Starting Points

Apr 18, 2012

New York Review of Books Blog

This week on nybooks.com: A challenge to the War on Drugs, what Vladimir Putin learned in the KGB, how science is like human rights, Frank Lloyd Wright’s favorite photographer, reading in the bathroom,stuttering, and the “negative space” of Central Park.

SPEECH

Emperor Claudius I of Rome, Aristotle, Virgil, Demosthenes, Charles Darwin, opera star Robert Merrill, the young Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, actor Louis Jouvet, and French revolutionary activist Camille Desmoulins were all stutterers.

LATIN AMERICA

An End to the War on Drugs?

Alma Guillermoprieto

Drug policy is an ideological live wire. But for the first time, Latin American leaders, led by Guatemala's president, are discussing alternatives to the US-led War on Drugs. Is there a better way?

RUSSIA

Vladimir's Tale

Anne Applebaum

Putin doesn’t merely dislike his would-be opponents, he believes that they are sinister agents of foreign powers. He doesn’t just object to the liberal political system they support, he believes they are plotting to “usurp power” and hand the country over to rapacious outsiders.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Modernism's Slyest Lens

Martin Filler

A major retrospective of photographer Pedro Guerrero’s work traces his career from his images of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings in their natural settings to his deceptively suave photographs depicting the rise of America’s car culture in the 1960s.

TRIBUTE

Fang Lizhi, a Galileo for Our Time

Perry Link

Fang’s path through life observed a pattern that is common to China’s dissidents: a person begins with socialist ideals, feels bitter when the rulers betray the ideals, resorts to outspoken criticism, and ends in prison or exile. But Fang was a natural scientist, and this made him different in important ways.

ESSAY

The Bathroom Muse

Charles Simic

Has there ever been any survey conducted among those who lock themselves in the bathroom inquiring how they spend their time? Do they read, smoke, talk to themselves, think things over, say their prayers, or just stare into space?

MEMOIR

Negative Space

Thomas Beller

There is so much action in New York one is sometimes perversely excited by those moments, or those places, when one is not part of it. Where nothing is happening. These places, in turn, become little air-pockets of possibility—what I call negative space.

Malaysia Debates New Security Laws

By Shibani Mahtani

: European Pressphoto Association; Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his British counterpart David Cameron (2-L) speak during their visit to the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia Campus in Selangor.

When British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Malaysia late last week, he was quick to praise the country’s move to embrace “moderate” politics, commending Prime Minister Najib Razak for repealing Malaysia’s Internal Security Act and enacting political reforms that have now become synonymous with his administration.

But Mr. Najib’s domestic constituents don’t quite agree, remaining vocal in their opposition to the new security bill – with some going as far as to call for its removal.

The bill was touted as a way to get rid of some of the most repressive of Malaysia’s security laws. Mr. Najib labeled the bill, which has specific provisions that prevent arrest for political reasons and prohibit indefinite detention without trial, a “major step forward” for the country’s reformist program.

But the bill has invited vigorous debate since it was introduced last week, with some maintaining that it curbs civil rights by granting wide-ranging powers to both the police and the government.

Some groups say they are concerned that, as stated in the bill, a “police officer may without warrant arrest and detain” anyone accused of “security offences” and any officer above the rank of superintendent can keep them detained for 28 days – a process that activists say should be subject to judicial oversight, and grants indiscriminate power to a large number of officers.

The police would be given “broad powers to conduct searches and intercept communications without judicial warrant, making the force susceptible to abuse of power,” said a statement from Suaram (Voice of the Malaysian People), a nongovernmental group that campaigns for human rights and against the ISA.

The group also took issue with a statement from the Malaysian home minister saying that the bill will not limit or curb the powers of the police.

“The history of human rights violations by the police…clearly shows why the police should not be given such broad powers,” Suaram said in a statement. The human rights advocacy group said there has been a “lack of justice and accountability” for violations on the part of the police, and has also called for the establishment of an independent police complaints and misconduct commission to supplement the new laws.

