Stories by Marwaan Macan-Markar / IPS Inter Press Service

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Thursday, September 02, 2010 21:05 GMT

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South-east Asian Highway Hits Roadblock in Burma
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - With its thick forest cover and abundant wildlife, the Dawna mountain range in south-eastern Burma is coming in the way of a flagship highway project being pushed by one of Asia’s premier financiers of roads.
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Military Shake-up Reveals Junta’s Plans for New Gov’t
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - As the November general election in Burma approaches, the country’s junta is revealing the political designs underway in order to place the powerful military under civilian authority after a lapse of 22 years.
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China Flexes Hydropower Muscle
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - After all the turbines in the Xiaowan hydropower station sputtered to life this week in China’s south-west Yunnan province, the Asian giant was able to lay claim to having the world’s largest hydropower capacity.
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Thai Buddhists on a Long March to Muslim South
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
SONGKHLA, Thailand - Wearing a floppy cotton cap for shade, an exhausted Sarawut Kunrapang enters the compound of a mosque in the blistering afternoon sunshine. It is the latest stop for this 27-year-old Thai Buddhist in his walk for peace since mid-July from Bangkok.
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Jails Fill Up with Political Prisoners - Critics
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The jails in Thailand are filling up with political prisoners, critics say, but how many political dissidents have been incarcerated since a military crackdown on an anti-government protest movement ended on May 19 remains shrouded in mystery.
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Cambodia Seeks to Internationalise Temple Row with Thailand
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is threatening an international showdown with neighbouring Thailand over the vexed question of managing a 10th- century Hindu temple, an architectural jewel of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer civilisation.
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U.S. Support Boosts Calls for U.N. War Crimes Inquiry
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - An international campaign seeking a war crimes inquiry into the alleged systematic abuses by Burma’s military regime finally has a strong ally in U.S. President Barack Obama.
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After 20 Years, Junta Picks November Poll Date
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - By finally announcing the date of the country’s first general election in 20 years, Burma’s military regime has lived up to a promise it made in its seven-step "roadmap", a blueprint in its desperate quest for political legitimacy.
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Jobless Youth Still Waiting for Better Times
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Tanya Athikom’s search for a permanent job in the information technology sector has so far resulted in a string of disappointments. The Bangkok resident has thus been forced to accept short-term contracts in local and multinational companies here in the Thai capital.
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Gov’t Smokes Out Tobacco Industry with Higher Taxes
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Tobacco multinational Philip Morris may have had good reason to send out victory smoke signals when Filipinos elected Benigno Aquino III to be president in May. After all, he is a regular smoker who has said he will not quit the habit.
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Call for War Crimes Inquiry Foils U.N. Envoy’s Trip
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - When a U.N. human rights investigator for Burma called for an international inquiry to look into possible war crimes by the country’s military regime, he added significant weight to similar calls that had been made in other quarters.
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Civil Society Steps into Election Fray, Trains Candidates
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Civil society organisations in Burma are stepping into the minefield of pre-election activity in the military-ruled country, giving rise to possible shifts in the political landscape there.
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Laos Takes Centre Stage in Cluster Bombs Treaty
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - After being relegated to the shadows for decades by its more powerful neighbours, Laos is finally taking the lead role in a global campaign to ban the use of cluster bombs.
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Marwaan Macan-Markar - IPS's Bangkok correspondent provides essential reading on human rights, development, environment and politics in a dynamic region

Credit: Sayan Cheunodomsavad/Thailand for the Imaging Our Mekong programme

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