Word: southeasterly
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...recollection of 24 years of brutal Indonesian rule shows just how little progress East Timor has made in its five years of freedom. As the nation prepares for its first post-independence presidential election on April 9, East Timor's 1 million people are ranked by the U.N. as Southeast Asia's poorest. Eight politicians have announced their candidacies, ranging from populist former resistance fighter Fernando de Araujo to Nobel Peace Prize laureate and current Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta. But even as such democratic rituals play out, the capital Dili has erupted into a battleground for gangs, internal...
...Clerics at these religious institutions preach the Salafi strain of Islam, which advocates a return to the religion as practiced in the era of the Prophet Muhammad. (Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's strict form of the faith, is considered an offshoot of Salafi Islam.) By contrast, most Indonesians, like other Southeast Asian Muslims, had for centuries practiced a far less orthodox faith, incorporating the Hindu, Buddhist and animist traditions that had flourished before Islam arrived in the archipelago in the 12th century. Some 88% of Indonesia's 245 million citizens are Muslim, and the vast majority of those would label themselves...
...tide in Indonesian Islam looks unlikely to wane soon. Indonesians who return from study overseas-and those who don't leave home-are just a mouse click away from Salafi scholars anywhere else. "The Internet has helped encourage a uniformity of opinion in the Islamic world," says Sidney Jones, Southeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group. "Some of the loudest voices online are Salafi scholars in the Middle East...
...chador, a flowing black dress that covers everything but the eyes. Indonesian women, though living in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, have traditionally worn somewhat sexier garb: a loose, lacy veil, a cleavage-hugging blouse and a tight sarong. But over the past few years, as Southeast Asia's moderate forms of Islam have struggled to hold sway against the challenge of a more conservative, Middle Eastern-influenced version of the faith, many Indonesian women have begun to cover themselves up. Many who once wore short skirts now worry about showing a glimpse of ankle...
Since he was toppled from power last September, Thaksin Shinawatra has been crisscrossing the globe. TIME's Southeast Asia Bureau Chief Hannah Beech caught up with Thailand's former Prime Minister on Jan. 25 in Tokyo, where they spoke about the military coup against him, the new regime in Bangkok, and what he intends to do with his life. Excerpts...