Representatives from the Malaysian government were not immediately available for comment.

Legal bodies, too, like the Malaysian Bar Council, say they have “serious” concerns about some of the language within the new bill. Specifically, the council said it believes the definition of a “security offense” punishable under the bill is too wide, including acts prejudicial to “public safety.”

The Malaysian Bar also expressed concern over new procedures around “sensitive information” included in the bill, which they say is a radical departure from current rules of evidence and limits fair trial.

The bill is currently being debated in Malaysia’s parliament, though a quick ratification is expected. Addressing Malaysia’s lawmakers, Mr. Najib said that anyone arrested under the new bill is free to file for legal action on the “reason and means” of their arrest, a provision not included under the ISA.

He added that a committee will be formed, including members from Malaysia’s Bar Council and Human Rights Commission, to monitor the implementation of the law and amend it if necessary, according to a report by Malaysiakini.

With an election widely expected to be right around the corner, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim joined in the chorus of critics. Having been himself once detained under the ISA, he said the government had to “repeal the remaining repressive laws,” something his party has pledged to do.

Local press reported that Mr. Najib pledged Monday to review the Sedition Act, which some activists allege has increasingly been used against political dissidents. He announced that he plans to replace laws around Malaysia’s media, too – further attempts to burnish his credibility a reformer before a crucial test at the polls.

International human rights groups who have long been critical of Malaysia’s legal framework remain unconvinced.

“The Security Offences Bill sets the stage for trials with secret witnesses, unlawfully obtained evidence, and continued detention of those found not guilty,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch . “The government should go back to the drawing board and draft a law with input from civil society that will ensure the protection of basic rights.”

–Celine Fernandez contributed to this article.

World Bank East Asia and Pacific Updates

APRIL 16, 2012

East Asia and Pacific

China Aims for Soft Landing, says World Bank

Latest China Quarterly Update projects GDP growth in China will be 8.2 percent in 2012 and 8.6 percent in 2013.

	Read the press release
	Get the report
	Watch the video interview with Ardo Hansson, Lead Economist, World Bank Office, Beijing

MORE NEWS AND FEATURES

World Bank Announces Open Access Policy for Research and Knowledge, Launches Open Knowledge Repository

The World Bank announced that it will implement a new Open Access policy for its research outputs and knowledge products, effective July 1, 2012. Read more

China: Restoring and Improving Education in Earthquake-struck Areas

The earthquake that hit southwestern China in 2008 set back local education. A project helped reconstruct schools, improve education. Read more

New Bank Report Looks at China’s Rural Elderly

How the country manages the aging of its population will be one of the major challenges it faces in coming decades, the success of which will have implications for not only China but also the whole world, says a new World Bank report. Read more

Improving the standard of education for future health workers in Indonesia

After successfully increasing coverage of health services in the country, Indonesia is now addressing quality of education for health workers. Read more

Indonesia: Redirected Spending Can Lead to Higher, More Inclusive Growth

Redirecting spending to more productive areas could potentially lead to higher and more inclusive growth. Read more

Lao PDR: Talking Economics

Lao experts working at the World Bank participated in discussions at the National University of Laos in Vientiane, Souphanouvong University in Luang Prabang, and Champasack University in Champasack province on three of its analytical reports—the Lao Economic Monitor (LEM), Investment Climate Assessment (ICA), and Public Expenditure Review (PER). Read more

Malaysia to post steady growth in 2012; ‘Modern jobs’ at the core of Malaysia’s transformation into a High-Income Country

Modern jobs will help Malaysia become a high-income economy that will benefit all Malaysians. Read more

World Bank Group Country Director for Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Pacific Islands Meets Solomon Islands Finance Minister

Discussions with governament and other development partners pertained to the World Bank’s continued engagement with Solomon Islands over the next two to four years. Read more

