#ASEAN Change

[kazifatagar]

Malaysia Sets New Regional Standard with Successful Launch of ASEAN Change Management Conference

KUALA LUMPUR, 10th October 2024 – Malaysia made a significant stride in regional leadership with the inaugural ASEAN Change Management Conference, positioning itself as a hub for advancing organisational transformation in Southeast Asia. Organised by K-Pintar Sdn Bhd at the Wyndham Grand Bangsar, the landmark event set a new benchmark, drawing global thought leaders and change practitioners under…

[chimaeraonwards]

I want to ask you, Tumblr user @against-forms-recognizable if it's okay if my neighbourhood is bombed because I live in a homophobic country?

Would me saying that I'm also a queer help or make your decision harder?

I think I speak English pretty well, but I do have a lot of grammar errors and speak with an accent since English isn't my native tongue. I'm not sure if that would help you make your decision.

I love Kirby and I think he’s the cutest character Nintendo has made. I’ve read the Percy Jackson series since I was 12. I like to hang out with my friends, and we play D&D together. I like to watch sad movies and my sister will laugh and roll her eyes when I cry.

Is this enough proof of my humanity for you to say something if I get carpet-bombed?  

Surely, committing genocide in my country and on my people is okay because the authority figures here would go insane if I kissed (let alone marry) another girl.

Clearly, I should leave my country! How dare I continue living here where my culture is. I don’t have the money or resources to leave this country, but I must because I, as a queer, should not be living in this country. I shouldn’t try to stay here and fix the issues like queer activists throughout European and USA history.

Surely, I should go to somewhere in Europe, where they clearly welcome me, a person from the global south, with open arms. Maybe I should lighten my skin? (Someone with skin-lightening tips please drop recs below 🙏 I heard bleaching is all the rage.)

I would add the USA to the list of countries I could go to but “a record number of anti-LGBT bills have been introduced this year” so I guess that doesn't fit your criteria either.

 Source: CNN

But yes, clearly let’s allow Israel to bomb Palestine and that’s okay with you because Palestine is homophobic right?

(ppsssttttt Israel isn’t a great place for queers too.)

Source: i24news

Source: The Guardian

Source: Times of Israel

So by your logic, isn't the violence enacted by Hamas a good thing?

Maybe, just maybe, there isn’t a single country that is free from homophobic rhetoric. Does that mean it’s okay to commit genocide? Eh, I’ll let you answer that for yourself.

If you’re a true ally for queer people worldwide, then I highly suggest you look up the term “pinkwashing”. Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

I also want to address a concern that you brought up here:

“All of which is easier said than done. But if I was in Palestine, what choice would I, as a gay man who seeks my own liberation, have but to oppose Hamas or flee? There is no solidarity with people who desire your death.”

If you were in Palestine, you would be dead because the Israeli government is carpet bombing people. I'm sorry to let you know that they probably don’t check to see if you’re holding a pride flag before bombing.  

Moving on to my next point:

Your impression of advocacy work is faulty at best and harmful at worst.

Advocacy should not be transactional, it’s a moral obligation.

If BLM does not stand with women’s rights movements, does that mean that non-POC women should not stand up for police brutality against POCs?

If advocacy was transactional, where were you when queer people in Southeast Asia were being prosecuted? When Southeast Asian queers were arrested? When we were sent to conversion camps?

The people of Palestine have stood for many issues including BLM. I'm sure you will able to find other global social causes they have supported online (but let's be real I'm already spoon-feeding you so many sources I'm sure you can find some on your own.)

You seem to be under the impression that queers living under homophobic rule should, in your words, "flee" if we are under homophobic rule. Where should we go? How should we go? Will your country welcome all of us?   

Who is speaking up for the Palestinian queers? Yes, queer Palestinians exist. These are the same queers who post on Queering the Map which you can also find screenshots in this article but let me share 2 of them which shred my heart to pieces.  

Let's break down what you said here:

Sabotage, theft, infiltration, deception, propaganda, attacks on infrastructure, assassination. Anything to remove the useful idiots in power that Israel placed there so they wouldn't be forced to continue bargaining with more sympathetic and reasonable Palestinian leadership.

“Sabotage, theft, infiltration, deception, propaganda, attacks on infrastructure, assassination” all sound like things that the US government has done to rid of Osama bin Laden, an operation that took 40 minutes.

Do you think that the USA should have committed genocide and broken more international laws instead of sending in special ops teams? Maybe the Israeli government should take a page out of the tactics you mentioned to remove “terrorist organisations” instead of carpet-bombing people.

Also, about 50% of the population in Gaza are children and Hamas was voted in 2006, so do with that information what you will.   

What Hamas did on October 7th is a tragedy. The Israeli government enacting genocide on the Palestinian civilians is also a tragedy.

Both things can be true at the same time.

But one side is continuing to carpet bomb civilians, not allowing humanitarian aid, and treating a list of war crimes like a to-do list.

Now I want to address this line from the initial post:

"if you're there - what other choice do you have?"

You’re under the impression that there are other things that could have been done right?

To fully understand this, let's get some context and look at SOME of the crimes that the Israeli government were knowingly committing against the Palestinian people.

Israel skinbanks and organ harvesting – a non-consensual organ harvesting committed by the Israeli Forensics Institute against mostly Palestinians. You can find excerpts of the journal article below in this tumblr post I made.

Israeli settlers stealing the homes of Palestinians and justifying it by saying, "if I don’t steal your home, someone else will steal it"

All the abuses that Palestinians face in Israeli custody. In that same linked article, it says that there are currently more than 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli custody.

