber.
Obituary: Norodom Sihanouk
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia’s former king Norodom Sihanouk, the charismatic monarch whose name was synonymous with the struggles and upheavals of his country for more than six decades, died in Beijing on Monday at the age of 89.
Cambodia as divide and rule pawn
PHNOM PENH – The official theme for Cambodia’s chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is “One Community, One Destiny” – but the outcomes of this year’s meetings highlighted the bloc’s growing divisions on the issue of China. Last week in the Cambodian capital, the Foreign Ministers’ meeting came to an acrimonious end...
Cambodia carve-up under the spotlight
PHNOM PENH -There were scenes of jubilation in Cambodia’s capital last month when a group of 13 imprisoned women – including a 72-year-old grandmother – was set free by an appeal court. The women were arrested in May during peaceful demonstrations against the forced eviction of thousands of families living around Boeung Kak Lake, an...
How The Optimism About Burma is Subverted By Its Never-Ending Civil War
Continuing ethnic conflict in Kachin State is a stark reminder of the limits to President Thein Sein’s much-heralded reforms.
China’s Aid Emboldens Cambodia
Hun Sen aims at balancing US, Vietnamese and Chinese interests for Cambodia’s benefit
Annus horribilis for Cambodian rights
PHNOM PENH – On April 26, a prominent Cambodian anti-logging campaigner was shot and killed by military police in the Cardamom Mountains in the country’s southwest. Chut Wutty, the director of the Natural Resources Protection Group, was reportedly escorting two local journalists through a densely-forested part of Koh Kong province when his car was stopped...
The strings in Hun Sen’s rhetorical bow
PHNOM PENH – Between their anodyne pageantry and colorless mission statements about regional economic cooperation, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings are rarely known for their excitement. But on the last day of this month’s annual summit in Phnom Penh, the current chairman of the 10-country bloc, Cambodia’s long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, did...
Lost in Time
Harmonising history with modernity is crucial to preserving Yangon’s stunning architectural past.
