https://www.scmp.com/rss/323049/feed All the latest social developments from across Asia en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com When Tikendra Dewan enlisted in the famed Gurkha brigade of the British army in the early 1970s, he was not thinking much about the future, let alone a comfortable retirement. Like many Nepalis who signed up to defend colonial Hong Kong, Dewan was drawn by the promise of adventure and the chance to see the world. But after devoting more than three decades of his life in service of queen and country, the 66-year-old veteran feels betrayed. After Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, its... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3025124/gurkhas-fought-britain-now-hunger-strike-veterans-say-they-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3025124/gurkhas-fought-britain-now-hunger-strike-veterans-say-they-are?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 31 Aug 2019 08:30:06 +0000 Australia on Wednesday launched a task force to clamp down on foreign interference at universities amid growing concerns about Chinese influence on college campuses. Education Minister Dan Tehan said the task force, which will be equally comprised of university staff and government officials, would tackle the “intersection of national security, research, collaboration and a university’s autonomy”. “Universities also understand the risk to their operations and to the national interest from... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3024742/australia-investigates-foreign-interference-universities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3024742/australia-investigates-foreign-interference-universities?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Aug 2019 10:00:37 +0000 The children of Antonio Sanchez, a former Philippine mayor serving a 360-year sentence for rape and multiple murders, went to New Bilibid prison last week expecting their father to be released after serving just 24 years. Instead, they left the prison without him after being told his release order – revealed to media the same day – had been put on hold. Allan Antonio Sanchez, the oldest son of the former Calauan mayor, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer his 73-year-old father had even been... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024704/philippines-hits-pause-early-release-former-mayor-serving-360?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024704/philippines-hits-pause-early-release-former-mayor-serving-360?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Aug 2019 08:00:16 +0000 From Japan to Germany, governments are unveiling policies to support nightlife in cities, but in Singapore, one of Asia’s major entertainment hubs, operators say the sector is suffering from neglect. Restrictive policies and structural disadvantages are hurting entertainment companies small and large, according to entrepreneurs and major players, who say the Southeast Asian nation’s stringent rules on land zoning, licensing and noise pollution are taking their toll. Urban planning laws limit the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024121/singapores-nightlife-boring-unshackle-us-red-tape-and-it-wont-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024121/singapores-nightlife-boring-unshackle-us-red-tape-and-it-wont-be?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Aug 2019 06:30:13 +0000 In the winter of 1962, panic gripped India’s northeastern state of Assam. A border war had broken out with China, and a victorious Chinese army was marching towards Assam as India’s defences crumbled. People began to flee amid reports that government offices were destroying documents and closing shop in fear of the coming Chinese invasion. Feeding the panic, a state-owned bank was found burning its stock of cash to prevent it from falling into Chinese hands, and a district administrator... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024155/assam-edge-indias-rohingya-moment-threatens-millions-modis-hindu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3024155/assam-edge-indias-rohingya-moment-threatens-millions-modis-hindu?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2019 12:42:53 +0000 Singapore’s education ministry has advised the city state’s six government-funded universities to postpone all trips to Hong Kong, with the institutions immediately pulling the plug on student exchange programmes due to begin next month. The ministry told This Week in Asia its guidance to the institutions covered student and staff trips, including “visits, exchanges and internships”, and was issued last Friday after Singapore’s ministry of foreign affairs updated its travel advisory for Hong... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023840/singapore-universities-pull-plug-hong-kong-stints-students?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023840/singapore-universities-pull-plug-hong-kong-stints-students?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Aug 2019 02:59:37 +0000 Nguyen Thi Hanh had never eaten a cherry before the trade war between Washington and Beijing. A 64-year-old retiree living in Hanoi, she had often seen the fruit for sale at a local shop, but with a monthly pension of only 5 million Vietnamese dong (US$215), the imported treat was well outside her price range. These days, however, she has been buying cherries for about US$10 a kilogram, around half of what the shop used to charge. “I think many Vietnamese people have not eaten cherries, so I... