Model's Death Haunts Malaysia

Published on Oct 28, 2012 by Luke Hunt

The prospects were tantalizing. The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) knew this and advertised accordingly: “New revelations in the Altantuya murder case — Press conference by Musa Hassan, former national police chief of Malaysia.”The press conference was originally scheduled for Monday but then scrapped all together as Musa gave a brief interview with a Malaysian publication saying he knew nothing about his scheduled press conference, adding he was in Kuala Lumpur and not Bangkok.He also said he had no intention of talking to reporters about the infamous murder of the Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu who had also worked as a translator, adding he was puzzled about the speculation about his activities.Read more in The Diplomat..

Russia's Checkbook Diplomacy

Published on Sep 17, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Moscow is turning to financially vulnerable South Pacific nations to promote its foreign policy agenda thousands of miles away. Since returning to power as Russia’s president three months ago, Vladimir Putin has lived up to his well-honed reputation as the hard, no-nonsense man of East European politics by bullying his way into the internal affairs of neighbors with fearless abandon.He has served notice that Moscow will challenge the West’s naval dominance of the world’s oceans, moving to shore-up his country’s defenses from the Arctic Circleand its Western flank to its troubled southern borders,breakaway republics and even the South Pacific.Read more in The Diplomat..

Laos Mulls Reforms

Published on Aug 27, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Latter day communist countries still carry the legacies of their past. Somewhat secretive and sensitive to criticism, authorities in one-party states tend to hide at the slightest hint of criticism. It’s a routine in East Asia that is as common in Laos as it has been in Vietnam, China, or even North Korea.But more recently the government of Thongsing Thammavong in Laos has been making some very different noises. His government has lashed-out at the faceless bureaucrats behind the nation’s dilapidated health services, a bungling judiciary, and even the state-controlled press.Read more in The Diplomat..

Propping Up Dictators

Published on Jul 24, 2012 by Luke Hunt

It was all smiles and “brotherly love” as Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh received full state honors and a 21-gun salute from Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeouin Taipei late last month.Jammeh, making his ninth trip to this diplomatically isolated island republic 100 miles off China’s southern coast, has called Taiwan “one of the best friends Gambia has ever had.”Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out a press release calling the impoverished West African nation “an important ally” before writing that “the close partnership and brotherly bonds between the two countries remain strong.”Read more from Cain Nunns in The Diplomat..

Backslide: Burma & Malaysia

Published on Jul 10, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Malaysia and Burma remain poles apart in most aspects of life—religion, ethnicity, and politics—but where they seem more akin in recent times has been in trying to improve relations with the West while introducing much needed reforms at home.Those reforms have been welcomed by the people of both countries and the international community but it remains a difficult process with Malaysia again raising fears of a revival of media oppression and Burma living up to its past with the detention of  political activists.Read more in The Diplomat..

Gillard May Drop Malaysian Deal

Published on Jul 1, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Prime Minister Minister Julia Gillard says she will take seriously advice from an expert panel looking at the asylum-seeker issue, even if it recommends dumping her government’s Malaysian people swap deal.Ms Gillard last week established the panel – made up of former defence chief Angus Houston, former top diplomat Michael L’Estrange and refugee advocate Paris Aristotle – to assess all asylum policy options.Read more in The Australian..

Taiwan and the Mob

Published on Jun 15, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Taiwan’s Coast Guard published a composite of potential disguises for fugitive ex-lawmaker Lo Fu-Chu in late April.  In one picture, he looks like a Dutch leader of a peacekeeping force, complete with beret and handlebar moustache. In another, he’s done up like one of the Gallagher brothers from seminal British rock outfit Oasis.  A coifed mop frames his usually balding head as the handlebar gives way to a goatee.But it’s probably the shot of Lo in black ’70s aviator shades, ala late Colombian drug czar Pablo Escobar, that’s the most fitting. For Lo wasn’t just any Taiwanese politician failing to turn himself in for a four-year money laundering and insider trading prison sentence.From Cain Nunns in The Diplomat..

ASEAN + China and Bhutan?

Published on Apr 10, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Within the various corridors of power across Southeast Asia, tongues are still wagging over the outburst delivered by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at last week’s ASEAN summit.At the heart of the speech was Cambodia’s close relationship with China, and his message was simple: Beijing’s generous financial backing of his government didn’t compromise Cambodia’s standing as the annual host of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).Read more in The Diplomat..

Ramos-Horta Dumped

Published on Mar 19, 2012 by Luke Hunt

Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta has been dumped as President of Timor-Leste, with the battle for the post now likely to be fought in an April 21 run-off between Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres of the left-leaning Fretilin party, and Taur Matan Ruak, the former chief of the nation’s armed forces.Preliminary results from Saturday’s ballot show a tight contest between Lu Olo and Ruak, who had polled well after winning the support of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and his National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor party (CNRT). Read more in The Diplomat..

Malaysian Sideshow

Published on Dec 10, 2011 by Luke Hunt

While there is that motion picture-like air of a “coming to a polling booth near you, the nation’s next blockbuster – the 13th General Election” – in the rapidly changing Malaysian state of Sabah, the people remain unmoved and cynical.“It may be a new election but like some movies the plot never changes … in Sabah it will be the same old story,” volunteered a middle aged man, on his way to drop his family of four off at a cineplex in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital, to watch the latest offering.Like him, the nagging question on most locals’ minds as they prepare to countdown to elect a new government and Parliament anytime between now and 2013 – will the....