Philippines: 700,000 people to benefit from improved access to health services

Affordable maternal health services extended to poor families in Eastern Visayas. Read more

Vietnam’s Health Policy Makers Receive New Approaches and Tools for Health System and Health Financing Reforms

Seminar to provide health policy makers and technical experts a strategic way to analyze the various instruments that need to be used to improve health system performance. Read more

Five Innovative Learning Programs in Vietnam Win AusAID-World Bank Support

The Vietnam Blended Learning Program 2012 awarded grants to five innovative learning program ideas received from social organizations, non-governmental organizations, schools and universities, private companies and local training agencies, following the AusAID–World Bank’s call for ideas in October 2011. Read more

Toward More Livable Cities in Vietnam

Vietnam can more successfully harness the economic and social opportunities and mitigate the challenges of urbanization if the urbanization process is well managed. Read more

BLOG

Visit East Asia & Pacific on the rise and join the conversation around important development challenges facing the East Asia and Pacific region!

	Gender in the Pacific: Can a report help improve equality?(Katherine Patrick)

Shakespeare Must Die: Thai Authorities Ban Film Adaptation of Macbeth

by Mariana Centeno / April 18, 2012 / No comments

Samanrat Kanjanavanit, better known as Ing K, is the director of Shakespeare Must Die, the first Shakespearian Thai film, which is based on Macbeth. Although unorthodox, both Ing K and the film’s producer Manit Sriwanichpoom have called Shakespeare Must Die a horror film. What has been more puzzling, however, is the Thai government’s rapid change from a supporter of the film to a condemner.

During the pre-production of Shakespeare Must Die the Thai Film Censorship Board—which is under the supervision of the Department of Cultural Promotion, a branch of Thailand’s Ministry of Culture—supported the project after reading a synopsis and an outline of the movie. The film also received financial support from government initiatives such as the Thai Kem Khaeng Initiative and the Office of Contemporary Art. Nevertheless, on the afternoon of April 3, the Thai Film Censorship Board banned the completed film. Sriwanichpoom explained their decision:“The Board deems thatShakespeare Must Die has content that causes divisiveness among the people of the nation.”

This contradiction has lead to much speculation on why the movie was banned.

Shakespeare Must Die follows the movements of a theatre group staging a production of Macbeth with some important—and controversial—additions. Ing K included real footage taken from Thailand’s May 19, 2010 military crackdown on anti-government protests in which 12 were reported dead and 60 wounded. Scenes from this conflict have been objected by the film board, who expressed fear about the public’s difficulty distinguishing reality from fiction.

According to the Guardian one of the film’s main characters is a dictator named Dear Leader, who bears a resemblance to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup which sparked years of political turmoil between his supporters and critics. The censors also questioned the excessive use of the color red—the film’s murderer is shrouded in a red cloak—which the censors claimed is symbolic of the Red Shirts, a pro-democracy group that has expressed discontentment with the 2006 coup that ousted Shinawatra and were directly involved with the anti-government protests of 2010.

On the film’s web page Ing K declared: “A low budget director must seize every opportunity to add production values. There was no way I could’ve afforded such epic images on my own steam. It was cool and it was free! The lord had provided and I could not refuse.”

Ing K also talked about the “excessive” use of red in the film: “Even without [our] specific cultural heritage, red is the universal color of violence. It takes years to get a film made. Why should Thaksin [Shinawatra] have a monopoly on the color red as well as on everything else?”

Power and greed are very sensitive topics to use in a movie in Thailand since such topics could be seen as a reference to the 2006 coup that overthrew the government of the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Everything related to the monarchy is a very delicate matter in Thailand. King Bhumidol Adulyadej is considered an almost divine figure, and publicly criticizing the monarchy could result in a charge of lese-majesty (15 years of prison).

The Thai Film Censorship Board decided to ban the movie unless the director agreed to edit and cut some of the scenes. Ing K refused to cut those scenes, and she said she plans to appeal against the ban.

