MADISON, Wis. — Some of the nation’s top public universities are prodding dallying students toward the graduation stage, trying to change a campus culture that assumes four-year completion is the exception rather than the rule.
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Jun 3, 2012
Public universities pushing ‘super-seniors’ to the graduation stage
Public universities pushing ‘super-seniors’ to the graduation stage:
MADISON, Wis. — Some of the nation’s top public universities are prodding dallying students toward the graduation stage, trying to change a campus culture that assumes four-year completion is the exception rather than the rule.
Read full article >>
MADISON, Wis. — Some of the nation’s top public universities are prodding dallying students toward the graduation stage, trying to change a campus culture that assumes four-year completion is the exception rather than the rule.
Read full article >>
Mass. Democrats endorse Warren, shutting out primary opponent
Mass. Democrats endorse Warren, shutting out primary opponent:
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren won her party’s overwhelming endorsement Saturday, shutting out a potential primary election opponent and becoming the presumptive nominee to face Republican Sen. Scott Brown in what is expected to be one of the nation’s most expensive and closely watched Senate races.
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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren won her party’s overwhelming endorsement Saturday, shutting out a potential primary election opponent and becoming the presumptive nominee to face Republican Sen. Scott Brown in what is expected to be one of the nation’s most expensive and closely watched Senate races.
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Understanding cyberspace is key to defending against digital attacks
Understanding cyberspace is key to defending against digital attacks:
Charlie Miller prepared his cyberattack in a bedroom office at his Midwestern suburban home.
Brilliant and boyish-looking, Miller has a PhD in math from the University of Notre Dame and spent five years at the National Security Agency, where he secretly hacked into foreign computer systems for the U.S. government. Now, he was turning his attention to the Apple iPhone.
Read full article >>
Charlie Miller prepared his cyberattack in a bedroom office at his Midwestern suburban home.
Brilliant and boyish-looking, Miller has a PhD in math from the University of Notre Dame and spent five years at the National Security Agency, where he secretly hacked into foreign computer systems for the U.S. government. Now, he was turning his attention to the Apple iPhone.
Read full article >>
Houla massacre evokes memories of Srebrenica
Houla massacre evokes memories of Srebrenica:
SREBRENICA, BOSNIA — When Emir Suljagic saw the television footage last week of grieving families and burned-out houses in the Syrian town of Houla, he felt a sickening sense of deja vu.
“It’s bizarre how ‘never again’ has come to mean ‘again and again,’ ” said the Srebrenica survivor, 37, who blames the United States and other Western governments for failing to take timely action to prevent Europe’s worst massacre since World War II. “It’s obvious that we live in a world where Srebrenicas are still possible. What’s happening in Syria today is almost identical to what happened in Bosnia two decades ago.”
Read full article >>
SREBRENICA, BOSNIA — When Emir Suljagic saw the television footage last week of grieving families and burned-out houses in the Syrian town of Houla, he felt a sickening sense of deja vu.
“It’s bizarre how ‘never again’ has come to mean ‘again and again,’ ” said the Srebrenica survivor, 37, who blames the United States and other Western governments for failing to take timely action to prevent Europe’s worst massacre since World War II. “It’s obvious that we live in a world where Srebrenicas are still possible. What’s happening in Syria today is almost identical to what happened in Bosnia two decades ago.”
Read full article >>
U.S. drone targets in Yemen raise questions
U.S. drone targets in Yemen raise questions:
There is little doubt among U.S. intelligence officials that Kaid and Nabil al-Dhahab — brothers who reportedly survived a U.S. airstrike in Yemen on Memorial Day — are associated with the al-Qaeda insurgency in that country. Less clear is the extent to which they are plotting against the United States.
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There is little doubt among U.S. intelligence officials that Kaid and Nabil al-Dhahab — brothers who reportedly survived a U.S. airstrike in Yemen on Memorial Day — are associated with the al-Qaeda insurgency in that country. Less clear is the extent to which they are plotting against the United States.
Read full article >>
Former Beijing mayor changes long-standing account of Tiananmen crackdown
Former Beijing mayor changes long-standing account of Tiananmen crackdown:
Shortly after Chinese troops stormed into Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, the then mayor of Beijing gave a lengthy report that, for 23 years, has formed the bedrock of the Communist Party’s justification for the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters. Describing street demonstrations by millions of people in Beijing and other Chinese cities as a Western-backed conspiracy orchestrated by a “tiny handful of people,“ Chen Xitong’s report hailed the crackdown as “correct” and unavoidable.
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Shortly after Chinese troops stormed into Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, the then mayor of Beijing gave a lengthy report that, for 23 years, has formed the bedrock of the Communist Party’s justification for the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters. Describing street demonstrations by millions of people in Beijing and other Chinese cities as a Western-backed conspiracy orchestrated by a “tiny handful of people,“ Chen Xitong’s report hailed the crackdown as “correct” and unavoidable.
Read full article >>
A double-edged sword - Inside Indonesia - a quarterly magazine on Indonesia and its people, culture, politics, economy and environment »In Garut, Islamic symbols are used by people facing corruption charges and by those who want to see them convicted Luky Djani Campaign poster for local Garut elections in 2009 Luky Djani In earl
Jun 2, 2012
Google Launches Anti-Censorship Tool
Google Launches Anti-Censorship Tool:
Google has launched a new feature for its Chinese language site which informs mainland users when they enter search keywords that are likely to be blocked by censors and recommends using alternative terms, following a government crackdown on information about a major political scandal.
The move was announced Thursday on a blog post by senior Google vice president Alan Eustace as a site improvement, but did not address Beijing’s use of censorship to police the Internet in China.
Google left China in 2010 after a showdown with the government over Internet controls and currently redirects Chinese language users from the mainland to a search site run from its Hong Kong-based servers.
But Eustace said that mainland users accessing the Hong Kong site were experiencing connection breaks when they searched for certain terms.
“Over the past couple years, we’ve had a lot of feedback that Google Search from mainland China can be inconsistent and unreliable,” Eustace wrote in the blog entry.
“It depends on the search query and browser, but users are regularly getting error messages like ‘This webpage is not available’ or ‘The connection was reset.’ And when that happens, people typically cannot use Google again for a minute or more.”
Google said the problem also extends to users accessing the site via web browsers on their mobile phones, including devices operating on the company’s Android operating system.
He said that Google had examined its own systems and found no problems, but “noticed that these interruptions are closely correlated with searches for a particular subset of queries.”
“So starting today we’ll notify users in mainland China when they enter a keyword that may cause connection issues. By prompting people to revise their queries, we hope to reduce these disruptions and improve our user experience from mainland China,” Eustace wrote.
Users who wish to continue with their original search keywords may do so.
‘Sensitive’ terms
Eustace said the company had reviewed the 350,000 most popular search queries in China in an effort to find "disruptive queries."
Google listed the Chinese character “jiang,” which means river, as an example of a term that would likely lead to a broken connection, but neglected to mention that it is also the surname of former president Jiang Zemin, which could be the reason for blocked results.
A notification that pops up when entering such a character during a search query recommends that the user removes the offending term.
But the character “jiang” and others like it are used in many different words, including the names of places and businesses, and users who remove the term from their search will be unable to access related sites.
For users who do not want to remove the offending search term, Google suggested a workaround in which one can search using the “pinyin,” or Romanized version, of a Chinese word. It said writing in pinyin would not cause a user’s connection to break and would produce normal search results.
Web controls
Chinese web administrators do not publish a list of banned keywords, and such searches generally lead to generic error messages. Authorities are likely to be unhappy about Google pointing out the sensitive terms.
And while Google shut down the majority of its mainland operations in 2010, it does maintain a network of advertising sales offices in China, which could be targeted if Beijing decides to punish the company.
In the first quarter of 2012, Google held just over 16 percent of the search market in China—second behind domestic brand Baidu Inc. with a more than 78 percent share.
The company is pushing its Android mobile phone operating system to Chinese manufacturers and purchased a wireless device maker last month in a deal that Beijing approved on condition that the platform remains available to Chinese companies and others at no cost for five years.
China has the world’s largest population of Internet users at 513 million as of last December, but often blocks content it deems politically sensitive.
The most recent example of an Internet crackdown follows significant online traffic related to a political crisis sparked by the ouster of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai.
The secrecy surrounding Bo's scandal has set China's Internet alight with political rumors, which the authorities have moved swiftly to quell through controls on the country's wildly popular Twitter-like services, known as "weibo."
Bo’s name is currently a blocked term, as are Chongqing and even the Yangtze River.
Reported by Joshua Lipes.
Google has launched a new feature for its Chinese language site which informs mainland users when they enter search keywords that are likely to be blocked by censors and recommends using alternative terms, following a government crackdown on information about a major political scandal.
The move was announced Thursday on a blog post by senior Google vice president Alan Eustace as a site improvement, but did not address Beijing’s use of censorship to police the Internet in China.
Google left China in 2010 after a showdown with the government over Internet controls and currently redirects Chinese language users from the mainland to a search site run from its Hong Kong-based servers.
But Eustace said that mainland users accessing the Hong Kong site were experiencing connection breaks when they searched for certain terms.
“Over the past couple years, we’ve had a lot of feedback that Google Search from mainland China can be inconsistent and unreliable,” Eustace wrote in the blog entry.
“It depends on the search query and browser, but users are regularly getting error messages like ‘This webpage is not available’ or ‘The connection was reset.’ And when that happens, people typically cannot use Google again for a minute or more.”
Google said the problem also extends to users accessing the site via web browsers on their mobile phones, including devices operating on the company’s Android operating system.
He said that Google had examined its own systems and found no problems, but “noticed that these interruptions are closely correlated with searches for a particular subset of queries.”
“So starting today we’ll notify users in mainland China when they enter a keyword that may cause connection issues. By prompting people to revise their queries, we hope to reduce these disruptions and improve our user experience from mainland China,” Eustace wrote.
Users who wish to continue with their original search keywords may do so.
‘Sensitive’ terms
Eustace said the company had reviewed the 350,000 most popular search queries in China in an effort to find "disruptive queries."
Google listed the Chinese character “jiang,” which means river, as an example of a term that would likely lead to a broken connection, but neglected to mention that it is also the surname of former president Jiang Zemin, which could be the reason for blocked results.
A notification that pops up when entering such a character during a search query recommends that the user removes the offending term.
But the character “jiang” and others like it are used in many different words, including the names of places and businesses, and users who remove the term from their search will be unable to access related sites.
For users who do not want to remove the offending search term, Google suggested a workaround in which one can search using the “pinyin,” or Romanized version, of a Chinese word. It said writing in pinyin would not cause a user’s connection to break and would produce normal search results.
Web controls
Chinese web administrators do not publish a list of banned keywords, and such searches generally lead to generic error messages. Authorities are likely to be unhappy about Google pointing out the sensitive terms.
And while Google shut down the majority of its mainland operations in 2010, it does maintain a network of advertising sales offices in China, which could be targeted if Beijing decides to punish the company.
In the first quarter of 2012, Google held just over 16 percent of the search market in China—second behind domestic brand Baidu Inc. with a more than 78 percent share.
The company is pushing its Android mobile phone operating system to Chinese manufacturers and purchased a wireless device maker last month in a deal that Beijing approved on condition that the platform remains available to Chinese companies and others at no cost for five years.
China has the world’s largest population of Internet users at 513 million as of last December, but often blocks content it deems politically sensitive.
The most recent example of an Internet crackdown follows significant online traffic related to a political crisis sparked by the ouster of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai.
The secrecy surrounding Bo's scandal has set China's Internet alight with political rumors, which the authorities have moved swiftly to quell through controls on the country's wildly popular Twitter-like services, known as "weibo."
Bo’s name is currently a blocked term, as are Chongqing and even the Yangtze River.
Reported by Joshua Lipes.
Commune Polls Marred by Irregularities
Commune Polls Marred by Irregularities:
Cambodia’s weekend commune vote, expected to be dominated by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party, has been marred by campaign irregularities despite a general improvement in election conditions from past years, a monitoring organization said Friday.
The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) said in a new report that three political parties’ activists were killed during campaigns in the run-up to Sunday’s vote, the country’s third-ever commune-level elections.
The group could not conclude whether the killings of the activists from three opposition parties—the Sam Rainsy Party, the Human Rights Party, and the Norodom Ranariddh Party—were politically motivated, but said the incidents were likely related to the election because they happened during the campaign period.
Comfrel found at least 100 cases of irregularities during the election campaign, including intimidation, vote-buying, and the destruction of parties’ leaflets and logos.
