Indochinese governments have faced fierce criticisms from their own people and abroad over land grabbing in recent years. But the response from leaders in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos has been collective lip service while big corporations were allowed to go about their business.

Complex corporate structures layered by a myriad of red tape and rigid bureaucracies have conspired to hide the inner and sometimes illegal dealings that have resulted in thousands of farmers losing their land or being forced to sell at a pittance.

However, Rubber Barons, a report and film released this morning by the London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness, has gone a long way towards unraveling some of the corporate mysteries surrounding land grabbing by rubber producers in Vietnam.

According to the report, privately owned Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and state-owned Vietnamese Rubber Group (VRG) acquired more than 200,000 hectares of land through a series of deals with the Lao and Cambodian governments that lacked transparency.

This deal was backed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corp (IFC) and Germany’s Deutsche Bank, resulting in widespread devastation to the environment and livelihoods of locals. The report noted these investments stand in stark contrast to both institutions’ public commitments on ethics and sustainability, as well as the World Bank’s core mandate to end global poverty.

“We’ve known for some time that corrupt politicians in Cambodia and Laos are orchestrating the land grabbing crisis that is doing so much damage in the region,” said Megan MacInnes, Head of the Land Team at Global Witness. “This report completes the picture by exposing the pivotal role of Vietnam’s rubber barons and their financiers, Deutsche Bank and the IFC.”.

“Both companies are having severe impacts on the human rights of ordinary Lao and Cambodian citizens,” she added. “Often, the first time people learn of a plantation is when the company bulldozers arrive to clear their farms.”

HAGL was established in 1990 by Doan Nguyen Duc as a small furniture-producing factory at Pleiku in Vietnam’s Central Highlands during a logging boom. It soon diversified into timber and granite processing, real estate and tourism.

Nguyen Duc set up his own football club – HAGL FC – partnering with Arsenal FC from the Premier League. The company is Vietnam’s second largest property developer.

According to the report, Vietnam’s domestic rubber plantations covered 834,000 hectares in 2012, making it the third largest global producer of natural rubber, exporting to 50 countries, with China providing the biggest market for unprocessed rubber while the majority of processed rubber is shipped to the United States and Japan.

As a result, the economic reach and influence of HAGL and VRG had grown significantly, alongside the complaints.

“Local people’s testimony, detailed in Rubber Barons, describes the impact of these activities on their communities – increased food and water shortages, loss of livelihood without compensation and poor employment conditions are commonplace, while indigenous minorities have lost burial grounds and sacred forests to the bulldozers,” reads a Global Witness report on the release of the report and film.

It adds, “Those who protest face violence, intimidation and even arrest, often by state authorities who are meant to protect them but instead protect the Vietnamese companies.”

“These cases are shocking, but they are far from unique,” said MacInnes. “Until governments bring in and enforce regulations to end the culture of secrecy and impunity that is driving the global land grabbing crisis, international banks and financial institutions will continue to turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses and deforestation they are bankrolling.”

According to Global Witness, HAGL and VRG‘s operations are characterized by a lack of consultation with communities, non-payment of compensation and use of armed security forces to guard plantations. Further, the group claims that large areas of supposedly protected intact forest have been cleared, in violation of forest protection laws, apparently in collusion with Cambodia’s corrupt elite. Global Witness has called for HAGL and VRG to be prosecuted and for the cancelation of their plantation concessions.

The 49-page report and accompanying video are available through the Global Witness website. Global Witness has carved itself a reputation for tackling corruption at the highest levels. It recently produced another report on corruption, exposing alleged illegal activities by the leaders of Sarawak in East Malaysia. The report has been well received by authorities investigating money laundering.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has long been criticized as a toothless tiger for its inability to deal with controversial and often bloody issues. The Sabah Insurgency launched in March by Philippine-based mercenaries, the Cambodian-Thai dispute over territorial rights at Preah Vihear and overlapping sovereign claims in the South China Seas are among the nastiest and most recent examples.

However, ethnic violence launched against Burma’s Rohingya population has repeatedly underscored the absence of a collective moral backbone among ASEAN’s 10 members and unraveled Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s lauded role in promoting democracy and human rights.

Long-time observers and non-governmental organizations have been loud in their condemnations and warnings about the potential for conflict between Muslim Rohingyas and militant Buddhists to spiral out of control, while Western governments continue to welcome Burmese efforts to “normalize”.

New York-based Human Rights Watch says the Burmese government is ethnic cleansing.

Those predictions of violence are now proving true. In Indonesia anti-terror police shot dead seven men and arrested 13 suspected of involvement in a plot to bomb the Burmese embassy in Jakarta. Two raids were carried out in the operation. The unit raided their hideout in a house on the outskirts of West Java’s capital city of Bandung, but suspects refused to surrender. The ensuing firefight lasted seven hours.

