Rohingya woman and her child

This blog has spoken about the situation with the Myanmar minority group, the Rohingya before.  Colby Pacheco has a more detailed piece at OpinionAsia.com on the not oft spoke about conflict on the 200 mile long eastern Burmese (Myanmar) border with Bangladesh.    In the last several months, Bangladesh and the Burmese junta, also known as the  State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),  have been at odds over a fence being constructed by the Burmese regime and the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya refugees from the Rakhine state, which is causing a refugee problem as far away as Indonesia.   Bangladesh has been accused of treating these refugees quite harshly and forcefully repatriating them to Mayanmar where they are  victimized all over again.   This is a case of human ping-ponog.   Still, there are thought to be over 200,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh.  The junta refuses to recognize Rohingya as citizens of Myanmar and it appears that Bangladesh is tied of extending legitimate refugee status to them.

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Malaysian PM Najib Razak

-Najib Razak’s  United Malays National Organization (UMNO) is fanning racial flames in an attempt to shore up power for its National Front Coalition.   Although Najib came to office promising to be more inclusive of minorities, recent electoral pressure from the opposition People’s Alliance has prompted a change in strategy.  Analyst believe the UMNO wants to strip Malay support from the People’s Alliance by arguing the party is against ethnic Malay interests.    This is risky because they run a risk of alienating secular Chinese support in the National Front.  Ethnic Malays make up 55% of the population and the largest minority group, the ethnic Chinese are approximately a quarter of the population.    The August 25th election will determine  if the UMNO’s strategy bears fruit.  The article also touches on the affirmative action system for the Malaysian majority.

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Is Aung San Suu Kyi’s star power waning after nearly two decades of political and social isolation under house arrest?  What affect is this having on the countries democracy movement?   These questions are explored in a recent  New York Times article.  There is no way to tell how representative this person is, but…

“I only know her name,” said Ms. Ei Phyu, a slight and shy 20-year-old who says she has no idea what Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi looks like.

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Notwithstanding the paralysis of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round and the current global economic recession, bilateral and regional trade deals have continued to progress in Southeast Asia. Over the last decade, ASEAN has negotiated free trade agreements (FTA) at breakneck speeds, signing deals with Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. It is also in the process of negotiating FTAs with South Korea, India, and China.  The India and ASEAN agreement, will be signed in August of 2009; however, most tariffs are not scheduled to drop until 2016-2019. The agreement will encompass a 1.7 billion person economic zone, which will generates a total GDP of more than US$1.1 billion.

Still, the deal with China has garnered the most attention, because it will create the third largest common market by trade volume, with a population of 1.8 billion and a US$2 trillion GDP.  This will not only be the world’s largest FTA by population, but it will also possess a growth potential that is unparalleled.

The full ASEAN-China FTA will begin in 2010, with the more developed ASEAN members (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand); the FTA will not apply to the remaining members (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) until 2015.

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