“On the negative side, we have seen that the [ruling] Cambodian People’s Party has used state resources and civil servants to conduct their campaign, and that state control and private media are biased toward the ruling party,” said Comfrel Board of Directors member Thun Saray, who is also the president of the rights watchdog ADHOC.
He added that most cases of political campaign disturbances were committed by members of the ruling party and the victims were mostly activists of Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party, the two largest opposition parties.
However, political violence has declined in the election compared to the previous commune-level election in 2007, Comfrel’s report said.
Saray said election conditions in Cambodia are improving, but still flawed.
“This year political parties members are more mature, they didn’t make insults or provocations that led to chaos, and this is a positive side of the campaign,” Thun Saray said.
Earlier in May, Comfrel had also said at least 1.5 million Cambodians will lose their right to vote in the elections due to irregularities in voters’ registration lists.
National Election Committee Deputy Secretary General Tep Nytha rejected the Comfrel report, saying the election campaign went smoothly, with only a few minor incidents of violence or disagreements reported.
“This election campaign is better than the previous election in 2007,” Tep Nytha said.
Cambodia’s first commune-level elections in 2002 were marred by at least two killings that rights groups said were politically motivated.
Ten parties
Following a 15-day campaign period regulated by the National Election Committee, the 10 political parties registered to compete in the country’s wrapped up their campaigns on Friday.
Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema, deputy chairman of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the capital, said his party had seen strong support.
“During the election campaign for the past 15 days, we have received overwhelming support from people in the city,” he said.
“The city residents understand that the CPP is the party that does the work, even if we don’t advertise about this work.”
He added that opposition parties only criticized the government but those parties don’t contribute to the country’s development.
Opposition
Human Rights Party Spokesman Yem Panharith said that his party’s active campaigning had won them more supporters than before.
“All our political messages, campaign trial activities, meeting constituencies at the grassroots making the voters to understand the truth and now they even more support us,” he said.
Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay said that this year he found people were less afraid to support parties other than the ruling party.
“In general … they are not afraid of joining the party’s campaign, unlike in the previous election,” he said. “But I am afraid of fraud in the election results.”
Phnom Penh Police chief Touch Naruth said even though complaints had been made to the national election body about campaign irregularities, his officers provided good security for all political parties in the city.
Sihanoukville
Southwest of Phnom Penh, opposition party representatives have expressed concern about the heavy military presence near polling stations in the province of Sihanoukville, where election officials said they plan to deploy between three and four armed officers to provide security at polling stations.
Sihanoukville provincial election committee director Hout Phon said it is important to have armed forces near the polling stations to provide security.
However, the Sam Rainsy Party’s provincial director Ly Dy said armed officers would intimidate the voters, noting that in the previous election armed forces entered the polling stations with weapons.
“People are so afraid. Some of them took gifts from the ruling party, even though they don’t want to vote for the CPP, and when there are armed forces present, they might change their mind,” he said.
The Human Rights Party’s provincial director Ouk Suy said there is no need to have between three and four armed forces personnel at the polling stations.
“The armed forces presence will affect the voters they are afraid to vote for change,” he said.
The National Election Committee has issued an order to the armed forces across the country to adhere to their code of conducts and avoid intimidating the voters.
Armed forces are not allowed to publicly show excessive weapons and they may not bring weapons with them into the polling booths or ballot-counting stations.
Reported by RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Cambodia’s weekend commune vote, expected to be dominated by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party, has been marred by campaign irregularities despite a general improvement in election conditions from past years, a monitoring organization said Friday.
The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) said in a new report that three political parties’ activists were killed during campaigns in the run-up to Sunday’s vote, the country’s third-ever commune-level elections.
The group could not conclude whether the killings of the activists from three opposition parties—the Sam Rainsy Party, the Human Rights Party, and the Norodom Ranariddh Party—were politically motivated, but said the incidents were likely related to the election because they happened during the campaign period.
Comfrel found at least 100 cases of irregularities during the election campaign, including intimidation, vote-buying, and the destruction of parties’ leaflets and logos.
“On the negative side, we have seen that the [ruling] Cambodian People’s Party has used state resources and civil servants to conduct their campaign, and that state control and private media are biased toward the ruling party,” said Comfrel Board of Directors member Thun Saray, who is also the president of the rights watchdog ADHOC.
He added that most cases of political campaign disturbances were committed by members of the ruling party and the victims were mostly activists of Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party, the two largest opposition parties.
However, political violence has declined in the election compared to the previous commune-level election in 2007, Comfrel’s report said.
Saray said election conditions in Cambodia are improving, but still flawed.
“This year political parties members are more mature, they didn’t make insults or provocations that led to chaos, and this is a positive side of the campaign,” Thun Saray said.
Earlier in May, Comfrel had also said at least 1.5 million Cambodians will lose their right to vote in the elections due to irregularities in voters’ registration lists.
National Election Committee Deputy Secretary General Tep Nytha rejected the Comfrel report, saying the election campaign went smoothly, with only a few minor incidents of violence or disagreements reported.
“This election campaign is better than the previous election in 2007,” Tep Nytha said.
Cambodia’s first commune-level elections in 2002 were marred by at least two killings that rights groups said were politically motivated.
Ten parties
Following a 15-day campaign period regulated by the National Election Committee, the 10 political parties registered to compete in the country’s wrapped up their campaigns on Friday.
Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema, deputy chairman of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the capital, said his party had seen strong support.
“During the election campaign for the past 15 days, we have received overwhelming support from people in the city,” he said.
“The city residents understand that the CPP is the party that does the work, even if we don’t advertise about this work.”
He added that opposition parties only criticized the government but those parties don’t contribute to the country’s development.
Opposition
Human Rights Party Spokesman Yem Panharith said that his party’s active campaigning had won them more supporters than before.
“All our political messages, campaign trial activities, meeting constituencies at the grassroots making the voters to understand the truth and now they even more support us,” he said.
Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay said that this year he found people were less afraid to support parties other than the ruling party.
“In general … they are not afraid of joining the party’s campaign, unlike in the previous election,” he said. “But I am afraid of fraud in the election results.”
Phnom Penh Police chief Touch Naruth said even though complaints had been made to the national election body about campaign irregularities, his officers provided good security for all political parties in the city.
Sihanoukville
Southwest of Phnom Penh, opposition party representatives have expressed concern about the heavy military presence near polling stations in the province of Sihanoukville, where election officials said they plan to deploy between three and four armed officers to provide security at polling stations.
Sihanoukville provincial election committee director Hout Phon said it is important to have armed forces near the polling stations to provide security.
However, the Sam Rainsy Party’s provincial director Ly Dy said armed officers would intimidate the voters, noting that in the previous election armed forces entered the polling stations with weapons.
“People are so afraid. Some of them took gifts from the ruling party, even though they don’t want to vote for the CPP, and when there are armed forces present, they might change their mind,” he said.
The Human Rights Party’s provincial director Ouk Suy said there is no need to have between three and four armed forces personnel at the polling stations.
“The armed forces presence will affect the voters they are afraid to vote for change,” he said.
The National Election Committee has issued an order to the armed forces across the country to adhere to their code of conducts and avoid intimidating the voters.
Armed forces are not allowed to publicly show excessive weapons and they may not bring weapons with them into the polling booths or ballot-counting stations.
Reported by RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Massive Security Buildup in Lhasa
Massive Security Buildup in Lhasa:
More than 3,000 security personnel have been deployed to bolster security in Lhasa following the first Tibetan self-immolation protest in the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, according to an official document obtained by RFA.
One protester who survived the burning last Sunday has been identified as a former monk, but details on his condition were not made available after he was bundled into a security vehicle and taken away from the protest site in front of the famous Jokhang Temple in central Lhasa, sources said.
According to the official document dated May 29, the security forces deployed in the capital to “carry out investigations in sensitive areas” include “large contingents of armed police, soldiers, and special forces.”
“They have stopped all vehicles and pedestrians in Lhasa city, thoroughly searching inside the vehicles and checking identity papers,” said the Chinese-language report, the first official account of the magnitude of the security buildup in Lhasa, which had already seen heightened security since anti-government riots rocked the capital four years ago.
“In the last 24 hours alone, 11,731 vehicles and 28,046 individuals have been searched,” it said.
Among those, it said, 157 Tibetans from the Tibetan-populated Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan “were closely questioned, and 35 who were found without proper permits were sent back to their native places.”
In addition, 13 monks and nuns were also repatriated to the Chinese provinces, the report said.
Earlier accounts this week said hundreds of Tibetans have been detained since the May 27 self-immolation amid additional controls imposed on the Internet and telephone lines.
“Controls on Tibetans’ mobile phones and other electronic devices in Ngaba have been increased, and it is now hard for them to communicate not only with the outside but even with [Sichuan’s provincial capital] Chengdu and neighboring areas of China,” Kanyag Tsering , a Tibetan monk living in India, said, citing sources in the region.
Protester identified as former monk
Meanwhile, the young Tibetan man who survived the self-immolation was identified as a former monk from the restive Kirti monastery in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) prefecture in Sichuan.
Dargye, 25, apparently survived his burns after Chinese security forces extinguished the flames of the two self-immolators and took him to hospital, sources said.
The other protester, identified as Dorje Tseten, died at the scene, state media reported.
Dargye came from Soruma village in the Choejema township of Ngaba prefecture’s Ngaba county, Kanyag Tsering said.
Dargye’s father’s name is Lodey and his mother’s name is Shekyi, Tsering said.
“He was the youngest of six children. He joined Kirti monastery at a young age, and a few years ago he disrobed and took a job as a cashier at a restaurant in Lhasa owned by the Chukel family, a trading family from Ngaba.”
Following Dargye’s self-immolation, Chinese authorities detained the restaurant owner, together with his wife and family and six members of a Lhasa-area Ngaba community association, Tsering said.
Five of those detained were identified as Nyurgyog, Khambey, Tamdrin Kyab, Sangdrak, and the group’s chairman, Drolma Kyab. The identity of the sixth group member is still unknown.
Separately, another former monk from Ngaba, Khedrub Dramnak, was also detained, Kanyag Tsering said.
Dargye’s and Dorje Tseten’s self-immolations were the first reported in the Tibetan capital amid a wave of other burning protests, now totaling 38, by Tibetans challenging China’s rule in historically Tibetan areas and calling for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Most of the previous protests have taken place in Sichuan province’s Ngaba and Kardze prefectures and in two other Tibetan-populated provinces in western China, Qinghai and Gansu.
On Wednesday, in the latest self-immolation, a Tibetan mother of three set herself ablaze in Ngaba prefecture’s Dzamthang county.
Reported by Tseten Namgyal, Rigdhen Dolma, and Dorjee Tso for RFA’s Tibetan service. Translations by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Richard Finney.
More than 3,000 security personnel have been deployed to bolster security in Lhasa following the first Tibetan self-immolation protest in the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, according to an official document obtained by RFA.
One protester who survived the burning last Sunday has been identified as a former monk, but details on his condition were not made available after he was bundled into a security vehicle and taken away from the protest site in front of the famous Jokhang Temple in central Lhasa, sources said.
According to the official document dated May 29, the security forces deployed in the capital to “carry out investigations in sensitive areas” include “large contingents of armed police, soldiers, and special forces.”
“They have stopped all vehicles and pedestrians in Lhasa city, thoroughly searching inside the vehicles and checking identity papers,” said the Chinese-language report, the first official account of the magnitude of the security buildup in Lhasa, which had already seen heightened security since anti-government riots rocked the capital four years ago.
“In the last 24 hours alone, 11,731 vehicles and 28,046 individuals have been searched,” it said.
Among those, it said, 157 Tibetans from the Tibetan-populated Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan “were closely questioned, and 35 who were found without proper permits were sent back to their native places.”
In addition, 13 monks and nuns were also repatriated to the Chinese provinces, the report said.
Earlier accounts this week said hundreds of Tibetans have been detained since the May 27 self-immolation amid additional controls imposed on the Internet and telephone lines.
“Controls on Tibetans’ mobile phones and other electronic devices in Ngaba have been increased, and it is now hard for them to communicate not only with the outside but even with [Sichuan’s provincial capital] Chengdu and neighboring areas of China,” Kanyag Tsering , a Tibetan monk living in India, said, citing sources in the region.
Protester identified as former monk
Meanwhile, the young Tibetan man who survived the self-immolation was identified as a former monk from the restive Kirti monastery in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) prefecture in Sichuan.
Dargye, 25, apparently survived his burns after Chinese security forces extinguished the flames of the two self-immolators and took him to hospital, sources said.
