By Ky D. Johnson

Ky Johnson is The Asia Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative in the Philippines. He can be reached at kjohnson@asiafound.org.

In the past few years, high-profile public sector corruption cases have played out in the Philippine media, and some international observers have rated the Philippines as the most corrupt country in Asia. Unfortunately, a recently conducted survey clearly shows that business managers in the Philippines believe that corruption increased in 2008.

Over the past eight years, the Annual 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 nonprofit nongovernment data generation organization, to implement surveys that focus attention on corruption. By pointing out critical areas for reform, and encouraging private and public sector participation in the fight against corruption, these surveys have had a powerful impact on the conduct of business and economic growth in the Philippines.  
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By Carolyn Mercado

Carolyn Mercado is a Senior Program Officer at The Asia Foundation in the Philippines. She can be reached at carol@asiafound.org.

Where is Jonas Burgos?  Where is Jaime Balao?  Who killed Rolando Antolihao and Danny Qualbar?

One might better ask, “Who are these four men?” and find an easier answer.

Jonas Burgos was the son of the late Philippine publisher-activist Joe Burgos, who dedicated his life to teaching farmers natural farming techniques. At noon on April 28, 2007, he was abducted by two unidentified men in a mall in Quezon City. The Burgos family has been searching for him since, but his whereabouts remain a mystery.
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By Steven Rood

Steven Rood is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in the Philippines. He can be reached at tafphil@asiafound.org.

Almost two months ago, at the time of the U.S. Democratic and Republican political conventions, I blogged here in InAsia about being the nonpartisan commentator on the local cable news channel, ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC – seen in the United States on The Filipino Channel).  I was delighted to be asked back to analyze the presidential election results as they came in yesterday.

Since interest in the election here in Manila  was so high, live coverage began at 5:00 am (4 pm ET).  Election returns only began to flow at 8:00 am (7 pm ET), so that’s when our part began.  Besides the anchor and myself, there was one representative each from Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad.  As Americans are accustomed to, as soon as polls closed in each state, the networks would “call” it for one candidate or the other (based on an esoteric combination of exit polls and early vote counts).
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By Harry Harding

Harry Harding is a University Professor of International Affairs at The George Washington University and a Trustee of The Asia Foundation. He wrote “China Policy for the Next U.S. Administration,” a chapter in The Asia Foundation’s newly-released “America’s Role in Asia,” and recently attended a Thai-US Think Tank Summit in Bangkok where he spoke on the U.S.-Southeast Asia relationship.

Now that the U.S. presidential election is over, the incoming Obama administration will begin a reconsideration of American foreign policy.  Numerous urgent issues will compete for attention, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and the parlous state of the global economy.  But consideration of these urgent matters should not come at the expense of issues that, while perhaps less immediate, are no less important.  One of these is the American relationship with Southeast Asia.

There is a widely shared view, both in Southeast Asia and in the Asian policy community in the U.S., that the United States has been paying insufficient attention to the region. In introducing the Southeast Asia section of the Asia Foundation’s recently-released America’s Role in Asia report at a press conference in Washington last month Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies, complained that Washington has been treating Southeast Asia with “benign neglect,” perhaps because the region has presented the U.S. with neither significant challenges nor great opportunities.
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By Robin Bush

Robin Bush is The Asia Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative in Indonesia. Below is a summary of remarks she delivered while on a panel Tuesday on Human Development and Social Change Dialogue at the 2008 U.S.-Islamic World Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur, co-sponsored by The Asia Foundation, the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, and ISIS. She can be reached at rbush@tafindo.org.

“Human Development” as a concept stands at the center of a vast array of development funding and policy initiatives – and in its broadest sense encompasses indicators of life expectancy, education, gross national product etc.., as well as environmental quality, effective governance, and freedom. For a full elaboration I refer you to the excellent discussion paper on this topic produced by Hady Amr for the 2008 Doha US-Islamic World Forum.

Let’s look at education, because, when one looks at Islamic schools and Islamic education in the region, one can observe a fascinating dualism: in many areas, Islamic education is the poorest in quality and serves the poorest demographics; at the same time, there are Islamic schools and institutions that are centers of excellence, which function as a bridge or vehicle for lifting the human development indicators of entire communities around them.
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By V. Bruce J. Tolentino

Bruce Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs. On Tuesday, he spoke at the 2008 U.S.-Islamic World Regional Forum in Malaysia, co-sponsored by The Asia Foundation, the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, and ISIS. Below is an excerpt of his remarks delivered on a panel about Trade and Investment Dialogue. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org.

