China`s new dawn India`s coffee- flavoured

Transcription

POLITICS
BUSINESS
China’s new
dawn
India’s coffeeflavoured romance
LIFESTYLE
Transgenders
seek acceptance
Novem b e r 16-29, 2012
Kawaii
Adventures
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W e
K n o w
A s i a
B e t t e r
Nov emb er 16-29 , 2012 • V o l 7 No 2 3
EXPLORE  44
Kawaii Adventures
More than sushi, ramen
and samurai, Japan is
also the land of cute
VIEW  6
POLITICS  20
SOCIETY  26
LIFESTYLE  34
Rebalancing Of Power
Obama’s visit firms up US’
policy on Asia
China’s New Dawn
Hope springs eternal but
will the country’s new
leaders bring about real
change?
Unravelling The Pain
Fear, insecurity haunt
Buddhists in Bangladesh
In Pursuit Of Acceptance
Transgender beauties from
15 countries hope to
promote recognition of the
third gender
ECONOMY  8
Onto The Stage Of Global Trade
With its entry to the WTO,
Laos embarks on the steep
path of reform
BUSINESS  10
India’s Love Affair With Coffee
The aromatic brew is
making inroads into the
world’s biggest consumer of
tea
SPECIAL REPORT  12
Poised For An Energy
Revolution
Southeast Asia leads in
adopting cutting-edge
renewable energy
technologies
TECHNOLOGY  28
Digital Privacy Divide
Technology is fuelling the
debate over what is public,
and what is private
F E AT U R E S
PEOPLE  38
The Leong Way To Cook
A culinary guru runs a
world-class boot camp for
the next best chef
HEALTH  30
The Perfect Cure
Thailand succeeds in
stem-cell research despite
lack of funding
COVE R IM AG E | Yo s hi k a z u TSUN O/AFP PHOTO
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The View
By Kavi Chongkittavor n
The Nation
Rebalancing Of Power
Obama’s visit firms up US’ policy on Asia
❖❖ Bangkok
Ro byn Beck /AF P Photo
F
reshly re-elected
US President Barack Obama’s visit
to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia is an extremely important step to firm up his
Asia-Pacific policy, often described as a “pivot” to the region.
The stopover will embed
the US presence and future
power projection in the region in the context of China’s rising influence. It will also turn
Asean into an arena where the
world’s two superpowers can cajole,
cooperate and compete.
O b a m a w i l l b e c o m e t h e fi r s t
American leader to visit half of the
Asean members during his first
term. Vietnam could have been included in the itinerary this time but
it was deliberately left out. Otherwise, the whole visit could easily be
construed as a concerted effort to
counter China’s growing influence.
Despite the media spin that the
US engagement with Asean comes
at the region’s repeated request, the
rise of China and its growing confidence remains a major focus, if not
obsession, of the US rebalancing in
the Asia-Pacific. Certainly, the historic trip has zeroed in on the three
Asean members with special relations with China.
The visit to Bangkok is expected
to concentrate on reinvigorating
Thai-US relations, especially the
faltering Thai-US military alliance
and its place in the new strategic
environment in the region.
Apart from the PSI cooperation,
the US hopes to revitalise military
cooperation with Thailand, one of
the five US allies in the Asia-Pacific.
Other US allies and friends such as
Singapore and Vietnam have linked
with each other as part of the new
6•
strategists have in mind.
China is also an observer of
the annual exercise, along
with Brunei, Laos, the Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the
United Arab Emirates. Last
December, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and China began
US President Barack
to coordinate security paObama waves after
trols of the Mekong River,
winning the 2012 US
which runs through their
presidential election.
countries. It was hailed as
the first multilateral security force initiated by China. Lower
US strategic balancing framework.
riparian countries Vietnam and
∞∞Close ties with China
Cambodia did not take part.
Rubbing salt into the wound,
Obama’s last stop is Cambodia.