The other protester, identified as Dorje Tseten, died at the scene, state media reported.
Dargye came from Soruma village in the Choejema township of Ngaba prefecture’s Ngaba county, Kanyag Tsering said.
Dargye’s father’s name is Lodey and his mother’s name is Shekyi, Tsering said.
“He was the youngest of six children. He joined Kirti monastery at a young age, and a few years ago he disrobed and took a job as a cashier at a restaurant in Lhasa owned by the Chukel family, a trading family from Ngaba.”
Following Dargye’s self-immolation, Chinese authorities detained the restaurant owner, together with his wife and family and six members of a Lhasa-area Ngaba community association, Tsering said.
Five of those detained were identified as Nyurgyog, Khambey, Tamdrin Kyab, Sangdrak, and the group’s chairman, Drolma Kyab. The identity of the sixth group member is still unknown.
Separately, another former monk from Ngaba, Khedrub Dramnak, was also detained, Kanyag Tsering said.
Dargye’s and Dorje Tseten’s self-immolations were the first reported in the Tibetan capital amid a wave of other burning protests, now totaling 38, by Tibetans challenging China’s rule in historically Tibetan areas and calling for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Most of the previous protests have taken place in Sichuan province’s Ngaba and Kardze prefectures and in two other Tibetan-populated provinces in western China, Qinghai and Gansu.
On Wednesday, in the latest self-immolation, a Tibetan mother of three set herself ablaze in Ngaba prefecture’s Dzamthang county.
Reported by Tseten Namgyal, Rigdhen Dolma, and Dorjee Tso for RFA’s Tibetan service. Translations by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Richard Finney.
Freedom of Speech Roundup
Freedom of Speech Roundup:
In the Weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature.
Three members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were denied appeal this month. They will be detained until trial for charges of “hooliganism” on June 24. Photo: Игорь Мухин
Lawyer and columnist Glenn Greenwald speaks about why defending WikiLeaks is “so crucial.”
In the Weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature.
Three members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot were denied appeal this month. They will be detained until trial for charges of “hooliganism” on June 24. Photo: Игорь Мухин
Russian Punk Collective Pussy Riot Speaks Exclusively to Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship. Russian feminist punk collective plans to continue protest performances despite scrutiny and arrests. Read here.Alleged Tibetan Immolation Photos Show Man Ablaze
Miami Herald. A Tibetan writer tweeted photos of men self-immolating in Lhasa in protest of Chinese restrictions and the Dalai Lama’s continued exile. Read here.Copies of Anti-Censorship Software Used in Iran and Syria contain Keylogger
Computer World. A version of Green Simurgh, an Internet proxy application often used to bypass censors, has begun to circulate with malware that transmits the user’s every action. Read here.Sina ‘information credit score’ Restricts Weibo Users
CPJ. Already heavily-censored, users of the Chinese microblogging site will now be given a score that will drop if the user is deemed to be “spreading rumors, impugning China, or calling for protests.” Read here.Julian Assange and America’s Vendetta Against WikiLeaks
The Guardian. Columnist Amy Goodman argues that Assange’s extradition case for sexual assault is largely political. Read here.Lawyer and columnist Glenn Greenwald speaks about why defending WikiLeaks is “so crucial.”
Alexandria, VA-based News Outlet Loosens Shackles of Censorship for Ethiopians
Alexandria Times. Exiled Ethiopian journalists at Ethiopian Satellite Television seek to objectively cover the situation in their country from across the Atlantic Ocean. Read here.Free Expression in Americas Goes Beyond Left or Right
CPJ. Journalism expert Frank Smyth details the current battle within the Organization of American States over measures that would curtail freedom of expression and the press in the Americas. Read here.Melissa Chan: Journalist Can’t Explain Expulsion from China
LA Times. A correspondent for Al Jazeera English believes her press credentials may’ve been provoked for reporting about “black jails” and Tweeting about her interaction with Chinese authorities. Read here.Author Mohammed Hanif on Secrets and Lies in Pakistan
NPR. Pakistani journalist and novelist speaks about his work and the interpretation of fiction as fact: “I used to find it a bit scary at the beginning that, my God, these people are running my country and they actually believe all the lies that I’ve written.” Read here.Exiled Cubans Living in Spain Feel Abandoned as Benefits Dry Up
The New York Times. An international solidarity effort that seemed at first to have been a “diplomatic masterstroke” is accused of receiving inadequate planning and follow-up. Read here.Jun 1, 2012
Obama and the generals
Obama and the generals: Long-held mistrust between the United States' military and Democrat administrations has deepened following President Barack Obama's defiant decision to withdraw from Afghanistan. As US military culture increasingly aligns with political conservatism, Obama is starting to view costly ventures such as the failed Afghan counter-insurgency program as evidence of his generals' folly. - Brian M Downing (Jun 1, '12)
Iraqis' Views of Their Health Worst in MENA
Iraqis' Views of Their Health Worst in MENA: Iraqis' views of their health are the worst in the Middle East and North Africa. The country's score on Gallup's Physical Wellbeing Index is nearly half those of the UAE and Kuwait, two of the region's wealthier, more stable nations.
Snapshot: NATO Intervention in Libya Unpopular in Arab World
Snapshot: NATO Intervention in Libya Unpopular in Arab World: As NATO countries mull over intervention in Syria, Gallup data show pluralities in the Arab world opposed the organization's previous actions in Libya.
Has Facebook dropped support for Chrome?
Has Facebook dropped support for Chrome?:
Chrome users are tweeting up a storm, linking a page that seems to indicate Facebook is no longer supporting Google’s browser.
In a page that some users say they getting on on Facebook’s Web site, the social network lists only three supported browsers: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera. I had no problems using Facebook on Chrome, but users are reporting that they are being directed to the page listing the three other browsers first before they are allowed to browse the site as they usually do.
Read full article >>
Chrome users are tweeting up a storm, linking a page that seems to indicate Facebook is no longer supporting Google’s browser.
In a page that some users say they getting on on Facebook’s Web site, the social network lists only three supported browsers: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Opera. I had no problems using Facebook on Chrome, but users are reporting that they are being directed to the page listing the three other browsers first before they are allowed to browse the site as they usually do.
Read full article >>
Egypt's infamous emergency law expires
Egypt's infamous emergency law expires:
CAIRO — Egypt’s infamous emergency law, which had given President Hosni Mubarak and his police forces vast authority to crack down on dissent, expired Thursday, and officials said they were disinclined to extend it.
Read full article >>
CAIRO — Egypt’s infamous emergency law, which had given President Hosni Mubarak and his police forces vast authority to crack down on dissent, expired Thursday, and officials said they were disinclined to extend it.
Read full article >>
Mexican youth protest in streets against corporate media and PRI candidate
Mexican youth protest in streets against corporate media and PRI candidate:
Compared with historic, brutal, high-stakes presidential elections here in the past, this has been an important but blah campaign season in Mexico. But recent protests by college students and other young people have added a spark.
Read full article >>
Compared with historic, brutal, high-stakes presidential elections here in the past, this has been an important but blah campaign season in Mexico. But recent protests by college students and other young people have added a spark.
Read full article >>
Mitt Romney mobilizes a diverse cast of surrogates to carry GOP message
Mitt Romney mobilizes a diverse cast of surrogates to carry GOP message:
Mitt Romney is mobilizing a fast-growing network of surrogates to help make his case with voters as his campaign begins to exert greater control over the GOP messaging operation.
Romney is relying on a diverse cast of politicians, business leaders, athletes and celebrities to court key groups of voters, including social conservatives, Hispanics and suburban women.
Read full article >>
Mitt Romney is mobilizing a fast-growing network of surrogates to help make his case with voters as his campaign begins to exert greater control over the GOP messaging operation.
Romney is relying on a diverse cast of politicians, business leaders, athletes and celebrities to court key groups of voters, including social conservatives, Hispanics and suburban women.
Read full article >>
Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran
Obama Ordered Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran: Even after the Stuxnet computer worm became public, President Obama accelerated cyberattacks against Iran that had begun in the Bush administration, temporarily disabling 1,000 centrifuges.
Worst U.S. Job Data in a Year Signals Stalling Recovery
Worst U.S. Job Data in a Year Signals Stalling Recovery: Payroll growth that came in at less than half of what analysts had expected confirmed fears that the United States’s recovery has markedly slowed, adding to a global economic pall.
Nuns Speak About Vatican Criticism
Nuns Speak About Vatican Criticism: After being condemned as failing to uphold Catholic doctrine, the sisters are sending representatives to Rome to speak with Vatican officials.
Cambodia to Ask Met to Return 10th-Century Statues
Cambodia to Ask Met to Return 10th-Century Statues: The Cambodian government will ask the Metropolitan Museum of Art to return twin sandstone figures that were allegedly looted from a jungle temple.
Google Alerts Users to China's Web Blocks
Google Alerts Users to China's Web Blocks: Google has begun notifying users in China when they use search terms that can trigger China's Internet blocks, in its boldest challenge in two years to Beijing's efforts to restrict online content.
Indonesia's Bakries Seek Time to Handle Debts
Indonesia's Bakries Seek Time to Handle Debts: Indonesia's billionaire Bakrie family has asked for more time to decide what to do about its $440 million loan from a group of international lenders.
Marina Bay, Singapore’s Swanky Bayfront
Marina Bay, Singapore’s Swanky Bayfront:
By: Cher Tan
The name “Marina Bay” may be an anomaly of sorts – while it technically describes the body of water around the mouth of the Singapore River and blocked off from the sea by the Marina Barrage, it also encompasses the surrounding “Marina” areas, spanning bits of City Hall and the east of Shenton Way. Being Singapore’s newest district, Marina Bay is built on reclaimed land with the intention to combine business and pleasure, with swanky bayfront residences dotting the vicinity.
Marina Bay Singapore, By: Daran Kandasamy
Transportation to Marina Bay remains a little disjointed. The northern half is best accessed via the new Circle Line MRT where one can choose to alight at the Esplanade, Promenade, or Bayfront stations. The Marina Bay station on the North-South Line is not particularly convenient just yet as it is still pending development, but the Downtown Line is scheduled to open its Marina Bay stations in 2013.
The glitter & gold at Marina Bay Sands, By: Jiahui Huang
Singapore Flyer: Singapore’s newest tourist landmark, this 150-meter-tall observation wheel modelled on the London Eye is no less than the world’s tallest. One rotation takes about 30 minutes, and for an extra $22 you can sip on a cocktail while admiring the views, but expect to share your capsule with as many as 28 people unless you cough up a cool $1,000 for a private ride. 30 Raffles Ave, operates daily, 8.30AM-10.30PM, $29.50/$20.65 adult/child.
Singapore Flyer, By: Marina
ArtScience Museum: Part of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort, it mainly hosts travelling international exhibitions – past exhibitions include Dali and Van Gogh. It is also the world’s first ArtScience museum and the largest private museum in Singapore. 10 Bayfront Ave, 10am-10pm daily, $30/$27/$17 adult/senior citizen/child.
Gluttons Bay: Run by famous foodies Makansutra, this outdoor eatery puts together 12 of Singapore’s most famous hawkers. Breezy location by the river, great views of the city and pretty good grub make this a winner. The food here is a tourist-friendly reproduction of some of Singapore’s best, though one can usually find better (and usually cheaper) versions in the heartlands. Perfect for if one is in the city late and peckish. Esplanade Mall #01-15, 6PM-3AM daily.
Gluttons Bay, By: Steve Brocklebank
By: Cher Tan
The name “Marina Bay” may be an anomaly of sorts – while it technically describes the body of water around the mouth of the Singapore River and blocked off from the sea by the Marina Barrage, it also encompasses the surrounding “Marina” areas, spanning bits of City Hall and the east of Shenton Way. Being Singapore’s newest district, Marina Bay is built on reclaimed land with the intention to combine business and pleasure, with swanky bayfront residences dotting the vicinity.
Marina Bay Singapore, By: Daran Kandasamy
Marina Bay: How to Get There
Transportation to Marina Bay remains a little disjointed. The northern half is best accessed via the new Circle Line MRT where one can choose to alight at the Esplanade, Promenade, or Bayfront stations. The Marina Bay station on the North-South Line is not particularly convenient just yet as it is still pending development, but the Downtown Line is scheduled to open its Marina Bay stations in 2013.Marina Bay Highlights off & on the Beaten Path:
Marina Bay Sands: One of the two integrated resorts to open in Singapore since the beginning of the decade, it is billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property. Boasting a 2,561-room hotel, a 1,300,000ft² convention-exhibition centre, the 800,000ft² mall, a museum, two large theatres, seven “celebrity chef” restaurants, two floating Crystal Pavilions, an ice skating rink, and the world’s largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines, it is also topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m infinity swimming pool set on top of the world’s largest public cantilevered platform. Visitors can enter for free, but locals and residents have to pay $100 to get in. These statistics not enough to convince? See it for yourself. 10 Bayfront Ave, open daily, 24 hours.
