What Comes After the Election of Women?

In its 15 years as an independent nation, Timor-Leste has blazed a trail in gender equality and empowerment,
especially in putting more women in political positions from the village to the national level. Now, it is time to
ask how a robust gender-quota system has delivered its benefits to society, says this article for the 2017
Developing Media Fellowship of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance. Helio Pereira of Times Timor magazine
contributed to this piece.

 »New Rules, New Fears for Myanmar’s Migrants

 »Thailand’s Invisible Gender Law
 »Can A Regional Body Like ASEAN Eliminate Violence against Women?
 »The Missing Numbers

VIEWS AND POINTS

Q & A: Doing Sex Work Doesn’t Erase One’s Rights

“You don’t lose your human rights because you take a dollar for sex,” Liz Hilton of the Bangkok-based
Empower Foundation tells Reporting ASEAN’sJohanna Son in this Q & A. But this has not been easy to push
in Southeast Asia, where sex work is illegal in almost all countries, she explains.

ASEAN’s Double Vision of Migration

Though far from radical, ASEAN’s consensus document on migration means that the regional grouping has to
keep the conversation going, although it still sticks to putting skilled professionals and lower-skilled migrants
in separate silos. Doing more on migration might make ASEAN closer to its constituency, as it is a bread-and-
butter aspect of foreign policy.Johanna Son of Reporting ASEAN tells us more.

 »Q&A: ‘Every Decision Must Be in Line with Gov’t Policy’

 »ASEAN Likes, But Also Fears, China’s Economic Weight
 »Vietnam Has Homework to Do on ASEAN
 »Bumpy Road for the Philippines as ASEAN Chair

THE ASEAN BEAT

Where is the Environment in the ASEAN Mindset?
The 50 years of existence that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations marks in 2017 is no small feat. This
anniversary provides ASEAN citizens a chance to look back, as well as to look forward. It also allows them to
take stock of ASEAN’s vision of development – and where the environment is in this […]

The ASEAN Flavour: Opening Remarks at Media Forum

 “This event is anchored in ASEAN – it is of ASEAN, done by people of and in ASEAN. It feels, looks and
talks like ASEAN,” says Johanna Son, editor/founder of the Reporting ASEAN programme in the opening
remarks of the Reporting ASEAN Media Forum 2017 in Bangkok.

 »We the ASEAN People

 »From the Editor: Labour Day 2016 issue
 »Q&A: ‘We’ve Become More Interested in ASEAN’
 »Q&A: ‘We Need to Be Understood Better’

ASEANIZATION
THAILAND: Could A ‘Cleaner’ Fishing Industry Set New
Norms?

Cleaning up atrocious labor practices in Thailand’s commercial fishing industry won’t happen overnight, even
as an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report documents both progress and persistent problems. But
experts say reforms may well lead to new norms that other countries in Southeast Asia and beyond would be
pressed to follow, reports Johanna Son for the Reporting ASEAN series.

Q & A: Doing Sex Work Doesn’t Erase One’s Rights

“You don’t lose your human rights because you take a dollar for sex,” Liz Hilton of the Bangkok-based
Empower Foundation tells Reporting ASEAN’sJohanna Son in this Q & A. But this has not been easy to push
in Southeast Asia, where sex work is illegal in almost all countries, she explains.

 »ASEAN Likes, But Also Fears, China’s Economic Weight

 »ASEAN Can’t Leave Unskilled Migrants Out of Integration – World Bank
 »Laos and Cambodia: The China Dance
 »Where is the Environment in the ASEAN Mindset?

NOTEWORTHY
‘I Feel Part of ASEAN’
“There are so many things to learn, to hear from the other organisations and CSOs,” Nguyen Thi Kim Que,
vice director of the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies in Vietnam, said after taking part in the 2nd S
Rajaratnam Endowment (SRE) ASEAN Community Forum in Singapore in August 2017.
 South China Sea Dispute: Asean Voice Drowned Out As
Big Powers Pipe Up

The recent joint communique about the South China Sea dispute stopped short of mentioning the
tribunal ruling invalidating China’s claims over most of the waterway. Tan Hui Yee of the Straits Times
argues that while Asean has survived this test intact, its consensus-based system has muted its voice compared
with the world powers weighing in loudly.

