Today Trends

Author: Lynette H Ong, University of Toronto The celebration of the Asian Heritage Month in May is marred by the fact that Asian communities around the world — from the United States , Canada , Europe to Australia — are experiencing an unprecedented spike in anti-Asian racism and hate crimes. While the slaying of Asian women in Atlanta in March was the most violent of these crimes, much of the racism directed at Asians takes everyday forms — physical violence, overt and covert discrimination in workplaces, racial slurs, spitting and micro-aggressions . Throughout major cities in North America, self-reported hate crimes against Asians — which likely go underreported — have increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research by Thomas Pepinsky suggests that people who consume right-wing news in the United States have tended to trivialise the problem. New York Times journalist Sui-Lee Wee recently advised her female Asian relative moving to the United States to arm hers...

Author: Gary Clyde Hufbauer, PIIE US President Joe Biden’s next big legislative push is an infrastructure bill that will top US$2 trillion. The President has broadly defined ‘infrastructure’ to include schools, housing for the elderly and much else besides the classic ingredients of roads, bridges and ports. While the total price tag is huge, constituencies in both the Democratic and Republican parties will jockey for their favourite projects, so some needs will be short-changed. Even with a price tag in the tens of billions, enlarging ports on the US West Coast should be a priority for Biden. Dozens of container ships are currently idled awaiting berths off Long Beach and Los Angeles, the two busiest and biggest West Coast ports, and many are instead routed north to Oakland and Seattle. Sceptics may question whether such spending is justified, pointing to former president Donald Trump’s trade war with China (now embraced by Biden) and the ‘Buy American’ trend. Perhaps rhetoricall...

Author: John Taishu Pitt, Georgetown University With the increased digitalisation of the global economy , there is growing international focus on how to tax multinational corporations (MNCs) in the digital sector. While OECD/G20 Integrated Framework negotiations have been taking place for several years, some European and Asian countries have already proposed or enacted unilateral digital service taxes (DSTs) — highlighting concerns that digital sector MNCs are not being taxed appropriately and that efforts at the OECD have stalled. DSTs apply to companies that sell digital services to consumers in a particular jurisdiction, and they are generally imposed on the gross revenues of companies that meet a certain revenue threshold. According to KPMG , over 40 countries have enacted or are considering DST measures. Given the size of US multinational companies, the US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai is concerned that DSTs might not only disproportionately impact US companies, bu...

Author: Dharish David, SIM Global Education In the second week of April 2021, India gained six new ‘unicorns’ — startups with a valuation of US$1 billion or more. That’s impressive considering only seven new unicorns emerged in 2020 and six in 2019. That these unicorns emerged while COVID-19 ravages the country, and lockdown suppresses demand and stunts supply, is an amazing feat. But this was not the same for all startups, a survey conducted by the National Association of Software and Service Companies in April suggests that nine out of every ten startups saw a decline in revenue, reflecting the conservative attitude of many investors amid the pandemic. Faced with volatile demand, the growth of most Indian startups has been significantly restrained. India was the third largest startup market in 2020 at US$11.8 billion, behind only the United States (US$143 billion) and China (US$83 billion). India’s startup scene is still a hot market for private equity and venture capital fr...

Author: Editorial Board, ANU The headline of the Jakarta Post ’s editorial last Wednesday said it best: ‘ ASEAN, hurry up ’. It’s been a month since ASEAN’s heads of government met in an informal summit in Jakarta to discuss their collective response to the February coup in Myanmar. It was an achievement that, despite the presence of the coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, the group was able to come to a five-point consensus. Now, observers — and those who continue to face a brutal crackdown — are getting impatient to see follow-through on the plan. By inviting junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing to April’s mini-summit, ASEAN accepted the risk of legitimising the junta in exchange for its engagement with an ASEAN-brokered dialogue and aid plan. Like clockwork the junta has been using the general’s visit to Jakarta as fodder for its propaganda . It would be a travesty if the April ASEAN summit gave a veneer of legitimacy to the coup leaders without leading to concrete follow-through on ...