The glitter & gold at Marina Bay Sands, By: Jiahui Huang
Singapore Flyer: Singapore’s newest tourist landmark, this 150-meter-tall observation wheel modelled on the London Eye is no less than the world’s tallest. One rotation takes about 30 minutes, and for an extra $22 you can sip on a cocktail while admiring the views, but expect to share your capsule with as many as 28 people unless you cough up a cool $1,000 for a private ride. 30 Raffles Ave, operates daily, 8.30AM-10.30PM, $29.50/$20.65 adult/child.
Singapore Flyer, By: Marina
ArtScience Museum: Part of the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort, it mainly hosts travelling international exhibitions – past exhibitions include Dali and Van Gogh. It is also the world’s first ArtScience museum and the largest private museum in Singapore. 10 Bayfront Ave, 10am-10pm daily, $30/$27/$17 adult/senior citizen/child.
Gluttons Bay: Run by famous foodies Makansutra, this outdoor eatery puts together 12 of Singapore’s most famous hawkers. Breezy location by the river, great views of the city and pretty good grub make this a winner. The food here is a tourist-friendly reproduction of some of Singapore’s best, though one can usually find better (and usually cheaper) versions in the heartlands. Perfect for if one is in the city late and peckish. Esplanade Mall #01-15, 6PM-3AM daily.
Gluttons Bay, By: Steve Brocklebank
Thai 'yellow shirts' halt parliament debate
Thai 'yellow shirts' halt parliament debate: Protesters in Bangkok rally against proposed reconciliation bill that could see return of ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
HEALTH: Fighting non-communicable diseases
HEALTH: Fighting non-communicable diseases:
 | BANGKOK, 1 June 2012 (IRIN) - The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the UN World Health Organization (WHO), aims to reduce preventable deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart attacks and strokes, chronic respiratory diseases and cancers, by 25 percent by 2025. |
AID POLICY: Making Muslim aid more effective
AID POLICY: Making Muslim aid more effective:
 | DUBAI, 1 June 2012 (IRIN) - Between the foreign aid of oil-rich Gulf States and the billions of dollars spent by Muslims in “mandatory” alms and charity every year, the Muslim world is by all accounts a huge reservoir of potential in the world of aid funding. |
Analysis: A faith-based aid revolution in the Muslim world?
Analysis: A faith-based aid revolution in the Muslim world?:
 | DUBAI, 1 June 2012 (IRIN) - Every year, somewhere between US$200 billion and $1 trillion are spent in “mandatory” alms and voluntary charity across the Muslim world, Islamic financial analysts estimate. |
CrisisWatch N° 106
CrisisWatch N° 106: Violence continued in Syria, with fears of sectarian conflict growing after 108 were killed in Houla during heavy regime shelling. Residents claimed that scores of women and children were massacred by pro-regime Alawite militiamen from nearby villages. A series of deadly bombings, blamed by the Assad regime on al-Qaeda, also rocked the country, including Damascus. UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Anan warned that Syria is at “tipping point”.
Call to Revamp Judiciary
Call to Revamp Judiciary:
A prominent opposition lawmaker in Cambodia has written to the Cambodian Supreme Court, accusing it of being a “tool” of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s political party and seeking new legislation to streamline legal procedures in the country.
In a copy of a letter obtained by RFA and addressed to Supreme Court President Dith Monty, Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay requested that the nation’s highest legal institution draft a law to ensure that judicial officials be provided with an environment in which they can “work more effectively.”
“A [new] law on the status of judges and prosecutors will allow them to work in a more professional manner,” Son Chhay wrote.
“Without this law and a [new] law [streamlining] court procedures, we can’t accept court verdicts,” the letter said.
Son Chhay went on to call the court “a political tool for the ruling party,” the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), rendering it incapable of true judicial independence.
The opposition lawmaker also accused Dith Monty of ruling with a bias towards the CPP because he is a senior CPP official.
According to a document posted on the CPP’s website, Dith Monty is a member of the party’s permanent committee, while Supreme Court Deputy President Khim Ponn is a CCP central committee member.
“It’s hopeless when villagers have a case against CPP officials because some of the court officials are inevitably CPP members,” Son Chhat wrote.
“Can people involved in these cases honestly trust the court?” he asked.
Son Chhay said that he plans to raise his concerns with King Norodom Sihamoni and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy—the national body that regulates the Cambodia’s judiciary—for assistance in reforming the legal system.
Supreme Court officials have not yet responded to Son Chhay’s request.
Faulty system
Son Chhay’s letter came a week after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced 13 villagers from the city’s Boeung Kak Lake district to between one year and two and a half years in prison for “illegally encroaching on private property” after participating in a protest over a long-running forced eviction case.
The lawmaker said the case of the 13 women was improperly investigated and that the defendants had been refused the right to attorneys during their trial.
The letter also follows the Wednesday release of Leang Sokchouen, a former Takeo province staff member of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), from Kandal provincial prison after serving a two-year prison sentence for allegedly distributing anti-government leaflets.
After his arrest in May 2010, Sokchouen was originally convicted on charges of disinformation following a trial rights groups said had numerous procedural flaws.
In July 2011, an appeals court in Phnom Penh upheld Sokchouen’s two-year sentence while switching the charges against him from disinformation to incitement, without explanation.
The new charges, which rights groups say he did not have an opportunity to refute, were under a provision of a new criminal code that did not exist at the time of the offense.
Sokchouen had continued his appeal, and at a hearing on May 25, just five days before his scheduled release, Cambodia’s Supreme Court upheld the July 2011 verdict, in a move LICADHO called the “final rubber stamp on the outrageously flawed process.”
Law professor Sok Touch told RFA Thursday that Cambodia’s courts “cannot deliver justice” without true independence from the government.
“According to our constitution the court is independent, but when court officials are affiliated with a political party they cannot maintain their independence,” he said.
“If the judicial system fails to provide justice, the villagers won’t trust the courts. This will lead them to take other measures, such as setting roadblocks and other means of protest, or simply cause them to turn to prayer in an attempt to resolve their problems.”
In its 2011 Global Competitiveness Index, the World Economic Forum ranked Cambodia 96th out of 142 countries in terms of judicial independence, which measures the perceived extent in which the judiciary of a country is independent from influences of members of government, citizens, or firms.
The country received a score of 3.1 on a scale where 1 is considered “heavily influenced” and 7 is seen as “entirely independent.”
Reported by Den Ayuthya and Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
A prominent opposition lawmaker in Cambodia has written to the Cambodian Supreme Court, accusing it of being a “tool” of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s political party and seeking new legislation to streamline legal procedures in the country.
In a copy of a letter obtained by RFA and addressed to Supreme Court President Dith Monty, Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Son Chhay requested that the nation’s highest legal institution draft a law to ensure that judicial officials be provided with an environment in which they can “work more effectively.”
“A [new] law on the status of judges and prosecutors will allow them to work in a more professional manner,” Son Chhay wrote.
“Without this law and a [new] law [streamlining] court procedures, we can’t accept court verdicts,” the letter said.
Son Chhay went on to call the court “a political tool for the ruling party,” the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), rendering it incapable of true judicial independence.
The opposition lawmaker also accused Dith Monty of ruling with a bias towards the CPP because he is a senior CPP official.
According to a document posted on the CPP’s website, Dith Monty is a member of the party’s permanent committee, while Supreme Court Deputy President Khim Ponn is a CCP central committee member.
“It’s hopeless when villagers have a case against CPP officials because some of the court officials are inevitably CPP members,” Son Chhat wrote.
“Can people involved in these cases honestly trust the court?” he asked.
Son Chhay said that he plans to raise his concerns with King Norodom Sihamoni and the Supreme Council of the Magistracy—the national body that regulates the Cambodia’s judiciary—for assistance in reforming the legal system.
Supreme Court officials have not yet responded to Son Chhay’s request.
Faulty system
Son Chhay’s letter came a week after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced 13 villagers from the city’s Boeung Kak Lake district to between one year and two and a half years in prison for “illegally encroaching on private property” after participating in a protest over a long-running forced eviction case.
The lawmaker said the case of the 13 women was improperly investigated and that the defendants had been refused the right to attorneys during their trial.
The letter also follows the Wednesday release of Leang Sokchouen, a former Takeo province staff member of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), from Kandal provincial prison after serving a two-year prison sentence for allegedly distributing anti-government leaflets.
After his arrest in May 2010, Sokchouen was originally convicted on charges of disinformation following a trial rights groups said had numerous procedural flaws.
In July 2011, an appeals court in Phnom Penh upheld Sokchouen’s two-year sentence while switching the charges against him from disinformation to incitement, without explanation.
The new charges, which rights groups say he did not have an opportunity to refute, were under a provision of a new criminal code that did not exist at the time of the offense.
Sokchouen had continued his appeal, and at a hearing on May 25, just five days before his scheduled release, Cambodia’s Supreme Court upheld the July 2011 verdict, in a move LICADHO called the “final rubber stamp on the outrageously flawed process.”
Law professor Sok Touch told RFA Thursday that Cambodia’s courts “cannot deliver justice” without true independence from the government.
“According to our constitution the court is independent, but when court officials are affiliated with a political party they cannot maintain their independence,” he said.
“If the judicial system fails to provide justice, the villagers won’t trust the courts. This will lead them to take other measures, such as setting roadblocks and other means of protest, or simply cause them to turn to prayer in an attempt to resolve their problems.”
In its 2011 Global Competitiveness Index, the World Economic Forum ranked Cambodia 96th out of 142 countries in terms of judicial independence, which measures the perceived extent in which the judiciary of a country is independent from influences of members of government, citizens, or firms.
The country received a score of 3.1 on a scale where 1 is considered “heavily influenced” and 7 is seen as “entirely independent.”
Reported by Den Ayuthya and Samean Yun for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Freeze in Urban Land Concessions
Freeze in Urban Land Concessions:
Laos has suspended land concessions in tourism-driven Xiangkhoang province's towns even though nearly all the land in them has already been taken up for development, as the country rapidly exploits natural resources through foreign investments, officials said.
The province, home of the famous Plain of Jars archeological site, has over the past three years given many land concessions to foreign investors for carrying out development projects.
In the province’s urban areas, there is little land that has not been granted away, an official said.
“There is no more land in the towns, no more land for concessions. There’s nothing left,” a provincial official told RFA Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Xiangkhoang is mostly a rural province, with a population of about 37,000 in its biggest city, the tourism hub of Phonsavan, but under Laos’s land classification system, towns in the province count as urban land.
The official said that the Lao government has ordered concessions suspended in Xiangkhoang’s towns but that there is still plenty of land available in rural areas.
Laos, one of the least developed Southeast Asian states, has become the subject of massive foreign investment, especially from companies from neighboring China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Much of Laos’s economic growth has come from land concessions for natural resources—including timber, agricultural products, minerals, and energy—but some worry that it comes at a cost for those who lose their land.
'Both good and bad'
Since all the land in Laos is owned by the state, residents can be forced off their land with little compensation as they are pushed out to make room for development projects.
“Land concessions are both good and bad; they’re good because they allow the economy to grow fast, but bad because they takes over people’s land,” the Xiangkhoang official said.
In the Lao capital, Vientiane, which is about five times as big as Phonsavan and where authorities are implementing a new city development plan to accommodate the expanding population, real estate prices have soared as investors buy of land for resale.
Anticipating higher values, they are scrambling to buy up areas of Vientiane where the government has planned to build new road and satellite cities, residents say.
Nationwide, Laos had at least 2,000 land concession projects in 2009, although many of them have not yet been developed, the Vientiane Times said.
The Lao government has considered suspending mining and land concessions several times in the past five years, but so far has not put the policy into practice, the newspaper said.
Reported by RFA’s Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Laos has suspended land concessions in tourism-driven Xiangkhoang province's towns even though nearly all the land in them has already been taken up for development, as the country rapidly exploits natural resources through foreign investments, officials said.
The province, home of the famous Plain of Jars archeological site, has over the past three years given many land concessions to foreign investors for carrying out development projects.
In the province’s urban areas, there is little land that has not been granted away, an official said.