Activists and human rights groups have been calling Israel an apartheid state for years just cause how they treat Palestine

This is just a small small list of the atrocities that Israel has committed against the Palestinian people for decades.

The Palestinians have gone the peaceful route. They were greeted with gunfire from the Israeli Defence Forces.

Source: Amnesty International

October 7 did not happen in a vacuum. If an abused person attacks their abuser, would that be unprovoked violence too?  

I leave you with this final thought:

If Israel has the right to self-defence through violent methods, then why is that same right not granted to Palestinians? Why are the victims of decades of oppression and colonisation held to higher standards than their oppressors?

What do you do when the peaceful methods have time and time again not worked?

I highly suggest you read history of Korea, South Africa, Haiti, and Ireland to understand the brutality of colonialism and how people are driven to desperation. Read the history as written by the people from those places, not some “cleaned” version by their colonisers. Please reaccess your biases and reevaluate why you might have them.

I do hope that you made those comments due to a lack of information and context rather than a lack of empathy – one of those problems is easier to solve than the other.

In conclusion, pinkwashing is not allyship, there is more context for the October 7 attacks, nothing excuses genocide, John Cusack's best role (in my opinion) is still Dimitri from Anastasia (1997), and as always, Free Palestine 🇵🇸.

xoxo,

done with this bullshit

John Cusack, the voice actor for Dimitri in Anatasia (1997), shared his statement on Palestine 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸

P.S. He has been a Palestinian supporter for years

[wisemansthoughts]

Day 541 of telling people to Have More Babies, The Pending Doomsday of Retirement!

Day 541 of telling people to Have More Babies, The Pending Doomsday of Retirement!

Photo by shutter_speed on Pexels.com The Problem The Developed world and even some parts of the Developing world are facing the largest ever demographic change in history. The combination of increasing life expectancies due to improvements of hygiene and in our diets, coupled with the issue of low fertility rates (approximately the total number of children born to each woman) being way below…

[pharawee]

Historical Resolution: Senate Passes Equal Marriage Law

Today (June 18) at the Parliament, during the extraordinary session of the Senate, the important agenda was the consideration of the draft amendment of the Civil and Commercial Code (Act No. ..) B.E. .... or the Equal Marriage Law, which has been reviewed by the Extraordinary Committee.

In the committee stage, no articles were amended, but there were only two amendments proposed by members: Police Lieutenant General Sanit Mahathavorn proposed that the law should come into effect the day after it is published in the Royal Gazette, while General Worapong Sanganetra proposed minor wording changes that did not affect the substance.

The majority of the committee still believes that it should come into effect 120 days after its publication in the Royal Gazette to allow relevant agencies, especially the Ministry of Interior, time to prepare, such as getting marriage registers ready and issuing regulations consistent with the religious principles of Muslim officials to facilitate their duties.

Ultimately, the Senate approved the draft amendment of the Civil and Commercial Code (Act No. ..) B.E. .... or the Equal Marriage Law in the third reading with the following votes:

130 votes in favor 4 votes against 18 abstentions

Join in celebrating with the LGBTQIA+ community as the equal marriage law is now a historical reality in Thailand, making it the first country in the ASEAN group and the third in Asia to do so.

Source: thestandardth

[peaterookie]

Lupin Week Day 2: Roleswap

Today, I'm role swapping Lupin and Goemon, my two favorite characters !

This drawing is a redraw of a manga panel in the Goemon Series, where they are fighting cuz Lupin wants to steal from Goemon's master. This time it's the opposite happening however.

More info about them under the cut!

I kiiinda got super invested in them so I made a character sheet that shows their designs and fleshes out their character.

Obviously, Goemon takes Lupin's role. His family plays a bigger role in his life and unlike OG Goemon, has very little sense of morals- he steals whatever he wants and kills whoever gets in his way.

I still preserved his Japanese clothes because it's an essential part of Goemon, I used Lupin's kabuki outfit as a model. Despite this, he leans more towards western ideologies and tech more than OG Goe, using guns and various other tools for his heists. I personally think his family wouldn't approve of him straying away from their Japanese roots. (Oh yeah, he's Japanese/French, just like OG Lup

--

With Lupin, I didn't want to go with the obvious option of giving him Japanese clothing, since it'll be too similar to Goe. I first thought of making him more French and have him be a fencer but that just doesn't fit with Goemon's whole thing of being a ninja.

So I went with the ninja thing and tried to find something similar to it- and I made Lupin a pirate :) Hopefully it didn't look so obvious.

To match this, I changed his ethnicity to be half French and the other half be some sort of ASEAN/Pacific Islander. I made it vague like how OG Goe is with being half white. He also uses a harpoon and like, throws it to kill people yeah

--

So how did Goemon and Lupin meet in this story?

Lupin sails the sea with other people and they do whatever pirates do, and they find this really awesome treasure that Goemon takes notice of. When the crew docks in Japan, Goemon attempts to gain Lupin's trust because that way, he can infiltrate the ship and get that cool treasure.

Lupin is insistent on protecting the treasure however (because he'd probably get killed by his crew if he fails) and him and Goe fight fight fight!!! Much like Goemon in the original story where he leaves his master to join Lupin, Lupin just decides to leave his crew and join Goemon's gang after losing to him a bunch of times and having to endure the crew's abuse.

And that's it, I hope you like my take on this roleswap prompt!

