Source: KBR

A pan-Asian news operation with correspondents across the region, KBR Asia Calling publishes TV, radio, and digital content in multiple languages.

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Society

Teenager’s Murder Leads Philippine Village To Ban Video Game

A "Defense of the Ancients" character
A "Defense of the Ancients" character DotA

SALAWAG — In the multi-player online battle video game Defense of the Ancients, or DotA, the aim is to conquer the opposing team on the other side of the map. The graphics are impressive, and the play is challenging. But for some, the game is not just about friendly competition, after it’s been blamed as a contributing factor in the Dec. 15 murder of a 19-year-old, who was allegedly stabbed by his friend outside a computer gaming shop after the two were playing the game. The boy responsible is now in government custody, and the incident pushed local officials to […]

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Geopolitics Society

New Lessons For Women Teachers In Pakistan: How To Shoot Terrorists

A female teacher trying a gun.
A female teacher trying a gun. Mudassar Shah

PESHAWAR — Schools in Peshawar now look like police stations, equipped with barbed wire, surveillance cameras and snipers after the Taliban’s December assault on a school that killed 132 students. Officials told schools to be prepared for other attacks, and in an extraordinary measure, the Khyber Pakhtunkua government is allowing teachers to keep guns at school. The local police are also now training female teachers in how to use guns. Ashraf Khan teaches in a primary school not far from the army public school that the Taliban attacked in December. The first thing he does in the morning when he […]

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Geopolitics

Pakistani Response To Peshawar School Massacre: Deport Afghan Refugees

Muhammad Sadiq and his family on a truck to Jalalabad
Muhammad Sadiq and his family on a truck to Jalalabad Mudassar Shah

Though the Pakistan Taliban was responsible for the murders of 130 students in Peshawar, the local government believes some of the country’s longtime Afghan refugees harbor terrorists. Deportation and confinements have begun.

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Geopolitics

Darling Of West, Indonesia’s Jokowi OKs Executions For Drug Crimes

Indonesian President Joko Widodo
Indonesian President Joko Widodo Facebook page

Though many voters believed they were electing a pro-human rights president, Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, has demonstrated no mercy in executions, even for drug trafficking.

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Society

Indian Police Find 300 Kidnapped Children After Being Chided For Inaction

Nearly half of India's missing children remain untraced.
Nearly half of India's missing children remain untraced. Bismillah Geelani

A child goes missing in India every eight minutes. After India’s Supreme Court censured police for failing to act, authorities launched an operation to bring children home. But it’s still too little, too late.

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Geopolitics

With Survivors And Victims, A Month After Pakistani School Massacre

Relatives of the victims
Relatives of the victims PPI/ZUMA

PESHAWAR — Shahana Khan had to wake her son up on the morning of December 16. He was late for school and she had to push him out the door. He was one of the 132 students who didn’t come home. “I cry all the time thinking I told him to go to school. I opened the gate for him,” mourns Shahana. At this time she would normally be making him breakfast: “I feel him in the house all the time and hear him. People say it’s just in my head but for me it is very real. I hear […]

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Geopolitics Society

In India, A New Movie Brings Religion v. Satire Debate To Hindus

Aamir Khan in "PK"
Aamir Khan in "PK" UTV Motion Pictures/Facebook page

A satirical comedy about an alien who comes to earth and questions religious dogma has found an enemy among many of India’s Hindus. A new view after the Charlie Hebdo killings.

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Society

Meet The Blind Teenager Who Stole The Show On “Indian Idol Junior”

Prerna Agarwal with Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan
Prerna Agarwal with Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan Jasvinver Sehgal

VAPI — Teenager Prerna Agarwal is autistic and blind. She also happens to be one of India’s latest singing sensations, thanks to a 2013 appearance on Indian Idol Junior, a popular television show that gained her international attention. When reporter Jasvinder Sehgal visits the young singer at her home, he finds her listening to a classic Hindi hit from the 1970s while cuddling her favorite soft toy. “My Teddy loves singing songs,” she says. “He loves eating pasta and drinking orange juice. He wakes up earlier than me and also wakes me up every morning.” Prerna then excitedly introduces her […]

