THAILAND: Judiciary affirms that not standing is no crime — Asian Human Rights Commission
The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased to learn that the criminal charges brought against Chotisak Onsoong and his friend for allegedly defaming the monarchy have been dropped by the prosecutor. The charges stemmed from the couple's decision not to stand during the royal anthem and video montage lauding the life of the king played prior to the screening of a movie in a central Bangkok theatre on the evening of 20 September 2007. When they did not stand up, Navamintr Witthayakul, a man standing in front of them, turned around and yelled at them. When they did not comply, an argument ensued and Navamintr physically assaulted Chotisak. Later that evening, Navamintr filed a complaint against Chotisak and his friend of violating section 112 of the Criminal Code, which mandates that, "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years." Simultaneously, Chotisak filed a complaint against Navamintr for physical assault. While the prosecutor dropped the assault charges against Navamintr in September 2008, it took four-and-a-half years, until April 2012, for the charges against Chotisak and his friend also to be dropped.
In a letter dated 11 April 2012 and available (in Thai) on the Prachatai website (http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2012/07/41608) Visit Sukyukol, Special Prosecutor for Southern Bangkok 4 explains that the charges were dropped because there was insufficient evidence to send the case to court. Visit notes that on 20 September 2007, at approximately 7:45pm, while the royal anthem and video montage were played prior to the beginning of a film at the Central World cinema, Chotisak and his friend (name withheld) remained seated while all other moviegoers in the theater "stood up to pay respect". This caused another moviegoer, Nawamintr Witthayakul, to turn around and say, in English, "Stand up." According to Visit, Chotisak turned around and said, "Why do I have to stand up? There is no law mandating it." This comment led to disagreement about the two, and caused Navamintr to file a complaint with the police alleging that Chotisak and his friend had violated section 112.
Despite establishing this series of events, Visit in his order to close the prosecution commented that their words and actions did not have the characteristic of insulting or causing shame, loss, or humiliation to the king. Further, he noted that there was no clear evidence suggesting that Chotisak and his friend intended to defame the king. Finally, Visit also noted the argument that took place between Navamintr and Chotisak following the playing of the royal anthem and video montage was "conduct that was inappropriate and was not part of the social norms that citizens should follow".
Although the AHRC finds Visit’s assessment of the “inappropriate” nature of the argument between Navamintr and Chotisak intriguing, it welcomes Visit’s measured and clear accounting of why the charges against Chotisak and his friend have been dismissed. His is a clear statement that section 112 cannot be applied to any and all speech or actions that question the relationship between the monarchy and the people, the monarchy and democracy, or the monarchy and human rights. Discussions about these topics--or at the very least, the legality of them--are urgently necessary if there is to be the possibility of the rule of law and the consolidation of human rights in Thailand.
Despite the outcome of this case, the AHRC would like to express concern about the slow pace at which the prosecutor's inquiries proceeded. Chotisak and his friend waited over four years for this outcome: the complaint against them was filed in September 2007, and police lodged charges in April 2008, with the case file going to the prosecutor that October. Since then until April 2012, the two accused have daily lived in fear that they would have to face charges in court at any time. By contrast, the prosecutor decided to drop the charges of physical assault brought against Navamintr for his assault of Chotisak in September 2008.
The Asian Legal Resource Centre, sister organization of the AHRC, in a recent statement to the UN Human Rights Council concerning the May 2012 death in custody of Amphon Tangnoppakul (ALRC-CWS-20-09-2012), who had been convicted of alleged violations of section 112 and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act, noted that long delays have become the norm in lese-majesty cases in Thailand. The ALRC noted that under article 9(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a state party, "Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release." What the case of Chotisak Onsoong and friend indicates is that delays may occur in the period of inquiry into a police case that even if the accused is not being held in detention may cause him or her considerable hardship and grief. Such delays function as a de facto form of punishment, constricting the lives and rights of those facing possible prosecution and contributing to insecurity and uncertainty.
In the years since the 19 September 2006 coup, the number of complaints filed under section112 has increased exponentially. While it is a matter of concern that the government of Thailand has not released statistics on the number of such cases and circumstances of the accused, evidence available to the Asian Human Rights Commission indicates that many of these complaints do become fully realized criminal prosecutions. Yet far from protecting the individuals and institutions that they claim to protect, these laws have in the hands of over-zealous citizens and state officials become nothing other than tools for the violation of fundamental rights. That Chotisak Onsoong and his friend spent years waiting to find out if their decision not to stand up before a movie screen would earn them a prison sentence of up to 15 years is an indication of the gravity of the social and political crisis caused by the expansion of the use of this law. Therefore, the AHRC would like to take this opportunity to urge the judiciary and relevant government agencies in Thailand to follow the clear decision of the prosecutor in this case and stop the abuse of section 112 of the Criminal Code and related provisions, particularly the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. The AHRC also reiterates its call to revoke both section 112 and the Computer Crimes Act, to halt all current prosecutions under these laws, and release all those currently imprisoned under them.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Anti-nuke protesters surround Japanese parliament | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Anti-nuke protesters surround Japanese parliament | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News Jul 30, 2012
TOKYO (AP) — Thousands of people formed “a human chain” around Japan’s parliament complex Sunday to demand the government abandon nuclear power — the latest in a series of peaceful demonstrations on a scale not seen in the nation for decades.
AP News Jul 30, 2012
TOKYO (AP) — Thousands of people formed “a human chain” around Japan’s parliament complex Sunday to demand the government abandon nuclear power — the latest in a series of peaceful demonstrations on a scale not seen in the nation for decades.
Anti-nuclear protesters stage a rally outside Japan's parliament complex in Tokyo, Sunday. Pic: AP.
Also Sunday, voters went to the polls in a closely watched election for governor of southwestern Yamaguchi prefecture, where an outspoken anti-nuclear candidate was running. Japanese media reported his loss late Sunday, citing exit polls, although official results had not been tallied.
Protesters said they were angry the government restarted two reactors earlier this month despite safety worries after the multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in March last year. The reactors were the first to return to operation since May, when the last of Japan’s 50 working reactors went offline for routine checks.
Banging on drums and waving balloons and banners, protesters marched from a Tokyo park and lined up along the streets around the parliament building chanting, “Saikado hantai,” or “No to restarts,” and later lit candles.
“All these people have gotten together and are raising their voices,” said Shoji Kitano, 64, a retired math teacher who was wearing a sign that read, “No to Nukes.”
Kitano said he had not seen such massive demonstrations since the 1960s. He stressed that ordinary Japanese usually don’t demonstrate, but were outraged over the restarting of nuclear power.
Similar demonstrations have been held outside the prime minister’s residence every Friday evening. The crowds have not dwindled, as people get the word out through Twitter and other online networking. A July 16 holiday rally at a Tokyo park, featuring a rock star and a Nobel laureate, drew nearly 200,000 people.
The crowd appeared to be smaller Sunday. Kyodo News service estimated it at about 10,000 people. Participants said they came from across Japan, underlining the widespread appeal of the protests.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda defended his decision to restart the two reactors at Ohi nuclear plant in central Japan as necessary to maintain people’s living standards. Other reactors are also expected to go back online, one by one.
Reports from government and legislative investigations of the Fukushima disaster have done little to allay people’s fears. A recent probe blamed a “Japanese mind-set” which it said had allowed collusion between the plant’s operator and regulators.
Adding to protesters’ frustrations is the support nuclear power has received from regional governments where the plants are located. They said they planned to vote anti-nuclear candidates into office to effect change.
Typically, relatively poor rural and fishing areas, far from Tokyo, have been chosen for construction of nuclear plants, with residents won over with jobs and subsidies. There is a plan to build a nuclear plant in Yamaguchi prefecture, but doubts are growing over whether that can be carried out.
Tetsunari Iida, a candidate in Sunday’s Yamaguchi gubernatorial election, opposes that plan and nuclear power in general. Kyodo and other Japanese media said Iida was defeated by old-guard candidate Shigetaro Yamamoto, a former bureaucrat who is more conciliatory toward the government’s energy policy.
At the Tokyo protest, however, hospital worker Mika Ohta vowed to vote for anti-nuclear candidates in the next election.
“There is nothing good about nuclear power. It is expensive, gets workers radiated and creates waste,” she said. “I’m opposed to this government in every way.”
Protesters said they were angry the government restarted two reactors earlier this month despite safety worries after the multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in March last year. The reactors were the first to return to operation since May, when the last of Japan’s 50 working reactors went offline for routine checks.
Banging on drums and waving balloons and banners, protesters marched from a Tokyo park and lined up along the streets around the parliament building chanting, “Saikado hantai,” or “No to restarts,” and later lit candles.
“All these people have gotten together and are raising their voices,” said Shoji Kitano, 64, a retired math teacher who was wearing a sign that read, “No to Nukes.”
Kitano said he had not seen such massive demonstrations since the 1960s. He stressed that ordinary Japanese usually don’t demonstrate, but were outraged over the restarting of nuclear power.
Similar demonstrations have been held outside the prime minister’s residence every Friday evening. The crowds have not dwindled, as people get the word out through Twitter and other online networking. A July 16 holiday rally at a Tokyo park, featuring a rock star and a Nobel laureate, drew nearly 200,000 people.
The crowd appeared to be smaller Sunday. Kyodo News service estimated it at about 10,000 people. Participants said they came from across Japan, underlining the widespread appeal of the protests.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda defended his decision to restart the two reactors at Ohi nuclear plant in central Japan as necessary to maintain people’s living standards. Other reactors are also expected to go back online, one by one.
Reports from government and legislative investigations of the Fukushima disaster have done little to allay people’s fears. A recent probe blamed a “Japanese mind-set” which it said had allowed collusion between the plant’s operator and regulators.
Adding to protesters’ frustrations is the support nuclear power has received from regional governments where the plants are located. They said they planned to vote anti-nuclear candidates into office to effect change.
Typically, relatively poor rural and fishing areas, far from Tokyo, have been chosen for construction of nuclear plants, with residents won over with jobs and subsidies. There is a plan to build a nuclear plant in Yamaguchi prefecture, but doubts are growing over whether that can be carried out.
Tetsunari Iida, a candidate in Sunday’s Yamaguchi gubernatorial election, opposes that plan and nuclear power in general. Kyodo and other Japanese media said Iida was defeated by old-guard candidate Shigetaro Yamamoto, a former bureaucrat who is more conciliatory toward the government’s energy policy.
At the Tokyo protest, however, hospital worker Mika Ohta vowed to vote for anti-nuclear candidates in the next election.
“There is nothing good about nuclear power. It is expensive, gets workers radiated and creates waste,” she said. “I’m opposed to this government in every way.”
Friday, July 27, 2012
Pakistani Taliban Threatens Burma Over Rohingya Violence | The Irrawaddy Magazine
Pakistani Taliban Threatens Burma Over Rohingya Violence | The Irrawaddy Magazine
THE IRRAWADDY, July 27, 2012
The Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released an official statement on Wednesday calling on the Pakistani government to cut its relations with Burma and shut down the Burmese embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, according to an AFP report.
“Otherwise we will not only attack Burmese interests anywhere but will also attack the Pakistani fellows of Burma one by one,” it said.
The Pakistani Taliban said such acts would be reprisals for alleged state-sponsored murders of Muslim Rohingyas during sectarian violence in Burma’s western Arakan State during the past two months.
Speaking of perceived atrocities committed against Burma’s Rohingya community, Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the TTP, said in the statement: “We will avenge your blood.”
Neither the Burmese embassy in Islamabad or Bangkok was available for comment nor was the president’s office in Naypyidaw.
However, Zaw Htay, a staffer in President Thein Sein’s office, posted on Facebook (under the name Hmuu Zaw) that the president had already released a statement about the Rohingya issue when he met with UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres in Naypyidaw.
On July 11, Burma’s presidential office stated that “It is impossible for Burma to accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered illegally.”
The statement said that the Burmese government “will hand over responsibility for the Rohingya minority to the UN’s refugee agency in Arakan State,” adding that it is also “willing to send the Rohingyas to any third country that will accept them.”
The UNHCR rejected the offer to resettle the Rohingya community the following day. Guterres told reporters at a press conference in Rangoon that the UN’s resettlement program is totally unrelated to the situation in western Arakan State.
An unknown number of people have died, but an estimated 90,000 have been affected by the violence that erupted between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists in early June.
Several other Islamic groups have also issued statements condemning the violence, though only the Pakistani Taliban threatened violence.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan—more commonly known as the Afghan Taliban, a separate military unit from the TTP—issued a statement on its website on July 20 in which it said that Muslims in Burma were facing acts of “oppression and savagery.” It called on the international community and human rights groups, as well as foreign governments—primarily in the Arab world—to take immediate action.
The Global Islamic Media Front, a mouthpiece for international terrorist organization al-Qaeda, highlighted the brutal murder of Muslim pilgrims by a Rakhine mob in Taungup Township in southern Arakan State on June 3, and referred to the subsequent events as a “genocide against Muslims.” It also condemned the Bangladeshi government for refusing sanctuary to Rohingya refugees.
On July 23, Lebanese Islamic organization Hezbollah released a statement saying that it “deplored the merciless carnages” targeting Muslims in Burma.
The statements by Islamic groups and militants follows condemnation by Muslim nations at large of the Burmese government’s handling of the crisis.
Recently, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) wrote to Burmese President Thein Sein, urging him to address the plight of the Rohingya community in accordance with the accepted practices of international human rights.
In the letter, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu sought assurances from the Burmese president for the safety and security of the Rohingyas as citizens of the country, and called for an end to all intimidation and oppression against them.
Ihsanoglu also called on Thein Sein to take appropriate steps to carry out prompt and effective investigations of the alleged atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims since June 3, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The recent violence in Arakan State began with the rape and murder in May of a Buddhist Arakanese girl, allegedly by three Rohingya Muslims. In response, a Buddhist mob killed 10 Muslims on June 3, leading to intense violence between Rohingyas and Arakanese.
==========================================================
Dear Readers: The Irrawaddy welcomes your opinions and views on the issue in Arakan State, irrespective of your race, religion or bias. However, we cannot publish and will not tolerate those who use offensive language or racial insults, or those who try to spread propaganda or who incite violence.
Please use this forum respectfully.
The Irrawaddy Team
THE IRRAWADDY, July 27, 2012
The Pakistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) released an official statement on Wednesday calling on the Pakistani government to cut its relations with Burma and shut down the Burmese embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, according to an AFP report.
“Otherwise we will not only attack Burmese interests anywhere but will also attack the Pakistani fellows of Burma one by one,” it said.
The Pakistani Taliban said such acts would be reprisals for alleged state-sponsored murders of Muslim Rohingyas during sectarian violence in Burma’s western Arakan State during the past two months.
Speaking of perceived atrocities committed against Burma’s Rohingya community, Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the TTP, said in the statement: “We will avenge your blood.”
Neither the Burmese embassy in Islamabad or Bangkok was available for comment nor was the president’s office in Naypyidaw.
However, Zaw Htay, a staffer in President Thein Sein’s office, posted on Facebook (under the name Hmuu Zaw) that the president had already released a statement about the Rohingya issue when he met with UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres in Naypyidaw.
On July 11, Burma’s presidential office stated that “It is impossible for Burma to accept people who are not ethnic to the country and who have entered illegally.”
