Than Shwe: Karma chameleon – The Irrawaddy

January 27th, 2012

Did Burma’s generals change their ways because their leader feared the karmic consequences of his actions while in power? 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22937

BANGKOK — “I’ve puzzled over that,” said Sen. John McCain, when asked his opinion on why Burma’s government has undertaken several landmark reforms in recent months.

Observers have been surprised by the changes—such as the freeing of political prisoners, relaxed press curbs and a newfound environmental and social awareness—described by McCain as unimaginable one year ago. The Burmese government says the new course is irreversible, while outside observers believe the reforms to be real, though many, like McCain, are no more than “cautiously optimistic” and remind that more needs to be done—such as fair elections, a free press and peace in ethnic borderlands.

Many exiled Burmese and even some recently freed political prisoners remain skeptical, reminding anyone who cares to listen that Burma’s 2008 Constitution vests ultimate authority with the country’s military, and that even if Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) win all 40 Lower House seats in a by-election slated for April 1, it will not affect power structures inside Burma.

Behind the scenes, an 11-man National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) is said to be exercising real control, leaving President Thein Sein as the moderate-sounding front man attempting to launder the reputation of a cabal of military strongmen nationalists, who want Western sanctions lifted and to reduce the influence of an increasingly powerful China on their country. (more…)

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Irish Continue to Struggle Over Abuse Fallout as Nuncio Takes Up Post – National Catholic Register

January 7th, 2012

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/irish-continue-to-struggle-over-abuse-fallout-as-nuncio-takes-up-post

DUBLIN — As Archbishop Charles Brown takes up his new post of papal nuncio to Ireland, he will face what some see as unprecedented difficulties for the Church in Ireland.

After the publication of a series of reports outlining gruesome cases of sexual abuse by priests in Ireland over recent decades, coupled with a falloff in Church attendance, and less quantifiably, a perceptible decline in religious belief and practice, it’s little wonder that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin predicted that his archdiocese faced its toughest challenge “since Catholic Emancipation,” the 1829 changes to British law that removed many of the discriminatory provisions against Catholics in the United Kingdom, of which Ireland was then a part.

Archbishop Martin was commenting on a drop in Mass attendance in Dublin to 14% and declining priest numbers, but the remarks were seen by many as appropriate to the wider Church in Ireland, which now operates within what Irish writer John Waters described to the Register as “the most anti-Catholic country in Europe.” (more…)

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Thailand’s lèse-majesté taboo leading to witch-hunt – Asia Sentinel

December 7th, 2011

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4020&Itemid=392

BANGKOK - Thailand’s growing curbs on freedom of speech have seen a grandfather sentenced to twenty years in jail for insulting the country’s monarchy, while  a U.S citizen awaits a possible similar fate in a ruling due tomorrow.

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DMZ: Road trip to the world’s most heavily armed border – CNNGo

December 2nd, 2011

http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/visit/dmz-seoul-road-trip-357435

A spin north to the DMZ is almost a rite-of-passage for any visitor to Seoul, but it’s best to go there with an insight into life across the line.

SEOUL – As the tour bus moves from central Seoul to the city outskirts, the seamless transition from one of the world’s biggest and most vibrant cities to the world’s most heavily armed border is as surreal as it is functional, with roadside bus-stops giving way to military watchtowers even as the city’s sun-glazed heights shimmer and recede into the background.

“Many South Koreans don’t think so much about the North”, opined *So Yeon, a North Korean defector now working for the Seoul-based Panmunjom Travel Centre. Every morning she addresses a busload of tourists about her escape from North Korea , telling her story while en route to the demilitarized zone (DMZ), a 2.5 mile wide bufferzone running the length of the 160-mile North-South border. (more…)

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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.

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…)

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Cables shed light as more Catholics arrested – National Catholic Register

September 19th, 2011

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/vietnamese-catholics-plight/

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…)

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Burmese in Singapore decry embassy ‘passport tax’ – The Irrawaddy

August 16th, 2011

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21902

SINGAPORE – Singapore has a Chinatown and a Little India, but the thousands of foreign workers living in the city-state have their own lesser-known havens. Filipinos cluster at Lucky Plaza along the Orchard Road shopping magnet, and every Sunday, the Peninsula Plaza near Singapore’s docklands heaves with Burmese immigrants enjoying what for many is their only day-off every week.

Dozens of shops – almost all Burmese-owned – sell food and newspapers from the home country, with an array of locally-made phone cards offering various deals on pricey phonecalls back to Burma. (more…)

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Land Activists Face Prison in Vietnam – Asia Sentinel

May 28th, 2011

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3221&Itemid=188

Ho Chi Minh City –  Late on a Tuesday evening, sitting four floors up in a Ho Chi Minh City cafe overlooking the city’s landmark opera house, a worried man who used the pseudonym Long had the look of someone who thought he was being watched.

“I drove around the city for 45 minutes before heading here,” he said, hunched over and leaning forward on his seat in a restaurant that was almost empty. Looking around edgily, he said softly, “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being followed.”

At the heart of Long’s problems, and that of his fellow members of a Mennonite Church offshoot, is what they deem to be unfair land seizures that are then turned over to major companies for development by the Vietnamese government. The state maintains sole ownership of land and confiscation in the name of economic development is a continuing irritation. Landowners frequently complain about unfair compensation and criticize the laws on land use, which they say are often abused by corrupt local officials. (more…)

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Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws under scrutiny – The Diplomat

May 27th, 2011

http://the-diplomat.com/2011/06/03/free-speech-in-thailand/

BANGKOK – Public debate around Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws and related restrictions on freedom of expression appears to be growing, even as the country’s election-focused political parties steer clear of the issue in advance of July 3 polls.

The head of the Thai Army, Gen Prayuth Chanocha, recently warned political parties against involving Thailand’s royal family in the election campaign. However, a number of separate civil society requests to amend the relevant section of the country’s Criminal Code are underway, with some writers and scholars – the latter known as the Nitirassadorn group – recently proposing amendments to the lèse-majesté laws, which would seemingly bring Thailand in line with constitutional monarchies elsewhere.

Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code concerns offences deemed to defame, insult or threaten the King, the Queen, the Heir Apparent or the Regent. Lèse-majesté carries a jail sentence of 3-15 years. (more…)

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Meditations of a detained monk in Vietnam – Asia Times

May 23rd, 2011

http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/ME24Ae01.html

HO CHI MINH CITY – Emerging from the anterooms of the Thanh Minh Zen monastery, Thich Quang Do nodded and smiled, extending a handshake firm enough to belie his 83 years.

“Thank you for coming, you are right on time”, exclaimed the Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), glancing over my shoulder out onto the street behind. He beckoned me to follow him upstairs to a small meeting room above the temple area.

The site’s gateway opens onto a lively side-street in Ho Chi Minh City, where street-food vendors sell local snacks and passers-by sit inside fanned cafes sipping Vietnamese iced-coffee. Some of those inside the cafes, however, were not just relaxing over a mid-morning drink.

“You know there are police sitting outside across the street? I am sure they saw you enter the temple,” said Thich Quang Do. (more…)

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