In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

When Lehman Brothers collapsed one year ago, Japan entered the worst of the global financial crisis with a unique perspective. It had experienced its own asset bubble in the late 1980s, and the slowness and inadequacy of its response led to a decade of stagnation and missed economic opportunity. One result of that experience was an abundance of caution. Japanese banks avoided many of the subprime loans that had laid the groundwork for the financial crisis in the United States, and high household savings rates and a favorable balance of trade placed it in a stronger position than many of its G20 peers.

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Annually, I have the distinct pleasure at the invitation of the Young Moro Professionals Network to give a message to the International Ramadan Fair. In 2006, I attended as a visitor and found the idea of an International Ramadan Fair in Manila so valuable that, in the following years, I encouraged The Asia Foundation to provide a small amount of support to help in this outreach to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The theme of this year’s fair, “Recognizing Diversity in Faith,” clearly reflects the realities of modern Philippine society, but is also drawn from the Qur’an where it says:

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Asia Foundation Country Representative in Indonesia, Robin Bush, is an expert on Islam, politics, and development in Indonesia and wrote the book Nahdlatul Ulama and the Struggle for Power within Islam and Politics in Indonesia, She spoke with National Geographic Magazine’s Michael Finkel about the cultural and political roles Islam plays in Indonesia. In the piece Dr. Bush says, “Islam in Indonesia is a huge tent under which all voices can talk to each other.” Read the full article.

Natural resource depletion, development, energy demand, and climate change were all on the table at The Asia Foundation during last Friday morning’s launch of the China Environment Forum’s USAID-funded publication:  “Asia’s Future: Critical Thinking for a Changing Environment.” Featured speakers included Dr. Jennifer Turner, Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum in Washington D.C., and Dr. Robert Collier, visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. This unique convening of East and West Coast expertise to discuss the most pressing environmental problems facing Asia brought a packed room and a lively exchange of ideas and perspectives.

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The live launch of The Asia Foundation’s nationwide opinion poll Constitutional Reform and Democracy in Thailand: A National Survey of the Thai People that gauges the national mood of the country on politics and governance issues is now available online. Read further analysis of the poll’s findings in a Bangkok Post op-ed by the poll’s author and the Foundation’s Regional Director for Elections and Political Processes, Tim Meisburger.

On Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand’s parliament began a 2-day debate on amending the Constitution, while Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva urged lawmakers to resolve the ongoing crisis. Three years after the Sept. 19. 2006 coup against former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand continues to struggle for political stability. Contentious factions have organized numerous protests and counter-protests, some leading to violence, and even derailing the high-profile summit of Asian leaders last April. Calls for Constitutional reforms have competed with demands for recovery from the global economic crisis. On Tuesday, the Cabinet agreed to ensure security forces are ready for planned protests this weekend marking the third anniversary of the coup.

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Even in death, Corazon “Cory” C. Aquino, former president of the Republic of the Philippines, continues to influence Philippine politics. Forty days after her funeral, at the end of the traditional mourning period, her son Benigno Aquino III, nicknamed “Noynoy,” formally declared his intention to run for the presidency. The declaration was made in Kalayaan Hall in Club Filipino, where, 23 years ago, his mother had delivered her own inaugural address as president.

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In North Korea’s totalitarian system, political stability depends on the health of the leader more than on any other factor. For this reason, Kim Jong Il’s rumored health problems have drawn careful scrutiny since he failed to appear almost exactly one year ago at public events marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The possible policy implications of three scenarios related to North Korea’s succession process – a managed succession, a contested succession, and a failed succession – were analyzed in a Council on Foreign Relations Special Report released in January entitled “Preparing for Sudden Change in North Korea,” by Paul Stares and Joel Wit.

See-Won Byun’s “North Korea Contingency Planning and U.S.-ROK Cooperation,” the latest report of The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, explores the policy coordination challenges the United States and South Korea are likely to face in the context of potential instability in North Korea. According to the report, contingency planning efforts were marginalized or neglected as a focal point for coordination under progressive South Korean administrations that prized engagement with North Korea over planning for possible North Korean instability. Read the full post.

Scott Snyder directs The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy. Snyder blogged on Global Security about policy implications of three scenarios related to North Korea’s succession process and the task of responding to potential instability in North Korea. He can be reached at ssnyder@asiafound-dc.org.

We started the drive to Vang Vieng early in the morning. It takes about three or four hours to get there from Vientiane on Highway 13, a long one-lane road that is bumper-to-bumper until you reach the city outskirts. Once out of the Lao capital, it becomes windy as Highway 13 stretches north. As the four of us – all born outside of Laos – drove north, we saw ducks and chickens being carted up country in large wooden baskets strapped to the back of buses. Black smoke wafted out of tailpipes and right onto the ducks and chickens. We made our way further into the lush, green countryside, crossing bridge after bridge, and road signs began to warn of steep turns, as we lurched from side to side. We saw young boys herding water buffalo and a road crew starting repair work to the highway in preparation for the 2009 Southeast Asian Games that the Lao PDR will host this year for the first time.

Ahead of the 2009 Southeast Asian Games, development begins on a riverfront boardwalk along the Mekong River near Vientiane.

During the drive, it was hard to imagine that this was the same country that is known as the most bombed country per capita in history – a tragic legacy of the Vietnam War here in Laos. After communicating with the driver through my co-worker for the first half of the trip, I realized that he understood some basic English, and learned that he had taken English-language classes through the U.S. cultural centers back in the 1960s. Now he runs a rental car business with his sons. His tale reminded me of the generation gap I’d heard about in this country between older men who know some English and their children who were taught anything but. Until recently, some say it was easier to find a Lao adult who speaks Russian than English because of the extensive scholarships awarded to Lao youth to study in the former Soviet Union. These days, English-language training has proven valuable, especially for those wanting to work in the booming tourism industry or in international trade and commerce.

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The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), supported by The Asia Foundation with funding from AusAID and USAID, observed the recent 2009 Presidential and Provincial Council elections. With 55 observers representing 13 Asian countries, ANFREL teams covered 12 provinces in the North (Balkh, Smanagan, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan), North East (Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, and Badakhshan), and Central (Kabul, Panjshir, and Parwan) regions of Afghanistan. Having also observed the 2004 and 2005 elections, ANFREL has experience covering Afghanistan. However, this year, the deteriorating security situation led to extraordinary security arrangements, which made it difficult for the observers to monitor the entire election process. In Kunduz, Baghlan, and Jowzjan, movement was especially restricted on polling day. The challenges were many.

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