Tag Archives: East Asia

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Indonesia News | LGBT

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Indonesian city orders Muslim hardliners to remove anti-gay banners
  • Bandung, Indonesia’s third-largest city, ordered the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) to take down banners and encouraged them to leave.
  • The FPI targeted boarding houses in the city they believed to be housing LGBT residents.
  • The pro-LGBT support comes as Indonesia’s education minister has faced a storm of criticism over anti-LGBT comments and a call to ban an LGBT research and counseling group at the University of Indonesia.

Read more:
“Indonesian city reprimands Muslim hardliners for harassing gays” (Reuters)
“Minister on back foot over anti-gay remarks” (The Jakarta Post)
“Affectionate gay students should be banned from university campuses, Indonesian minister says” (ABC)

(Image Credit: Agus Bebeng/Antara Foto/Reuters)

Gender

Taiwan News | Women

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Taiwan elects first female president in significant victory
  • Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen became the nation’s first woman elected to the executive office after securing just over 56% of the vote.
  • The DPP unseated the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the 8-year incumbent party, as questions about the country’s relationship to China, which doesn’t recognize its sovereignty, grow.
  • Analysts view Tsai’s election as an attempt by voters to turn around the country’s struggling economy and reexamine the last administration’s pro-China policies, concerning China’s political leaders.

“The results today tell me that the people want to see a government more willing to listen to the people, a government that is more transparent and accountable, and a government that is more capable of leading us past our current challenges and taking care of those in need.”

Read more:
“Madam President” (The Taipei Times)
“Taiwan Opposition Wins Presidency, Parliament in Rout of Ruling KMT” (Radio Free Asia)
“Taiwan elects first female president” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: CNA, via The Taipei Times)

Class + Socioeconomics

China Feature | The Homeless

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The “McRefugees” of China

“If you don’t have money, you can barely sleep.”

China’s homeless have begun turning one of the most recognizable beacons of global American corporatism for a bit of shut-eye: McDonald’s. With more than a thousand of the restaurants in mainland China open 24 hours a day, it has become a haven for the homeless in a country that severely restricts shelter residency. The New York Times profiles a few of those who make the nightly trek to the golden arches.

Read more:
“China’s Homeless Find Shelter Under McDonald’s Golden Arches” (The New York Times)

Additional reading:
“1,400 homeless sleeping on Hong Kong’s streets, double government estimates” (South China Morning Post)
“Down and Out in China” (Radio Free Asia)

(Image Credit: Lam Yik Fei/The New York Times)

Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration

China News | Foreign Journalists

French journalist denied credentials, expelled from China following controversial article
  • China’s foreign ministry refused to renew the press credentials of Ursula Gauthier, a reporter for the French magazine L’Obs, following a controversial article crticizing China’s anti-terrorism policies in Xinjiang.
  • Chinese officials accused her of sympathizing with terrorists and demanded a public apology from her, which lead to the credential revocation when she refused.
  • Although China’s domestic press is heavily regulated, foreign press have typically had considerably more freedom to report on controversial topics, with the last foreign reporter expelled in 2012.

Read more:
“Plane carrying expelled French reporter leaves China” (France 24)
“French journalist forced to leave China after article on troubled Xinjiang” (Reuters)
“French media denounce expulsion of straight talking China correspondent” (RFI)

(Image Credit: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Gender

South Korea News | Women

Protesters demonstrate against Japan’s accord with South Korea over Korean “comfort women”
  • Hundreds protested in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul following the release of the terms of the agreement between the two countries over the long-divisive issue of the Korean women forced to work in Japanese military brothels in WWII.
  • The terms included a 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) fund for survivors and the reiteration of an official national apology.
  • Protesters argued that none of the 46 public survivors had not been consulted when the terms were set and that the agreement still allowed Japan to evade responsibility in educational and diplomatic channels.

