OF THE YEAR - Asia News Network

Transcription

VIEW
NEWS
Economic
rebalancing
Top stories for
2012
Dec emb er 28, 2012-Ja n u a r y 10, 2013
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
US$3 / Bt100
ISSN 19052650
9 771905 265009
36921
36921
DATEBOOK
What’s happening
next year
At work I don’t have a choice of where I sit
But with Star Alliance Upgrade Awards
Across 20 of our member airlines worldwide
Now I do.
I’ve earned it.
Tak u m a Sato
I n ternat ional raci ng d ri ver and Star A l l ian ce Gol d Statu s
staral l ian ce.com
WAT C H O U T F O R
THE DIGITAL REBIRTH
WAT C H O U T F O R
ON APRIL 5, 2013
THE DIGITAL REBIRTH
ON APRIL 5, 2013
D ecemb er 28, 201 2-Ja n u ary 1 0, 2 01 3 • V o l 7 No 6
The A List  10
Lee Jin-man/AFP
Our top Asians for 2012 have one
thing in common: the struggle to
succeed and make a difference in
their immediate communities.
Their stories are proof that hard
work, perseverance and strong
will pay off
VIEW  6
NEWS  26
BEAUTY  40
Economic Rebalancing
Global prospects remain
uncertain as key Asian
economies seek to decouple
Top Stories Of 2012
The year saw elections,
leadership transitions,
disputes, technological
advancement, natural
disasters
What Women Want
The market hits in 2012
range from vibrating
make-up , gold thread lifts,
to going the natural way
BUSINESS  8
Grandsons Rising
South Korea’s corporate
sector is poised to see
younger blood, but not
necessarily new faces, who
have been trained to
eventually take over one day
DATEBOOK  24
Events 2013
Mark your calendar, here
are the happenings next
year
TRAVEL  42
The Fashion That Was
It’s been a colourful and
adventurous year for the
fashionistas
Travel Bug Bites Asia
Asia is emerging as a
lucrative market with a
growing middle class and
more options to travel
GADGETS  38
MOVIES  44
Hot Gadgets of 2012
The must-haves of the year
for the techies
The Film Pick
This year’s top films in
terms of boxoffice, awards
or scale of production
FASHION 36
COVE R IM AG E | J U N G YEO N - J E/A F P
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The View
By Thanong Khanthong
The Nation
Economic Rebalancing
Global prospects remain uncertain as key Asian economies
seek to decouple
❖❖ Bangkok
N
ext year does not look
promising for the
global economy, as
Asia appears to be
trying to decouple
from the rest of the world. But can
it do so?
Let’s start with ailing Europe. The
euro zone still faces a long, grinding
road ahead, and the fate of the euro
currency is hanging in the balance.
The European Central Bank has
pledged to launch money-printing
action to support Spain and Italy.
Although it has yet to do so, the 10year Spanish and Italian government bond yields have fallen by 200
basis points. This has given the eurozone leadership some breathing
space in the carrot-and-stick bailouts.
But the fundamental questions
remain unresolved. High indebtedness requires austerity, but the European folk might not tolerate this
hardship for too long.
The competitiveness gap between
the northern and southern European countries is structural. Germany
and France, for instance, are creditor nations, while Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Greece are debtors. While creditor nations produce
more than they consume, the debtor
nations consume more than they
produce, hence inducing high debt.
One way for debtor nations to become more competitive is to devalue
their currencies, but as those in the
euro zone are tied to the single currency, they do not have that option.
The prospects in the US are no
better.
President Barack Obama and the
US Congress are locked in a bitter
fight over the so-called fiscal cliff—a
combination of tax increases and
spending cuts. Without an agreement, the economy in 2013 would be
choked off, with US$600 billion
6•
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index closed
above the 10,000 level for the
first time in more than eight
months on December 19, on the
back of a weaker yen following
a conservative win in Japan’s
national elections.
disappearing. This is equal to 4 per
cent of the country’s gross domestic
product.
A deal is being struck to avert the
fiscal crisis. But at the end of the
day, high government indebtedness
will have to be tackled.
The US economy has grown at 2
per cent this year, and will probably
expand by around the same level
next year if the US dollar holds on
to its reserve status.
∞∞Asian economies
Going back to Asia, China is about
to go through a big change under the
country’s fifth leadership generation. Xi Jinping, who will head the
world’s second-largest economy
from next March, will be focusing on
building up domestic demand.
“China will continue to implement
December 28, 2012-January 10, 2013
Kazuhiro Nogi /A F P
the proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy in 2013,” Xinhua said in a news report. “The
proactive fiscal policy will be combined with tax reforms and structural tax cuts, and the prudent
monetary policy will pay attention
to dynamism and enhance operational flexibility.”
Given the economic difficulties in
euro zone and the US, China cannot
expect to keep its export machine
humming for too long. Governmentled investment is likely to feature
more prominently in an economy
that must keep the GDP growth rate
high at 7-8 per cent to satisfy continuing employment.
China is facing a serious challenge
in territorial disputes with its neighbours—from Japan to the Philippines and Vietnam—and geopoliti-
cal confrontation with the US in the
Asia-Pacific region. Therefore,
government spending to ensure a
soft economic landing and a defence
build-up to meet the challenges of
China’s neighbours and the US will
be two key policies of Xi.
Japan is still stuck in the mud,
economically. The Liberal Democrat Party, which has dominated
Japanese politics over the past 50
years, is making a comeback with a
vengeance. It promises higher defence spending and more stimulus—both fiscal and monetary—to
revive the ailing economy, which is
barely growing at all. It aims to
drive the yen down further to boost
exports.
Writing in UBS “Investment Research” on December 18, Takuji Aida
said: “There will be a shift from a
Democrat Party of Japan-led government (large tax increases, limited
fiscal expansion, and moderate monetary easing), which has been focused on fiscal consolidation, stable
growth and risk aversion, to one led
by the Liberal Democrat Par ty
(moderate tax increases, proactive
fiscal expansion, and strong monetary easing), focused on growth, with
the people’s support.”
Next year, Japan’s economy is
expected to grow by 1 per cent at
best.
According to DBS Group Research, China, unaffected by the
euro-zone crisis and US weakness,
will continue to maintain GDP
growth at 9 per cent in 2013. India
will come second at 6.5 per cent,
followed by 6.3 per cent for Indonesia, 5.6 per cent for Vietnam, 5.3 per
cent for the Philippines and 5 per
cent for Thailand and Malaysia.
Overall, Asia will move solidly
forward in the absence of a collapse
in Europe or a global systemic financial breakdown.
•7
BUSINESS
By Kim Yon-se
The Korea Herald
Grandsons Rising
South Korea’s corporate sector is poised to see younger
blood, but not necessarily new faces, who have been
trained to eventually take over one day
Lee Jay-yong
Chung Eui-sun
Chung Yong-jin
❖❖ Seoul
T
he third generation is coming under a growing spotlight in South Korea’s family-owned conglomerate
sector as heirs apparent of
the incumbent chairmen and grandsons of the late chaebol founders.
The second generation business
leaders such as Samsung Electronics
chairman Lee Kun-hee and Hyundai
Motor chairman Chung Mong-koo
have successfully carried out power
transitions to their sons over the
past few years.
Chung Yong-jin, a son of Samsung
8•
founder Lee Byung-chull’s daughter,
opened the third-generation era
when he was appointed vice chairman of Shinsegae Group in 2006.
Chung Eui-sun, a grandson of
Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung,
and Lee Jay-yong, a grandson of
Samsung founder Lee, joined the
move. The junior Chung and Lee
were promoted to vice chairmen in
2009 and 2012, respectively.
The three heirs in their 40s have
deeply involved themselves in their
groups’ decision-making processes.
Most of all, Samsung Group’s recent promotion of Lee is drawing
wide attention from the global IT
industry over policies at the conglomerate’s flagship Samsung Electronics, the
world’s largest mobile phone maker.
A group executive said the 44-year-old
vice chairman has made great contributions to the sectors of smartphones, TV,
semiconductors and displays in terms of
securing the No. 1 position in the businesses in the global market.
“As vice chairman, he will take on bigger
roles in management of the overall businesses of the electronic behemoth,” said
the executive.
Lee gained plaudits in September when
Samsung Group officially announced that
it signed a strategic partnership with
Hong Kong’s Li Ka Shing, chairman of
Cheung Kong Holdings.
Cheung Kong Holdings is the flagship
unit of Cheung Kong Group, and Li is
Asia’s richest man, ranked the ninth richest man in 2011. He also owns Hutchison
Whampoa.
The meeting, which took place at the
Cheung Kong Group headquarters in the
central district of Hong Kong, was presided over by Lee Kun-hee and Li.
But Lee’s heir apparent, Jay-yong, is
said to have played a huge role in leading
the two major Asian conglomerates together for better business.
After graduating from Seoul National
University, Lee started his career at Samsung Electronics in 1991 as part of a carefully drafted plan to groom him into the
future heir of Samsung Group, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the nation’s
gross domestic product. He completed an
MBA at Keio University in Japan and attended Harvard Business School.
Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motor vice
chairman and Kia Motors president, was
named a standing director of HyundaiSteel.
According to Hyundai spokespeople,
their direct involvement in the subsidiaries is aimed at enhancing responsible
management.
“Construction is one of the three core
sectors of our group, along with automobiles and steel,” a spokesman said. “Chairman Chung’s taking on the standing director’s role is designed to carry out
responsible management.”
From 2005 to 2009, Chung was the
president of Kia Motors Corp., a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group.
He received a bachelor’s degree in business management administration from
Korea University and a master’s of business administration from the University
of San Francisco School of Business.
Future business policies of Lee of Samsung and Chung of Hyundai could be the
barometer of South Korea’s conglomerate
sector.
There are predictions in the market that
Lee and Chung could seek a strategic partnership in the car-oriented semiconductor
business in the coming years. The two
figures have already built a close relationship.
“As the first step, over the coming year
or so, we will prioritise the development
of 100-per-cent unique technologies for
the automobile semiconductor through
our tech affiliate, Hyundai Autron,” a
Hyundai Motor executive said.
“Apart from holding technologies, another key issue is to secure the capacity of
mass production,” he said. “It is undeniable that Samsung Electronics’ large-scale
assembly lines are attractive to us.”
A Samsung executive said it was not easy
to forecast the future business at the present stage.
“(Mass production of car semiconductors for Hyundai and Kia) may be possible.
We, however, believe it is entirely up to
top-ranking decision-makers (including
vice chairman Lee),” he said.
Shinsegae, headed by vice chairman
Chung Yong-jin, distinguishes itself from
the pack by bringing in the world’s best
before its rivals, Lotte and Hyundai department stores.
It opened famed US gourmet grocery
store Dean & DeLuca in its Gangnam
branch in Banpo-dong, southern Seoul, in
September, and its separate retail entity
Boon the Shop is on the must-see list of
every fashion-conscious tourist and Seoulites, too.
Chung started at the retailer after his
mother, Lee Myung-hee, put him in
charge of day-to-day management. He
allows employees to wear jeans and Tshirts to work.
He also set up a college fund for the
children of retired employees. Once one
of Korea’s top tweeters with more than
110,000 followers, he has now closed his
Twitter account but stays active on Facebook.
•9
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
They struggled to succeed, their
stories proof that hard work,
perseverance and strong will pay
off, and it helps to have a civic and
charitable heart too
South Korea
∞∞PARK GEUN-HYE
Life meant for politics
I
t was as if her life was made for
her to become president. Or that
is what Park Geun-hye seemingly believed as she spent 15 years
in male-dominated politics until finally becoming South Korea’s first
female president, with an ex-president for a father.
