Adam Bemma

  • Taiwan’s ‘9-in-1’ Election and 10 Referendums

    TAIPEI, Taiwan – The local “9-in-1” elections and 10 referendums took place Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018. Taiwanese were voting for all nine administrative levels, with 10 referendum ballots included. The referendum was mainly about gay marriage. Five questions out of 10 on the ballot dealt with its adoption – five against it and two for it.…

    Adam Bemma

  • Overcoming a government crackdown on social media in Laos

    Influential Facebook users, pejoratively referred to as net idols, are facing retribution for their online posts. Vientiane, Laos – Inside a packed lecture hall at the American Centre in the capital Vientiane, 60 National University of Laos students sit surrounded by framed posters featuring inspirational quotes by American icons Martin Luther King Jr, Maya Angelou…

    Adam Bemma

  • Syrian Stuck at Airport Turns to Social Media – Southeast Asia Dispatches

    KUALA LUMPUR – Thirty-seven year-old Syrian asylum seeker Hassan Al Kontar uses social media to share his story of life at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Because of Hassan’s posts, volunteers from Malaysia to Canada have taken up his cause. Adam Bemma met with Hassan at KLIA2. He’s been stuck in limbo hoping to be resettled…

    Adam Bemma

  • Cambodia 2018 Election Report: ‘The Crackdown Continues’ – CBC The World this Hour

    PHNOM PENH – July 29, 2018 was Cambodia’s sixth general election since the UN organized the country’s first free and fair elections in 1993. For the last 25 years, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has used elections as a way to legitimize his rule (33 years and counting). In 2017, the main opposition party was dissolved…

    Adam Bemma

  • A Rohingya’s Pursuit for Justice in Myanmar – CBC The World this Weekend

    YANGON –  Wai Wai Nu always wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps – famed Rohingya Muslim politician Kyaw Min – and end the injustice faced by minority groups in Myanmar. Now, at 31, Nu is the country’s most celebrated Rohingya – calling on Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to uphold the rule of law.…

    Adam Bemma

  • Thailand’s New Media Protest Leader – CBC The World this Weekend

    BANGKOK – Bow Nutta Mahattana wears a cartoon t-shirt mocking Thai Prime Minister, and junta leader, Prayuth Chan-ocha with a nose like Pinocchio. The 39-year-old mother and teacher is facing a lengthy prison sentence for staging anti-junta protests – and harnessing the power of Facebook Live – to demand elections in Thailand. “The message is…

    Adam Bemma

  • Rohingya Refugees are Rushing to Escape Monsoon Season

    Experts fear a return of the kind of desperation that fed the 2015 boat crisis as the storms hit Bangladesh’s coast. BANGKOK, Thailand – Torrential rains along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border are threatening to make an already grim situation for the nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled genocidal violence back home even worse as the monsoon storms…

    Adam Bemma

  • Rohingya Refugees Face New Threat in Bangladesh camps

    COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh – Inside the sprawling Kutupalong refugee settlement, dust swirls around the barren hills where over half a million Rohingya Muslims have taken shelter after fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state. “Before this entire area was covered with trees,” said Zahida Begum as she swept her arm across the vista of Kutupalong’s newest camp extension.…

    Adam Bemma

  • Life in Bali’s Evacuation Centres for People with Disabilities

    A 2017 National Labour Force Survey cited 21 million working age people with disabilities in Indonesia. The University of Indonesia states PwDs are 4.2 per cent of the population. Millions of tourists flock to Bali every year making it one of Indonesia’s most inclusive islands. But it can be an extremely difficult place for the 34,801 disabled…

    Adam Bemma

  • Indonesia’s Rohingya Refugees to Resettle to the U.S. or Remain?

    In an archipelago with more islands than refugees, Indonesia is looking at ways to provide education, health and housing to its 13,800 registered refugees and asylum seekers. But advocates argue accessing livelihoods is the biggest unmet need. MEDAN, Indonesia – Muhammad Rofiq uses his mobile phone to log into his resettlement case file online, outside of…

    Adam Bemma
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