The statement said that the Burmese government “will hand over responsibility for the Rohingya minority to the UN’s refugee agency in Arakan State,” adding that it is also “willing to send the Rohingyas to any third country that will accept them.”
The UNHCR rejected the offer to resettle the Rohingya community the following day. Guterres told reporters at a press conference in Rangoon that the UN’s resettlement program is totally unrelated to the situation in western Arakan State.
An unknown number of people have died, but an estimated 90,000 have been affected by the violence that erupted between Rohingya Muslims and Arakanese Buddhists in early June.
Several other Islamic groups have also issued statements condemning the violence, though only the Pakistani Taliban threatened violence.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan—more commonly known as the Afghan Taliban, a separate military unit from the TTP—issued a statement on its website on July 20 in which it said that Muslims in Burma were facing acts of “oppression and savagery.” It called on the international community and human rights groups, as well as foreign governments—primarily in the Arab world—to take immediate action.
The Global Islamic Media Front, a mouthpiece for international terrorist organization al-Qaeda, highlighted the brutal murder of Muslim pilgrims by a Rakhine mob in Taungup Township in southern Arakan State on June 3, and referred to the subsequent events as a “genocide against Muslims.” It also condemned the Bangladeshi government for refusing sanctuary to Rohingya refugees.
On July 23, Lebanese Islamic organization Hezbollah released a statement saying that it “deplored the merciless carnages” targeting Muslims in Burma.
The statements by Islamic groups and militants follows condemnation by Muslim nations at large of the Burmese government’s handling of the crisis.
Recently, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) wrote to Burmese President Thein Sein, urging him to address the plight of the Rohingya community in accordance with the accepted practices of international human rights.
In the letter, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu sought assurances from the Burmese president for the safety and security of the Rohingyas as citizens of the country, and called for an end to all intimidation and oppression against them.
Ihsanoglu also called on Thein Sein to take appropriate steps to carry out prompt and effective investigations of the alleged atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims since June 3, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The recent violence in Arakan State began with the rape and murder in May of a Buddhist Arakanese girl, allegedly by three Rohingya Muslims. In response, a Buddhist mob killed 10 Muslims on June 3, leading to intense violence between Rohingyas and Arakanese.
==========================================================
Dear Readers: The Irrawaddy welcomes your opinions and views on the issue in Arakan State, irrespective of your race, religion or bias. However, we cannot publish and will not tolerate those who use offensive language or racial insults, or those who try to spread propaganda or who incite violence.
Please use this forum respectfully.
The Irrawaddy Team
China, Indonesia begin missile talks | The Jakarta Post
China, RI begin missile talks | The Jakarta Post
Margareth S. Aritonang and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, July 27 2012,
China and Indonesia have started talks on the ambitious local production of C-705 anti-ship missiles
as part of Indonesia’s efforts to achieve independence in weapons production.
The defense cooperation reflects strengthening ties between both countries amid heightening tension in the South China Sea involving China and a number of Indonesia’s ASEAN neighbors.
Defense Ministry chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Hartind Asrin said that the initial talks were conducted during the first China-Indonesia defense industry cooperation meeting held in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The ministry’s defense potential director general Pos M. Hutabarat hosted the Chinese delegation which was led by Liu Yunfeng, a deputy director general at the Chinese State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).
“The meeting discussed various efforts to improve cooperation between the defense industries of both countries,” Hartind said on Thursday. “We’ve already prepared an area for the [missile] production site that faces the open sea for trials.”
Hartind said the C-705 had a range of 120 kilometers.
He said that the Indonesian Navy had successfully test-fired the C-705 missiles in the Sunda Strait.
“China has also offered to donate weapons systems that Indonesia might need,” he added.
A source said that Indonesia was expected to reply to Phase 1 of the missile proposal at the end of August and Phase 2 one month later. A contract is expected to be signed in 2013.
Phase 1 is on semi-knocked down production while Phase 2 is on completely-knocked down production.
A proposal for a Phase 3 on research and development is already on the table although the focus is currently on the first two phases.
Aside from the missile production, a number of Indonesian Army Special Force Command (Kopassus) members recently conducted the second “Sharp Knife” joint exercise with Chinese Special Forces operatives earlier this month in Jinan, Shandong, China.
China has also offered to train 10 pilots from the Indonesian Air Force to train using a Sukhoi simulator in China.
Commenting on the defense cooperation, defense expert Andi
Widjajanto said the industrial cooperation was solely to gain access to more advanced technology.
“However, it will take a long time for us to be independent in the defense industry, perhaps after 2024. This is the reason Indonesia builds partnerships with many countries that possess modern military technologies,” he said. “This is also why we require partner countries to transfer their technologies to us in any agreement we sign with them.”
Andi added that there were two goals in terms of the partnership: to access advanced rocket technology, and to collaborate in upholding maritime security, which began when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed an agreement in March during a state visit to Beijing.
“I don’t believe it has anything to do with conflicts in the South China Sea,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Commission I on defense issues, Mahfudz Shiddiq, said such global partnerships in the defense industry were designed to develop Indonesia’s own industry.
“We have allocated Rp 150 trillion [US$15.8 billion] to modernize our weapons-defense system from 2010 to 2014. It would be wasteful paying such a huge amount to foreign defense industries without any attempt to improve our own,” he said.
“Therefore, we require partner countries to transfer their military technologies in the hope that they will gradually improve our own technologies.”
He added that the partnership with China was due to its advanced military technologies in fields such as rocketry. “This is not political, even though others might link the partnership to political issues, for example the South China Sea disputes,” Machfudz said.
Indonesia already cooperates on weapons production with several other countries including South Korea to build jet fighters and submarines, the Netherlands to build frigates and Spain to build medium transport aircraft.
Margareth S. Aritonang and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, July 27 2012,
China and Indonesia have started talks on the ambitious local production of C-705 anti-ship missiles
as part of Indonesia’s efforts to achieve independence in weapons production.
The defense cooperation reflects strengthening ties between both countries amid heightening tension in the South China Sea involving China and a number of Indonesia’s ASEAN neighbors.
Defense Ministry chief spokesman Brig. Gen. Hartind Asrin said that the initial talks were conducted during the first China-Indonesia defense industry cooperation meeting held in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The ministry’s defense potential director general Pos M. Hutabarat hosted the Chinese delegation which was led by Liu Yunfeng, a deputy director general at the Chinese State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).
“The meeting discussed various efforts to improve cooperation between the defense industries of both countries,” Hartind said on Thursday. “We’ve already prepared an area for the [missile] production site that faces the open sea for trials.”
Hartind said the C-705 had a range of 120 kilometers.
He said that the Indonesian Navy had successfully test-fired the C-705 missiles in the Sunda Strait.
“China has also offered to donate weapons systems that Indonesia might need,” he added.
A source said that Indonesia was expected to reply to Phase 1 of the missile proposal at the end of August and Phase 2 one month later. A contract is expected to be signed in 2013.
Phase 1 is on semi-knocked down production while Phase 2 is on completely-knocked down production.
A proposal for a Phase 3 on research and development is already on the table although the focus is currently on the first two phases.
Aside from the missile production, a number of Indonesian Army Special Force Command (Kopassus) members recently conducted the second “Sharp Knife” joint exercise with Chinese Special Forces operatives earlier this month in Jinan, Shandong, China.
China has also offered to train 10 pilots from the Indonesian Air Force to train using a Sukhoi simulator in China.
Commenting on the defense cooperation, defense expert Andi
Widjajanto said the industrial cooperation was solely to gain access to more advanced technology.
“However, it will take a long time for us to be independent in the defense industry, perhaps after 2024. This is the reason Indonesia builds partnerships with many countries that possess modern military technologies,” he said. “This is also why we require partner countries to transfer their technologies to us in any agreement we sign with them.”
Andi added that there were two goals in terms of the partnership: to access advanced rocket technology, and to collaborate in upholding maritime security, which began when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed an agreement in March during a state visit to Beijing.
“I don’t believe it has anything to do with conflicts in the South China Sea,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Commission I on defense issues, Mahfudz Shiddiq, said such global partnerships in the defense industry were designed to develop Indonesia’s own industry.
“We have allocated Rp 150 trillion [US$15.8 billion] to modernize our weapons-defense system from 2010 to 2014. It would be wasteful paying such a huge amount to foreign defense industries without any attempt to improve our own,” he said.
“Therefore, we require partner countries to transfer their military technologies in the hope that they will gradually improve our own technologies.”
He added that the partnership with China was due to its advanced military technologies in fields such as rocketry. “This is not political, even though others might link the partnership to political issues, for example the South China Sea disputes,” Machfudz said.
Indonesia already cooperates on weapons production with several other countries including South Korea to build jet fighters and submarines, the Netherlands to build frigates and Spain to build medium transport aircraft.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
First hearing of inquest into Fabio’s death | prachatai.com
First hearing of inquest into Fabio’s death | prachatai.com
On 23 July, the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court held the first hearing in the inquest into the death of the Italian photo-journalist Fabio Polenghi who was killed during the government crackdown on red shirts in May 2010.
Pol Col Suebsak Phansura, Deputy Commander of Metropolitan Police 6 and the chief investigator in Fabio’s case, testified that Fabio’s death was likely to have been caused by the action of military troops, who fired high-velocity bullets on a horizontal trajectory at reporters and demonstrators on 19 May 2010.
He said that since late last year when the Department of Special Investigation included Fabio’s case among 16 cases of people who were believed to have been killed by military troops during the political unrest, he had been assigned to head a team to investigate the case, and had examined evidence provided by the DSI and Pathumwan Police Station.
He found that Fabio was killed during the day time on 19 May 2010 near Ratchadamri intersection when he was covering the event. At that time, military troops were heading toward the intersection and intermittently firing at the demonstrators, he said.
Asked by a judge whether the troops were firing into the air or horizontally, Pol Col Suebsak said, ‘horizontally.’
Fabio was killed while he was running to dodge bullets and taking photographs at the same time. Turning his back on the armed troops, he was hit in the back by a bullet which went through his left chest. He was taken by red shirts on a motorcycle to the Police Hospital, and subsequently died, he said.
According to the police officer, during the government crackdown under the command of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation, 300 troops from the 3rd Cavalry Battalion (Royal Guard) were deployed at Ratchaprasong and Ratchadamri areas.
He said that on that day the cavalry troops were taking control in the area, using armoured vehicles and equipped with HK33 rifles, shotguns and pistols with rubber, blank and live ammunition and hand-thrown tear gas grenades.
His assumption that Fabio was likely to have been killed by the troops has been derived from the interrogation of 47 witnesses, forensic evidence, photographs and video clips provided by foreign reporters.
He, however, could not identify the type of bullet which killed the journalist, as it passed through the body, but he believed that it was a high-velocity bullet, judging from ‘the fact that it pierced the body and the nature of the wound’.
Fabio’s younger sister Elisabetta, who also testified in court, told Prachatai that she had a little more hope after seeing the progress in the justice process.
She said that she did not wish to see the culprits sent to prison, but only wanted to know the truth.
She is visiting Thailand for the 6th time to follow the case of her brother’s death.
On 23 July, the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court held the first hearing in the inquest into the death of the Italian photo-journalist Fabio Polenghi who was killed during the government crackdown on red shirts in May 2010.
Pol Col Suebsak Phansura, Deputy Commander of Metropolitan Police 6 and the chief investigator in Fabio’s case, testified that Fabio’s death was likely to have been caused by the action of military troops, who fired high-velocity bullets on a horizontal trajectory at reporters and demonstrators on 19 May 2010.
He said that since late last year when the Department of Special Investigation included Fabio’s case among 16 cases of people who were believed to have been killed by military troops during the political unrest, he had been assigned to head a team to investigate the case, and had examined evidence provided by the DSI and Pathumwan Police Station.
He found that Fabio was killed during the day time on 19 May 2010 near Ratchadamri intersection when he was covering the event. At that time, military troops were heading toward the intersection and intermittently firing at the demonstrators, he said.
Asked by a judge whether the troops were firing into the air or horizontally, Pol Col Suebsak said, ‘horizontally.’
Fabio was killed while he was running to dodge bullets and taking photographs at the same time. Turning his back on the armed troops, he was hit in the back by a bullet which went through his left chest. He was taken by red shirts on a motorcycle to the Police Hospital, and subsequently died, he said.
According to the police officer, during the government crackdown under the command of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation, 300 troops from the 3rd Cavalry Battalion (Royal Guard) were deployed at Ratchaprasong and Ratchadamri areas.
He said that on that day the cavalry troops were taking control in the area, using armoured vehicles and equipped with HK33 rifles, shotguns and pistols with rubber, blank and live ammunition and hand-thrown tear gas grenades.
His assumption that Fabio was likely to have been killed by the troops has been derived from the interrogation of 47 witnesses, forensic evidence, photographs and video clips provided by foreign reporters.
He, however, could not identify the type of bullet which killed the journalist, as it passed through the body, but he believed that it was a high-velocity bullet, judging from ‘the fact that it pierced the body and the nature of the wound’.
Fabio’s younger sister Elisabetta, who also testified in court, told Prachatai that she had a little more hope after seeing the progress in the justice process.
She said that she did not wish to see the culprits sent to prison, but only wanted to know the truth.
She is visiting Thailand for the 6th time to follow the case of her brother’s death.
12 dead in Army clash with Abu Sayyaf | Philippine Daily Inquirer
12 dead in Army clash with Abu Sayyaf
Frances Mangosing, Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao, INQUIRER.net, July 26th, 2012
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine Army said Scout Rangers clashed with Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sumisip, Basilan, on Thursday, leaving eight government troops and four rebels dead.
Colonel Ramon Yogyog, chief of the Joint Special Operations Task Force Basilan, said the clash broke out as troops were conducting operations against the bandit group that has been harassing plantation workers of the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative Inc.
“During the first hour of engagement (which started at 7:30 a.m.), we suffered two wounded rangers,” Yogyog said.
But he added fighting escalated when at least 40 armed men came as reinforcement for the bandit group initially numbering around 20.
“We matched their strength and augmented our troops and it has turned into running gunbattle as of this time,” Yogyog told the Inquirer by phone.
In Manila, the Army said the military operations against the bandits will continue.
“We could not allow the criminals to disturb peace, targeting the innocent civilians in a mixed Muslim-Christian community in Tumahubong village. Banditry has no place no place in a civilized world,” Army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said.
Violence in the southern Philippines continues despite efforts by US-trained Philippine forces to put an end to decades of bombings and ransom kidnappings by Muslim extremists in the predominantly Christian nation.
Philippine offensives have weakened the militants but they remain a threat. They are holding several foreign hostages, apparently in an attempt to raise funds for food and weapons in their jungle hideouts. With reports from AP
Frances Mangosing, Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao, INQUIRER.net, July 26th, 2012
ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Philippine Army said Scout Rangers clashed with Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sumisip, Basilan, on Thursday, leaving eight government troops and four rebels dead.
Colonel Ramon Yogyog, chief of the Joint Special Operations Task Force Basilan, said the clash broke out as troops were conducting operations against the bandit group that has been harassing plantation workers of the Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative Inc.
“During the first hour of engagement (which started at 7:30 a.m.), we suffered two wounded rangers,” Yogyog said.
But he added fighting escalated when at least 40 armed men came as reinforcement for the bandit group initially numbering around 20.
“We matched their strength and augmented our troops and it has turned into running gunbattle as of this time,” Yogyog told the Inquirer by phone.
