Asian Insider

India's experience offers lessons for other countries in wildlife conservation, and one of the keys is having local communities on board.

Synopsis: Each fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the biggest global talking points with expert guests. 

India very recently marked the fifth anniversary of Project Tiger. India has saved the tiger. Bringing a predator like the tiger, back from the brink of extinction, in a country of now over a billion people, is a remarkable feat. 

India now has something like 70-75 per cent of all tigers in the wild. The tiger is functionally extinct in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. There has been a small comeback in Thailand, but its status in Myanmar is unknown and most likely very tenuous.

But species conservation is a complex issue with many moving parts, with both people and wildlife having agency - so it never really ends and old challenges remain and new challenges emerge. 

In this episode, to discuss what worked and what did not - and the consequential challenges that remain - Nirmal Ghosh hosts renowned wildlife conservationist Belinda Wright, founder of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI); and the publisher and editor of Sanctuary Asia Magazine and Kids for Tigers, Bittu Sahgal. 

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:55 Best practices: What worked for the tiger, what did not work

11:15 On managing wildlife-human conflicts, statistics, and why it's "not rocket science"

14:40 Is there a strategy for the next 50 years, after 50 years of Project Tiger? Why economists need to be educated on the biosphere

17:10 It was found that among villagers who were attacked by a tiger, almost all had been out in the forest collecting fuelwood

18:32 Do grasslands and wetlands get adequate protection?

28:51 Why India has a convincing asset now that few other countries have; why Asia can show the world how to survive the climate crisis, and the tiger is metaphor

Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Asian Insider with Nirmal Ghosh every fourth Friday of the month:

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Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

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Headphones are recommended for this series.

Synopsis: A 6-part series by The Straits Times in Singapore, exploring recent real crimes that gripped, horrified and laid bare the issues that afflicted societies in Asia. Episodes drop every fourth Tuesday of the month from April 25, 2023. 

From April till September 2023, listen to the events surrounding a spine-chilling find in a Bangkok temple. Or the gruesome death of a domestic helper in Singapore.

But for the first episode dropping on April 25, you will discover a 21st-century crime that could well happen in more countries in an increasingly interconnected world.

This was the insidious cybersex underbelly in South Korean society that trapped girls in a digital prison in 2019.

We at The Straits Times, investigate how these tragedies left their mark on victims and communities, and also exposed the dark side of societies. 

Get notifications of new episodes on your favourite audio apps - Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts - when you follow ST’s True Crimes Of Asia.

Executive producers: Ernest Luis ([email protected]) and Tan Tam Mei ([email protected])

Edited by: Fa'izah Sani

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A cautionary word on China.

Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, join The Straits Times' associate editor & Senior Asia columnist Ravi Velloor, as he distills his experience from four decades of covering the continent.

In this episode, he chats with the Australian statesman Bob Carr, a long-serving Premier of New South Wales, Australia’s most prosperous state, and foreign minister to then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard. 

The podcast was conducted against the backdrop of Australia’s soured ties with China, the surprise decision to form Aukus (which groups Australia with the United Kingdom and the United States) and the deteriorating situation in East Asia centred over Taiwan.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:24 Resolving the US for security, China for prosperity dilemma

9:00 Need to be restrained on Taiwan

12:00 The worries about Aukus

20:00 Is conflict with China looming?

23:15 Why Kevin Rudd is being sent to the US

25:10 Message to China: Correct your diplomacy

Produced by: Ravi Velloor ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Speaking Of Asia Podcast every second Friday of the month on our Asian Insider Podcast channel here:

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An incident at a school assembly has ignited a curious debate over what some regard as an outdated and top-down education system 

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe.

They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises. 

In this episode, she chats with ST’s Indochina Bureau Chief Tan Hui Yee.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:34 Why did over 100 students get ugly haircuts?

2:55 Do Thai schools have haircut rules for students?

4:10 Authoritarianism or a matter of discipline?

5:40 Is student unrest welling up in the election season?

7:55 Are gender identity issues at play?

9:20 What do ugly haircuts tell us about a changing Thailand?

9:55 Is Thailand a relaxed, tolerant society?

Read Tan Hui Yee’s article here: https://str.sg/i4ia

Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Letter From The Bureau Podcast every first Friday of the month on our Asian Insider Podcast channel here:

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Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo

Read Tan Hui Yee’s articles: https://str.sg/i4iR

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Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Is there liberal opposition to what is going on, even in a more diverse India with a raucous democratic tradition?

Synopsis: Each fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the biggest global talking points with expert guests. 

In this episode, we discuss how and why, across the complex region of South Asia, majorities are convinced that minorities are a threat.

South Asia is a region of some two billion, but right-wing politics and religious majoritarianism, the arms of the state and the media, are coming together to threaten democracy and the health and longevity of states. The politics of hate in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is fuelling, and feeds off, religious majoritarianism.

Nirmal Ghosh hosts Farahnaz Ispahani, a former journalist, former member of Pakistan’s parliament, and currently a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington DC, and Salil Tripathi, author, journalist and member of the Board of PEN International.  

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:40 Why Pakistan is the worst among "religious majoritarian states" in South Asia; add to that a "nuclear-armed Pakistan with an economy in free fall"

3:40 On the history and similar trajectory in Bangladesh and also, how "the liberal Pakistani used to look up to India for its democratic roots and tradition, when now… if you're Muslim, you can't be safe in India."

9:05 How the religious right and the political right have come together to make the majority feel they're under threat from the minority

12:16 How this trend is happening, as our guest expert offers daily life examples in India

17:15 On how the media in these South Asia countries could amplify divisions

Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Asian Insider with Nirmal Ghosh every fourth Friday of the month:

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Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [email protected]

Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r

Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG

Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters

Asian Insider videos: https://str.sg/wdcC

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Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Why Australia's Prime Minister is rooting for song and dance to be accepted as essential to the Australian way of life.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe.

