What one correspondent learned by writing an “enhanced biography” of a little-known 19th-century teenager from Borneo. The 15-year-old Malay, known to history only as “Ali” is featured on this graffiti signboard in Ternate, Indonesia. The artist refers to Wallace’s...
Autocrat or nation-builder? Malaysia’s Mahathir still stirs mixed feelings even as he stuns the world by regaining power and reuniting with his nemesis. Mahathir Mohamad, left, and Anwar Ibrahim in September 1997, a year before the prime minister sacked his...
Malaysia has stunned the world with a political tremor that has reunited two foes and which bucks a trend towards authoritarianism in Southeast Asia. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, center, visits former Deputy Prime Minister and opposition leader Anwar...
Since this installment was posted in October, this story has been published by Explorer’s Eye Press in “Exceptional Encounters: Enhanced Reality Tales from Southeast Asia”. It is available for purchase here. This is the final installment of a five-part...
Do rivers and trees on Borneo have legal rights? A Southeast Asian court is asked to decide, and the answer is not as simple as it might seem. In the first, second and third installments of this story set in Southeast Asia, we met a U.S.-educated Malaysian lawyer who...