In Manila, the Army said the military operations against the bandits will continue.
“We could not allow the criminals to disturb peace, targeting the innocent civilians in a mixed Muslim-Christian community in Tumahubong village. Banditry has no place no place in a civilized world,” Army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said.
Violence in the southern Philippines continues despite efforts by US-trained Philippine forces to put an end to decades of bombings and ransom kidnappings by Muslim extremists in the predominantly Christian nation.
Philippine offensives have weakened the militants but they remain a threat. They are holding several foreign hostages, apparently in an attempt to raise funds for food and weapons in their jungle hideouts. With reports from AP
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Indonesian 'Petrus' shooting gross rights violation | The Jakarta Post
‘Petrus’ gross rights violation | The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, July 25 2012
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) announced on Tuesday that the summary execution-style killings between 1982 and 1985, known locally as penembakan misterius (mysterious shootings), or Petrus, were a gross violation of human rights as they involved systematic extra-judicial killing, torture and abduction.
In its report, the result of a four-year investigation which started in 2008, Komnas HAM found that the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police were most responsible for carrying out the killings, which were ordered by then president Soeharto as a means to bring down crime rates in the country.
“The team found evidence of gross violations of human rights in the mysterious shootings that took place between 1982 and 1985. This campaign was carried out by state security personnel and was widespread across the country,” Yosep Adi Prasetyo, the commission deputy chairman said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“The killings followed certain patterns, such as the thumbs of the victims being tied together behind their backs, the bodies were wrapped in sacks and Rp 10,000 [US$1.06] was left on top of the bodies for funeral costs,” Yosep said.
The Komnas HAM report said that the TNI and the police, with their territorial commands, including the subdistrict military commands (Koramil), district military commands (Kodim) and the Regional Military Commands (Kodam), were most responsible for what the commission also considered as crimes against humanity.
On Monday, Komnas HAM also announced that the 1965 anti-communist purge was a gross violation of human rights.
The Petrus shootings started in August 1982, under the command of then chief of the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib), Adm. Soedomo. Soedomo died in June this year. The operation was codenamed “Operasi Clurit” (Operation Sickle).
In March 1983, Gen. Benny Moerdani, who replaced Soedomo as commander of Kopkamtib, took over the security operation.
The operation targeted recidivists, local gangs, unemployed youths and others considered sources of violent crime. Some were targeted by the operation simply because they had tattoos, considered the mark of criminals.
“However, there are a few victims who had no criminal records. Some of them were farmers and civil servants,” said Yosep.
Bodies of the victims were found in cities throughout Central and East Java, Bogor in West Java, Jakarta, Palembang in South Sumatra and Medan in North Sumatra. Komnas HAM put the death toll from the security operation at 2,000.
In the investigation, Komnas HAM commissioners traveled to spots known as the dumping grounds of victims.
“Luweng Grubug, an underground cave in Wonosari, Yogyakarta, appears to have been one of the dumping sites for the bodies. Some of the victims were pushed and some were forced to jump into the rocky hole,” Yosep said.
Although initially the perpetrators used firearms to kill their victims, due to condemnation from the international community, which suspected that the military was involved in the operation, the method was changed to strangulation.
In the report, Komnas HAM said that TNI and the police drew up lists of targeted individuals, which were then distributed to community leaders. Some were kidnapped and detained at military facilities and others were executed in front of their families.
Former president Soeharto said in his autobiography titled Otobiografi Soeharto: Pikiran, Ucapan, dan Tindakan Saya (Soeharto Autobiography: Thoughts, Words and Action): “We have to conduct the treatment with firm acts. What kind of firm acts? Violence, but it does not have to be shooting. Those who tried to fight back, they were shot. Some of the bodies were left in the open, just like that. It was shock therapy. This would make people understand that there are consequences of evil conduct,” Soeharto wrote. (nad)
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, July 25 2012
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) announced on Tuesday that the summary execution-style killings between 1982 and 1985, known locally as penembakan misterius (mysterious shootings), or Petrus, were a gross violation of human rights as they involved systematic extra-judicial killing, torture and abduction.
In its report, the result of a four-year investigation which started in 2008, Komnas HAM found that the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police were most responsible for carrying out the killings, which were ordered by then president Soeharto as a means to bring down crime rates in the country.
“The team found evidence of gross violations of human rights in the mysterious shootings that took place between 1982 and 1985. This campaign was carried out by state security personnel and was widespread across the country,” Yosep Adi Prasetyo, the commission deputy chairman said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“The killings followed certain patterns, such as the thumbs of the victims being tied together behind their backs, the bodies were wrapped in sacks and Rp 10,000 [US$1.06] was left on top of the bodies for funeral costs,” Yosep said.
The Komnas HAM report said that the TNI and the police, with their territorial commands, including the subdistrict military commands (Koramil), district military commands (Kodim) and the Regional Military Commands (Kodam), were most responsible for what the commission also considered as crimes against humanity.
On Monday, Komnas HAM also announced that the 1965 anti-communist purge was a gross violation of human rights.
The Petrus shootings started in August 1982, under the command of then chief of the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order (Kopkamtib), Adm. Soedomo. Soedomo died in June this year. The operation was codenamed “Operasi Clurit” (Operation Sickle).
In March 1983, Gen. Benny Moerdani, who replaced Soedomo as commander of Kopkamtib, took over the security operation.
The operation targeted recidivists, local gangs, unemployed youths and others considered sources of violent crime. Some were targeted by the operation simply because they had tattoos, considered the mark of criminals.
“However, there are a few victims who had no criminal records. Some of them were farmers and civil servants,” said Yosep.
Bodies of the victims were found in cities throughout Central and East Java, Bogor in West Java, Jakarta, Palembang in South Sumatra and Medan in North Sumatra. Komnas HAM put the death toll from the security operation at 2,000.
In the investigation, Komnas HAM commissioners traveled to spots known as the dumping grounds of victims.
“Luweng Grubug, an underground cave in Wonosari, Yogyakarta, appears to have been one of the dumping sites for the bodies. Some of the victims were pushed and some were forced to jump into the rocky hole,” Yosep said.
Although initially the perpetrators used firearms to kill their victims, due to condemnation from the international community, which suspected that the military was involved in the operation, the method was changed to strangulation.
In the report, Komnas HAM said that TNI and the police drew up lists of targeted individuals, which were then distributed to community leaders. Some were kidnapped and detained at military facilities and others were executed in front of their families.
Former president Soeharto said in his autobiography titled Otobiografi Soeharto: Pikiran, Ucapan, dan Tindakan Saya (Soeharto Autobiography: Thoughts, Words and Action): “We have to conduct the treatment with firm acts. What kind of firm acts? Violence, but it does not have to be shooting. Those who tried to fight back, they were shot. Some of the bodies were left in the open, just like that. It was shock therapy. This would make people understand that there are consequences of evil conduct,” Soeharto wrote. (nad)
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Thai inquest probes Italian photographer’s death | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Thai inquest probes Italian photographer’s death | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Jul 24, 2012
BANGKOK (AP) — An inquest began Monday into the death of an Italian photographer killed two years ago as troops quashed a protest by anti-government “Red Shirts” who had occupied a central Bangkok intersection for several weeks.
AP News, Jul 24, 2012
BANGKOK (AP) — An inquest began Monday into the death of an Italian photographer killed two years ago as troops quashed a protest by anti-government “Red Shirts” who had occupied a central Bangkok intersection for several weeks.
Freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi, 48, of Italy lies on a stretcher at Police Headquarter Hospital in Bangkok in 2010. Pic: AP.
The sister of slain photojournalist Fabio Polenghi was one of two witnesses to testify in the effort to see who was responsible for the killing on May 19, 2010. Elisabetta Polenghi has visited Thailand several times since her brother’s death to try to secure justice.
Polenghi was shot as he tried to take pictures of the army’s assault on the encampment of Red Shirts, who wanted then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down. At least 91 people were killed during two months of political violence that swept through the Thai capital. They included two journalists, Polenghi and Reuters cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto.
The government that succeeded Abhisit’s — led by a party that was allied with the Red Shirts — agreed in March to pay compensation to all the victims of violence in order to promote political reconciliation.
Several investigations, including some by police, determined that many victims were probably killed by soldiers, but no definitive legal findings have been made. Separate public and private investigations into the deaths of the journalists found that evidence suggested they were killed by government forces, but they were not conclusive.
Polenghi, who was 48, had been a fashion photographer for many years but was transitioning to news. He was shot on a main street through which soldiers advanced toward the main Red Shirt camp.
Elisabetta Polenghi came to Bangkok soon after her brother’s death, and has returned several times to seek the truth about what happened. The failure to pin blame has left her frustrated.
“I don’t know what to say about a cover-up but I would say that they’ve been doing everything to slow things down and make the investigation very difficult,” she told The Associated Press on Monday, referring to Thailand’s bureaucracy. “It has been very hard for the investigation to start. I don’t know if they’ve been covering something up.”
Her testimony along with that of a policeman on Monday set out basic facts of the case and what her brother was doing in Bangkok. The inquest will hear from 36 witnesses in all and may take many months to reach a verdict.
Polenghi was shot as he tried to take pictures of the army’s assault on the encampment of Red Shirts, who wanted then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down. At least 91 people were killed during two months of political violence that swept through the Thai capital. They included two journalists, Polenghi and Reuters cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto.
The government that succeeded Abhisit’s — led by a party that was allied with the Red Shirts — agreed in March to pay compensation to all the victims of violence in order to promote political reconciliation.
Several investigations, including some by police, determined that many victims were probably killed by soldiers, but no definitive legal findings have been made. Separate public and private investigations into the deaths of the journalists found that evidence suggested they were killed by government forces, but they were not conclusive.
Polenghi, who was 48, had been a fashion photographer for many years but was transitioning to news. He was shot on a main street through which soldiers advanced toward the main Red Shirt camp.
Elisabetta Polenghi came to Bangkok soon after her brother’s death, and has returned several times to seek the truth about what happened. The failure to pin blame has left her frustrated.
“I don’t know what to say about a cover-up but I would say that they’ve been doing everything to slow things down and make the investigation very difficult,” she told The Associated Press on Monday, referring to Thailand’s bureaucracy. “It has been very hard for the investigation to start. I don’t know if they’ve been covering something up.”
Her testimony along with that of a policeman on Monday set out basic facts of the case and what her brother was doing in Bangkok. The inquest will hear from 36 witnesses in all and may take many months to reach a verdict.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Thaksin, Anwar & Horta—Reason Over Revenge | The Irrawaddy Magazine
Thaksin, Anwar & Horta—Reason Over Revenge | The Irrawaddy Magazine
A. LIN NEUMANN/ JAKARTA GLOBE, July 23, 2012
One man barely survived an assassination attempt. Another was severely beaten and imprisoned for six years on spurious charges. The third was ousted from power by a military coup and forced into exile because his opponents could not defeat him democratically.
These three men—Jose Ramos-Horta, the former president of East Timor; Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader; and Thailand’s former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra —appeared on the same stage in Jakarta this week for a forum on reconciliation put together by Strategic Review, a quarterly journal of policy and ideas published in Jakarta. It is my pleasure to be associated with Strategic Review and to have had the chance to meet all three of these leaders.
The forum on Tuesday, which was opened with a keynote address by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, made for a stunning photo op of the three invited leaders speaking their minds quite openly during an event that could never happen back home for two of them, Thaksin and Anwar.
Indeed, this was political theater of a very high order. Having been hauled into court repeatedly on the most spurious of sexual charges, Anwar is looking toward a general election later this year as he tries to unseat the coalition that has governed Malaysia since independence.
The billionaire Thaksin is involved in his own high-stakes gambit. With his sister now prime minister, he is betting that he can one day return to Thailand despite the intractable opposition of powerful military and political figures.
But along with Horta, these three men all brought a message of forgiveness to Jakarta. Anwar praised Indonesia for its ability to “not be saddled by the baggage of the past.” He resisted the urge to call for payback and appealed instead for Malaysia to simply allow fair elections as the path to reconciliation.
“I am only able to forgive,” Anwar said from the stage, “and move on. Not necessarily forget, but move on. If you are totally committed to [democracy], you don’t have time for retribution.”
Thaksin spoke of the need for calm in handling the political crisis in his country. “I think we need truth, but the truth must not lead to future conflict,” he said. “We must learn from our past failures, but we also must move on.”
The best example was Ramos-Horta, who has actually done what the other two are so far only talking about. In 2008, while president, he pardoned the men who attacked him. He noted that after the 1999 independence referendum and the bloody withdrawal of the Indonesian military, he and independence fighter Xanana Gusmao made peace with Indonesia a first priority despite calls for an international tribunal to investigate the crimes committed in East Timor. “I said 10 years ago that Indonesians will be the ones who look into their souls and find solutions,” he said, adding that he prefers “restorative justice. Sometimes we have to swallow this desire for retributive justice.”
Outsiders often chafe at the tendency in Southeast Asia to paper over deep-seated conflicts. But the path of reconciliation, as frustrating as it can be, makes sense. Would Indonesia be better off today if there had been a genuine attempt to settle the scores left behind by the New Order era? It is unlikely. Similarly, there is enormous potential for chaos in Burma should popular anger be unleashed against the long-ruling generals. It is to the credit of Aung San Suu Kyi that she is negotiating a way forward.
I hope the message of forgiveness and reason that was expressed on the stage in Jakarta this week will be realized in both Malaysia and Thailand, and that Thaksin and Anwar prove to be men of their word should they rise to power.
It has worked here and in East Timor; it is starting to bear fruit in Burma. In the words of President Yudhoyono during his address to the forum: “There is no peace, no freedom, no stability unless we take out the cancerous seeds of conflict and hatred from our society and replace them with seeds of amity and good will.”
A. Lin Neumann, founding editor of the Jakarta Globe, is the host of the “Insight Indonesia” talk show on BeritaSatu TV. He is also the publisher of Strategic Review.
A. LIN NEUMANN/ JAKARTA GLOBE, July 23, 2012
One man barely survived an assassination attempt. Another was severely beaten and imprisoned for six years on spurious charges. The third was ousted from power by a military coup and forced into exile because his opponents could not defeat him democratically.
These three men—Jose Ramos-Horta, the former president of East Timor; Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian opposition leader; and Thailand’s former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra —appeared on the same stage in Jakarta this week for a forum on reconciliation put together by Strategic Review, a quarterly journal of policy and ideas published in Jakarta. It is my pleasure to be associated with Strategic Review and to have had the chance to meet all three of these leaders.
The forum on Tuesday, which was opened with a keynote address by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, made for a stunning photo op of the three invited leaders speaking their minds quite openly during an event that could never happen back home for two of them, Thaksin and Anwar.
Indeed, this was political theater of a very high order. Having been hauled into court repeatedly on the most spurious of sexual charges, Anwar is looking toward a general election later this year as he tries to unseat the coalition that has governed Malaysia since independence.
The billionaire Thaksin is involved in his own high-stakes gambit. With his sister now prime minister, he is betting that he can one day return to Thailand despite the intractable opposition of powerful military and political figures.
But along with Horta, these three men all brought a message of forgiveness to Jakarta. Anwar praised Indonesia for its ability to “not be saddled by the baggage of the past.” He resisted the urge to call for payback and appealed instead for Malaysia to simply allow fair elections as the path to reconciliation.
