Stories by Marwaan Macan-Markar / IPS Inter Press Service

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Saturday, November 21, 2009 11:06 GMT

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Maternal Mortality Rates ‘One of the Saddest Cases’ in Asia
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews NOELEEN HEYZER, U.N. under-secretary general and head of UNESCAP
BANGKOK - Nearly 15 years after a landmark international conference to advance the rights and freedoms of women, the picture in the Asia-Pacific region is mixed, says a leading women’s rights advocate and senior United Nations official.
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Much at Stake for Thai Premier over Cambodia Row
Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva faces his toughest foreign policy challenge as his first year in office draws to a close. At stake is this South-east Asian kingdom’s standing in a regional bloc.
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Cambodia Raises Stakes, Ties with Thailand Plummet
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is known for his brash and earthy vocabulary even when, as he did in early April, he talks about himself. "I am neither a gangster nor a gentleman, but a real man," the politician who has led his country for 25 years said in a fit of rage.
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Thai-Cambodia Diplomatic Row Bares Decades-Long Rift
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Thailand’s swift and strong response to Cambodia’s decision to appoint ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser exposed an emotional faultline rooted in decades of mutual suspicion and hatred.
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U.S. Mission’s Meeting with Ethnic Minorities Signals Hope

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The United States government’s diplomatic foray into military-ruled Burma made early inroads into an area sealed off to United Nations envoys in recent years—meeting the country’s oppressed ethnic minorities.
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U.S. Mission to Burma Heralds Obama’s New Diplomatic Tack
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - An upcoming mission by senior United States government officials to military- ruled Burma points to Washington’s commitment that engaging with oppressive regimes—than spurning them—is the way forward for change.
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Karen Fear Military Offensive Near Planned Dam in Burma
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - With the annual monsoon rains ending, there is a growing fear among the Karen ethnic minority living along military-ruled Burma’s eastern border of a dry season offensive. The most vulnerable are villagers residing in the vicinity of the controversial Hat Gyi dam.
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Thai-Cambodian Tension Tests Claims of Regional Peace

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The relationship between South-east Asian neighbours Thailand and Cambodia enters another uneasy stretch following a round of verbal salvoes fired before and during a just concluded regional summit, where much is made of strides in achieving unity.
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Rice Tariffs Snarl ASEAN Single Market
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
CHA-AM, Thailand - Rice, the staple dish across South-east Asia, has emerged as an apt symbol of the region’s commitment – or lack of it – to unveiling a free trade area for its 10 members when the New Year dawns.
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‘Undermining ASEAN Human Rights Body Will Be Act of Suicide’
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews RAFENDI DJAMIN, a member of the ASEAN human rights commission
CHA-AM, Thailand - A South-east Asian human rights mechanism launched here at a regional summit should be used by victims of rights violations to end oppression at home, says a member of this new body.
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Civil Society Refuses to Cave in at ASEAN Summit
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
CHA-AM, Thailand - Civil society representatives from South-east Asia’s developing democracies delivered an unequivocal message to the region’s leaders at a summit held here – they will not succumb to the whims of governments that suppress political and civil liberties at home.
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‘Cambodia’s Penal Code Aims to Silence Gov’t Critics’
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews MU SOCHUA, Cambodian opposition lawmaker
BANGKOK - To be an outspoken critic of the government brings a heavy price in Cambodia, the South-east Asian country struggling to put behind decades of war and brutality, including the Khmer Rouge genocide.
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No Welcome Mat for Civil Society at ASEAN Summit
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - A summit of regional leaders due to begin in Thailand on Oct. 23 has brought into relief a rift within the 10-member bloc about the space that should be given to civil society voices at such a gathering.
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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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