[goldammerchen]

putting this here and leaving for the time being again fr

mid show but with potential = passionate fandom (or shows with too many characters so nobody is explored super in deep)

The Draw of the Hetalia Fandom (and Why You Can Never Leave)

From the perspective of a fan of (technically) twelve years or so.

Something occurred to me a while back, and I wanted to share it to get other people's thoughts. I'll try to add funny pictures and gifs to break up the wall of text so it won't be as exhausting to read.

I made a post the other day about how the Hetalia fandom always draws you back in. This was, of course, based on the joke about how you can never really leave the Hetalia fandom. A joke you can find virtually everywhere you look in fan spaces online.

But this begs the question. Why? Why can't you ever truly leave the Hetalia fandom? What is it about this fandom that consistently draws you back in?

And note that people don't talk about Hetalia itself, but rather its fandom. You could stop watching the show or reading the comics for years, but the fandom is what won't fully leave you be.

(The Hetalia fandom every time you check to see if it's dead yet).

One answer I've heard has to do with the phenomenon known as Associative Memory, where you can learn and remember the relationship between unrelated items.

For example, you watch Hetalia, a series about the countries of the world personified as anime characters. These characters have their own personalities, traits, quirks, etc. And the more you watch the show and get into the fandom, the more you start to associate these things with one another.

For instance, someone can say the word Italy, and I'll start thinking about Feliciano Vargas. Or someone could say the name Matthew Williams, and I automatically associate that with Canada. Or I could see bushy eyebrows and immediately start thinking of APH England. Heck, someone starts talking about Vikings and my thoughts almost always go to the Viking Trio of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I could go on, but you get the idea.

And there's also the fact that we live in a world full of the countries that the show has personified characters of, which would in turn likely remind you of Hetalia.

But there's something more here going on. I've thought about it for a long while, and I think I've realized one of the biggest reasons why you can't fully leave the fandom.

It's because of how versatile the characters of the series can be in fan content. Allow me to explain.

(Me preparing to explain to everyone the epiphany that came to me one dark, stormy night).

Hetalia is a series with literally no plot. Like, zero. Some episodes may impact each other, but the overall series is episodic in nature. The only episodes you'd have to watch in order would be the ones going over the miniature love story between Chibitalia and HRE. And then there's the sequence of episodes going over the Industrial Revolution in season seven, and then the sequence of episodes explaining the relationship between Czechia and Slovakia. But that's it. And the Industrial Revolution and Czechia and Slovakia episodes aired in the latter seasons, long after the fandom was already very big and well established.

The episodes are largely adaptations from the original webcomic and thus are all a bunch of skits haphazardly thrown together. So I'll reiterate what I said earlier; there is no real, canonical plot to Hetalia. There are canon events and facts about canon characters, but seeing as the show is largely skits, they aren't tied down to any real narrative.

(The Hetalia fandom whenever they're given a piece of canon they don't like).

This leaves a lot of room for headcanons. Which leads to fans sharing their headcanons online. And when headcanons get super popular, they become fanon. And when a piece of fanon gets super popular, where it finds itself getting mingled with fanart, fanfiction, and even fan theories, you'll have people who start to confuse it with actual canon. There's really a lot to be said for the wild fanon of Hetalia, but I'll get to that another day. I need to turn the focus back onto the characters themselves.

I'm just gonna put it out there. The Hetalia characters are largely one-note. This isn't to say there isn't some depth to a few of the characters, but these characters are largely the epitome of "what you see is what you get." Especially in the early days of the series. The characters all have a set of straightforward, basic character traits, with their interpersonal relationships often being displayed in a very simplistic manner.

For example, Italy is a pasta-loving coward who's a massive flirt. Germany is strict and authoritative with a no-nonsense attitude. Japan is quiet and soft-spoken, only speaking up when he feels the need. America is a bombastic dork with a hero complex. England is an arrogant stick in the mud. France is a hopeless romantic who flirts with anything that has a pulse.

(Me taking a moment to pause and push away the cringy middle school memories of me shamelessly fangirling in class).

And as I said, their relationships are typically portrayed as simplistic as well. Italy annoys Germany, but Germany doesn't want to get rid of him because he's one of his only friends. England and France hate each other. America is that hyper-extroverted friend trying to get his introverted friend, Japan, out of his shell. Switzerland and Lichtenstein have a sweet sibling dynamic. And Prussia and Austria are portrayed as old friends who like to antagonize one another.

Because of the way the characters and their interpersonal relationships are written, this also lends them open to a lot of headcanons and eventual fanon. Not to mention that most of the characters have canon, human names. So if you want to use these characters in a fanfiction, particularly one where you don't want to depict them as countries (which is most fanfics), you have names at the ready that you can use.

And because of the simple way the characters are written, you can potentially write or portray these characters however you want in fanwork without too many people complaining that someone "isn't in character." There is so much room for your own interpretations of the characters. As long as you keep some of their basic personality traits from the series intact, you can portray the characters however you want. Especially because there's no real canonical storyline to drag them down. Because of the lack of canon storyline, you don't have to worry about fanworks being canon-compliant, canon-divergent, or canon-adjacent.

(Fanfic writers when they realize canon cannot stop them from creating whatever they want).

Do you want to portray Romano as the notorious mafia boss, Lovino Vargas, in the 1930s? Go ahead. As long as you can keep some of his cowardly and stubborn nature intact, you can do what you want with little trouble.

Do you want to portray England as the infamous pirate, Arthur Kirkland, in the 17th century? As long as you maintain his disdain for France, have at it!

