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October 2015

October 2015

Missing links in Japan’s studies of Inner Mongolia Muslims

As part of its efforts to woo minority populations before and during the Second World War, Japan took a keen interest in Inner Mongolia’s Muslim population, writes JAMES BOYD. The semi-official Japanese humanitarian organisation, Zenrin kyōkai (Good Neighbour Association), was established in 1933 to provide medical assistance and educational opportunities to the Mongols and Hui […]

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The rocky road to federation in the Philippines

MICHAEL HENRY YUSINGCO questions the readiness of Filipinos to move towards a federal form of government. Federalism is a buzzword in the Philippines these days. A former chief justice of the Supreme Court, Reynato Puno, recently launched a highly publicised national renewal movement, Bagong Sistema, Bagong Pag-asa (New System, New Hope), calling for a change

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The limits of big ‘P’ politics in Myanmar’s elections

As Myanmar prepares for historic polls in November, moral ideas of citizen-led social assistance continue to loom large, writes GERARD McCARTHY. With Myanmar’s historic November elections fast approaching, prospective candidates are touring the countryside in boisterous campaigns aimed at winning the support of millions of undecided voters. After decades of authoritarian rule aimed at ring-fencing

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New book opens up conversations about sex and sexuality in Indonesia

A new prize-winning book that examines sex and sexualities in contemporary Indonesia was born out of a shared frustration, write the editors, LINDA RAE BENNETT and SHARYN GRAHAM DAVIES. Having been asked numerous times to deal with such diverse and complicated topics as ‘Islam and sexuality’, or ‘gender and sexuality in Indonesia’, or even ‘queer

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Cambodian villagers fall victim to UN forest scheme to reduce greenhouse emissions

Behind the advertising and glossy brochures, TIM FREWER finds a starkly different reality in a Cambodian province. Coming up to the Paris Climate Change Conference in November 2015, the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is poised to become one of the main strategies for countries to fulfil their pledges to reduce

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