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Economy Society

In Burma, Time To Cash In On Political Reforms

In Yangon
In Yangon Jose Javier Martin Espartosa

YANGON — Burma is ready to boom. The Asia Development Bank estimates that per capita income in the southeast Asian country could increase sixfold by 2030. And another report predicts that the Burmese are poised for a level of economic growth far ahead of the global pace. The evidence of this newfound prosperity in Burma, officially known as Myanmar, is on full display at this Yangon shopping mall, where it’s easy to find products from Thailand or Hong Kong. Just two years ago, none of this would have been possible because foreign products were banned under the military junta. University […]

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Society

In India, A Cafe For Acid Attack Survivors Serves Pure Courage

In India, A Cafe For Acid Attack Survivors Serves Pure Courage

Activists fighting the social plague of acid attacks against women in India have opened a new cafe in Agra staffed exclusively by survivors who have been disfigured in this way.

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Society

In Indonesia, Practicing Religious Tolerance One Dirty Floor At A Time

Members of the berhati group cleaning up a Vihara in Jakarta.
Members of the berhati group cleaning up a Vihara in Jakarta. berhati

A group of young people of all religious backgrounds are living proof of religious tolerance, as they volunteer to clean Jakarta houses of worship, whether they be Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist or Christian.

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Geopolitics

After The Coup, Giving Voice To Thailand’s Political Exiles

Banner in Bangkok instructing residents not to share anti-government views on social networks, under direct threat of prison
Banner in Bangkok instructing residents not to share anti-government views on social networks, under direct threat of prison Pratyeka

Martial law has brought calm but not peace to Thailand. A report released this week by the International Crisis Group warns that the military regime’s stifling of dissent could ultimately lead to greater turmoil. The military claims that the coup d’etat last May was staged to maintain order after six months of street unrest by anti-government protests. They took TV channels and radio stations off the air, and only heavily censored versions have been allowed to return. Several hundred academics and activists have been detained. Many others have fled to the west where they are applying for asylum. From his […]

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Economy Society

Call Center Outsourcing, A New Philippines Success Story

A job at a call center can pay $400 a month in the Philippines
A job at a call center can pay $400 a month in the Philippines Call Center Philippines

Second only to India in terms of scale, the Philippines’ customer service outsourcing industry in is growing, offering well-educated English speakers willing to work the night shift.

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Society

The Families Left Behind After India’s Botched Sterilizations

Womens Groups Protest in New Delhi against sterilization camps.
Womens Groups Protest in New Delhi against sterilization camps. Bismilah Geelani

NEW DELHI — Archana, who is just 15, is desperately trying to put her 3-month-old brother to sleep. He’s crying out for his mother, who died last week after going to a government-run sterilization camp. At least 15 others suffered the same fate, and scores of others are seriously ill after undergoing tubectomies at two Indian sterilization “camps.” Ongoing investigations point to contaminated drugs given to the women as a possible cause of death. But a dirty operating room and surgeries performed in a matter of minutes with unsanitized instruments have raised serious questions about India’s approach to population control […]

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Future Society

The Competitive Spirit Driving China’s Love Affair With Plastic Surgery

China spends $2.5 billion a year on cosmetic surgery
China spends $2.5 billion a year on cosmetic surgery China Cosmetic Surgery/Charles S. Lee/Asiancosmeticsurgery/Worldcrunch

More and more Chinese are going under the knife for cosmetic reasons, and many admit that they do it for a very specific quest for a spouse or job.

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Society

The Filipino Prison That Uses Freedom, Not Bars

Welcome!
Welcome! alexremer via Instagram

The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa is known as the “prison without walls,” because even violent convicts here can work and live on this vast land with relative autonomy.

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Geopolitics

Bhopal Gas Tragedy Still Burns 30 Years Later

Protests have continued for decades
Protests have continued for decades Wang Ye - Xinhua/ZUMA

Considered history’s worst industrial accident, having killed thousands in a Dec. 3, 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in India, the health effects in Bhopal can still be felt today.