Do you want to write a college AU with all of the characters present? As long as you keep in mind their personalities and have a basic understanding of their interpersonal relationships, have fun!

Now you're probably sitting there thinking, "Big deal, people can create all kinds of fanwork, regardless of what its content is, or what property it's for. What makes the Hetalia fandom so special?"

It's special because, since Hetalia is a series with almost zero canonical storylines, and the characters are portrayed in such a simplistic way, both of which lend their way to boatloads of headcanons and fanon, as well as small scraps of canon information that we can choose to either ignore or elaborate like crazy on...

Hetalia is a freaking goldmine for creating all kinds of fan content.

(Hetalians when creating the 2p! variations of the characters, probably).

So much fan content is out there. From creepypastas, to Hetaoni, Dreamtalia, the 2p! characters, historically accurate AU's, school AU's, and so, so much more. All because the canon is just loose enough to allow all kinds of fan content to be created and not seem too far off from the series or characters.

And that fan content ends up being way, way more fun than the actual series itself! Don't get me wrong, I still love the show, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't (or currently don't) have a freaking blast every time I engage with fan content. The creativity is insane, and the fanon is even more fun and entertaining.

The reason you cannot fully leave the Hetalia fandom isn't just because of Associative Memory, but because of the immense amount of fan content and fanon where, because of the nature of the series, you can do, write, draw, and create whatever you want. You can project onto these characters and their stories and interpret them to your own personal tastes. And you know what? That's a heck of a lot of fun.

And there you go, that's my two cents.

[fanficfish]

hetalia: my hc on nations and personalities

...beyond the stereotypes!

okay okay hear me out okay hc brainrot midnight time im jacked on caffeine and the night is young aight

so lets get this straight: so first off i imagine the nations are like 96% "stereotypes of ttheir nation" (e.g. the more people think or are americans that digest too many burgers, to more likely it is America himself eats attrocious amounts of burgers. The more people say Germans are swrious, the more likely Germany is a serious dude. etc. the normal stuff we all know off.)

but the other 4%? That's the nation's "person" side, seperate from their "nation" side. It varies a little depending on country ofc but that's prob the average.

E.g. hungary and austria "divorced" but they clearly care for each other. They can't be together for literal reasons but the non-nations parts of them wouldn't mind at all.

prussia is knwon aa a great warrior so that's what he is. But his non-nation half has self doubts and the need to keep an eye on his family. Like llease, Prussia how did you know what Austria wears and eats??? I get a feeling this wasn't in the mdidle of WW2, probabky right before if i had to geuss. Austria wouldn't have moved in with Germany and by exention aprussia yet....and he waa following the dude....prussia is an overprotective helicopter parent of an older brother, canon.

France and his distaste for technology. Exhibit A: french music was consistantly the one doing the weird innovative stuff in my music history class when it wasn't Schoenberg. Besides that, i could see France not liking tech as much due to being literally a thousand. Heck, i'm pretty sure half the old nations are a bit iffy about it just because "wdym now i can't just didappear lff the grid without anyone getting cocnerned and i need passports and phones and shit?" Except maybe Denmark, China, and Japan. Those three are 100% ipad kids in old men bodies.

iceland oozes gen z. enough said. The man might be obsessed with finding tourists and his northern lights and his weird museums but the thing where his beothers are throwing plates at his door and he's like "hell noooo"? The one where he's going off to make friends over ding-dong soup with the ASEAN dudes? That's allll Iceland, the person. Far as i could find there os no iceland-malaysia embassy and closest it got was relations with indonesia. (I highly recommend checking out the iceland-diplomatics-relations wiki page. There's a very interesting factoid under the list for Asian countries i think many of you will be interested in.....but per my own doctrine, this is a Hetalia hc post and not a Politica post.)

america and his animals. That goes for estonia too. Americans are no adopting whales and aliens as pets (well maybe the donate-and-save-an-animal program but we aint keep them in the house) and i doubt estonians keep talking mochi they found randomly in a disty corner. I'm fairly certain most Eatonians don't hell "latviaaaaaa!!!!" When things go wrong either.

austria getting lost is just a him thing. That's not normal for austrians, music part is very much influenced by his people. His preference to chopin might be him though since Salzburg is in Austria and that's Mozartland. Also, Chopin is Polish.

I won't even start with the clusterfuck called Russia but Japan daydreaming about Switzerland? Yeah that was Japan's non-nation side getting really weird. Japan understandably was just as confused himswlf considering for the most part he has no prpblems being a "stereotypical japanese dude".

need i mention Italy, who has a huge crush on Germany m/hre despite him literally changing in basically everything (because that's the natire of a nation), and just likes the guy as long as he exists?

I also choose to believe Sweden can grow a beard if he really followed the stereotype (no seriously. Why os the image i get of Sweedish guys just dudes with beards? Someone has a really nice sweden somewhere ln this site where he has a lovely beard and it just makes him look like the embodiment of sweeden, no questions asked). But he doesn't like it, which fair o imagine beards aren't fun when stiff gets stick in them or whatever, so he just shaves or leaves some stubble. Def not cuz Asians and beards is just not really a thing so Hima prob just didn't draw beyond the stubble.

