Anthony Kuhn

Are Buddhist Monks Involved In Myanmar's Violence?

Anthony Kuhn — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

In the Western stereotype, Buddhists are meditating pacifists who strive to keep their distance from worldly passions. But last month, more than 40 people were killed in fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in the central Burmese town of Meiktila. Witnesses say some Buddhist monks joined in the violence, while others tried to stop it.

One prominent monk in particular has been blamed for being behind it.

U Wirathu, 45, is head of the Masoeyein monastery in Myanmar's second-largest city, Mandalay, just up the highway from Meiktila.

The Threat To Indonesia's Biodiversity, Foretold In The 1800s

Anthony Kuhn — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:33:00 +0000

British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was not only a key figure in developing the theory of evolution in the mid-19th century but also had the foresight to call for saving endangered species.

Wallace, who died 100 years ago this year, did his most important research in the rich biodiversity of Indonesia, and his plea for preservation is even more compelling than when he wrote it.

From my base in Jakarta, I can just step outside my home to observe the spectacle of li

He Helped Discover Evolution, And Then Became Extinct

Anthony Kuhn — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:04:00 +0000

Ask most folks who came up with the theory of evolution, and they'll tell you it was Charles Darwin.

In fact, Alfred Russel Wallace, another British naturalist, was a co-discoverer of the theory — though Darwin has gotten most of the credit. Wallace died 100 years ago this year.

Wallace developed some of his most important ideas about natural selection during an eight-year expedition to what was then the Dutch East Indies — modern-day Indonesia — to observe wildlife and collect specimens.

As Myanmar Reforms, Old Tensions Rise To The Surface

Anthony Kuhn — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:37:00 +0000

The town of Meiktila in central Myanmar presents a tranquil scene on a hot April day: A woman presses juice from sugar cane while customers loll around in the midday heat. The town is right in the center of the country, on a broad and arid plain where white cows graze among palm trees and pointy pagodas. It's a bustling trading post on the road between the capital, Naypyidaw, and the country's second-largest city, Mandalay.

But just down the street, there is evidence of a conflagration: Large areas have been reduced to heaps of charred rubble.

Journey To Java's 'Tempeh Village': Where Soybean Cakes Are Born

Anthony Kuhn — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 07:16:00 +0000

For centuries, Asia has been home to sophisticated vegetarian cultures. In recent years, Americans have gradually discovered cooking with meat substitutes like tofu and an Indonesia soybean cake called tempeh.

Tempeh is known for being versatile. There's an almost endless variety of ways to cook it.

Now A Politician, Aung San Suu Kyi Is The Object Of Protesters

Anthony Kuhn — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 09:43:00 +0000

Last year, Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was greeted by adoring crowds during triumphant tours of Asia, the U.S. and Europe.

After Long Isolation, Myanmar Now Has Suitors

Anthony Kuhn — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:20:00 +0000

For decades, Myanmar was isolated diplomatically, an economic backwater that seemed almost frozen in time amid a Southeast Asian region that was modernizing at a rapid pace.

But the political reforms under way in Myanmar, also known as Burma, are redefining its place in the world. President Obama's visit in November was a sign of the dramatic turnaround in relations with the United States.

Meanwhile, China, which has been Myanmar's main backer for years, is stepping up its investments. Chinese media report that 700-mile oil and gas pipelines will be completed in May.

An Indonesian Extremist Trades Rifle For Spatula

Anthony Kuhn — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:33:00 +0000

Tucked away in a back street of Semarang, a city in Indonesia's Central Java province, is a tiny, four-table restaurant. In the cramped kitchen, Mahmudi Haryono whips up a plate of ribs — lunch for two customers.

He brings it out and serves it to two Indonesian soldiers in olive drab uniforms.

Haryono is smiling and cool as a cucumber. But he acknowledges that after getting out of jail a few years ago, serving men in uniform set butterflies aflutter in his stomach.

"Sometimes, I felt insecure," he says, sitting down at a table to talk as the soldiers eat.

In Myanmar, A Hunt For Fabled Cache Of Buried WWII Spitfires

Anthony Kuhn — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:13:00 +0000

For the past few weeks a team of scientists, archaeologists and documentary makers has been digging at Yangon's international airport in Myanmar, also known as Burma. They are searching for a legendary trove of Spitfire fighter planes, said to have been buried in Burma in the waning days of World War II.

The tale of the Spitfires has lived on among old soldiers and aviation buffs. One of them, 86-year-old British veteran Stanley Coombe, is part of the search team. He recalls his time in Burma during the final, chaotic days of the war. Japan had been defeated.

South Korea Prepares The Young For A Rapidly Aging Population

Anthony Kuhn — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:39:00 +0000

At a clean and sunny community center in Seoul, the South Korean capital, senior citizens make clay models of their own faces in an arts class. Some of the faces are vivid and lifelike. Others are expressionless and indistinct. The project is intended to help the seniors remember what they look like.

This is the Gangseo District Center for Dementia. Since 2006, Seoul has opened a dementia center in each of the city's 25 urban districts.

It's one of the novel approaches that South Korea has developed to cope with an epidemic of dementia.

Jakarta's New Governor Seen As A Rising Star

Anthony Kuhn — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:32:00 +0000

Residents give a boisterous welcome to Jakarta's newly elected governor, Joko Widodo, when he shows up for a town meeting with the residents of a Jakarta slum where residents' shacks overlook the muddy, garbage-strewn waters of the Ciliwung River.

The governor's administration plans to fix chronic flooding here by dredging the river and moving residents into subsidized apartments.

One resident tells the governor that he and his family have been living in this neighborhood since before 1945, when the East Indies were still a Dutch colony, and he doesn't want to be relocated.

South Korea's New Leader Promises Moderate Path

Anthony Kuhn — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:28:00 +0000

South Korea will have its first female president, following Wednesday's close presidential election. Park Geun-hye says she will be open to better relations with North Korea, but she leads a conservative party known for its hardline with Pyongyang.

Daughter Of A Dictator Favored In S. Korean Election

Anthony Kuhn — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:22:00 +0000

Her presidential campaign rallies present blaring pop music and dancing supporters, but Park Geun-hye's campaign involves managing some tricky legacies.

Her father, Park Chung-hee, was a military dictator who ran the country from the time he carried out a 1961 military coup until his assassination in 1979. His memory still stirs mixed emotions among South Koreans.

In September, the daughter publicly apologized for her father's suppression of democracy.

Israel, Christians Negotiate The Price Of Holy Water

Anthony Kuhn — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:59:00 +0000

One of the holiest sites in Christendom has also been one of the most contested. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem lies on the site where Jesus Christ is said to have been crucified and buried.

Multiple Christian denominations share the church uneasily, and clerics sometimes come to blows over the most minor of disputes.

Palestinian Olive Harvest Turns Bitter As Economy Sputters

Anthony Kuhn — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 07:34:00 +0000

Across the West Bank, olive harvesting season is drawing to a close once again. But this year, the usually joyous occasion has become grimly purposeful because the Palestinian economy, according to some economists, is being held hostage to politics, and is on the verge of collapse.

In the West Bank village of Deir Ibzie, Amal Karajeh and her husband, Basem, comb through the leaves and branches of an olive tree in their front yard.

The plump green olives rain down on the ground, where they're collected in plastic sheets and buckets.