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Society

Pakistani Rage Against The Country’s Entitled Elite

In Pakistan, rising outrage towards pols' "VIP culture."
In Pakistan, rising outrage towards pols' "VIP culture." Naeem Sahoutara

KARACHI — In Pakistan and many other Asian countries, politicians are given preferential treatment on the roads, in airports, and in services while everyone else waits in line. So it’s not surprising that this lopsided system is breeding growing outrage. In a wealthy suburb of Karachi, where many high-profile politicians live, a small middle-aged man stands at a busy traffic intersection. Wearing a long a black gown with a sign that reads “NO VIP,” he says that while your house is yours, the public road is for everyone. With him is a group of around 50 protesters who have been […]

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Future

How China Profits From Recycling The World’s Waste

Beijing 's China Metals Recycling Association makes $40 billion a year.
Beijing 's China Metals Recycling Association makes $40 billion a year. Paul Louis

BEIJING — The world now produces over four billion tons of waste every year. China buys some of it — mainly scrap metal, plastic and paper — to feed demand from factories and construction companies. Here on Dongzhimenwai, a street in downtown Beijing, people gather to sell their waste. Old ladies line up with carts of plastic bottles, stacks of newspapers and even bits of toys and metal kitchenware they’ve collected. The plastic bottles are melted down to make everything from acrylic clothing to electronics. Buyer Liu Aiguo explains what happens to this so-called trash once it’s in his hands. […]

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Society

Fatal Hazing, South Korean Military’s Abuse Problem

Troops in Seoul
Troops in Seoul Park Jin-Hee/Xinhua/ZUMA

SEOUL — Six South Korean soldiers have been accused of killing one of their fellow conscripts. Yoon Seung-joo, 20, died earlier this year after being force-fed and beaten. Abuse within South Korea’s military ranks has long been a problem. A recent survey of soldiers revealed about 4,000 allegations of violence that went unreported. It’s a time that almost all South Korean men dread. The moment when they begin their mandatory service in their country’s armed forces. Kim Tae-Haw joined the ranks of Korea’s riot police when he began his conscription ten years ago. “I didn’t want to go to the […]

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Society

Using Birthday Presents To Save Nepal’s Forests

Planting a tree in Lubhu's Birthday Forest
Planting a tree in Lubhu's Birthday Forest Birthday Forest Facebook page

LUBHU — How do you celebrate your birthday? By throwing a party and cutting a cake? In Nepal some people plant a tree instead. Making tea at home in her village 11 kilometers outside Kathmandu, Sunita Poudel says, “Forests are everything for us. We are dependent on wood and grass. Some of my neighbors cook with small sticks from the forest — they are very poor and can’t afford gas stoves. I have some cows and goats, so I also need grass from the forest every day.” But due to mismanagement, the forest around the village of Lubhu is in […]

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Society

Take Back The Street: Safety, Empowerment In India’s Women-Only Taxis

Change on its way
Change on its way Sakha Consulting Wings

A New Delhi cab company is only for females, a response to India’s ongoing problems with violence toward women. The benefits are enjoyed by both drivers and passengers.

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Society

Movember Glory: Meet The Indian Man With A 14-Foot Moustache

Ram Singh's Guinness World Record mustache
Ram Singh's Guinness World Record mustache Jasvinder Sehgal

JAIPUR — Having a full-bodied moustache has long been a symbol of masculinity for Indian men and once was also an indicator of caste status. So-called untouchables, excluded from India’s caste system altogether, were not allowed to have a moustache at all, while lower castes had to grow theirs with the ends drooped down. Even now in modern India, there are annual competitions to judge who sports the best facial hair. For the last hour, 61-year-old Ram Singh Chauhan has been massaging his moustache, which is how he spends at least two hours each day. “I use mustard oil, coconut […]

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Geopolitics Society

Rechartered Waters: Will U.S. Military Land Back In Philippines?

Joint military exercises in the South China Sea

It’s been 20 years since the U.S. had troops in the Philippines. With new plans in the works for a Filippino-U.S. base-sharing, much has changed – both locally and geopolitically.

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Geopolitics Society

In India, Some Languish In Jail For Decades Awaiting Verdicts

Thousands are languishing behind bars.
Thousands are languishing behind bars. Bismillah Geelani

Some 70% of prisoners in India’s jails are still awaiting trials, or verdicts of trials long passed. In some cases the wait goes on for decades. For around 100,000 prisoners, the wait may end.