“There is no more land in the towns, no more land for concessions. There’s nothing left,” a provincial official told RFA Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Xiangkhoang is mostly a rural province, with a population of about 37,000 in its biggest city, the tourism hub of Phonsavan, but under Laos’s land classification system, towns in the province count as urban land.
The official said that the Lao government has ordered concessions suspended in Xiangkhoang’s towns but that there is still plenty of land available in rural areas.
Laos, one of the least developed Southeast Asian states, has become the subject of massive foreign investment, especially from companies from neighboring China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Much of Laos’s economic growth has come from land concessions for natural resources—including timber, agricultural products, minerals, and energy—but some worry that it comes at a cost for those who lose their land.
'Both good and bad'
Since all the land in Laos is owned by the state, residents can be forced off their land with little compensation as they are pushed out to make room for development projects.
“Land concessions are both good and bad; they’re good because they allow the economy to grow fast, but bad because they takes over people’s land,” the Xiangkhoang official said.
In the Lao capital, Vientiane, which is about five times as big as Phonsavan and where authorities are implementing a new city development plan to accommodate the expanding population, real estate prices have soared as investors buy of land for resale.
Anticipating higher values, they are scrambling to buy up areas of Vientiane where the government has planned to build new road and satellite cities, residents say.
Nationwide, Laos had at least 2,000 land concession projects in 2009, although many of them have not yet been developed, the Vientiane Times said.
The Lao government has considered suspending mining and land concessions several times in the past five years, but so far has not put the policy into practice, the newspaper said.
Reported by RFA’s Lao service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
'I Have Taught Three Generations'
'I Have Taught Three Generations':
The Chinese American community of San Francisco recently honored veteran teacher Mei-ling Chan, who received a lifelong service award from the city government. Chan arrived in the U.S. at the age of 18 after her mother's marriage to a U.S. citizen, who later died suddenly of illness. Chan, who had been educated in English-language Hong Kong schools, soon set to work helping other newly arrived immigrants from China. She has taught new immigrants English in the same school for four decades.
She told RFA's Cantonese service about her life in America, helping new immigrants to find their feet:
When I was a kid, I saw a lot of injustice. There were servants in our house in Hong Kong, but I never treated them like servants. They were my aunties. I learned to cook from them and to do housework. I always felt compassion for people in poverty and wondered why no one would help them. I would get mad at the rich people for the way they made the poor suffer and then they wouldn't help them. I have had these thoughts from a very young age.
When [I arrived in the U.S.] I knew English, because I had gone to an English school. We were given a lot of trouble by the immigration department, so that our first six months were very uncertain. We were like refugees. My first job was teaching the new immigrants. I made up my mind that I would help them in future.
At first, my level of Chinese wasn't very good and I couldn't even use verbs and nouns properly. Later the students taught me, so they became my teachers. I was their teacher, too. We helped each other, so I learned a lot more Chinese.
That year, I just taught English spelling, which gave me a very good basis upon which to build, and I was able to develop a number of methods for teaching English to newly arrived immigrants. These methods were very well-suited to them. People have been finding them useful from primary school up to university, since 1971.
The kids [I taught] were all immigrants, and they lived a pretty unstable existence, particularly because their parents couldn't understand any English. They were very needy, so I was able to help these students by teaching them to read and to get used to life in America. I would often help out the parents privately if I heard there was something they needed. I am very happy to have had this opportunity. There are some families in which I have taught three generations.
The hardest thing for me has been how to use the very best methods to help people to get used to their surroundings in the space of a year, so as to go on and achieve success at other schools. A lot of the time we have to start with English letters. At the beginning, we spend a lot of time teaching them independence.
Some of them don't even have a basic level [of English] when they come into my class. I often challenge my students. I don't use traditional teaching techniques. I will tell them to ask me questions, and any questions I can't answer, they get points for. I encourage them.
I may be a teacher, but I still learn something new every day.
Reported by Li Li for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
The Chinese American community of San Francisco recently honored veteran teacher Mei-ling Chan, who received a lifelong service award from the city government. Chan arrived in the U.S. at the age of 18 after her mother's marriage to a U.S. citizen, who later died suddenly of illness. Chan, who had been educated in English-language Hong Kong schools, soon set to work helping other newly arrived immigrants from China. She has taught new immigrants English in the same school for four decades.
She told RFA's Cantonese service about her life in America, helping new immigrants to find their feet:
When I was a kid, I saw a lot of injustice. There were servants in our house in Hong Kong, but I never treated them like servants. They were my aunties. I learned to cook from them and to do housework. I always felt compassion for people in poverty and wondered why no one would help them. I would get mad at the rich people for the way they made the poor suffer and then they wouldn't help them. I have had these thoughts from a very young age.
When [I arrived in the U.S.] I knew English, because I had gone to an English school. We were given a lot of trouble by the immigration department, so that our first six months were very uncertain. We were like refugees. My first job was teaching the new immigrants. I made up my mind that I would help them in future.
At first, my level of Chinese wasn't very good and I couldn't even use verbs and nouns properly. Later the students taught me, so they became my teachers. I was their teacher, too. We helped each other, so I learned a lot more Chinese.
That year, I just taught English spelling, which gave me a very good basis upon which to build, and I was able to develop a number of methods for teaching English to newly arrived immigrants. These methods were very well-suited to them. People have been finding them useful from primary school up to university, since 1971.
The kids [I taught] were all immigrants, and they lived a pretty unstable existence, particularly because their parents couldn't understand any English. They were very needy, so I was able to help these students by teaching them to read and to get used to life in America. I would often help out the parents privately if I heard there was something they needed. I am very happy to have had this opportunity. There are some families in which I have taught three generations.
The hardest thing for me has been how to use the very best methods to help people to get used to their surroundings in the space of a year, so as to go on and achieve success at other schools. A lot of the time we have to start with English letters. At the beginning, we spend a lot of time teaching them independence.
Some of them don't even have a basic level [of English] when they come into my class. I often challenge my students. I don't use traditional teaching techniques. I will tell them to ask me questions, and any questions I can't answer, they get points for. I encourage them.
I may be a teacher, but I still learn something new every day.
Reported by Li Li for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
May 31, 2012
Local—now with a dash of Zagat and a sprinkle of Google+
Local—now with a dash of Zagat and a sprinkle of Google+: Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions. In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte ever.
Today, we’re rolling out Google+ Local, a simple way to discover and share local information featuring Zagat scores and recommendations from people you trust in Google+. Google+ Local helps people like my husband turn a craving—“Wow, I need brunch”—into an afternoon outing: “Perfect, there’s a dim sum place with great reviews just two blocks from here. Let’s go.” It’s integrated into Search, Maps and mobile and available as a new tab in Google+—creating one simple experience across Google.
Local information integrated across Google
From the new “Local” tab on the left-hand side of Google+, you can search for specific places or browse for ones that fit your mood. If you click on a restaurant, or a museum (or whatever), you’ll be taken to a local Google+ page that includes photos, Zagat scores and summaries, reviews from people you know, and other useful information like address and opening hours.
Google+ Local is also integrated across other products you already use every day. If you’re looking for a place on Search or Maps, you get the same great local information there too. You can also take it on the go with Google Maps for mobile on your Android device, and soon on iOS devices.
Better decisions with Zagat
Since Zagat joined the Google family last fall, our teams have been working together to improve the way you find great local information. Zagat has offered high-quality reviews, based on user-written submissions and surveys, of tens of thousands of places for more than three decades. All of Zagat’s accurate scores and summaries are now highlighted on local Google+ pages.
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Each place you see in Google+ Local will now be scored using Zagat’s 30-point scale, which tells you all about the various aspects of a place so you can make the best decisions. For example, a restaurant that has great food but not great decor might be 4 stars, but with Zagat you’d see a 26 in Food and an 8 in Decor, and know that it might not be the best place for date night.
Recommendations and reviews from people you know and trust
Your friends know what you like, and they probably like the same things you do. That’s why the opinions of people in your circles are front and center. If you search for [tacos] on Google+ Local, your results might include a friend’s rave review of the Baja-style taco stand in your neighborhood. And if you’re searching on Google or Google Maps for a great place to buy a gift for that same friend, your results might include a review from her about a boutique she shops at all the time.
You can also share your opinions and upload photos. These reviews and photos will help your friends when they’re checking out a place, and are also integrated into the aggregate score that other people see. The more you contribute, the more helpful Google+ Local will be for your friends, family and everyone else.
Whether it’s a block you’ve lived on for years or a city you’ve never been to before, we hope Google+ Local helps you discover new gems.
Today is just the first step, and you’ll see more updates in the coming months. If you’re a business owner, you can continue to manage your local listing information via Google Places for Business. Soon we’ll make it even easier for business owners to manage their listings on Google and to take full advantage of the social features provided by local Google+ pages. Get more information on our Google and Your Business Blog.
Posted by Avni Shah, Director of Product Management
(Cross-posted on the Zagat and Lat Long Blogs)
Today, we’re rolling out Google+ Local, a simple way to discover and share local information featuring Zagat scores and recommendations from people you trust in Google+. Google+ Local helps people like my husband turn a craving—“Wow, I need brunch”—into an afternoon outing: “Perfect, there’s a dim sum place with great reviews just two blocks from here. Let’s go.” It’s integrated into Search, Maps and mobile and available as a new tab in Google+—creating one simple experience across Google.
Local information integrated across Google
From the new “Local” tab on the left-hand side of Google+, you can search for specific places or browse for ones that fit your mood. If you click on a restaurant, or a museum (or whatever), you’ll be taken to a local Google+ page that includes photos, Zagat scores and summaries, reviews from people you know, and other useful information like address and opening hours.
Google+ Local is also integrated across other products you already use every day. If you’re looking for a place on Search or Maps, you get the same great local information there too. You can also take it on the go with Google Maps for mobile on your Android device, and soon on iOS devices.
A search on Google Maps
Google+ Local on an Android phone
Better decisions with Zagat
Since Zagat joined the Google family last fall, our teams have been working together to improve the way you find great local information. Zagat has offered high-quality reviews, based on user-written submissions and surveys, of tens of thousands of places for more than three decades. All of Zagat’s accurate scores and summaries are now highlighted on local Google+ pages.
.png)
Each place you see in Google+ Local will now be scored using Zagat’s 30-point scale, which tells you all about the various aspects of a place so you can make the best decisions. For example, a restaurant that has great food but not great decor might be 4 stars, but with Zagat you’d see a 26 in Food and an 8 in Decor, and know that it might not be the best place for date night.
Recommendations and reviews from people you know and trust
Your friends know what you like, and they probably like the same things you do. That’s why the opinions of people in your circles are front and center. If you search for [tacos] on Google+ Local, your results might include a friend’s rave review of the Baja-style taco stand in your neighborhood. And if you’re searching on Google or Google Maps for a great place to buy a gift for that same friend, your results might include a review from her about a boutique she shops at all the time.
You can also share your opinions and upload photos. These reviews and photos will help your friends when they’re checking out a place, and are also integrated into the aggregate score that other people see. The more you contribute, the more helpful Google+ Local will be for your friends, family and everyone else.
Whether it’s a block you’ve lived on for years or a city you’ve never been to before, we hope Google+ Local helps you discover new gems.
Today is just the first step, and you’ll see more updates in the coming months. If you’re a business owner, you can continue to manage your local listing information via Google Places for Business. Soon we’ll make it even easier for business owners to manage their listings on Google and to take full advantage of the social features provided by local Google+ pages. Get more information on our Google and Your Business Blog.
Posted by Avni Shah, Director of Product Management
(Cross-posted on the Zagat and Lat Long Blogs)
Explore historic sites with the World Wonders Project
Explore historic sites with the World Wonders Project: I’ve always been fascinated by famous historic and cultural sites from around the world. When I was a child, flipping through encyclopedias while researching for school projects, the thought of exploring these sites was a distant dream. With the new Google World Wonders Project, that dream is now a little closer for students and others around the globe.
The World Wonders Project enables you to discover 132 historic sites from 18 countries, including Stonehenge, the archaeological areas of Pompeii and the ancient Kyoto temples. In addition to man-made sites, you can explore natural places: wander the sandy dunes of Australia’s Shark Bay or gaze up at the rock domes of Yosemite National Park in California.
World Wonders uses Street View technology to take you on a virtual trip to each iconic site. Most could not be filmed by car, so we used camera-carrying trikes to pedal our way close enough. The site also includes 3D models and YouTube videos of the historical places, so you can dig in and get more information and a broader view of each site. We also partnered with several prestigious organizations, including UNESCO, the World Monuments Fund, Getty Images and Ourplace, who provided official information and photographs for many of the sites.