Five assembled pipe bombs were found in a backpack and the authorities said the attack was planned for last Friday.

The deadly confrontation came at the end of a difficult month for Indonesian authorities, who are dealing with a growing influx of Rohingyas fleeing violence in Burma. Their status as refugees can hardly be challenged given the well-documented threats they have lived under, which clearly violate UN laws.

At the same time, much of the world is beating an economic path to Southeast Asia in search of closer regional ties and free trade agreements. In so doing, Western countries would rather separate their business agendas from their moral obligations by leaving the distasteful business in Burma’s north to ASEAN.

While the escalating violence has displaced thousands, last month the European Union congratulated Burma on a “remarkable process of reform” as it lifted all of its sanctions except an arms embargo. The U.S. followed suit by sending Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis to the country to formulate a trade framework.

In Indonesia, home of the world’s largest Muslim population, anger is rising over the Burmese government’s handling of the issue.

If ASEAN governments cannot defuse the tense situation, Rohingyas will be pushed towards the harder edges of the region and into the waiting arms of Islamic militants who still hold court in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand and the southern Philippines. At that point it could become a regional issue with the potential to undermine ASEAN’s ambitious money–making agenda.

The word “tsunami” became politically controversial in the aftermath of Malaysia’s 13th General Election on May 5, which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) receiving a fresh mandate to lead the country, albeit with reduced votes and fewer parliamentary seats. BN has ruled Malaysia since the 1950s, making it one of the longest-running elected party coalitions in the world. 

The word “tsunami” is being used to refer to the wave-like surge in votes coming from the urban areas of Peninsular Malaysia in favor of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition, which almost toppled the BN majority. In fact, PR won 51 percent of the popular votes but due to distortion in the distribution of parliamentary constituencies, it only got 89 seats, to the BN’s 133. 

Prime Minister Najib Razak sparked the controversy when he attributed the loss of several BN candidates to last-minute support given by Chinese voters to opposition candidates. He called it the “Chinese tsunami”. Election analysts have debunked this assertion. 

While it is true that many Chinese are dismayed by some BN-led government policies, in particular the affirmative programs that gave preferential treatment to Malay citizens, their numbers are actually not significant enough to affect voting results. What really hit Najib’s administration was an urban tsunami, in which a swelling of votes for the opposition came from the nation’s multi-ethnic urban areas. 

These votes reflect the declining popularity of Najib’s administration among urban professionals and young voters. Significantly, these voters comprise the demographic in Peninsular Malaysia who are very vocal, both offline and especially online, about public issues like corruption, good governance, human rights, election fraud and media freedom. 

Making matters worse, Najib made the “Chinese Tsunami” remark while also calling for national unity and reconciliation. How can he now appear to be sincere? Beyond damaging his own support base, the comment could inflame race-based political sentiments, creating yet more divisions in multiracial Malaysia. 

But Najib is plagued by a bigger problem. The opposition has refused to accept the voting results. On May 8, PR organized a protest near Kuala Lumpur that was attended by more than 60,000 people. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim vowed to hold more rallies in other parts of the country to prove that the popular sentiment in Malaysia is that of disgust with the fraud and other voting irregularities allegedly committed by BN and its supporters. 

“I want to show Najib this is not a Chinese battle, this is not a Malay battle,” Anwar said before the crowd of 60,000. “We will go to every corner of this country to show we have the support of Malaysians.”

If this were an ordinary election, it would be easy to dismiss PR as an arrogant party refusing to concede defeat. But election watchdogs, scholars, and many in Malaysia share the suspicion that the recent election may have been less than fair and clean. Even the United States government has advised Malaysia to probe the alleged irregularities. 

If BN truly intends to remedy the matter, it must immediately undertake electoral reforms. Otherwise, public discontent might unleash a backlash that the BN-led government cannot handle. Last year BN survived the Bersih (Clean) election reform rallies, Malaysia’s answer to the Arab Spring movement. But can it withstand the “Malaysian tsunami”?

Filipinos will go back to the polls on May 13, 2013 when the nation will hold its midterm national and local elections. In terms of numbers, there are 52 million voters out of a population of 92 million. They will be voting to fill 18,000 elective positions, including 12 senators, 229 district members of the House of Representatives and 80 provincial governors.

At the national level, the 12 senators who will be elected or re-elected will gain instant electoral advantage if ever they decide to run for president or vice president in the 2016 elections. Bearing in mind that the last three presidents, including the incumbent, were senators first, incumbent senators are aggressively competing for the top ranking in the senate race. In other words, this year’s senatorial election is a preview of the 2016 presidential election. This explains the attempted power grab underway by major parties in Congress, especially in the nation’s local government units. 