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Society

Indonesia Asks If Death Penalty Can Curb Terrorism

Anti-death penalty protest in Jakarta
Anti-death penalty protest in Jakarta Dandi Zulkarnain/Xinhua/ZUMA

Twelve years after the deadly Bali terror bombing, whose suspects were executed, Indonesia struggles with the implications and efficacity of capital punishment.

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Future Smarter Cities

When A Remote Indonesian Village Plugs Into The Internet

Kasiem and her husband online
Kasiem and her husband online Guruh Riyanto, KBR

Villagers in the mountain outpost of Melung are among the few in rural Indonesia who can solve daily problems – and sell their products – thanks to an onsite Internet connection.

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blog Society

In India, The World’s First Vegetarian City

A cityscape of Palitana
A cityscape of Palitana liketearsintherain

After monks went on a hunger strike to push for a citywide ban on animal slaughter, the local government declared Palitana a meat-free zone. But the city’s Muslims are not happy.

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Society

This South Korean Monk Comforts North Korean Souls

Muk-gai in the graveyard
Muk-gai in the graveyard Jason Strother

SEOUL – Alongside the highway that runs from Seoul to the barbed wire fences of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) there is an all but forgotten cemetery. For one South Korean Buddhist monk, this is a truly sacred site. Muk-gai chants — this is meant to ease the suffering of the spirits that inhabit this graveyard. With his shaved head and grey tunic, he taps on a small drum as he walks past the headstones that dot this hillside. These graves belong to 769 North Korean soldiers. The 58-year-old monk says he doesn’t consider them as enemies. “It isn’t about sympathy […]

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Society

Banned By Junta, Ethnic Dialects Return To Burma Schools

Learning the Mon language in Mon State
Learning the Mon language in Mon State Lamin Chan

MYITKYINA — For the first time in 40 years, ethnic languages are going to be taught in schools in Burma, also known as Myanmar. Starting next June, students from different ethnic communities will be able learn their mother tongue not only at home, but also in the classroom. When the military junta led by General Ne Win came to power in 1962, Burmese became the official national language, and teaching ethnic languages in schools was banned under the “national language policy.” In the outskirts of Myitkyina, in the northern state of Kachin, there is a summer school where children are […]

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Society

Afghanistan Is Falling In Love With Cricket

Bowling with the national team in Kabul's stadium
Bowling with the national team in Kabul's stadium Saif Khan Saif

Catching onto “the gentleman’s game” later than its neighbors India and Pakistan, the Afghan team is currently ranked 9th in International Twenty20 cricket.

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Future Society

Manila’s Electric Passenger Bikes Kick Up Controversy

Hop on
Hop on Jason Strother

MANILA — Sometimes to get around Manila, you need to take a trike, otherwise known as a motorcycle with a sidecar. The drivers weave around the traffic and up onto sidewalks. Trikes are noisy and emit a lot of exhaust too. But not the one Alfredo Forelo drives. A few months ago, the 38-year-old traded in his old one for a new, battery-powered e-trike. It holds up to eight passengers and is so quiet that it can hardly be heard. On the old tricycles, he used to get sick a lot, he says — colds, flu, asthma. But not anymore. […]

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Geopolitics

South China Sea Standoff And A Fishermen Trial In The Philippines

Caught in the middle?
Caught in the middle? Jason Strother/KBR

PALAWAN — Chito Villarin starts up the engine of his small fishing boat. The 36-year old makes his living by sailing into the waters of the South China Sea, off Palawan’s west coast, in the hopes of bringing back a good catch. “I catch different types of fish and octopus,” he says, adding that he travels about 20 kilometers into the water. But Filipino fishermen like Villarin aren’t the only ones casting off into these waters. Foreign poachers are frequently found off the coast of Palawan, and the authorities here are trying to stop them. “Narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism, […]

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Society

In India, From Ragpicker Girl To Woman Eco-Entrepreneur

Sudjata Imtiaz Khan (right) and her friend Surekha sorting the waste
Sudjata Imtiaz Khan (right) and her friend Surekha sorting the waste Devi Boerema

