In late 2006, the Mongolian Anti-corruption Agency (ACA) was created to actively combat corruption, although its authority has been blocked by legal technicalities. Last month, these technicalities disappeared when the Criminal Procedures Code was amended and ratified by Parliament, granting ACA the opportunity to fulfill its mandate to investigate, gather intelligence, and educate the public on anti-corruption activities.
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By Scott Snyder

Scott Snyder is a Senior Associate with The Asia Foundation and can be reached at ssnyder@asiafound-dc.org. The following opinion article was originally printed last week in the Korea Times.

Many doubts have been expressed in Washington about the wisdom of holding an inter-Korean summit in the waning months of a presidential term, but there is little reason to be surprised.

There is inherent unpredictability in a meeting between a high-stakes gambler (Roh Moo-hyun) and a shrewdly poker-faced survivor (Kim Jong-il). Both leaders have their own motives for making high-risk wagers against long odds. In the end the summit is a gamble worth taking, but neither leader is ultimately likely to win.

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Recently, the National Library of Vietnam and The Asia Foundation launched a national essay contest to find three young ambassadors who will promote friendship and cooperation between the youth of Vietnam and their counterparts in the United States. The topic of the essay contest — open to Vietnamese students between the ages of 18-22 — asks each candidate to express his or her hopes for Vietnam’s future, which will provide a rich portrait of the expectations of modern-day Vietnamese while promoting a better understanding of Vietnam in the United States.
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By Véronique Salze-Lozac’h

Veronique Salze-Lozac’h is the Regional Director for Economic Programs at The Asia Foundation’s office in Phnom Penh.

“Keep making your voice heard, keep informing us of your concerns, we need to hear from you,” Senator Ung Huot, Vice Chairman of the Senate Commission on Economy, urged representatives of provincial small business associations in a meeting at the Senate on September 7th in Phnom Penh. “Improving your business environment will take time,” he warned, “but raising your voice is the only way to get things moving.”

The message was well received by representatives of provincial small and medium business associations who made the long trip to the capital city of Phnom Penh to, for the first time, directly engage with national policy-makers on private sector development in Cambodia.
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By Roderick Brazier

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

Only 2-3% of Cambodia’s population is Muslim, but on the streets of Phnom Penh and its village suburbs, Muslims’ colorful veils and sarongs are a common sight. Historically, Muslims and the majority Buddhist Khmer population have enjoyed peaceful relations: the King has traditionally funded pilgrimages to Mecca for selected Muslims, and Muslims have served as advisors in the royal court and as government ministers. Since the events of September 11, 2001, though, there appears to have been more scrutiny of the Muslim community in Cambodia for signs of radicalization.

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By Chris Plante

Chris Plante is the Director of the Environment Program at The Asia Foundation.

This week, ahead of two global summits on climate change ” one called for by President Bush, the other by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon — the World Affairs Council of Northern California held a conference on Climate Change and Global Politics in San Francisco. While discussing climate change among experts and political leaders is valuable, for the tens of millions of citizens in Asia already impacted by its effects, the question for the policymakers and experts is: When will strategies on how to adapt to climate change be posed and what will they say?
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Nepal marked a historic milestone on the road to peace when, on April 1, 2007, members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) were sworn into the interim government after a decade long insurgency. The primary task of the government is to hold elections for a constituent assembly, which are scheduled for November 22, 2007.

The Asia Foundation, working with a diverse group of civil society organizations, is supporting the National Election Monitoring Alliance (NEMA), which has developed a comprehensive plan to monitor the upcoming elections.
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Last week, a new mobile library initiative was launched to help an estimated 80,000 families and children who do not have access to existing library services in four Local Authorities in Sri Lanka. Many of these communities were devastated by the tsunami, and schools and libraries are still in the process of being rebuilt. The mobile library initiative is being organized by The Asia Foundation with support from the AIG Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), and Give2Asia, an organization founded by The Asia Foundation to promote philanthropy to Asia.
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By James Klein

James Klein is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Thailand.

On Sunday, August 19, 2007, Thailand’s Election Commission organized the Kingdom’s first referendum in history. Voters were given the opportunity to vote either “Yes” or “No” to adopt the newly drafted Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, which would provide the ground rules for a new elected civilian government to replace the Interim Constitution of 2006 and the government installed by military leadership after the September 19, 2006 coup. Nationwide, 57.6% of eligible voters cast their ballots; the majority, 56.7%, voted yes. The military acknowledges that it had hoped for both a higher turnout for the referendum and approval rating for the draft charter; nevertheless, some reports of the referendum has been fraught with confusion and errors, leading to a growing level of misinformation being accepted as fact. Here are a few examples of frequent misstatements and clarifications.
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With Ambassador Rajendra Abhyankar, Former Consul General to San Francisco and Program Development Consultant for The Asia Foundation.

As India celebrates sixty years of independence, the country’s outlook is marked by dramatic turns in its economic position, a rapidly evolving nuclear program, and efforts to determine the role India will play in the region. The world’s second most populous nation, India has survived as a diverse, secular democracy for six decades, and its economy has surged. Please join Ambassador Rajendra Abhyankar, Program Development Consultant for The Asia Foundation, as he explores where India is headed in this troubled yet promising century.

Ambassador Abhyankar has been involved in formulating Indian policy in the areas of politics and security, trade and investment, and culture and education. He has held many diplomatic posts, including Ambassador to the European Union, and to the Republics of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Syria, as well as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, where he supervised India’s relations with the countries of the Middle East and the Islamic world. He also served as Consul General in San Francisco from 1998 to 2001.

The Asia Foundation has supported India’s development since the mid-1950’s. Currently, the Foundation maintains a non-resident program there, focusing on International Relations, the Environment, Governance, Economic Reform, Women’s Empowerment, and Philanthropy.

Co-sponsored by the Asia Society and the East-West Center

Location:
Haydn Williams Conference Room
The Asia Foundation
465 California Street, 8th Floor
San Francisco, CA

Registration:
Registration 5:30 PM, Program 6:00 PM

RSVP:
To attend, or for more information, please e-mail rsvp@asiafound.org or call 415-743-3347.