Debate over her sheltered past—
interwoven with some extraordinary
rumours and scandals—was offset by
her resolve to lead the country and
vow to be the cleanest president,
without a family to turn to or debts
to repay.
Park was born on Feb 2, 1952, in
Daegu as the first child of Park
Chung-hee and Yook Young-soo.
Her siblings Geun-ryeong and Jiman followed in 1954 and 1958, respectively.
They moved to Shindang-dong,
Seoul, in 1958 during which Park
recalls she led a normal life. She was
10 •
considered by her teachers to be
humble and diligent.
Her life changed in 1961, when her
father led the May 16 military coup
d’etat, consequently becoming the
military junta leader for two years,
and was named the fifth president
in 1963.
The family moved into Cheong Wa
Dae. She described her life in
Cheong Wa Dae in her book as suffocating, saying that for her and her
siblings, the spacious garden was
their best playground.
In her memoir, Park does not hide
her profound love and respect for
her parents, both of whom would
later be assassinated.
Tragedy struck Park when she was
studying in France in 1974, after
graduating from Sogang University
with a major in electronic engineering. Her mother was assassinated by
pro-North Korean Moon Se-kwang.
At the age of 22, Park became the
country’s acting first lady, accompanying her father on various events,
greeting diplomatic delegations, and
continuing the medical service cam-
paign started by her mother.
It was during this time that Park
was introduced to late pastor Choi
Tae-min, whom she described as a
person she was grateful for especially during the loss of her mother.
Choi, who reportedly underwent
seven name changes and six marriages, worked with Park on various
movements and organisations including in the Yookyoung Foundation. Her opponents continue to
claim she had an inappropriate relationship with Choi, who died in
1994.
Park also had uncomfortable relations with her siblings in the years
after Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his intelligence chief on Oct
27, 1979.
Geun-ryeong and Ji-man reportedly requested in a letter to thenPresident Roh Tae-woo in 1990 to
“save their sister” from Choi, who
they accused of being deceitful.
Park’s relations with her sister deteriorated in particular as they fought
over the operation rights of Yookyoung Foundation in the 1990s.
Lee J in - man/A F P
For 18 years between 1979 and
1997, Park stayed away from the
spotlight, describing the period as a
“long and lonely journey”. She recalls it was during this time that she
experienced the viciousness of politics as she witnessed some of her
father’s closest aides become turncoats.
By the 1980s, Park began to make
more public moves, holding interviews and starting memorial projects to restore her father’s honour.
Political circles began to take notice and started suggesting she join
them as she reached her 40s.
But it was not until 1997 that Park
decided to enter politics after seeing
the nation falter during the foreign
exchange crisis.
Park began her political career by
supporting then-presidential candidate Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand
National Party, the precursor to the
Saenuri Party, and successfully ran
in the by-election for a parliamentary seat representing Dalseong of
Daegu the next year.
Her political career rapidly proDecember 28, 2012-January 10, 2013
gressed. She became the party’s vice
president for two years in 1998, and
served in various committees at the
National Assembly including those
on industry, women, unification,
foreign affairs and science and technology.
Park began to raise her political
presence in 2002, criticising the
party’s one-man system under thenchairman Lee Hoi-chang ahead of
the presidential election, and demanding the introduction of an open
primary for the party.
As the fissure deepened, Park
eventually left the party briefly with
her followers and launched her own,
which consequently raised speculation that Park may have long-term
goals in mind, namely the presidency.
The same year, Park was also invited by Kim Jong-il to North Korea.
Some observers have suggested the
meeting between the two may show
that Park holds a nonconventional
vision on inter-Korean relations
compared to her conservative party.
Park rejoined the GNP a month
before the presidential election, citing the party’s acceptance of her
demands for reform.
On May 31, 2006, she was attacked by an assailant with a razor
during a campaign rally, which left
her with an 11-centimetre gash on
her chin. She would later go on to
use the incident for her first television advertisement as a turning
point in her life.
Park made her first presidential
bid in 2007 but lost to then-candidate Lee Myung-bak in the primaries.
In this year’s campaign, Park
faced growing demands by opponents to clarify her position on the
oppressive rule of her father. She
held a news conference in September and apologised publicly for the
first time for her father’s rule.
“In the shadows of South Korea’s
rapid growth there was pain, suffering and irregularities as well as
various human rights abuses committed by authorities,” Park said.
— By Lee Joo-hee/The Korea
Herald
• 11
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
Cris Valdez poses with his
International Children’s
Peace Prize trophy he won
in the Netherlands.
Jason G utierre z /AFP
Philippines
∞∞CRIS VALDEZ
Unlikely hero from the
slums
T
hirteen-year-old Cris ‘Kesz’
Valdez was once told he was
the source of bad luck in the
family. And for a while, he started to
believe it too.
Beaten up by his father and
neglected by his mother, the boy ran
away from home and became a street
urchin, scavenging through piles of
garbage and spending his nights in
an open tomb.
But now Valdez is the bringer of
smiles to thousands of street kids
like himself as the founder of
“Championing Community Children”, an organisation that gives
flip-flops, toys and toothbrushes to
deprived children in his hometown
of Cavite City, northwest of Manila.
The boy was awarded the prestigious International Children’s Peace
Prize in The Hague, where he received a 100,000-euro (US$130,000)
prize. An initiative of the Dutch or12 •
ganisation KidsRights, the Children’s
Peace Prize was launched during the
2005 Nobel Peace Laureates’ Summit
by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
“My motto is, ‘we can change the
world one heart at a time,’” Valdez
said in an audiovisual presentation
shown at the ceremony.
“My message to all children
around the globe is: Our health is
our wealth! Being healthy will enable you to play, to think clearly, to
get up and go to school and love the
people around you in so many ways.”
In the Philippines, almost
250,000 children live in the streets.
They are subjected to abuse, violence
and child labour, and many of them
struggle with health ailments, according to KidsRights.
Valdez was in the same situation
a decade ago.
At age 2, he was forced to scavenge
at a dump. At 4, he ran away from
h o m e a n d b e g a n l i v i n g o ff t h e
streets, sleeping in a public cemetery
with other children.
Then, an accident happened.
While scavenging one night with
other kids, he fell into a pile of burn-
ing tires, suffering a severe injury on
his arm.
That was when Valdez’s life turned
around. For perhaps the first time in
his young life, he became the recipient of the kindness of strangers.
Community worker Harnin ‘Bonn’
Manalaysay, founder of the Bible
study and outreach group Club
8586, treated the boy’s wounds and
took the boy under his wing.
“That day was probably the first
day in his life when he felt loved,
accepted and cared for,” Manalaysay
said of Valdez.
On his seventh birthday, Valdez
did not want any presents for himself but for other street children.
That same year, Valdez started his
own organisation. So far, he has
helped over 10,000 children in his
community in the past six years.
When Valdez received the award
from Nobel Peace Prize winner for
1984 Desmond Tutu, the South African human rights activist said the
boy was a deserving and inspiring
example of “a new voice for the
voiceless”.
— DJ Yap/Philippine Daily Inquirer
A F P PH OTO/QUE E N E LIZ A BE TH HO SPITA L BIR MINGHA M/ HO
Pakistan
∞∞MALALA YOUSAFZAI
a girl’s mighty fight
I
R IZWAN TA BASSU M/ AFP
t was another beautiful morning
in Mingora city. Malala
Yousafzai was sitting in her
school bus, waiting to return home
from morning lessons. A Taliban
gunman jumped into the bus and
shot her at close range in the head
and leg, also injuring two of her
classmates. In no time, the news of
the grisly attack spread across the
idyllic Swat valley and rest of the
world. But the mighty heart survived
the October 9 attack in the fashion
she challenged the Taliban’s previous attempt to stop girls’ education
in northwestern Pakistan five years
ago.
Malala first came to public attention in 2007, aged just 11, when she
started writing a blog for BBC’s
Urdu service. She recounted what it
was like living under the Taliban in
the months after they took control
of her native Swat Valley. Written
under the pseudonym “Gul Makai”,
the blog described the child’s terror
that her education would come to a
halt. “I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the
Taliban…I have had such dreams
since the launch of the military operation in Swat …I was afraid of
going to school because the Taliban
had issued an edict banning all girls
from attending schools,” the little
girl wrote in her first post.
A green oasis on the Pak-Afghan
border previously popular with honeymooning couples, Swat became
the victim of a sustained assault by
the Taliban from 2007. Crossing
over the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan’s
tribal areas, the militant group gradually
moved down from
the hills toward Swat
and gained control of
80 per cent of the
region by 2009. Following a period of
tacit acquiescence by
Islamabad, military
offensive was mounted in May 2009, and
the army declared
that the Taliban had
been eliminated from Swat. After
this, Malala appeared on national
television to discuss girls’ education.
She became a potent symbol of resistance against the Taliban and was
honoured with Pakistan’s first National Peace Award for Youth last
year.
Taliban put her on a hit list at the
start of the year but she remained
undeterred. During a TV interview,
she said if the Taliban stop her, she
would take her sandal and “hit them
on the face and say, “What you’re
doing is wrong. Education is our
right, don’t try to take it from us”.”
She said she was ready for any kind
of situation. “So, even if (God let not
this happen) they kill me, I’ll first
say to them, “What you’re doing is
wrong.””
After she was shot, Malala was
flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital
in Birmingham, England, where she
has been recovering ever since.
What the future holds for her is
uncertain. The Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), which claimed responsibility for shooting Malala,
has warned of further attempts if
she returns to Swat. “She was proWest, she was speaking against
Taliban, and she was calling President Obama her ideal leader,” said
TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.
“She was young but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun
areas.”
Yet Malala’s status as a global
symbol of hope, education and resistance to extremism is secured
beyond all doubt. As the teenager lay
in intensive care of the Birmingham
hospital, people marched in their
thousands all over Pakistan and
many parts of the world, bearing
banners saying “I am Malala”.
Despite what happened, Malala’s
spirit appears unbroken. “Fight for
yourself and who you are,” she
tweeted recently. “You’ve got to go
through the worst times in life to be
the best.”
— Samira Shackle/Dawn
• 13
ANTONI N THU I LLI ER /AFP
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
Malaysia
∞∞LEE CHONG WEI
Agent of unification
W
hen Lee Chong Wei left
home with just 200 ringgit (US$65.29) in his
pocket 12 years ago at the age of 18,
he never dreamt for a second that he
would one day become the country’s
richest—and most popular and successful—shuttler.
A scrawny Chong Wei left Bukit
Mertajam in Penang and headed for
the national badminton training
centre in Kuala Lumpur in 2000.
The money he had with him then
was not even enough to buy a good
badminton racquet.
Now the world No. 1 men’s singles
badminton player, Chong Wei lends
his name to the production of racquets and other badminton equipment under the LCW brand.
The 30-year-old has been hailed a
national hero, not just for winning the
silver medal at the Beijing 2008 and
London 2012 Olympics but for his
never-say-die attitude and pride in
winning honours for the country.
Each time he takes to the court, the
14 •
whole country is behind him—standing united for a man who is the
epitome of the Malaysia Boleh (Malaysia can) spirit. This was especially
evident during Chong Wei’s pursuit
for gold medal during the 2012
Olympics.
A country that is so diverse and
divided by its political and socioeconomic differences seldom comes
together like it did this time.
