Longs: Duterte Turned Manila Into The Town From Footloose

Hello friends!

This is meant to come out the last Monday of each month but this week I was having a sweet little mini-break in Penang (Sun Yat-sen museum closed, Pinang Peranakan Mansion stunning) so gave myself an extra couple of days. Back to the now-twice weekly emails on everything you need to know about the region. Subscribe here for $5 a month or $50 a year:

Hot tip: do it now. March will mark one year since the paywall and to celebrate I’m finally taking on the advice of a certain tough talking Southern Belle with business nous and raising the subscriptions to $6 a month, or $60 for the year. (Which is still far below her suggestion, told ya she was tough!)

Please also join me over at the Splice Newsroom stables, where I take a look at how one big story from around the region is being covered and what to expect next. While you’re there, sign up to Slugs covering media in Asia and the much-funnier-than-it-should-be Frames looking at all things at the media-design intersection.

This is one of my favourite times of year because NEXT MONTH we’ll have so many Chinese New Year reads! I love a CNY read because the way these stories reframe diaspora or mainland influence on the region is brilliant. So on that note, VICE Asia editor in chief Natashya Gutierrez has recently posted a call-out for pitches. Young journalists — do it! I would love to include some brilliant new voices.

See you next month,

Erin Cook

Hidden women of history: María, a slave in Manila who resisted sexual exploitation - The ConversationIt’s a little lucky, in fact, that this is a day or two late. This piece from Susan Broomhall for the Conversation is absolutely cracker. This is the story of Maria, a woman from the Indian-subcontinent who had been taken to Manila in 1635 as a sex slave. Her story is tragic and few details of her life were ever recorded. Broomhall traces her ultimately short lived ‘freedom’ and underscores both the role of Catholic values the Spanish were (vaguely) about and the fact that so many women’s stories were never told. How many more Maria’s were there in colonial Philippines?

Packaged Identities: How Curry Powder Made Its Way From India Into Vietnamese Homes - SaigoneerTruly, I can’t read enough about Vietnam’s food. We’ve got a couple of Vietnamese chains here in Jakarta but I know it’s not the same. How legit can halal certified Vietnamese food be? This from Saigoneer is a bit different, it’s about the food made at home not devoured on the street. It all comes down to curry powder mixes which found a home in Vietnam’s kitchens in a flurry of Indian migration during the colonial period. Many of those migrants and their families left for France, but the curry powders remain. (Thanks to friend of the letter Mike Tatarski for the recommendation!)

China Offered to Bail Out Troubled Malaysian Fund in Return for Deals - Wall Street JournalIt wouldn’t be a DMKM longs without a fresh Tom Wright and Bradley Hope investigation. The stunning report found that Chinese officials had offered a bail out of sorts of 1MDB by buying infrastructure contracts at an inflated price. It also offered to influence US and other big players to drop emerging investigations into 1MDB and, shockingly, to bug the homes of WSJ reporters investigating the case. This kicked off a big month for Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who now in hindsight I think had his suspicions, as he tries to renegotiate contracts signed between the two countries under the Najib Razak government.

How the Philippine Drug War Could Kill the Underground Dance Scene - VICE AsiaPhilippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has a new target — the city’s nightlife. Last August, a raid on Manila’s famous TIME club saw 123 club goers and all 31 staff members arrested and the club was ordered to shut down. This piece from VICE Asia looks at not the effect of the war on the city’s nightlife — “the clash between hardline, conservative values; and nightlife embodying the morals of liberalism” — but also the harried way in which local authorities enforce these laws. I love a piece like this, this kind of contextualising and youth focus is sorely needed on the region’s biggest issues.

This Alternative News Source from Indonesia’s Largest Muslim Organization is Fighting Hardline Islamism Online - Splice Newsroom In Muslim majority Indonesia, social media is an information warzone. Weaponising platforms has been widely reported after ‘buzzers’ were blamed for heightening race and religious tensions in recent years. Islami.co isn’t taking it anymore. The millennial focused site was established by the powerful Nahlatul Ulama to counter the darker elements emerging online which strip Islamic teachings of context or produce outright hoaxes to whip up frenzies. Islami.co goes to where the youth are — focusing on YouTube content and offsetting heavy analysis with memes. Ahead of this year’s elections with hoaxes already emerging, it’s one to get across.

In Indonesia, Cleaning Up the Citarum, ‘the World’s Dirtiest River’, Is Now a Military Operation - SCMPIndonesia is second only to China when it comes to the world’s biggest polluter of the oceans. Under President Jokowi, the oceans has become central to domestic policy but cleaning up waste has only recently become a priority. The Citarum in West Java heads straight into the Java Sea and is the world’s dirtiest river according to the World Bank. It picks up all the waste produced by the province’s booming manufacturing industry and dumps it straight in to the sea. A renewed attempt to clean up has been launched but for the millions living in the area it is too little too late.

Silenced by an Elastic Law - New NaratifRevisions to the UU ITE, Indonesia’s cyberlaw, were passed in 2016 and have been controversial ever since. It is widely criticised as an “elastic law,” meaning authorities can interpret it to target activists and critics. Surabaya law student Anindya Shabrina Joediono has found herself on the wrong side of it. She is under investigation for “defamatory comments against law enforcement personnel” after posting to Facebook after an alleged sexual harassment incident including a police officer. The incident occurred during an activist discussion about West Papua, a notoriously touchy subject for authorities. Please consider becoming a subscribing member to New Naratif, it is one of the best publications in the region and its work must be supported.

The Artists Promoting Peace in Thailand's Conflict-Plagued South - Al JazeeraThe last month or so has seen a flare up in violence in Southern Thailand, home to an insurgency. The reasons are many, but representation of Muslim voices Buddhist-majority Thailand and economic factors are often the simplified understanding. The town of Saiburi is particularly prone to violence. Anas Pongpraset and his artist collective Saiburi Looker is promoting peace at home with stunning street art and poetry and music events. These performances and works reflect on the damage the conflict has done and continues to do. A must read ahead of March’s elections.

The Cab Ride That Nearly Killed Me Changed How I Think About Ride-Hailing Apps - BloombergBloomberg start-ups reporter Yoolim Lee has been all over the price wars between Grab and Uber. It’s her beat, she says, but using the apps is a normal part of day to day life in Singapore. When the car she was riding in crashed into a Merc her story changes. The accident left her with a broken neck and blood clots which left her at risk of a stroke. This is an important story I think. These sorts of things aren’t uncommon across the region, but rarely reflect on, and it has prompted some much needed safety changes for Grab. Also worth reading for the great aside about bird’s nest drinks.

A giant of Indonesia's battle for press freedom - BBCThis is a bit different. This is the BBC’s obituary for its recently passed, much-loved journalist Ging Ginanjar. I never had the good fortune of meeting Ging, but many of my friends did and it has been a very tough time for the BBC and the wider media community here in Jakarta. The legacy he leaves behind is a stunning reminder of how hard journalists in this country have worked over the years, first during the Suharto regime and under draconian media laws and into the tumultuous 1998 and reformation years.