In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

In February, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court struck down a controversial clause of the Forestry Law which had enabled the national government to declare the boundaries of the state forest zone without a proper mapping process. The Ministry of Forestry controls a state forest zone of 133 million hectares…

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Over the years, international development assistance in Asia, as in other parts of the world, has included a focus on law and justice as a means for addressing a range of development goals, including poverty reduction, economic growth, and the advancement of human rights. A variety of rationales have been used to try to explain how law and justice interventions contribute to these broader development objectives, including asserted links to peace and stability, state legitimacy, and citizen empowerment. Most recently, the World Development Report 2011 highlighted the role of justice in breaking the cycles of violence, conflict, and fragility that continue to undermine our collective development efforts.

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Last week, Asia Foundation trustee and Stimson Center president Ellen Laipson joined veteran journalist Robin Wright in a discussion moderated by new Asia Foundation executive vice president, Suzanne Siskel, on “After the Arab Spring: Prospects for Change.” The panel was part of the World Affairs Council’s annual 2-day conference in San Francisco.

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To mark International Women’s Day and broaden understanding of the importance of increasing women’s rights and creating political and economic opportunities for women, The Asia Foundation yesterday hosted a discussion on “Women’s Changing Roles in Asia,” as part of its Asian Perspectives Series.

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March 8 marks the 101st celebration of International Women’s Day. A century of history has seen this global occasion imbued with varying levels of political, economic, social, and cultural significance in diverse cultures around the globe. The United Nations has declared this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.” According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 578 of the world’s 925 million chronically hungry people live in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Over the past few months, Indonesians have been witnessing a procession of scandalous cases involving female lawmakers accused of bribery, embezzlement of state funds, and shady, back-door political bargaining.

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To mark International Women’s Day, The Asia Foundation will host a panel discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., on “Women’s Changing Roles in Asia.” The March 13 event will feature a member of the Indonesian Parliament, the gender advisor to the prime minister of Nepal, president of the Cambodian Women’s [...]

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In a remote corner of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago, a community is tearing itself apart. On the night of February 11, residents from Pelauw village on Haruku Island in the eastern province of Maluku, turned on their neighbors, hurling homemade bombs and setting hundreds of houses on fire…

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Aisyiyah, the women’s wing of Muhammadiyah, recently released results of a study it did on adolescent sexuality in Yogyakarta’s Bantul district. Pointing to the widespread practice of girls marrying in their teens and even below the legal age of 16, the study makes for a worrying read.

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After a series of reports emerged across the archipelago in recent weeks of children being arrested and prosecuted for petty crimes, Indonesians are raising questions about the state of juvenile justice in the country. The first was a confounding case that resonated around the globe: a 15-year-old boy from Central Sulawesi was incarcerated and tried last month…

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