People irrespective of race, religion, culture or ethnicity gathered
in public places in their thousands,
shouting and chanting his name,
hoisting the Jalur Gemilang (national flag) and singing inspiring
patriotic songs to cheer him up. As
the shuttler proceeded through the
tournament to reach the final, countrymen offered prayers. They rejoiced in his win and despaired in
his defeat in the final match against,
Lin Dan, China’s most celebrated
southpaw.
Chong Wei has turned himself
into a symbol of unification, what
the country aims to be—1Malaysia!
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself
to be sure that I’m not dreaming,”
Chong Wei quipped about his ragsto-riches story.
And that is only a fraction of the
empire that he has built thanks to
his success in badminton.
Chong Wei has also ventured into property, forming
Chong Wei Binajaya Sdn
Bhd. He has also invested in
several luxurious condominiums; owns several houses and
luxury cars like Bentley, Ferrari; and is the brand ambassador for many companies.
But he’s not done yet. He
still has one big plan—building his own regional badminton academy and churn out
more “Chong Weis”.
Since breaking into the
senior league in 2001, he has
over 40 international titles
under his belt, winning almost all the major Open titles.
He reigned supreme for 14
months—between September 2010
and October 2011—by reaching 15
back-to-back finals and capturing 10
titles. And he has been unbeatable in
the local scene for nearly 11 years.
“I remember those days when
parents used to advise their children
not to take up sports as a career
because it wasn’t rewarding. That’s
because many players sacrificed so
much for their sports but had nothing to fall back on upon retirement,”
he said.
The Malaysian has more than a
million followers on his Weibo—
China’s local version of Twitter.
Last month, he tied the knot with
his old sweetheart and former national No. 1 woman shuttler, Wong
Mew Choo, in grand fashion.
Despite being in the spotlight and
attaining popularity beyond imagination, Chong Wei knows deep in
his heart that he still has some unfinished business—winning the
world title and the Olympic gold
medal.
He plans to compete in the 2016
Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,
hoping to settle the score.
Once that’s done, he knows that no
one can ever question his status as
the most successful player of this era.
— Rajes Paul/The Star
Building Asia together
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Strength. Performance. Passion.
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
THE DA ILY STA R Photo
Bangladesh
∞∞SYEDA RIZWANA HASAN
Advocate of good
environment
S
yeda Rizwana Hasan always
had reservations about going
into conventional legal practice. She rather wanted to become
an academician, doing social work
in line with her politically active
family. Stepping into Bangladesh
Environmental Lawyers Association
(Bela) in 1993, she found that she
could not only work as a researcher
but also engage in environmental
activism and continue her legal
practice. In fact she drafted Bela’s
first legal notice during the 1994
Dhaka city corporation polls, when
campaign through posters, processions and rallies overwhelmed the
city, creating non-stop and harrowing noise from loudspeakers. The
legal notice led the Election Commission to arrange a dialogue between the different stakeholders in
the electoral process. The litigation
was the first of its kind in Bangladesh in the field of environment, and
a rule was issued that the election
could not be held as long as environmental nuisance was not stopped.
Under Hasan’s leadership, Bela
16 •
has been advancing various public
interest litigations, declaring war on
the environmentally harmful practices of industries such as shipbreaking, tanneries and shrimp cultivation. The legal fight against the ship
breakers has been a milestone in her
career. Bangladesh is one of the few
countries in the world where shipbreaking for scrap materials thrive.
Decommissioned ships, many listed
as hazardous by Greenpeace, enter
Bangladeshi waters and are dismantled by hand by low-paid unskilled
workers. About 20,000 workers,
many even below the age of 14, are
engaged in the industry and exposed
to serious health hazards. It is estimated that on average one shipbreaking worker dies in Bangladesh
every week and one gets injured
everyday.
In 2003, Hasan sought a Supreme
Court order to prevent pollution of
coastal and marine ecosystem being
caused by disposal of hazardous
materials from breaking ageing
ships and to ensure rights and
safety of the workers of the industry.
Her fight led to the banning of toxicladen ship SS Norway from entering
Bangladesh and forcing another one,
MT Alfaship, to leave the territorial
waters. Bangladesh government was
compelled to form binding policies
to restrict import of hazardous ships
thanks to Bela’s persistence to save
the coastal waters from environmental degradation.
Although initially, Bela members
had to browse newspapers to find
out public interest litigations, the
situation is different now. “We cannot even handle one-fourth of the
complaints that come to us,” she tells
The Daily Star. Launching with only
five people, Bela now has a 50-member team and offices across the
country. Of about 200 cases it conducted to date, 55 have been settled
and the verdict mostly went to Bela’s
favour. Even the interim orders of
the pending cases are in Bela’s favour.
At policy level, the association
worked with government in enacting
laws such as that of the Environmental Court. Bela is currently trying to calendar the Forest Right Act
in parliament through a private
member bill. The law aims to protect
interests of the indigenous people,
whose livelihood still depends on the
virgin forest.
Bela remains the lone law firm in
Bangladesh focusing on environmental issues. The reason other organisations do not come forward to
work in the field is that it requires a
lot of courage and commitment and
generate very little financial gain,
opines Hasan, the 40-year-old chief
executive of Bela.
There are times when frustration
does build up inside, she says. But
every time someone requests to file
a new case, Hasan realises that
people have not lost their hope yet
and feels reinvigorated. Then there
are acknowledgements for her
works, such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2012, which reminds
Hasan that she is on the right track.
To strengthen her fight to protect
the environment and the people
dependent on it, Hasan plans to
move the community issues forward
by taking the community along.
“Mobilise, resist and transform”
will be her slogan for the days to
come.
— Tamanna Khan/The Daily Star
Taiwan
∞∞CHEN SHU-CHU
World’s greatest
philanthropist
T
the construction of an intensive care
unit.
Indeed, the money she has donated to charity is a pittance compared to the billions of dollars that
people like Bill and Melinda Gates
or Warren Buffett have given to
education and to the world’s poor.
Yet, in 2010, Forbes magazine, which
compiles an annual list of the richest
people in the world, named Chen one
of the “48 Heroes of Philanthropy”.
disasters and other emergencies; the
primary school she attended as a
child, to set up a fully equipped library; and an emergency fund explicitly meant for students who are
in need of money for tuition or
other expenses when their parents
fall sick or cannot find work.
Even before receiving the
US$50,000 cash prize that came
with the Ramon Magsaysay award,
she has already decided to donate it
to a general hospital in Taitung for
She could have spent her savings
to treat herself to a well-deserved
holiday, and no one would begrudge
her. Or, she could have expanded her
vegetable stall and ventured into
other businesses. But Chen prefers
to share her earnings with those in
need. “I accumulate virtue instead
of wealth,” she replied when asked
why she gives away her hard-earned
money. “Life is short, and you don’t
know when you will die.”
— Philippine Daily Inquirer
RAFFY LER MA / PHI LI PPI NE DAI LY I NQU I RER
o her, she’s just a vegetable
seller.
“I don’t feel like I’m a hero
or a great person whatsoever because I don’t feel like I’ve done
much. I just feel like I’m still that
vegetable vendor at the market,”
Chen Shu-chu said.
But the 60-year-old Taiwanese
vendor is celebrated internationally.
She has been acclaimed as an inspiration and a role model and walked
the red carpet and met VIPs, like
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou.
In August, Chen was hailed as one
of Asia’s heroes through the Ramon
Magsaysay Awards, Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. The prize for
the last 50 years has been recognising people who make contributions
that have transformed their societies
for the better.
By living a Spartan lifestyle, Chen
has given away NT$7 million
(US$320,000) out of her modest
earnings as a vendor to several
charities engaged in early childhood
care and children’s education.
Every day for the past four decades, Chen wakes up at 2:30am to
set up her stall at the Taitung market until dark. In an interview, she
said she doesn’t want to be away too
long from her market stall, which
she took over after her father died
some 20 years ago.
Through sheer frugality and hard
work, Chen managed to earn enough
from their tiny vegetable stall to
send all her siblings to school. She
still sleeps on the floor, a habit she
said she acquired when she was
young so she would have no problem
getting up, and work 18 hours a day.
People have wondered how a mere
vegetable vendor can have so much
money to give away.
“Money serves its purpose only
when it is used for those who need
it,” said Chen.
She said NT$100 (about US$3)
was all she needed every day for food
and other essentials. The rest, she
quietly gives away.
The beneficiaries of her generosity include a Buddhist monastery
that wanted to set up a children’s
school; a Christian organisation that
rescues children in dire need of food,
shelter, clothing, and education; a
Red Cross fund that helps victims of
• 17
Saeed KH A N/A F P
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
Malaysia
∞∞NAJIB RAZAK
The honest broker
I
n the run-up to the signing of the
Southern Philippines’ landmark
preliminary peace deal in October, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib
Razak was found to be a familiar
name in the region.
Since 2001 Malaysia has served as
third party facilitator in the peace
process between the Philippine government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to
help end a 40-year-old conflict that
left more than 150,000 people dead.
In addition to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III whom the
MILF described as a sincere leader,
there was the third party broker they
could work with as he is the son of a
man they trusted—Tun Abdul Razak
Hussein, Malaysia’s second prime
minister.
“When he was prime minister,
Razak helped us get financial aid.
And his son (Najib) knows that it is
the obligation of a Muslim to help
his fellow Muslim,” said MILF
spokesman Eid Kabalu.
18 •
The first Asean leader to raise the
plight of the Mindanao Muslims in
Asean circles in the early 1970s, Tun
Razak was served as Malaysia’s
prime minister from 1970 until his
death in 1976.
That was the year Najib’s political
and administrative career began as
the 23-year old won the Pekan parliamentary seat vacated upon his
father’s death.
By the time Najib took office as
premier in 2009, the British-educated economist had been in government for 33 years, 13 of which were
spent as defence minister.
It has given him a deep first-hand
understanding of a conflict which a
senior official once privately described as one of the world’s most
difficult to resolve due to its long
history and nature of complexity.
Najib’s commitment to Malaysia’s
longstanding promise to help its
Asean neighbour also convinced
both sides of his sincerity in helping
them overcome the obstacles to
peace.
The first attempt at peace via an
agreement between the Philippines
and the MILF in 1976 did not succeed due to violation of its terms by
the late Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos.
A second try, in the form of the
creation of the Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao in 1990 ultimately failed due to problems in its
implementation.
The third attempt was jumpstarted in 2001 with the resumption
of peace talks with Malaysia acting
as host and facilitator.
Then Malaysian prime minister
Dr Mahathir Mohamad was instrumental in urging the Philippines and
MILF to keep pushing on despite the
occasional flaring up of hostilities.
A Malaysia-led International
Monitoring Team was set up in
2004 to oversee a ceasefire. Najib,
who was then defence minister, personally went to Cotabato City to
meet the team members and reaffirm support for the peace process.
The breakthrough finally came last
year when Aquino met MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo where
the two spoke candidly about the
peace process, bringing fresh hope.
Since 2001, Kuala Lumpur has
hosted and facilitated a marathon
32-round of peace talks which ultimately paid off with the signing of
preliminary pact on October 15.
The Philippine government and
MILF are now busy trying to forge
agreements on wealth, power sharing and other details for the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region targeted by 2016.
In remarks before the signing
ceremony, Najib spoke of the risks
ahead, but pledged to remain as a
partner of peace and reflected how
far both sides have come.
“I give my assurance to all the
people of the Philippines we will
stand with you to make this agreement work.
“Today, something has changed.
Today, we turn our backs on violence, and turn instead towards a
new and brighter future,” he said.