 »Expanding People’s Solidarity For A Just and Inclusive Asean Community – ACSS/APF
CSO Statement
 »No Brexit Repeat in ASEAN
 »Brexit Won’t Hinder ASEAN Integration, Surin Pitsuwan Says
 »Southeast Asian Newspapers’ take on the Special ASEAN-China FM Meeting

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What’s Up

 From Child Sexual Abuse to Women’s Pen Power

 NOW AVAILABLE. Get your copy of ‘Scope’, the magazine that features stories – from child sexual abuse to
crusading women journalists to the travails of a the Philippines’ reproductive health law – from the participants of
the Southeast Asian Press Alliance’s 2017 fellowship program.
 Spotlight on Gender, Access to Information in ASEAN
The Reporting ASEAN program is collaborating with the Southeast Asian Press Alliance by publishing the articles
produced by its fellows in its Regional Reporting Fellowship program for 2017, the focus of which is on gender
and access to information in the ASEAN region.

Reporting ASEAN
Telling the ASEAN story. A feature series and media programme that looks into ASEAN regionalism and

integration, and their impact on the region’s constituency. Hosted by

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Leaders of over 20 countries are gathering at an annual summit of the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Philippines on Monday.

Apart from the 10 members of Asean, leaders from the United States, China,
Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are also to
due to attend the gathering.

Here are four things to watch out for during the summit:

1. South China Sea

Five Asean nations, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia
have competing claims to waters in the South China Sea, along with China.

The rival claims are a constant source of friction and the issue is likely to be
high on the agenda at the summit.

Asean is due to announce the start of negotiations with China on a code of

conduct in the South China Sea, according to a statement from the Philippines
government,

It took nearly 15 years for China and the regional bloc to reach a framework
for the code of conduct, which aims to prevent clashes and armed conflict in
the busy and resource-rich waterway.

US President Donald Trump said in Vietnam before his arrival in the

Philippines that he was willing to mediate or arbitrate in South China Sea
disputes.

‘Better left untouched’: Philippines and Vietnam wary of Trump

offer to mediate South China Sea disputes
However, the Philippines’ Foreign Affairs Secretary, Alan Peter Cayetano,
said the focus at Asean was on agreeing to the code of conduct.

“The issues are so complex and intersecting that what President Duterte
wanted to do is to lower the temperature, get people talking, stop people from
claiming more features and occupying and building,” Cayetano told reporters
on the sidelines of the summit on Sunday.

The Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who is departing from his

predecessors’ policy by seeking closer ties with Beijing, has said the South
China Sea dispute was “better left untouched”.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who is attending the summit, said in an article

published by two leading newspapers in the Philippines that China wants to
solve the dispute through negotiations.

2. Indo-Pacific vs Asia-Pacific

Trump’s decision to extend his trip to Asia to attend the summit is seen by
analysts as a sign of the importance the US places on the region.
While Trump and other White House officials have recently replaced the term
Asia-Pacific with “Indo-Pacific”, the concept still lacks details and Trump is
expected to unveil additional information about his Asia strategy.

It’s no longer Asia-Pacific, Donald Trump says. US now calls it

‘Indo-Pacific’

Trump will meet India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday afternoon
after talks with the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the
Philippiness’ Duterte.

India and Australia are two of the United States’ key allies in the region.

3. Rohingya crisis

Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis is also expected to be among the top concerns as

the country’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – whose perceived silence
on the issue has drawn criticism worldwide – is speaking at the summit.
Suu Kyi has faced criticism over her alleged failure to address allegations of
ethnic cleansing against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims.

More than half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh following recent
violence

Myanmar has said “very explicitly” that it need helps from Asean, Cayetano
said, adding that any aid would mostly be focused on humanitarian help
instead of sending peacemaking forces.

4. Trade

The Asean summit comes after an Apec gathering in Vietnam where leaders
of the remaining 11 countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreed to push
ahead with the trade deal despite the United States’ withdrawal earlier this
year.

Duterte pushes China-backed trade pact on Asean’s 50th

anniversary
This will be the first time leaders of the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership, a trade pact that cover all 10 members of Asean and its six free
trade area partners including China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and
New Zealand are set to meet – although no deals are expected to be signed
during the summit. The US, notably, is not involved in the trade pact.