It’s certainly the case for me. I was working in Thailand at the time and had just returned to my hotel in Bangkok,where I was to stay one more night,when a message on my phone alerted me to the news.
Shane Warne is farewelled with a traditional Buddhist ceremony on Koh Samui.Facebook
It was just over a year since I’d begun as South-East Asia correspondent and after processing what I’d just heard for a moment,I knew this would probably be the biggest story I’d encounter.
My hunch was confirmed after I set off on the first flight the next morning to Koh Samui,where the cricket icon had collapsed while on holiday and where only a few foreign media could reach because of pandemic restrictions.
The intense days that followed were spent trying tofrom the police investigation,the intervention of Australian officials to fast-track repatriation,to a woman entering the back of an ambulance van transporting his body.
As someone with a background mostly in sports journalism,I’d come across Warne,the commentator,in the past,and while I didn’t know him beyond the occasional “hey,mate” in the corridors and stairwells of stadiums,it was surreal covering this tragic tale.
I’m reflecting on that week in Thailand as I finish my three-year posting,which has gone by far too quickly.
When I started working from our new bureau in Singapore in early 2021,we were all living in a very different world. At the height of the global health crisis,with international travel at a virtual standstill and airports all but deserted,my wife and our two sons had the plane over from Sydney almost to ourselves.
Chris Barrett,left,joined Indonesian President Joko Widodo for a tour of Palmerah market in Jakarta last year before interviewing him at the Merdeka Palace.Jefri Tarigan
While that was a novelty,I arrived unsure of when I’d next be able to fly,a central function of a reporter with a brief to cover a vast and disparate patch of the world taking in 11 countries and some 650 million people.
Thankfully,after being grounded initially,I’ve been able to spend much of my time wearing out my passport,from to the
When I’d applied to be the correspondent in South-East Asia,one of the great appeals to me was the sheer variety the position promised. That has definitely rung true. On one day you could be in Bali or;the next day you might be tackling, or delving into
Documenting the misadventures of Australians abroad has,of course,been one feature of the role and there were a few classics of the genre,none more prominent than
There was also the. That was one of those occasions that initially,to me at least,seemed headed for an inevitable,grim outcome. But I’d also been struck by the confidence of one of their fathers when I rang him on the night their boat had gone missing and as I made my way towards the island of Nias,from where they had set off. It turned out he was right. The quartet was discovered floating on surfboards in the ocean 36 hours later,although one of their Indonesian guides has never been found.
The region was mercifully light on another reporting staple – major natural disasters – for most of my stint. Sadly,however,there was no shortage of human tragedy.
Two of the young fishermen from Sri Lanka who attempted to travel by boat to Australia and were intercepted on the day of the federal election in 2022.Pradeep Dambarage
The carnage wrought by the military in Myanmar following its 2021 takeover was a regular topic but one memory that stands out is,across which they had just escaped. They should have been in high school and university but instead had joined the Generation Z resistance,fighting the military with homemade weapons until the bombing became too heavy and they saw too many of their friends die.
I was also that led to the ousting of its president and prime minister,the Rajapaksa brothers,and brought on a resumption of desperate people boarding boats for Australia. Among them were 12 young fishermen whose interception on the day of the Australian federal election in 2022 became the subject of controversy when the Morrison government broke protocol and announced it. When we tracked down and interviewed the men at the home of one of their parents in Negombo,. They just wanted a new start at life to put food on the table for their families.
Singapore,my base for three years,is seen as a steady outlier in a sometimes chaotic neighbourhood,but there was plenty going on there,too. First was the heart-wrenching story of,which we brought to international attention. I won’t quickly forget. He was hanged at dawn the next day.
Amid that despair and some of the other grim occurrences I was dispatched to report on,such as and,for example,the people most closely affected were time and again wanting to be heard.
Fortunately,I’ve also found leaders eager to speak to an Australian audience,among them,as well as and,with whom I sat down shortly before their rise to power.
As I sign off,I must highlight a couple of trends that look likely to gather more pace,potentially with broader consequences.
Speaking to independence hero Xanana Gusmao in Suai,Timor-Leste ahead of an election that returned him as prime minister.Raimundos Oki
One is the continuing ascent of family politics,which has only added to a consensus that South-East Asia is suffering a democratic decline. I was in the Philippines in 2022 as and. In Indonesia,the outgoing Widodo is also accused of forming his own dynasty,with
The other even more dangerous pattern worth underlining is the ratcheting up of tension in the South China Sea. has been going on for years,but with an emboldened Manila drawing closer to the United States,the relentless water-cannoning and blocking of vessels seems nearer than ever to spilling over into something immeasurably more serious. There is also anxiety,particularly in the Philippines,about that other potential flashpoint,Taiwan,no more so than at its northernmost point,the Batanes Islands,where I ventured to write about
If that all sounds rather dire,I should point out there has been a lighter side to the gig. I thoroughly enjoyed assignments such as exploring the,which I did with our wonderful Jakarta-based reporter Karuni Rompies,and charting the advent of. Other favourites included and a to learn about the mission to save its endangered national animal,the tiger.
Foreign news can be skewed towards the US,Europe and latterly China,but when it comes to South-East Asia,a region whose fortunes and future are in many ways intertwined with ours,I’ve always found there to be high engagement with our coverage. It’s been a great privilege bringing it to you.
Thanks for reading.
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