— Razak Ahmad/The Star
P ool/ E d J one s/A F P
China
∞∞XI JINPING
in between doves &
hAWKS
X
i Jinping’s tenure at the top
as Communist Party of China
chief is expected to span a full
decade, but the 59-year-old does not
seem to think he has enough time. He
is a man in a hurry, striking posture
between doves and hawks.
Since he ascended to the top of
Chinese politics in November, the
leader of the unfree world—as Time
magazine called him—has shown
that he wants to get things done, and
he wants to do them now.
“Empty talk is useless; only hard
work can achieve the revival of a nation,” he said in only his second
national speech as party chief, which
was noted for its lack of jargon or
ideological verbiage.
More importantly, he sent out a
strong signal that the party and its
members are not above legal restraints. “No organisation or individual has the special right to overstep the Constitution and law.”
Clearly, his comments are targeted
at officials’ rampant corruption and
abuse of power, which have fuelled
much unhappiness and unrest.
That’s not all. After Xi chaired a
Politburo meeting in early December, a statement was issued with a
surprisingly robust and clear eightpoint pledge to overhaul the working
style of top Chinese leaders.
Among the changes, traffic controls for leaders’ trips will be reduced to avoid unnecessary inconvenience to the public—a major
bugbear of Chinese motorists.
Ceremonies to welcome and send
off visiting leaders will be downsized, while hangers-on for overseas
visits will be dropped. Wordy meetings are also out.
Even the state media was not
spared. It was told to stop writing
pointless stories about officials unDecember 28, 2012-January 10, 2013
less there is real news.
Xi’s wife, famous singer Peng Liyuan, got in on the act, too. She
made a high-profile appearance on
this year’s World AIDS Day, holding
hands with children infected with
HIV. This was a departure from
previous first ladies of China, who
were rarely seen in public, and almost never without their husbands.
The new leader, often wearing an
easy grin on his rotund face and tilts
his head to the left in a disarming,
almost playful, stance, has been seen
previously as a conservative who
might favour a gradualist approach.
But he just sent ripples with his
bold call for change during his recent trip to Shenzhen, an economic
hub that has stood as a 30-year
symbol of China’s opening-up push.
On the foreign affairs’ front, although Xi is expected to remain
firm on territorial disputes, observers believe he will seek to cool tensions with China’s neighbours. “You
could say he is in between the doves
and the hawks, but leaning slightly
to the latter,” said analyst Zhou
Yongsheng of China Foreign Affairs
University.
Such moderation was not evident
in his first two years as heir apparent.
“Some foreigners with full bellies
and nothing better to do engage in
finger-pointing at us,” he said in
Mexico in February 2009 on his second overseas trip as vice-president.
“First, China does not export revolution; second, it does not export
famine and poverty; and third, it
does not mess around with you. So
what else is there to say?”
While there have been no recent
intemperate remarks in public, the
question remains whether he has
changed his mind or if he is simply
more careful. Being a leader of a big
country like China is bound to have
some moderating influence, said
observer June Teufel Dreyer of the
University of Miami.
Indeed, as Xi grew into the statesman role, his tough talk overseas has
eased. This is more in keeping with
his background. As a politician, he
spent most of his time in the coastal
provinces and had regular contact
with foreign businesses. He also has
family abroad. His older sister is
thought to have left China for Canada, while his younger brother spent
time in Hong Kong. His only child,
Xi Mingze, is studying at Harvard
University.
By the time Xi visited the United
States earlier this year, he was on his
best behaviour.
And while he had harsh words for
Japan in September over the ongoing Diaoyu/Senkaku dispute, it was
in keeping with the strong language
of his colleagues.
Days later, he turned decidedly dovish when speaking to Asean about the
South China Sea. “Having gone
through numerous vicissitudes in
modern times, we are deeply aware of
the importance of development and
the preciousness of peace,” he said.
Diplomacy expert Li Mingjiang
says Xi is hardly a hawk. But he
would have no choice but to continue the more assertive stance
which Beijing has adopted since
2009 on territorial disputes.
So he must appear tough. But as
Dreyer pointed out: “The real question is how aggressively he will do
so.”
— Peh Shing Huei/The Straits
Times
• 19
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
China
∞∞MO YAN
Man enough for the
Nobel
B
efore Mo Yan was announced
winner of this year’s Nobel
Prize in literature, speculations
run thicker than the holiday traffic in
China about the possibility of a Chinese writer nabbing the kudos.
No, these were not about the likelihood of Mo Yan winning the prestigious honour—that’s being taken
care of by professional betting
houses—but, rather, they were about
the worthiness of bestowing the
honour on him.
So is Mo Yan man enough for the
Nobel? Mo’s response was: “I have
no opinion.” It’s an appropriate
statement, considering his pen
name, which means, “Do not speak”.
But everyone else, even if remotely
connected with the literary scene,
had an opinion—often a very strong
one. Television personality Cui
Yongyuan represented many when he
said: “I hope he wins. He deserves it.”
Zhao Lihua, a poetess with her
20 •
own share of controversy, went a
step further: “Mo Yan’s works are
full of vitality, multicolour and
abandon. They possess breadth,
depth, imagination and a cutting
edge by reflecting on our history and
reality.”
However, a distinct voice emerging from intelligentsia said Mo is too
close to the establishment to merit
the Nobel, which, in their minds, is
a testament to independence not
only in thinking but also in posture.
Some put it in a sarcastic tone that
it would be a perfect world if the
winner of the Mao Dun Literary
Award and a government award also
end up with the Nobel.
Yefu, a writer, said in a blunt manner. “The Nobel will not go to a
writer who sings the praise of authoritarianism. That is an essential
principle.”
The Swedish Academy’s answer
turned out to be positive. “Through a
mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo
Yan has created a world reminiscent
in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel
Garca Mrquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese
literature and in oral tradition.”
Speculation stopped hereby but
the debate continues.
Among Mo Yan’s “sins” in the avalanche of censure is his copying of a
Mao Zedong speech given 70 years
ago that largely set the parameters
for China’s arts and literature in the
ensuing decades. Mo was one of 100
writers and artists who hand-copied
paragraphs from the long speech,
published in a commemorative book.
Some believe this didn’t mean
anything. In Chinese society, a
writer might agree to go along with
such an endeavour because he or she
is on good terms with the publisher
or its editors.
Hu Yong, a Peking University
professor, argued that the debate did
not involve Mo’s literary achievement. “The Nobel prize is a token,”
Hu said. “Likewise, copying that
speech is also a token. Despite the
argument that Mo did it just for
formality, why didn’t he refuse it?”
So, is Mo Yan a spineless literary
hack who kowtows to authorities, or
does he maintain his independence
in his own way?
The answer may lie in a speech Mo
gave at the 2009 Frankfurt Book
Fair: “A writer should express criticism and indignation at the dark
side of society and the ugliness of
human nature, but we should not
use one uniform expression. Some
may want to shout on the street, but
we should tolerate those who hide in
their rooms and use literature to
voice their opinions.”
If that is not clear, he added an
anecdote at the end of his speech:
There was a story about Goethe and
Beethoven walking side by side and
running into the royal entourage.
While Beethoven walked on, Goethe
stepped to the side and took off his
hat.
“When I was young, I thought
what Beethoven did was great. But,
with age, I realised it could be easier
to do what Beethoven did, and it
might take more courage to do what
Goethe did.”
— Raymond Zhou/China Daily
Q in Xianan for C hina Daily
China
∞∞LIU YANG
China’s first woman
taikonaut
S
he may be China’s first woman
astronaut sent to space, but Liu
Yang keeps herself grounded by
reminding herself of her journey in
achieving that dream.
Born in 1978, she is a daughter of
a workers’ family in Henan province.
Although she’s an only child, Liu
Yang was raised to be modest, obedient and simple.
“She always had a bright smile to
greet us and liked to play badminton
with her father in the community
yard Though we haven’t met for
years, the deepest impression on me
is her big smile when she was with
her parents,” said Zang Huizhen,
one of their neighbours.
During her school years, she always received excellent grades
through hard work and diligence.
“She sometimes would stand in front
of the class to teach the others like a
teacher,” said Wang Xiuju, the
teacher in charge of her class in middle school.
She is also known for topping class
exams and as someone who “never
made any mistakes in her studies”.
“The perseverance of her character
might be a result of the strict and
ordered life of her family,” a high
school classmate said.
When a flight company came to
her school to recruit pilots, she was
attracted by this mysterious career
but disappointed to know it was only
open to boys. So when a military
aviation school opened to girls, she
immediately applied and was enrolled after her graduation from
high school in 1997.
“It was my turning point,” Liu
Yang said.
But when her training began, she
found the life was totally different
from her expectations. She once
wrote to her friends saying her happiness had gone, but their replies
changed her mind.
“You are in a great position to
embrace a wider sky and witness the
beautiful scene in your life. Please
cherish your opportunity,” one letter
read.
It made Liu change her view on
the hard training, and she developed
hobbies in her free time, such as
learning the clarinet.
“When we first joined the army,
we were told that women and men
would not be treated differently.
Female pilots can achieve the same
goals as the male ones,” she said in
an exclusive interview in 2009. “I
make it my principle.”
She always said that physical
strength and persistence are important during the training to become
a qualified pilot.
Jing Haipeng, commanding officer of the Shenzhou-IX mission,
said he was impressed by the swift-
ness and decisiveness Liu displayed
during training sessions, citing her
calm manner in responding to simulated emergencies.
Liu has the experience of dealing with emergencies. In September 2003, her plane encountered
a group of birds shortly after
takeoff, according to a report from
People’s Liberation Army Daily.
The turbine blades of the right
engine were destroyed and the
windshield splattered with blood
after it hit 18 pigeons. Liu finally
managed to stabilise the plane and
made a successful emergency
landing several minutes later, the
report said.
On June 16, the 34-year-old taikonaut made history by flying off to
space with a three-member crew in
the Shenzhou IX spacecraft, China’s
first manned space docking mission.
— China Daily
• 21
ASIAN
OF THE YEAR
GRE G WO O D/A F P
South Korea
∞∞PSY
a different K-pop idol
I
P hilippe Lopez/A FP
f a parody making the rounds
on South Korean social networks and websites is to be
believed, Psy is not the smiling,
benign 34-year-old rapper he appears to be.
“From the calm morning, the end
will come. When of the dancing
horse the number of circles will be
nine,” reads the “prophecy” that
circulated on social network websites Facebook and Twitter.
The quote came from a spoof
“documentary” posted on YouTube
that links Nostradamus and Psy to
the December 21 apocalypse
prophesied by the Mayans.
South Korea is known as the
Land Of The Morning Calm, the
dancing horse is Psy’s signature
dance style and the nine circles
refer to the nine zeroes he will
rack up when his “Gangnam
Style” music video passes one billion YouTube views. It has so far
been viewed 972 million times.
The “documentary” features an
ominous narration that notes Psy’s
“cultural domination over Western
civilisation”.
“The evil that is enticing and looks
cool will bend people’s minds with
contagious behaviour,” it adds over
footage of flash mobs doing the
horse-riding dance in Paris and
Rome.
The parody has gone down well in
South Korea, with many people
finding it hilarious. Perhaps as hilarious as the very video that made
Psy this year’s biggest popstar.
22 •
Indeed, it has been an exciting year
for the Korean entertainer but it was
not an easy path even for someone
who was actually born in the affluent
Gangnam district in Seoul.
Psy was poised to take over his
father’s business but ditched that
path to study at the Berklee College
of Music, before similarly abandoning that to return to his native South
Korea in 2000 to pursue his dream
to be a singer.