Latvia being a secret brainiac that plays mental chess against himself while doing other stuff, all hidden under an alcoholic who can't get rid of his past. Pretty sure his blabbermouth thie is his own personality. I did see somewhere that there's a steretype that Latvians have six toes and i kinda wanna just believe Latvia got that one too cuz why not!

theres others im sure but yeah. Those are the knes i came up with and im gonna sleep now bye lmk what you think

[scrumptiousstuffs]

Do you think THK has that potential to be the series of the year, I know it's stupid to ask it before it's release but still, we can see the quality in the pictures that has been released throughout the filming, they look really high quality plus the cinematography looks amazing ( I hope it's same in the actual series) also I read the plot that's been released by Gmmtv apparantly and the plot sounds pretty good to me , also they are taking a good time is post production as we can see that it's almost three months they started filming and we still have a month before we get the series of we go by Gmmtv giving it a Friday slot

And and and we have FirstKhaotung and JoongDunk as main leads so the chemistry will be overflowing there's no doubt about it, so knowing all this I am hoping that this series becomes a huge hit because it has all the potential, What do you think??

I hope so anon.

Jojo has never disappointed in terms of cinematography and production-wise. The storyline/script (as you can already tell by OF) can be divisive for people (and whether or not this will translate to something that will be appealing to mass media or film/drama critics, I’m not 100% sure). Cause it’s one thing for it to be a success rating wise (and OF was certainly popular internationally, but they didn’t win any major awards per se 🤸‍♂️ in Thailand or overseas).

But at the very least, Jojo has always picked the right cast members and his production team is tight. Not to mention banger OST/music selection.

Like you, I am hoping because they will have more time for editing, it will come up more smoothly than OF (cause as much as I praised OF, there were glitches with the editing, which I suspect was the team having to rush through preparing it a few days pre-release each week).

We certainly have an amazing cast with FK and JD, both of which I personally think are 2 of the more underrated CPs with GMMTV - the former cause they don’t have the typical CP dynamics (and dare I say it l, aesthetics that will cater for the mass Thai/Asean people in general) while the latter’s previous dramas don’t highlight their acting chops to maximum capacity.

Anyway, fingers crossed 🤞 !!!!

Cause so far, while I have enjoyed some of the BLs that have come out in 2024 from GMMTV, I won’t say I’m head over heels over it (and I’m hoping THK will change that for me!)

[southeastasianists]

Asia’s youngest nation emerges as a voice of conscience on Myanmar

Two decades ago, freedom fighters on a mountainous island in southern Indonesia won a long, bloody struggle against a corrupt military regime, establishing East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, the first independent state of the 21st century. Memories of airstrikes and indiscriminate killings are still fresh here. And they’ve led the country’s leaders to take an unusual interest in another fight for freedom in Southeast Asia.

In 2021, a group of generals overturned an elected government in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, starting a civil war that some conflict monitoring groups consider the most extreme in the world today. Many countries have looked away — much as they did for 24 years, East Timor’s leaders say, as Indonesian soldiers fought Timorese independence fighters.

“For so long, nobody paid attention to us,” Xanana Gusmao, the prime minister of East Timor, said during an interview in the capital, Dili.Gusmao led the insurgency against the Indonesian military, later serving two terms as East Timor’s president and now, his second as prime minister. At 77, with a head of white hair and a stiff back from years of imprisonment, he still remembers every person he saw killed or tortured in the jungles of Timor, he said.

“I do not accept the suffering of the Burmese people,” Gusmao said. “I cannot.”

Many in East Timor, even opposition politicians and civil society leaders critical of Gusmao on other issues,said in interviews that they agree. The country of 1.3 million, with an economy one-seventh the size of Vermont, has gone further than almost any other in supporting the Myanmar resistance, receiving its leaders as state representatives and openly advocating on their behalf at international forums.In the coming months, East Timor will let Myanmar pro-democracy groups open offices in the country to help coordinate resistance activities and take in a number of political refugees, officials say.

Increasingly, human rights activists say they see Dili as a voice of conscience, challenging more powerful countries that have been too distracted or too divided to press for change in Myanmar. “What the Timorese are doing is vital,” said Debbie Stothard, a Malaysian rights advocate.

Regional inaction

The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly called on Myanmar’s military government to comply with a peace plan adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Western officials, including from the United States and the European Union, have also cited that plan for resolving the conflict.

But ASEAN, which operates on a principle of “noninterference” and includes Myanmar as a member, has largely failed to convince the junta to cooperate.

In 2021, ASEAN adopted the “Five-Point Consensus” on Myanmar, which calls for a cessation of violence and a dialogue among all parties. The junta signed the plan but has ignored it with little consequence. The military has ramped up airstrikes to a rate of nearly once a day, according to conflict monitoring groups, and faces mounting allegations from human rights groups of carrying out mass killings, beheadings and other atrocities. Myanmar has declined invitations from ASEAN to meet with resistance leaders.

“The five-point consensus has failed,” said Saifuddin Abdullah, who served until last year as foreign minister for Malaysia, an ASEAN member. The plan, which has no enforcement measures, is being disregarded not only by the Myanmar government but by other ASEAN members, Abdullah said.

In April, Thailand’s foreign minister traveled to Myanmar and met with junta leader Gen. Min Aung Hlaing without notifying other ASEAN members. Thailand, which borders Myanmar, has also hosted secret meetings with junta officials and mooted the idea of ASEAN “fully re-engaging” military leaders.

By normalizing relations with the Myanmar opposition, East Timor is trying to pull the region in the opposite direction — but at some risk to itself. The country is in the final stages of negotiating admission into the bloc and was allowed last year to attend meetings as an “observer.” Its outspoken stance on Myanmar could jeopardize its application or otherwise alienate some of its neighbors, analysts say.