Thailand’s close relations with Chi- Cambodia is the current Asean chair
na and high tolerance of its asser- and host of the 7th East Asia Sumtiveness have further confounded mit (EAS). Akin to the rapidly imUS decision-makers. As the coordi- proved US-Myanmar relations,
nating country for Asean-China re- China-Cambodia friendship has
lations (2012-2015), especially at a blossomed in the past 12 years, turntime when the South China Sea ing China into the country’s largest
territorial disputes are high on the aid donor and investor. Since joining
agenda, Thailand’s behaviour to- the EAS, Washington has skilfully
ward China would always be friend- used the Asean-led multilateral sely and reciprocal. Bangkok’s close curity platform to its advantage
ties with Beijing have ironically in- under the Obama administration.
creased Naypyitaw’s strategic value
As the EAS chair, Cambodian
for the US. Myanmar’s ability to say Prime Minister Hun Sen plays an
no to China over the Myitsone Dam important role in overseeing the
in Kachin state late last year dem- direction of discussion among the
onstrated its desire to distance itself leaders, who tend to speak off the
from China’s dominance and lessen cuff. The region’s longest-reigning
the dependency on Beijing it had leader must avoid a repeat of the
built up over the past three decades. highly embarrassing incident at
That kind of clear action and the Asean foreign ministers meetpolicy has steered the US to move ing in Phnom Penh in July. With
faster to normalise relations with several overlapping areas in the
Myanmar, which was once branded headlines, everything the attendand condemned as a pariah state by ing leaders and chair say or do at
the US and the West. The Thein Sein the EAS will impact on the sumgovernment has responded well to mit’s outcome and its future direcUS demands in the past several tion. Asean must be neutral at the
months. Washington’s invitation to EAS forum, as this will be the most
Naypyitaw to join the Cobra Gold effective way for the grouping to
war games as an observer next year eventually manage its relations
sends a clear signal of what the US with the US and China.
November 16-29, 2012
ECONOMY
By The Nation
Ranking among the poorest countries in Asia, Lao local markets have been flooded with products from its neighbouring countries like
China, Vietnam and Thailand.
Hoang D in h Nam/A F P P hoto
Onto The Stage Of
Global Trade
With its entry to the
WTO, Laos embarks on
the steep path of
reform
8•
❖❖ Bangkok
L
aos is set to become fully
integrated with the global
economy after the World
Trade Organisation (WTO)
accepted the “least-developed” country’s application for
membership. Laos’ entry to the
world trade-governing body is wel-
comed: It paves the way to transition for one of the world’s leastdeveloped countries onto the stage
of global trade.
The communist country was finally accepted as a member 15 years
after it first applied to join the WTO.
“Laos has come a long way since it
embarked on the road to membership in 1997,” said WTO director
general Pascal Lamy. “This is
never easy for any least-developed
country, and Laos’ first steps were
slow, but it is now seriously reforming its economy and its institutions, and has shown skill in its
membership negotiation.”
The Laos National Assembly
will ratify the negotiation process
in December before a final 30-day
wait, after which Laos will be an
official member of the WTO, the
Lao Ministry of Industry and
Commerce said.
Laos will then have access to the
markets of the other 157 WTO
member-countries. The WTO
entry will further encourage an
economic reform process that is
essential to the country’s future
prosperity and ability to attract
foreign trade and investment.
Membership should also help
ensure Laos abides by global rules
of trade, with the international
trade body able to hold the country’s delegates to account through
its process for settling disputes.
The entry is another important
step for Laos, which has been an
active member of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Asean Free Trade
Area (Afta), and will become a
member of the Asean Economic
Community (AEC) on its launch
in 2015. Laos was also the host of
the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting
Summit on November 5 and 6.
Integration with Asean should
be the perfect platform for the
global launch of a Lao economy
whose steady growth rate reached
8 per cent last year, propelled
partly by closer trade ties with
other countries in the region.
∞∞Meeting challenges
Vientiane deserves praise for
achieving economic reforms in
line with WTO requirements. The
communist government’s reform
process stretched beyond passing
new laws.