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3023603/vietnam-gets-bite-cherry-us-farm-exports-find-new-market-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3023603/vietnam-gets-bite-cherry-us-farm-exports-find-new-market-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Aug 2019 00:00:16 +0000 A kidnapped mainland Chinese man has been rescued from a loan shark syndicate by Philippine police, in what they say is the 53rd case of casino-related abductions by fellow Chinese nationals since 2017. Bian Xiaoguo, from Shandong, was freed by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group after his father complained to the Chinese consulate in Manila that he had been sent a video of his son being tortured and was told to pay a ransom of 300,000 yuan (US$42,500). The rash of kidnappings... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023624/philippine-police-rescue-man-loan-shark-amid-spike-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023624/philippine-police-rescue-man-loan-shark-amid-spike-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2019 13:13:13 +0000 Mawlamyine (or Moulmein) in Myanmar is one of those Southeast Asian cities like Sandakan (Malaysia), Bacolod (Philippines) and Songkhla (Thailand) – where the past looms large but the present seems faded and unpromising. The kinds of places that young people yearn to leave in search of jobs and money. Home to just under 300,000 residents, the capital city of the three-million-strong Mon State has a slightly forlorn, neglected air. After all, its glory years were well over 150 years ago, between... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3023482/sleepy-mawlamyine-myanmar-youths-cant-wait-leave-city-becomes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3023482/sleepy-mawlamyine-myanmar-youths-cant-wait-leave-city-becomes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2019 02:00:17 +0000 A top Philippine official has come up with a novel proposal to ease Manila’s chronic traffic congestion – schools and banks should stay open 24 hours a day. President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo has personally recommended they operate around the clock. “Is there anything like this in the world? Seems not. So what if we try it?” he said. Panelo claimed it would cut daytime congestion by reducing the number of people outside: “Can you imagine if their activities are made 24 hours,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023484/solution-manilas-monster-traffic-jams-24-hour-schools-and-banks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023484/solution-manilas-monster-traffic-jams-24-hour-schools-and-banks?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2019 01:00:23 +0000 Police in Malaysia on Monday questioned controversial Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik for allegedly making racist remarks, as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad joined a chorus of government officials criticising the controversial televangelist’s comments on race relations in the Southeast Asian country. Alongside the premier, several ministers have in recent days also flayed Naik for his strident comments about the country’s Indian and Chinese communities. Seven of Malaysia’s 13 states have now... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3023427/malaysias-mahathir-toughens-stance-against-controversial-indian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3023427/malaysias-mahathir-toughens-stance-against-controversial-indian?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Aug 2019 09:01:51 +0000 When Tracy Goh moved from Malaysia to San Francisco in 2012, she didn’t know anyone in her adopted city, so she began hosting pop-up dinners in her flat to make friends. But what started as small social gatherings soon grew into events with 20 to 60 diners, as her food – especially her laksa – started winning fans. Goh soon decided to leave her marketing job to take up cooking full-time. In 2017 and 2018, she served more than 1,000 bowls of laksa in rented restaurants and shared kitchens, hoping... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023203/how-asian-immigrants-are-transforming-san-francisco-bay-areas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023203/how-asian-immigrants-are-transforming-san-francisco-bay-areas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Aug 2019 10:30:08 +0000 The political convulsions that seized China in the 19th century triggered developments with ripple effects that are still being felt today. In 1842, Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain by the declining Qing dynasty, one of the terms of the Treaty of Nanking – now called Nanjing – that concluded the first opium war. Seeking escape from unrest and poverty, waves of emigrants from China’s southern coast set off for foreign lands. Some crossed the ocean to the United States; others stayed closer... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023155/how-chinas-19th-century-crises-shaped-chinese-diaspora?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023155/how-chinas-19th-century-crises-shaped-chinese-diaspora?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Aug 2019 06:15:09 +0000 Don Tang is proud of his toys. So much so that the Shanghai resident, 32, puts them on display both in his home and in the office of the company he runs. And there are plenty to display. Tang, 32, has some 100 collectibles and the number is growing all the time. Each month he sets aside 2,000 yuan (US$280) to buy the top trending toys, newest releases, or one-of-a-kind items – either from physical stores, online or at toy conventions in China. But the toys are not connected to his work as the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023161/chinese-toy-story-why-do-adult-men-buy-designer-toys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023161/chinese-toy-story-why-do-adult-men-buy-designer-toys?