Southeast and East Asia
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) promotes democracy, human rights, economic freedom, and curbing climate change. In Southeast and East Asia, we have offices in Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Manila, Seoul, Taipei, and Yangon. We also work in Malaysia. The FNF regional team works with the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, the Working group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, the Asia Centre, and the ASEAN Prosperity Initiative, which is part of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. Should you have questions or suggestions about our work, please contact us. You can also meet our team here.
News
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Media Freedom in Southeast Asia Report is out
Media Freedom in Southeast Asia: Repeal Restrictive Laws, Strengthen Quality Journalism is a collaborated project between Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Southeast and East Asia and Asia Centre to research through the situations that affected journalism in this region.
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World’s largest free trade agreement kicks off
From January 1st, 2022 on, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will govern trade between China, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the 10 member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the major economies of Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.
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Young People & Cryptocurrencies – a Revolution of Digital Natives
Young people, digital natives, have been attracted to cryptocurrencies as a way to make easy money. Investing in crypto sounds easy but comes with associated risks. In order to support the youth to understand underlying risks, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Southeast, and East Asia Office, held a two-day workshop, the Crypto Revolution, with 27 students from the region.
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Elections in Hong Kong: What choice do the people have?
On 19 December, HK is electing a new legislative council. This is the election that should have taken place in 2020, and that was postponed amid claims of pandemic concerns. Since then, a new election law has been passed – and people in HK have less of a choice than ever. Freiheit.org interviewed MR Charles Mok, a former LegCo Councillor, about this upcoming election, what it means for HK and where the city is going from here.
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API ASEAN Integration report 2021 is released
Economic Freedom is one of the main topics that we give a close attention to, especially in ASEAN. The process of ASEAN Economic integration is still so far to be fully completed. On this noted, our regional partner IDEAS Malaysia is the organization that monitors such process under the project name ASEAN Prosperity Initiatives. This year, API ASEAN Integration report was published as a project of the yearlong research on the economic integration.
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Commemorating International Human Rights Day
December 10th is the International Human Rights Day, the very day when in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is observed and celebrated around the world. Taking this opportunity, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom Regional Office, Southeast and East Asia, likes to look back as well as look forward to our distinctive human rights activities in the region for 2021.
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How far can freedom take you?
We would like to thank all participants for joining this year's virtual run. It was a great experience to see pictures from all over the regions showing how important freedom is. We hope to see everyone again at the next event. It was a great experience to see pictures from all over the regions showing how important freedom is. We hope to see everyone again at the next event.
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Media Freedom in Southeast Asia Report is out
.” Freedom of information is a basic human right. People should be able to receive information via any media. However, together with the global pandemic problem, governments tend to control the media outlets by using various methods such as the SLAPP law or the fake news law. People in the news and media sector got affected heavily, especially in the Southeast Asia region.
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The Crypto Revolution
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom would like to invite High School students aged 16-19 years old to participate in the Crypto Revolution workshop. You will get to learn the basics of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain technology. Also risks and opportunities within it such as the NFTs market or the savings and stakings. The workshop will be hosted by 3 resource persons.
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How China Defines Human Rights
The leadership in China is repeatedly accused of human rights violations, for example in connection with the camps for Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Beijing is fighting back - and has presented an action plan for human rights in the People's Republic for the next few years. The paper reveals much about China's motivation, justification, and narrative.
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Human Rights in Podcast; ASEAN now speaks
Rarely in history, ASEAN talked about human rights issues in the region. However, it is a different story nowadays. The working group for the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms started its first podcast episode for ASEAN Peoples Speak Programme on Spotify and on youtube. Subscribe here to listen to these episodes.
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Central Bank Digital Currency: A Crypto Vision for Vietnam
Although blockchain technology has been known in Vietnam for a number of years, CBDC is still a new concept for the state bank and the responsible authorities. There has to be a long-term vision for the country, state FNF country director Andreas Stoffers and Doan Thanh Huyen in Hanoi.
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Get your running gears ready; the Freedom Journey ASIA Virtual Run is back!
FNF does not want you to lose this opportunity, esp. amidst all these travel restrictions in Southeast and East Asia. So, we bring you a virtual run, where you can meet new people and experience new places virtually! It’s easy. If you happen to attend FNF events in the region, you’re called “FNF alumni” and receive this exclusive opportunity to join the virtual run 2021.
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FNF congratulates Maria Ressa on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is excited that Maria Ressa has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Dmitry Muratov. Ms. Ressa is founder and chief executive of “Rappler”, an online medium in the Philippines, which has been a partner of the Naumann-Foundation for years. Rappler and the Foundation cooperate regarding media literacy and media freedom.
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Young leaders master the art of cooperation
FNF Young Leaders programme, Finding Your Way in the Labour Market, came to an end on September 12 2021. 50 students chosen to participate in the programme said farewell to the programme on zoom and in their group chats.
Social Media
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Where is Hong Kong now? How will the people of Hong Kong fight back amidst draconian laws? Is there a sense of fatigue or fear on the side of the opposition? How do you overcome these, if any? What’s next for the democracy fighters and supporters? Listen to “ The Great Asian Pushback Episode 9 ” RSS: https://bit.ly/3zsuoJB Spotify: https://spoti.fi/332gYbo
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Defending human rights is required in all countries. Be it in states divided by internal armed conflicts or in stable states. Human rights must be defended in non-democratic states as well as in those with a strong liberal democracy, in states that are just developing economically and in those that have long been considered developed. In more than 60 countries, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom promotes the work of human rights defenders, journalists and representatives of civil society. With their actions, they repeatedly create new spaces to control governments and those in power. It takes people who fight for freedom under adverse circumstances and stand up for human rights and threatened fellow human beings, and these people need support. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger Deputy Chair of the Management Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and former German Minister of Justice Read Liberal Human Rights Work 2021: https://humanrights-2021.freiheit.digital/liberal-human-rights-work-2021
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"Eat. Drink. Be free. Have a wonderful Christmas!" #There is no peace without freedom
