China's new European trade hub: An Irish town of 18,000 - Christian Science Monitor
The Athlone Institute of Technology hosts more than 200 Chinese students – one of the links that helped bring the trade hub to the town, says Prof. Ciaran Ó Catháin, the president of the school and one of the players in the project negotiations. Professor Ó Catháin would not disclose ...
Vietnam’s Problems, Promises - Asia Sentinel/RTÉ World Report
“We tend to lose around 20% of our staff every year after Tet” (the Vietnamese New Year), said Kim Jung Hee, manager of a factory in Binh Duong province, an hour's drive from Saigon's centre. Her Korean company NB Blue employs a thousand workers, in a clean and well-lit factory ...
Thailand sentences American to prison for insulting king - Los Angeles Times
"In Thailand they put people in jail without proof," Lerpong said Thursday, his arms and legs shackled, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. "I was born in Thailand, but this does not mean I am Thai. I am proud to be an American citizen."
DMZ: Road trip to the world's most heavily armed border - CNNGo
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 ...
Potent mix for Timor-Leste - Asia Times
DILI - Land, corruption and poverty are all on the table as Timor-Leste gets into political mode ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2012, with one controversial figure already throwing his hat into the ring.
If Samuel Beckett met Pol Pot - Asia Sentinel/Irish Examiner
TIK PANHAO, CAMBODIA - In some of Cambodia’s thousands of killing fields, the bones of the dead can sometimes be seen, rising to the surface after storms or rain, like grisly emblems of an unburied past. Perhaps 16,000 died at the s-21 Detention Camp in Phnom Penh, or at Choeung ...
Voting ends in southern Sudan referendum - Sunday Tribune
Kyeli, Blue Nile State, Sudan - “Soon after we married, my husband was killed during the war”, says Hawa Abdul-Gadr. Her eyes show a suppressed grief, but her demeanour is purposeful. That said, there is a perceptible sadness - long-kept under wraps but perhaps closer to the surface than she ...
An unbreakable bond? – Asia Times
JERUSALEM – In 'The Great Divorce' C.S. Lewis attempted to allegorise about a reality which he admitted he could not know, but tentatively hoped to suggest. The US-Israeli relationship, to most, seems like an unbreakable bond, and any potential divorce might be regarded as unimaginable. But when Israeli Prime Minister ...
Narcotic use, drought rob babies of food – The Washington Times
DIRE DAWA, Ethiopia | When drought and food shortages hit, it is the very young who suffer first, and most. Weighing only 10 pounds, Ayaan is among nearly 100,000 Ethiopian children whose lives are at risk. Just four days before her first birthday, she is lighter than an average 3-month-old ...
Corruption trumps tribalism – New York Times (IHT)
Kenyans were cynical about their political establishment long before the latest election violence. One wisecrack doing the rounds since last year says "there is more chance of a Luo becoming president of the United States than president of this country" - referring to Barack Obama, whose father hails from the ...
Cables describe Than Shwe culture of fear – The Irrawaddy
September 7th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22031
BANGKOK — Amid speculation about a power struggle in Naypyidaw between “reformists” such as Burma’s President Thein Sein and “hardliners” such as Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo, recently released US diplomatic cables provide a portrait of the man believed to still wield the balance of power in the military-dominated country: Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
The apparent onset of a factional contest is seen, some say, in developments such as the rebranding of the old Myanmar Human Rights Body (MHRB) as a human rights commission and the recent offer of amnesty to Burma’s political exiles. In contrast, recent appointments, such as that of Maj-Gen Soe Shein as head of the country’s military intelligence, suggest that Than Shwe maintains a decisive influence behind the new institutions.
