My love affair with Southeast Asia
A Map of Southeast Asia - Source: Learn NC
My interest in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region started when I was living and working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for six months in 2005.
My short stint over there have opened up my eyes to many things and I find it amazing how your worldview changes when you are on foreign soil. Somehow that foreign land seems to provide a fresh perspective to life outside of Singapore.
I’ve always think that living in Singapore is akin to living like a frog in a well. Our relatively comfortable life has sheltered us from the many beauty and ills of the world out there.
Before Cambodia, I didn’t realise that a country can survive without a proper public transportation or drinkable tap water or an efficient and bureacratic civil service.
During my 6-month stay, I’ve learnt much more about Cambodia’s neighbours; Thailand and Vietnam from the local English papers and from my Khmer friends and acquaintances, than Singapore’s closest neighbour, Malaysia.
In Singapore, I read about Malaysia news, from the Straits Times, which is hardly objective in the choices of stories to publish regarding our neighbour up north.
Prior to Cambodia, I’ve only traveled to Bangkok and some states in Peninsula Malaysia, even then they are usually short trips of a couple of days to a week tops. Apparently, these short trips do not allow me ample time to delve deeper into the politics, economic and social structure of the country, like how I was able to do so in Cambodia.
Therefore, to satisfy my thirst for more knowledge about the Southeast Asia region, I started to read the local news of that particular country in online news sites such as their national e-papers or international sites such as The Economist, Reuters or BBC. Even though I was unable to physically travel to these countries, at least I can still keep abreast of the local news in the respective countries.
Furthermore, to help myself develop a deeper understanding of the PEST (Political, Economics, Social & Technological) news of the country, I started SEA Economist as early as Dec 2007.
Inspired by The Economist and dismayed at the insufficient coverage of SEA news (nonetheless it still does an excellent job covering the major events of the week), I tried to imitate (admittedly, poorly) the content and writing style of The Economist; analytical, witty and strong-willed articles in The SEA Economist. The bulk of the content is still hard news, which are written by myself from various news sources, rather than wholesale cut-and-paste.
I’m hoping that The SEA Economist can help satisfy the information needs of those who want to know more about the region and are able to do so efficiently from one website.
My other hope, a personal one is to complete my Southeast Asia tour of the capitals and major economic cities of the ASEAN countries. Perhaps I will be able to put into context and life, the news and stories that I read from the online sources.
Below is the list of cities to visit:
- Brunei – Bandar Seri Begawan (C)
- Cambodia – Phnom Penh (C) / Siem Reap / Shihanoukville
- Indonesia – Jakarta (C) / Surabaya / Medan / Bandung
- Lao PDR – Vientiane (C)
- Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur (C) / Selangor / Johor
- Myanmar (Burma) – Naypydaw (C) / Yangon / Mandalay
- The Philippines – Manila City (C) / Cebu / Davao / Baguio
- Thailand – Bangkok (C) / Chiang Mai / Khon Kaen
- Vietnam – Hanoi (C) / Ho Chi Minh / Hue
The bold-highlighted cities are those that I have visited at least once. As you can see, I have another 20 cities to visit.
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If you would like to learn more about The SEA Economist, head on down to www.seaeconomist.com. Or if you wish to volunteer your time and writing+analytical skills. You can email to me at bernard(at)seaeconomist(dot)com
Hi, wow, you’re ambitious (:
I’ve only been to Indonesia and Malaysia, and that was like in kindergarten. It’s ironic that a wealth of tourist sites lies in our neighbourhood, but at least for my family, we are more interested in Japan or Australia.
What I know of SEA is from books only. We seem to be so different, in terms of culture, religion, politics, history – that our only commonality is that we’re diverse!
Your concept of “SEA Economist” seems to be a good business idea, haha. I’ve seen lots of travel and holiday coverage, but I think political/economics or current affairs coverage is lacking. Hmm…
Hey Al,
Ambitious? What do you mean?
What types of culture, religion, politics, history do you like? I am not just interested in SEA region, but other parts of the world. In fact, I’m interested in culture, history, social, economical, political, per se, and not by geographical location. I can read about Athenian economy or the economy during the US colonies period or present-day global economy.
That’s no restriction for me. Travelling is for broadening of the mind (and also relaxation lah, like bintan, Tioman. LOL).
Haha, are you interested in writing about SEA news and commentaries with whatever little free time you have during NS? It could help keep your mind from rotting in the army =P