In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

As discussions on the federal budget and sequestration continue here in Washington, D.C., The Asia Foundation’s Washington office sponsored an event
to discuss how various Asian nations are approaching and, in some cases, expanding their development assistance programs.

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Kiki, a registrations clerk at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta, glanced at his pile of paperwork with a degree of resignation. It was April 2009, and he was responding to three summons letters from the prosecutor’s office and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for 92 inmates to appear in court the next day.

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Indonesia is a successful but flawed democracy: while the electoral process has worked well, the quality of democratic governance is less encouraging. Missing from the equation between elections and democracy is political accountability. Parties’ obsession with coalition building as a route to political power…

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Over the last few weeks, in our blog, our studies, in well-respected surveys, at think tanks and other organizations, and the media, the topic of corruption and transparency seems to be everywhere you look. However, there seems no clear consensus on the extent of the problem…

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Consider this: In 2013, Asia remains the fastest growing region in the world, home to 3.9 billion people, or about 56 percent of the world’s population. Of the world’s 23 megacities, 12 are found in Asia. At the same time, Asia is home to roughly two-thirds of the world’s poor…

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Two new publications showing very different profiles of the quality of governance in Indonesia landed on my desk this week, prompting debate and consternation. The just-launched International Budget Partnership’s “2012 Open Budget Survey” painted an encouraging picture…

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The just-released Open Budget Survey 2012 ranks Afghanistan as the second greatest improver out of 100 countries in budget transparency. South Korea leads among Asian countries as having the most transparent budget, followed by India, Indonesia, and Afghanistan. The Survey also reveals that the national budgets of 77 of the 100 countries assessed fail to [...]

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For the past 30 years, Asia has been urbanizing at a faster rate than any other region in the world. In 2011, Asia was home to roughly 61 percent of the world’s population, or 4.2 billion people. More than 40 percent of them now live in urban areas. By 2025, Asia will have 21 of the world’s 37 megacities…

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Season’s Greetings! On behalf of In Asia‘s editorial board and bloggers, we thank you for your engagement and continued readership throughout the year. We’ll be taking a short break, but will return on January 9 for a special “Forecast: Asia in 2013″ edition. In the meantime, catch up on a few must-read pieces and highlights on the most pressing events and issues in Asia throughout 2012.

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When President Obama made his first post-election international trip last month to Southeast Asia, his message was clear: as Asia becomes the driver of global politics in the coming decades, the U.S. is strategically reorienting its presence in the region. But the U.S. is not the only one that recognizes a need for reorientation – Asia itself does too.

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