Showing 1 - 10 of 26
As graft fight goes high-tech, business engagement crucial
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 09/12/2019
» The willingness of governments to use technology to enhance transparency and a strategy to engage the private sector are crucial in the fight against graft, experts say.
Meth menace
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 18/11/2019
» Boshe, a community of 14,000 in Guangdong province in southern China, was once known as the "Breaking Bad Village" because it supplied one-third of the methamphetamine consumed in the country.
The scourge of human trafficking
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 28/10/2019
» The case of 39 people, most Vietnamese, found dead in a refrigerated trailer in Britain highlighted the fact that human trafficking and modern slavery are still a huge problem for Asia, and the entire world for that matter.
Fight fake news with education
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 14/10/2019
» The fight against fake news is becoming more challenging, but a lot can be done by educating people in how to identify unreliable sources and fact checking. Just creating laws against people who spread such information doesn't fix the problem because they are like the Hydra -- you cut off one head and two more will pop up as the cyber-population grows.
Cost of doing business in Land of Smiles
News, Erich Parpart, Published on 15/07/2019
» Several government megaprojects and ultra-lucrative concessions have long been a source of alleged corruption, questionable monopolies or "stupid" state incompetency in Thailand to the point it is sad that no one has been willing to do anything about it all these years.
Headwinds ahead
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 29/04/2019
» Amid unfavourable external economic conditions and political uncertainties at home, the outlook is dimming for Thailand and other Asian countries facing an export slowdown linked to weak trade and demand growth globally.
US affirms Thai, Asean commitment
News, Erich Parpart, Published on 06/04/2019
» Two senior US officials from Washington DC yesterday reaffirmed the North American superpower's economic and military commitments in Thailand and Asean amid China's growing influence with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its increasing aggressiveness in the South China Sea.
Duterte can run but he can't hide
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 25/03/2019
» Last week the Philippines became the second country in the world to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Burundi, which left in 2017. Many observers, myself included, see this as an attempt to evade an investigation into President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs, but it is not going to work.
Saviours at sea
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 18/03/2019
» The Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 took a terrible toll across South and Southeast Asia, with an estimated 230,000 people killed in 14 countries. In Thailand, the hardest hit area was in Khao Lak in Phangnga where some 4,000 people lost their lives when the wall of water overwhelmed them.
Hope for refugee children
Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 28/01/2019
» The cause of children's rights got a lift last week when immigration police in Thailand announced that they would stop holding migrant and refugee children in the country's crowded immigration detention facilities.