East Timor can’t afford to be excluded from ASEAN, Gusmao admitted. With more than 40 percent of its population living in poverty, the country is in dire need of foreign investment. It has 15 years to find an alternative to its dwindling petroleum revenue, according to the International Monetary Fund, and has struggled since independence to feed its people,a problem set only to worsen with climate change.

At the same time, political scientists say, the country’s history has made it particularly sensitive to authoritarianism. East Timor has become probably the most robust democracy in Southeast Asia, according to experts.It’s the only country in the region ranked “free” by the think tank Freedom House and was recently listed 10th in the world for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders.

Smoking as he paced a meeting room in Dili’s government palace, Gusmao said that when he watches extensive coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on television, he often thinks about suffering elsewhere, in Yemen, Somalia, Myanmar. Powerful countries aren’t obliged to care about crises that don’t affect them, Gusmao said.

Among small, fragile nations, he added, “all we have is our solidarity.”

A diplomat expelled

When Gusmao was inaugurated in Dili two months ago, a visitor from Myanmar was seated in the front row alongside cabinet ministers and diplomats from various countries. It was Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister for Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), formed in opposition to the junta after the coup.

That event marked the first time any country had formally received an NUG official and sparked indignation from Myanmar’s military government, which demanded that Dili cut contact with what it called “terrorist groups.” The following month, when East Timor hosted a second NUG official in Dili, the junta expelled Avelino Pereira, East Timor’s top diplomat in Myanmar.

While some countries have downgraded diplomatic relations with Myanmar, the junta had not thrown out any foreign representatives until Pereira and hasn’t since.When other governments meet with opposition officials, they’ve done so privately or informally. Dili’s actions were “public and senior level barbs” at the junta, said a Western embassy official in Yangon, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person had not been given authority to speak on the issue.

“It showed great courage,” said Aung Myo Min, the NUG’s minister for human rights, the second opposition official to visit Dili. “It empowers us to know we’re not alone.”

Some Timorese officials worry Pereira’s expulsion could affect the country’s ASEAN bid. But President Jose Ramos-Horta, who was behind both invitations to the Myanmar opposition figures, said he was unperturbed. “It was an honor,” he said, eyes crinkling behind dark Ray-Ban sunglasses during a recent interview as he was traveling between official engagements in Dili.

Ramos-Horta, who shares the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo for his opposition of Indonesian oppression, led the “diplomatic front” for East Timor’s sovereignty. Over years, Ramos-Horta formed alliances with activists from other countries, including Myanmar.

In recognizing Myanmar’s opposition government, Ramos-Horta, 73, said he was paying back the support that Myanmar pro-democracy groups gave East Timor. But he was also, he said,acting in line with historical precedent: During World War II, the Allied powers recognized Free France, a government in exile, over the Vichy government that collaborated with Nazi Germany.

“Are we supposed to accept the norm that elections can be disregarded?” asked Ramos-Horta. “The answer, at least for us, is no.”

‘Who is listening?’

When Gusmao attended the semiannual ASEAN summit in August, he was feeling contrite, he said.

He’d been chided by his staff a few weeks earlier for saying East Timor would reconsider its ASEAN application if the bloc couldn’t end the violence in Myanmar. Those were “uncontrolled” remarks, he reflected later, and at the summit in Jakarta, he had intended to stick to his prepared speeches.

But faced with leaders from the United States, China and Russia, Gusmao decided again to go off-script. News reports had said Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s deposed civilian leader, was ill, Gusmao told the room. The junta should provide medical care, he appealed. No one responded.

“We will speak out, always. But we are a small country,” Gusmao said as he recounted the incident. “Who is listening?”

Diplomats and aid workersin Dili say Gusmao and Ramos-Horta might have a bigger impact than they know. The two leaders have allies in places from Europe to Africa, and they command respect as that rare breed of statesmen who fought for freedom and won, said Olufunmilayo Abosede Balogun-Alexander, the U.N. resident coordinator for East Timor. On the world stage, she added, “they have an outsize voice.”

Earlier this year, at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Ramos-Horta said he watched as heads of state and chief executives rose one after another to lambaste Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rally Western governments to supply Kyiv with weapons. He was stunned, he remembered, that virtually no one mentioned Myanmar.

“Next year, I will,” said Ramos-Horta, days before departing for the U.N. General Assembly session last month in New York, where he again met with the NUG. “I will say something,” he continued. “So at least people there will hear the word, ‘Myanmar.’”

[k1ng0k]

ASEAN

ASEAN appears from the ocean in a palace and explains information through smoke (which is why they're always smoking). They'd be explaining things that need to be done, and the smoke would imitate imagery in relation to those things. ASEAN is often laying down and overall chill. They are somewhat like a genie/ spirit to Vietnam, Laos, etc. that can provide a space for southeast Asian countries to talk about trading, etc. Whenever members talk to ASEAN individually, their attire changes to fit cultural aspects to the country as well as the interior of their palace.

However, whenever non-members interact with ASEAN, they'd often either tease or mess with them. Making passive-agressive comments while kicking their feet but also not taking much interest most of the time.

[featguler]

hiiii are u taking requests for f1 smau?? bcs your lewis fic changed my life tbh i can't stop thinking about it <33 it's very hard to find a good asean girls rep in fanfics rn

YOURE SO RIGHTTTT!!!!! also just send em in :3 !! i’ll do it eventually LOL

[kazifatagar]

Malaysia Sets New Regional Standard with Successful Launch of ASEAN Change Management Conference

KUALA LUMPUR, 8th October 2024 – Malaysia made a significant stride in regional leadership with the inaugural ASEAN Change Management Conference, positioning itself as a hub for advancing organisational transformation in Southeast Asia. Organised by K-Pintar Sdn Bhd at the Wyndham Grand Bangsar, the landmark event set a new benchmark, drawing global thought leaders and change practitioners under…

[dearestones]

Yandere! Vietnam with Avoidant! Reader Headcanons

Warnings: Yandere character, yandere behavior.  