“In a country like Lao PDR, the
accession process was not limited
to changing some laws and regulations. We had to change our way
of doing business,” said Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. “Such
a mindset creates a difficult and
time-consuming exercise.”
Since 2000, Laos has passed
more than 90 new laws, amendments, decrees and regulations
relating to trade. In line with
WTO rules, maximum tariffs have
been set at 19.3 per cent for agricultural products and at 18.7 per
cent for industrial products. Currently, the tariffs are 18.4 per cent
for agricultural goods and 10 per
cent for industrial products—well
within WTO limits. Laos has also
made market-access commitments in 10 sectors and 79 subsectors, out of a total of 160 economic sectors.
But Laos has huge challenges
ahead. It must build the economy
and infrastructure to ensure its
citizens reap the benefits of the
new economic status.
Thailand also stands to benefit
from its neighbour’s new openness and should seize the opportunity to provide support and assistance. Greater prosperity
among Laotians should boost
trade across the border, increasing opportunities on both sides of
the Mekong River.
Partners in Asean, meanwhile,
have an obligation to assist Laos
by sharing their technical knowledge and experience, as it becomes the final member of the
bloc to join the WTO.
Membership in Afta and the
AEC has served as a training
ground, but Vientiane still faces
steep challenges in implementing
its remaining commitments and
capitalising on opportunities that
global trade will provide.
Asean has much at stake in this
transition of Laos onto the world
stage, and should do all it can to
help achieve its success. Asean
must grasp this opportunity to
help one of its members take an
important step on the path to regional economic unity with a
single future shared by all
members.
Laos In A Snapshot
L
aos’ 2012 economic outlook is
positive, with development
soaring in construction,
manufacturing, mining, and services. These sectors are expected to
drive a projected growth of 8.3 per
cent in 2012. Despite this robust
growth, the medium-term outlook
remains subject to uncertainty in
external markets.
Declining rice prices and slower
increase of fuel prices drove down
overall inflation during the past
months.
The 2011/12 budget features increased exposure to hydropower and
mining revenues and slower growth
in non-resource sector revenue.
Along with anticipated higher fiscal expenditures, the overall fiscal
deficit will deteriorate, together
with non-resource and non-mining
fiscal deficits.
The overall balance of payment is
projected to slightly improve in
2012, as a result of augmented foreign direct investment and transfers
outside the resource sectors.
The non-resource sector’s external
balance deficit is expected to improve due to investment inflows and
transfers. Meanwhile, the resource
sector’s balance of payment surplus
is expected to moderately decline
due to higher income repatriation in
the mining sector.
In 2011, the National Assembly
approved the revised General Tax
Law. In effect, this introduced a
transparent, turnover-based presumptive tax regime for businesses
with a turnover below the VAT registration threshold. This revision
eliminates minimum business tax.
Laos continued to make progress
in its process of acceding to the
World Trade Organisation, concluding bilateral negotiations with the
European Union and the United
States in late 2011 and with Ukraine,
the last bilateral negotiation, in May
2012.
(Source: World Bank, July 2012)
•9
BUSINESS
P unit PA RA NJPE /A F P PH OTO
By Krittivas Mukherjee
The Straits Times
India’s Growing I
Love Affair
With Coffee
❖❖ New Delhi
The aromatic brew is making
inroads into the world’s biggest
consumer of tea
10 •
f tea is the fuel that India runs
on, then coffee is fast becoming
the new cup that cheers.
Indians drink eight times
more tea than coffee in a year.
It is the beverage of the rich and
poor alike, drunk at home and in
fancy tea parlours as well as on the
go from roadside stalls and pushcarts.
Still, India’s 1,950 branded coffee
shops are mostly bustling with
young Indians. Last week, Starbucks
opened its first store in Mumbai to
a rock star reception, reinforcing the
country’s growing love affair with
the burnt-bitter brew.
Coffee consumption in India has
almost doubled in the decade
through 2010 to 108,000 tonnes,
but that is still a small fraction of
the amount of tea Indians drink
every year.
