The discovery of 28 abandoned human-trafficking camps and multiple unmarked mass graves in the dense jungle of Wang Kelian near the Thai-Malaysia border in May 2015 sent a shock wave through ASEAN and the rest of the world. Almost 800 victims were suspected to have been held in squalid conditions, in crudely built wooden cages and barbed wire that were too small for adults to even stand in.

Anwar bin Sholeh had something to cheer when he showed up at a Jakarta training centre to practice pencak silat - the Indonesian martial art was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO's) prestigious heritage list."It's an honour that pencak silat has been recognised internationally," the 38-year-old, who has been practising the art since elementary school."This will motivate us to preserve our tra

A powerful earthquake hit the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Sunday, killing a child, injuring dozens and damaging buildings in an area still recovering from a string of deadly quakes in October.Police said a rescue operation had been launched at a heavily damaged market building in Padada near the 6.8 magnitude quake's epicentre, which is about 90 kilometres south of the major city of Davao.Patients were evacuated from hospitals as a precaution and nervous crowds massed outsi

Indonesia's little-known glaciers are melting so fast they could disappear in a decade, a new study says, underscoring the imminent threat posed by climate change to ice sheets in tropical countries.As the COP 25 summit wraps up in Madrid, nations are struggling to finalise rules for the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises.Thousands of kilometres away, glaciers on a mountain range in Indonesia's Papua region - and a handful of others in A

Earlier this week, investigators for the Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) campaign revealed heart-breaking footage exposing the extreme cruelty suffered by an estimated 13,700 dogs every month in the Indonesian city of Solo. The dogs being shown on camera were heading to the slaughterhouse for their meat.News of the footage quickly went viral. The investigators found that dogs were being slaughtered in unhygienic conditions and were being killed in front of other dogs.

From rivulets to regionwide river channels, the Southeast Asian region hosts dozens of rivers. The most well-known river in Southeast Asia is the Mekong River – spanning five countries in the region itself.The Mekong, which is also the 12th longest river in the world is a major water source for drinking, fishing and agricultural needs for millions of people.

Forest fires that raged across Indonesia dented Southeast Asia's biggest economy to the tune of some US$5.2 billion, the World Bank said Wednesday, not including the health impacts from toxic haze that sent air quality plummeting.The fires are an annual problem but this year was the worst since 2015 due to dry weather, with 942,000 hectares (2.3 million acres) of land, mostly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, razed by the out-of-control blazes. Authorities deployed tens of thousand

In August last year, The ASEAN Post asked a question: How will Indonesia fare in PISA 2018? Recently, local Indonesian news reports revealed the answer to that question and it was, unfortunately, unsurprising.This is not to say that Indonesia had not put in efforts to increase the quality of its students.

U2 frontman Bono said Tuesday there must be no compromise on human rights, in a rebuke of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ahead of the Irish rockers' first Manila concert.The Philippine leader has waged a deadly war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives.Overwhelmingly backed by Filipinos but condemned by critics who say it is a war crime, the killings by police as well as unknown suspects are the subject of a preliminary inquiry by the International Criminal Court prosecutor.

Tales of heroism, devastation and horrifying injuries emerged Tuesday after New Zealand's smouldering White Island volcano exploded, killing an estimated 14 people and turning what should have been an intrepid day trip into a nightmare.The number of confirmed fatalities rose to six Tuesday night after an injured person died in an Auckland hospital, police said.Eight more people were presumed dead after Monday's eruption, while dozens of others injured were being treated in hospital