Hundreds Dead in Floods

Published on Oct 9, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Eleven years ago, I took a boat ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Hot and stifling inside, the rear of the boat was uncovered and afforded a strong breeze and extraordinary views of the Tonle Sap amid the biggest flood on record. The water line stretched beyond the horizon. Never had so much water been seen there. In the capital, where the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers merge, their banks were near bursting and the big fear was the city’s dilapidated water works and sewerage pipes would back-up as the city submerged. That didn’t happen. But slightly more than a decade later, and floods across Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have again struck the levels....

Philippine Truce Under Threat

Published on Oct 7, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The factionalizing of insurgent groups is jeopardising a ceasefire that ended decades of civil war in the southern Philippines. Now a showdown is looming among rebels in the southern Philippines as insurgents factionalize and splinter amid infighting over government sponsored peace talks, threatening the fragile ceasefire and forcing an unlikely alliance between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF),  reports Luke Hunt for The Diplomat. .

Confederacy of Dunces

Published on Oct 6, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The veil over the audacious theft of a state from under the noses of its citizens is slowly being lifted two decades after after the deed was done. Confidential cables from the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to Washington acknowledging the chicanery have thrown more light on how the proud, independent-minded people of Sabah were silenced through the ballot box by a slight of hand engineered by their own government. Read more in The Bamboo Desk. .

Amigo, a Review

Published on Oct 6, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Last night I attended the New York premier of Amigo, the independent film and brainchild of John Sayles about the Philippine-American War. The film supplements Sayles’ novel A Moment in the Sun (McSweeney’s Books, 2011), which details a small chapter in American history but also one of utmost significance as a comparison to contemporary geopolitics. Amigo is reviewed by Tim LaRocca, read more… .

New-Wave to Taiwan

Published on Oct 4, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Just decades ago, all that mainland China brought to Kinmen, a tiny Taiwan-controlled island off the Fujian coast, was trouble. In the mid-50s, China launched two brutal artillery campaigns that killed over 2,600 island residents and soldiers and prompted the United States to threaten Beijing with a “nuclear response” if the islands were taken. Read more from Cain Nunns in the Global Post. .