Besides her work as a controversial filmmaker Ing K is also known for being a journalist, painter, writer and an activist. Years ago she directed a movie called Khon Graab Maa, that was banned as well, and was described as an insult to all religions in Thailand. It has been disappeared from history.

Xayaburi Dam Building Pact Signed

2012-04-17

Plans move ahead for Laos's controversial hydropower project on the Mekong.

Photo appears courtesy of International Rivers

A caterpillar works on the access road to the Xayaburi dam in Laos in an undated photo.

In a controversial move, a Thai company has signed a nearly $2 billion dollar contract for the construction of a dam on the Mekong River in Laos even though governments in the region have not cleared the project.

Ch. Karnchang informed the Thai stock exchange Tuesday it had signed a 52 billion baht (U.S. $1.7 billion) contract with Xayaburi Power Co. Ltd., a Lao-Thai joint venture, to build the project, Thai media reported.

The Xayaburi hydropower dam would be the first on the mainstream Lower Mekong and environmental groups say it would affect the lives of millions in the region.

The latest contract says construction on the dam will begin on March 15 next year and be completed in eight years.

In December, Laos had shelved plans for the dam pending further environmental assessments, following a meeting by the Mekong River Commission (MRC), a regional body of Southeast Asian countries that share the river.

Leaders from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam agreed further study was needed on the sustainable management and development of the river before the Xayaburi project could continue.

Despite the delay, Lao energy officials have remained committed to the project, which costs a total of U.S. $3.8 billion, Bounthuang Phengthavongsa, director-general of the Energy and Mining Ministry said in January.

“We want to build this dam and we will try hard to do so. Our intention and our hope is that in the end we will be able to build it despite all opposition,” he told RFA.

Laos has planned 70 hydropower projects on its rivers and officials have said it hopes to become “the battery of Asia.”

It is not immediately known whether the Lao government had been officially informed by the companies that signed the contract.

Preliminary construction on the project, including work access roads and a work camp, has picked up in recent months, according to International Rivers, a U.S.-based environmental NGO.

"Laos has not clarified if construction on the Xayaburi Dam will stop while the study takes place. Legally, Laos may not proceed with construction until all four governments have agreed. Practically, allowing construction would undermine the study," the group said.

A large number of workers have been employed for a two-year period to construct access roads and facilities for the project, it said.

High stakes

Critics of the Xayaburi dam, which would provide 95 percent of its electricity to Thailand, say that damming the Mekong threatens to destroy the ecology of the river, disrupt the livelihood of riparian communities, and jeopardize the food security throughout the region.

“The government should take care of the environment too, at the same time as developing the economy,” a resident in the Lao capital Vientiane said.

Mekong dams have faced stiff opposition from environment activists, who say the fate of the Xayaburi project will affect future decisions on the 11 other dams planned on the mainstream part of the Lower Mekong.

"The ecosystem is already changing, and now the dam will be built on the Mekong River. The Xayaburi dam will be the first; of course it will affect the ecosystem the most,” a Thai resident who lives near the Mekong said.

“If the Xayaburi dam can be built, so will 12 others. I think that is a big concern," he said.

The Stimson Center, a U.S.-based think tank, applauded Laos’s postponement of the Xayaburi project last year, saying it was the first time a Mekong country had made a decision about a mainstream dam based on the impact beyond its borders.

The Xayaburi project is the Mekong River Commission’s “biggest test” since its establishment in 1995, the Stimson Center said in a report in March, and warned that dams on the river could have a harmful impact on the entire region.

“The negative impacts on food security, livelihoods, water availability, and water quality have the potential to jeopardize the region’s hard-won peace and stability,” it said.

Reported by RFA's Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Starting Points

Apr 18, 2012

New York Review of Books Blog

'The Paralysis of Stuttering'

Francine du Plessix Gray

An End to the War on Drugs?

Alma Guillermoprieto