#southeastasia

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There's on thing you need to understand about Malaysian timing. "I am on the way" usually means "I am sitting on the toilet typing this."*

* Because we factor in thinking time

As I study German , I am constantly reminded how very, very lucky Germany was that there was a mass movement of scholars who had an interest in writing those tales down before the oral storytelling traditions they came from ended.

German folk storytelling thrived in environments when large households - or even several households - gathered together on a regular basis. As a result, such storytelling continued well into the 1950s, but then largely died out as family sizes became smaller and family units became more splintered.

But until then, thousands of people - scholars and lay enthusiasts alike - gathered tens of thousands of tales and published thousands of works - a rich body of scholarship that Germans today (such as myself) still profit from.

So if you live in a part of the world where such oral storytelling traditions still exist (I …

In Asia, the real conversations and developments around AI are focused on practical applications for industry. They are quiet, hardly talked about and are not trendy.

PS: I will mute anyone trying to argue with me about the ethics or drop anti-China comments. I HAVE HEARD THEM ALL so unless you offer unique insights beyond the usual talking points, please save your energy and yell at someone else.

http://elizabethtai.com/2025/10/14/conversations-about-ai-is-different-in-asia/

For Unfiltered, @ncoca dives into how polluting palm oil power plants harms local communities, and the powerful movement that has, so far, successfully prevented two projects from being built. Harvesting palm oil also means and land‑use change in especially plantations on peatlands—which leads to high greenhouse‑gas emissions.

Read in more detail about the short and long term effects this will have on and its neighboring countries.

https://www.unfiltered.coop/japans-palm-oil-power-push-is-faltering/

アンフィルタードでニシン・コカ (@ncoca)は、汚染を招くパーム油発電所が地域社会に与える被害と、これまでに二つのプロジェクト建設を阻止した市民運動の実態に迫る。パーム油の収穫は東南アジアにおける森林破壊と土地利用変化 — 特に泥炭地でのプランテーション開発 — を意味し、大量の温室効果ガスを排出している。

日本とその近隣諸国に及ぼす短期的・長期的な影響について、詳細を記事にした

https://www.unfiltered.coop/palm-oil-power-jp/

https://thailand-becausewecan.picfair.com/images/021683207-halong-bay-with-limestone-cliffs-and-boats-in-the-gulf-of-tonkin-north-of-hanoi-in-halong-vietnam-asia

Halong Bay with limestone cliffs and boats in Halong Bay, Vietnam Asia
Captured with Sony ILCE-7M4 and Sony Lens FE 24-70mm 2.8 GM II
Royalty-free Image
Commercial and Advertising Licences

'Last week, the U.S. Department of Education formally ended the National Resource Center program, a loss of approximately $1 million in funding a year.'

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/09/research-risk-cultural-fluency-and-critical-language-expertise

East and have the most populated time zones in the world.

Yet most so-called "global" calls or meetings are set at times that are incredibly inconvenient for those of us here. And, as a result, you see so few participating in a lot of global networks. It's a self-defeating cycle.

Indonesian political parties have agreed to cut lawmakers' benefits in a bid to calm anti-government protests that have killed at least five people in the country's worst violence in decades. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/09/01/asia-pacific/politics/indonesia-protests-lawmaker-perks/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon

UPDATE 3: check this thread I will try to keep it updated

UPDATE2: nights are becoming dangerous and protest organizers are urging the public to stay home. You can continue to use the below if you want to support the delivery drivers and their surroundings (tell them the food is for them/family/friends and to tip)

Hey Southeast Asians, your Grab app works ACROSS the region. If you'd like to order medical supplies or food for the folks in Jakarta and Bandung, you can.

(Twt links to follow underneath)

(Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere on fedi)