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It is the middle of Sunday afternoon, and he has not yet finished his shift at the barbershop. “I took a break for the love of the game,” Mr. Adeshina said. Mr. Adeshina became an Arsenal fan in the late 1990s, when Nigerian cable channels first began broadcasting the Premier League. If anything, though, Mr. Adeshina says his connection to the team is even deeper now. “He’s Yoruba, I’m Yoruba,” Mr. Adeshina said, in a tone rather softer than that with which he celebrated his idol’s first-half goal against Spurs.

Persons: Mayowa, “, Mr, Adeshina, Germain, Nwankwo Kanu Organizations: Arsenal, Real, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs Locations: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Nigeria, London

With no windows, the gloomy, gray building looming four stories above the rice fields in a remote village in Indonesian Borneo resembles nothing more than a prison. Hundreds of similar concrete structures, riddled with small holes for ventilation, tower over village shops and homes all along Borneo’s northwestern coast. But these buildings are not for people. Specifically, the swiftlet, which builds its nests inside. Zulkibli, 56, a government worker who built his giant birdhouse in the village of Perapakan in 2010, supplements his income by harvesting the swiftlets’ nests and selling them for export to China.

Locations: Indonesian Borneo, Perapakan, China

☆ Thailand Lawmakers Bring Same-Sex Marriage a Crucial Step Closer
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Muktita Suhartono | More About Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Thailand’s House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, bringing the measure a significant step closer to becoming law. The legislation now goes to the Senate. If it passes there, and if Thailand’s king approves it, the country will become the first in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriages. This is a developing story.

Organizations: Senate Locations: Southeast Asia

☆ Indonesia Investigates How Two Pilots Dozed Off During a Flight
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( Muktita Suhartono | Yan Zhuang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Indonesia’s aviation authority said it would review how the country’s airlines operate night flights after both pilots on a Batik Air flight carrying 153 passengers fell asleep, causing the plane to briefly veer off course. The plane took off from Kendari at about 8 a.m., and after reaching cruising altitude, the captain took a nap while the co-pilot manned the flight, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Committee. After about an hour, the co-pilot accidentally fell asleep, and several frantic calls from the air traffic control center and other aircraft went unanswered. About 28 minutes later, the pilot woke up, realized the plane had veered off course and woke up the co-pilot. They course-corrected, and the plane landed safely in Jakarta.

Persons: — Organizations: National Transportation Safety Locations: Kendari, Jakarta

Taylor Swift has descended on Southeast Asia, or one small part of it at least: All of her six sold-out shows are in Singapore, the region’s wealthiest nation. The shows — and the undisclosed price that Singapore paid to host them — have also generated diplomatic tension with two of its neighbors, Thailand and the Philippines. Last month, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of Thailand said publicly that Singapore had paid Ms. Swift up to $3 million per show on the condition that she play nowhere else in Southeast Asia. A lawmaker in the Philippines later said that was not “what good neighbors do.”

Persons: Taylor Swift, Swift’s, Srettha, Swift, ” Organizations: Singapore Locations: Southeast Asia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines

☆ A Popular Leader’s Surprising Turn Shadows Indonesia’s Election
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

More than 100 million people are voting on Wednesday in one of the biggest elections in the world. The contest for the top prize — the presidency of Indonesia — is a three-way race. But looming large is someone not on the ballot. That person is Joko Widodo, the incumbent president, who is not allowed to seek a third five-year term and will step down in October. A decade after Mr. Joko presented himself as a down-to-earth reformer and won office, he remains incredibly popular.

Persons: Joko Locations: Indonesia

The young women and men moved from booth to booth, asking questions about the political hopefuls’ track records and visions for the country. A few steps away, first-time voters practiced casting their ballots in pretend voting booths. And onstage, talk show guests discussed how to make an informed choice in backing a candidate. This gathering of more than a thousand people one recent Sunday in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, was a prelude to a celebration that is widely known here as “Pesta Demokrasi,” or Democracy Party. After voting for presidential, parliamentary and local legislative candidates, people camp out near their polling places with food as they wait for early counts to trickle in.

Organizations: Democracy Party Locations: Jakarta, Indonesia

The isles of Manhattan and Pulau Rhun could hardly be farther apart, not just in geography, but also in culture, economy and global prominence. Rhun, in the Banda Sea in Indonesia, has no cars or roads and only about 20 motorbikes. Most people get around by walking along its paved footpaths or up steep stairways, often toting plastic jugs of water from the numerous village wells or sometimes lugging a freshly caught tuna. But in the 17th century, in what might now seem one of the most lopsided trades in history, the Netherlands believed it got the better part of a bargain with the British when it swapped Manhattan, then known as New Amsterdam, for this tiny speck of land.

