News stories by Lynette Lee Corporal* - Asia Media Forum

For press freedom advocates, it was bad enough, though not totally surprising, to hear that the government had shut down the opposition media amid the state of emergency in the Thai capital. But alarming to them is the gagging even of independent news sites.

Second-class legislators. A different political species in the Philippines’ rough-and-tumble - and very personalistic - brand of electoral politics.

Festive days are here again in the Philippine political scene as 10 presidential candidates — ranging from the son of a former president to an environmentalist, a Christian minister and a former actor — battle it out for the voters’ ‘yes’ come May 10.