We hope World Wonders will prove to be a valuable educational resource for students and scholars. A selection of educational packages are available to download for classroom use; you can also share the site content with friends.
World Wonders is part of our commitment to preserving culture online and making it accessible to everyone. Under the auspices of the Google Cultural Institute, we’re publishing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela and presenting thousands of artworks through the Art Project.
Find out more about the project on the World Wonders YouTube channel, and start exploring at www.google.com/worldwonders.
Posted by Melanie Blaschke, Product Marketing Manager, World Wonders Project
The World Wonders Project enables you to discover 132 historic sites from 18 countries, including Stonehenge, the archaeological areas of Pompeii and the ancient Kyoto temples. In addition to man-made sites, you can explore natural places: wander the sandy dunes of Australia’s Shark Bay or gaze up at the rock domes of Yosemite National Park in California.
World Wonders uses Street View technology to take you on a virtual trip to each iconic site. Most could not be filmed by car, so we used camera-carrying trikes to pedal our way close enough. The site also includes 3D models and YouTube videos of the historical places, so you can dig in and get more information and a broader view of each site. We also partnered with several prestigious organizations, including UNESCO, the World Monuments Fund, Getty Images and Ourplace, who provided official information and photographs for many of the sites.
We hope World Wonders will prove to be a valuable educational resource for students and scholars. A selection of educational packages are available to download for classroom use; you can also share the site content with friends.
World Wonders is part of our commitment to preserving culture online and making it accessible to everyone. Under the auspices of the Google Cultural Institute, we’re publishing high resolution images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, digitizing the archives of famous figures such as Nelson Mandela and presenting thousands of artworks through the Art Project.
Find out more about the project on the World Wonders YouTube channel, and start exploring at www.google.com/worldwonders.
Posted by Melanie Blaschke, Product Marketing Manager, World Wonders Project
UN High Commissioner for Refugees launches "State of the World's Refugees" warns of worsening global displacement
UN High Commissioner for Refugees launches "State of the World's Refugees" warns of worsening global displacement: NEW YORK, May 31 (UNHCR) - The head of the UN refugee agency, António Guterres, warned today that factors causing mass population flight are growing and that the coming 10 years will see more and more...
Networked: The New Social Operating System
Networked: The New Social Operating System: In their new book, "Networked," Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, and Barry Wellman show how the large, loosely knit social circles of networked individuals expand opportunities for learning, problem solving, decision making and personal interaction.
REFUGEES: Moving out of the shadows
REFUGEES: Moving out of the shadows:
 | JOHANNESBURG, 31 May 2012 (IRIN) - When night falls in the Dadaab refugee complex in eastern Kenya, nearly half a million refugees are plunged into darkness. The lack of light robs schoolchildren of the possibility of studying and provides perfect cover for thieves and rapists. |
President of Republic conducts first meeting with political parties
President of Republic conducts first meeting with political parties:
Dili, 30 May 2012: President of Republic, Taur Matan Ruak, today, at the Presidential Palace had the first meeting with the political parties that will compete in the upcoming Parliamentarian election.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss concerns and suggestions before the campaign starts on June 5th, 2012.
The Head of State reminded the leaders of the parties that the upcoming elections is another test for the people of Timor-Leste and so, they have to in unity, ensure the election process is smooth like the Presidential election of 2012.
President urged the leaders of the political parties to start identifying the areas of possible conflict during the campaign and also to avoid any conflict.
The President said that the population in rural areas lack information about the election process, therefore, urged the political parties to strengthen civil education, observation, and also involve media in campaign activities.
According to the agenda of the National Election Commission, there are 18 political parties and 3 coalition parties that are ready to compete on the upcoming Parliamentarian election. The campaign will be start on June 5th and last till 4th of July 2012.
Dili, 30 May 2012: President of Republic, Taur Matan Ruak, today, at the Presidential Palace had the first meeting with the political parties that will compete in the upcoming Parliamentarian election.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss concerns and suggestions before the campaign starts on June 5th, 2012.
The Head of State reminded the leaders of the parties that the upcoming elections is another test for the people of Timor-Leste and so, they have to in unity, ensure the election process is smooth like the Presidential election of 2012.
President urged the leaders of the political parties to start identifying the areas of possible conflict during the campaign and also to avoid any conflict.
The President said that the population in rural areas lack information about the election process, therefore, urged the political parties to strengthen civil education, observation, and also involve media in campaign activities.
According to the agenda of the National Election Commission, there are 18 political parties and 3 coalition parties that are ready to compete on the upcoming Parliamentarian election. The campaign will be start on June 5th and last till 4th of July 2012.
President of Republic conducts first meeting with political parties
President of Republic conducts first meeting with political parties:
Dili, 30 May 2012: President of Republic, Taur Matan Ruak, today, at the Presidential Palace had the first meeting with the political parties that will compete in the upcoming Parliamentarian election.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss concerns and suggestions before the campaign starts on June 5th, 2012.
The Head of State reminded the leaders of the parties that the upcoming elections is another test for the people of Timor-Leste and so, they have to in unity, ensure the election process is smooth like the Presidential election of 2012.
President urged the leaders of the political parties to start identifying the areas of possible conflict during the campaign and also to avoid any conflict.
The President said that the population in rural areas lack information about the election process, therefore, urged the political parties to strengthen civil education, observation, and also involve media in campaign activities.
According to the agenda of the National Election Commission, there are 18 political parties and 3 coalition parties that are ready to compete on the upcoming Parliamentarian election. The campaign will be start on June 5th and last till 4th of July 2012.
Dili, 30 May 2012: President of Republic, Taur Matan Ruak, today, at the Presidential Palace had the first meeting with the political parties that will compete in the upcoming Parliamentarian election.
The objective of the meeting was to discuss concerns and suggestions before the campaign starts on June 5th, 2012.
The Head of State reminded the leaders of the parties that the upcoming elections is another test for the people of Timor-Leste and so, they have to in unity, ensure the election process is smooth like the Presidential election of 2012.
President urged the leaders of the political parties to start identifying the areas of possible conflict during the campaign and also to avoid any conflict.
The President said that the population in rural areas lack information about the election process, therefore, urged the political parties to strengthen civil education, observation, and also involve media in campaign activities.
According to the agenda of the National Election Commission, there are 18 political parties and 3 coalition parties that are ready to compete on the upcoming Parliamentarian election. The campaign will be start on June 5th and last till 4th of July 2012.
Arrest of Papua New Guinea Chief Justice disturbing
Arrest of Papua New Guinea Chief Justice disturbing:
Press Release – New Zealand Law Society
The arrest of the Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea on charges of sedition is a disturbing development for anyone who believes that an independent judiciary is a requirement for any democracy, the New Zealand Law Society said today.31 May 2012
Arrest of Papua New Guinea Chief Justice disturbing development
The arrest of the Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea on charges of sedition is a disturbing development for anyone who believes that an independent judiciary is a requirement for any democracy, the New Zealand Law Society said today.
Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia was arrested six days ago by a group of police and soldiers who stormed the Supreme Court and subsequently charged Sir Salamo with sedition before he was released on bail.
The arrest followed the Supreme Court’s decision that Sir Michael Somare should be reinstated as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.
“It is fundamental that courts are able to make decisions and to operate with total independence from pressure by anyone, including the government,” the President of the Law Society, Jonathan Temm, said today.
Mr Temm said the Law Society joined with LAWASIA, the Australian Bar Association and a number of lawyers’ organisations in expressing its alarm at the events in Papua New Guinea.
“The institutions and freedoms we enjoy and take for granted in New Zealand are precious and it is vital that we express our support for the rule of law in other jurisdictions when it is threatened,” he said.
ENDS
Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
Original url
Press Release – New Zealand Law Society
The arrest of the Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea on charges of sedition is a disturbing development for anyone who believes that an independent judiciary is a requirement for any democracy, the New Zealand Law Society said today.31 May 2012
Arrest of Papua New Guinea Chief Justice disturbing development
The arrest of the Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea on charges of sedition is a disturbing development for anyone who believes that an independent judiciary is a requirement for any democracy, the New Zealand Law Society said today.
Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia was arrested six days ago by a group of police and soldiers who stormed the Supreme Court and subsequently charged Sir Salamo with sedition before he was released on bail.
The arrest followed the Supreme Court’s decision that Sir Michael Somare should be reinstated as Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.
“It is fundamental that courts are able to make decisions and to operate with total independence from pressure by anyone, including the government,” the President of the Law Society, Jonathan Temm, said today.
Mr Temm said the Law Society joined with LAWASIA, the Australian Bar Association and a number of lawyers’ organisations in expressing its alarm at the events in Papua New Guinea.
“The institutions and freedoms we enjoy and take for granted in New Zealand are precious and it is vital that we express our support for the rule of law in other jurisdictions when it is threatened,” he said.
ENDS
Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
Original url
Is this the beginning of the end for civil liberties?
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Top judge falls in the Philippines
Top judge falls in the Philippines: The firing of Renato Corona as chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court for failing to disclose US$2.4 million in bank assets is a major boost for President Benigno Aquino's anti-corruption campaign. If Aquino can succeed in dispelling long-held perceptions about deep-rooted graft in the Philippines, the country's youthful demographics could give it a competitive edge over regional rivals. - Simon Roughneen (May 30, '12)
Malaysia bids to silence immigrant labor revelations
Malaysia bids to silence immigrant labor revelations: Two decades of strong economic growth in Malaysia have attracted millions of Indonesians prepared to do work shunned by locals. Revelations of the grim conditions endured by much of the immigrant labor, now 10% of the workforce, are being treated as unpatriotic and seditious. - Baradan Kuppusamy
Business before rights in Southeast Asia
Business before rights in Southeast Asia: The United States' strategic "pivot" towards Asia is spinning lopsidedly in an imbalance shared by Europe. On one side, there is the attempt to counter China's rising regional influence by courting and defending nations like Myanmar and Vietnam. On the other, the increasing willingness of Washington and Brussels to subjugate rights and democracy concerns in pursuit of commercial gain is a turn towards Beijing's approach. - Roberto Tofani (May 31, '12)
The end, the beginning
The end, the beginning:
With yesterday’s expiry of the ban on the 111 Thai Rak Thai executives (commonly known as บ้านเลขที่ 111: house no. 111) Thai politics enters a new phase. Some of the big Thai Rak Thai party names who may be catapulated back to public prominence include Surakiart Sathirathai, Chaturon Chaisaeng, Pongthep Thepkanjana and Varathep Rattanakorn.
Their return to formal politics may, in time, be seen as the moment when a line was finally drawn under the post-coup confrontation that has rolled now for more than half a decade. Something ended with the expiry of the ban. And something new now begins.
An earlier radio report on these issues is available here. It features former Thai Rak Thai Party executive and Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanjana, as well as Bunaraj Smutharaks, from the Democrat Party.
With yesterday’s expiry of the ban on the 111 Thai Rak Thai executives (commonly known as บ้านเลขที่ 111: house no. 111) Thai politics enters a new phase. Some of the big Thai Rak Thai party names who may be catapulated back to public prominence include Surakiart Sathirathai, Chaturon Chaisaeng, Pongthep Thepkanjana and Varathep Rattanakorn.
Their return to formal politics may, in time, be seen as the moment when a line was finally drawn under the post-coup confrontation that has rolled now for more than half a decade. Something ended with the expiry of the ban. And something new now begins.
An earlier radio report on these issues is available here. It features former Thai Rak Thai Party executive and Deputy Prime Minister Pongthep Thepkanjana, as well as Bunaraj Smutharaks, from the Democrat Party.
Malaysia after regime change – Ong Kian Ming
Malaysia after regime change – Ong Kian Ming:
5 Main Challenges for a PR Government
What happens in the unlikely event that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wins and maintains control of the federal government after the 13th general election? This is a question which few people have tried to address systematically. In this article, I want to highlight what I think will be the five main challenges facing a PR federal government as a way to contextualise the policy options which such a government will have to address.
I have summarised these five main challenges into five ‘P’s: (i) Dealing with the ‘Past’ (ii) Distributing
‘Power’ between the federal and state governments (iii) Coming up with a new set of ‘Plans’ in the economic, political and social arenas (iv) Focusing on a smaller number of ‘Priorities’ which can be delivered within 100 days and one year and finally (v) Finding a set of ‘Procedures’ to deal with disagreements within the PR coalition.
