🇵🇭 No go for Bong Go

Hello friends!

I was expecting to do a little bit at the top here about the Omicron variant in the region, but ugh. Too soon! What do we know? Not much at all! So in keeping with my new self-imposed mandate of slowed down responsive writing and curating, we’ll revisit the new variant next week. In the meantime, don’t you just hope we’ve all been tricked into over-vigilance or something? 

Stay safe out there!Erin Cook

🇹🇭 The Rescue

 On Sunday afternoon I took myself off to see the Rescue, National Geographic’s documentary of the Thailand cave rescue in 2018.

I thought, given how closely the world covered the story, it wouldn’t be too surprising nor emotive. Two hours later I was having a little cry in the Dendy ladies’! If you get the chance to see it (and I suspect it will end up on Disney eventually, they’re Nat Geo now too, right?) do. You know exactly how it ends but it’s still extraordinarily tense and emotional. I could feel the cinema holding our collective breath at parts.

I hope one day we’ll see documentaries about the politics of the rescue, and I’d also love to know more about the press scrum (although that’s what going out in Bangkok is for) and the local community. This one is very much about the rescue itself and the very small, very tight-knit cave diving groups around the world. 

It’s also a very fitting tribute to Saman Gunan, the former navy diver who returned to the job to help out. He died on his way out of the cave after transporting oxygen tanks. A true hero. 

🇲🇾 Najib’s back, back again

The Melaka state election was an unusually ‘muted, unpredictable affair’ with COVID-19 and the impact of federal by-elections on the country’s pandemic. And in that quiet election: here comes Barisan Nasional with 21 of 28 constituencies. As they say in my country, that’s a Tarago’s worth of opposition.  

The influence of Najib Razak was palpable in the race. Straits Times reported UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi cheered on the embattled former leader: “I did not forget Bossku’s  contributions.”

In the week and a bit since the race, Najib has gone from testing the waters to yelling ‘look at me’ and doing a bomb in the centre of the pool. He has, at least, withdrawn a brave request for a multi-million dollar home on the public purse. 

The Economist, in its signature caustic style, is damning of all prominent sides but cautiously optimistic of one cohort: the new young voters who are expected to flock to the polls for the first time since the voting threshold was lowered to 18-years-old. Malaysia Baharu might not have stuck, but I quietly have more faith in Malaysia Muda. 

🇵🇭 Bong Go’s out, is anyone in?

And there goes Bong Go. The Duterte-pick for presidential candidate was the subject of rumours (and not so subtle statements) for the last week that he would imminently withdraw from the race, so why do I still have whiplash?

Bong Go officially withdrew yesterday, leaving pundits eyeing who will, if anyone, eventually replace him on the PDP-Laban ticket. Rappler has a fantastic piece looking at all the moving parts here. The emerging dominant narrative is that Bong Go’s withdrawal is only a win for the Marcos clan — Bongbong is already riding high on polls — but the Isko Moreno camp is hoping the shakeup could split the field a bit. 

One thing I’m super interested in the next few weeks is watching the Bongbong-Rodrigo Duterte relationship. Duterte Sr. hates the fella, calling him a ‘weak leader’ and accusing him of drug use. And the unique nature of electing president and vice-president separately means there’s less incentive for Duterte to clean up his mouth when it comes to his daughter’s running mate. Is Duterte just going to Duterte his way to the end? Probably! I’d be shocked if he didn’t! Now, what happens next?  

🇲🇲 Trial delay for ASSK — again

 Aung San Suu Kyi has been left to languish for a few more days after the Naypyitaw court yesterday deferred conviction a week. The court will now announce its ruling in an incitement charge and violation of COVID-19 laws on Dec 6. ASSK faces at least three years for the incitement charge, but as the Guardian puts it: with all sorts of different charges with all sorts of sentences she could see decades tallied up. 

🇹🇭 Amnesty Internation in cross-hairs

Ultra-royalists in Thailand have turned their fierce attention on Amnesty International — the progressive international NGO advocating for human rights. Police will investigate allegations that the organisation has operated in ways that could undermine national security and the monarchy. 

Craig Keating for the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter has more, tying the allegations to a long (and growing) illiberal shift under Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha. 

🇮🇩 Constitutional Court smacks down Omnibus

President Joko Widodo has been dealt a blow after the Constitutional Court ordered revisions of the hyper-controversial labour Omnibus Law which saw dozens of existing laws revised. The laws, which labour activists and other workers say would have undermined worker safety and the environment and prioritised investment and business over everyone else, prompted massive demonstrations across the country last year. 

Now, the court says, the government must amend key aspects of the legislation within two years or face having it scrapped altogether. Reuters reports the court acknowledged the government’s argument for the revisions but said procedures had been ignored or only sloppily addressed. 

Don’t stress, President Jokowi told investors this week. This is a good thing demonstrating the robustness of law and order in the country. That is not such a bad point for the president to make after the pushback. “In a democratic nation that is based on the rule of law, the government respects and will immediately implement what has been ruled by the Constitutional Court," he said, as reported by the Jakarta Post.

Industry Minister Airlangga Hartato has vowed the review will be a priority for 2022. You can almost hear unions and student activists preparing now. 

🇱🇦 Laos-China train to finally board

The train finally starts chugging! After years of development and tiny one-par stories published in Xinhua which I decided never to include in this newsletter, the train is here! From Friday, technically. But still. 

The 400+ kilometre train connects Chinese city Kunming to Vientiane, with plans to eventually extend into Thailand and possibly Malaysia to Singapore (talk about stories that never seem to end). There’s a lot of interest in this one because it’s quite a large project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but for Laotians, the new train represents a blast into the future and great hope for reviving the agriculture and tourism industries.

Elsewhere in the region

🇻🇳 We’ve touched on how Vietnam’s manufacturing plants have responded to the pandemic over the last few months. This comprehensive piece from Rest of World (which I love and is my new fave publication) lays out just how depressing and cynical the ‘produce at all costs’ mentality shared by plant owners, various levels of government and firms became. “In there, the phone was my only friend,” one worker, Nam, told the publication. 

🇵🇭 Last year, during the Philippines’ huge lockdown, there were widespread fears of a bump in the country’s already high teen pregnancy rates and prompted a further conversation about access to contraceptives. A year on, this piece looks at the low take-up rates of emergency contraceptive use and staggering data which shows only a quarter of sexually active unmarried Filipina women aged between 18 and 29 were even aware of such an option. 🇮🇩 Had enough of your own country’s culture wars? Here’s Indonesia’s! I don’t know if any country has been able to escape the divisions and Bloomberg’s Ruth Pollard lays out the skeleton of how it looks in Indonesia: rising conservatism, declining civil liberties, draconian technology laws. Oh jeez, is there a bright spot anywhere in the Asia-Pacific?