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Aug 2019 04:30:11 +0000 August in Malaysia usually sees a month-long swell in patriotic feel-good sentiment as the nation looks forward to Independence Day celebrations on the 31st – but this year, instead of nationalistic cheer, bubbling racial issues are causing turbulence among citizens and within the multi-ethnic Pakatan Harapan coalition. The recent racially charged public furore over issues such as the presence of controversial Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik in Malaysia, the introduction of Arabic-Malay... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3023119/malaysia-hopes-racial-unity-independence-day-approaches-reality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3023119/malaysia-hopes-racial-unity-independence-day-approaches-reality?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Aug 2019 01:30:07 +0000 By the time Han, a North Korean defector, and her six-year-old son were found at their rented flat in southwestern Seoul, they had been dead for weeks. The building manager who found the bodies made the grim discovery only after being alerted to a strange smell. The water to the flat had been cut off due to unpaid bills, and the fridge was empty but for some chilli flakes. The 42-year-old mother, who fled poverty in North Korea a decade prior, had made her last withdrawal of 3,858 won (US$3)... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023188/death-destitute-north-korean-mother-and-child-sparks-national?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3023188/death-destitute-north-korean-mother-and-child-sparks-national?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Aug 2019 05:00:07 +0000 “Their fight for freedom and democracy is also our fight,” says Bosco Wong, a 23-year-old originally from Macau, referring to the anti-government protests in Hong Kong. The former Portuguese enclave, an hour’s ride by ferry from Hong Kong, has always been seen as the better behaved Special Administrative Region under Chinese rule – largely because of its more conservative society. While Macau’s youth are not as politically engaged as their counterparts in Hong Kong, a small but increasingly... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3022997/how-hong-kong-protests-inspire-macaus-youth-and-teach-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3022997/how-hong-kong-protests-inspire-macaus-youth-and-teach-their?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Aug 2019 04:00:13 +0000 A Singaporean start-up is looking to transform the face of Southeast Asia by building smart cities powered by blockchain technology – starting with an ambitious 100-hectare mixed-use development project in the heart of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Spanning residential homes, office buildings, shopping malls, schools, and a massive exhibition hall, the privately backed project by Limestone Network will affect 10,000 business tenants and a daily population of 190,000 people. The idea was... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021867/forget-bitcoin-singapore-firm-using-blockchain-tech-build-smart?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021867/forget-bitcoin-singapore-firm-using-blockchain-tech-build-smart?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Aug 2019 00:30:13 +0000 Parents should beware: if their child behaves like a smart aleck or becomes more stubborn, he or she might be about to turn into a communist terrorist. This was claimed by newly elected senator Ronald dela Rosa, who said he wanted the public to be aware of communists recruiting and “brainwashing” minors. Dela Rosa is the former national police chief who launched President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs. Under his watch, thousands of “suspects” died in what human rights groups have called... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3022471/watch-your-kids-they-might-be-terrorists-parents-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3022471/watch-your-kids-they-might-be-terrorists-parents-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Aug 2019 10:48:47 +0000 Before Aye Aung made her first trip out of Myanmar to Singapore as a foreign domestic worker, the 25-year-old weighed slightly more than 40kg. But after working in Singapore for just over a year, she has put on some 15kg. “I was very skinny since I was young and people used to call me names. But now I eat much better here. My family will be very surprised and happy to see me getting fatter when I return,” she said. There are some 250,000 foreign domestic workers in the island nation, which... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3022227/fat-singapore-foreign-domestic-workers-have-sporting-chance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3022227/fat-singapore-foreign-domestic-workers-have-sporting-chance?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Aug 2019 01:00:13 +0000 Saad still has chubby, small hands like most children his age do. But his dark and penetrative eyes could belong to an adult. Though Saad is only 2 years old, the destruction caused by Syria’s deadly war has already left him with many invisible marks. Walter Leung Wai-yin, an intensive care nurse from Hong Kong who went on a mission with the International Committee of the Red Cross, met the little boy at a field hospital in Al Hol camp, north-eastern Syria. Saad had a fever and diarrhoea when he... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3022218/syrias-devastating-war-through-eyes-hong-kong-nurse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3022218/syrias-devastating-war-through-eyes-hong-kong-nurse?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Aug 2019 07:45:09 +0000 PROTESTS AGAINST THE DALAI LAMA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA In February 2017, the university said the Buddhist spiritual leader would be giving a commencement speech to graduating students. About 5,300 of the institution’s 8,792-strong foreign student body are from mainland China, and they protested against the speech using the hashtag #ChineseStudentsMatter – which critics say was co-opted from the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. The local chapter of the Chinese Students... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3022212/6-events-show-campus-politics-chinesestudentsmatter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3022212/6-events-show-campus-politics-chinesestudentsmatter?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 21:30:09 +0000 A creative but controversial meme has been racking up likes on a Facebook page titled SFU Dank Memes, a private group frequented by more than 3,700 students at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University (SFU). It features a Photoshopped image of a duplicitous masked operative from the popular video game Team Fortress 2 and an accompanying caption that reads: “Try to figure out who’s the Chinese communist spy at SFU when half the school is Chinese. And worst of all, he could be any one of us.” The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3022207/hong-kong-protests-uygur-camps-how-chinese-students-became?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3022207/hong-kong-protests-uygur-camps-how-chinese-students-became?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 21:00:17 +0000 “The future is Asian,” boasts Parag Khanna, a Singapore-based consultant in his recent book of the same name. Khanna believes that as American unipolarity begins to ebb, the Asian regional system will increasingly begin to exert itself on the world stage, reorienting the global economy, altering geopolitics, and elevating the appeal of Asian cultural norms worldwide. Certainly, there is much evidence to support Khanna’s thesis. Asia now accounts for 50 per cent of global GDP and two thirds of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3022196/world-headed-asian-future-not-if-we-dont-admit-some-inconvenient?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3022196/world-headed-asian-future-not-if-we-dont-admit-some-inconvenient?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 11:32:09 +0000 Joy was in short supply for Mohammad Imran. The high school senior studies in Afghanistan’s Gardez city, capital of the eastern province of Paktia; needing a break, he planned a short trip to his home village in the province’s Zurmat district. Once there, however, he was almost caught up in a battle between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents, and his trip back to Gardez was a struggle. His next attempt at recreation proved a lot more fruitful and a lot less potentially deadly – a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021788/how-cricket-gave-afghanistan-its-hope-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021788/how-cricket-gave-afghanistan-its-hope-back?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 01:30:14 +0000 Ko Myung-hee starts the engine of her SUV with bags full of fresh vegetables picked from her own garden and two ice-cold bottles of sikhye – a sweet rice drink. It’s 9am and the 52-year-old senior care administrator in South Korea’s northernmost province of Paju sets out to visit some of the area’s dokgeo-noin – senior citizens living alone. And she doesn’t like to arrive empty-handed. There are more than 740,000 South Korean seniors living alone and a study conducted by the welfare ministry... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021836/glimpse-hong-kongs-lonely-future-south-koreas-ageing-society?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021836/glimpse-hong-kongs-lonely-future-south-koreas-ageing-society?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2019 23:00:08 +0000 More than a few eyebrows were raised when the Indian government released its latest census data in the last week of July – and not just because it was nearly eight years late. One of the biggest surprises was that the survey showed a massive drop in the number of Chinese immigrants in the country. Between 2001 and 2011, the overall number of Chinese immigrants fell from 23,712 to 14,951, with the trend even more noticeable in certain segments of the population. The number of Chinese who had been... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3021582/what-happened-indias-disappearing-chinese-migrants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3021582/what-happened-indias-disappearing-chinese-migrants?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2019 01:00:12 +0000 Indonesia’s PT Bakrieland Development, controlled by the family of billionaire politician Aburizal Bakrie, is looking to team up with state-owned China Construction First Group (CCFG) to build a US$350 million residential and commercial complex in Jakarta this year. Bakrieland’s president, director and CEO Ambono Janurianto did not reveal the specific size or location of the project, but said the company had set aside 10 hectares of land – equivalent to around 10 football fields – for the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021610/indonesian-developer-bakrieland-partner-state-owned-chinese-firm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021610/indonesian-developer-bakrieland-partner-state-owned-chinese-firm?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Aug 2019 07:40:26 +0000 If India’s parliament passes a proposed new Surrogacy Regulation Bill, cases such as that of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who had his third child via surrogacy, would no longer be possible. The strict new bill being considered by lawmakers permits only Indian couples, married for at least five years and childless, to opt for surrogacy. It states that surrogate mothers must be “close relatives” of the recipients and carries strict criteria for surrogate mothers, genetic parents, fertility... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021504/surrogacy-bill-end-indias-us2-billion-rent-womb-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021504/surrogacy-bill-end-indias-us2-billion-rent-womb-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Aug 2019 01:00:13 +0000 South Korea is an international sporting powerhouse, with top 10 finishes in the medals table at every Summer Olympics since 2004 and a number of its nationals having become big-name soccer and baseball stars in recent years. Yet outside the top flight – where Olympic hopefuls train in teams that are sponsored heavily by the government, and young players lucky enough to be spotted by talent scouts move abroad for intensive training – the country actually suffers from a widespread lack of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021207/how-can-south-korea-excel-sports-when-its-kids-are-too-busy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021207/how-can-south-korea-excel-sports-when-its-kids-are-too-busy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Aug 2019 06:00:18 +0000 Baby Jane Allas, the Filipino domestic worker who was fired in February after being diagnosed with stage-three cervical cancer, has now undergone surgery that may rid her of the disease. The 38-year-old single mother of five is currently recovering from the medical procedure in hospital. “I was told that it went really well and that we can expect her full recovery soon,” said Allas’ sister Mary Ann – who is also a domestic worker in Hong Kong – on Friday afternoon, just a few hours after the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021252/hope-baby-jane-cancer-stricken-filipino-domestic-worker-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021252/hope-baby-jane-cancer-stricken-filipino-domestic-worker-road?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Aug 2019 01:30:11 +0000 When Anna, from the Philippines, left her teaching career to earn a better wage as a nanny in the United States, she believed the opportunity would help change her life for the better. But after being hired by a family of four in New York City, she quickly found her experience to be very different from what she had imagined. Working 16-hour days, Anna performed endless chores: cleaning, laundry, preparing family meals and tending to the children’s needs. She spent what few hours she had to rest... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021312/exploitation-filipino-domestic-workers-widespread-us-new-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021312/exploitation-filipino-domestic-workers-widespread-us-new-report?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Aug 2019 23:45:10 +0000 The two Singaporean celebrities who this week were accused by the government of stoking ethnic tensions through a rap video attacking a racially tinged advertisement have offered an apology that some of their fans described as more of a witty “clap-back” than an expression of regret. The siblings Preeti and Subhas Nair said in a Friday statement that they were “sorry for any hurt that was unintentionally caused” by their vulgarity-laced video K. Muthusamy, which authorities have banned... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021216/sorry-not-sorry-siblings-singapores-rap-row-offer-subversive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3021216/sorry-not-sorry-siblings-singapores-rap-row-offer-subversive?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2019 10:15:11 +0000 Indonesia’s largest moderate Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is poised to expand its influence in President Joko Widodo’s new government, following the country’s divisive election campaign dominated by explosive rhetoric on religion and ethnicity. Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, chose as his vice-president an elderly cleric aligned with the NU, Ma’ruf Amin. Support from the group’s 60 million members helped secure his re-election in April, easing fears that the world’s most populous... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3021124/indonesias-largest-muslim-group-set-bigger-role-jokowis-second?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3021124/indonesias-largest-muslim-group-set-bigger-role-jokowis-second?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2019 05:03:58 +0000 Singapore’s “brownface” saga continued on Wednesday after national news agency CNA joined the government in condemning two ethnic Indian celebrities who co-produced a vulgarity-laced rap in response to a campaign that featured a Chinese man darkening himself to appear Indian. On social media, however, fans of siblings Preeti and Subhas Nair expressed support for the duo and disagreed strongly with the government’s claim that their spoof video – which attacked “Chinese people” for the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020844/singapores-brownface-saga-sparks-debate-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020844/singapores-brownface-saga-sparks-debate-race?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jul 2019 13:44:55 +0000 A furore in Singapore over an advertisement that featured an ethnic Chinese actor darkening his skin to appear Indian escalated on Tuesday as authorities intervened to condemn a vulgar rap video in which two rappers of Indian ethnicity slammed “Chinese people” for the saga. The government – known for its assiduous management of race relations in the multiracial, Chinese majority city state – signalled it was deeply alarmed by the episode, with the law and home affairs minister K. Shanmugam... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020661/offensive-singapore-rap-video-attacking-chinese-people-sparks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020661/offensive-singapore-rap-video-attacking-chinese-people-sparks?