Read more:
“South Korea ‘comfort women’ reject deal with Japan” (Deutsche Welle)
“South Korean ‘comfort women’ protest against accord with Japan” (Reuters)
“Group says as victims were not consulted, ‘comfort women’ deal not final” (The Japan Times)

(Image Credit: K. Hong-Ji/Reuters, via Deutsche Welle)

 

Ideology + Affiliation

South Korea News | Dissidents

Police turn water cannons and tear gas on protesters as Seoul demonstration turns violent
  • More than 60,000 turned out for a protest in Seoul against President Park Geunt-hye’s policies, which ended abruptly when police clashed with participants attempting to move through barricades.
  • Around 10 protesters were injured and some 50 were arrested in the largest street protest of President Park’s term.
  • The protesters–including 53 labor, agriculture, and other civic groups–were demonstrating against President Park’s labor reforms reducing employee job security and textbook reforms perceived as whitewashing Korea’s authoritarian history.

Read more:
“Police detain 49 protesters” (The Korea Times)
“South Korea vows no tolerance after violent protest in Seoul” (Reuters)
“S Korea protesters clash with police in Seoul” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Choi Won-suk/The Korea Times)

Ideology + Affiliation

China News | Dissidents

Four Hong Kong booksellers featuring work critical of Communist Party go missing
  • The four men are believed to have been detained in China after having traveled from Hong Kong to Thailand and Mainland China, though they have been unable to report their location.
  • The men work for Sage Communications, a company that has published titles critical of the Chinese president and Communist elite.
  • The detention comes as Beijing continues encroaching upon free press in Hong Kong, having bought up a major publishing house in the city earlier in the year.

Read more:
“Independent Hong Kong Book-Sellers Missing, Believed Detained” (Radio Free Asia)
“Four Hong Kong publishers known for books critical of Chinese regime missing” (The Guardian)
“Hong Kong Bookstores Display Beijing’s Clout” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Sage Communications, via Radio Free Asia)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Taiwan Feature | LGBT

Video

Proud in Taiwan

Taiwan celebrated Pride with its 13th-annual Pride parade, Asia’s largest. Tens of thousands descended upon the streets of Taipei from around the world to celebrate LGBT individuals and culture on an island notable for its LGBT acceptance.

View the Wall Street Journal video on YouTube.

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Myanmar News | Ethnic Minorities

Myanmar’s ethnic minorities organize as landmark elections near
  • Groups of ethnic minorities across Myanmar have worried as Aung Saan Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, favored to lead in the Nov. 8 elections, have run candidates in ethnic strongholds favored by the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).
  • Ethnic parties seek to establish a presence in the Burmese parliament to counteract longstanding persecution of minorities in the country, particularly in the border state of Shan.
  • The NLD has prioritized defeating the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), while ethnic parties hope to use to their advantage the winning party’s need for their support to form a government.

Read more:
“Burma’s Ethnic Minorities Seek Equality and Greater Autonomy in Landmark Elections” (TIME)
“Myanmar’s Ethnic Parliamentarians May Be 2016’s ‘Kingmakers’” (The Diplomat)
“Myanmar’s ethnic minorities pin hopes on election to end decades of bloodshed” (AP via Fox News)

(Image Credit: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Ideology + Affiliation

Myanmar News | Dissident Activists

Leader of spring student protests arrested in Myanmar after months in hiding
  • Kyaw Ko Ko was reportedly arrested and held in Yangon after evading authorities since last spring’s student protests.
  • The head of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) had organized protests in Yangon against a bill students viewed as anti-student union and anti-academic freedom.
  • The number of political prisoners in Myanmar has increased dramatically from 29 in 2014 to 466 in September 2015, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Read more:
“Myanmar student leader arrested amid signs of crackdown” (Reuters)
“Myanmar Student Leader Arrested After Seven Months in Hiding” (Radio Free Asia)
“Kyaw Ko Ko, fugitive student leader, arrested in Yangon” (Frontier Myanmar)

(Image Credit: Radio Free Asia)

Religion + Belief

Indonesia News | Christians

Conservative Islamic youth group attacks Christian churches in Indonesia’s Aceh province, leading to injuries, one death, and locals’ flight
  • The group, known as the Aceh Singkil Islamic Care Youth Students Association (PPI), set fire to two churches in a Christian village in the Aceh Singkil regency for reportedly being unlicensed houses of worship.
  • One in the attacking group was reportedly killed after a third Christian congregation defended their church, and there were conflicting reports of masses of locals fleeing for neighboring regencies.
  • The Aceh province is Indonesia’s most conservative, having implemented Sharia law and allowed for a decades-old agreement in Aceh Singkil limiting Christians to one church and four houses of worship in the regency.

