6 reasons to visit East Timor – CNNGo
October 1st, 2011
http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/reasons-visit-east-timor-414416
Yes, really. The country also known as Timor-Leste is not a popular destination — but it should be. Here’s why.
Enjoy stunning sunsets by the sea in Timor-Leste (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Diving, whale-watching, trekking, biking, great scenery, stunning mountain driving, and beautiful white-sand beaches. East Timor is one of the world’s unsung tourism destinations. Tourist numbers are low compared with other places in the region, perhaps put off by the country’s politically-unsettled and impoverished image, which contributes to a dearth of flights into the country, which in turn drives prices up and inhibits visitor numbers, which in turn keeps flight prices high, which in turn … you get the idea. (more…)
Myanmar calls surprise halt to controversial China-backed dam – Los Angeles Times
September 30th, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-myanmar-dam-20111001,0,6135163.story
Critics led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have argued that the dam would hurt the ecology of the Irrawaddy River, displace at least 10,000 people and submerge culturally important sites.
By Mark Magnier and Simon Roughneen, Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2011
Reporting from New Delhi and Bangkok, Thailand— Myanmar’s president ordered a halt Friday to work on a controversial $3.6-billion hydroelectric dam backed by China, a rare concession to the political opposition and public displeasure.
President Thein Sein said in a statement read out on his behalf in parliament that the Myitsone dam project in the northern state of Kachin should be terminated because it is “against the will of the people.”
The reversal — if in fact it proves to be one, given Myanmar’s often opaque governance — seemed somewhat surprising in a country where leaders have for decades paid limited attention to the public’s concerns. (more…)
Burma and Bangladesh await March maritime boundary ruling – The Irrawaddy
September 30th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22175
BANGKOK—Burma and Bangladesh will have to wait until March 2012 for a verdict on their disputed maritime boundary, in a case that could facilitate both sides in acquiring new gas and oil supplies in the energy-rich Bay of Bengal.
Amid a background of stalled bilateral negotiations and sometimes acrimonious relations, hearings ran from Sept 8 -24 at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany. (more…)
Timor-Leste: Goodbye conflict, welcome development? – The Diplomat
September 29th, 2011
http://the-diplomat.com/2011/09/29/aid-and-independence/
‘Goodbye conflict, welcome development’ runs the panglossian slogan on the Timor-Leste Finance Ministry website, and, after centuries of sleepy Portuguese colonialism followed by a quarter-century of scorched-earth Indonesian occupation that killed an estimated 1/4 – 1/3 of the population, the Timorese are due an option on optimism as much as anyone else.
Chinese-built Ministry of Defence building in Dili. Chinese aid to to Timor-Leste is difficult to measure, but appears to take the form of high-profile building projects such as this, employing mostly Chinese labour (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Making the slogan a reality is a different story, however, after independent Timor-Leste started from a low base, with most of the country’s infrastructure obliterated by the departing occupiers and their local militia proxies, after Timor-Leste voted for secession in 1999.
After a receiving an estimated US$6-8 billion in foreign assistance since 1999 and around the same in petroleum revenues since the mid-2000s, the numbers by themselves suggest Timor-Leste should be well-placed to make that leap the Finance Ministry aspires to. (more…)
New turns in South China Sea debate – The Irrawaddy
September 28th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22155
BANGKOK – The ongoing wrangle between China and a number of smaller neighbours over jurisdiction on the disputed South China Sea took a new turn yesterday with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Tokyo.
Without mentioning China, PM Noda told reporters after the summit that both countries would increase “cooperation between coastguards and defense-related authorities”. According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, both countries “confirmed that freedom of navigation, unimpeded commerce, and compliance with established international law including the UNCLOS (the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the peaceful settlement of disputes serve the interests of the two countries and the whole region”. (more…)
Thailand’s lèse-majesté crackdown chills dissent – Christian Science Monitor
September 21st, 2011
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44615661/ns/world_news-christian_science_monitor/#.Tnqzvezcwr4
Royalist anti-Government protestors are back on streets, in small numbers for now. Taken last week at Bangkok's Victory Monument(Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Bangkok, Thailand. Billboard-size images of Thailand’s royal family are draped over court buildings in Bangkok’s Ladphrao area, where on Wednesday morning the webmaster of a current affairs website testified on charges of insulting the country’s monarch.