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Jul 2019 09:58:37 +0000 The University of Queensland, which was the site of clashes between Hong Kong and pro-China demonstrators last week, is bracing for a protest set for Wednesday by students accusing it of bowing to Beijing’s influence and not protecting free speech. A group calling themselves Transparency 4 UQ say administrators have not been up front about an agreement signed by the university to host a Confucius Institute – a Beijing-funded school that provides language and cultural education but steers clear... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3020547/university-queensland-braces-protest-over-chinas-confucius?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3020547/university-queensland-braces-protest-over-chinas-confucius?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jul 2019 23:15:07 +0000 Behrouz Boochani is not an angry man. He tells me this on the phone from Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, where he has been detained by the Australian government for the past six years. “I should be angry, but in my personal life, I am a peaceful person,” he says, laughter in his voice. Boochani is a Kurdish refugee from Iran who twice attempted to make it from Indonesia to Australia by boat in 2013. The first time the wooden vessel sank, and Boochani and other passengers were lucky to survive.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020309/using-whatsapp-and-sms-refugee-behrouz-boochani-writes-book-manus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020309/using-whatsapp-and-sms-refugee-behrouz-boochani-writes-book-manus?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Jul 2019 23:00:11 +0000 Since protests against Hong Kong’s extradition bill began in June, student Rustam Juraev’s parents have been calling him from Tajikistan three times a day to make sure he is safe. “Each time my parents see the news, they call me to make sure I’m fine. They call me three times a day to check on me and warn me to avoid crowds and stay away from protests, ” said the 18-year-old who is studying applied economics at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). The weekly protests, which on some occasions had... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020232/hong-kongs-central-asian-students-feel-heat-extradition-bill?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020232/hong-kongs-central-asian-students-feel-heat-extradition-bill?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Jul 2019 07:45:07 +0000 An increasing number of Hong Kong residents are looking to buy homes in Singapore and enrol their children in schools there, according to property agents and educators, amid the deepening political crisis over the city’s now-suspended extradition bill. Clarence Foo, associate deputy group director at real estate agency OrangeTee & Tie, said inquiries from Hong Kong residents had risen by about 30 to 40 per cent in the past two months. “Singapore has all along been popular among Hongkongers... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3020314/singapore-back-play-more-hongkongers-consider-migrating-due?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3020314/singapore-back-play-more-hongkongers-consider-migrating-due?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Jul 2019 04:00:18 +0000 A group of Hong Kong employment agencies has written to Manila to complain about a new digitised system being introduced by the Philippine consulate’s labour office in the city, and accuse the outgoing labour attaché of a conflict of interest. But the founder of the company responsible for revamping the labour office’s database – which stores domestic workers’ information, and tracks employers and employment agencies – says it will improve efficiency and allow the Philippine government to better... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020280/why-philippine-consulates-new-tracking-system-unsettling-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020280/why-philippine-consulates-new-tracking-system-unsettling-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Jul 2019 01:00:15 +0000 Thomas Sturrock Thomas Sturrock Morning traffic rattles through the slum district of Payatas in Quezon City, just north of Metro Manila. It is 9am but over 30 degrees Celsius and climbing. A truck pulls over and workers unload the morning’s collection of rubbish, depositing it behind the corrugated iron gates of Joe’s Junk Shop. Payatas is a sprawling shanty town built on a landfill, and these junk shops are an integral part of the local economy. Inside, it is a hive of activity. The space is piled four metres high in parts... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020306/philippine-slums-meat-scavenged-dumpsters-feeds-those-short-meals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3020306/philippine-slums-meat-scavenged-dumpsters-feeds-those-short-meals?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jul 2019 00:30:07 +0000 An Australian university that was the scene of clashes between pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing students this week is under fire from several academics over its appointment of a serving Chinese diplomat as a faculty member. The controversy comes amid heightened scrutiny of Chinese influence at Australian universities, with the government on Thursday announcing an investigation into whether agreements between tertiary education institutions and Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes could violate... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3020168/university-queensland-faces-heat-naming-chinese-diplomat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3020168/university-queensland-faces-heat-naming-chinese-diplomat?