Organizations: Manhattan Locations: Manhattan, Pulau Rhun, Banda, Indonesia, Netherlands, New Amsterdam

☆ Thai Court Rules That Opposition Party Proposal Violated the Constitution
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But on Wednesday the Move Forward Party and its push for change were dealt a severe blow. Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled that the party’s proposal to scale back the royal defamation law violated the Constitution because it was an attempt to overthrow the monarchy. The verdict, in effect, lays out explicitly that the royal defamation law is sacrosanct for Thailand’s conservative establishment, a nexus of royalists, military officials and wealthy elites. Wednesday’s ruling leaves Move Forward vulnerable to more legal challenges, which could pave the way for its eventual disbandment. It could also set the stage for a showdown between Thailand’s progressive opposition and the establishment.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat Organizations: Party Locations: Thailand

☆ Arms Dealer Linked to Myanmar Junta Acquitted in Thai Money Laundering Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Richard C. Paddock | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A wealthy Myanmar arms broker with close ties to the leader of Myanmar’s brutal military regime was acquitted on Tuesday by a Bangkok court on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, raising fears that he will be free to resume his activities aiding the junta. U Tun Min Latt, who was placed under sanctions by the United States last year for supplying the Myanmar regime with weapons, had spent 16 months in a Thai jail awaiting trial. The Thai authorities had accused Mr. Tun Min Latt and three associates of engaging in a scheme to launder drug money by using it to buy electricity in Thailand and sending it across the border to Myanmar. But the Thai criminal court found that the record of bank transactions presented by prosecutors did not provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges. With the ruling, about two dozen family members and supporters of the accused burst into applause in the courtroom.

Persons: Latt, Min Aung, Tun Min Latt Organizations: United Locations: Myanmar, Bangkok, United States, Thailand

“My house was only meters away from the path where flood water passed,” said Asmia, who, like many Indonesians, uses one name. At the refugee camp, “it was miserable,” she said. However, in Indonesia, where patriarchal culture is deeply rooted, women’s roles are habitually diminished, and women are often overlooked in many fields of work. “Women are often left out and not allowed to do many roles in Aceh, especially at the village level.”While it required months of discussion, the village leaders were eventually convinced to let the women become rangers. A name was picked for the initiative: Mpu Euteun, or someone who looks after the forest.

Persons: ”, Asmia, “, Damaran Baru, Rubama, Mpu Organizations: Nature, Environment Aceh Foundation Locations: Damaran, Indonesia, Aceh, Indonesian

She does not know why they are fighting in the Holy Land halfway across the world, or even exactly who is fighting. In the impoverished northeast of Thailand, past cassava fields and cows dozing in the heat, Watsana Yojampa has her son’s new house almost ready for his return. There is a room for his daughter, soon to be painted purple because that’s her favorite hue of Care Bear. On Oct. 6, Ms. Watsana showed him tile options for the bathroom over a video call. He was very particular about his “modern house” and promised to get back to her on his preferred shade of gray, she said.

Persons: Yojampa, Anucha Angkaew, Watsana Locations: Holy, Thailand, Israel

The NewsThailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition to renominate Pita Limjaroenrat, a leading candidate, as the country’s next prime minister. Mr. Pita, 42, led the progressive Move Forward Party to a surprise victory in the general election in May. But last month, the military-appointed Senate voted against him when he was nominated as prime minister by a new coalition. Pheu Thai, a populist party co-founded by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, said on Tuesday it would nominate Srettha Thavisin, a real estate tycoon, as its prime minister candidate. The next vote for prime minister will take place in Parliament on Aug. 22, the House speaker, Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, said.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat, Pita, Pita’s, Thaksin Shinawatra, Srettha, Mr, What’s, Sansiri, Pheu Thai’s, Phumtham Wechayachai, Wan, Matha Organizations: Party Locations: Thailand

The takeaway from Thailand’s general election in May was clear: Voters had dealt a crushing blow to the ruling military junta by supporting a progressive party that challenged not only the generals but also the nation’s powerful monarchy. The generals and their allies responded on Thursday by rejecting the party’s leading candidate for prime minister, tipping the country into a political void and potentially thrusting it further toward autocracy. Parliament failed to elect a new prime minister on Thursday evening after the progressive candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat, was unable to muster enough support in the military-backed Senate, where lawmakers are loyal to the generals who have governed Thailand since seizing power in a coup nearly decade ago. As night fell over a rainy Bangkok, one of Southeast Asia’s most important economies was staring down what looked like another intense period of political unrest and nationwide protests.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat Locations: Thailand, Bangkok