Author: Barry Desker, RSIS Despite the sound and fury from political leaders in Washington and London opposing the February 2021 Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) coup, Western states have very limited leverage with Myanmar. After 25 years of cultivating access to the Myanmar leadership, including the military, ASEAN is better positioned to shape the international response to the Tatmadaw’s takeover. ASEAN itself faces a dilemma: Thailand and Vietnam, supported by Cambodia and Laos, have advocated for accepting the coup , in line with ASEAN’s traditional focus on non-interference. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore condemned the use of force against unarmed civilians and pointed to ASEAN member states’ Charter commitments to act in ‘respect for fundamental freedoms, the promotion and protection of human rights, and the promotion of social justice’. Doing nothing is not an option. The challenge is to deliver a cohesive ASEAN response. At the special ASEAN summit in Jakarta on 24 April 2021...

Author: Gregory Poling, CSIS On 24 April, ASEAN leaders convened in Jakarta for a special summit on the situation in Myanmar. Outside parties including the United States were happy to give the bloc the chance to lead, recognising that ASEAN centrality — for all its faults — is an important plank of regional stability. Still, expectations heading into the summit were low; the grouping has long avoided sensitive political or security issues and left mediation to others. But against the odds, the meeting ended with an ambitious five-point consensus . The nine other members of ASEAN declared there ‘shall’ be an immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue between the opposing sides mediated by a special envoy from ASEAN, a delegation to meet with all parties involved, and the provision of humanitarian assistance. High hopes lasted barely 24 hours. Coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing had attended the summit but remained coy about whether he endorsed the consensus. He was barely back home...

Author: Justine Chambers, ANU It’s been over 100 days since Myanmar’s military (the Tatmadaw) seized control of the country . As hope for any kind of outside intervention faded, protestors have adopted increasingly defensive tactics . Armed resistance is now widely seen as the only remaining option , with many young people fleeing to borderland areas to seek combat and small arms training from ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and emerging civilian resistance forces. As the country moves towards economic collapse, analysts are speculating on the possibilities of a civil war and state failure, prompting comparisons that Myanmar could be facing a humanitarian crisis not unlike Syria’s. While these comparisons do not match the facts on the ground, the situation now facing Myanmar demands a more critical response from the international community. Given the world’s widespread reluctance for intervention and focus on domestic affairs as a result of COVID-19, many leaders have expresse...

Author: A R M Imtiyaz, Delaware Valley University Anti-Muslim rhetoric in Sri Lanka has steadily increased over the last decade. But the wave of coordinated suicide bombings that ripped through Colombo and Batticaloa on Easter Sunday in April 2019 opened a new chapter in the campaigns against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community. Two years later, the Rajapaksa administration is considering banning the wearing of the burqa and closing more than 1000 Islamic schools, known as madrasas, citing national security concerns. Sections of the ruling elite and politicians blame the Easter attacks on the rise of Salafi movements and madrasas, which they believe openly teach Islamic extremism. They want the state to act against what Sinhalese Buddhist extremists describe as rising Islamic fundamentalism. Muslims in Sri Lanka are a minority, constituting about 9.2 per cent of the population. The community is divided into three main ethno-social backgrounds: Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Moors and Malay...

Author: Gibran Mahesa Drajat, Sophia University ASEAN’s capacity to spearhead a collective response to a regional crisis was tested at the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting (ALM) in Jakarta on 24 April following the February coup in Myanmar. Facing backlash for its decision to invite Myanmar’s military junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing to the event, the stakes were high for ASEAN to find a unified stance on Myanmar’s rogue behaviour. But it was Indonesia’s leadership that made possible the resulting five-point consensus. Hours before the release of the ALM chairman’s statement, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo held a press conference outlining Indonesia’s position on Myanmar, which resembled the final draft of ASEAN’s collective statement . Several differences between Indonesia and the ALM chairman’s statement stand out. First, Jokowi conveyed that the situation in Myanmar is ‘unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue’. The watered-down ALM statement stated a ‘deep concern...