Asia

How ASEAN deals with forced migrants shows in how far it is actually people-centered and people-oriented. This vulnerable group used to be integrated in the past. However, today it appears integration efforts are not truly inclusive.

Despite its diversity, ASEAN member states have one common trait: state repression. This is in contrast to ASEAN´s aspiration to be people-centered. How repression looks on the ground can illustrate the example of the Bersih movement for fair elections in Malaysia.

Competing trade agreements and planned infrastructure investments are dilemmas that ASEAN can only successfully solve if they approach the challenges as group that lets go if its consensus decision-making and allows for countries´ flexible participation.

So far, the engagement of the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People´s Forum has been disappointing. A new strategy for people-to-people regional integration is needed.

Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. Anyway the countries are planning to cover lacks in energy demand and supply mainly with coal. However, renewables from solar over biomass to wind have a huge potential in the region.

Southeast Asia is a patchwork of networks, life-worlds, trading systems and cross-cultural pathways of human interaction. These interactions have always existed in different shapes, as a look to the rural borderlands shows.

In 1967 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded. This dossier sheds light on the institutional framework of ASEAN and analyses with contributions by civil society and academia, where social and ecological justice has, or should have, its place in Southeast Asia.

The public discourse in Indonesia has turned against LGBT people. However, behind closed doors, the Indonesian government still supports projects for LGBT groups.

“Mountainland” is an ongoing long-term project by the photographer Sascha Richter that surveys the lives and societies of Zomia. The pictures presented here were taken as first part of the project in October 2016 in the Northwest of Vietnam. More parts of the series can be found here. [gallery]

Organic food production is still a niche market in ASEAN countries, yet one on the rise. Health and ecological concerns have brought sustainable farming methods including small-scale and organic farming back to the table. Perspectives from Thailand, Myanmar, and Singapore.