https://www.scmp.com/rss/323580/feed Mark R. Thompson is professor in the Department of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong, where he is also director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The public response to the death of former Philippine president Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino III on Thursday has so far been decidedly mixed. While some social media influencers continued bashing him, other supportive posts showed yellow ribbons hung in largely high-end neighbourhoods. This popular music-inspired symbol (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”) refers to the welcome planned by supporters for his father, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jnr, the leading opponent of the dictatorship of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3138681/benigno-aquinos-lost-liberal-yellow-legacy-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3138681/benigno-aquinos-lost-liberal-yellow-legacy-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Jun 2021 02:00:25 +0000 Covid-19 has too often brought out the worst in many societies around the world, particularly in terms of aggravating income, racial, gender and other inequalities. Hong Kong, despite its relative success in combating the pandemic, is unfortunately no exception. The recent testing order for all of the nearly 400,000 foreign domestic helpers in the city, and plans (suspended after a diplomatic backlash) to make vaccination mandatory before renewal of their contracts is exhibit A. Officials seemed... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3132149/dont-treat-helpers-scapegoats-hong-kongs-struggling-vaccine-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3132149/dont-treat-helpers-scapegoats-hong-kongs-struggling-vaccine-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 May 2021 22:45:15 +0000 On Thursday, the Philippines will mark the 35th anniversary of the largely peaceful insurrection that overthrew dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986. The uprising captivated the global media and garnered international praise, showing that an authoritarian ruler could be overthrown by millions of civilian protesters. Among its most iconic images were nuns holding flowers and kneeling in front of government soldiers. Even where the origins of the term were forgotten, Philippine “People Power”... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3122665/philippine-people-power-35-strange-metamorphosis-under-duterte?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3122665/philippine-people-power-35-strange-metamorphosis-under-duterte?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Feb 2021 03:00:25 +0000 Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s response to the coronavirus crisis has been in line with his “macho populism” similar to that of Donald Trump’s in the US and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. Like these illiberal leaders, a lockdown of Metro Manila since mid-March, and soon thereafter the entire Luzon area and beyond, came only after Duterte’s initial denial of the growing threat from the rapidly spreading pandemic. Once Duterte did finally act, it was in a haphazard and highly militarised fashion... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3083119/dutertes-shoot-them-all-approach-covid-19-threatens-his-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3083119/dutertes-shoot-them-all-approach-covid-19-threatens-his-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 May 2020 07:20:22 +0000 With Boracay island’s white sands emptied of tourists after a six-month government-ordered closure late last week, the world again took notice of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s populist leadership style: melodramatic and personalised, with little concern for the consequences.  The shutdown played well to his fan base as another demonstration of his iron will to cleanse the country of its social ills. Promising to deal with Boracay’s “smelly waters” due to untreated sewage and other... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144058/there-more-dutertes-boracay-closure-and-drug-war-meets-eye?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144058/there-more-dutertes-boracay-closure-and-drug-war-meets-eye?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 May 2018 04:00:45 +0000 Cambodian strongman Hun Sen held an elaborate religious ceremony in Angkor Wat earlier this month, lauding “political stability” in the country in an attempt to legitimise his rule after banning the major opposition party. It was ­further evidence that the 50th anniversary celebrations of Asean were not going entirely according to plan. The success of the 10-nation bloc had been celebrated just months earlier by the influential Singaporean academic Kishore Mahbubani, who saw in it reason for... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2124111/asean-50-fate-democracy-hangs-failings-its-strongman-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2124111/asean-50-fate-democracy-hangs-failings-its-strongman-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Dec 2017 09:13:25 +0000 Hillary Clinton’s surprise defeat in the US presidential elections means the United States is still waiting for its first female president. But for many Asian countries, having a woman as head of state is positively old hat, a state of affairs stretching back more than half a century. When Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1960, it was not just a first for the region but for the world. Like Hillary Clinton, the wife of former president Bill Clinton, all... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2045247/how-hillary-compares-asian-clintons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2045247/how-hillary-compares-asian-clintons?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Nov 2016 02:03:39 +0000