September — Vloggers, Runaway PMs and Assassination Plots
🇸🇬 What do we do about a problem like Singapore’s Amos Yee? I, for one, am fascinated by the young man — a quick perusal of his Wikipedia contents list shows why. As previously covered in these pages, 18-year-old Yee was earlier this year granted political asylum by the US only to have the US government appeal the decision. He has been in immigration detention in Chicago since late-March and was freed Tuesday, Sept. 26.
Very long story short, Yee had been remanded in 2015 on hate speech charges after publishing videos slamming founding father Lee Kuan Yew in the days after his death March that year. In the months following the death of LKY, Singapore was a bizarre place for any fledgeling watcher. The response to Yee and his comments was swift and unequivocal — he is a naughty boy who should be dealt with accordingly.
Yee told Asia Times he fully intends to jump back online from the US after settling into a new home, while activist Shelley Thio added she hopes his new found freedom will continue to be supported by American fans and allow the young man to keep being himself.
Meanwhile, a Buzzfeed story outlining the case seems to have touched a sore point over at the Straits Times.
Photoshops of deceased founding fathers and divisive British prime ministers engaging in lewd acts is hardly the free speech hill anyone wants to die on, yet for activists and Singapore’s Left, it was an uncomfortable aspect to the entire saga. Which I think is the most glaring example of why I am so quick to obsess over Yee. In the US he would be just another teenaged troll, using the internet to spread his particular blend of atheism and leftist politics, but in Singapore what he did was elevated and became emblematic of a friction that isn’t going to go away.
I sincerely doubt this will be the last time we hear from Yee and while he is yet to upload anything to YouTube, I sure am keeping an eye on it.
🇹🇭 Where in the world is Thailand’s former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra? Yingluck’s plans to head for Dubai before eventually claiming asylum in London was Bangkok’s worst kept secret the day after she fled her verdict hearing in the rice subsidy corruption case in August.
Okay, so once and for all: what is this dang rice subsidy thing anyway? The program, introduced in 2011, saw the government buy rice from local growers at inflated prices in an effort to build a stockpile, drive up global demand and then sell Thai rice for extra cash. It was a campaign promise from Yingluck as well as a favoured policy by brother/fellow ousted PM Thaksin. Regional voters loved it, but when India got back into the export game the plan was in serious trouble. You don’t have to have passed first-year econ (lucky, because I didn’t!) to see what happens next. Losses are believed to have reached around 500 billion baht (US$15.3 billion) and directly led to Yingluck’s impeachment and the 2014 coup.
Fast-forward to September this year, she’s on trial for charges related to the case (we’ve covered this!) and she does a midnight run across the border. Since then I’ve been patiently awaiting leaked photos of her in Dubai, maybe a thinly-veiled reference to her from Thaksin, who lives in Dubai and recently commemorated the anniversary of his own government’s collapse.
Disappointingly, it’s been all quiet on the Yingluck front for weeks. On Wednesday she was sentenced to five years imprisonment in absentia, thrusting her back onto the front pages. Current Prime Minister (and army general behind the coup ousting Yingluck) Prayuth Chan-ocha told media she is definitely in Dubai and international authorities, as well as the Thai foreign ministry, continue to track her. No she isn’t, she left for London Sept. 11, UAE sources say. Sources from Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party agree, telling CNN she’s in the UK readying for an asylum claim.
What does this mean for future leaders of Thailand? Who can say, but definitely stand-by on this one — I’ll go find her myself if I have to.
🇲🇲 Over in Myanmar things are hardly improving. Dhaka Tribune is continuing its brilliant coverage documenting the stories of refugees as they arrive in Bangladesh, while those left behind in Maungdaw eat leaves to survive according to Reuters. AFP has a story recounting the horrors of attacks on Rohingya Hindus, including mass murders. ARSA knew its attacks would spark violent retaliation from the military — it just didn’t care, according to CNA. Muslims can no longer travel freely in Kayin State. Defusing the ticking time-bomb in Cox’s Bazar.
