In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

Forced child marriages continue to plague young women throughout the world, depriving them of their most basic rights, including access to education. According to UNICEF, child marriages (under 18 years old) are most common in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with Bangladesh ranking one of the highest at 65 percent. Rukhsana Zaman Shanu, from Bangladesh’s Northern district of Rangpur, knows first-hand how difficult finding a path to a healthy education can be for a girl in Bangladesh.

Born in 1966 to a relatively wealthy family, Shanu was forced by her parents to stop her education after junior high school in order to prepare for marriage. Determined to continue her education anyway, she left her parents and moved into another family’s house to work as a live-in tutor.

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President Barack Obama’s visit to Indonesia next week [Note from editor: President Obama's trip has been delayed to June 2010] is not just a return to a childhood home, but an opportunity for the United States and Indonesia to signal that their relationship – as with childhood friends who may have drifted apart in adolescence – is now emerging into a mature partnership.

Relations have not always been smooth between Indonesia and the U.S. – the Sukarno years were fraught with disagreements and constant tensions, and under Suharto’s New Order, the U.S. always felt some ambivalence in engaging with an authoritarian regime. But as an American child growing up in Indonesia in the 1970s and ‘80s, the people-to-people relationship in Indonesia seemed to me almost familial. Indonesians loved America – and enthusiastically and voraciously consumed American products, from KFC to Levi’s to Hollywood films. The “American dream” for Indonesians was to send their kids to university in the U.S., and middle-class parents scrimped and saved to that end.

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The Mekong River, the longest in Southeast Asia, is at its lowest reported water level in 20 years. The river runs through six countries – China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam – but the highest percentage (35 percent) of the river’s overall water flow runs through Laos. The dramatic effects of the low water level here are palpable. In past weeks, downtown Vientiane businesses and homes have experienced reduced water pressure and even the stoppage of water supply during business hours. Boats in Luang Prabang and northern Laos that daily ferry tourists and cargo along the river and make up a significant part of the economy are currently beached for the first time in memory because it is too dangerous or just impossible to navigate the now-shallow waters. The hospitals in Vientiane are without water supply at peak hours and are busy brainstorming stop-gap solutions such as building larger holding tanks or drilling more artesian wells. The maternity and surgery wards are the biggest users of water, so they are the most affected. Recognizing the severity of the issue, the Prime Minister urged ministries and government offices last week to actively address the impact of this water shortage crisis.

As the country that holds the largest percentage of the Mekong River, Laos' industries, such as fishing, have been dramatically affected by current low water levels.

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The Council on Foreign Relations interviews Scott Snyder, Director of The Asia Foundation’s Center for U.S.-Korea Policy, on the possibility of a visit by North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il to China. Snyder wonders if such a visit would include China’s urging North Korea to return to the Six Party Talks, which have been at a standstill since last December. Read the full interview on the Council on Foreign Relations website.

A sea of grey, white, and brown-robed men looked up – inquisitive but wary – from their examination papers and wooden desks as I stepped into the classroom. With all eyes already on me, I raised my hand to my heart and called out the appropriate greeting: “As sala’amu alaikum.” With barely a beat, the entire room erupted into broad smiles and a chorus of “walaikum as sala’am.”

The group I’d disrupted was the latest cohort of the training program provided by the Imam Training Academy (ITA) of the Islamic Foundation of Bangladesh. Each year, ITA trains approximately 5,000 Muslim religious leaders from across Bangladesh in a 45-day course that covers issues critical to national development such as poverty reduction, achieving universal literacy, improving government service delivery, and spurring economic growth, with reference to the texts of the Quran and the hadith, the collected traditions, teachings, and stories of the Prophet Muhammad.

More than 80 percent of Bangladeshi citizens say that religious leaders of all faiths should have a role in advancing national development goals and democratic principles in Bangladesh, according to a survey conducted by The Asia Foundation with USAID support. The survey also found that over 64 percent of ordinary citizens believe religious leaders have a major role to play in guiding community thought on social issues, and that over 70 percent would request the involvement or opinion of a religious or community leader at a shalish, or local mediation forum.