Anonymous Request: Hey, Could I get headcanons of Yandere Vietnam with an obsession that really doesn't like her back and tries to avoid her?

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Vietnam is a stoic, quiet person. Ideally, she wouldn’t have made her attention known, but now that you know… Won’t you return her feelings? Oh… Why are you walking away from her? Did you forget something? You’ll come back, right? Right?

Vietnam will never admit this and only a few of her close friends will ever know this, but she’s utterly heartbroken when she realizes that you don’t want anything to do with her. This Southeastern Asian Nation was content in watching you from afar, but because of unfortunate circumstances, wouldn’t it be better to talk things out? She would make you so happy! She’ll become more emotionally available for you. She’ll learn how to smile those cute smiles that always get adoring compliments from others. Just don’t turn your back on her. 

When Vietnam notices that not only will you not linger after meetings, but also never make eye contact with her or attend the same venues where Vietnam publicly announced that she would be there, she will be hurt. It’s a hurt that stings and slowly festers the more she thinks about it. How come any other Nation would be able to find themselves loved ones who could reciprocate? How come she could see you hanging around other Nations, even the rest of the ASEAN? Vietnam had been nothing but respectful of your boundaries up until this point, so why did you reject her so much? Didn’t she deserve happiness? Didn’t she deserve you? 

At first, Vietnam will give you the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps Vietnam needed to state her intentions directly. Maybe it wasn’t enough to merely know that Vietnam harbored feelings for you. What she needed to do was make sure that you knew Vietnam wanted to court you, to hold you in her arms, and to give and receive affection freely. 

It’s only because Vietnam’s face is naturally stoic and refined that you don’t realize that you broke her heart. She’ll try to brush off your rejection and leave you alone, but her resolution to do so doesn’t last long. In fact, it’s scarcely two weeks later that Vietnam can’t take it anymore. She wants you. She can have only you.

The more you run away from her, the more she wants to pursue. So, that’s what she’ll do. 

When she sees you leave in the middle of a meeting so you can visit the restroom, Vietnam is practically nipping at your heels. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t belong in your designated restroom, she will be there and she will corner you at the sink. She’ll once again reveal her feelings and intentions. If you reject her again, the hard part happens. Instead of letting you go, Vietnam will grab you by the arms and look at you with a perfectly blank expression on her face. 

“If that’s how you feel at this moment, then I have no choice but to change your mind.”

She’ll let you go, but her plans have already formed. First, she’ll progress with gifts and letters of how much she adores you. It doesn’t matter if you reply or not, Vietnam has made sure to keep an eye on you when you receive them. Looking disgusted or frightened won’t deter her either. That just means that you feel something towards her and that’s what she wants. In a perfect world, you would look at her in happiness, but she’ll have to deal with your disgust for now. 

Later, she’ll send you messages to your personal number. This was a number that not many of your colleagues knew, so how did she…? You can try and block her number or get a new one, she will find you. She will continue to message you. She’ll greet you in the morning, text you the details of her day, and then wish you goodnight. The messages themselves are quiet and tame, but then—

Then you receive a text that tells you to get ready. 

You don’t know what that means, but that entire day, you’re on edge. You keep glancing behind your shoulder, always asking one of your friends to accompany you while you’re going to a restroom or back to your hotel room. Eventually, your fear starts to wane when you convince yourself that Vietnam isn’t going to try anything. After all, this is a national summit and contraband, weapons, etc. weren’t allowed. Everyone was screened for a reason so you should be fine.

Right?

Unfortunately, the second you step into your hotel room, alone, you realize that it is too late. 

Vietnam is seated in a chair and this is the first time that you see genuine emotion in her deep brown eyes. Sadness, but with a touch of regret in them.

“Why can’t you return my feelings? All I have ever done was love you!” 

Before you can even try to offer a rebuttal, Vietnam is already lunging from the chair and towards you, a white handkerchief in hand that swiftly finds its way into your mouth. 

You accidentally breathe in and all goes dark.

You can avoid her all you want, but in the end, you should have taken more precautionary measures. 

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DISCLAIMER: I do not condone yandere behavior outside of fictional settings. Please don’t mistake the actions of fictional characters displayed in works of fiction to be considered harmless in real life.

If you want to donate a Ko-Fi, feel free https://ko-fi.com/devintrinidad.

HETALIA AXIS POWERS/WORLD SERIES MASTERLIST

[wisemansthoughts]

Day 540 of telling people to Have More Babies, The Pending Doomsday of Retirement!

Day 540 of telling people to Have More Babies, The Pending Doomsday of Retirement!

Photo by shutter_speed on Pexels.com The Problem The Developed world and even some parts of the Developing world are facing the largest ever demographic change in history. The combination of increasing life expectancies due to improvements of hygiene and in our diets, coupled with the issue of low fertility rates (approximately the total number of children born to each woman) being way below…

[mohite1]

Modi’s Pm Tenure Is the Second Longest Tenure in the History of India.

PM Modi took the oath of pm along with 72 cabinet members

Modi 3.0

The rumble of the pm post came to an end after pm Modi became the third consecutive prime minister of India. There were rumours like I.N.D.I.A bloc to make Nitish Kumar the PM of India but the offer was not accepted by Nitish Kumar hence last night Modi became the pm.