According to accounts drafted by US officials based in Burma, last year’s election was less about reform than about ensuring that Than Shwe’s successor did not subject him and his family to the fate he imposed on Ne Win, the former military dictator who was put under house arrest by Than Shwe in 2002. (more…)
US cables hinted at border guard farce – The Irrawaddy
September 6th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22021
BANGKOK – US officials viewed Burmese Government’s Border Guard Force (BGF) plans as a strategic cul-de-sac likely to provoke renewed fighting in ethnic borderlands, according to leaked diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Rangoon
According to a 2010 cable discussing the BGF, US Chargé d’Affairs Larry Dinger wrote “The GOB does not appear to have easy options”, as the divide-and-conquer tactics
Fighting in Burma's ethnic minority regions has displaced hundreds of thousands of civiians, with 140,000 Burmese currently refugees in Thailand, including over 40,000 at this camp at Mae La in Thailand (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
deployed in the August 2009 fall of the Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) – an ethnic Chinese militia based close to the border with China – were not likely to work with the larger ethnic militias such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the KIA.
In the months since the November 7 2010 elections in Burma, fighting has taken place in Mon, Karen, Shan and Kachin areas of Burma, with the breakdown of a 1994 ceasefire between the Burmese Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) resulting in an estimated 20000+ people made homeless in on-off fighting since June 9.
The same document pointed to apparent indecisiveness by the ruling Burmese military, then known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), prior to the handover to a nominally-civilian Government in 2011. “Another deadline for accession to the BGF passed on December 31, with no apparent consequences”, said the cable.
However the cables point to flawed negotiating by some of the ethnic militias as well as the Burmese Government, suggesting that various sides were engaged in brinkmanship. (more…)
Comments Breach Thailand’s Laws Shielding Royalty from Criticism – PBS Mediashift PBS Mediashift
September 2nd, 2011
Chiranuch Premchaiporn pictured outside Bangkok's Criminal Court on Thursday morning Sept 1. In the background is a mural of Thailand's King, as commonly seen at official buildings in Thailand. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
BANGKOK — As a high profile case against a prominent media campaigner returns to court in Bangkok, it has emerged that the long arm of Thailand’s lèse-majesté law has reached into California.
On Thursday Chiranuch Premchaiporn of the Thai current affairs website Prachatai returned to court in the Thai capital to face vague-sounding allegations that she facilitated third-party remarks about Thailand’s royalty. Meanwhile Anthony Chai, a Thai-born U.S. citizen, is suing U.S./Canadian web domain host Netfirms for $75,000 in damages, alleging that the company handed his personal information to Thai officials without his consent.
LÈSE-MAJESTÉ LAWS AND HOW THEY WORK
Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws incriminate anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the Regent,” with those found guilty facing jail sentences of 3-15 years, and sometimes longer. Defaming the King is often deemed a threat to the country’s national security. (more…)
Potent mix for Timor-Leste – Asia Times
August 30th, 2011
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MH31Ae01.html
DILI – Land, corruption and poverty are all on the table as Timor-Leste gets into political mode ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2012, with one controversial figure already throwing his hat into the ring.
Fretilin motorcade around Dili on August 18. Sceptics say that the party pays unemployed party supporters in rural Timor-Leste to come to the capital to take part in political rallies. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Convicted of arming gunmen during Timor-Leste’s 2006 crisis, which threatened to destabilize the then four-year-old state, Rogerio Lobato told Asia Times Online that he will run for president, contesting a largely-ceremonial position now held by a fellow former Timorese exile activist, Jose Ramos-Horta. (more…)
Timor-Leste weighs ASEAN membership – The Irrawaddy
August 30th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21983
DILI – Across the city, banners and posters signal the new country’s increasing integration with the world outside, heralding events such as Timor-Leste’s hosting of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) regional conference over August 25-27.
Timorese women prepare fish for drying near Liquica (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Timor-Leste was designated the first Asian country to match up to EITI standards on accountability in and management of its energy resources. According to World Bank Managing Director and former Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, speaking at the EITI event, “Timor-Leste, as a nation, is building strength and economic resilience and has demonstrated how much can be won in a short space of time.”