(i) Past
Having been in power for 55 years, there are bound to be a whole list of ‘legacy’ issues which a new government has to figure out how to deal with. It would not be practical for a new federal government to conduct a massive witch hunt to weed out all those who have paid bribes to the previous government to obtain contracts, to find evidence to convict all BN politicians who have received bribes or have amassed wealth beyond their means or to sack all civil servants who have been complicit in corrupt dealings involving the previous government. But at the same time, it makes sense for a PR government to outline a clear set of rules with regard to how it will, for example, deal with dubious contracts which the government has signed with private companies. This is important because there is a great temptation for PR to blame the previous BN government for many of the problems that it will face when it is governing. Instead of blaming BN in an ad-hoc manner throughout its first term in government, it would be better for PR to outline a place to clear out the skeletons in the cupboard early in its tenure in power.
PR has already given some indication as to the contracts it will attempt to cancel or renegotiate when it comes to power namely the contracts with toll operators and independent power producers. There are bound to be many other smaller contracts which are potentially disadvantageous to the government which could be renegotiated or cancelled. The criteria for contract renegotiation or cancellation need to be spelled out as soon as possible as a way of assuring the markets and the many companies which have large contracts with the government.
Similarly, PR needs to figure out the extent to which it wants to change the government procurements process. It will be a tricky balancing act since many of the current contractors have well established relationships with UMNO who are also Malay entrepreneurs who will question PR’s commitment to protecting Malay entrepreneurship if they are cut off from these government contracts. At the same time, this also presents an opportunity to introduce open tender processes that could potentially save the government billions of ringgit in expenditure.
More than important than mere contracts is the fate of those who wrongly benefitted from the awarding of these contracts and other government related concessions and favors. To what extent will a PR government go after the likes of Tajuddin Ramli, those involved in PKFZ, NFC and Scorpene submarine scandals? Will a PR government try to recover as much revenue as possible and will it try to convict the individuals involved in these scandals as well?
Similar questions surround the fate of BN politicians who may have amassed ill gotten gains through their government positions. Will PR go after the ill gotten gains of the individuals in question or will it also go after the individuals in question? Is there a cut-off mark under which some cases may not be investigated?
Here, it may be useful to establish an equivalent of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee established in South Africa after the abolishment of apartheid. In exchange for amnesty, politicians, civil servants and even businessmen who have amassed ill gotten gains can use this platform to ‘confess’ their past wrongdoing and return a percentage of their wealth to the taxpayer. Similar actions can be taken by individuals who want to blow the whistle on themselves and admit to past wrongdoing, not just in terms of financial gain but also in terms of other past abuses of power including granting citizenship to foreigners to allow them to vote, wrongfully jailing innocent victims, beating up public protestors, just to name a few.
This may be a cathartic experience for the nation for past mistakes to be revealed and for the nation to move on and firmly establish itself as a democratic nation with regular alternations in power. Question is, will a PR government subject itself to the same levels of scrutiny, including admission of past mistakes among those in PR who were formerly high ranking politicians in the BN government?
(ii) Power
The second major challenge to a PR government is in the re-allocation of power between the federal government and the states. Right now, the PR state governments in Kelantan, Kedah, Penang and Selangor say that their hands are tied because of the lack of funding and cooperation from the federal government on key issues including the consolidation of water assets and pricing, the consolidation of wage management, the responsibility for public transportation and road maintenance and the proper allocation of federal funding including the oil royalties paid to Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.
With a PR government at the federal level, such excuses will no longer be valid. A PR federal government will have to pick the low hanging fruit in terms of distributing power and funds back to the states in areas which are clearly defined to be under state jurisdiction. This may not be as easy as it sounds. Even increasing the oil royalty from 5% to 20% will entail a redistribution of as much as RM10b ringgit from the federal government to the states. Hard decisions will have to be made with regard to where some of these cuts have to be made at the federal level.
Other issues concerning decentralisation of power from the federal to the state governments, a cornerstone of PR’s promises both in the Buku Jingga (Orange Book) and more recently in the Tawaran Jingga (Orange Offer), will require achieving an internal consensus within PR. The Democratic Action Party (DAP) will want to push for the restoration of local council elections, something which Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and the Peoples Justice Party (PKR) seem lukewarm about. PAS will want to push for the implementation of hudud, especially in the states which it controls, especially Kelantan. Needless to say, DAP will object to this vehemently.
A PR federal government would also be under some pressure to apply some of these decentralisation measures consistently among the states, including those governed by the BN. For example, it would be inconsistent for the BN to give an increased share of oil royalties to Kelantan but not to the (likely) BN governed states of Terengganu, Sarawak and Sabah. Nor would it be consistent for PR to promise to pass this money back to these states on the condition that voters in these states vote in PR state governments.
It actually makes long term sense for a PR federal government to decentralise as much as is economically and politically plausible as an insurance policy in the likelihood that it loses control of the federal government in the future. Having greater democracy and decentralised power means that the states and local authorities which PR still controls can have more independence and hopefully, be more effective as well.
(iii) Plans
While one can question their effectiveness, there is less doubt that Prime Minister Najib has put in place a comprehensive transformation plans to address various shortcomings in the political, economic and social arenas. Most politically aware Malaysians are already familiar with the alphabet soup which is associated with Najib’s transformation programs – 1Malaysia, ETP, GTP, NEM, PTP – even if they are unsure about the achievements of these programs.
PR is not likely to follow in Najib’s footsteps in designing a similar ‘transformation’ program but it will still need to come up with concrete and well thought out plans of its own in order to shape the country’s political, economic and social agenda according to the vision and philosophy of PR and its leaders.
PR is better placed in some areas to deliver substantive positive change compared to the BN. It would be relatively easy for PR to deliver on promises of reform in terms of political rights and civil liberties by abolishing any laws which allow for detention without trial such as the Security Offences Special Measures Act (SOSMA), abolish the need to have a permit to print a newspaper and to allow political parties to have a presence in university campuses, just to name a few. But PR would also have to resist the temptation of using their power in order to intimidate and threaten the mainstream media newspapers and television which are owned or closely associated with BN parties. Similarly, it also needs to resist the temptation of using RTM1 and 2 as a government mouthpiece.
PR can also deliver significant institutional reform such as making the Election Commission (EC) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) independent and allowing them to carry out their jobs without political interference. It would also have to tackle the tricky task of reforming the police force including finding new roles for existing Special Branch officers, assuming that their services will no longer be needed or needed less often. It is also needs to strengthen the civil service’s resolve to be professional and accountable rather than to force it to change its political allegiance from BN to PR.
In terms of the economy, PR will have to find new sources of economic growth as well as enhancing current sources of growth. Some of this can be realised by the freeing up of certain monopolies so that competitive forces can be released in currently protected sectors. Other initiatives require a longer time period to come to fruition such as increasing the innovation and R&D capacity in the country. One way in which this process can be expedited is to tap on the large Malaysian disapora, some of whom may be interested to come back and invest their time, expertise and money under a new non-BN federal government.
One of the biggest policy areas for PR to tackle would be in education since this is something which almost all Malaysians care about and where there is a widespread consensus that something drastic needs to be done in order to arrest the decline in the standard of public education in the country. PR has said that it would respect the rights of vernacular ( Mandarin and Tamil) and religious schools to flourish in the country. It will have its hands full in taking on the civil service as well as some within the PR who do not want to strengthen vernacular and religious education, especially in allowing more Chinese primary and independent secondary schools to be established.
These are only a few of the key policy questions which PR has to address/ if it comes to power at the federal level. The list can easily be longer. PR’s challenge is to design a strategic plan or plans in order to fulfill a set of political, economic and social goals.
(iv) Priorities
Not all of the plans outlined in Part (iii) can be fulfilled in a short period of time. Some may even take more than one term to deliver the desired results. PR does not have the luxury of taking its time to deliver once it is in control of the federal government. It needs to prioritise its various objectives so that some immediate quick wins can be given the proper focus. Some of PR’s promises in its first 100 days in government have already been outlined in the Buku Jingga such as setting up an RCI on the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, providing free wifi to the rural areas in the country and abolishing certain corporate subsidies such as the gas subsidy to the independent power producers (IPPs). These deliverables may have to be adjusted if a PR federal government realises that some of the initiatives may take longer than 100 days to fulfill.
It is important for PR to show it can deliver concrete results and initiatives early in its administration so that it can build momentum for other initiatives later on. Without clear, focused priorities, PR may fall into the trap of wanting to do too much but failing to deliver anything significant in a timely manner.
(v) Procedures
Finally, PR will have to come up with certain procedures, both formal and informal, for dealing with disagreements between the PR component parties on key policy issues. I have already pointed out that local government elections and hudud are two potential flashpoints within the PR. There is no doubt that other controversial disagreements will emerge from within the PR coalition. Unlike in the BN, where UMNO can dominate and control major policy directions, the parties within the PR coalition are much more equal in terms of stature and also control of parliament and state seats. Even though the Prime Minister from PR, most likely Anwar Ibrahim, will yield considerable power, it would be difficult for him to ride roughshod over his component party members in the same way as Dr. Mahathir within the BN context.
The PR Supreme Council needs to be strengthened and proper procedures identified in order to solve conflicts emerging from within PR on issues of national and sub-national importance.
Conclusion
This article has barely scratched the surface of what a PR government may look like and the main challenges which it will face as a new ruling coalition. But hopefully, it has been helpful in outlining the major issues of contention and providing some guidelines as to how these challenges may be addresses so that PR can effectively deliver positive change to the country.
Ong Kian Ming holds a PhD in political science from Duke University. He is the project director of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap), political analyst and a lecturer at the University College Sedaya International (UCSI). He can be reached at im.ok.man(at)gmail.com
5 Main Challenges for a PR Government
What happens in the unlikely event that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) wins and maintains control of the federal government after the 13th general election? This is a question which few people have tried to address systematically. In this article, I want to highlight what I think will be the five main challenges facing a PR federal government as a way to contextualise the policy options which such a government will have to address.
I have summarised these five main challenges into five ‘P’s: (i) Dealing with the ‘Past’ (ii) Distributing
‘Power’ between the federal and state governments (iii) Coming up with a new set of ‘Plans’ in the economic, political and social arenas (iv) Focusing on a smaller number of ‘Priorities’ which can be delivered within 100 days and one year and finally (v) Finding a set of ‘Procedures’ to deal with disagreements within the PR coalition.
(i) Past
Having been in power for 55 years, there are bound to be a whole list of ‘legacy’ issues which a new government has to figure out how to deal with. It would not be practical for a new federal government to conduct a massive witch hunt to weed out all those who have paid bribes to the previous government to obtain contracts, to find evidence to convict all BN politicians who have received bribes or have amassed wealth beyond their means or to sack all civil servants who have been complicit in corrupt dealings involving the previous government. But at the same time, it makes sense for a PR government to outline a clear set of rules with regard to how it will, for example, deal with dubious contracts which the government has signed with private companies. This is important because there is a great temptation for PR to blame the previous BN government for many of the problems that it will face when it is governing. Instead of blaming BN in an ad-hoc manner throughout its first term in government, it would be better for PR to outline a place to clear out the skeletons in the cupboard early in its tenure in power.
PR has already given some indication as to the contracts it will attempt to cancel or renegotiate when it comes to power namely the contracts with toll operators and independent power producers. There are bound to be many other smaller contracts which are potentially disadvantageous to the government which could be renegotiated or cancelled. The criteria for contract renegotiation or cancellation need to be spelled out as soon as possible as a way of assuring the markets and the many companies which have large contracts with the government.
Similarly, PR needs to figure out the extent to which it wants to change the government procurements process. It will be a tricky balancing act since many of the current contractors have well established relationships with UMNO who are also Malay entrepreneurs who will question PR’s commitment to protecting Malay entrepreneurship if they are cut off from these government contracts. At the same time, this also presents an opportunity to introduce open tender processes that could potentially save the government billions of ringgit in expenditure.
More than important than mere contracts is the fate of those who wrongly benefitted from the awarding of these contracts and other government related concessions and favors. To what extent will a PR government go after the likes of Tajuddin Ramli, those involved in PKFZ, NFC and Scorpene submarine scandals? Will a PR government try to recover as much revenue as possible and will it try to convict the individuals involved in these scandals as well?
Similar questions surround the fate of BN politicians who may have amassed ill gotten gains through their government positions. Will PR go after the ill gotten gains of the individuals in question or will it also go after the individuals in question? Is there a cut-off mark under which some cases may not be investigated?
