Hardliners attack rally for religious tolerance in Jakarta

2 June 2008

Editor’s note: As the crossroads of centuries of trade and migration, Southeast Asia contains a diverse mix of religious and ethnic groups. Within each faith, there is often a spectrum of beliefs, ranging from hardline to moderate.

Under authoritarian governments, e.g. that of former President Suharto of Indonesia, inter-religious friction could be controlled by sometimes harsh measures, but as Asean countries become more democratic, there is a real danger that the freer public space gives more opportunities to hotheads from any side to create trouble. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by yawningbread

Should identity of HIV patient be revealed?

2 June 2008

Editor’s note: One area which is likely to soon become an issue in Singapore is that of privacy rights. As a city with high internet penetration and widespread ownership of camera phones, there was already an incident a few years ago when a video of students engaging in sex spread like wildfire. Now the question has hit the mainstream media in a recent case of a person charged under the Infectious Diseases Act.

This law makes it a criminal offence for a person who knows he is HIV-positive to have unprotected sex with another without informing the other of his HIV status. Chan Mun Chiong was charged with this a short while ago, and on the day he made his first court appearance, the leading English-language newspaper not only reported his full name but also published  a photograph of him.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by yawningbread