His history though showed he did
not have the DNA to be a super idol:
He has been arrested for possession
of marijuana, accused of dodging
military duties, is married with twin
daughters. (Idols are supposed to be
“available” for life.) He describes
himself as “chubby”. His songs have
also courted controversies because
of obscene lyrics.
But his sixth album, “PSY 6” (Six
Rules), released in July, included the
song “Gangnam Style”, and opened
a door for him to the world. Suddenly, he was teaching Britney
Spears on Ellen deGenere’s show
how to dance the song’s infectious
“horse dance”, meeting with UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and
performing before massive crowds
from Seoul to Paris, something that
other Korean stars attempted but
can only dream of.
Many have dismissed Psy as a
flash-in-the pan with Time magazine naming him as the year’s “most
fleeting star”. But he has a 12-year
career to back him up and while it
will be difficult to top “Gangnam
Style”, this year’s favourite “oppa”
(literally older brother) will continue to entertain his loyal fans in
his own style.
— The Korea Herald
A F P PH OTO S
China
∞∞GIANT PANDAS
Not your usual
ambassadors
I
n July this year, Japan mourned
the death of a six-day-old panda
born in Ueno Zoo. Many found
it ironic that the Japanese would
mourn an animal that symbolises its
arch rival China.
China has given giant pandas as
diplomatic gifts to other countries
as far back as the Tang Dynasty,
when Empress Wu Zetian (625–705)
sent a pair of pandas to the Japanese
emperor to thaw relations. Today,
there are about 30 pandas that live
in zoos outside China, as part of a
loan programme. This so-called
panda diplomacy costs at least US$1
million a year, not exactly for poor
countries.
The 10-year loan programme consists of a pair of pandas that are
expected to breed during that period
and help grow the dwindling population of the specie.
There are about 1,600 pandas living in the wild. Their population has
been affected by low birth rate and
the loss of their habitat.
Because of this, the birth of a
panda is a cause of celebration for
wildlife advocates because it is seen
as a ray of hope for their survival.
Cubs born in foreign countries are
returned to China when they turn
three and are expected to contribute
to breeding programmes.
The latest panda ambassadors to
leave China are Kai Kai and Jia Jia;
they arrived in Singapore in September. Singaporeans have referred to
them as “VIPs” (very important
pandas) and perhaps the island
state’s most popular
and cuddly “foreign
talents”.
There are instances,
however, that these
cute ambassadors
never get to accomplish their goodwill
mission, like in a recent case with Japan.
Following the Great
East Japan earthquake in 2011, Sendai
Mayor Emiko Okuyama asked Beijing if it
could loan a pair of
giant pandas to the
Yagiyama Zoo to cheer up young
kids in the affected areas.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said
then that he would consider the
idea, but more than a year has
passed and nothing has been heard
of the panda ambassadors. Since
then, ties between China and Japan
have deteriorated over their islands
dispute.
But these black and white bears
continue to charm their fans around
the world, politics aside. In contrast
to the dragon—another Chinese
symbol—they present a friendly, innocent face to the world.
Lin Ping, born in Chiang Mai,
Thailand, in 2009, will be turning
four and is expected to return to
China next year. San Diego Zoo’s
five-month-old Xiao Liwu will make
his public debut early next year. And
hopes are high that Singapore Zoo’s
Kai Kai and Jia Jia will accomplish
their mission and produce a cub.
• 23
DATEBOOK
AFP
AFP
∞∞POLITICS
Japan
Japan will be holding its 23 rd
parliamentary elections for the
Upper House. In the 2010 elections,
the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)
remained strongest party. Following
the landslide victory of Shinzo Abe’s
Liberal Democratic Party on Dec 16,
2012, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
has conceded defeat and resigned as
head of the DPJ.
When: July
P h i l i ppines
A total of 18,022 national and
local positions will be decided
during the midterm elections of the
Philippine Congress and local
governments. The last elections
were held in 2010.
When: May 13
Cam b od ia
Cambodia will be holding its
parliamentary elections where
members of the National Assembly
will be chosen. A total of 123
members will be elected for a
five-year term.
When: July 28
∞∞SPORTS
M yan m ar
The country will be holding the 27th
SEA Games in three main cities, namely, Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw.
The SEA Games is one of the most
popular sports competitions for the
entire Southeast Asian countries which
is held every two years since 1959.
When: December 21
China
The 6th East Asian Games, to be held
in Tianjin, China, will feature 289 events
of 24 sports including athletics, football,
swimming and wushu.
When: October 6 to 15
Pa ki sta n
General elections will take place
in Pakistan year. The current
National Assembly will be dissolved
on or before March 18. By this date,
the National Assembly will complete
its constitutional tenure for five
years from the first session in 2008. When: Date to be announced
24 •
∞∞SCIENCE
China
China prepares for the launch of its
unmanned moon landing with a threeperson crew. China became the third
country to independently send a person
into space in 2003, after the US and
Russia.
When: July
AFP
∞∞SUMMIT
M yanm a r
The country will be hosting the
22nd World Economic Forum on East
Asia, the first leading international
gathering of senior decision-makers
from industry, government,
academia and civil society. As
Myanmar assumes the chairmanship
of Asean in 2014, it will have a
critical role in guiding the bloc’s
10-member economies toward the
planned economic integration in
2015.
When: June 5 to 7
∞∞ARTS
H ong Ko ng
Mark your calendar for the spring edition of the
Asia Contemporary Art Show—Hong Kong’s most
vibrant and exciting show for accessibly priced
original paintings, limited editions, sculpture and
photography. See the works of young, emerging and
mid-career artists in attractive “in-room” settings at
the 5-star JW Marriott Hotel in Pacific Place.
When: May 23 to 26
Info: www.asiacontemporaryart.com
Cam b o di a
The Association of Southeast Asian
Nations holds its annual summit, which
provides a platform for the Asean
countries’ leaders to discuss the situation
in the Southeast Asian region and
exchange opinions on the differences
between the countries.
When: March 25 to 27
B r i sban e
The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) is the
Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art’s flagship
international contemporary art event. It is the only major
exhibition series in the world to focus exclusively on the
contemporary art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia. APT7
continues the series’ forward-thinking approach to questions
of geography, history and culture and how these questions
are explored through the work of contemporary artists.
When: December 2012 to April 14
Info: www.qagoma.qld.gov.a
• 25
News
ELECTIONS
Sam PA NTHA KY/ A F P PHOTO
∞∞India
A
Yosh ikaz u TSU NO/AFP PHOTO
n Indian Muslim
woman displays her
identity card prior to
casting her vote in the first
phase of voting for the state
assembly in the western
Indian state of Gujarat on
December 17. Millions
voted in what was seen as a
test for Hindu-nationalist
leader Narendra Modi, who
is seeking a big victory for a
third term as chief minister
to cement his claim as a future prime ministerial candidate. Modi is possibly India’s most divisive
politician.
—Krittivas Mukherjee/
The Straits Times
JU NG YEON-JE /AFP PHOTO
∞∞Japan
A
man, holding his child in
his arm, casts his vote in
Japan’s general election at
a polling station in Tokyo on December 16. After just three years
in the political wilderness, the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
swept back into power with a decisive victory over the Democratic
Party of Japan (DPJ). The new
government is expected to be led
by 58-year-old LDP leader Shinzo
Abe, who will be serving as prime
minister for the second time.
Faced with a choice of 12 parties,
many voters unhappy with the
DPJ apparently picked the familiar LDP, despite its role in creating many of Japan’s current problems, from a creaking state
pension system to a huge national
debt. The new government is expected to take a more hardline
stance against China over a simmering territorial row, at the risk
of further worsening ties with
Beijing.
—Kwan Weng Kin/The Straits
Times
26 •
∞∞SOUTH KOREA
A
n elderly South Korean woman is helped as she casts her vote in
the presidential election at a polling station in Nonsan, 150kms
south of Seoul, on December 19. Koreans, young and old, braved
the frosty weather to make their ballot count, pushing the turnout much
higher than in many previous elections. The race for the presidency
was a nail-biting duel between two candidates with contrasting backgrounds—Park Geun-hye, daughter of slain military strongman Park
Chung-hee and the conservative ruling party’s flag-bearer, and Moon
Jae-in, a former student activist who was jailed under the Park regime
and is now representing the liberal opposition. Park won the elections,
becoming the country’s first ever woman president.
— Lee Sun-young and Kim Young-won/The Korea Herald
T
he tensions over China and its
neighbours in the Asia-Pacific
saw a swift escalation this
year, with a greater potential for
conflict in the East China Sea.
The territorial dispute between
China and Japan over the Diaoyu/
Senkaku islands is a bigger flashpoint than the ones in the South
China Sea, a maritime security expert said.
Relations between China and Japan have hit rock bottom over the
uninhabited islands that both claim,
particularly after Tokyo bought
three of the islands from their private owner in September, with both
sides ratcheting up tensions. While
national pride plays a part in the
row, another factor is that the area
is believed to be rich in energy resources.
“A
llahu Akbar (God is
Great)!” cried the members of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) as the
group celebrated the signing of the
peace accord with the Philippine
government on October 15.
After over 40 years of wars, the
two parties reached a deal that will
create a new autonomous Muslim
homeland in Mindanao, called
Bangsamoro. The agreement was
hailed by the administration of
President Benigno Aquino III as
paving the way “for a final and enduring peace in Mindanao”.
The deal secures the Bangsamoro’s core territory, which will be
composed of the present geographi-
as Taiwan—the prospects that these
will escalate into a major war are
much less.
This is because there is “more
asymmetry between the claiming
parties—China is by far the giant
among the claimants—and the individual Southeast Asian claimants
cal area of the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao.
But it has been criticised by some factions
within the rival Moro
National Liberation
Front (MNLF), which
signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in
1996, that the agreement violates the terms
of the MNLF peace deal
that created an existing
self-rule area in the
south.
MILF chair Murad
Ebrahim urged the
MNLF and other Muslim groups to
support the peace deal and urged
them to realise that the framework
is an all-inclusive agreement between the Bangsamoro people and
the Philippine state.
Peace panel leaders are set to head
back for talks held in neighbouring
have no hope of matching China in
military terms, an expert said.
But the disputes have caused deep
divisions within Asean, with the
regional body having suffered serious setbacks during the 21st Asean
Summit because of disagreements over the South China
Sea. For the first time in its
history, the regional body
failed to issue a joint communique following the ministers’
wrangling over how to settle
territorial disputes with China.
Each claimant state has
tried to take unilateral action
to enhance the validity of its
claims on the seas. But experts
believe that a new approach is
needed, starting with this question:
What can each claimant state give
up in order to facilitate the development of a new and perhaps unconventional solution to settle each
dispute in a win-win manner?
— The Straits Times, The Nation
Karlo s Manlupig/AFP
Ending
Years Of
War
In comparison, while there is potential for incidents in the South
China Sea disputes—in which China
has overlapping territorial claims
with four Asean states (Philippines,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei) as well
Saeed Khan/A F P
Row Over
Seas
Malaysia to thrash out the unresolved issues.
The decades-old conflict has
claimed 150,000 lives in impoverished Mindanao, a resource-rich region where most of the mainly Catholic nation’s Muslim minority lives.
—Philippine Daily Inquirer
• 27
News
C hristophe A rchambault/A F P
Charged
With
Murder
A
April and May 2010, which is essential for people to properly understand what occurred so the country
can move on.
This is a landmark case as it is the
first time a prime minister has been
accused of being accountable for a
death during the suppression of a
political rally.