As a dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi was a champion of human rights. Why won’t she defend them as a leader? ‘It is only by listening to each other that we will be able to build understanding and ultimately confront the demons that have plagued Rakhine State for generations.’ The misunderstood roots of Burma’s Rohingya crisis. ‘The country has been seeking foreign money but the Rohingya crisis has alarmed potential investors.’
🇵🇭 Hello, Philippines! I feel like Manila has been quietly doing its thing in the corner over here while the world’s eyes are focused on the mainland stories. Which is to say — this section feels lighter than usual. This is my favourite read of the week, an op-ed from Richard Javad Heydarian in the AJ about the Day of Protest. An odd one out of Manila after a member of the presidential guard was shot dead. It looked vaguely like there was going to be a bit of a story, but security officials say there’s nothing to see here.
Jayross Brondial is the latest in a growing list of adolescent boys gunned down in suspicious and sad circumstances. Sixteen (of 23) senators have signed a resolution calling for investigations and the end of the violent killings of minors. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano fronted up to the UN General Assembly and for some reason, super inflated drug use figures well beyond generally agreed upon numbers. And here’s Senator Manny Pacquiao proving that skeezy behaviour among conservative politicians isn’t strictly a US thing. President Rodrigo Duterte is changing his tune on the US.
🇹🇱 Timor Leste is somehow involved in a plotline in the next season of Madam Secretary, which has blasted my news alert. Thankfully, I’m working on something for next week to make up for it!
🇧🇳 After that brief excitement via the Financial Times, we’re back to all quiet on the Brunei front.
🇱🇦 While China has banned the import of ivory, neighbouring Laos has become the world’s biggest market for the product.
🇻🇳 Love this one from Bennett Murray in Hanoi, covering Vietnam’s sustained attacks on free speech activists. Here’s the latest arrest. Relations with Germany are still suffering in the wake of the alleged abduction of Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin, but visas haven’t been suspended, thank you very much. ‘“This trafficking problem is one of the biggest obstacles to Vietnam’s development,” said Mimi Vu, advocacy director of Pacific Links Foundation. “The future of Vietnam is its young people, and we are losing our future.”’
🇲🇾 Holy smokes, this one from GQ on the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia earlier this year is a masterclass. I wish I wrote it, I love it. ‘It turns out all you have to do is speak of the police and they will appear’ — Mustafa Akyol on ‘A Proposal for Islam.’ The kids aren’t having it (‘it’ being the next general election). Asia Sentinel wonders if maybe PM Najib Razak regrets the fizzer US visit. ‘Organizers of pop concerts and some other big events are increasingly wary of including Malaysia on their itineraries, as the cancellation of a beer festival due to take place next month highlighted growing intolerance toward activities regarded as insulting to Islam by some Muslim groups,’ reports Reuters. Six youths, aged between just 12 and 18, have been charged in the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school fire.
🇰🇭 Cambodia says farewell to Vann Molyvann, one of the country’s most influential architects. Phnom Penh’s ambitious waterway reno. Opposition leader Kem Sokha will not be granted bail as he awaits treason charges, a court ruled Tuesday. ‘First They Killed My Father’: A beautiful film that could help Hun Sen. ‘Economists say farmers need to reduce their reliance on the crop in order to revitalise Cambodia’s struggling agriculture industry.’
🇮🇩 Indonesia is the spiritual home to many things (usually things that excite UNESCO and get Malaysia worked up), but I posit it is also the spiritual home of memes. Which is why it baffles me that people who should be well-versed in this continue to release photos knowing full well they will be absolutely skewered. Setya, this isn’t your first time at the rodeo — what are you doing! It’s all about the pandas this week. Will these two giant pandas be enough to sort out the Natuna spat? They got what they wanted in Jakarta, but how do Indonesia’s hardliners fare out in the regions? Efforts to sort out palm oil have stalled, so where to next? So many questions this week! Let’s leave it on a high note with this stunning photo essay from Vogue on Yogyakarta’s drag scene.
