Showing 81 - 90 of 99
Under pressure: refugees feel welcome has worn out
Spectrum, Published on 26/05/2013
» As she sits chewing betel nuts outside her bamboo home in the Mae La Oon refugee camp, Naw Molo Moe says life has become more difficult since non-governmental organisations began scaling back their financial aid.
Fight on to keep dam from turning pristine paradise into 'death valley'
Spectrum, Published on 14/04/2013
» Recognised internationally as a natural treasure of biodiversity, Cambodia's Central Cardamom Protected Forest faces mounting pressure from agricultural clearance and infrastructure projects. Now an unlikely alliance of Buddhist monks, students and farmers has started to speak out against the threats, and have even taken to blessing trees in an effort to save them.
Stranded amid a sea of reforms
Spectrum, Phil Thornton, Published on 10/03/2013
» Recent progress within Myanmar is coming at the expense of ethnic villagers in the country's impoverished southeast, who who are seeing their land expropriated as development steamrollls in. That was the conclusion of ''Losing Ground'', a report released last week in Bangkok by the Karen Human Rights Group featuring the results of field studies undertaken from January, 2011 to November, 2012.
Ly Yong Phat, the King of Koh Kong
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 03/02/2013
» Thai-Cambodian relations have been defined high in the Dangrek Mountains ever since troops from both sides began clashing over the 12th century ruins at Preah Vihear five years ago. Further south, where the Kaoh Pao meets the Gulf of Thailand, it's a very different story.
2012 - When Asean felt Beijing's bite
Spectrum, Luke Hunt, Published on 30/12/2012
» Twenty-twelve should be remembered as the year in which China acted on its long-standing claims in the South China Sea, took off the gloves and arraigned its intimidating military and diplomatic arsenal against its neighbours to the south. Gone were the usual glib lines that China only gives foreign aid and soft loans to countries in need, with no strings attached. Cambodia _ for years a benefactor of Beijing's largesse _ was bullied onto China's political front lines, acting as a spoiler against fellow Asean countries attempting to forge a united front against Beijing's territorial and maritime ambitions.
Military minefields blocking transition to democracy
Spectrum, Published on 09/12/2012
» The term ''irreversible transformation'' is popular these days with Myanmar's former military generals who use it at international roadshows, but as the Latpadaung copper mine unrest shows, the transformation may be largely superficial. When protests at the mine led by monks and local activists were brutally broken up by the government late last month, injuring more than 50 protesters, it was stark proof of military's lingering dominance. The unrest also highlights concerns over political and economic ties between the Myanmar military and the Chinese government. The Latpadaung copper mine project is a joint venture between the Chinese-owned Wanbao Mining Company and the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Company (UMEH), which not coincidentally is run by former military officers.
Vientiane says sorry for broken Xayaburi ground
Spectrum, Parista Yuthamanop, Published on 25/11/2012
» Considering the scale of the project and the controversy it has caused, the ground-breaking ceremony for the Xayaburi dam was a relatively quiet affair.
Villagers vow they won't give up homes for dam
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 04/11/2012
» As soon as staff from an engineering consultancy company arrived at the site of the proposed Kaeng Sua Ten dam project in Phrae province late last month, a scuffle broke out between them and locals from the nearby village of Sa-Iab. Later there was another brief confrontation between officials trying to install water level monitors in the Yom River and villagers who tried to stop them. The officials were surrounded and finally driven out of Sa-Iab in a scene reminiscent of one 10 years ago when villagers seized staff from a consultancy firm employed by the World Bank, injuring some of them.
Government flood 'master plan' faces deluge of criticism
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 14/10/2012
» Vichian Phumlamjiak, chairman of the newly formed Thai Rice Farmers and Farm Folks Association, is hesitant to meet with his fellow farmers and tell them that he has not had any confirmation from the government on how much it will compensate them for the use of their rice fields to help take excess floodwater running down from the North.
PROPERTY IN THAILAND, Part 6 Government administration
Spectrum, Published on 07/10/2012
» We've talked about the laws relating to property ownership, and the documents that verify it. But who in the government is in charge of administering all of this?