corruption – Tom Vater

Books: For creative protest, in Thailand the writing is on the wall, in Nikkei Asia

April 21, 2022May 20, 2022tom

My latest story examines an illustrated book that traces the history of political street art and graffiti in Thailand. “In 2013, a friend took me down the railway tracks behind Klong Prem prison. I saw this forest of cement columns covered in artwork and I was instantly attracted,” says photographer Rupert Mann, author of “Bangkok […]

Interviewed on Travel Safety in Cambodia in The Daily Telegraph

November 3, 2019November 14, 2019tomLeave a Comment

My thoughts on travel safety in Cambodia in his Telegraph piece. Behind the paywall, unfortunately. Tom Vater, one of Telegraph’s south-east Asian experts who travels frequently in Cambodia, says the recent boom in investment in Sihanoukville from China has led to the arrival of violent gangs and a rising crime rate. “Since 2018, the Cambodian […]

A Madras Miasma, published by Crime Wave Press, makes Top 10 crime debuts of 2014 @ Crime Fiction Lover (UK)

November 21, 2014November 21, 2014tomLeave a Comment

A Madras Miasma, written by Brian Stoddart and published by my crime fiction imprint Crime Wave Press, makes the Top 10 crime debuts of 2014 @ Crime Fiction Lover (UK). The author is a distinguished academic in Australia, and has written many non-fiction books, but this is his debut as a novelist. We are in […]

Thailand: Murder in the Land of Smiles in The Diplomat

October 11, 2014October 12, 2014tomLeave a Comment

The country’s tourism sector is taking a hit following a high-profile murder case and a bungled police response. My report in last week’s The Diplomat.

Forget Boston and Thatcher. This week’s human flashpoint is Tubbataha

April 16, 2013April 18, 2013tomLeave a Comment

I was in Tubbataha in 1994. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. I watched hundreds of sharks pooling around coral ledges at 35 meters, so many they kept bumping into me. I watched giant tuna glitter in the dark 30 meters below me, leading tens of thousands of giant barracuda through the depths. I […]

Cambodia’s Culture of Impunity likely to gut Phnom Penh’s Olympic Stadium

June 15, 2012June 15, 2012tom1 Comment

Several sources suggest that the legendary, historic Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh is likely to be demolished soon to make space for a development of the Canadia’s Bank Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation. (OCIC). It appears the bank, in conjunction with someone at a high level within the Cambodian government, had originally planned to develop only […]

Andaman minority turned into tourist circus for rich Indians! Again.

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012tomLeave a Comment

British newspaper The Guardian reports that the Jarawa, a tribe of Andaman Islanders who number just a few hundred, have been coerced by Indian police to dance naked for tourist ‘safaris’. Unfortunately, this has been going on for many, many years. When I visited the Andamans in 1997 and 2000, Indian VIPs, speak politicians and […]

Cambodia’s Pepper Uncovered in Geographical

November 15, 2011tomLeave a Comment

In this month’s issue of Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society: Reviving the spice of life Pepper from Cambodia’s Kampot region was once world renowned, but the industry almost disappeared under the Khmer Rouge. Now, a new initiative is helping to reinject some spice into Kampot’s growers. Luke Duggleby photographs. Tom Vater reports

Tom Vater’s portrait of master architect Vann Molyvann in the Asia Wall Street Journal

May 28, 2010tomLeave a Comment

The Asia Wall Street Journal published my portrait of master architect Vann Molyvann, the creator of Cambodia’s New Khmer Architecture in the 1950s, as a cover story in its weekend edition. In the years after Cambodia won independence from France in 1953, Mr. Molyvann, a student of Le Corbusier, set out under the tutelage of […]