To ensure a fair trial of the case,
AFP
bhisit Vejjajiva looks set to be
the first leader in Thai history
who will face a murder
charge, in relation to the death of a
taxi driver during the red-shirt protest in May 2010. The former Thai
premier, along with former deputy
prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban,
could also face 700 attemptedmurder cases for the 700 that were
severely injured in the 2010 political
violence.
Some may regard Abhisit as being
responsible for Phan Khamkong’s
death, while others will view the
move to charge the former PM as
politically motivated.
Either way, Abhisit’s case will set
a precedent for Thai political history. Investigators, police and public
prosecutors now have to pursue the
case in earnest to enable Thais to
come to terms with the violence in
Claiming
Victory
T
o many, Myanmar’s iconic
opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi is the key driver of the
country’s political reform. Suu Kyi
won a seat in Parliament after her
28 •
National League for Democracy
party won a landslide victory in the
April 1 by-elections. The par ty
secured 43 of the 44 seats in the
664-member bicameral legislature
still dominated by military figures.
The daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero Gen. Aung San, she
began spearheading the democracy
movement weeks after the military’s
the hearing must involve truthful
records of the situation.
In an interview, Abhisit said will
accept the court’s verdict, even if it
sentences him to death. “I will
prove my innocence in court, and
if the court for whatever reason
renders a guilty verdict, I will
accept it.”
—The Nation
bloody crackdown on massive prodemocracy rallies in 1988. Amid
popular calls for democratic rule,
people in the country wanted Suu
Kyi to play an active leadership role
while she was under house arrest.
Since her release in November
2010, after being barred from leaving her home for 15 years, Suu Kyi
has gotten closer to the grassroots
people that have suffered from poverty and social and political oppression.
With her persistent calls for
broad, fundamental reform and national reconciliation, the incumbent
government led by Thein Sein, a
former military general, has made
strides toward democratic rule. It
has freed hundreds of political prisoners, eased media control, reached
truces with ethnic rebels and held
the by-elections that enabled Suu
Kyi to enter parliament.
—The Korea Herald
Mark RA LSTO N/A F P PH OTO
China’s
new faces
T
he Communist Party of China’s
new Politburo Standing Committee, the nation’s top decision-making body (L-R) Liu Yunshan, Zhang Dejiang, Xi Jinping, Li
Keqiang, Zhang Gaoli, Yu
Zhengsheng and Wang Qishan meet
the press at the Great Hall of the
North
Korea
rockets
away
N
—Kor Kian Beng/The Straits Times
29-year-old leader and the first anniversary of the death of his father,
Kim Jong-il. Pyongyang’s April
liftoff, timed to coincide with the
centenary of the birth
of Kim Il-sung ended
in failure and earned
it international condemnation. The latest
move was to revere
the late autocrat’s call
to build a “strong,
prosperous and great
nation” by accomplishing the regime’s
nuclear ambitions,
analysts say.
— Shin Hyon-hee/
The Korea Herald
• 29
Ed J ones/A F P PHOTO
orth Korean leader Kim JongUn applauds during a military
parade in honour of the 100th
birthday of the late North Korean
leader Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang on
April 15. Pyongyang successfully
launched
a long-range rocket on December
12, a move that is expected to
strengthen Kim’s power base one
year after the young leader inherited
the world’s only communist dynasty.
It marked the second launch attempt under the Swiss-educated,
People in Beijing on November 15.
Most of the new leaders read social
sciences and humanities, such as
economics and history and came
from a wider range of schools. Observers believe that the academic
diversity could help them better
tackle China’s current issues and
needs. The new top power circle, led
by Xi Jinping, will face the tricky
task of setting the planet’s secondlargest economy on a new course.
News
Deadliest
factory fire
AFP ph oto
T
Protests in India
over rape
N
30 •
—The Daily Star
T he Daily Star ph oto
ew Delhi erupted with fury over the rape of a
23-year-old paramedic in a moving bus. Hundreds
of people poured onto the streets and police used
water cannon to control crowds as the capital prepared
to host the India-Asean Summit.
Opposition parties joined in the protests while Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wrote to federal Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to take action, saying it was a
“shame for us who are responsible for the security of our
cities that a young woman can be raped in a moving bus
in the capital of the country and flung on to the street”.
Six people lured the victim and her male friend, who
were on their way home on the night of December 16,
gang-raped the victim and beat up her friend as the bus
passed at least five police pickets in South Delhi.
The Indian capital has earned dubious reputation of
being the “rape capital”, emerging as the most unsafe city
in the country last year. The number of rape cases reported rose from 459 in 2009 to 568 last year, and over
600 cases have been filed this year, said police.
But the brutality of the gang-rape shocked people into
voicing out over the lack of security for women, the need
for strict laws to deter crimes against women and the
failure of police action in deterring such crimes. Women
lawmakers, who staged their own protest outside parliament, demanded the death penalty for the accused.
— The Straits Times
hough stampede and fire at garment factories are no new incidents in Bangladesh, the whole nation was shaken on
November 24 when a devastating fire raged
through a garment factory on the outskirts of
the capital, Dhaka, drawing world attention to
the poor safety mechanism in the country’s
highest foreign-exchange earning sector. At
least 112 workers died and many others sustained injuries.
While most of the victims were burnt to
death, many died jumping off different floors
of the eight-storey Tazreen Fashion Ltd. in a
desperate bid to escape the blaze that originated on the ground floor.
The factory, spreading across 131,750 square
feet, had very poor ventilation and no arrangement for emergency exit. It has only three
staircases for 2,200 workers and faulty fire
extinguishers.
Hearing a fire alarm, workers rushed down
the stairways only to be summoned back by the
managers—saying the alarm system was acting
up. Sensing there was a real and fierce fire, the
workers again rushed to the exit and found it
locked from the outside. The fire made its way
in, gobbling up parts of the floors—and everything that came its way. Trapped and engulfed
in smoke, the workers died like chickens in gas
chambers.
The horrific fire revealed a gap in safety for
global brands. Tazreen was making clothing
destined for some of the world’s top retailers,
including Walmart, C&A and Sears, and US
marines.
Soe T han W in/A F P
Stateless
Rohingya
T
his year’s violence between
ethnic Rohingya Muslims and
Rakhine Buddhists that started in June killed at least 167 people,
although human rights groups believe the true toll could be far higher.
Tensions have simmered in the
P
resident Thein Sein
has directed the formation of an investigation commission with
Aung San Suu Kyi as chairperson after riot police
forcibly broke up the protest camps in the Lapaduangtaung copper mine
project area on November
29, drawing severe criticisms from the international community.
About 70 people were
The United Nations also said Thein
Sein had sent a letter to UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon promising action to tackle the problems.
Thein Sein has blamed nationalist
and religious extremists for the unrest but has faced criticism for failing to address underlying tensions
in the state, where an estimated
800,000 Rohingya Muslims are not
recognised as citizens.
—The Jakarta Post, Agencies
injured, mostly from burns, when
police broke up a demonstration
with water cannon, tear gas and
firebombs to evict ralliers from the
camp. The protesters are alleging
massive land grabbing from farmers
to make way for the project.
Following the November 29
clashes, protests have been staged in
many parts of the country. Monks,
who were among the injured,
marched in protest before the Chinese Embassy in Yangon.
The Union of Myanmar
Economics Holdings Limited (UMEHL) said it
would follow any decision
by the investigation commission regarding the Lapadaungtaung issue. The
project is jointly undertaken by the militarybacked UMEHL and a
Chinese company named
Myanmar Wanboa Mining
Copper Limited.
—Eleven Media,
The Nation
• 31
AFP
Brutal
Crackdown
region since clashes first broke out
in June, displacing over 110,000
people—also mostly Muslims.
President Thein Sein has asked
countries like Indonesia to help his
government in resolving ongoing
ethnic tensions in the western Rakhine state. He said the government had
launched various programmes to alleviate suffering and for community
building and reconstruction measures
involving a huge amount of money.
A F P photo/ Jiuquan Space C entre
News
China’s
first
manual
space
docking
A
s China strives to match US
and Russian space exploits,
three of its astronauts manually docked their spacecraft with an
orbiting module on June 24 for the
first time in the country’s history.
Thousands of Chinese witnessed live
on television the historic moment of
32 •
Shenzhou IX capsule completing the
manoeuvre with Tiangong 1 module.
Mission commander Jing
Haipeng, 45, was joined by Liu Yang,
a 33-year-old air force pilot and
China’s first female space traveller,
and Liu Wang, 43, in China’s fourth
manned mission, which began with
Shenzhou IX’s launching on June 16
from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch
Centre in Northwest China’s Gansu
province.
Six days after a docking that was
controlled remotely from a ground
base in China, Shenzhou IX undocked from Tiangong-1 and took
up a position 400 metres from Tiangong-1 around 11am Chinese time.
Shortly before 1pm on June 24, Liu
Wang operated the parallel moving
and altitude adjustment lever to control the approach of Shenzhou IX
toward Tiangong-1. The spacecraft
locked with each other at 12:55pm,
in only 7 minutes, 3 minutes faster
than the automatic docking.
The manual docking means “China now has a full command of space
rendezvous and docking technology”, Wu Ping, spokeswoman for the
manned space programme, said,
terming the docking as “precise and
perfect”.
Being able to conduct automatic
and manual dockings is a prerequisite for assembling a space station,
which China has scheduled for
2020. –China Daily
The Fall Of
Pacquiao
T
orchestrating a rock band, etc. But
clearly, this is not the end of Pacquiao as a boxer and a public man of
various gifts. He lost to Marquez at
the age of 33, six years younger than
the latter. He quickly decided he
would fight Marquez again, out of
pique, out of a desire to redeem
himself. If he decides to retire, he
would be doing so from the pinnacle
of fame and success, but as a defeated man. But he has loads of
hard-earned and honest money. He
is at the end of the rope with a reputation as a clean fighter.
He has many options available
that would not make him idle. That’s
his problem and dilemma— what to
do with himself after his defeat.
—Philippine Daily Inquirer
• 33
J o hn G ur zin s ki /AF P
he pain of defeat begins to sink
into pound-for-pound king
Manny Pacquiao, the world’s
first champion winning in eight different weight divisions.
Pacquiao has won most of his
fights, but nothing has been more
devastating and humiliating of his
few de feats than the smashing
knockout punch he received at the
hands of Mexican Juan Manuel
Marquez at the end of the sixth of
their 12-round non-title fight in Las
Vegas on December 9.
The fall of Pacquiao from pedestal
shows the thinness of the Philippines’ bench in the world of sports.
Boxing is one of the few sports in the
world where Filipinos have excelled—but at least in the lighter
divisions because of Filipinos’ size.
It will take another few generations
to have a boxer of his calibre to fill
the void he has left behind.
Some say Pacquiao didn’t train
hard enough and as rigorously as
Marquez did; that he trained for
speed, not to gain strength to deliver the coup de main—the knockout punch when it would be badly
needed; that he was doing too many
things outside of being a boxer, such
as being a congressman, attending
Bible-reading sessions in late hours,
News
A Super
Storm
Ted Aljibe /A F P
T
yphoon Pablo (international
name: Bopha) came like a raging bull, pounding hard on the
Mindanao provinces in southern
Philippines.
Despite preparations, over a thousand people died with hundreds still
missing, making it the worst storm
to hit the country this year. Landslides were the main culprit, and
these landslides were never anticipated where they happened because
they had no history of landslides.