They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises. 

In this episode, she chats with ST’s correspondent in Australia, Jonathan Pearlman.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:00 Why the rugby-loving Australian PM Anthony Albanese cares about the arts

3:15 How big is the arts scene Down Under?

5:55 'DJ' Albo’s plans to raise the arts quotient

8:08 Is there a profit motive?

10:00 No more 'starving' artists?

Read article: https://str.sg/ikT2

Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Letter From The Bureau Podcast every first Friday of the month on our Asian Insider Podcast channel here:

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Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo

Read Jonathan Pearlman's articles: https://str.sg/whNJ

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Special edition series:

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Why perceptions of being “soft” on China will increasingly be a political liability in the US. 

Synopsis: Each fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times' US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh presents an Asian perspective of the biggest global talking points with expert guests.

Relations between China and the US are in for more rough weather with bipartisan consensus on China in the United States, a new House Committee hawkish on China, and visits to Taiwan by US lawmakers imminent which are bound to upset Beijing.

Find out why intensifying political contestation in the United States in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election will have an impact on relations with China.

In this episode, to assess the path ahead for the contentious and fragile relationship, Nirmal Ghosh hosts Joshua Kurlantzick, senior fellow for South-east Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Dr Adrian Ang, Research Fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore. 

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:31 After the Xi-Biden summit in Bali in November 2022, both sides were searching for a base in the relationship 

2:41 No dedicated hotline unlike during the Cold War; Biden’s China policy is tougher than Donald Trump’s

5:10 New House Select Committee on China will put more pressure on the Administration to be tougher on China

06:13 House Committee on China Chair visiting Taiwan in late spring will further strain the relationship

7:08 China is the last bipartisan issue in which there is consensus in the United States; no daylight between the parties 

Produced by: Nirmal Ghosh ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Asian Insider with Nirmal Ghosh every fourth Friday of the month:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7

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Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [email protected]

Follow Nirmal Ghosh on Twitter: https://str.sg/JD7r

Read Nirmal Ghosh's stories: https://str.sg/JbxG

Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters

Asian Insider videos: https://str.sg/wdcC

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Special edition series:

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Why the US wanted to send a strong signal to China and how this was also about domestic politics.

Synopsis: The Straits Times examines various facets of the US-China rivalry and its implications for Asia.

Join Charissa Yong and Danson Cheong - ST’s US and China correspondents respectively based in Washington DC and Beijing - as they take a look at America’s response to the alleged Chinese spy balloon, and the global fallout. 

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:10 Why China was dismayed

2:28 Why Biden responded the way he did

4:27 China’s unusually conciliatory stance

7:25 The US-China spiral of suspicion

Produced by: Charissa Yong ([email protected]), Danson Cheong ([email protected]), Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani

Follow our Asian Insider Podcast channel every week here and rate us:

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Read Charissa Yong's stories: https://str.sg/3xRa

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Follow Danson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dansoncj

Read ST's Power Play articles: https://str.sg/3xRE

Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters

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Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m

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#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad

Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX

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Special edition series:

True Crimes Of Asia (new): https://str.sg/i44T

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Why the Taiwan issue today is different from the Vietnam War's political dynamics.

Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, join The Straits Times' associate editor Ravi Velloor, as he distils his experience from four decades of covering the continent.

In this episode of 2023, he chats with Nayan Chanda, the celebrated editor, journalist and Indo-China specialist on his eyewitness account of the end of the Vietnam War, the new Cold War in Asia, the Sino-Russian concord, and chances of an open conflict in the region.

This podcast was conducted against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreement that led to the end of the conflict in Vietnam. 

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:35 Fall of Saigon ends Vietnam War

6:00 Why he stayed, when other fled

10:45 Vietnam 1975, Afghanistan 2021

15:50 The new Cold War in Asia?

21:00 Sino-Russian ‘shotgun wedding’

25:20 Possibility of war in our current times 

Produced by: Ravi Velloor ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Speaking Of Asia Podcast every second Friday of the month:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Feedback to: [email protected]

Ravi Velloor's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Ravi Velloor on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters

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Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m

ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE

#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad

Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX

Discover ST Podcasts: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

Discover BT Podcasts: https://bt.sg/pcPL

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Special edition series:

The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2

Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn

Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB

Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa

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Find out what a '1-minute' sari is, and the best ways to drape a sari for running.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times' foreign editor Bhagyashree Garekar chats with ST’s correspondents in the Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe.

They talk about life as it goes on, amid the screaming headlines and bubbling crises. 

In this episode, she chats with ST's India correspondent Debarshi Dasgupta.

Some Indian women are choosing saris over shorts as they go jogging along busy streets. But as they transform the traditional wear into activewear of choice, they encounter taboos. Are saris and sneakers not a fit combo?

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:19 So, what is a sari run?

5:06 Is it truly comfortable to run in a sari? The best ways to drape the sari for running?

7:40 The fastest marathoner in a sari

9:31 Are saris more popular today? Heard of a '1-minute' sari, sari over jeans?

12:23 As India becomes the world’s most populous nation, are women becoming healthier?

Read Debarshi Dasgupta’s article here: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/nine-yards-of-freedom-indian-women-take-to-running-in-saris-to-break-taboos 

Produced by: Bhagyashree Garekar ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim and Fa’izah Sani

Follow Letter From The Bureau Podcast every first Friday of the month on our Asian Insider Podcast channel here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8

Google Podcasts: https://str.sg/wQsB 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

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