“I am only able to forgive,” Anwar said from the stage, “and move on. Not necessarily forget, but move on. If you are totally committed to [democracy], you don’t have time for retribution.”
Thaksin spoke of the need for calm in handling the political crisis in his country. “I think we need truth, but the truth must not lead to future conflict,” he said. “We must learn from our past failures, but we also must move on.”
The best example was Ramos-Horta, who has actually done what the other two are so far only talking about. In 2008, while president, he pardoned the men who attacked him. He noted that after the 1999 independence referendum and the bloody withdrawal of the Indonesian military, he and independence fighter Xanana Gusmao made peace with Indonesia a first priority despite calls for an international tribunal to investigate the crimes committed in East Timor. “I said 10 years ago that Indonesians will be the ones who look into their souls and find solutions,” he said, adding that he prefers “restorative justice. Sometimes we have to swallow this desire for retributive justice.”
Outsiders often chafe at the tendency in Southeast Asia to paper over deep-seated conflicts. But the path of reconciliation, as frustrating as it can be, makes sense. Would Indonesia be better off today if there had been a genuine attempt to settle the scores left behind by the New Order era? It is unlikely. Similarly, there is enormous potential for chaos in Burma should popular anger be unleashed against the long-ruling generals. It is to the credit of Aung San Suu Kyi that she is negotiating a way forward.
I hope the message of forgiveness and reason that was expressed on the stage in Jakarta this week will be realized in both Malaysia and Thailand, and that Thaksin and Anwar prove to be men of their word should they rise to power.
It has worked here and in East Timor; it is starting to bear fruit in Burma. In the words of President Yudhoyono during his address to the forum: “There is no peace, no freedom, no stability unless we take out the cancerous seeds of conflict and hatred from our society and replace them with seeds of amity and good will.”
A. Lin Neumann, founding editor of the Jakarta Globe, is the host of the “Insight Indonesia” talk show on BeritaSatu TV. He is also the publisher of Strategic Review.
China Announces ‘Military Garrison’ for South China Sea -- News from Antiwar.com
China Announces ‘Military Garrison’ for South China Sea -- News from Antiwar.com
Jason Ditz, July 22, 2012
China’s Central Military Commission has announced another attempt to assert its claims of sovereignty over a disputed portion of the South China Sea today, announcing that they were upgrading the area to the level of “military garrison.”
The establishment of a garrison in the region may not necessarily mean additional military forces for the area, but upgrades it to a level on par with a normal Chinese city, despite almost no permanent residents.
The territory, called Sansha in China, is claimed in part of in whole by several nations, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines. The US has backed the claims of the other nations, while condemning China for its own assertions of sovereignty.
Despite the limited number of people living there, the South China Sea is considered both strategically valuable and potentially the location of some extremely lucrative resources, something these nations will continue to fight over for years to come.
Jason Ditz, July 22, 2012
China’s Central Military Commission has announced another attempt to assert its claims of sovereignty over a disputed portion of the South China Sea today, announcing that they were upgrading the area to the level of “military garrison.”
The establishment of a garrison in the region may not necessarily mean additional military forces for the area, but upgrades it to a level on par with a normal Chinese city, despite almost no permanent residents.
The territory, called Sansha in China, is claimed in part of in whole by several nations, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines. The US has backed the claims of the other nations, while condemning China for its own assertions of sovereignty.
Despite the limited number of people living there, the South China Sea is considered both strategically valuable and potentially the location of some extremely lucrative resources, something these nations will continue to fight over for years to come.
Philippines: Prosecutors thrash libel case against Asian Correspondent journalist | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Philippines: Prosecutors thrash libel case against Asian Correspondent journalist | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Asian Correspondent, Jul 23, 2012
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 July) – The city prosecutor’s office in General Santos City in the Phillipines has recommended the dismissal of the P18 million (US$428,335) libel case filed by a former official of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group in Mindanao against a local journalist.
In an eight-page resolution, state prosecutors Jose Blanza Jr. and Edilberto L. Jamora thrashed the libel case lodged by Mohamad “Bong” Aquia against Edwin Espejo, who is a regular contributor to Asian Correspondent, for lack of probable cause.
It was dated June 29 but a copy of the resolution was only obtained on Thursday through the Center for International Law (CenterLaw).
Espejo also writes for MindaNews, the online news portals that carried the story that was the basis of Aquia’s complaint.
The same articles were used separately by world boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel D. Pacquiao to also sue Espejo for libel at the city prosecution’s office last March.
Pacquiao was reportedly seeking P75 million against Espejo.
Espejo said on Thursday that he still did not receive an official copy of the Pacquiao libel complaint nor summoned by the city prosecutor’s office to answer the case.
Romel R. Bagares, CenterLaw executive director, has offered to defend Espejo against the libel case by Pacquiao.
CenterLaw is a human rights organization dedicated to the promotion of free expression and a charter member of the Southeast Asia Media Defense Network, an alliance of regional lawyers and media advocacy groups providing legal support to journalists facing legal persecution for the work they do.
Bagares earlier urged Pacquaio to withdraw the complaint he filed against the journalist.
Pacquiao’s case stemmed from the articles of Espejo, which appeared on Asian Correspondent and MindaNews.
The article that appeared here on Asian Correspondent was titled “Stolen car dealer finds refuge in Pacman mansion,” while MindaNews titled it “Dealer of stolen cars last seen in Pacman mansion.”
“The suit comes on the heels of a view released by the UN Human Rights Committee finding that criminal libel in the Philippines violates its obligations to protect free expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which it is a signatory,” Bagares said in an earlier statement.
“It would do well for Pacquiao in his job as a legislator to support calls for the decriminalization of libel in the country by recalling the suit he filed against Espejo,” he added.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has also urged Pacquiao to withdraw his complaint, saying he is in a good position to set an example for other politicians to emulate.
“It would be a shame if Pacquiao should risk his well-deserved reputation by succumbing to the same urge that has seen abusive official after abusive official resorting to our draconian criminal libel law – or even worse measures – to stifle reasonable criticism and critical coverage,” NUJP said.
Espejo heads the NUJP chapter for South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City.
This article by Bong S. Sarmiento was reproduced with the permission of MindaNews.com
Asian Correspondent, Jul 23, 2012
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 July) – The city prosecutor’s office in General Santos City in the Phillipines has recommended the dismissal of the P18 million (US$428,335) libel case filed by a former official of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group in Mindanao against a local journalist.
In an eight-page resolution, state prosecutors Jose Blanza Jr. and Edilberto L. Jamora thrashed the libel case lodged by Mohamad “Bong” Aquia against Edwin Espejo, who is a regular contributor to Asian Correspondent, for lack of probable cause.
It was dated June 29 but a copy of the resolution was only obtained on Thursday through the Center for International Law (CenterLaw).
Espejo also writes for MindaNews, the online news portals that carried the story that was the basis of Aquia’s complaint.
The same articles were used separately by world boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel D. Pacquiao to also sue Espejo for libel at the city prosecution’s office last March.
Pacquiao was reportedly seeking P75 million against Espejo.
Espejo said on Thursday that he still did not receive an official copy of the Pacquiao libel complaint nor summoned by the city prosecutor’s office to answer the case.
Romel R. Bagares, CenterLaw executive director, has offered to defend Espejo against the libel case by Pacquiao.
CenterLaw is a human rights organization dedicated to the promotion of free expression and a charter member of the Southeast Asia Media Defense Network, an alliance of regional lawyers and media advocacy groups providing legal support to journalists facing legal persecution for the work they do.
Bagares earlier urged Pacquaio to withdraw the complaint he filed against the journalist.
Pacquiao’s case stemmed from the articles of Espejo, which appeared on Asian Correspondent and MindaNews.
The article that appeared here on Asian Correspondent was titled “Stolen car dealer finds refuge in Pacman mansion,” while MindaNews titled it “Dealer of stolen cars last seen in Pacman mansion.”
“The suit comes on the heels of a view released by the UN Human Rights Committee finding that criminal libel in the Philippines violates its obligations to protect free expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which it is a signatory,” Bagares said in an earlier statement.
“It would do well for Pacquiao in his job as a legislator to support calls for the decriminalization of libel in the country by recalling the suit he filed against Espejo,” he added.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has also urged Pacquiao to withdraw his complaint, saying he is in a good position to set an example for other politicians to emulate.
“It would be a shame if Pacquiao should risk his well-deserved reputation by succumbing to the same urge that has seen abusive official after abusive official resorting to our draconian criminal libel law – or even worse measures – to stifle reasonable criticism and critical coverage,” NUJP said.
Espejo heads the NUJP chapter for South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City.
This article by Bong S. Sarmiento was reproduced with the permission of MindaNews.com
Sunday, July 22, 2012
More soldiers hurt by roadside bomb in Thailand
More soldiers hurt by roadside bomb in Thailand
The Nation, July 22, 2012
Southern Thailand's unrest in Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, continued yesterday with two soldiers wounded by a roadside bomb in Narathiwat.
On Friday, first day of Ramadan, a car bomb in Sungai Kolok district wounded eight people, while another roadside bomb in Ra Ngae district wounded seven people, a Ra Ngae district's rubber plantation co-op's storehouse was burned down and a civilian was injured in a Jor Irong district teashop shooting.
Yesterday at 9 a.m., a 5-kilogram bomb exploded, aiming to hurt a six-soldier patrol on three motorcycles in Tambon Manang Tayor's Ban Jood Daeng. It wounded Private Arisman Wayeng and Private Sangworawut Ngamprom, both 23.
Narathiwat Governor Apinan Suethanuwong said the car bomb culprits tried to park the vehicle at a bank but got chased off by guards, so they parked in front of the electrical appliance shop instead. He has had to beef up security at banks in 13 districts.
He said he asked female rangers to help police, soldiers and defence volunteers in manning checkpoints. He also asked for funds from the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre to demolish wooden homes in Ban Tha Reu in Reu So district, where a July 17 attack killed one soldier, two civilians and wounded six others, and build concrete homes that better shield people.
Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 spokesman Colonel Pramote Phrom called for modern tools for checkpoints to boost efficiency in the combined security forces' guarding seven community and economic areas in the region, as per PM Yingluck Shinawatra's "Safety Zone" policy.
Pheu Thai Party spokesman Phrompong Nopparit condemned the car bomb as savage and cruel. He said the party would gather information in the Deep South to help the government, while Nakhon Si Thammarat Democrat MP Thepthai Senapong urged Yingluck to visit the Deep South to oversee and review if the policy was on the right track and agencies were working efficiently.
Sungai Kolok hotel association head Saengthong Preechawuttidech said the car bomb caused Malaysian tourists to check out and go home and it would take a long time to restore their confidence, while Narathiwat Industrial Council chief advisor Pongsak Chutichaowakun said the car bomb aimed and succeeded in hurting the city's economy.
The Nation, July 22, 2012
Southern Thailand's unrest in Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, continued yesterday with two soldiers wounded by a roadside bomb in Narathiwat.
On Friday, first day of Ramadan, a car bomb in Sungai Kolok district wounded eight people, while another roadside bomb in Ra Ngae district wounded seven people, a Ra Ngae district's rubber plantation co-op's storehouse was burned down and a civilian was injured in a Jor Irong district teashop shooting.
Yesterday at 9 a.m., a 5-kilogram bomb exploded, aiming to hurt a six-soldier patrol on three motorcycles in Tambon Manang Tayor's Ban Jood Daeng. It wounded Private Arisman Wayeng and Private Sangworawut Ngamprom, both 23.
Narathiwat Governor Apinan Suethanuwong said the car bomb culprits tried to park the vehicle at a bank but got chased off by guards, so they parked in front of the electrical appliance shop instead. He has had to beef up security at banks in 13 districts.
He said he asked female rangers to help police, soldiers and defence volunteers in manning checkpoints. He also asked for funds from the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre to demolish wooden homes in Ban Tha Reu in Reu So district, where a July 17 attack killed one soldier, two civilians and wounded six others, and build concrete homes that better shield people.
Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 spokesman Colonel Pramote Phrom called for modern tools for checkpoints to boost efficiency in the combined security forces' guarding seven community and economic areas in the region, as per PM Yingluck Shinawatra's "Safety Zone" policy.
Pheu Thai Party spokesman Phrompong Nopparit condemned the car bomb as savage and cruel. He said the party would gather information in the Deep South to help the government, while Nakhon Si Thammarat Democrat MP Thepthai Senapong urged Yingluck to visit the Deep South to oversee and review if the policy was on the right track and agencies were working efficiently.
Sungai Kolok hotel association head Saengthong Preechawuttidech said the car bomb caused Malaysian tourists to check out and go home and it would take a long time to restore their confidence, while Narathiwat Industrial Council chief advisor Pongsak Chutichaowakun said the car bomb aimed and succeeded in hurting the city's economy.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Southern Thailand: Bomb blast spurs security crackdown
Southern Thailand: Bomb blast spurs security crackdown | Bangkok Post
Muhammad Ayub Pathan, Waedao Harai and Anucha Charoenpo, July 21, 2012
Security measures have been beefed up in the deep South after a car bomb attack in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district yesterday morning.
Army Region 4 commander Udomchai Thammasarorath ordered all military units in the South to tighten security measures to deter any further attacks by militants.
Col Pramote Prom-in, deputy spokesman of the Internal Security Operations Command, Region 4 office, called on Thai-Muslim people to condemn the car bombers who attacked Sungai Kolok.
Soldiers of the Yala 11th special task force set up a security checkpoint on the Tao Poon-Tha Sab road in tambon Tha Sab of Yala's Muang district. They checked all of the motorcycles passing by and vehicles heading into Yala municipality.
Police, soldiers and territory volunteers also set up security checkpoints on all main inbound roads to Yala.
Yesterday was the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which will continue until Aug 20. "This is the holy month for Muslims and there should be no violence during this period. Unfortunately, the separatist militants just ignored it," Col Pramote said.
The bomb blast happened about 6.15am.
Police said the blast came from a 50-kilogramme gas cylinder placed inside an Isuzu D-Max pickup truck that was parked in front of Pro Computer and OA Thailand Co on Charoen Khet Road in Sungai Kolok municipality.
The explosion completely destroyed the truck, damaged three cars and a motorcycle parked nearby, and set ablaze the building of a company which occupies four adjoining units of four-storey shophouses.
The company is the biggest supplier of electronic devices and electrical appliances in Sungai Kolok district.
More than 10 fire engines took more than three hours to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters rescued people who were trapped on the top floor of the building. Damage was estimated at about 10 million baht.
The eight people injured are Charoenchai Udomlertsakul, the 74-year-old owner of the company; his son Thaweesak, 45; his daughter Sunee, 35; his daughter-in-law Supassorn Tiyaratanachai, 43; Pichai Thongchompoonuch, 53; Sama-ae Waema, 62; Ameera Jehsoh, 31; and Rusman Ma-useng, 41.
The bomb in the truck was detonated with a mobile phone when a police patrol vehicle from Sungai Padi district was passing by.
Police checked the chassis number of the pickup truck and found it had been stolen from Chalong Nuana, a 46-year-old local of Pattani province. Chalong and his associate were shot dead in a housing estate in Rangae district of Narathiwat on Nov 20 last year while they were unloading furniture from the truck.
The vehicle bore licence plates of another vehicle that belonged to Suchart Suwanchaluay, a local from Muang district of Yala. Suchart was shot dead in front of his house on June 21 this year and his vehicle was stolen.