PUNE — Every morning Rebecca Kedari pulls a cart through an upmarket neighborhood in this city of 3.3 million to collect household waste. Ten years ago Rebecca would not even been able to enter this area of Pune, in western India. “Before I had to go outside the city to look for dry waste and bring it back. The work conditions were bad and collecting the waste took me at least 6 hours,” she says. She now wears a local government identity card, has a health insurance plan, and is part of the KKPKP — a waste pickers’ union set […]

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LGBTQ Plus Society

Indonesia’s First Retirement Home For Transgenders

Jakarta's 'pink house'
Jakarta's "pink house" Asia Calling

JAKARTA — In a suburban part of Jakarta, we’re walking down a dirt road up to a very small pink house at the end of an alley. There are chickens running around, and children playing. It’s here that Indonesia’s first retirement home for transsexual and transgender people — known as waria in Indonesia — is being built. In the doorway, two elderly transgenders whose teeth are missing call out “good morning.” Inside, Yulianus Rettoblaut peers into a mirror while a friend goes about the daily ritual of applying her heavy makeup — thick white foundation, fake eyelashes, bright red lipstick […]

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Society

India’s Child Prodigy, Also Known As ‘Google Boy’

Kautilya Pandit, a.k.a. "Google Boy," with his mother and father.
Kautilya Pandit, a.k.a. "Google Boy," with his mother and father. Jasvinder Sehgal

KOHAND — At an age when his friends are just learning basic reading and writing, 6-year-old Kautilya Pandit can answer complicated questions about world geography, per capita income, gross domestic product and global politics. His analytical powers and incredible ability to remember facts have left everyone so spellbound that the local media has nicknamed this child prodigy living in northern India’s Kohand village “Google boy.” At SD Harit Modern School’s morning assembly, Kautliya’s presentation stands out above the rest. To the delight of the young audience, he recites with ease a difficult passage from ancient Sanskrit literature. Then Kautilya takes […]

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Geopolitics Society

Seeking Justice For South Korean Ferry’s Lost Children

Kwon Oh-hyun, whose younger brother didn’t make it off the ferry.
Kwon Oh-hyun, whose younger brother didn’t make it off the ferry.

ANSAN — It’s been over three months since the South Korean Sewol ferry capsized, killing 300 passengers onboard. It was a tragedy that sparked government reforms and national soul searching. But understandably, it’s been much more challenging for the families of the victims, almost all of whom attended the same high school. The temporary memorial that was created after the April 16 ferry disaster is a giant, air-conditioned tent with an enormous alter that holds framed pictures of the high school students who died when the ship went down. Flowers have been laid out in front of them, and there […]

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Society

A Brave Couple Shuns Pakistan’s Antiquated Wedding Dowry

Khushboo Rafiiq, her husband Usman and theirs friends
Khushboo Rafiiq, her husband Usman and theirs friends Naeem Sahoutara

KARACHI — Khushboo Rafiq is the first person in her family not to pay a dowry, or bride price, to her husband Usman’s family. Khushboo works for an organization that advocates women’s rights. It was very important to her that her wedding represents the ideals and convictions on which she spends her professional efforts.” We used the wedding invitation to tell guests they should not bring any gifts,” she says. “We also made it very clear that no dowry was being paid. We also are donating our wedding dress to a charity for another couple to use in the future.” […]

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Society

In Afghanistan, The Bravery To Be A Waitress

An Afghan woman works as a waitress at a wedding hall in Kabul.
An Afghan woman works as a waitress at a wedding hall in Kabul. Ghayor Waziri

KABUL — It took me eight days to convince 37-year-old Gul Rukh to let me conduct this interview. The Afghanistan woman living in Kabul feared talking openly about her waitress job at the Mumtaz Mahal Wedding Hall. “I earn $200 a month at the hotel,” she says. “I am very happy doing my job, but I am treated very badly by society, my relatives and neighbors for doing it. They scoff at me and believe working as a hotel waitress is not a good job for a woman. But when my husband became disabled, I had to find work to […]

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Geopolitics

Laos, A Risky Cleaning Job In The World’s Most Bombed Country

The US.. dropped more than 260 million cluster bomblets on Laos during the Vietnam War
The US.. dropped more than 260 million cluster bomblets on Laos during the Vietnam War Sally Sara

A brave group of women are taking on the enormous task of finding and destroying millions of unexploded bombs in Laos, the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in the world.

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