P unit PA RA NJPE /A F P PHOTO
So where does that leave chai—
Hindi for tea—of which India is the
second-biggest producer and largest
consumer?
Parts of southern India have long
been drinking coffee. In the rest of
the country, coffee is a relatively new
and urban-centric phenomenon.
Over the past decade, as globalisation and satellite television brought
much of the world into Indian
homes, its growing middle class experimented with everything from
fashion to food. Cafés and restaurants exploded.
Much like in China, cafés are fashionable among young people looking
for a friendly, relaxing place to hang
out.
“If you look around, it’s mostly
students or young professionals.
They want to hang out, relax without
burning a hole in their pocket,” says
Aniket Sharma, a 19-year-old commerce student sipping an Irish coffee at a swanky New Delhi café.
Way before the likes of Britain’s
Costa Coffee or Lavazza of Italy arrived here, two Indian pioneers,
Barista and Café Coffee Day, succeeded in converting Indian youth
from tea to coffee, luring them with
an atmosphere decidedly youthful:
you’ll find the music loud, and
there’s even a guitar on hand for
anybody looking to start a spontaneous singalong.
In contrast, tea suffers an image
problem, experts say—it’s a fuddyduddy drink consumed mostly at
home.
“Coffee is for special occasions.
Tea is just the plain home beverage,”
says Harish Bijoor, who heads his
own branding consultancy.
Stand-alone tea bars, which try to
put a contemporary twist to an ancient brew, exist in many Indian
cities, but there are hardly any readily identifiable tea chains.
Yet Indians are slow to take their
coffee seriously and the brew is
still seen as a luxury drink. A visit
to a café is treated as a fashionable
outing.
The Indian café market is dominated by Café Coffee Day. It has
TASTE FOR COFFEE: Staff work behind the counter of India’s first newly inaugurated
Starbucks outlet in Mumbai. The world’s biggest coffee chain has finally entered the vast
Indian market in a joint venture with the country’s giant Tata conglomerate, making an
initial US$78 million investment and aiming for 50 cafés by year-end.
more than 1,300 outlets, where its
large selection of cold, sweet milkshakes, teas and other beverages
are more popular than traditional
coffee.
Most Indian coffee chains sell
beverages at far lower prices than
their Western counterparts. A small
cappuccino typically costs US$1 at
Café Coffee Day. At Starbucks, the
cheapest drink, a plain espresso, is
US$1.22.
The pricing is also part of the reason why tea may never become a
fashionable drink in India, where
two-thirds of its 1.2 billion people
live on less than $2 a day.
“A mental block is there—priceconscious Indians don’t want to
shell out that much for a cup of tea
at a café. They think ‘we drink it at
home anyway’,” says Sneha Sahani,
a 36-year-old marketing professional, waiting to pick up a latte
from a Costa Coffee outlet in south
Delhi.
The earliest coffee houses in India
date back to the 1930s, and were run
by cooperatives that grew the beans
in southern India. Their numbers
were few and their patrons selective.
A handful of them have survived
the onslaught of modernity, where
bearers in starched white uniforms
with stiff, pointed turbans still serve
beverages in chipped, white crockery
covered with tea cosies.
Perhaps the most famous of them
exists in a decrepit university district
in the city of Kolkata, where generations of poets, filmmakers, artists,
politicians and revolutionaries
fought their intellectual battles over
endless cups of coffee in its wornout, smoke-filled ambience.
When rising costs threatened its
future, leading city intellectuals
petitioned the government to save
the place once frequented by such
famous Indians as Nobel Prizewinning poet Rabindranath Tagore,
freedom hero Subhas Chandra Bose
and Oscar-winner Satyajit Ray.
“Today’s cafés are nothing like
what we know as a coffee house,”
says Shankar Chatterjee, a 63-yearold loyal patron of the Kolkata Coffee House.
Back at a Café Coffee Day outlet
in Delhi, a group of young men and
women lounge leisurely, sipping coffee and smoking flavoured hookah.