Police believe the bombing was an act of members of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) separatist group which is based in Cho Airong district of Narathiwat. Police have already issued warrants for their arrest. A security source identified the suspects as Alawuddin Sohko, Nasree Mueree and Muhammadsakree Sosing.
Waedueramae Mamingji, chairman of the Pattani Provincial Islamic Committee, yesterday castigated those who masterminded the car bomb attack.
"It is an unacceptable action," Mr Waedueramae said. "Allah will punish them and bring them to disgrace. They must be brought to justice soon."
He wondered why those who planted the bomb chose the Ramadan fasting festival to carry out their attack as it is the Muslim holy period that requires Muslims to do good things for Allah, themselves and others.
Mr Waedueramae also called on the masterminds to stop such actions in the deep South and he wanted to see suspected insurgents join the process of reconciliation that is building within the nation.
In another incident, an armoured military vehicle was hit by a buried bomb on the Tanyongmas-Samoh road in Ban Juenong Bueso village in Rangae district of Narathiwat about 5.20pm yesterday.
Two soldiers and five military rangers suffered broken bones as a result of the explosion. Shrapnel from the buried bomb wounded a 28-year-old female motorcyclist.
The explosive was placed within a 20-kilogramme fire extinguisher that was wired to a battery hidden in roadside bushes.
Muhammad Ayub Pathan, Waedao Harai and Anucha Charoenpo, July 21, 2012
Security measures have been beefed up in the deep South after a car bomb attack in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district yesterday morning.
Army Region 4 commander Udomchai Thammasarorath ordered all military units in the South to tighten security measures to deter any further attacks by militants.
Col Pramote Prom-in, deputy spokesman of the Internal Security Operations Command, Region 4 office, called on Thai-Muslim people to condemn the car bombers who attacked Sungai Kolok.
Soldiers of the Yala 11th special task force set up a security checkpoint on the Tao Poon-Tha Sab road in tambon Tha Sab of Yala's Muang district. They checked all of the motorcycles passing by and vehicles heading into Yala municipality.
Police, soldiers and territory volunteers also set up security checkpoints on all main inbound roads to Yala.
Yesterday was the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which will continue until Aug 20. "This is the holy month for Muslims and there should be no violence during this period. Unfortunately, the separatist militants just ignored it," Col Pramote said.
The bomb blast happened about 6.15am.
Police said the blast came from a 50-kilogramme gas cylinder placed inside an Isuzu D-Max pickup truck that was parked in front of Pro Computer and OA Thailand Co on Charoen Khet Road in Sungai Kolok municipality.
The explosion completely destroyed the truck, damaged three cars and a motorcycle parked nearby, and set ablaze the building of a company which occupies four adjoining units of four-storey shophouses.
The company is the biggest supplier of electronic devices and electrical appliances in Sungai Kolok district.
More than 10 fire engines took more than three hours to extinguish the blaze. Firefighters rescued people who were trapped on the top floor of the building. Damage was estimated at about 10 million baht.
The eight people injured are Charoenchai Udomlertsakul, the 74-year-old owner of the company; his son Thaweesak, 45; his daughter Sunee, 35; his daughter-in-law Supassorn Tiyaratanachai, 43; Pichai Thongchompoonuch, 53; Sama-ae Waema, 62; Ameera Jehsoh, 31; and Rusman Ma-useng, 41.
The bomb in the truck was detonated with a mobile phone when a police patrol vehicle from Sungai Padi district was passing by.
Police checked the chassis number of the pickup truck and found it had been stolen from Chalong Nuana, a 46-year-old local of Pattani province. Chalong and his associate were shot dead in a housing estate in Rangae district of Narathiwat on Nov 20 last year while they were unloading furniture from the truck.
The vehicle bore licence plates of another vehicle that belonged to Suchart Suwanchaluay, a local from Muang district of Yala. Suchart was shot dead in front of his house on June 21 this year and his vehicle was stolen.
Police believe the bombing was an act of members of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) separatist group which is based in Cho Airong district of Narathiwat. Police have already issued warrants for their arrest. A security source identified the suspects as Alawuddin Sohko, Nasree Mueree and Muhammadsakree Sosing.
Waedueramae Mamingji, chairman of the Pattani Provincial Islamic Committee, yesterday castigated those who masterminded the car bomb attack.
"It is an unacceptable action," Mr Waedueramae said. "Allah will punish them and bring them to disgrace. They must be brought to justice soon."
He wondered why those who planted the bomb chose the Ramadan fasting festival to carry out their attack as it is the Muslim holy period that requires Muslims to do good things for Allah, themselves and others.
Mr Waedueramae also called on the masterminds to stop such actions in the deep South and he wanted to see suspected insurgents join the process of reconciliation that is building within the nation.
In another incident, an armoured military vehicle was hit by a buried bomb on the Tanyongmas-Samoh road in Ban Juenong Bueso village in Rangae district of Narathiwat about 5.20pm yesterday.
Two soldiers and five military rangers suffered broken bones as a result of the explosion. Shrapnel from the buried bomb wounded a 28-year-old female motorcyclist.
The explosive was placed within a 20-kilogramme fire extinguisher that was wired to a battery hidden in roadside bushes.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Ramadan’s start marred by bomb blasts in Thailand | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Ramadan’s start marred by bomb blasts in Thailand | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Jul 20, 2012
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Millions of Muslims began fasting Friday at the start of the holy month of Ramadan in Indonesia and Thailand, where the somber occasion was marred by two bomb blasts that killed one person and injured seven, officials said.
AP News, Jul 20, 2012
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Millions of Muslims began fasting Friday at the start of the holy month of Ramadan in Indonesia and Thailand, where the somber occasion was marred by two bomb blasts that killed one person and injured seven, officials said.
The Muhammadiyah group, Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, told its 30 million followers that Ramadan starts Friday. The government, however, declared the official start as Saturday when most of the remaining 190 million Indonesians will begin the annual dawn-to-dusk fasting for a month.
Muslims in the Buddhist dominated Thailand also began Ramadan on Friday, while India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh will start Saturday or Sunday.
Ramadan is celebrated by Muslims around the world. It is a period devoted to dawn-to-dusk fasting, prayers and good deeds. The holy month culminates with the three-day holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Muslims believe God revealed the first verses of their holy book, the Quran, to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan, the start of which is determined by the sighting of the new moon. The Muslim lunar calendar moves back through the seasons, so Ramadan starts 11 days earlier each year under the Western calendar.
The holy month, however, got off to an ominous start in southern Thailand, where most of Thai Muslims live amid an ongoing insurgency for autonomy. A car-bomb detonated in the morning, sending a huge plume of black smoke from a row of four-story buildings in a commercial area of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province.
Several shops and residences caught fire, said police Col. Maitree Chimcherd. He said seven people were injured, including four who were briefly trapped on the roof of a burning building.
Maitree blamed a group of Muslim insurgents for the homemade bomb hidden in a pickup truck parked in front of a computer store.
On Thursday night, a roadside bomb killed a villager and wounded his companion while they were hunting for squirrels in the woods in Yala province, said police Col. Wichai Jaengsakul.
Still, residents of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces flocked to local markets Friday to shop for fresh and dried fruit including date palm to be consumed at dusk after the first day of fasting ends.
Usually, countries have differing dates for the start of Ramadan because of the different ways of calculating when the new moon crescent is sighted. Sometimes there are differences between various Muslim groups even within the same country.
Muhammadiyah, which uses calendar-based astronomical calculations, believed that the crescent should have appeared after sunset on Thursday. But the government argued it could not be seen by eyes or telescopes, hence Ramadan has to start Saturday.
Pakistan’s government has promised there will not be any power blackouts during the key hours when people are preparing for their fast or during the evening when they pray and break their fasts.
“If there is electricity or no electricity, people do fast, and they fast with patience,” said Shah Mohammed, who sells nuts in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. “Allah gives you patience.”
In Bangladesh too, Ramadan is likely to start Saturday. However, a national moon sighting committee headed by state minister for religious affairs will sit Friday evening to make an official declaration.
The committee has asked the weather office and also members of the public to report to it any sighting of the moon. The weather office has already forecast that the new moon is likely to be sighted Friday evening.
In India, where about 13 percent of the 1.2 billion people are Muslim, most major Islamic organizations and mosques form committees of religious scholars who determine the start of Ramadan based on the actual sighting of the new moon.
According to Amanullah, the spokesman of New Delhi’s Jama Masjid mosque, one of the country’s leading Sunni Muslim places of worship, Ramadan is most likely to start Saturday.
The moon sighting committee will meet late Friday evening to view the moon and officially announce the start of the holy month of fasting, Amanullah, who uses just one name, said.
Muslims in the Buddhist dominated Thailand also began Ramadan on Friday, while India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh will start Saturday or Sunday.
Ramadan is celebrated by Muslims around the world. It is a period devoted to dawn-to-dusk fasting, prayers and good deeds. The holy month culminates with the three-day holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Muslims believe God revealed the first verses of their holy book, the Quran, to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan, the start of which is determined by the sighting of the new moon. The Muslim lunar calendar moves back through the seasons, so Ramadan starts 11 days earlier each year under the Western calendar.
The holy month, however, got off to an ominous start in southern Thailand, where most of Thai Muslims live amid an ongoing insurgency for autonomy. A car-bomb detonated in the morning, sending a huge plume of black smoke from a row of four-story buildings in a commercial area of Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province.
Several shops and residences caught fire, said police Col. Maitree Chimcherd. He said seven people were injured, including four who were briefly trapped on the roof of a burning building.
Maitree blamed a group of Muslim insurgents for the homemade bomb hidden in a pickup truck parked in front of a computer store.
On Thursday night, a roadside bomb killed a villager and wounded his companion while they were hunting for squirrels in the woods in Yala province, said police Col. Wichai Jaengsakul.
Still, residents of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces flocked to local markets Friday to shop for fresh and dried fruit including date palm to be consumed at dusk after the first day of fasting ends.
Usually, countries have differing dates for the start of Ramadan because of the different ways of calculating when the new moon crescent is sighted. Sometimes there are differences between various Muslim groups even within the same country.
Muhammadiyah, which uses calendar-based astronomical calculations, believed that the crescent should have appeared after sunset on Thursday. But the government argued it could not be seen by eyes or telescopes, hence Ramadan has to start Saturday.
Pakistan’s government has promised there will not be any power blackouts during the key hours when people are preparing for their fast or during the evening when they pray and break their fasts.
“If there is electricity or no electricity, people do fast, and they fast with patience,” said Shah Mohammed, who sells nuts in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. “Allah gives you patience.”
In Bangladesh too, Ramadan is likely to start Saturday. However, a national moon sighting committee headed by state minister for religious affairs will sit Friday evening to make an official declaration.
The committee has asked the weather office and also members of the public to report to it any sighting of the moon. The weather office has already forecast that the new moon is likely to be sighted Friday evening.
In India, where about 13 percent of the 1.2 billion people are Muslim, most major Islamic organizations and mosques form committees of religious scholars who determine the start of Ramadan based on the actual sighting of the new moon.
According to Amanullah, the spokesman of New Delhi’s Jama Masjid mosque, one of the country’s leading Sunni Muslim places of worship, Ramadan is most likely to start Saturday.
The moon sighting committee will meet late Friday evening to view the moon and officially announce the start of the holy month of fasting, Amanullah, who uses just one name, said.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Thai, Cambodian troops withdraw from Preah Vihear | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Thai, Cambodian troops withdraw from Preah Vihear | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Jul 18, 2012
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia and Thailand have withdrawn their troops from a disputed border area to comply with a ruling by the International Court of Justice.
AP News, Jul 18, 2012
PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia and Thailand have withdrawn their troops from a disputed border area to comply with a ruling by the International Court of Justice.
Nearly 500 Cambodian troops and an undisclosed number of Thai forces withdrew Wednesday from a demilitarized zone near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, which the court awarded to Cambodia in 1962. Thailand accepts that the temple belongs to Cambodia, but both countries lay claim to land around it. The dispute has led to several rounds of armed conflict in recent years.
Last year, the court responded to an appeal from Cambodia by ordering both countries to withdraw their troops completely and simultaneously from the 17.3-square-kilometer (6.7-square-mile) demilitarized zone around the temple.
Both countries will deploy police forces in the demilitarized zone.
Last year, the court responded to an appeal from Cambodia by ordering both countries to withdraw their troops completely and simultaneously from the 17.3-square-kilometer (6.7-square-mile) demilitarized zone around the temple.
Both countries will deploy police forces in the demilitarized zone.
Indonesia scrambles to end ASEAN rift over South China Sea | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Indonesia scrambles to end ASEAN rift over South China Sea | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Jul 18, 2012
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Indonesia’s top diplomat says he has begun an emergency swing through Southeast Asia to try to end disagreements over territorial rifts in the South China Sea. He is pushing for a new pact aimed at avoiding future confrontations in the disputed region.
AP News, Jul 18, 2012
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Indonesia’s top diplomat says he has begun an emergency swing through Southeast Asia to try to end disagreements over territorial rifts in the South China Sea. He is pushing for a new pact aimed at avoiding future confrontations in the disputed region.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa says he met his Philippine counterpart, Albert del Rosario, in Manila on Wednesday and would fly to other Southeast Asian nations to try to ease the discord and avoid further damage to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
ASEAN foreign ministers failed to publicly issue a concluding joint statement after their annual summit in Phnom Penh last week when host Cambodia rejected a proposal by the Philippines and Vietnam to mention their separate territorial disputes with China in the statement.
ASEAN foreign ministers failed to publicly issue a concluding joint statement after their annual summit in Phnom Penh last week when host Cambodia rejected a proposal by the Philippines and Vietnam to mention their separate territorial disputes with China in the statement.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Thai man on trial for selling ABC footage critical of royal family | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Thai man on trial for selling ABC footage critical of royal family | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Lisa Gardner, Jul 17, 2012 11
The trial of a Thai man accused of selling video CDs of an Australian television news segment about Thailand’s monarchy is set to begin today in Bangkok.
Akachai Hongkangwan, a 36-year-old local vendor, faces a possible 15 years in prison under Thailand’s draconian lese-majeste law, a law which criminalises scrutiny or criticism o the revered royal family, and Article 54 (‘Film and Video Act’)*.
Akachai is accused of distributing VCD copies of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) news segment produced by the network’s Foreign Correspondent program, at a red-shirt rally in March 2011.
The ABC segment, ‘Long Live the King’, was aired in Australia in April 2010. It featured a number of high-profile lese-majeste cases, including those of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, charged as moderator of comments made on a local news website; the brother of lese-majeste prisoner Darinee ‘Da Torpedo’ Charnchoensilpakul, currently serving an extended jail term, and Chotisak Onsung, who was charged with lese-majeste in 2008 for not standing during the screening of the royal anthem prior to a movie screening.
Most controversially, the ABC segment featured footage of the Thai Crown Prince Vijiralongkorn, heir to the throne, that was frowned upon by the Thai authorities.
In the introduction to the program, ABC presenter Mark Corcoran would pertinently assess the difficulties that media face in covering political issues in-country. He would note:
Thailand’s Ambassador to Australia would later complain to ABC executives “that an organization of the ABC’s stature has lowered its own standard by airing the said documentary, which is presented in a manner no different from tabloid journalism.”