But as the many changes happen in the movie more changes happened in the Indian election there were ups and downs once it was looking like the I.N.D.I.A bloc was going to sweep the election but the fate of Modi was good at this time Chandra Babu Pawan Kalyan also Nitish Kumar scored well and hence were offered to became deputy prime minister of INDIA which was shocking but things did not happen as per Congress term.

PM Modi now has taken the oath of PM and has started his duty but will the government be strong as a diamond till 2029 or it will dissolve like butter?

We have seen what Triple Alliance has done in the state of Maharashtra.

Inter Politics of India

From 2014 till 2023 no one in the country could challenge the BJP because of its strong ideology of Hindutva and leadership of MODI but after the result of 2024.

The Modi wave has been downed by the current situation the ideology of Hindutva has also been which was extremely booming but why God knows due to the tactics played by the centre have not positively affected the states of India and mostly the people of India don’t’ like such type of politics? That could be the reason.

The centre’s policy to look upon Gujrat development is also not liked by the people of India specially the state people of Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, because the growth of these states has simultaneously been reducing as Maharashtra’s GDP should have been positive but due to the new leadership of Maharashtra it has been fall and matter got worse after 17 tech companies of Pune left Maharashtra.

Seems the state election is going to soon happen in Maharashtra and the rumble will be on for the most prosperous state of Maharashtra whose GDP is more than Pakistan.

Geo Politics Around India

The South Asia group of Nations called ASEAN is now dead as the entry of PLA (people’s Liberation Army of China) & U.S.A. in the politics of Bhutan, Myanmar, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan only Bangladesh has been pro-India. In such a situation, India also has to develop its own naval fleet.

India has developed in the past decade since Andaman & Nicobar Island is India’s best asset government of India has mainly developed these islands as a naval fleet to keep an eye on China’s trade and especially the presence of China’s navy in the Indian Ocean. And also, for Pakistan which has become a close ally of China these days.

In the Persian Gulf India has made its two allies Iran & Afghanistan which are contemporary enemies of Pakistan.

If we move towards the Arabian region India has maintained great relations with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Oman which are contemporary trade partners, and especially Oman which is the doorway for India to do trade with the other nations of Arab nations.

Central Asia

If we move up towards central Asia India has to maintain special relations with Tajikistan as India has its air base in Tajikistan.

Other central nations have maintained neutrality in the context of Indo-central relations.

RUSSIA

If we look at the past century Russia is one of the closest and most trustworthy allies. This is positive to India as the current political scenario Russia is more towards China as China provides Trade and other needs to Russia as it is affected by the restrictions put by the West & U.S.A.

Russia signed the same treaty with China as India in 1971 as a treaty of peace and cooperation. The same treaty was signed by Russia and India in the 1971 war but there is a loop.

The relationship between China and Russia has not been good since the issue of the Mussoorie River clash in 1969 hence China is a trade partner of Russia not of trusted partner.

Korean peninsula

The Korean peninsula conflict is since WW2 but India has maintained a balance and good relations with South Korea & North Korea and India has developed the tech trade with South Korea and Japan.

Japan is becoming the new military as well as a tech partner with India. India is going to operate a military base in Japan both sides bilateral talks were conducted at the 13th Japan Summit.

South East Asia

Southeast Asia and India relations have been very negative since the independence, also during the 1964 Indo-Pak war Indonesia was in full support of Pakistan and was ready to attack India but due to the maintenance of Indian armed troops in Andaman and Nicobar, the problem was swept.

India has historically traded with South East Asia during the time of Rajendra Chola who was one of the greatest kings of India. Now the situation is different the countries of Southeast Asia are ready to trade with India but due to the military coup in Myanmar and China’s dominance in the South China Sea, it is becoming difficult for India to trade with Southeast Asia.

As for handling National & International politics India’s current situation needs a strong leader who should be the next prime minister

MODI OR RAHUL GANDHI?

[neko-sufis-world]

Everyone, I want you all to report and block this user

Why?

Because.... She or he hates ASEAN countries

Here's the proof 👇

He or she insults @artismeyou-45 or Ary just because she is Indonesian. Even insults her arts. Which the truth is her arts is all great. I'm part of ASEAN too. Malaysian girl.

So, I just want to say to haters. It's doesn't matter where are artists from, but they don't deserve being hated. Like really? Hating them just because where they from? Hating them just because their art almost same as the others? Hating them just because the country they live can't do anything like animation or arts? Come on. Open your mind, haters. Haters are just jealous because they can do something they can. While you haters hate them by saying some stupid stuff, especially artists from ASEAN? By saying ASEAN can't do animation? Well, what Boboiboy Galaxy? That animation from Malaysia. What about Nussa? That animation from Indonesia!

For you all which are not haters, I just wanna say that you all are so talented no matter what. I'm so proud of you and I don't care where you from, but you all have a such a kind hearts. You all are deserve. Respect. No matter who you are, no matter how you look like, you are you. You deserve better. 💖

Also as for that bitchywastecomputerland, if you read this, don't you EVER think you can run away from this, everyone already know what you did. And don't think about leaving Tumblr or changing the username so no one can recognize you. EVERYONE ALREADY SAW WHAT YOU DID TO ARY. By saying she's Indonesia? What's wrong with that? She doesn't do anything wrong to you! You JUST JEALOUS!!! YOU ARE DESERVE BEING BANNED!!! LEAVE HER ALONE!!! 💢