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The paved road from Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar ends abruptly with a pile of rocks and a sign bearing an exclamation point, as if the rocks alone weren’t reason enough to stop.

“From here it’s going to be a bumpy and long ride,” said Myangaa, our driver for the day-long journey into Khishig-Undur. And with that, we pulled onto a small trail worn by decades’ worth of travelers making their way across the vast, barren landscape of Mongolia.

We were on a trip to deliver books to a classroom of fourth-grade students in this far-flung, rural community nearly 200 miles from the capital, and to film the journey for the third installment of our “Choose a Book, Change a Life” campaign.  (Watch the first and second videos of kids in Thailand and Bangladesh receiving their books.)

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I was honored to represent The Asia Foundation at the seventh U.S.-Islamic World Forum co-hosted by the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy and the State of Qatar in Doha last month. The Saban Center has convened the forum for seven years, shaping an event that is duly recognized and anticipated as the premier gathering of American and Muslim leaders for discussion of critical issues and partnership opportunities.

This year, the three-day forum focused on President Barack Obama’s call – in his historic Cairo University address last June – for  a “new beginning” in relations between the United States and Muslims worldwide, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. Speakers, panelists, and participants were invited to explore what has changed in the eight months since Obama’s Cairo address – in  particular, whether the call for change has been reflected in substantive policy recommendations and program initiatives that advance U.S.-Muslim relations.

U.S. Senator John Kerry speaks with Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al-Thani at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum. Photo by Ralph Alswang.

There were a few moments in which friendly exchanges yielded to pointed comments, stern expressions, or awkward silence. These occasional tensions reflected the mix of optimism, expectation, and impatience that has followed the President’s call for change. While hard questions were raised on Afghanistan, and other tough issues were scrutinized and debated, it was clear that Arab and Muslim nations are still looking to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the ultimate yardstick of American resolve to turn noble pledge into decisive action. Participants set the bar high, but signaled every confidence that President Obama is sincere in his commitment.

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On February 19, the results of the ninth Enterprise Survey on Corruption in the Philippines were released to the public. As campaigning heats up in the Philippines for national elections in May, a particular finding is worth pointing out: 75 percent of business managers feel that “fighting corruption” is an important concern in choosing a presidential candidate.

For nearly a decade, the Enterprise Survey on Corruption has provided a unique snapshot of the Filipino business sector’s perspectives on corruption and good governance. Since 2000, The Asia Foundation has partnered with Social Weather Stations, the Philippines’ foremost non-profit, nongovernment data generation organization, to conduct a series of surveys to examine the attitudes and actual experiences of businesses with regard to public and private sector corruption.

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As Haiti began to recover from the devastating January 12 earthquake that left over 200,000 dead and destroyed the livelihoods of millions of families, another even-stronger 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile February 27, leaving nearly 500 dead, and over 1.5 million displaced. Last Thursday, March 4, another earthquake hit Taiwan, followed by another smaller, yet destructive, earthquake that shook eastern Turkey on Monday.

In the aftermath of such disasters, food, water, and shelter are the most important concerns. But medium-to-longer-term recovery planning is crucial, especially in places like Haiti, where millions of people struggle to find ways to reclaim their lives. As debilitating as the immediate circumstances are in Haiti, creating opportunities for people to work again is not only necessary for family survival, but also for the psychosocial recovery that is critical to rebuilding communities in the longer-term.

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The Asia Foundation’s strategic partner Give2Asia joins a select group of innovative organizations that represent the best and brightest ideas on actionable approaches to social change. The World Affairs Council will convene these select organizations working in global economy and innovation, international development and poverty, environment and climate change, and global security and human rights. John Wood, founder & executive chairman of Room to Read, and Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, in conversation with Elizabeth Farnsworth will discuss innovation strategies, social change, and making a difference. For more information, contact Susana Rodriguez at srodriguez@wacsf.org.