Thailand inched closer to political gridlock on Thursday as politicians gathered in Parliament to vote for the next prime minister with no clear victor in sight. The leading candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat, a charismatic young progressive, was dealt a major setback on the eve of the vote when Thailand’s Election Commission asked the Constitutional Court to suspend him from Parliament. Mr. Pita, who scored a major political victory over the ruling military junta and its royalist allies during the general election in May, has been under investigation for allegedly owning undeclared shares in a media company. On Wednesday, the Court also said that it had accepted a complaint against Mr. Pita over his calls to amend a law that harshly penalizes criticism of the Thai monarchy. Neither blow stopped Move Forward, Mr. Pita’s party, and other coalition members from nominating him for prime minister on Thursday morning.

Persons: Pita Limjaroenrat, Pita Locations: Thailand, Thai

☆ Are Escalators and Moving Walkways Safe?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Mike Ives | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Such walkways are known as “moving walks” to government regulators and construction companies. An escalator sits at about 30 degrees, but a moving walk’s incline is typically no more than a tenth of that. Escalators and moving walks ease the movement of billions of people through airports, shopping malls and other public spaces each year. Escalators and moving walks are widely seen as very safe. But even that figure is exceedingly small if you consider the sheer volume of escalator and moving walk trips that people take every day.

Persons: Don, Karant Thanakuljeerapat, Don Mueang Organizations: Don Mueang International, Elevator Industry, Inc, Center for Construction Research Locations: Thailand, Bangkok, United States, Australia, Queensland, Maryland

☆ New Coalition in Thailand Challenges Military Rule After Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The two opposition parties that won the largest share of the vote in Thailand’s general election over the weekend said on Monday that they had agreed to form a coalition government. The results of the election were a stinging rebuke to the country’s military leaders, who have governed Thailand since seizing power in a coup in 2014. Although Thailand is a nation where coups are not uncommon, it had never been under military rule for so long. Many voters, disillusioned with the never-ending cycle of putsches and protests, used the election on Sunday to demonstrate overwhelmingly that they wanted change. “People have been through enough of a lost decade,” Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the progressive Move Forward Party, told reporters on Monday.

☆ In Blow to Junta, Thai Voters Overwhelmingly Back Opposition Parties
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With 97 percent of the votes counted early Monday morning, the progressive Move Forward Party was neck and neck with the populist Pheu Thai Party. In most parliamentary systems, the two parties would form a new governing coalition and choose a prime minister. But under the rules of the current Thai system, written by the military after its 2014 coup, the junta will still play kingmaker. The election had widely been seen as an easy victory for Pheu Thai, the country’s largest opposition party founded by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Polls had showed that Mr. Thaksin’s youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, 36, was the leading choice for prime minister.

☆ A Crucial Question in Thailand’s Election: Can You Criticize the King?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Thais go to the polls on Sunday, they will be voting in a closely fought election that is seen, in part, as a referendum on whether it is illegal to criticize the Thai monarchy. Thailand has one of the world’s strictest laws against defaming or insulting the king and other members of the royal family. The protests represented two sides of an impassioned struggle to determine the role of the crown in modern Thailand. The election could determine whether the Southeast Asian nation of 72 million will revive its once-vibrant democracy or slide further toward authoritarian rule, with royalists firmly in power. He and his supporters argue that amending the law could lead to abolishing the monarchy altogether, and have vowed to defend the royal family.

☆ Woman Charged With 9 Murders in Series of Mysterious Deaths in Thailand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Muktita Suhartono | Yan Zhuang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The police in Thailand have arrested a woman in the poisoning death of a friend and charged her with premeditated murder in the deaths of eight other people. After the arrest, the authorities quickly linked the woman, Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, to six more deaths, and the number grew to 14 after members of the public came forward and claimed that relatives had died soon after meeting her. She has so far been charged in nine of the deaths, but the authorities said they believed she was responsible for all 14 deaths over several years, as well as one attempted poisoning. Ms. Sararat, 36, is the ex-wife of a senior police official, the authorities said. She was found with a bottle of cyanide when she was arrested last week, they added.

☆ Thailand’s Most Polarizing Family Rises Again Ahead of Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | Muktita Suhartono | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For close to two decades, the military and conservative establishment in Thailand has sought to keep former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his supporters out of power. Mr. Thaksin, a populist politician and a business tycoon, was ousted in a coup in 2006 before he fled the country. Several years later, his sister succeeded him as prime minister and then suffered the same fate. Now, conservatives are watching warily as his political party looks set to dominate next month’s election. The party’s star campaigner: Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Mr. Thaksin’s youngest daughter and a strong contender for prime minister.

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