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Southeast Asia Links: Kokang and China, Vietnam on the SCS, Yangon protests, Jokowi questions, Dhammakaya and more

Elliot Brennan
Southeast Asia Links: Kokang and China, Vietnam on the SCS, Yangon protests, Jokowi questions, Dhammakaya and more
Published 10 Mar 2015     Follow @elliotbrennan
  • The SCMP has reported that Beijing is reprimanding a General who aided Myanmar’s Kokang in 2009. If correct, that would be a strong message to any possible (and likely rogue) PLA support for the Kokang armed group.
  • Jokowi: Modern man of the people or divine clown?, asks Hamish McDonald.
  • Vietnam’s former border chief said in an interview this week that China’s construction activity in the South China Sea is for offensive purposes. Vietnam later in the week demanded that China stop ‘illegitimate’ construction in the Troung Sa (Spratly Islands).
  • Women in Southeast ?Asia are 38% less likely to own a ?mobile phone than men (h/t ?@DaniellesCave).
  • Francis Wade wrote on recent public protests in Yangon and the Myanmar police’s right (under the Code of Criminal Procedure) to 'raise a male civilian force in order to break up the gathering and assist with arrests'.  And Cogit's Phuong Nguyen looked at why this should be a concern for the US. 
  • As the world marked the anniversary of the MH370 disappearance, new speculation emerged this week as a preliminary report noted that a shipment containing lithium batteries was loaded on the flight.
  • Malayisan Prime Minister Najib is in hot water over national investment fund 1 Malaysia Development Berhad.
  • Two Malaysians are believed to have been identified in an ISIS beheading video.
  • Carl Thayer gave an excellent round up of how the US is upping the ante in Southeast Asia in this month's (paid) issue of The Diplomat.  
  • Michelle Obama will be in Cambodia this month, the first visit to the country by a US first lady.
  • Thailand’s Buddhist infighting threatens martial law, leading Prayuth Chan-ocha to ban any march by Buddhist monks. 
  • And this fascinating photo series of Buddhists gathered at Thailand’s Wat Dhammakaya this week to observe Makha Bucha.

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