“Somehow it’s more fun to get
together in a café. The coffee tastes
better and the atmosphere is not
intimidating,” says Anamika Gupta, 18, as her friends nod in agreement.
• 11
SPECIAL REPORT
By Amalie Conchelle H. Obusan
The Nation
Heavy industrialisation
and the rise in
population have driven
Asian cities like Manila
to rethink energy
policies and invest in
cleaner energy.
Poised For An Energy
Revolution
Southeast Asia leads in adopting cuttingedge renewable energy technologies
❖❖ Manila
Noel Ce l is/AF P Photo
T
he world’s energy system
has bestowed great benefits on society, but it
has also come with an
expensive price tag: Climate change due to human activities
that led to the build-up of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere.
The evidence of climate change is
solid and humanity faces an increasing peril if we don’t move decisively
in the coming years from an economy based on fossil fuels towards one
that is based on cutting-edge renewable energy (RE) technologies.
The impressive economic growth
of Southeast Asia despite global financial turbulence is unfortunately
tied to increasing regional greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution due to fossil fuel burning.
Yet in recent years, Southeast
Asia, particularly the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean),
has begun working more closely to
foster RE development in the region.
The main drivers for this apparent
shift are the continuously rising
costs of fossil fuel imports, environ12 •
mental and health impacts of fossil
fuel use and the devastating impacts
of climate change.
Considerable effort has been put
by countries in the region into setting RE targets with supportive
policy frameworks that attract private sector investment. Six of the 10
Asean countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia) have adopted
medium and long-term targets for
renewable energy, with some countries embracing carbon reduction
targets. While targets are more ambitious in some countries than in
others, they serve as important catalysts for increasing the share of renewable energy in the region.
∞∞Regional trend
Electricity from renewable sources
in the Asean region, particularly in
Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore,
varies by technology as well as the
installed capacity. Solar and wind
power are currently experiencing a
boom in Asean. Solar PV applications
are now present in nine countries.
The same goes for wind. In some
countries however, such as the Phil-
ippines and Vietnam, the contribution of wind to installed capacity is
more than that of solar PV.
Price support systems such as the
feed-in tariff (FIT) have also been
introduced. FITs are price-driven
policies that are designed to support
renewable electricity, wherein electricity generated from renewable
energy sources is paid a premium
price for delivery to the grid.
As early as 2007, the premium
model of FITs, or generally called
“adder”, was introduced in Thailand.
Malaysia followed suit in mid-2011
when it presented its own version to
catalyse RE generation.
While Indonesia has FIT for microhydro since 2010, it also only released its FIT rates for geothermal
in July and is further setting its
sights on releasing FITs for solar PV
and wind in 2013. The Philippines,
meanwhile, finally announced feedin tariffs in July 2012.
∞∞RE barriers
However, there are still barriers to
renewable energy development. Because the deployment of modern renewable energy technologies is quite
recent in most Asean countries, RE
disinterest or mistrust in
renewables.
∞∞Need for policies
For Asean countries to transition
towards increased market integration of RE, policymakers need to
reduce barriers and put focus on
policy design and implementation.
Distortionary subsidies which unfairly favour fossil fuels must be removed so that renewable energy
technologies can compete on a balanced playing field.
rate of 13-per cent for new renewable capacity compared to the global
average annual growth of 60 per
cent in 2004-2007. This slowdown
was mainly due to the financial crisis
that hit the power sector from the
second half of 2008 onwards.
However, the trend in Southeast
Asia since 2004 is impressive with
investment in renewable power generation assets amounting to US$1.2
billion in 2008. In fact, the World
Bank’s opinion is that the activities
in some of the countries to foster
Ted Aljib/AFP Ph oto
development initiatives have focused
primarily on the reduction or removal of economic barriers.
However, non-economic barriers—
such as administrative, market, technical, financing and socio-cultural
barriers—play an equally important
role in shaping the cost of renewable
energy projects but are often more
difficult to address. This is because
non-economic barriers are less obvious and often times linked to risks
perceived by RE project investors and
not by governments.