The EITI is a voluntary mechanism, usually backed by member countries passing relevant laws. According to itself, the EITO “supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.” (more…)
From Mon State to Timor-Leste – The Irrawaddy
August 25th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21958
The man who organised parallel protests in Dili during the Saffron Revolution says despite Timor-Leste’s poverty, life is easier there than in Burma
Outside Dili's Bagan Beach Cafe on a busy Monday morning (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
DILI – “It is not like Myanmar, we are free here, no police or security always checking us, no worries like that”, says Kyaw San Naing, who says he was the first Burmese to arrive in Timor-Leste after the 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia, and ensuing violence as the Indonesians and their local Timorese militia allies retreated.
Despite rural poverty in what is possibly Asia’s least developed country and high cost of living in Dili, Kyaw San Naing is very happy with life in the country that, for a time after formal independence was attained in 2002, touted itself as “The World’s Newest Democracy”.
“I came in 2001”, he recalls, putting his experience as a hotel worker in Rangoon to good effect on the floating Central Maritime Hotel, which for a time functioned as luxury guesthouse for visiting VIPs and as accommodation provider for the United Nations missions in the country, after much of Dili was destroyed during the 1999 violence. (more…)
Time for risky ventures in Timor-Leste – RTÉ World Report/Huffington Post
August 21st, 2011
audio – http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0821/worldreport.html#&autoplay=true
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-roughneen/time-for-risky-ventures-i_b_940371.html
Making tofu in Liquica (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Railaco, Timor-Leste – Up a winding, rock-strewn road through stunning mountain scenery an hour from the Timorese capital Dili, coffee farmer Bartolomeo de Deus shakes a basket of his arabica beans, ready for resale to Timor Global, one of three main coffee exporters in Timor Leste, also known as East Timor.
“I have 200 hectares under cultivation”, he says, making him one of the bigger farmers in a country where coffee grows naturally and could be a lucrative export. “ (more…)
Opposition Voices Growing in Singapore’s ‘New Normal’ – The Irrawaddy
August 19th, 2011
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21923
Singaporeans asked to celebrate the 46th anniversary of the founding of the state (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
SINGAPORE—Three months after Singaporeans went to the polls in what have been described as landmark parliamentary elections, campaigning is heating up—by local standards—for the Aug. 27 presidential vote.
As announced on Wednesday, four candidates are running on non-party tickets, and the election appears to be more hotly contested than usual, partly due to the outcome of the parliamentary vote.
Singaporeans—in one electoral district at least, where the opposition took five out of its six seats—countered the stereotype that they are apolitical citizens mostly motivated by economic concerns. This is what local pundits are calling the “new normal” in Singaporean politics—an as-yet-untested opposition presence in parliament, and the flowering of critical voices in society.
In the May 7 contest the incumbent People’s Action Party (PAP) took 81 out of 87 available seats, a landslide by any standards. However Singapore’s first-past-the-post electoral system meant that this glut was garnered with just 60 percent of the popular vote. (more…)
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.
Longyis and other traditional Burmese attire for sale at Peninsula Plaza (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
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…)
To be a slave in Thailand – Asia Times
August 11th, 2011
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MH12Ae01.html
SAMUT SAKHON, Thailand – Rolling up his right shirt sleeve to show a scarred forearm, Than Zaw Oo recalls the beatings he endured onboard the Thai fishing boat where
Than Zaw Oo shows scarred forearm (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
he says he was held as indentured labor – in other words, a slave – for almost three years.
“They beat me many times, sometimes a few times a week,” he says. “In the end, I just ran away after the captain accused me of stealing mobile phones.” Like many others who have worked at the low end of Thailand’s fishing sector, Than Zaw Oo is an immigrant worker. An ethnic Burman from Myanmar’s southern Mon State, he was first lured to sea on a false promise and misguided hope of escaping the economic depression in his home country.
“The broker told me I could earn 20,000 baht (US$666) but only had to work onboard for four months,” he says, referring to the Myanmar agents who, often for an extortionate fee, offer to find jobs for their desperate compatriots who cross into Thailand seeking work. Anywhere between two to three million Myanmar migrants are currently working in Thailand, along with several hundred thousands of Cambodians and Laos. (more…)
