Southeast Asia Archive

Abu Bakar Bashir might be the “Teflon teacher.” Since the 1970s, he has preached Islamic theocracy in Indonesia, and lived 13 years in exile to avoid a jail sentence for his beliefs under the secular dictator Suharto. Even in Indonesia’s new, more liberal political climate, he has been hauled before Indonesian courts for involvement in bomb attacks on churches, the 2002 Bali bombings, a Jakarta attack, and for being the spiritual leader of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). But the charges haven’t really stuck. Prosecutors have had limited success linking him with JI, convicting him only of being part […]

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Shortly after Vietnamese tanks rumbled across Cambodia’s border in late 1978 the Khmer Rouge elite fled the capital and a new regime first attempted what the United Nations is poised to try again more than a quarter of a century later — account for the grisly deaths of up to two million people. Pol Pot and perhaps his closest friend from their university days in France, Ieng Sary, were long ago sentenced to death in absentia for genocide, in a trial widely regarded as a legal farce. It was so badly handled and wrapped-up in Cold […]

The Great Game of the 19th Century was played between empire builders Britain and Russia, using Afghanistan as their football in seeking control of central Asia. Today, there is a new great game under way between two very different competitors — China and India. But this time the ball is Burma. In much the same way that Afghanistan was a poor and undeveloped but strategic piece of territory, so Burma now fits that role for the two burgeoning economic giants. But Burma is more than simply a slice of well-placed geography: It is rich in energy resources, which China and […]

After July, Malaysians will grow old gracefully. Or, in any case, those who follow Malaysian Islamic law. The country’s National Fatwa Council (Jawatankuasa Fatwa) closed its three-day meeting on July 27, deciding to forbid the country’s Muslims from using botox, among other prohibitions. To settle questions of what is halal (allowed) and haram (forbidden) for Malaysia’s Muslims, the Fatwa Council meets regularly to mull over international Islamic scholarship. They pronounce on issues as modern as donating zakat funds via text-message (halal) and as serious as euthanasia (decision forthcoming). But Malaysia is no Iran. Since 1957, Malaysia’s parliament has been run […]