By Ky D. Johnson

This piece originally ran on March 28th. Due to overwhelming popularity, we are re-issuing it with a correction (Note paragraph 8: 700 interviews were conducted as opposed to 1,200). Ky Johnson is The Asia Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative for the Philippines and Pacific Island Nations.  

On March 14, 2007 the Philippines topped the charts.  Unfortunately, this was not a contest that the nation had aspired to win.  The Philippines came out on top (or depending on your perspective, the bottom) of a perception survey, conducted by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), which ranked it as the most corrupt among thirteen nations in Asia.  The survey polled expatriates in the Philippines who, when asked “How big is the problem of corruption in terms of being a feature influencing the overall business environment?” gave it a 9.40 (out of 10).  Indonesia and Thailand tied for the second most corrupt at 8.03. 
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Recently, The Asia Foundation hosted four significant book exhibitions in Vietnam to promote special collections, reading rooms, and libraries which have received volumes from the Foundation’s book donation program, Books for Asia.

Books for Asia has operated in Vietnam since 1993 through a partnership with the National Library in Hanoi. Over the past five years, the Foundation has provided approximately 160,000 volumes to Vietnam, with an additional 120,000 expected to be shipped over the next three years. 
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In March 2006, the Foundation established the Tsunami Legal Aid and Rights Referral Center (T-LAC) in Krabi Province to provide legal services to the poor and vulnerable survivors of the December 2004 tsunami.

T-LAC offers a range of services, including free consultation on rights and legal issues; the covering of administrative costs related to legal proceedings such as translation, filing fees, recovering lost documents, as well as travel to and from lawyer consultations and courts; and providing pro bono legal representation in court.
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By Robin Bush and Hana Satriyo

Robin Bush is The Asia Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative in Indonesia; Hana Satriyo is Director of The Asia Foundation’s Gender and Women’s Participation Program in Indonesia.

Southeast Asia is home to beautiful beaches, rich cultural traditions, and one of the most reprehensible practices in the modern day ” trafficking in persons.

Indonesia has between 3-8 million workers abroad and most of them are undocumented, although no statistics are available on numbers of domestic migrant workers. Recognizing the seriousness of this issue, Indonesia’s parliament issued on March 13th one of the strongest and most progressive laws against trafficking in persons on the books in Asia.
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By Roderick Brazier, with Jennifer Yip

Roderick Brazier is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Cambodia.  

Amid the charm of easy-paced Phnom Penh, with its riverside cafes and French architecture, it is jarring to learn that former senior Khmer Rouge officials ” mass murderers ” live in some of the city’s many comfortable villas. Some even take morning strolls in the tree-lined parks. Outside Phnom Penh, and especially in former Khmer Rouge strongholds in the north and west of the country, some former Khmers Rouge officials occupy positions in provincial and district government.

For many Cambodians, mental peace can only truly come with punishment of the leaders of the murderous regime. Sadly, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, which was supposed to prosecute the masterminds of the genocide, is mired in quarrels over procedures.
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By Tom Parks

Tom Parks is The Asia Foundation’s Assistant Director for Governance, Law, and Civil Society

The recent attack on a bus in Yala province serves as a stark reminder that the violence in Southern Thailand shows no signs of letting up. Despite a more conciliatory approach by the new government in Bangkok, the situation continues to worsen in this turbulent corner of Southeast Asia. This conflict, like many others in Asia, seems to be caught in a long-term cycle of escalation, de-escalation, and re-escalation of violence, spanning decades.
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Bangladeshi society confers stature and respect on individuals whose contributions to community life reflect special knowledge and personal integrity. As leaders of influence, Muslim religious leaders, or imams, are well placed to contribute to national development efforts.
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By Barnett Baron

Barnett Baron is the Executive Vice President of The Asia Foundation and a member of the Council on Foundations’ Treasury Guidelines Working Group.

In November 2002, the Treasury Department issued “Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for US-based Charities,” based in large part on Executive Order 13224 (September 2001) and the USA Patriot Act (October 2001). The intent was to ensure that charitable donations intended for humanitarian purposes were not diverted to terrorist organizations, either deliberately or inadvertently. As “Guidelines”, they offered a broad range of “best practice” recommendations related to nonprofit organizational governance, due diligence, financial practices, as well as a new set of anti-terrorist financing procedures.

But the Treasury Guidelines, revised twice after repeated and detailed criticism from the philanthropic community, still prove to be unduly vague, burdensome, (in some cases) inconsistent with existing laws and regulations, and unlikely to accomplish their stated goal of assisting “charities that attempt in good faith to protect themselves from terrorist abuse.”
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This past year, the Asia Foundation supported the first systematic attempt in Sri Lanka to devise tools for measuring the effectiveness of psychosocial services for torture survivors. The Foundation helped its partners develop their own indicators for evaluating program impact based on their understanding of wellness in conflict-affected communities. These tools provide information about what constitutes effective assistance to torture survivors and are helping to assess program performance.
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Beijing is home to more than 4 million migrant workers, over 25% of the city’s population. Unlike migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta clustered in industrial communities, workers in Beijing are scattered throughout the city and often lack any social support networks.  Recognizing this, the Boeing Company has awarded a new grant to The Asia Foundation to expand its longstanding programs to support migrant women workers, now targeting Beijing’s migrant worker community.
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