In Indonesia, one of the most detrimental market barriers perceived
by industry stakeholders is the lack
of transparency regarding subsidies
for, and the full costs of electricity
from, fossil fuels.
Since electricity and fossil fuel use
is heavily subsidised in Indonesia, it
does not allow for a level playing
field for RE, making it appear to be
an expensive choice in the eyes of the
public. This unfair market distortion
has led to a general negative perception of renewable energy and presents a strong obstacle for further
development of renewable energy
technologies.
And then there are socio-cultural
barriers that arise from cultural
perceptions of a certain population.
There is a general lack of environmental consciousness across Asean
countries. This is not surprising
because a significant percentage of
Asean populations live below national poverty lines. Information
regarding the available and most
appropriate RE technologies and the
resultant benefits for income generation and improved quality of life
are sorely lacking.
There are also land tenure issues
that are linked to project developments in protected forest areas or
land tenured to ethnic minorities.
While considered to be less significant by industry stakeholders,
strong public support and resulting
demand for renewables nevertheless
has the ability to trigger political
decisions and act as a strong driver
for RE development. The absence of
these drivers could result in apathy,
Residents paddle their wooden boats next to flooded homes in Manila after a typhoon in
September that submerged parts of the capital in floodwater.
It is also important to take into
consideration the external benefits
and true costs of all energy technologies, so that the so-called
“cheapness” of coal will be exposed
and the supposed “expensiveness” of
RE debunked. To advance electrification and socio-economic objectives, the off-grid applications of
renewable energy must be made part
of national governments’ priority
programmes. Lastly, RE policies
must complement climate change
policies.
Despite these overwhelming set of
obstacles, investment in new renewable energy capacity in the region is
more encouraging than annual
global growth rates. The year 2008
saw a sluggish annual global growth
low-carbon technologies in support
of their respective renewable energy
and energy efficiency policy frameworks are expected to catalyse almost $10 billion in co-financing
from national governments, multilateral development banks, carbon
finance and the private sector.
It might be imperceptible to some,
but big things are definitely happening in Asean’s renewable energy
development. But don’t take my
word for it, look around and see
because you won’t hear the Energy
Revolution being announced on radio. The bright future for renewable
energy is already silently underway.
The writer is a regional climate
and energy campaigner.
• 13
SPECIAL REPORT
By Anna Abad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Jay D irecto/A F P Photo
Hotbed For
Dirty Energy
❖❖ Manila
T
he Philippines in 2011
topped the list of most
disaster-prone countries
in the world. The distinction is confirmed by the
series of weather-related calamities
that was endured by the country last
year, and which claimed over 3,000
lives, affected 15.3 million Filipinos,
and resulted in economic losses of
over 26 billion pesos (US$631 million). It is a narrative that we have
all become familiar with—that the
Philippines is one of the countries
most vulnerable yet least prepared
to deal with the anticipated and escalating impacts of climate change.
In the absence of bold and dramatic action to reverse global warming, climate scientists warn that the
pattern of extreme weather that we
have been experiencing in recent
times is likely to become the new
“normal”.
While the greatest share of the
responsibility to avert this crisis falls
on the industrialised countries, it
should not be construed as an excuse
or a license for developing countries
to continue mimicking the destructive path that is pushing the climate
to a tipping point from which the
world may never recover.
The burgeoning power crisis in the
Philippines is the latest terrain where
we see this dynamics at play. Despite
the abundance of sources of clean
and renewable energy (RE) in the
country, President Benigno Aquino
III and the Department of Energy
(DOE) have succumbed to converting
the Philippines into a hotbed for dirty
energy by anchoring its energy future
on polluting and climate-destroying
coal power plants.
