That’s just about a wrap on the insanity that was 2021, but before we move full force ahead to 2022, we wanted to highlight some of the awesome original reporting we did over the past year across our eight newsrooms in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.
Our top features of the year really speak to the core values that we here at Coconuts stand for (and have stood strong for during the past decade): telling true stories to inform and entertain. Our journalists tackled the tough issues from racial injustice to inequality for members of the LGBTQ+ community and not to mention the pandemic and its impact on everyday citizens’ lives.
Thanks for continuing to read Coconuts and support local, independent journalism. Have a fun (and safe) new year, Coconauts!
Bali
Loss and Forgiveness: Bali bombing victim remembered
On foreigner privilege, gentrification, and racism: How one American digital nomad’s Twitter thread about Bali sparked backlash
Local NGO out to save neglected thresher sharks from extinction
Bangkok
Things don’t work for confused travelers one day before Phuket ‘reopening’
Failed by gov’t that scorns sex workers, Patpong looks after its own
Bangkok’s about to open the first piece of a billion-baht ‘canal park.’ Is it worth it?
Thais give up on their government and go abroad for vaccines – if they can
Bangkok Pride: Meet LGBTQ+ who lead the way for equality in Thailand
Hong Kong
Racial privilege is well and alive in Hong Kong’s English teaching industry. Where’s the reckoning?
Meet the ethnic minority language interpreters behind Hong Kong’s first COVID lockdown
Jakarta
My mother and I escaped my abusive father, but COVID-19 took her away too
Unpaid and overworked: Inside the exploitative world of student internships
The demons of conversion therapy in Indonesia
Searching for The Sin Nio, the forgotten Chinese-Indonesian hero
KL
Cannabis can mean death in Malaysia. For one dad, it also meant life for his daughter.
Total lockdown in Malaysia: Third time’s the charm (or not)?
Diving into Malaysia’s turtle crisis and why locals can’t stop eating their eggs
I gave birth to my first child just before COVID-19 worsened in Malaysia
Manila
Dark Corners of the Web: How foreign pedophiles are preying on Filipino children
Taal Volcano’s catastrophic 1911 eruption reminds us of its fearsome power (PHOTOS)
Singapore
Curry conundrum: For Indian renters, Singapore’s racism starts in the kitchen
Gay ‘conversion’ is being debated in Singapore. So it’s too bad few will see ‘Aqua Man.’
Singapore stockbroker finds ‘pandemic-proof’ second life as fishmonger
Yangon
To turn soldiers to their side, Myanmar’s digital activists turn to low-tech alternative: pirate radio (Audioscapes)