In addition to serving as a preview of the next presidential race, midterm polls are often used to gauge the public approval rating of the incumbent administration. So far, administration candidates are doing well in surveys, reflecting the continuing popularity of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. In fact, the ruling Liberal Party has named its senate slate as “Team PNoy” (President Noynoy) in the hopes of winning votes from the president’s supporters.

The high public trust rating of Aquino is attributed to the reforms he has implemented since assuming the presidency in 2010. Perhaps the absence of a strong opposition bloc has also boosted Aquino’s popularity. Vice President Jejomar Binay, who comes from a different party and acts as the titular leader of the United Opposition (UNO), has chosen to be a quiet collaborator in the Aquino government. 

Further, the opposition senate slate is not united by a clear political platform and their proposed policy reforms merely echo the programs offered by the administration. In short, the choice of voters is limited to officially sanctioned administration candidates and other candidates belonging to minority parties who are not necessarily opposed to the programs of the ruling coalition. 

The lack of alternative candidates in the elections has frustrated many people and led to the rise of a citizen movement opposed to the dominance of political dynasties in Philippine politics. This year’s election is perhaps the first in Philippine history when politicians are being forced to defend the practice of enlisting members of the same clan to run for various political positions.

In the senate race alone, candidates include the nephew of the president, the daughter of the vice president, the son of the senate president, and the brother of an incumbent senator. Political dynasties are still expected to win big this year but at least there is a nascent political movement that is beginning to challenge the oligarchic control and feudal nature of Philippine politics. 

One issue that emerged during the campaign period that deserves to be seriously addressed even after elections is the credibility of the automated election system. For the second time, the Philippines are conducting elections using an automated system, but there are growing concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the voting machines procured by the Commission on Elections. It didn’t help that the agency has refused to allow a third-party source code review of the software that will be used in the counting of election results. 

On a positive note, compared to 2010 this year’s elections have featured less political intrigue and, bickering among candidates, and fewer fiery speeches. Be that as it may, next week’s voting results will determine the country’s political landscape in the next few years and will give a glimpse of what to expect in the 2016 presidential race.

Malaysia’s ruling powers have extended their unbeaten grip on power following Sunday’s elections. However, their performance was far from convincing, leaving Prime Minister Najib Razak vulnerable to a future challenge. Meanwhile, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has refused to accept the result amid widespread allegations of cheating.

A high turnout of about 80 percent of Malaysians voted with predictions of a tight race. In late counting the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN), controlled by Najib’s United Malays National Organization (UMNO), had won 133 seats in the 222-seat parliament.

It was the worst electoral performance by the coalition since Malaysian independence in 1957, with Chinese voters deserting BN, which overall dropped seven parliamentary seats from the 2008 election when the ruling parties lost their two-thirds majority. That result prompted Najib to successfully challenge then leader Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for the nation’s top job in 2009.

Najib’s Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin – a hard-line Islamic nationalist -- has been widely touted as a potential prime minister whose faction within UMNO could be emboldened after Najib’s failure to improve UMNO-BN’s electoral stock.

Electoral irregularities were reported across the country following the recent election. For one, many Malaysian voters complained about the use of indelible ink. Each voter must dip their finger in ink, which is supposed to last a week, enabling electoral officials to prevent people from voting more than once.

One elderly woman who supports Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) held up her finger and told The Diplomat, “Look, I voted just half an hour ago and this washes off in the rain.” It was a typical complaint. One soldier said military personnel had voted a week earlier and the ink had long since washed off.

There have also been allegations of ghost voters on electoral rolls, including the names of people long thought deceased. UMNO has also been accused of granting citizenship to Muslims from the southern Philippines in return for their votes. The ruling parties were further bolstered by a compliant press, a substantial political war chest and superior organizational skills.

Fears of electoral rigging even prompted an open letter from for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who said during the lead-up to the vote that ”Malaysia has a long tradition of parliamentary democracy. But there is an acceptance that not all the conditions for electoral integrity have been fully met in the past.”

The letter continues, “It has been encouraging to see the widespread desire not to repeat past mistakes. The country’s Electoral Commission has already responded by improving independent monitoring and putting in place new processes – including the use of indelible ink – to prevent abuse and build trust in the result.”

He said the principal focus would be on the election results but also on how the elections were carried out.

“This is understandable,” Annan’s letter adds. “Elections have been held in all but 11 countries around the world since 2000, the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, which I chaired, warned that fewer than 60 percent deserved to be called genuinely democratic.”

Anwar has refused to concede defeat, demanding the country’s electoral commission investigate the irregularities. Meanwhile, Najib was disappointed by the results, which he conceded were worse than expected.

Nonetheless, by the time the polling booths closed, gerrymandering and racial biases, which constitutionally favor Muslim Malays over Chinese and Indians, carried the day for UMNO and BN.