Bidding farewell is an unpleasant emotional experience. There is this sense of loss, giving up friends, daily routines and security. Emotionally, I guess, I am a conservative type; I enjoy when things around me are in place. Rationally, however, I would rather go with the Arabic proverb that only three things in life are certain: […]
I have always enjoyed travelling in the Philippine province. With less than two weeks left before we take off for good, I hopped onto a plane this Monday morning for what may be called a 24-hour-blitz to Tacloban City, the capital of Leyte. Quite strangely, throughout my four years stay, I had missed to go […]
You sense that time is running out when you start counting the days instead of the weeks.
As you might know, we’ll be leaving the Philippines at the end of this month. Packing up after four long years is quite a logistical effort. But I wont bother you with these practical details.
I just got home […]
These days, the electronic media in Taiwan seem to know only one topic: the campaign of veteran democracy advocate Shih Ming-teh aimed at bringing down President Chen, Shui-bian. For Chen’s opponents, this Saturday was the big day. At last, a huge rally or sit-in demonstration (as it has been dubbed by the organizers) kicked […]
The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) communications workshop has been off to a good beginning. Yesterday, we set the tone with a closer look at Web 2.0 applications and their possible uses in political communications in the region. While some participants had heard of some of these tools before, others were rather overwhelmed […]
I just arrived in Taipei with a small group of Filipino friends for a four-day event entitled “Political Communication in the Digital Age. A hands-on workshop on modern political communications tools“. The educative activity is co-sponsored by the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, the federation of liberal and democratic parties from the whole region, […]
Instead of going out and enjoying the countryside during my last few weeks in the Philippines, I spent three long days in a small room in the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City moderating a workshop on “Local Government and Liberal Politics.” At the beginning, I encouraged the participants to set up a […]
Dr. Ronald Meinardus spends his professional life working for an institute that aspires to promote liberal politics in various countries of the world. After a ten years tenure in Asia, he recently returned closer to home to overlook political educative projects in Northern Africa and the Middle East from Cairo.