Here, it may be useful to establish an equivalent of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee established in South Africa after the abolishment of apartheid. In exchange for amnesty, politicians, civil servants and even businessmen who have amassed ill gotten gains can use this platform to ‘confess’ their past wrongdoing and return a percentage of their wealth to the taxpayer. Similar actions can be taken by individuals who want to blow the whistle on themselves and admit to past wrongdoing, not just in terms of financial gain but also in terms of other past abuses of power including granting citizenship to foreigners to allow them to vote, wrongfully jailing innocent victims, beating up public protestors, just to name a few.
This may be a cathartic experience for the nation for past mistakes to be revealed and for the nation to move on and firmly establish itself as a democratic nation with regular alternations in power. Question is, will a PR government subject itself to the same levels of scrutiny, including admission of past mistakes among those in PR who were formerly high ranking politicians in the BN government?
(ii) Power
The second major challenge to a PR government is in the re-allocation of power between the federal government and the states. Right now, the PR state governments in Kelantan, Kedah, Penang and Selangor say that their hands are tied because of the lack of funding and cooperation from the federal government on key issues including the consolidation of water assets and pricing, the consolidation of wage management, the responsibility for public transportation and road maintenance and the proper allocation of federal funding including the oil royalties paid to Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak.
With a PR government at the federal level, such excuses will no longer be valid. A PR federal government will have to pick the low hanging fruit in terms of distributing power and funds back to the states in areas which are clearly defined to be under state jurisdiction. This may not be as easy as it sounds. Even increasing the oil royalty from 5% to 20% will entail a redistribution of as much as RM10b ringgit from the federal government to the states. Hard decisions will have to be made with regard to where some of these cuts have to be made at the federal level.
Other issues concerning decentralisation of power from the federal to the state governments, a cornerstone of PR’s promises both in the Buku Jingga (Orange Book) and more recently in the Tawaran Jingga (Orange Offer), will require achieving an internal consensus within PR. The Democratic Action Party (DAP) will want to push for the restoration of local council elections, something which Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and the Peoples Justice Party (PKR) seem lukewarm about. PAS will want to push for the implementation of hudud, especially in the states which it controls, especially Kelantan. Needless to say, DAP will object to this vehemently.
A PR federal government would also be under some pressure to apply some of these decentralisation measures consistently among the states, including those governed by the BN. For example, it would be inconsistent for the BN to give an increased share of oil royalties to Kelantan but not to the (likely) BN governed states of Terengganu, Sarawak and Sabah. Nor would it be consistent for PR to promise to pass this money back to these states on the condition that voters in these states vote in PR state governments.
It actually makes long term sense for a PR federal government to decentralise as much as is economically and politically plausible as an insurance policy in the likelihood that it loses control of the federal government in the future. Having greater democracy and decentralised power means that the states and local authorities which PR still controls can have more independence and hopefully, be more effective as well.
(iii) Plans
While one can question their effectiveness, there is less doubt that Prime Minister Najib has put in place a comprehensive transformation plans to address various shortcomings in the political, economic and social arenas. Most politically aware Malaysians are already familiar with the alphabet soup which is associated with Najib’s transformation programs – 1Malaysia, ETP, GTP, NEM, PTP – even if they are unsure about the achievements of these programs.
PR is not likely to follow in Najib’s footsteps in designing a similar ‘transformation’ program but it will still need to come up with concrete and well thought out plans of its own in order to shape the country’s political, economic and social agenda according to the vision and philosophy of PR and its leaders.
PR is better placed in some areas to deliver substantive positive change compared to the BN. It would be relatively easy for PR to deliver on promises of reform in terms of political rights and civil liberties by abolishing any laws which allow for detention without trial such as the Security Offences Special Measures Act (SOSMA), abolish the need to have a permit to print a newspaper and to allow political parties to have a presence in university campuses, just to name a few. But PR would also have to resist the temptation of using their power in order to intimidate and threaten the mainstream media newspapers and television which are owned or closely associated with BN parties. Similarly, it also needs to resist the temptation of using RTM1 and 2 as a government mouthpiece.
PR can also deliver significant institutional reform such as making the Election Commission (EC) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) independent and allowing them to carry out their jobs without political interference. It would also have to tackle the tricky task of reforming the police force including finding new roles for existing Special Branch officers, assuming that their services will no longer be needed or needed less often. It is also needs to strengthen the civil service’s resolve to be professional and accountable rather than to force it to change its political allegiance from BN to PR.
In terms of the economy, PR will have to find new sources of economic growth as well as enhancing current sources of growth. Some of this can be realised by the freeing up of certain monopolies so that competitive forces can be released in currently protected sectors. Other initiatives require a longer time period to come to fruition such as increasing the innovation and R&D capacity in the country. One way in which this process can be expedited is to tap on the large Malaysian disapora, some of whom may be interested to come back and invest their time, expertise and money under a new non-BN federal government.
One of the biggest policy areas for PR to tackle would be in education since this is something which almost all Malaysians care about and where there is a widespread consensus that something drastic needs to be done in order to arrest the decline in the standard of public education in the country. PR has said that it would respect the rights of vernacular ( Mandarin and Tamil) and religious schools to flourish in the country. It will have its hands full in taking on the civil service as well as some within the PR who do not want to strengthen vernacular and religious education, especially in allowing more Chinese primary and independent secondary schools to be established.
These are only a few of the key policy questions which PR has to address/ if it comes to power at the federal level. The list can easily be longer. PR’s challenge is to design a strategic plan or plans in order to fulfill a set of political, economic and social goals.
(iv) Priorities
Not all of the plans outlined in Part (iii) can be fulfilled in a short period of time. Some may even take more than one term to deliver the desired results. PR does not have the luxury of taking its time to deliver once it is in control of the federal government. It needs to prioritise its various objectives so that some immediate quick wins can be given the proper focus. Some of PR’s promises in its first 100 days in government have already been outlined in the Buku Jingga such as setting up an RCI on the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, providing free wifi to the rural areas in the country and abolishing certain corporate subsidies such as the gas subsidy to the independent power producers (IPPs). These deliverables may have to be adjusted if a PR federal government realises that some of the initiatives may take longer than 100 days to fulfill.
It is important for PR to show it can deliver concrete results and initiatives early in its administration so that it can build momentum for other initiatives later on. Without clear, focused priorities, PR may fall into the trap of wanting to do too much but failing to deliver anything significant in a timely manner.
(v) Procedures
Finally, PR will have to come up with certain procedures, both formal and informal, for dealing with disagreements between the PR component parties on key policy issues. I have already pointed out that local government elections and hudud are two potential flashpoints within the PR. There is no doubt that other controversial disagreements will emerge from within the PR coalition. Unlike in the BN, where UMNO can dominate and control major policy directions, the parties within the PR coalition are much more equal in terms of stature and also control of parliament and state seats. Even though the Prime Minister from PR, most likely Anwar Ibrahim, will yield considerable power, it would be difficult for him to ride roughshod over his component party members in the same way as Dr. Mahathir within the BN context.
The PR Supreme Council needs to be strengthened and proper procedures identified in order to solve conflicts emerging from within PR on issues of national and sub-national importance.
Conclusion
This article has barely scratched the surface of what a PR government may look like and the main challenges which it will face as a new ruling coalition. But hopefully, it has been helpful in outlining the major issues of contention and providing some guidelines as to how these challenges may be addresses so that PR can effectively deliver positive change to the country.
Ong Kian Ming holds a PhD in political science from Duke University. He is the project director of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap), political analyst and a lecturer at the University College Sedaya International (UCSI). He can be reached at im.ok.man(at)gmail.com
Critical junctures in Timor-Leste
Critical junctures in Timor-Leste:
As Timor-Leste heads into the 2012 parliamentary elections, and having just celebrated its first decade of independence, there is a sense that the country is at a critical juncture. Political competition is again heightened, as parties compete for public support and seats in parliament.
But there is also expectation around the state’s political consolidation.
Many believe this is make or break time for Timor-Leste. But is this the point at which Timor-Leste succeeds or fails?
The idea of a critical juncture is one in which historical forces arrive at more or less the same time to produce a significant change. In living memory, Timor-Leste has seen such significant change.
Timor-Leste has transitioned from being a largely neglected Portuguese colony, having a brief moment of independence and then suffering under 24 years of Indonesian occupation. During this period, there were moments when the resistance came close to annihilation, and when it divided within itself.
read more
As Timor-Leste heads into the 2012 parliamentary elections, and having just celebrated its first decade of independence, there is a sense that the country is at a critical juncture. Political competition is again heightened, as parties compete for public support and seats in parliament.
But there is also expectation around the state’s political consolidation.
Many believe this is make or break time for Timor-Leste. But is this the point at which Timor-Leste succeeds or fails?
The idea of a critical juncture is one in which historical forces arrive at more or less the same time to produce a significant change. In living memory, Timor-Leste has seen such significant change.
Timor-Leste has transitioned from being a largely neglected Portuguese colony, having a brief moment of independence and then suffering under 24 years of Indonesian occupation. During this period, there were moments when the resistance came close to annihilation, and when it divided within itself.
read more
West Java: Sundanese Language
West Java: Sundanese Language:
By: Emma Kwee
The Sundanese have their own language, which is totally different from Bahasa Indonesia. When walking around in Bandung you will probably notice the melodic, wailing way in which people speak, that sounds very different from Bahasa Indonesia or Javanese. Chances are that you won’t understand a word that is uttered, since word structures are quite complex and long, with a lot of multi syllable tones, which will prove real tongue twisters.
More particularly on the sounds and intonations the “euy” greeting for instance, stresses on the “eu” syllabi and is pervasive in Sundanese language. Try these tongue twisters for example: Ciumbuleuit (an area in northern Bandung ), beuteung (stomach) or try to say this typically Sundanese expression really fast: laleur mapai areuy (the fly strolls on the rice field paths). Before you get all discouraged it might cheer you up that everybody speaks Bahasa Indonesia as well, and most people speak English to a certain degree.
Some Sundanese words you will come across are for example: “ punten ”, this is a polite greeting to excuse yourself when you walk passed followed by “ mangga ” to reply by way of saying ‘go ahead’. “ Kumaha damang ?” means “how are you?” and “ Nuhun ” is thank you. If you wish to learn Sundanese, the KPN (Kursus Pembina Nusantara 022-2509536) in Jalan Dago Pojok offers Sundanese courses for those interested.
By: Emma Kwee
The Sundanese have their own language, which is totally different from Bahasa Indonesia. When walking around in Bandung you will probably notice the melodic, wailing way in which people speak, that sounds very different from Bahasa Indonesia or Javanese. Chances are that you won’t understand a word that is uttered, since word structures are quite complex and long, with a lot of multi syllable tones, which will prove real tongue twisters.
More particularly on the sounds and intonations the “euy” greeting for instance, stresses on the “eu” syllabi and is pervasive in Sundanese language. Try these tongue twisters for example: Ciumbuleuit (an area in northern Bandung ), beuteung (stomach) or try to say this typically Sundanese expression really fast: laleur mapai areuy (the fly strolls on the rice field paths). Before you get all discouraged it might cheer you up that everybody speaks Bahasa Indonesia as well, and most people speak English to a certain degree.
Polite Wailing & Tongue Twisters
Sundanese languange, known as Bahasa Sunda, is a hierarchical dialect. When you speak to different people, you need to know which grammatical path and diction is in order. The way to address people depends on their age as well as status. You can’t speak haphazardly to people older than you nor speak very formally to people your age. Of course none of this applies to foreigners or visitors from outside of West Java . Mistakes are smiled upon and usually just the effort will grant you their cheerful acceptance.Some Sundanese words you will come across are for example: “ punten ”, this is a polite greeting to excuse yourself when you walk passed followed by “ mangga ” to reply by way of saying ‘go ahead’. “ Kumaha damang ?” means “how are you?” and “ Nuhun ” is thank you. If you wish to learn Sundanese, the KPN (Kursus Pembina Nusantara 022-2509536) in Jalan Dago Pojok offers Sundanese courses for those interested.
Music & Angklung Saung Udjo
Musically, Sundanese people have their own form of composition compared to their Javanese counterparts and Western tonal scale. Instead of the 7 tones do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti the Sundanese scale is comprised of 5 tones “da-mi-na-ti-la”. This makes for an altogether different musical composition as is for example shown in a musical orchestra known as the Angklung ensemble. An Angklung is a traditional musical instrument made out of bamboo and played by shaking it. You may attend and even participate in these performances by going to Saung Angklung Udjo , a Sundanese art and cultural heritage center, in a village called Padasuka, 7 kilometers from Bandung .
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