34 •
Pablo is a grim reality check. The
carnage it wrought the poor disaster
preparedness and response systems
in grassroots communities. It likewise exposed failure to regulate the
extraction of natural resources, such
as timber, and to rehabilitate
logged-over forests.
The areas devastated by Pablo are
geographically and ecologically connected to places where massive logging operations have been taking
place for decades. Data from the
Department of Environment and
Natural Resources show that deforestation has worsened since 2006
due to the increasing incidence of
unemployment and poverty.
In 2011, Mindanao suffered a devastating loss when another typhoon
triggered massive flash floods in the
cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan,
killing more than a thousand people.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the disaster was brought
about by the combined effects of
disaster unpreparedness, logging
and the conversion of forest lands
into plantations for agricultural
export.
The nation’s experience poses
challenges in identifying the different factors and problems that contribute to these repeated disasters.
— Kalikasan party-list/Philippine
Daily Inquirer
AFP
AFP
Tsunami
Scare
A
— The Yomiuri Shimbun, Agencies
T
ropical Storm Tembin affected tens of thousands in south
Taiwan in August, as winds and heavy rain ripped off roofs,
flooded homes, and disrupted land and air traffic.
Up to 20,000 households in Pingtung suffered power failures,
while telecommunication disruptions were also reported in the
region.
Taiwan’s Executive Yuan was criticised for not providing immediate relief sources to the victims.
The total agricultural losses from Tembin amounted to
NT$116.39 million (US$4 million).
AFP
7.3-magnitude quake that shook
Japan’s eastern coast early December
triggered widespread panic and
evacuations. A one-metre tsunami hit the
Miyagi Prefecture and people rushed to
higher ground following tsunami alarms
and warnings from television and radio
stations.
In the end, no injuries or damages were
reported but the earthquake triggered fear
with memories of last year’s tragedy still
fresh in people’s minds. In Miyagi alone,
over 2,000 people were estimated to had
died when an 8.9 earthquake in March 11,
2011 hit the coast off Japan, triggering a
massive tsunami that claimed the lives of
over 12,000 people with about 14,000 more
still missing.
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake,
the government has installed a communications system in all 1,725 municipal governments, designed to quickly send information on natural disasters and other
emergencies.
Drawing on lessons from incorrect tsunami warnings issued after 2011, the Meteorological Agency has decided to change
tsunami warnings from announcing estimated tsunami heights after large earthquakes to simpler warnings such as, “A huge
tsunami is coming.”
Phrases such as “tsunami similar to those
after the Great East Japan Earthquake are
expected” will be used to help people understand the scale of tsunami in comparison
with past tsunami.
In initial warnings the agency will call on
people in coastal regions to immediately
move to elevated places.
Harsh Tropical
Storm
Huge Typhoon
T
ens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate as Typhoon Sanba made landfall in southern South Korea in
September.
Dozens of residents suffered flood damage, and more than
10,000 households were left without electricity, the National
Emergency Management Agency said.
Nationwide, all domestic flights and ferry services were suspended.
Sanba came on the heels of two strong typhoons, Bolaven and
Tenbin, which killed more than 20 people in southern regions.
• 35
Ph otos from mellowmayo.com
Trends
By Fran Katigbak
Philippine Daily Inquirer
How To Wear
Pastels Without
Looking Like A Kid
Pretty pastels pop up all over
2012 runways
H
ow to we ar pastels
and dainty socks
without looking like
an overgrown toddler?
On her blog mellowmayo.com, Hong Kong’s Mayo Wo
shows how to rock these trends.
Since style-blogging on lookbook.
nu, an online hub of fashion lovers
worldwide, Mayo has been making
a statement with outfits in pretty
sorbet shades and vertiginous heels.
She has fearlessly worn the shoes
with candy-coloured and printed
socks long before style bibles, such
as the British edition of Glamour
magazine, had declared that socks
are sexy and very on-trend.
Inspired by the first line of the
John Ke ats poem “ To Autumn”
36 •
[“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”], the blog name Mellow
Mayo embodies its creator’s chic,
youthful, sweet and quirky-romantic style.
Mayo’s sartorial inspiration comes
not only from poetry, but also from
trendsetters, such as the boyish but
effortlessly chic Alexa Chung; Gossip
Girl’s polished Upper East Sider
Blair Waldorf; and retro-glam pinup
girl Lana del Rey.
“But really, fashion inspiration
can be found everywhere around
us,” said Mayo, who had once been
inspired to style herself based on—
of all things—carrot juice.
“It’s immensely satisfying to find
harmony in some seemingly contrary elements,” said the Chinese
blogger who had been very articulate about her love of fashion.
Fashion paparazzi seem to love
Mayo—she’s on the pages of style
glossies and websites.
“It’s always funny to see myself
on magazines, and it feels a bit surreal,” said Mayo. “But I feel very
delighted, too. I can totally see
myself savouring the magazine features and smiling when I become
old and wrinkled.”
Staples: Clothing in flowy fabrics
and gelato colours; white shirts
with subtle details; tutu and petticoats; quirky, playful bags; statement heels; cute socks; fake lashes
(“for look ing rejuvenated,” says
Mayo); nail polish in candy colours.
Wearing pastels and/or a subdued
colour palette: “It’s easy to look a
bit tired with a muted palette, so
put on more cheek and lip colour.
Highlight the look with statement
accessories.”
Mixing textures and/or prints:
“Matching flowy fabrics like chiffon
with sculptural material like leather
creates interesting contrast and gives
an androgynous look.”
Wearing metallics: “I don’t like
full hardcore gear,” says Mayo. She
would opt for pairing basic items
with metallics to create balance.
How to create an edgy look with
soft, light fabrics: Over-the-top accessories and boyish shoes add a
little attitude, but Mayo says a very
simple way would be to apply very
dark lip colours.
LOOKS THAT ROCKED
◊Lip
Another key look is wellmoisturised, glowing skin, lips
accentuated with point colours.
Try orange, peach tone lip
colours, but you need to skip
other colours when applying
point colour lipsticks. Use only
eyeliners and mascara to complete
your doll-like eye look.
◊ B ag s
◊ Mak e u p
The 2012 makeup trend is to
have pops of neon colours and a
metallic touch on fresh, healthylooking skin. It is important not
to go de trop with the colours —
the neon touches should only be
applied on the eyes and the lips,
not anywhere else. From clutches to mini-me
versions of ‘it’ bags, lighter
options are now more widely
available, and more have headed
our way in 2012. Normally, smaller
bags are often used by the
nocturnal types, but unlike tiny
minaudieres, the latest clutch bags
and mini-me styles surprisingly
have enough room for your
essentials.
◊Wears
To meet the growing need for the
‘cool-biz’ attire in line with the energy
conservation campaign in 2012, fashion
brands have presented men’s summer
office wear in light, cool fabrics that will
help them dress professionally, yet still
stay cool. ◊Shoes
The future points to a
dangerously fabulous direction as
the fashion forecasts of the
season bring pointy shows back
on the spotlight.
◊ Na i l
◊Pumped-up prints
Bold, patterned pants were all
over the runways in 2012, have
you got your hands on a pair?
Inverted
French tip.
Actually it was
introduced in
2011, but the
adventurous set has
been going for it in 2012. The
louder the nail-polish combination
the more impact it has. A definite
fun must-try for those who love
having attention on their nails.
Photo from theglamouruosgleem.
com
• 37
Trends
2
1
0
2
f
o
s
t
e
g
d
a
g
Hot
The year didn’t only see a neck-and-neck smartphone race but
also the introduction of several precision gadgets
● Samsung Galaxy SIII
● iPhone 5
Running on Google’s Android
platform, Samsung Galaxy SIII
introduces “S-Voice”, allowing users to
control and direct the mobile phone
through voice communication
systems. With a 4.8-inch HD Super
AMOLED display, it offers a large and
vivid viewing experience. “Pop up
Play” and Quad-Core processor allow
an HD video in another window while
sending an email or text
simultaneously.
One of the most artfully polished
gadgets ever built, Apple’s 123.8mm
tall iPhone 5 allows the larger 4-inch
screen, taller than previous iPhones,
built into a thinner and lighter case.
Coming with a camera with a
particularly well-done panorama
mode, the amazingly light gadget
speaks for Apple’s accomplishment in
fusing hardware, software and
services.
● Samsung Galaxy Note II
● LG 55EM960V OLED TV
With a 5.5-inch display, bigger than
the electronic giant’s flagship
smartphone Galaxy S series, the
phablet comes with a stylus enhanced
“S pen” that allows the owner
note-taking, sketching and generally
pointing his/her way around the
interface. The 1.6 GHz quad-core
processor and 3100mAh battery keep
people at ease.
38 •
55 inches across, this LG TV is only
5mm deep. With its Organic LightEmitting Diode panel, it offers
“infinite” contrast, blink-of-the-eye
response times and wide viewing
angles.
● iPod nano
With a 2.5-inch multi-touch
display that’s great for browsing
album art, photos, videos and
more, the seventh generation iPod
nano wirelessly connect to
speakers, headphones, car stereo,
and other Bluetooth-friendly
devices. Users can track their
daily activities and goals.
● Apple 15” MacBook Pro with Retina
Display
The 15-inch next-generation
iteration of Apple’s MacBook Pro
comes with 2800-by-1800 Retina
display, prompting the firm to add
“Retina display” prominently to its
name. Super thin, only .71-inch, and
super light, only 4.46 pounds, it is
first MacBook to forgo an optical disk
drive.
● Nintendo Wii U
● Microsoft Windows 8
The 6.8-inch wide and 10.5-inch
long video game console is the
follow-up to Wii, which changed
gaming forever with its motionsensing Wii Remote. Up to four remote
controllers can be connected at once.
The GamePad, a game controller with
a built-in 6.2-inch touchscreen, gives
it edge over other consoles.
The touch-optimised operating
system delivers an immersive
personalised experience. While the
fast and fluid Start screen gives single
click access to apps and content, the
new Internet Explorer 10, designed for
touch, offers built-in cloud storage
capabilities. The Live Tiles feature in
Windows 8 provides a seamless
connectivity to multiple social
applications simultaneously.
● Lytro Light Field Camera
● Sony Cyber-shot RX100
While most cameras only capture a
single plane of light, Lytro captures
the entire field of light, allowing users
to change which point to focus on
after the picture is taken. It also offers
an option to swap between standard
view and 3D.
Small, solid and splendid, it fits in
your pocket and weighs less than a
small 250ml packet drink. Coming
with a brilliant F1.8 Carl Zeiss lens
and combined with supreme ISO
sensitivity, its one-inch 20.2
megapixel image sensor excels in ultra
low-light situations, producing
richly-detailed, exceptional images in
any condition. Truly compact, RX100
offers SLR-like operation.
● Microsoft Surface with Windows RT
Well designed and sturdily
constructed, the sleek Surface with
Windows RT tablet can run Microsoft
Office, connect to thousands of USB
peripherals like printers and mice,
interact with Xbox 360, and work with
Microsoft’s unique magnetic keyboard
covers.
● Amazon Kindle Fire HD
The dual-core, seven-inch,
pleasingly weighty Android tablet
offers 1280x800 HD display with
polarising filter and anti-glare
technology for rich colour and deep
contrast from any viewing angle. Dolby
audio and dual-driver stereo speakers
generate immersive, virtual surround
sound. The key here has been access
to Amazon’s gamut of online stores.