‘Local’ media in an online world
Made available on the ABC website with international ‘blocks’ in place, it is clear that the segment had been intended only for viewing by Australian audiences. Yet the segment would be quickly uploaded to the internet, where Thai censors hastily sought to ban digital access (the video, while regularly uploaded to YouTube before being removed under copyright restrictions, cannot be viewed in Thailand). Yet it is clear that international ‘blocks’ and local efforts to censor aside, once online such material does tend to proliferate.
It is no secret on the streets of Bangkok that material which scrutinizes the Thai royal family are broadly distributed among those ‘in the know’. (This journalist was once accosted by a local motorcycle driver who’d downloaded the ABC segment to his iPhone).
Akachai and the ABC
Sources close to Akachai say that, in the weeks following his arrest, he approached ABC staff in Bangkok. The local vendor “thought to advise them of what had happened, and that he was out on bail. In effect, he was told: ‘go away: consider yourself lucky that we don’t sue you for IP violation.’”
In July last year, staff who’d assisted the crew in Bangkok wrote to program producers. Concerned that Akachai’s case would go unnoticed, they asked that the ABC consider making a public statement. “That the producers was (sic) not intended to ‘insult’ or ‘disdain’ the institution (of the monarchy),” they wrote, “but to fairly criticize and present fair views as journalists.” They received no reply.
“It boils down to, well, ‘why are we journalists?’” says Hinke, a Canadian who himself has lived in Thailand for over 20 years. “Why are we reporting on news? We’re journalists because we want to expose that which wouldn’t otherwise be exposed. Why is the ABC producing such shows if they don’t care if people watch it or not, in the places where people are the most concerned?”
Sources close to Akachai say he remains hopeful that the ABC will make a public statement condemning the charges brought against him.
“If they won’t make a statement, at the very least, they should attend the trial,” says a source. “It’s too dangerous for people to speak out in his defense,” says another. “But not for the ABC – they’re already persona non grata.”
In the digital age, questions of distribution are key. Can journalists expect that what they produce for a single, localized audience, remain that way? Are there any such obligations that our information-gathering extends to those prosecuted?
The case will be heard throughout the week, and a verdict expected soon thereafter.
*At time of publication, this article first referred to Akachai being charged under Thailand’s lese-majeste and Computer Crimes laws. This is in fact, incorrect: he is charged under both Article 112 (lese-majeste) and Article 54 (Film and Video Act).
Lisa Gardner is an Australian freelance journalist based in Bangkok. Follow her on Twitter @leesebkk
Lisa Gardner, Jul 17, 2012 11
The trial of a Thai man accused of selling video CDs of an Australian television news segment about Thailand’s monarchy is set to begin today in Bangkok.
Akachai Hongkangwan, a 36-year-old local vendor, faces a possible 15 years in prison under Thailand’s draconian lese-majeste law, a law which criminalises scrutiny or criticism o the revered royal family, and Article 54 (‘Film and Video Act’)*.
Akachai is accused of distributing VCD copies of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) news segment produced by the network’s Foreign Correspondent program, at a red-shirt rally in March 2011.
The ABC segment, ‘Long Live the King’, was aired in Australia in April 2010. It featured a number of high-profile lese-majeste cases, including those of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, charged as moderator of comments made on a local news website; the brother of lese-majeste prisoner Darinee ‘Da Torpedo’ Charnchoensilpakul, currently serving an extended jail term, and Chotisak Onsung, who was charged with lese-majeste in 2008 for not standing during the screening of the royal anthem prior to a movie screening.
Most controversially, the ABC segment featured footage of the Thai Crown Prince Vijiralongkorn, heir to the throne, that was frowned upon by the Thai authorities.
In the introduction to the program, ABC presenter Mark Corcoran would pertinently assess the difficulties that media face in covering political issues in-country. He would note:
How do you tell the story of Thailand’s royal family when any criticism of the royals can bring (about) a hefty jail sentence in that country?… With Thailand at the crossroads, we’ve resolved that it’s time for a detailed examination of the laws that gag analysis of the laws, and their pivotal role in Thai politics.With the ABC’s Bangkok bureau evacuated prior to the screening, featured journalist Eric Campbell explained that ”it’s basically a story that can only be done by people who don’t live and work in Thailand.” For him, “the downside is unfortunately I can never go back”.
Thailand’s Ambassador to Australia would later complain to ABC executives “that an organization of the ABC’s stature has lowered its own standard by airing the said documentary, which is presented in a manner no different from tabloid journalism.”
‘Local’ media in an online world
Made available on the ABC website with international ‘blocks’ in place, it is clear that the segment had been intended only for viewing by Australian audiences. Yet the segment would be quickly uploaded to the internet, where Thai censors hastily sought to ban digital access (the video, while regularly uploaded to YouTube before being removed under copyright restrictions, cannot be viewed in Thailand). Yet it is clear that international ‘blocks’ and local efforts to censor aside, once online such material does tend to proliferate.
It is no secret on the streets of Bangkok that material which scrutinizes the Thai royal family are broadly distributed among those ‘in the know’. (This journalist was once accosted by a local motorcycle driver who’d downloaded the ABC segment to his iPhone).
Akachai and the ABC
Sources close to Akachai say that, in the weeks following his arrest, he approached ABC staff in Bangkok. The local vendor “thought to advise them of what had happened, and that he was out on bail. In effect, he was told: ‘go away: consider yourself lucky that we don’t sue you for IP violation.’”
In July last year, staff who’d assisted the crew in Bangkok wrote to program producers. Concerned that Akachai’s case would go unnoticed, they asked that the ABC consider making a public statement. “That the producers was (sic) not intended to ‘insult’ or ‘disdain’ the institution (of the monarchy),” they wrote, “but to fairly criticize and present fair views as journalists.” They received no reply.
“It boils down to, well, ‘why are we journalists?’” says Hinke, a Canadian who himself has lived in Thailand for over 20 years. “Why are we reporting on news? We’re journalists because we want to expose that which wouldn’t otherwise be exposed. Why is the ABC producing such shows if they don’t care if people watch it or not, in the places where people are the most concerned?”
Sources close to Akachai say he remains hopeful that the ABC will make a public statement condemning the charges brought against him.
“If they won’t make a statement, at the very least, they should attend the trial,” says a source. “It’s too dangerous for people to speak out in his defense,” says another. “But not for the ABC – they’re already persona non grata.”
In the digital age, questions of distribution are key. Can journalists expect that what they produce for a single, localized audience, remain that way? Are there any such obligations that our information-gathering extends to those prosecuted?
The case will be heard throughout the week, and a verdict expected soon thereafter.
*At time of publication, this article first referred to Akachai being charged under Thailand’s lese-majeste and Computer Crimes laws. This is in fact, incorrect: he is charged under both Article 112 (lese-majeste) and Article 54 (Film and Video Act).
Lisa Gardner is an Australian freelance journalist based in Bangkok. Follow her on Twitter @leesebkk
Monday, July 16, 2012
ASEAN’s communiqué failure disappoints SBY | The Jakarta Post
ASEAN’s communiqué failure disappoints SBY | The Jakarta Post
Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, July 16 2012
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his disappointment over the failed Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) communiqué during the newly arranged ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“This had never happened since the ASEAN was established. I am disappointed and really concerned,” Yudhoyono told the media on Monday to comment on the ASEAN foreign ministers’ failure to reach a consensus regarding the prolonged South China Sea dispute.
The impromptu press conference was made after Yudhoyono met with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa at the Presidential Office in the morning to talk about the fallout of the one-week ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.
The summit ended on July 13, for the first time in ASEAN’s 45-year history, with no joint communiqué.
“This could lead to misperceptions or false depictions about ASEAN. The media has said ASEAN was broken and there was no longer unity in the region,” Yudhoyono said.
“I disagree. ASEAN is not shattered and there is no disunity despite existing issues that must be resolved,” he added.
Indonesia is one of ASEAN’s founding members,
Marty said he was called by Yudhoyono and asked to meet the President at the latter’s office immediately after he returned home from Cambodia.
“The President has instructed me to tour some ASEAN cities to meet my counterparts with a hope that we can still reach consensus before the upcoming ASEAN Summit in November at the latest,” Marty said.
Among ASEAN cities, Marty has planned to visit in the near future Manila, the Philippines; Hanoi, Vietnam; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, July 16 2012
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his disappointment over the failed Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) communiqué during the newly arranged ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“This had never happened since the ASEAN was established. I am disappointed and really concerned,” Yudhoyono told the media on Monday to comment on the ASEAN foreign ministers’ failure to reach a consensus regarding the prolonged South China Sea dispute.
The impromptu press conference was made after Yudhoyono met with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa at the Presidential Office in the morning to talk about the fallout of the one-week ASEAN Ministerial Meeting.
The summit ended on July 13, for the first time in ASEAN’s 45-year history, with no joint communiqué.
“This could lead to misperceptions or false depictions about ASEAN. The media has said ASEAN was broken and there was no longer unity in the region,” Yudhoyono said.
“I disagree. ASEAN is not shattered and there is no disunity despite existing issues that must be resolved,” he added.
Indonesia is one of ASEAN’s founding members,
Marty said he was called by Yudhoyono and asked to meet the President at the latter’s office immediately after he returned home from Cambodia.
“The President has instructed me to tour some ASEAN cities to meet my counterparts with a hope that we can still reach consensus before the upcoming ASEAN Summit in November at the latest,” Marty said.
Among ASEAN cities, Marty has planned to visit in the near future Manila, the Philippines; Hanoi, Vietnam; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Thai army reaffirms usage of GT200-dowsing rod for bomb detection | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Thai army reaffirms usage of GT200-dowsing rod for bomb detection | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Saksith Saiyasombut, Siam Voices, Jul 14, 2012
Thailand’s army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has reaffirmed that the Royal Thai Army will keep on using the controversial GT200, a bogus device that is supposed to detect explosive materials among other substances. The device, effectively nothing more than an empty plastic shell with a dowsing rod, has been proven ineffective numerous times and the UK-based manufacturer has now been charged for fraud. Despite this, the GT200 has been spotted being still used by Thai soldiers at various times. Bangkok Pundit has some more background and some history on its usage in the Thai army.
The Bangkok Post has provided some soundbites by the army chief himself on the GT200 that are worth highlighting here:
Pronthip has been for a very long time the nationwide esteemed forensic expert, educating the country about the importance of scientific evidence and a nearly ubiquitous appearance in any media coverage of murder and other crime cases. However, she has been defending the GT200 with her continuous faith in the bogus device and insisting to still use it, even after the failed tests – killing off every credibility she had as a forensic scientist. (And to answer BP’s question in his post whether or not Pornthip has less media appearances these days: yes, definitely!)
It was just a matter of time when this issue of the bogus GT200 would pop up again as nothing really happened after the official government tests and despite the continuous investigation against the manufacturer by the BBC. Apart from the usual questions surrounding nebulous army procurements – this lot of about 1,000 plastic dowsing rods has cost somewhere between 700m – 800m Baht ($221m – $252m), while the real cost for it has been hardly 1000 Baht ($30) a piece – this also raises the questions about whether or not the Thai armed forces (at that time under the command of General Anupong Paochinda) will file charges against the fraudulent manufacturer.
Prayuth has thrown that responsibility to the government, while he should be reminded that he is responsible for the well-being of the soldiers that are apparently still using the bogus GT200 to detect bombs. Whether or not the army chief is also ready to fully convince the public of the effectiveness of this dowsing rod by personally using one in real-life circumstances has not been reported.
*What wonders me is that the Bangkok Post’s military correspondent Wassana Nanuam failed to mention the South’s 4th Region Army’s non-usage of the GT200 and actually wrote the complete opposite…?
Saksith Saiyasombut is a Thai blogger and journalist currently based in Hamburg, Germany. He can be followed on Twitter @Saksith and also on his public Facebook page here.
Saksith Saiyasombut, Siam Voices, Jul 14, 2012
Thailand’s army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha has reaffirmed that the Royal Thai Army will keep on using the controversial GT200, a bogus device that is supposed to detect explosive materials among other substances. The device, effectively nothing more than an empty plastic shell with a dowsing rod, has been proven ineffective numerous times and the UK-based manufacturer has now been charged for fraud. Despite this, the GT200 has been spotted being still used by Thai soldiers at various times. Bangkok Pundit has some more background and some history on its usage in the Thai army.
The Bangkok Post has provided some soundbites by the army chief himself on the GT200 that are worth highlighting here:
Gen Prayuth yesterday said the GT200 will continue to be used by the army in the far South. (…) The GT200 has been widely used by security officers in Thailand’s troubled deep South.However*, in Krungthep Turakij he is being quoted that the 4th Army Region, which covers the troubled South of Thailand, is not using it anymore. In the border region, insurgent violence has claimed thousands of lives in the past, many of them caused by IEDs (improvised explosive devices).
เมื่อถามย้ำว่ากองทัพภาคที่ 4 ยังใช้จีที 200 หรือไม่ พล.อ.ประยุทธ์ กล่าวว่า ไม่ได้ใช้แล้ว (…) หลังจากที่เครื่องมือตรวจวัตถุระเบิดมีปัญหาทาง พล.อ.ประยุทธ์ ก็สั่งการไม่กำลังพลในกองทัพภาคที่ 4 ใช้งานเพราะเกรงว่ากำลังพลจะไม่ปลอดภัย และขณะนี้ จีที 200 ถูกเก็บไว้ในกองทัพภาคที่ 4Nevertheless, Prayuth still somehow has faith in these dowsing rods:
When asked about whether or not the 4th Army Region is still using the GT200, General Prayuth says it is not being used anymore. (…) After the bomb-detecting devices have been found problematic, General Prayuth has ordered personnel in the 4th Army Region not to use it because it was deemed unsafe and the GT200 devices have been stored in the 4th Army Region.
“‘ประยุทธ์’แจงทบ.ไม่ได้ใช้’จีที200′แล้ว“, Krungthep Turakij, July 13, 2012
“I affirm that the device is still effective. Other armed forces are also using it,” the army chief said. (…) The army chief said the GT200 has proven to be effective in the army’s operations in the past. But he would respect any scientific test if it proves otherwise.Where was Prayuth in 2009 when the Abhisit administration has ordered a scientific test? The results were devastating: out of 20 tests, the device only ‘worked’ 4 times - probably as accurate and reliable as a flip of a coin! But then again, he may have been believing the words of Pornthip Rojanasunand.
Pronthip has been for a very long time the nationwide esteemed forensic expert, educating the country about the importance of scientific evidence and a nearly ubiquitous appearance in any media coverage of murder and other crime cases. However, she has been defending the GT200 with her continuous faith in the bogus device and insisting to still use it, even after the failed tests – killing off every credibility she had as a forensic scientist. (And to answer BP’s question in his post whether or not Pornthip has less media appearances these days: yes, definitely!)
It was just a matter of time when this issue of the bogus GT200 would pop up again as nothing really happened after the official government tests and despite the continuous investigation against the manufacturer by the BBC. Apart from the usual questions surrounding nebulous army procurements – this lot of about 1,000 plastic dowsing rods has cost somewhere between 700m – 800m Baht ($221m – $252m), while the real cost for it has been hardly 1000 Baht ($30) a piece – this also raises the questions about whether or not the Thai armed forces (at that time under the command of General Anupong Paochinda) will file charges against the fraudulent manufacturer.
