@CelloMomOnCars Nusantara needs to be understood not as a reaction to climate change, but as a combination of two different trends, both negative: the Transmigrasi program sending out Javans to the rest of Indonesia to act as, essentially, settlers amidst the local population; and the general hostility of both nationalists and populists to large cities, which violate their sense of rural-national values. "We must decentralize, the capital city is too big" has been a common trope for generations.
@CelloMomOnCars (A third reason to move the capital in some countries is to insulate an authoritarian government from popular pressure; Naypyidaw and the planned new capital for Egypt are both designed for this. The urban planning in such cities is designed to make it hard to protest and easy for the military to repress protesters. Nusantara has the same urban planning, but I don't know if that's part of its purpose or just convergent evolution in bad urban design.)
#IDF says two #Thai#hostages earlier believed to be alive in #Gaza were killed in the October 7 attack and their bodies are being held in the Palestinian territory. "We informed the families of two kidnapped Thai citizens, who worked in agriculture in the plantations near Kibbutz Beeri, that they were murdered in the terrorist attack on October 7 and their bodies are being held by Hamas," said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
"We may or may not have bombed all the hostages to hamburger, but Hamas and but Hamas and But Hamas. Furthermore Israel has a right to defend itself and But Hamas."
📍 Inasal Chicken Bacolod at Gyud Food Market, UP Diliman Food Hub
I'm still very surprised at how much the campus has changed in recent years. Gyud Food Market, a huge food court with a variety of offerings that are sortaaa above student budget, was unimaginable during my undergraduate days.
Women and LGBTI activists in Thailand have been unlawfully targeted with digital surveillance and online harassment, including the use of Pegasus spyware, by state and non-state actors, in an effort to silence them
“Singapore is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but it does not have a minimum wage. Housing prices have surged, and many Singaporeans say social mobility has dropped considerably. Others complain that freedom of expression is still tightly controlled, if less so than before.”
Fairly certain my life trajectory will not really be possible in today’s Singapore (re social mobility)
The thing im maddest at him about is in pretending that he did so much for lgbt rights (repealed 377A, pfft) but in practice really made queer life harder for queer people there in so many other ways. So I don’t like the stories that attribute ‘liberal values’ to his era
"Amnesty International expresses its deepest condolences following the death of Netiporn ‘Bung’ Sanesangkhom, who had gone on hunger strike in protest at her and others’ arbitrary detention, including for peacefully exercising their human rights.
"This is a shocking reminder that Thai authorities are harshly denying pro-democracy activists their freedom in an apparent bid to silence the peaceful expression of dissent"
This story of this probably trans Burmese-Chinese warlord and Golden Triangle opium smuggler turned peace broker has always fascinated me.
What a life he led. (He was often described as bisexual, but that was because he had to marry a man earlier in life; at the end of his life he asked to be called uncle by everyone)
Jailed 28-yr old activist weakened by 3-month hunger strike dies in a #Thailand prison.
“The lese-majeste charge the former tutor was facing stemmed from her participation in an opinion survey on royal motorcades in February 2022.” #tootsea
#Indonesia has long maintained an open foreign policy approach, even under incumbent leader President #JokoWidodo. #Prabowo, who will take over the post in October, said he will continue the country’s longstanding stance of #NonAlignment.
#China is #Indonesia’s biggest economic partner and is pouring more than $7 billion into the nation’s commodity processing capacity.
A #volcano in eastern #Indonesia erupted on Monday, spewing a huge ash tower more than five kilometres (three miles) into the sky after authorities raised its alert level to the second-highest last week.
No damage or casualties were immediately reported but images showed a column of ash soaring into the sky on #Halmahera island in #NorthMaluku province.