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jul 2019 04:18:26 +0000 Japanese couple Yuto Niinaga and Chiharu Obata travelled thousands of miles for their wedding – to Madurai, a small city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Madurai is neither an exotic locale nor a famed wedding destination, but the pair’s affinity with Tamil culture drew them to the temple town. With the expat bride decked in a traditional Indian yellow silk sari and sporting the red pigment vermilion on her forehead, and the groom wrapped in a silk dhoti, their attire thrilled the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3020059/japanese-are-coming-indias-tamil-nadu-feels-force-foreign-cash?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3020059/japanese-are-coming-indias-tamil-nadu-feels-force-foreign-cash?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jul 2019 01:00:12 +0000 Issei Izawa, a 20-year-old student from Yokohama, had his heart set on a summer full of trips to the beach with his friends. But Japan’s unseasonably dreary weather persuaded him to abandon those plans and spend the months trying to pay off student loans by taking more shifts at the restaurant where he works. “It’s not how I expected to be spending this summer but there are not too many other options and my friends are all doing the same,” he says. “Maybe if we’re lucky the weather might get... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019731/japans-worst-summer-ever-how-grey-skies-and-economic-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019731/japans-worst-summer-ever-how-grey-skies-and-economic-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jul 2019 00:00:09 +0000 Nearly four years ago, the south Indian city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, was under water. The worst floods in living history – the result of cyclones from the Bay of Bengal – brought this manufacturing and services powerhouse of 11 million to a standstill as brackish water lapped at the wheels of the planes parked at the Anna International Airport. More than 500 people died and a further 1.8 million were displaced. Today, the city is wracked by an unprecedented drought, enduring more... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019540/drought-stricken-chennai-water-now-more-expensive-petrol?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019540/drought-stricken-chennai-water-now-more-expensive-petrol?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Jul 2019 03:35:00 +0000 Kuala Lumpur’s downtown Petaling Street area, the landing point of many Cantonese and Hakka settlers from China during the tin rush of the 1800s, has long been popular among tourists for its namesake market, Chinese and Indian temples, hawker food, and budget hostels. For the Malaysian city’s denizens, however, the area has been plagued by the impression that it is seedy and unsafe, and that it has lost its local character due to an influx of immigrant workers. Valid or not, this perception may... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019399/petaling-street-chinatown-malaysias-capital-bets-its-heritage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019399/petaling-street-chinatown-malaysias-capital-bets-its-heritage?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jul 2019 09:15:10 +0000 Anderson Lim clasped his hands tightly in a praying position as a spirit medium paced back and forth in front of him. Lim then chanted indistinctly as the medium set a paper doll – known as a “substitute” – on fire. The doll, dressed in a blue shirt that belonged to Lim’s brother, was part of a Taoist ritual performed to ward off bad luck.  “Recently [my brother] had a very bad fall. He missed a step and his ankle was badly fractured. He was hospitalised for two weeks,” said Lim, a 41-year-old... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019363/ghostbusting-singapore-meet-father-son-duo-banishing-demons-price?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3019363/ghostbusting-singapore-meet-father-son-duo-banishing-demons-price?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jul 2019 06:00:13 +0000 Lam, a data expert working for a top Hong Kong-based company, was born and bred in Kowloon Bay. But the city she once knew has vanished among mainland Chinese tourists’ shopping bags, crowded pavements and – most worryingly, she says – diminishing freedoms. The 28-year-old first thought of obtaining Portuguese nationality about five years ago. But she got busy and the plan was placed on hold until the recent political turmoil over Hong Kong’s extradition bill. “It made me revisit this idea. I... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3019392/portugal-new-home-those-who-fear-hong-kongs-fate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3019392/portugal-new-home-those-who-fear-hong-kongs-fate?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jul 2019 04:00:16 +0000 Last week in Hong Kong, a well-respected businessman told me that as the city’s recent cycle of violence escalated, he had started receiving emails from overseas friends asking about his well-being and expressing concerns about the city’s overall safety. On Tuesday, Charles Li Xiaojia, chief executive of stock market operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, told reporters international investors had voiced concerns about the fallout from the protests against the now-defunct extradition bill.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3019379/not-alarmist-talk-hong-kong-heading-breakdown-law-and-order?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3019379/not-alarmist-talk-hong-kong-heading-breakdown-law-and-order?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jul 2019 01:30:09 +0000