The thing is: Chiranuch Premchaiporn did not say or write anything offensive herself. She is accused of failing to delete posts made by others on the Prachatai online forum quickly enough.
Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws, which include prohibitions against posting anti-monarchy slurs on the web, are among the world’s strictest, meriting jail terms of 3 to 15 years. And Ms. Chiranuch’s situation is but one in a spike in these lèse-majesté and related cases in recent years. Although official figures are hard to come by, it is estimated that caseload runs well into the hundreds. (more…)
Cables shed light as more Catholics arrested – National Catholic Register
September 19th, 2011
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/vietnamese-catholics-plight/
St.Joseph Cathedral in Hanoi (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Leaked U.S. embassy cables reveal power struggle between communist government and the Holy See as more believers are arrested on vague charges.
Weeks after the arrest and jailing of 12 Catholics in Vietnam for allegedly “attempting to overthrow the government,” it has emerged that American officials believe that Catholics who disagree with the communist regime are being “thrown under the popemobile.”
The lurid image headlined one of a tranche of recently leaked diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. According to the same document, dated Nov. 25, 2009, then-Holy See under secretary for Relations With States Archbishop Pietro Parolin (now the Holy See representative in Venezuela) “sharply criticized” former Hanoi Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet over his handling of land-rights disputes with city officials — remarks which U.S. officials speculated contributed to the archbishop’s subsequent resignation.
In 2008, Hanoi’s Thai Ha Church was the scene of 15,000-strong prayer vigils to try to save the church grounds — the former residence of the papal nuncio — from confiscation by the state. However, the meetings were forcibly broken up by police and security forces in the form of state-sponsored gangs, with most of the church grounds subsequently transformed into a public park. (more…)
Malaysia’s unlikely reformer – The Huffington Post
September 16th, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/simon-roughneen/malaysias-unlikely-reform_b_965775.html
Today is Malaysia’s 54th birthday, and last night, on the eve of the Merdeka (independence) celebrations, under-pressure Prime Minister Najib Razak caused a stir by announcing a basket of political reforms, including amending the country’s draconian detention-without-trial laws and pledging to end the practice by which media must apply annually to have their licences renewed (which free speech advocates say tames Malaysian newspapers and TV). (more…)
In Malaysia, Najib punts on reform – Asia Times
September 16th, 2011
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MI17Ae01.html
By Anil Netto and Simon Roughneen
Police arrest protestor at July 9 reform rally in Kuala Lumpur (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
PENANG and BANGKOK – Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has thrown down the gauntlet to the country’s political opposition with a bold-sounding reform package aimed at winning back lost popular support ahead of general elections due by 2013. Analysts believe the reform vows signal a move towards early polls, with some speculating they could be called as early as the fourth quarter of this year.
The amendments, announced last night in a speech on the eve of Malaysia Day and Merdeka (independence) Day celebrations, will entail the replacement of tough security laws, such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) and Emergency Ordinance, which have historically been used and abused by authorities to squash public dissent through provisions that allow for detention without trial.
Najib also promised to update a media code that requires publications to apply for permits every year, a regulation has created a culture of self-censorship among Malaysian journalists, and bring laws governing public assemblies in line with international norms. (more…)
Journalists under pressure in southeast Asia – The Irrawaddy
September 15th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22079
BANGKOK – Legal curbs on free speech, litigious politicians and self-censorship are making life tough for writers and journalists in southeast Asia. That was the message at an award ceremony in Bangkok yesterday, honouring under-pressure cartoonists, bloggers, editors, poets, musicians, webmasters from the region and beyond.
One winner, Chiranuch Premchaiporn of Thailand-based current affairs website Prachatai, is currently in court over alleged breaches of Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act, which makes it an offence for websites to contain content that breaches the country’s separate laws against defaming the monarchy. She was joined by Heng Chakra, a Cambodian journalist whose muckraking exposés of the country’s politicians and businessmen have earned him numerous lawsuits and physical threats, and by Zulkiflee SM Anwar Ul Haque. Better-known as Zunar, the latter is a Malaysian cartoonist and commentator whose work appears in Malaysiakini, a well-known news website that counters the usually-meek line toed by the country’s older print media, which are linked to the Malaysia’s governing parties. (more…)