Prayuth has thrown that responsibility to the government, while he should be reminded that he is responsible for the well-being of the soldiers that are apparently still using the bogus GT200 to detect bombs. Whether or not the army chief is also ready to fully convince the public of the effectiveness of this dowsing rod by personally using one in real-life circumstances has not been reported.
*What wonders me is that the Bangkok Post’s military correspondent Wassana Nanuam failed to mention the South’s 4th Region Army’s non-usage of the GT200 and actually wrote the complete opposite…?
Saksith Saiyasombut is a Thai blogger and journalist currently based in Hamburg, Germany. He can be followed on Twitter @Saksith and also on his public Facebook page here.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
ASEAN fails to reach common ground on China row | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
ASEAN fails to reach common ground on China row | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Jul 13, 2012
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Southeast Asian diplomats failed to reach common ground Friday on how to deal with a touchy territorial dispute involving China, as a regional conference ended without a joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s 45-year history.
AP News, Jul 13, 2012
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Southeast Asian diplomats failed to reach common ground Friday on how to deal with a touchy territorial dispute involving China, as a regional conference ended without a joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s 45-year history.
The failure to issue a statement following the meeting of foreign ministers underscores deep divisions within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations amid conflicting territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea involving four of its members plus China and Taiwan.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand said the Philippines and Vietnam wanted the statement to include a reference to a recent standoff between China and the Philippines at a shoal in the South China Sea claimed by both countries.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement lambasting host Cambodia for “consistently opposing any mention of the Scarborough Shoal at all” and for announcing that a joint communique cannot be issued.
According to the Philippine statement, Manila raised during the five-day conference the standoff that erupted in April between Chinese and Filipino government ships at the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the Philippines’ northwest coast. It said Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario wanted the ASEAN statement to mention that the territorial rift had been discussed.
China opposes efforts to bring the South China Sea disputes into any international arena for discussions, arguing the conflicts should be tackled only between Beijing and each of the rival claimants. Vietnamese and Philippine diplomats have criticized Cambodia, which has close ties with China, for towing Beijing’s line in the meetings in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said his government does not support any side in the disputes. He added that the failure to issue a statement lies with all ASEAN members, not just Cambodia.
“I requested that we issue the joint communique without mention of the South Shina Sea dispute … but some member countries repeatedly insisted to put the issue of the Scarborough Shoal,” he told reporters.
“I have told my colleagues that the meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers is not a court, a place to give a verdict about the dispute,” he said.
ASEAN’s members announced earlier this week that they had drafted a set of rules governing maritime rights and navigation in the South China Sea, and procedures for when governments disagree. ASEAN then would have to negotiate with China, which is not a member of the group, to finalize what many want to be a legally binding “code of conduct” to prevent armed confrontations in the disputed region.
The ASEAN countries presented their proposal to China at this week’s conference, though Beijing will probably want to water down any language that ties its hands.
The standoff between China and the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal began when the Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its exclusive economic zone, including the shoal. During the tensions, both sides sent government ships to the area.
The Philippines has withdrawn its vessels in the area, but Chinese government ships have remained at the shoal, which Beijing claims to have owned since ancient times.
Vietnam has protested a recent announcement by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. opening nine oil and gas lots for international bidders in areas overlapping with existing Vietnamese exploration blocks. Vietnam says the lots lie entirely within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan of Thailand said the Philippines and Vietnam wanted the statement to include a reference to a recent standoff between China and the Philippines at a shoal in the South China Sea claimed by both countries.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement lambasting host Cambodia for “consistently opposing any mention of the Scarborough Shoal at all” and for announcing that a joint communique cannot be issued.
According to the Philippine statement, Manila raised during the five-day conference the standoff that erupted in April between Chinese and Filipino government ships at the disputed Scarborough Shoal off the Philippines’ northwest coast. It said Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario wanted the ASEAN statement to mention that the territorial rift had been discussed.
China opposes efforts to bring the South China Sea disputes into any international arena for discussions, arguing the conflicts should be tackled only between Beijing and each of the rival claimants. Vietnamese and Philippine diplomats have criticized Cambodia, which has close ties with China, for towing Beijing’s line in the meetings in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said his government does not support any side in the disputes. He added that the failure to issue a statement lies with all ASEAN members, not just Cambodia.
“I requested that we issue the joint communique without mention of the South Shina Sea dispute … but some member countries repeatedly insisted to put the issue of the Scarborough Shoal,” he told reporters.
“I have told my colleagues that the meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers is not a court, a place to give a verdict about the dispute,” he said.
ASEAN’s members announced earlier this week that they had drafted a set of rules governing maritime rights and navigation in the South China Sea, and procedures for when governments disagree. ASEAN then would have to negotiate with China, which is not a member of the group, to finalize what many want to be a legally binding “code of conduct” to prevent armed confrontations in the disputed region.
The ASEAN countries presented their proposal to China at this week’s conference, though Beijing will probably want to water down any language that ties its hands.
The standoff between China and the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal began when the Philippines accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its exclusive economic zone, including the shoal. During the tensions, both sides sent government ships to the area.
The Philippines has withdrawn its vessels in the area, but Chinese government ships have remained at the shoal, which Beijing claims to have owned since ancient times.
Vietnam has protested a recent announcement by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. opening nine oil and gas lots for international bidders in areas overlapping with existing Vietnamese exploration blocks. Vietnam says the lots lie entirely within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
‘Language’ holds up South China Sea pact | The Phnom Penh Post
‘Language’ holds up South China Sea pact | The Phnom Penh Post
Bridget Di Certo and Cheang Sokha, 12 July 2012
The world is watching ASEAN foreign ministers as they scramble to reach a consensus on a regional Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, officials at the summit in Phnom Penh acknowledged yesterday.
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that consensus among ASEAN members was a “work in progress”. “We are getting there,” he said.
The major hold-up is “agreement on language,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn said at a press conference yesterday evening.
“The foreign ministers are working on their joint communiqué, but are working on agreement on the language.”
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said ASEAN discussions on the CoC were already having a “calming affect” on the international community.
“The fact that they are all committed to work on the code of conduct seriously in good faith . . . we have already achieved a milestone,” Pitsuwan said. “Earlier on, there was a reluctance on some parties to engage or not to engage and to engage … informally or engage periodically.”
Earlier in the week, ASEAN officials announced that officials had already drafted key elements of the CoC and these elements would then be taken to informal discussion with China.
However, China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Fu Ying, told reporters that there had been a “suggestion” from ASEAN ministers to launch discussions with China on the Code.
“The Chinese minister would like to give a serious consideration of the proposals for exploring the possibilities of a discussion of CoC,” Ying said, stressing that engagement would hinge on all members of ASEAN obeying and implementing the current Declaration of Conduct.
Bridget Di Certo and Cheang Sokha, 12 July 2012
The world is watching ASEAN foreign ministers as they scramble to reach a consensus on a regional Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, officials at the summit in Phnom Penh acknowledged yesterday.
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that consensus among ASEAN members was a “work in progress”. “We are getting there,” he said.
The major hold-up is “agreement on language,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn said at a press conference yesterday evening.
“The foreign ministers are working on their joint communiqué, but are working on agreement on the language.”
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said ASEAN discussions on the CoC were already having a “calming affect” on the international community.
“The fact that they are all committed to work on the code of conduct seriously in good faith . . . we have already achieved a milestone,” Pitsuwan said. “Earlier on, there was a reluctance on some parties to engage or not to engage and to engage … informally or engage periodically.”
Earlier in the week, ASEAN officials announced that officials had already drafted key elements of the CoC and these elements would then be taken to informal discussion with China.
However, China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Fu Ying, told reporters that there had been a “suggestion” from ASEAN ministers to launch discussions with China on the Code.
“The Chinese minister would like to give a serious consideration of the proposals for exploring the possibilities of a discussion of CoC,” Ying said, stressing that engagement would hinge on all members of ASEAN obeying and implementing the current Declaration of Conduct.
China and Japan clash over disputed territory | The Phnom Penh Post
China and Japan clash over disputed territory | The Phnom Penh Post
Bridget Di Certo and David Boyle, 12 July 2012
Amidst a week of predictable discussion about the South China Sea, a different territorial sea dispute dominated the sidelines of the ASEAN conference in Phnom Penh yesterday.
Japan lodged a protest with China yesterday against the entry of Chinese patrol ships into waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The islands, claimed by Beijing and Tokyo as well as Taipei, are located near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge oil and gas reserves.
In a snap sidelines meet this afternoon, the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers held off-campus discussions at the InterContinental Hotel.
The Chinese delegation released a statement directly after the meeting emphasising that the disputed islands – known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China – and “their affiliated islets have always been China’s territory since ancient times, over which China has indisputable sovereignty”.
The Chinese statement said that Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi “urged Japan to adhere to relevant agreements and understanding between the two sides in good faith, return to the right path of managing differences through dialogue and consultation with the Chinese side”.
At a Tokyo press conference, Japanese chief cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura said: “It is clear that the Senkaku islands are inherently Japanese territory from a historical point of view and in terms of international law and that they are under the effective control of Japan.”
Naoka Saiki, deputy press secretary at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Post that the meeting yesterday afternoon between the two foreign ministers had resulted in no resolution at this point.
“Minister of Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba lodged a strong protest against Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China on this incident,” she said, adding that Gemba also stated the importance of maintaining the bilateral relationships between the two countries.
Under the chairmanship of China’s close ally Cambodia, ASEAN has stipulated that the production of a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea will have Chinese involvement at every step, despite opposition from the Philippines at the ASEAN Summit in April.
In the annual joint communiqué of the foreign ministers in 2011, the 10-member group made it clear that a region code of conduct was an ASEAN-only issue, with “intensive discussion in ASEAN” to follow.
Bridget Di Certo and David Boyle, 12 July 2012
Amidst a week of predictable discussion about the South China Sea, a different territorial sea dispute dominated the sidelines of the ASEAN conference in Phnom Penh yesterday.
Japan lodged a protest with China yesterday against the entry of Chinese patrol ships into waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The islands, claimed by Beijing and Tokyo as well as Taipei, are located near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge oil and gas reserves.
In a snap sidelines meet this afternoon, the Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers held off-campus discussions at the InterContinental Hotel.
The Chinese delegation released a statement directly after the meeting emphasising that the disputed islands – known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China – and “their affiliated islets have always been China’s territory since ancient times, over which China has indisputable sovereignty”.
The Chinese statement said that Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi “urged Japan to adhere to relevant agreements and understanding between the two sides in good faith, return to the right path of managing differences through dialogue and consultation with the Chinese side”.
At a Tokyo press conference, Japanese chief cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura said: “It is clear that the Senkaku islands are inherently Japanese territory from a historical point of view and in terms of international law and that they are under the effective control of Japan.”
Naoka Saiki, deputy press secretary at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Post that the meeting yesterday afternoon between the two foreign ministers had resulted in no resolution at this point.
“Minister of Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba lodged a strong protest against Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China on this incident,” she said, adding that Gemba also stated the importance of maintaining the bilateral relationships between the two countries.
Under the chairmanship of China’s close ally Cambodia, ASEAN has stipulated that the production of a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea will have Chinese involvement at every step, despite opposition from the Philippines at the ASEAN Summit in April.
In the annual joint communiqué of the foreign ministers in 2011, the 10-member group made it clear that a region code of conduct was an ASEAN-only issue, with “intensive discussion in ASEAN” to follow.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
In historic visit, Clinton reaches out to Laos | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
In historic visit, Clinton reaches out to Laos | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News, Jul 11, 2012
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos in more than five decades, gauging whether a place the United States pummeled with bombs during the Vietnam War could evolve into a new foothold of American influence in Asia.
Clinton met with the communist government’s prime minister and foreign minister in the capital of Vientiane on Wednesday, part of a weeklong diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia. The goal is to bolster America’s standing in some of the fastest growing markets of the world, and counter China’s expanding economic, diplomatic and military dominance of the region.
Thirty-seven years since the end of America’s long war in Indochina, Laos is the latest test case of the Obama administration’s efforts to “pivot” U.S. foreign policy away from the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It follows a long period of estrangement between Washington and a once hostile Cold War-era foe, and comes as U.S. relations warm with countries such as Burma and Vietnam.
In her meetings, Clinton discussed environmental concerns over a proposed dam on the Mekong River, investment opportunities and joint efforts to clean up the tens of millions of unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. Greater American support programs in these fields will be included in a multimillion-dollar initiative for Southeast Asia to be announced later this week.
After the meetings, she said they “traced the arc of our relationship from addressing the tragic legacies of the past to finding a way to being partners of the future.”
Clinton also visited a Buddhist temple and a U.S.-funded prosthetic center for victims of American munitions.
At the prosthetic center, she met a man named Phongsavath Souliyalat, who told her how he had lost both his hands and his eyesight from a cluster bomb on his 16th birthday.
“We have to do more,” Clinton told him. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to come here today, so that we can tell more people about the work that we should be doing together.”
The last U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos was John Foster Dulles in 1955. His plane landed after being forced to circle overhead while a water buffalo was cleared from the tarmac.
At that time, the mountainous, sparsely populated nation was at the center of U.S. foreign policy. On leaving office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned his successor, John F. Kennedy, that if Laos fell to the communists, all Southeast Asia could be lost as well.
While Vietnam ended up the focal point of America’s “domino theory” foreign policy, Laos was drawn deeply into the conflict as the U.S. funded its anti-communist forces and bombed North Vietnamese supply lines and bases.
The U.S. dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs on the impoverished country during its “secret war” between 1964 and 1973 — about a ton of ordnance for each Laotian man, woman and child. That exceeded the amount dropped on Germany and Japan together in World War II, making Laos the most heavily bombed nation per person in history.
Four decades later, American weapons are still claiming lives. When the war ended, about a third of some 270 million cluster bombs dropped on Laos had failed to detonate, leaving the country awash in unexploded munitions. More than 20,000 people have been killed by ordnance in postwar Laos, according to its government, and contamination throughout the country is a major barrier to agricultural development.
Cleanup has been excruciatingly slow. The Washington-based Legacies of War says only 1 percent of contaminated lands have been cleared and has called on Washington to provide far greater assistance. The State Department has provided $47 million since 1997, though a larger effort could make Laos “bomb-free in our lifetimes,” California Rep. Mike Honda argued.
“Let us mend the wounds of the past together so that Laos can begin a new legacy of peace,” said Honda, who is Japanese-American.
The U.S. is spending $9 million this year on cleanup operations for unexploded ordnance in Laos, but is likely to offer more in the coming days.
It is part of a larger Obama administration effort to reorient the direction of U.S. diplomacy and commercial policy as the world’s most populous continent becomes the center of the global economy over the next century. It is also a reaction to China’s expanding influence.
Despite America’s difficult history in the region, nations in Beijing’s backyard are welcoming the greater engagement — and the promise of billions of dollars more in American investment. The change has been sudden, with some longtime U.S. foes now seeking a relationship that could serve at least as a counterweight to China’s regional hegemony.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has made significant strides toward reform and democracy after decades as an international pariah, when it was universally scorned for its atrocious labor rights record and its long repression of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy movement. The Obama administration is expected to ease investment restrictions in the country this week.
Vietnam, threatened by Beijing’s claims to the resource-rich South China Sea, has dramatically deepened diplomatic and commercial ties with the United States, with their two-country trade now exceeding $22 billion a year — from nothing two decades ago. Clinton on Tuesday made her third trip to the fast-growing country, meeting with senior communist officials to prod them into greater respect for free expression and labor rights.
