With internet shutdowns, throttling of internet server speeds, geo-blocking of social media posts, persecution of social media users, attacks against journalists and media organisations and outright censorship, freedom of expression in the region is in need of defending.This was the response of the reactors and participants to the contents of the report "Defending Freedom of Expression: Fake News Laws in East and Southeast Asia" released by Asia Centre and the Council of Asia Liberal and Democrats with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation on 25 February 2021.About 100 people registered for the report launch. 65 attended the online event…

Rich countries have placed orders, received consignments and have begun inoculating their citizens, however, the reality of needing to inoculate foreign residents in their midst makes vaccination nationalism irrelevant. This was the general view emerging from Asia Centre’s webinar on 20 January 2021 entitled “COVID-19 and Vaccine Nationalism”. Asia Centre, in partnership with the Thai Media Fund and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, convened its 5th Benedict Anderson Memorial Roundtable in remembrance of the late professor’s work on nationalism.The event was attended by 64 online participants with 798 Facebook Live views during the session. The session brought together academics, activists and…

On 9 December 2020, Asia Centre released its baseline study “COVID-19 and Democracy in Southeast Asia: Building Resilience, Fighting Authoritarianism”. This report examines the state of democracy and human rights in the region, from 1 January 2020 to 30 November 2020, and the accelerated regression thereof due to COVID-19.  The report was presented by Dr. James Gomez, Regional Director of Asia Centre. Following the unveiling,  key themes of the report were discussed by Dr. Rebecca (Bec) Strating, Executive Director, La Trobe Asia, La Trobe University; Dr. Kristina Kironska, Researcher, Palacky University of Olomouc; Celito Arlegue, Executive Director, Council of Asian…

Women led at the Journalism for an Equitable Asia Award Ceremony on the 2nd of December 2020 at 2 PM - 3.30 PM (GMT+7, Bangkok).The female-dominated field of the top ten journalists were positively judged on their delivery of high-quality articles on the issues of poverty and inequality in Asia. Out of the twelve journalists, who wrote the top ten articles, eleven were women.Asia Centre and Oxfam in Asia convened an online award ceremony in place of a face-to-face event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic travel advisories. For this year’s nominations, there were 100 submissions, from 7 countries in the…

On 18 November 2020, Asia Centre, in partnership with the Japan Foundation, convened the 3rd ASEAN-Japan Roundtable on the topic of “ASEAN-Japan relations: The Impact of the COVID-19  pandemic”, the video of which can be viewed here. Experts in ASEAN-Japan relations came together to discuss the impact of COVID-19 in Japanese society and Japan’s relationship with ASEAN countries in terms of economy, geopolitical developments and people-to-people relations.   Dr. Robin Ramcharan, Executive Director, Asia Centre, welcomed the speakers and participants in his opening remarks that recapped the content of the Centre’s 1st and 2nd ASEAN-Japan round tables held in 2017 and 2019.…

Asia Centre, in partnership with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand (TECO) and the Thai Media Fund, convened a discussion on “Countering the COVID-19 Infodemic: Sharing Best Practices” on 4 November 2020. The session, which brought together speakers from Taiwan and Thailand, examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic creating an “Infodemic” which has challenged countries trying to tackle issues of disinformation, misinformation and too much information as there has been a surge of fake news related to COVID-19, placing vulnerable communities at risk to the public health arena and national security.Ambassador Lee, Ying-Yuan (Taiwan’s Representative to Thailand) introduced…

Asia Centre will convene the 5th Benedict Anderson Memorial Roundtable entitled, ‘COVID-19 & Vaccine Nationalism’. The event, held in partnership with the Thai Media Fund, will take place next year on January 20, 2021 at 2 PM - 3.30 PM (Bangkok, Thailand, GMT+7).This event will review the implications of pre-purchase agreements being made between governments and vaccine manufacturers to secure and prioritise a country’s needs before others. In particular, it will examine how high demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, now commonly known as ‘vaccine nationalism’, will affect Asia.Since 2016, Asia Centre has convened 4 memorial roundtables to examine the work…

From 7 to 9 October 2020, Asia Centre convened its fifth International Conference on Hate Speech in Asia: Challenges and Solutions. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 travel and health advisories, this conference was convened as a hybrid event with participants joining in-person as well as teleconferencing from locations worldwide. The Law Faculty of Thammasat University was the location for the first day of the conference. Thereafter, starting that evening, panels were hosted in Asia Centre’s office and online.Into its 5th year, Asia Centre’s annual conference continued to grow from the previous year in spite of the pandemic. There were 18…

Hate speech in Southeast Asia has evolved into new forms and requires a multi-stakeholder approach for finding sustainable solutions. Civil society, governments and technology companies need to work together to address the issue.This was the general consensus that emerged when Asia Centre launched its report, Hate Speech in Southeast Asia: New Forms, Old Rules, via webinar on July 22nd. Some 200 people registered to attend the event via Zoom which was also live streamed over Facebook and shared widely.Dr Robin Ramcharan, Asia Centre’s Executive Director presented the report. He noted, that “apart from those based on race and religion, new…

Asia Centre and Oxfam in Asia are pleased to announce the finalists for the 2019 Journalism For An Equitable Asia Award. As thought leaders and creators, journalists have the skills and voice to expose social issues of inequality to build the public’s understanding and support for equality, #humanrights, and #sustainability. Many journalists across Asia fight the injustice of #inequality and poverty.  Journalism for an Equitable Asia Award, co-hosted by  Asia Centre and Oxfam in Asia aims to recognize them and encourage more journalists to write for a fairer #Asia.   Here are the finalists: Aidila Razak is Special Reports Editor at…