Stories written by Marwaan Macan-Markar
Marwaan Macan-Markar is a Sri Lankan journalist who covered the South Asian nation's ethnic conflict for local newspapers before joining IPS in 1999. He was first posted as a correspondent at the agency's world desk in Mexico City and has since been based in Bangkok, covering Southeast Asia. He has reported from over 15 countries, writing from the frontlines of insurgencies, political upheavals, human rights violations, peace talks, natural disasters, climate change, economic development, new diseases such as bird flu and emerging trends in Islam, among other current issues.

THAILAND: Reform Agenda Gets Strong Endorsement

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra inched a step closer towards staking a claim as a great reformer when his sweeping plans to change Thailand's 110-year-old bureaucracy was approved by the country's monarch this week.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Pan-Islamic State Has Little Popular Support

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Mosques dotted across Indonesia's influential West Java region are sending out a message to their faithful that the political vision of some South-east Asian Islamic radicals will not find a receptive ear within these Mosque walls anytime soon.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Pan-Islamic State Has Little Popular Support

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Mosques dotted across Indonesia's influential West Java region are sending out a message to their faithful that the political vision of some South-east Asian Islamic radicals will not find a receptive ear within these Mosque walls anytime soon.

RIGHTS: Activists Accuse Thai Govt of Dancing to Burma’s Tune

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's policy on Burma is coming under increasing fire from human rights activists, who say Bangkok is bowing to Rangoon's wishes by avoiding references to its rights abuses during bilateral talks this week

TRADE-ASIA: Thais Try to Stop Price War on Rice Exports

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Thai officials are hoping that an October meeting here between Asia's leading rice-exporting countries will sow the seeds of a solution to the thorny issue of price-undercutting in the global rice trade.

SRI LANKA: Pragmatism, Respect and Mediation Key to Peace Process

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
The signals of peace from the just-finished round of talks on Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict stem from three elements that saw the negotiations through: pragmatism, mutual respect, and effective international mediation.

SRI LANKA: Tamil Tigers Scale Down Demand for Homeland

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
The Tamil Tiger rebels gave the peace process a real shot at success at the end of their three-day talks with Sri Lankan officials Wednesday, by scaling down their long-time demand for a separate state.

/CORRECTED REPEAT/DEVELOPMENT: Pattaya a Reminder of What War Has Cost Sri Lanka

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
If the Sri Lankan ministers talking peace with Tamil Tiger leaders here were to pause from the negotiations and drive to the nearby seaside town of Pattaya, they would find in its teeming number of tourists a poignant reminder of Sri Lanka's huge economic losses due to its 19-year ethnic conflict.

THAILAND: Pattaya a Reminder of What the War Has Cost Sri Lanka

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
If the Sri Lankan ministers talking peace with Tamil Tiger leaders here were to pause from the negotiations and drive to the nearby seaside town of Pattaya, they would find in its teeming number of tourists a poignant reminder of Sri Lanka's huge economic losses due to its 19-year ethnic conflict.

/REPEAT/SRI LANKA: Focus on Dialogue Marks Start of Peace Talks

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
The chief negotiators for both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels struck a conciliatory note -- and delivered verbal bouquets to each other -- at Monday's opening of peace talks to resolve Sri Lanka's long-running ethnic conflict.

SRI LANKA: Focus on Dialogue Marks Start of Peace Talks

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
The chief negotiators for both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebels struck a conciliatory note -- and delivered verbal bouquets to each other -- at Monday's opening of peace talks to resolve Sri Lanka's long-running ethnic conflict.
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Water: The Only Jewel in the Summit's Crown

By Marwaan Macan-Markar and - -
One of the few achievements of the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development, the promise to halve the population without water and sanitation by 2015, could slip between the fingers of the poor due to privatization efforts, warn activists.

Disappointing End to Rio+10

By Marwaan Macan-Markar, Thalif Deen, and - -
Amid the jeers and boos of activists and the complacency of government officials, the Rio+10 Summit concluded with an action plan that includes very few commitments or timelines for poverty abatement or environmental protection.

EDUCATION-EAST ASIA: Region Learns Creative Ways to Literacy

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
In the remote, hilly and forested regions of northern Thailand, elephants are lending their weight for an enlightened cause -- educating illiterate members of ethnic hilltribe communities in this South-east Asian country.

WSSD: Passion Generated by Renewable Energy Plan Turns Ice-Cold

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Activists say the oil sector has led the world's energy industries to triumph at a United Nations meeting that aimed for a very different result - to boost the use of "clean" energy sources and curb global pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.

WSSD: Kofi Annan Calls on Rich Nations to Lead the Way

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
In an effort to inject credibility into the largest-ever United Nations summit, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday called on the world's richest countries to take the lead in designing a concrete plan to improve the lives of the world's poor without destroying the planet.
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Brazil in the Joburg Summit Spotlight

By Marwaan Macan-Markar and - -
Latin American governments and environmental organizations applaud the Brazilian initiative for clean energy announced at the Johannesburg Summit. But enthusiasm is not enough, and the proposal has little chance of winning global consensus.

WSSD: Spin Doctors Prepare to Turn Failure Into Success

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
As the 10-day sustainable development summit heads into its final week, U.N. officials are giving it a spin to ensure the meeting lives up to expectations as Rio+10 - an improvement on the 1992 Earth Summit - rather than ending up Rio-10 - a backwards slide.

WSSD: New Fund Will Pay to Safeguard Crop Diversity

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
While the world awaits an action plan to emerge from the United Nations summit on sustainable development, a group of plant specialists are drumming up support here for a particular venture - an international trust to safeguard the world's varied food crops.

WSSD: Brazil Plan on Renewable Energy Lights up Summit

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Brazil has become the buzzword among environmentalists lobbying to secure a global commitment on renewable energy sources at the 10-day U.N. summit being held here.

WSSD: Public Can Play a Major Role in Shaping Environmental Projects – Report

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Despite an impressive record guaranteeing people more information on environmental issues, seven countries across the Americas, Africa and Asia have still to ensure that the public can play a decisive role in shaping projects that impact their respective environments, says a new report.
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