Landlocked and impoverished Laos offers fewer resources than its far larger neighbors and has lagged in Asia’s economic boom. It remains one of the poorest countries in Asia, even as it hopes to kick-start its development with accession soon to the World Trade Organization.
In recent years, China has stepped up as Laos’ principal source of assistance, with loans and grants of up to $350 million over the last two decades. But like many others in its region, Laos’ government is wary of Beijing’s intentions. And it has kept an envious eye on neighboring Vietnam’s 40 percent surge in commercial trade with the United States over the last two years, as well as the sudden rapprochement between the U.S. and nearby Myanmar.
Persistent human rights issues stand in the way of closer relations with Washington. The U.S. remains concerned about the plight of the ethnic Hmong minority, most of whom fled the country after fighting for a U.S.-backed guerilla army during the Vietnam War. Nearly 250,000 resettled in the United States. The U.S. has pressed Laos to respect the rights of returnees from neighboring countries.
Washington also has been seeking greater cooperation from Laos on the search for U.S. soldiers missing in action since the Vietnam War. More than 300 Americans remain unaccounted for in Laos.
And it is pressing the government to hold off on a proposed $3.5 billion dam project across the Mekong River. The dam would be the first across the river’s mainstream and has sparked a barrage of opposition from neighboring countries and environmental groups, which warn that tens of millions of livelihoods could be at stake.
The project is currently on hold and Washington hopes to stall it further with the promise of funds for new environmental studies.
AP News, Jul 11, 2012
VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos in more than five decades, gauging whether a place the United States pummeled with bombs during the Vietnam War could evolve into a new foothold of American influence in Asia.
Thirty-seven years since the end of America’s long war in Indochina, Laos is the latest test case of the Obama administration’s efforts to “pivot” U.S. foreign policy away from the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It follows a long period of estrangement between Washington and a once hostile Cold War-era foe, and comes as U.S. relations warm with countries such as Burma and Vietnam.
In her meetings, Clinton discussed environmental concerns over a proposed dam on the Mekong River, investment opportunities and joint efforts to clean up the tens of millions of unexploded bombs the U.S. dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War. Greater American support programs in these fields will be included in a multimillion-dollar initiative for Southeast Asia to be announced later this week.
After the meetings, she said they “traced the arc of our relationship from addressing the tragic legacies of the past to finding a way to being partners of the future.”
Clinton also visited a Buddhist temple and a U.S.-funded prosthetic center for victims of American munitions.
At the prosthetic center, she met a man named Phongsavath Souliyalat, who told her how he had lost both his hands and his eyesight from a cluster bomb on his 16th birthday.
“We have to do more,” Clinton told him. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to come here today, so that we can tell more people about the work that we should be doing together.”
The last U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos was John Foster Dulles in 1955. His plane landed after being forced to circle overhead while a water buffalo was cleared from the tarmac.
At that time, the mountainous, sparsely populated nation was at the center of U.S. foreign policy. On leaving office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned his successor, John F. Kennedy, that if Laos fell to the communists, all Southeast Asia could be lost as well.
While Vietnam ended up the focal point of America’s “domino theory” foreign policy, Laos was drawn deeply into the conflict as the U.S. funded its anti-communist forces and bombed North Vietnamese supply lines and bases.
The U.S. dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs on the impoverished country during its “secret war” between 1964 and 1973 — about a ton of ordnance for each Laotian man, woman and child. That exceeded the amount dropped on Germany and Japan together in World War II, making Laos the most heavily bombed nation per person in history.
Four decades later, American weapons are still claiming lives. When the war ended, about a third of some 270 million cluster bombs dropped on Laos had failed to detonate, leaving the country awash in unexploded munitions. More than 20,000 people have been killed by ordnance in postwar Laos, according to its government, and contamination throughout the country is a major barrier to agricultural development.
Cleanup has been excruciatingly slow. The Washington-based Legacies of War says only 1 percent of contaminated lands have been cleared and has called on Washington to provide far greater assistance. The State Department has provided $47 million since 1997, though a larger effort could make Laos “bomb-free in our lifetimes,” California Rep. Mike Honda argued.
“Let us mend the wounds of the past together so that Laos can begin a new legacy of peace,” said Honda, who is Japanese-American.
The U.S. is spending $9 million this year on cleanup operations for unexploded ordnance in Laos, but is likely to offer more in the coming days.
It is part of a larger Obama administration effort to reorient the direction of U.S. diplomacy and commercial policy as the world’s most populous continent becomes the center of the global economy over the next century. It is also a reaction to China’s expanding influence.
Despite America’s difficult history in the region, nations in Beijing’s backyard are welcoming the greater engagement — and the promise of billions of dollars more in American investment. The change has been sudden, with some longtime U.S. foes now seeking a relationship that could serve at least as a counterweight to China’s regional hegemony.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has made significant strides toward reform and democracy after decades as an international pariah, when it was universally scorned for its atrocious labor rights record and its long repression of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy movement. The Obama administration is expected to ease investment restrictions in the country this week.
Vietnam, threatened by Beijing’s claims to the resource-rich South China Sea, has dramatically deepened diplomatic and commercial ties with the United States, with their two-country trade now exceeding $22 billion a year — from nothing two decades ago. Clinton on Tuesday made her third trip to the fast-growing country, meeting with senior communist officials to prod them into greater respect for free expression and labor rights.
Landlocked and impoverished Laos offers fewer resources than its far larger neighbors and has lagged in Asia’s economic boom. It remains one of the poorest countries in Asia, even as it hopes to kick-start its development with accession soon to the World Trade Organization.
In recent years, China has stepped up as Laos’ principal source of assistance, with loans and grants of up to $350 million over the last two decades. But like many others in its region, Laos’ government is wary of Beijing’s intentions. And it has kept an envious eye on neighboring Vietnam’s 40 percent surge in commercial trade with the United States over the last two years, as well as the sudden rapprochement between the U.S. and nearby Myanmar.
Persistent human rights issues stand in the way of closer relations with Washington. The U.S. remains concerned about the plight of the ethnic Hmong minority, most of whom fled the country after fighting for a U.S.-backed guerilla army during the Vietnam War. Nearly 250,000 resettled in the United States. The U.S. has pressed Laos to respect the rights of returnees from neighboring countries.
Washington also has been seeking greater cooperation from Laos on the search for U.S. soldiers missing in action since the Vietnam War. More than 300 Americans remain unaccounted for in Laos.
And it is pressing the government to hold off on a proposed $3.5 billion dam project across the Mekong River. The dam would be the first across the river’s mainstream and has sparked a barrage of opposition from neighboring countries and environmental groups, which warn that tens of millions of livelihoods could be at stake.
The project is currently on hold and Washington hopes to stall it further with the promise of funds for new environmental studies.
US man jailed for translating book about Thai king freed | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
US man jailed for translating book about Thai king freed | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
AP News Jul 11, 2012
BANGKOK (AP) — A lawyer for an American imprisoned in Thailand for translating a banned book about the king says he has been granted a royal pardon, and the U.S. Embassy says he has been freed.
AP News Jul 11, 2012
BANGKOK (AP) — A lawyer for an American imprisoned in Thailand for translating a banned book about the king says he has been granted a royal pardon, and the U.S. Embassy says he has been freed.
Joe Gordon was sentenced in December to two and a half years in prison for translating excerpts of the unauthorized biography “The King Never Smiles” from English into Thai. It’s one high-profile example of the severe punishments given for comments deemed insulting to Thailand’s royal family.
Gordon’s lawyer Arnon Numpa says the royal pardon was granted Tuesday. U.S. Embassy spokesman Walter Braunohler says Gordon was freed that night.
Gordon’s lawyer Arnon Numpa says the royal pardon was granted Tuesday. U.S. Embassy spokesman Walter Braunohler says Gordon was freed that night.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
China to join ASEAN sea talks | The Phnom Penh Post
China to join ASEAN sea talks | The Phnom Penh Post
Shane Worrell and Cheang Sokha, 10 July 2012
China may not be in ASEAN, but it’s looking more and more like an honorary member – at least where the South China Sea is concerned.
ASEAN foreign ministers yesterday took a significant step towards involving the burgeoning superpower in South China Sea discussions, adopting key elements of a Code of Conduct on behaviour in the disputed waters.
Kao Kim Hourn, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said ASEAN was now ready to meet with China over the long-awaited document that would be for “11 parties, not just ASEAN”.
“At the first meeting [on Sunday], they [senior officials] agreed that to work on the Code of Conduct ... ASEAN will meet with China to discuss the code of conduct from now on,” he said. “It is ASEAN and China.”
Senior officials, including some from China, would be involved in the final wording of the CoC, he said.
China, Taiwan and ASEAN members the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia have all made claims on the resource-rich waters that have become a powder keg under the ASEAN chairmanship of China’s close ally Cambodia.
Anxieties about the CoC have intensified this year as activities in the waters increased.
In 2002, ASEAN members and China agreed on a Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC), but it was never fully implemented.
Yesterday’s announcement came just hours after Prime Minister Hun Sen officially launched this week’s ASEAN meetings, which included yesterday’s 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in front of hundreds at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.
During his opening address, the Prime Minister said ASEAN “should give emphasis to the implementation of the DoC, including the eventual conclusion of [a CoC]”.
ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan acknowledged yesterday there had been “rising interest” since the ASEAN regional forum in Hanoi in 2010.
“I think this has something to do with the heightened attention to the issue and the realisation and awareness that the region must be able to show the international community that it is manageable and we are trying to manage it in the best possible way,” Pitsuwan said.
The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh released a statement underscoring its commitment to implementing the DoC, adding that it had been engaged in “informal discussion” on how to “jointly formulate a code of conduct in the South China Sea”.
To contact the reporters on this story: Shane Worrell at shane.worrell@phnompenhpost.com
Cheang Sokha at sokha.cheang@phnompenhpost.com
Shane Worrell and Cheang Sokha, 10 July 2012
China may not be in ASEAN, but it’s looking more and more like an honorary member – at least where the South China Sea is concerned.
ASEAN foreign ministers yesterday took a significant step towards involving the burgeoning superpower in South China Sea discussions, adopting key elements of a Code of Conduct on behaviour in the disputed waters.
Kao Kim Hourn, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said ASEAN was now ready to meet with China over the long-awaited document that would be for “11 parties, not just ASEAN”.
“At the first meeting [on Sunday], they [senior officials] agreed that to work on the Code of Conduct ... ASEAN will meet with China to discuss the code of conduct from now on,” he said. “It is ASEAN and China.”
Senior officials, including some from China, would be involved in the final wording of the CoC, he said.
China, Taiwan and ASEAN members the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia have all made claims on the resource-rich waters that have become a powder keg under the ASEAN chairmanship of China’s close ally Cambodia.
Anxieties about the CoC have intensified this year as activities in the waters increased.
In 2002, ASEAN members and China agreed on a Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DoC), but it was never fully implemented.
Yesterday’s announcement came just hours after Prime Minister Hun Sen officially launched this week’s ASEAN meetings, which included yesterday’s 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in front of hundreds at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.
During his opening address, the Prime Minister said ASEAN “should give emphasis to the implementation of the DoC, including the eventual conclusion of [a CoC]”.
ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan acknowledged yesterday there had been “rising interest” since the ASEAN regional forum in Hanoi in 2010.
“I think this has something to do with the heightened attention to the issue and the realisation and awareness that the region must be able to show the international community that it is manageable and we are trying to manage it in the best possible way,” Pitsuwan said.
The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh released a statement underscoring its commitment to implementing the DoC, adding that it had been engaged in “informal discussion” on how to “jointly formulate a code of conduct in the South China Sea”.
To contact the reporters on this story: Shane Worrell at shane.worrell@phnompenhpost.com
Cheang Sokha at sokha.cheang@phnompenhpost.com
Monday, July 9, 2012
UN Council declares Internet freedom a human right | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
UN Council declares Internet freedom a human right | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent
Lisa Gardner, Jul 09, 2012
On Thursday, July 5, the UN Human Rights Council passed a landmark resolution that recognizes the right to freedom of expression online, and calls upon states to promote Internet access as fundamental to the exercise of civic rights.
“The same rights that people have offline must also be protected online,” noted the Council, the UN’s main human rights body, as civic and political rights are “applicable regardless of frontiers.” Frontiers that were once conceived as borders between countries are now understood as barriers to access – namely, to that global sphere of knowledge commonly known as the Internet.
DEBATE & DISSENT: The Internet, a ‘Human Right’?
As the Council met in Geneva, Swedish Ambassador Jan Knutsson sought to persuade states to back the bill, reiterating the Internet’s capacity for positive social and cultural development.
“It is clear that the Internet and information technologies have been key in changing people’s lives – making them less vulnerable, and reducing poverty,” he argued – the implications of which are egalitarian, and democratic. “The openness of the Internet levels the playing field between regions and continents.”
And yet, how might more censorious states support any such proposal which gives greater impetus to free expression online? China, Russia, and Cuba in particular raised concerns that unfettered rights online would do little to curb cyber crime and other “negative” developments.
Chinese Ambassador Xia Jingge said that he’d hoped “the sponsors (would) consider the differences in views… (regarding) freedom of speech, and control of the Internet, amongst the different countries”, since:
“It is an important step in determining how to incorporate new electronic frontiers into the established body of international human rights agreements,” noted rights institute Freedom House. “It also firmly establishes the global acceptance of the principle of free expression on the Internet, even if its application has yet to be fully realized.”
Lisa Gardner, Jul 09, 2012
On Thursday, July 5, the UN Human Rights Council passed a landmark resolution that recognizes the right to freedom of expression online, and calls upon states to promote Internet access as fundamental to the exercise of civic rights.
DEBATE & DISSENT: The Internet, a ‘Human Right’?
As the Council met in Geneva, Swedish Ambassador Jan Knutsson sought to persuade states to back the bill, reiterating the Internet’s capacity for positive social and cultural development.
“It is clear that the Internet and information technologies have been key in changing people’s lives – making them less vulnerable, and reducing poverty,” he argued – the implications of which are egalitarian, and democratic. “The openness of the Internet levels the playing field between regions and continents.”
And yet, how might more censorious states support any such proposal which gives greater impetus to free expression online? China, Russia, and Cuba in particular raised concerns that unfettered rights online would do little to curb cyber crime and other “negative” developments.
Chinese Ambassador Xia Jingge said that he’d hoped “the sponsors (would) consider the differences in views… (regarding) freedom of speech, and control of the Internet, amongst the different countries”, since:
(China) believes that the free flow of information on the Internet, and the safe flow of information on the Internet, are mutually dependent. As the Internet develops rapidly, online gambling, pornography, fraud and hacking are increasing its threat to the legal rights of the society and the public, particularly the unhealthy information have a huge negative impact on the growth of minors.Yet China, along with more than 80 countries, including 30 members of the council, would sign on to co-sponsor the non-binding resolution.
The governments of the world are duty bound to fight against such crime, to guarantee the safe flow of information on the Internet, to guide the public to use the public – to run the Internet – legally. Otherwise, unhealthy and negative information flow will obstruct the development of the Internet.
“It is an important step in determining how to incorporate new electronic frontiers into the established body of international human rights agreements,” noted rights institute Freedom House. “It also firmly establishes the global acceptance of the principle of free expression on the Internet, even if its application has yet to be fully realized.”
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