Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Why we need to care about Myanmar
Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 03/02/2024
» Myanmar is entering its fourth year since the Feb 1, 2021 military coup. Its multiple crises continue -- a mix of economic difficulties and a humanitarian catastrophe -- at a time when armed conflict, including anti-junta resistance, has now spread to most of its regions.
Dangers of seeing haze as 'seasonal'
Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 14/10/2023
» At the start of 2023, mainland Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Laos hunkered down under a persistent haze. Heading toward the yearend, it is the turn of the maritime Asean countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- to be on alert during haze season.
When the environment gets sidelined
Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 23/07/2022
» Myanmar's human, social and natural capital have been "rapidly diminishing" after the 2021 military coup, explains Win Myo Thu, a respected environmental campaigner who, for over three decades, has been working with local communities for better access to land, forest, water, food and a clean environment.
Exiles take the war in Myanmar abroad
News, Johanna Son, Published on 28/02/2022
» An ousted legislator from Myanmar, doing kitchen work in a restaurant in the United States, sends half of his salary to the forces battling the military that seized power in his country. From "home" in a Southeast Asian country, a Myanmar national says nightly prayers for his country at a makeshift altar.
In Mekong region, drug trade thrives
Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 15/07/2021
» An example of a resilient business model in hard times? Indeed, except that this describes how the synthetic drug industry has been expanding in East and Southeast Asia, home to the Mekong region which is the manufacturing and trafficking hub that supplies illicit drugs that reach not just the wider Asia but the globe.
UNHCR: No one ever chooses to become a refugee
Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 22/05/2021
» Refugees, people fleeing air strikes by the Myanmar military, and those who are at risk of political persecution, have been the focus of attention in the months since the Feb 1 coup.
Myanmar journalists wait and watch
News, Johanna Son, Published on 08/02/2021
» 'Some horrible things are likely to happen," one journalist said. Added another: "They can arrest [us] anytime." A reporter predicted: "There will be a darker period for us." "I feel lost," one journalist said with a sigh. "We are unsafe and insecure."
The pressure cooker that is Thailand
Oped, Johanna Son, Published on 11/11/2020
» Thailand finds itself in a pressure cooker these days, dealing with pre-Covid-19 economic weaknesses, the lack of longer-term responses to the economic and social crises from the pandemic, and uncertainty about how much longer people can hold on before falling into poverty, losing jobs or closing small businesses.