Read more:
“Thousands leave Aceh after church burning” (The Jakarta Post)
“Churches attacked and one man killed in clashes in Aceh, Indonesia” (BBC)
“Indonesia deploys troops to calm religious unrest in Aceh province” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Hotli Simanjuntak/The Jakarta Post)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Southeast Asia Feature | LGBT

LGBT in Southeast Asia

The Huffington Post has launched a series exploring the state of LGBT life in Southeast Asia, a region whose climate ranges from the liberal gender norms of Thailand to the Sharia-driven sexual persecution of Brunei. Some activists argue that countries like Singapore’s success in an exclusive focus on economic development to the detriment of human rights has provided an alternative model to the Western liberal-democratic tradition for countries like China and Russia. Writers explore endemic violence, the effects of limited civil society on advocacy, and some nations’ burgeoning acceptance and recognition of the need for political protection.

Read more:
“Being LGBT In Southeast Asia: Stories Of Abuse, Survival And Tremendous Courage” (The Huffington Post)

(Image Credit: Associated Press, via The Huffington Post)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

China News | Uyghur Muslims

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Uyghurs face ban on Muslim names for children as China celebrates Xinjiang’s 60th anniversary
  • The Tokhola (Tuohula) Village Communist Party in Xinjiang’s Hoten prefecture reportedly announced the ban on 22 popular Muslim names for Uyghur children.
  • Children whose names are on the list must have their parents officially change their name or else risk exclusion from public schooling.
  • The announcement comes as China celebrates the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region following the 1949 annexation of East Turkestan, which has prompted severe criticism from Uyghur leaders.

Read more:
“Chinese Authorities Ban Muslim Names Among Uyghurs in Hoten” (Radio Free Asia)
Statement by the World Uyghur Congress

(Image Credit: Sina Webo via Radio Free Asia)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Cambodia News | Montagnard Christians

Cambodia orders deportation of waves of Montagnards fleeing Vietnam
  • Montagnards, an ethnic confederation of indigenous peoples from Vietnam, have fled what they report has been religious and ethnic harassment and persecution at the hands of Vietnamese police.
  • Cambodia has only granted asylum to 13 of the approximately 200 who have crossed the border, designating most as economic migrants and scheduling their deportation.
  • The refugees have turned to the U.N.’s refugee organization for assistance, alleging that Vietnamese police have subjected them to ongoing interrogations and detentions because of their Christian affiliation.

Read more:
“Montagnards Flee Persecution in Vietnam For Unsure Future in Cambodia” (Radio Free Asia)
“Group of Montagnards heads back to Vietnam” (The Phnom Penh Post)
“Vietnam: End ‘Evil Way’ Persecution of Montagnard Christians” (Human Rights Watch)

(Image Credit: Radio Free Asia)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Malaysia News | Transgender

Challenge to ban on cross-dressing dismissed by Malaysian high court on technicality
  • Malaysia’s Federal Court rejected the challenge to the state of Negeri Semblian’s ban on cross-dressing, overturning a lower-court decision striking down the ban.
  • The case brought by three transgender individuals was dismissed by the court on a technicality, saying the case should have first been taken up by the Federal Court.
  • The rejection comes as Islamic conservatism increases in the Malay-majority country, with Shariah law a difficult hurdle for gender and sexual minorities to clear.

Read more:
“Court of Appeal wrong to declare religious law unconstitutional, rules Federal Court” (The Malaysian Insider)
“Transgender case: Federal Court overturns Court of Appeal’s decision” (Astro Awani)
“Malaysia court upholds ban on cross dressing by transgender Muslims” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Olivia Harris/Reuters)