South East Asia
Indonesian police shoot two refugees trying to reach Australia
By Mike Head, November 18, 2009
The real face of the Rudd government’s hoped-for “Indonesian solution” for asylum seekers began to emerge last week. Indonesian police shot and seriously wounded two men trying to reach Australi...
Thai-Cambodian tensions escalate over Thaksin appointment
By John Roberts, November 16, 2009
A diplomatic row between Bangkok and Phnom Penh over Cambodia’s appointment of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as economic advisor intensified last week.
Australian government’s “Indonesian Solution” in disarray
By Richard Phillips, November 2, 2009
Two weeks after an Australian customs ship rescued 78 Tamil asylum seekers, the unresolved standoff over their future has focussed attention on the Labor government’s inhumane and illegal treatment ...
Australian imperialism, the 1999 East Timor intervention and the pseudo-left
By Patrick O’Connor, November 2, 2009
September marked the tenth anniversary of the Australian-led military intervention into East Timor. It is also a decade since a layer of pseudo “left” groups organised “troops in” demonstratio...
Indonesian earthquake toll soars
By John Braddock, October 20, 2009
The death toll from the September 30 earthquake in West Sumatra reached 1,115 last week after officials ended the search for 300 missing people and declared them dead.
Political fallout grows over Indonesian bank bailout
By John Braddock, October 14, 2009
A festering scandal in Indonesia over the government bailout of the mid-sized Bank Century late last year is threatening to cast a shadow over the second term of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Vietnamese economy hit by global crisis
By John Braddock, October 12, 2009
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam’s year-on-year economic growth slowed to 3.9 percent in the first half of 2009, down from 6.2 percent in 2008 and 8.5 percent in 2007, a...
Thousands feared dead after Indonesian earthquake
By John Roberts, October 3, 2009
An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia on Wednesday, causing enormous destruction in and around the Sumatran city of Padang.
Typhoon causes widespread destruction in the Philippines
By John Roberts, September 30, 2009
A major storm struck the Philippines last Saturday killing at least 250 people and causing over 435,000 to flee their flooded homes.
Anti-government rally on third anniversary of Thai coup
By John Roberts, September 21, 2009
The opposition is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Democratic Party-led government.
Earthquake devastates Indonesia’s West Java province
By John Roberts, September 5, 2009
At least 64 people were killed, including a number of children, as a result of the earthquake that struck off the coast of West Java on Wednesday.
Ten years since East Timor’s independence vote
By Patrick O’Connor, August 31, 2009
Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the referendum that saw nearly 80 percent of the East Timorese people vote to secede from Indonesia and become a separate nation-state.
