Asian Studies

UN court had ordered Myanmar to end the violence and prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Thousands of Muslims were killed in the 2017 crackdown by Myanmar’s military and local Buddhist militias while the remaining population fled to neighboring Bangladesh. Gambia, which brought the case to the UN court, hailed the court’s decision as a victory. Myanmar denied there was any genocide within its territories and claimed that the UN was not capable of filtering out misleading information that cast shadows of incrimination of the government. For the victims of Myanmar’s violence, the ruling was the first taste of justice, even though they did not feel that the government would comply with it. It showed that the international community had not forgotten about their plight. More economic pressure would be necessary to make Myanmar’s government comply with the court ruling. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/myanmar-rohingya-genocide-icj-international-court-...

North Korea’s latest warning to forfeit the agreement to halt nuclear and inter-continental ballistic missile testing with United States comes after Washington passed the deadline of December 31 2019 set by Pyongyang to resume denuclearization negotiations. Even though Kim Jong Un signed an agreement with President Trump for a total dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program before any sanctions would be lifted, it seemed that he had gone against the good faith of the deal. Now, he wants to see easing of sanctions before he will negotiate further on further steps towards denuclearization. That is in contrary to the agreement signed in Singapore in 2018. One of the condition North Korea has demanded is the removal of all US military personnel from South Korea as it is seen as an aggressive stance towards it. It is not a concession United States are willing to do given that North Korea and South Korea are still at war and North Korea had demonstrated its willingness to launch a...

The latest flooding in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, had disrupted businesses and affected the lives of many people in the city. 67 lives were lost. It is not uncommon for Jakarta to experience flooding during monsoon season, but this year’s heavy rain and incompetent governor, Baswedan, created flood levels never seen in decades. The city has many water pumps to divert excess water to the sea, yet many of the pumps did not work due to poor maintenance. Dumping of trash into aqueducts also contributed to reduced outflow of flood waters to coastal outlets. There is a class action lawsuit filed by plaintiffs from Jakarta and its surrounding areas to sue the government for damages caused by the floods. Unlike lawsuits in previous years, where only the government was being sued, this time the lawsuit will include Governor Baswedan as a defendant.  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-jakarta-flood-victims-sue-government-damage-12257252