Liam Brewin Higgins on Thailand’s war against drugs on its western border

‘Fake news’ is plaguing Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, news breaks that Queen Elizabeth is praising President Rodrigo Duturte; in Indonesia, photos of President Joko Widodo at a communist youth rally explode throughout the Internet; in Myanmar, rumours swirl that mosques in Yangon are stockpiling weapons for terrorist attacks.

International aid donors are directing funds to government-led development programs in Myanmar. However, this presents serious risks for the country’s ongoing peace process, Mali Walker writes.

The international community must come together to help bring the Rohingya Refugees home—wherever that might be, write PhD candidates M Mizanur Rahman and Tasfi Sal-sabil, after fieldwork in Bangladesh.

As the outcry against Myanmar’s military grows, Australia must continue to create and sustain ties on a people-to-people basis, Mish Khan writes.

In tourism brochure clichés, Myanmar is often referred to as the last jewel of Asia. After fifty years of isolation under military rule, the newly open Southeast Asian nation conjures quaint images of the last untouched frontier in a shrinking world. Although we must remind ourselves that such romanticisation can be misplaced, given the authoritarian regime was a harsh reality rather than a luxurious abstinence from modernisation, many foreigners are curiously enthusiastic about visiting the country.

The low sonorous murmurs of Buddhist prayer rising above the sea of twinkling golden stupas becomes distant and distorted, as the startling bright lights of gleaming shopping centres engulfs the crammed streets of downtown Yangon.

Myanmar, like many countries, is a place of contrasts, challenges and complexity.  As an undergraduate student taking part in the ‘Political Economy of Myanmar Course’ this year and a first-time traveller to Myanmar, I became increasingly aware of the great importance of the multi-dimensional relationship between Myanmar and China. From lively karaoke in Naypyidaw, to the green mountain tops of the Shan mountains and to the smallest villages in between, the cultural and geographical diversity of this country should not be underestimated.

Oliver Friedmann interviews Olivia Cable and reflects on his experiences with Humans of Sydney.

Oliver Friedmann reflects on his experience on the Thai/Myanmar border.

This week we caught up with Dr Nicholas Farrelly, a fellow at the Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, to discuss his academic career and life as a former ANU student. Nicholas is the director of the ANU Myanmar Research Centre and convenor of the PhB program in the College of Asia and the Pacific. Nicholas also runs the Asia Pacific Week internship course and supervises various honours, masters and PHD students at ANU.