FRIEDRICH NAUMANN FOUNDATION FOR FREEDOM

May 27 2015

“Muchas gracias, for helping put Zambo (Zamboanga City) back into the map!” Said one of the 2592 Zamboangueños who joined the 5-kilometer Peace and Freedom Run at the Climaco Freedom Park, Abong-Abong, Zamboanga City, on 24 May 2015.

http://fnf.org.ph/news/fnfnews.php?id=161&article=Zamboangueños_Show_the_World%3A_Peace_is_Possible

BURMA

May 28 2015

Imprisoned together for fighting for democracy, the leaders of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society and the National League for Democracy have announced that they will hold a joint press conference on May 30 to set out their approach to the November elections.

The announcement follows a series of meetings between NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and 88 Generation leaders, who as students taking part in the 1988 uprising against the military regime suffered long-term imprisonment.

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/14669-nld-88-generation-to-reveal-plans-for-election.html

HONGKONG

June 2 2015

An interview with Hong Kong Democratic Party Chairperson, Emily Lau on their fight for democracy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=egjTLYieMGg

PHILIPPINES

June 1 2015

The administration’s standard-bearer should come from the Liberal Party, Senate President Franklin Drilon said Saturday, amid reports of a possible team-up with independent Sen. Grace Poe.

“We have a very deep bench in the LP. My preference, of course, is that a LP card-carrying member should be the candidate,” Drilon, vice chairman of the party, said.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/495682/news/nation/drilon-prefers-lp-bet-to-lead-administration-s-2016-slate

Butch Abad in NYC: Mar Roxas at ‘Top of My List’

May 29 2015

Budget Secretary Butch Abad says that ultimately it is the voter who will make the decision whether the country will ‘go back to the old ways’.

http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/balikbayan/94623-butch-abad-new-york-philippine-elections

Jesse M. Robredo Memorial Book

May 27 2015

This book honors a dedicated public servant, in the hope that his life and career will serve as an inspiration and challenge to the Jesse M. Robredos of the future. Just as the death of Ninoy Aquino inspired Jesse to enter public life, we hope that Jesse’s story, and the manner in which the nation came together to pay tribute to him, will inspire future generations to pursue what has memorably come to be known as tsinelas leadership.

https://archive.org/details/JesseRobredoMemorialBook

Mar Ready to Continue P-Noy’s ‘Straight Path’

May 27 2015

Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday he is ready to take the challenge of President Aquino to be the latter’s possible successor and to lead the nation to the “straight path.”

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/05/27/1459161/mar-ready-continue-p-noys-straight-path

SINGAPORE

June 2 2015

Every indication points to an early general elections – many even say that it could be as early as September this year. That is just four months away!

http://yoursdp.org/news/calling_all_singaporeans_let_39_s_get_busy/2015-06-01-6023

TAIWAN

June 1 2015

Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), chairwoman of Taiwan’s main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the party’s 2016 presidential candidate, held a closed-door forum with U.S. academics in Los Angeles Saturday on maintaining the cross-Taiwan Strait status quo.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201505310008.aspx

Opposition Chair Vows to Run Clean, Transparent Election Campaign

May 27 2015

Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its candidate for the 2016 presidential election, said at the launch of her campaign office in Taipei Monday that she will run a clean and transparent campaign.
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201505250023.aspx

THAILAND

June 2 2015

“How can you talk about a people if you don’t name them?”

The absence of the word “Rohingya” in the invitation, statement, and the very name of a summit of 17 states to tackle Southeast Asia’s most pressing crisis baffled rights groups. At a luxury hotel in Bangkok on Friday, May 29, senior officials discussed the plight of refugees whose pained faces and gaunt bodies depicted a lifetime of rejection on land and at sea.

http://www.rappler.com/world/specials/southeast-asia/94860-rohingya-asean-response-analysis

Meeting Agrees to Help Migrants

June 2 2015

The international meeting in Bangkok on the boat people crisis in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal agreed on Friday to resolve the problems at their “root causes” by helping to improve the living conditions of Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar.

Myanmar agreed with the meeting’s outcome although its representative reacted tersely to those who suggested granting citizenship to Rohingya people and who blamed the country for being the cause of the crisis, saying “finger pointing” would not help.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/577099/meeting-agrees-to-help-migrants

Democrats Beats Phue Thai in Popularity Vote

June 2 2015

The Democrat party continued to lead Phue Thai party in the latest opinion poll conducted by Bangkok University’s research arm “Bangkok Poll”.

http://news.thaivisa.com/thailand/democrat-beats-pheu-thai-in-popularity-voting/92635/

LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL

May 27 2015

LI Vice-President on the Bureau and former Foreign Minister of Thailand, Kasit Piromya, from LI full member Democratic Party, has appealed to the United Nations and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to help thousands of Rohingya migrants stranded at sea.

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD – LI cooperating organisation) echoed Piromya’s position in a resolution adopted immediately following the unravelling of the crisis. CALD called for ASEAN “to convene an emergency summit that aims to arrive at regional measures to improve the plight of the Rohingyas and other vulnerable minorities in the region.”

http://www.liberal-international.org/site/VP_Kasit_calls_for_action_on_Rohingya_crisis.html