• 39
Trends
By The Korea Herald, China Daily, The Nation, Philippine Daily Inquirer
What Women Want
The market hits in 2012 ranged from
vibrating make-up , gold thread lifts,
to going it the natural way
● Cosmetics evolve
K
orea’s cosmetics industry may have attracted
consumers with new colours, concepts and
celebrity power so far. But companies are now
adopting the latest technology to stimulate
consumer curiosity and offer easier and more
effective ways to apply everyday cosmetics.
Leading the cosmetics market this year are
vibrating foundation gadgets that help the skin
a b s o r b t h e fo u n d at i o n fa s te r a n d offe r a
smoother f inish. Foundation vibrators are
gaining popularity particularly for Korean
women who dream of having “white” and
glowing skin.
Cosmetic gadgets gained popularity among
working women who don’t have much time to
spend in front of the mirror in the morning.
LG Household & Health Care released “Isa
Knox Smart Vibrating Foundation”, which
vibrates 14,000 times per minute. The Isa Knox
foundation has eight skincare ingredients to
cover blemishes and freckles, the company said.
“If you use appropriate makeup applicators,
you can have your makeup done without using
your fingers and as perfect as artists’ work,” said
Yoo Jae-woong, brand manager of LG Household
& Health Care.
40 •
A
n interesting feature in the
industry is that technologybased firms are jumping into the
cosmetics market.
Fujifilm, a Japanese firm specialised in manufacturing photographic film, has released Astalift, a
premium anti-ageing skincare
brand. The products feature the
company’s cutting edge, core technologies accumulated over 70
years of research and development
of collagen, a core ingredient in
photographic film.
Technologies used in Fujifilm’s
products include the findings of
Fujifilm’s own collagen research,
antioxidation expertise and micronisation technology, the company
said.
“Collagen is not only the essential ingredient within a photographic f ilm, but also is a key
component of the skin. Antioxidants prevent images from fading
in colour and repair and protect
the skin from UV damage,” an official said.
● Beauty redefined
W
ith an ever-increasing concern about appearance in
this day and age, the gold thread
lift is becoming a popular if controversial option among beauty
s e e ke rs , yo u n g a n d o l d , eve n
though it costs a fortune.
The buzz surrounding the gold
thread lift is that it can smoothen,
tighten, and clarify the skin without using any invasive procedures.
It also gives almost immediate results that can last up to 10 years.
And with the use of pure gold, the
treatment causes no side effects
and is suitable for everyone at
every age.
“It’s a great solution to cure signs
of ageing,” says Dr Maciej Lichaj,
gold thread treatment expert and
aesthetician from Poland during an
interview at his DNA Clinic in
Thailand, the sole local distributor
of Gold Thread LLC.
“You can treat your face—topical
or the whole face—as well as the
neck, breast, upper arms, hips, buttocks and even the hands. It makes
you look younger naturally without
painful procedures and long recovery period.”
● Going organic
H
C
hina’s beauty industry has had
a makeover—which now
ranges from spas to surgical clinics.
Candlelight, frag rant essential oils and soft Zen music are
rapidly becoming the order of
the day, helping to calm frazzled minds, while therapies
tailoured to individual need
and based on the use of natural
herbs and spices, provide succour for body and soul.
But the treatment doesn’t come
cheap, especially in a country
where salaries are still relatively
low. An hour at a spa costs 900
yuan (US$141) on average, that’s
around one-fifth the monthly salary of a junior white-collar worker.
Even promotional packages can set
the customer back more than 600
yuan a visit.
ow can one look and feel
younger than one’s actual
chronological age? Are there
remedies or therapies that can
strengthen one’s immune system against disease? Is there a
smarter way to live one’s life in
order to outsmart the passage
and the ravages of time? The
answer is yes to all
these questions.
There is a reference to weight
management
through the consumption of salsa
from hot chili peppers in a book. Apparently, a certain
Shaolin monk lives
by this hot principle.
If you can
manage, add hot
sauce to meals
beginning with
breakfast. Should
plain chili sauce be too hard to
swallow, make a salsa with
chopped tomatoes, cilantro and
crushed chili. The plus side to
spicy meals is that more heat
stimulates digestion. And this
helps food move more quickly
and eff iciently through the
colon. So, those suffering from
constipation should heed this
advice.
Ginger and spice
A
nother spice that can assist
you in weight loss is ginger. You have the option to
grate it fresh and mix with your
soup, or juice it as part of your
salad dressing. You may consider sweetening some fresh
ginger slices and adding that to
dessert. It’s perfect as a topping
for vanilla ice cream, too. Add
ginger juice to your favourite
hot cocoa drink. It not only
adds a zing but it also helps you
burn calories faster.
Remember, the hotter the
better!
• 41
Trends
A F P PH OTO
A F P PH OTO
TRAVEL
A Chinese tourist poses for a photo in Macau.
Peach Aviation is launched in Japan.
Travel bug bites Asia
J
apan, where the region’s most
sophisticated travellers come
from, entered the budget travel
industry with the launch of lowco s t Pe a c h Av i at i o n , pa r t ly
owned by All Nippon Airways, in
March.
The airline’s routes include Kansai,
New Chitose and Fukuoka with fares
about one-half those of major airlines.
The launch was heralded as the beginning of an era of budget air travel
in Japan.
In July, Jetstar Japan—a joint venture
42 •
between Qantas, Japan Airlines, Mitsubishi and Century Tokyo Leasing—
launched its Narita-Sapporo flights.
A month later, in August, AirAsia
Japan was launched with three destinations: Sapporo, Okinawa and Fukuoka.
But while budget travel is just taking
off in Japan, it has been booming in
other parts of Asia.
And with the travel boom—budget
or otherwise—comes the tourists with
the newly rich Chinese leading the
pack.
They are everywhere from Asia to
T hani s Sudto/ The Nation
Tourists flock the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
Europe and America, even Africa.
According to Trendwatching.
com, outbound Chinese tourists
will hit 100 million by 2020.
Chinese tourists are the new
Japanese travellers, with deeper
pockets and an insatiable need to
consume. Tour packages have been
designed mainly to attract them
and shopkeepers have been known
to be friendly when someone from
China enters their establishments.
This, in fact, has been a cause for
grouse in Hong Kong with locals
complaining that they are discriminated against even in their
own territory.
As the ITB Travel Trends Report
2011 predicted, travel demand in
Asia continued to rise due to a
thriving economy and a growing
well-off middle class.
This year, the top travel destination was hands-down Myanmar,
which recently introduced political and economic reforms. Businessmen started flocking to the
country and so did the tourists. But
with the influx of travellers, demand for hotels and transport also
went up and the country was illprepared. But travellers need not
worry, hotels are fast rising across
Myanmar ahead of its hosting of
the Southeast Asian Games next
year and airlines—from conventional to budget—are back in operation.
Indeed, budget airlines and a
booming economy have made a
huge difference and travel in the
region has never been the same.
• 43
Trends
MOVIE
The film pick
H
ollywood may continue to dominate the
movie industry but Asia is not about to
give up the fight. With big-budget
productions coming out of China and
small gems from other countries, the
PIETA
∞∞South Korea
P
ieta won the Golden Lion at the 69 th Venice
International Film Festival, making it the first
Korean film to clinch the top prize at one of the
three major international film festivals including
Cannes and Berlin.
The film, written and directed by Kim Ki-duk,
depicts the mysterious relationship between a brutal
man who works for loan sharks and a middle-aged
woman who claims that she is his mother.
The film has received mixed reactions. While the
cast’s acting was praised, many critics described the
film—particularly its first half—as unbearably
unpleasant.
The film’s lead actress, Jo Min-su, won as best actress
at the Grand Bell Awards, South Korea’s equivalent to
the Oscars. Kim received the special jury prize.
44 •
region’s film industry is vibrant and gaining
momentum in a social networking era that makes it
possible to promote a film across borders.
Here are some of this year’s top films, whether in
terms of boxoffice, awards or scale of production.
LIFE OF PI
∞∞Taiwan
A
ng Lee’s latest work marks his
first foray into 3D filmmaking.
Based on a bestseller by Yann
Martel, it is the story of a 16-year-old
Indian boy who learns to coexist with a
tiger as they struggle to survive on a
lifeboat adrift in the middle of the Pacific
Ocean.
Ang pushed the boundaries of cuttingedge motion picture technologies and
produced a technological marvel with
stunning 3D graphics that transform a
novel long considered difficult to film
into a daring mix of narration and
provocative themes.
JAB TAK HAI JAAN
∞∞India
J
ab Tak Hai Jaan (Till My Last Breath) is a threehour extravaganza which was the last film made
by legendary Indian filmmaker Yash Chopra,
known as the “king of romance”, before his death
in October.
A romance with an ‘80s throwback of a story
that waters down the awe-inspiring love tale, Jab
Tak Hai Jaan might have drawn inspiration from the
Graham Greene novel “The End of the Affair”,
many say.
A week into its release on November 13, the
movie entered the top 10 of North America’s
weekend box office, taking US$1.3 million in a rare
appearance for a Bollywood movie in the box office
rankings usually dominated by Hollywood
productions. Box Office India declared it a “hit” in
India and a “blockbuster” overseas.
RUROUNI KENSHIN
∞∞Japan
T
he live action version of the famous manga
and anime series was not exactly a surprise
hit because it has long been awaited by fans.
Rurouni Kenshin is a historical fiction set in the
years after Japan’s final civil war and dissolution of
the samurai caste. It tells the story of Himura
Kenshin, one of the civil war’s greatest warriors,
who has given up killing and wanders Japan but
finds himself constantly confronting ghosts from
the past.
The film has received good reviews despite
earlier fears that it will fail expectations of fans.
LOVE IN THE BUFF
∞∞Hong Kong
H
ong Kong is known for its triad movies
and this romantic-comedy film by Pang
Ho-cheung is like a breath of fresh air… or
maybe not. It is a sequel to the equally successful
Love in The Puff tackling Hong Kong’s indoor ban on
smoking and how a romance bloomed from all
that… smoke.
The film’s boxoffice bloomed too mainly due to
word-of-mouth on social networking sites and
topped Hong Kong boxoffice during its opening
weekend. It may not have the usual grit and
violence of the triad movies or the big-budget
co-productions with the mainland, but its theme
struck a chord with ordinary people.
• 45
ASIA NEWS NE T WORK
21 newspapers in 18 countries—covering Asia for 13 years
W e
K n o w
A s i a
B e t t e r
AD 195x130
17.9.2012:Layout 1 17.9.2012 14:25
Uhr Seite
HGRS_AsiaNewsAdvtv2_080807.qxp:Layout
1 8/31/07
9:29 1AM
Page 1
“If we want sustainable architecture to
be popular, we have to make it look good.”
Building Asia together.
Kenneth Yeang, global Holcim Awards finalist
W hether you’re building or investing in factories, homes, bridges,
schoolhouses or shopping malls we’re the perfect partner to make
your project happen. As the No. 1 supplier of building materials in
Asia we can deliver the right solutions when and where it counts.
Holcim in Asia-Pacific:
Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, New Caledonia,
New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
www.holcim.com
Out of 6051
submissions in the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition, two from Asia Pacific made it to global final. Left: Mahanama
Ralapanawa, CEO Holcim Malaysia, handing over the finalist certificate 2012 to Kenneth Yeang for the design of a retail and commercial building
in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Right: Isavaret Tamonut and Singh Intrachooto with the finalist certificate 2012 for their project “Urban Farm Urban Barn”
in Bangkok, Thailand. Read more about all winning projects and their design teams at: www.holcimawards.org/apac
Strength. Performance. Passion.

OF THE YEAR - Asia News Network

Transcription

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