Discussed at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum this week, in Kuala Lumpur, were lessons that could be learned by the Islamic world – particularly the Middle East - from the experience in economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).  The discussion immediately made it apparent that ASEAN’s performance in economic integration may be assessed as “good” or “not so good” – depending on the specific aspect(s) being measured, and the metric being applied.

Usually, we think of economic integration in terms of measures of trade and financial flows – and by these relatively narrow measures, ASEAN has been successful. 
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By Gordon Hein

Gordon Hein is The Asia Foundation’s Vice President for Programs. Below are his welcoming remarks at the 2008 U.S.-Islamic World Regional Forum on Monday in Kuala Lumpur, co-sponsored by The Asia Foundation, the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, and ISIS. He can be reached at ghein@asiafound.org.

Since the U.S.-Islamic World Forum’s launch by the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution in 2004, it has made important contributions to dialogue and understanding, and has served as a catalyst for action among organizations from many countries. It is our belief – and our hope – that by holding this conference in Southeast Asia, we can add an additional, vital element to the dialogue that can make it even richer, deeper, and more successful that it has been to date. For this opportunity, I would like to express our gratitude to Ambassador Martin Indyk and his staff at the Saban Center. We are also pleased to be co-sponsoring this event with ISIS, the Institute of Strategic and International Studies here in Kuala Lumpur – led by Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan. ISIS is an organization that has contributed so much over the years not only to Malaysia, but to the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, and it’s an organization with which The Asia Foundation has had a long and fruitful history of cooperation.
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By Tommy Koh

Tommy Koh is Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, and Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies and the National Heritage Board. He was one of the three Asian co-chairs for the recently released book, America’s Role in Asia: Asian and American Views. Below is an excerpt from his chapter, which provides recommendations for a new U.S.  administration’s foreign policy towards the Southeast Asia region.

The peoples of Southeast Asia are following the 2008 U.S. presidential elections with great attention and admiration, given the open and transparent primary processes. America’s real and vibrant democracy is reflected in the competing candidates’ travels to every corner of the country to win the hearts and minds of voters. This illustrates that the highest office of the land can neither be secured by wealth nor pedigree and, this year especially, neither race nor gender is an insurmountable obstacle. Consequently, in some parts of the world, including Southeast Asia, anti-Americanism has been balanced by a respect for America’s current exercise of democracy.

Thus, every region of the world wants America’s attention; the only question is whether American attention is positive or negative. Washington’s nature is to focus attention on the largest countries, regions, and economies, which can pose a threat to American interest or to international peace and security. By these standards, Southeast Asia — a region largely at peace — does not receive the positive attention it deserves. Read More…

By Steven Rood

Steve Rood is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in the Philippines. Below was taken from his address to the Young Moro Professional Networks’ 2008 International Ramadan Fair on October 1, 2008. He can be reached at srood@asiafound.org.

Good morning, magandang umaga, Assalamu Alaykum.

I’m very happy to be here today once again at the invitation of the Young Moro Professionals Networks to be part of the Opening Program of the International Ramadan Fair 2008. Each year The Asia Foundation supports this event due to its crucial importance for our times, as the Young Moro Professionals Network tries “To enhance the perspective of Muslims and Non-Muslims alike on the tenets of Islam, promoting universal principles and values of pluralism, excellence, and justice.”

When speaking of “Harmony in Religious and Cultural Diversity,” these are difficult times with both signs of hope and reasons for pessimism. We can find hope in unity among religions.
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By V. Bruce J. Tolentino

Bruce Tolentino is The Asia Foundation’s Director for Economic Reform and Development Programs. He can be reached at btolentino@asiafound.org.

Over the past few weeks, as the U.S. financial system has reeled from a shocking series of major “adjustments,” Asia’s economists and bankers remind themselves of the key lessons — painfully taught — by the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s:  (a) all markets are linked; (b) financial markets are much more volatile than others and thus require more stringent oversight and regulation; and (c) refocusing on economic fundamentals is key to long-term recovery and growth.

Taking the long view, the medium-to-long term impact of the U.S. financial crisis on Asia is likely to be muted.
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