The decisions now being made by
the government—particularly the
facilitated approval of a string of
14 •
Greenpeace volunteers call on the Philippine government to lead the road to an Energy
Revolution with a roadmap to increase the country’s use of RE to 50 per cent of main power
generation by 2020.
coal-fired power projects in Bataan,
Batangas, Zambales, Palawan, Negros, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Davao del
Sur, Misamis Oriental, Sarangani
and Zamboanga—present a major
setback in the Philippines’ quest to
attain energy independence by harnessing sustainable and renewable
energy sources.
Instead of constructing coal-fired
power stations that take three to
four years to complete, and that
continue to perpetuate our dependence on finite and price-volatile
fossil fuels, the country will be better
off making the decisive transition to
RE systems now. Compared to coalfired plants, such systems take less
time to build, and their fuel supply
is virtually free and limitless. They
are, moreover, exempt from the
quirks and instability of a fluctuating market.
∞∞Best models
One model we should examine is
found in Germany, where extensive
hybrid systems called “RenewableEnergy Combined Cycle Power Stations” are already up and running.
This system relies on an integrated
network of wind, solar, biomass and
hydropower installations spread
across the country. With this system,
one can quickly adapt to variations
in supply in any one resource by
drawing on others.
In the Philippine National Renewable Energy Plan, the long-term goal
includes a 100-per-cent increase in
RE-based capacity by 2030.
Given this glowing resource prognosis for RE, government planners
will do well to replicate positive experiences elsewhere, instead of insisting on an already discredited
model.
In Japan, for example, following
the government’s announcement of
the approved feed-in tariffs, electronics conglomerate Toshiba will
be bringing in an investment worth
$379.6 million to build large-scale
solar plants. More clean-energy investment is expected to bring in
billions of dollars into that country.
The DOE has awarded 313 renewable energy service contracts but to
this day, not one has been developed. The fate of these projects lies
in the hands of the DOE, which has
yet to establish the eligibility criteria
for renewable energy developers to
proceed. More than three years after
its passage, the Renewable Energy
Law remains a paper promise.
In this era of climate change, it is
but appropriate for the people to
expect their leaders to make decisions to move our societies toward
the right direction. Investing in coal
takes us back to the 19th century.
Embracing renewable energy now
advances us to the future. Aside
from guaranteeing our energy security and independence, the latter
also fortifies the demands by impacted countries and communities
for climate justice.
The writer a climate and energy
campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Building Asia together
Holcim is building the very foundations of modern life. As a leading supplier of building
materials in Asia we are strongly committed to the region.
Global expertise and know-how, local market excellence and can-do attitude provide the
strongest foundation for future growth. As with the Mass Rapid Transit network that forms
the backbone of Singapore‘s public transport system.
That‘s what it takes to build with confidence in the most dynamic region in the world. We do
this with respect for both the environment and the local communities where we operate.
www.holcim.com
Strength. Performance. Passion.
SPECIAL REPORT
By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti
Inter-Press Service
A group representing Indonesia’s retired military commanders and organisations, including the country’s largest Muslim body Nahdlatul
Ulama, delivers a statement at the NU headquarters in Jakarta in August. The group rejected any apology to the victims of bloody
anti-communist purge that killed between 500,000 and 2 million suspected communists.
Blood-Soaked
Chapter Still Open
Romeo G acad/A F P Photo
Indonesia remains reluctant
to reopen old wounds of its
anti-communist purge
16 •
❖❖ Jakarta
I
f the caste system existed in
Indonesia, the 10 elderly people
who live in Jakarta’s Kramat
Street would surely be untouchables. For decades they
and their families have been banned
from jobs and access to education
and, until 2005, their identity cards
marked them as former political
prisoners. They are survivors of the
1965-66 military crackdown on the
now outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), during which time
between 500,000 and 3 million
people were massacred and thousands tortured and imprisoned
without trial.
Ostracised since General Suharto
ousted independence leader Sukarno in 1965 and began a 32-year
dictatorship marked by anti-communist zeal, the former prisoners
interviewed by IPS at the old twostorey villa in downtown Jakarta
offered a string of traumatic tales
that give but a glimpse into a bloodsoaked chapter of Indonesian history that many have chosen to forget.
Pak Rosidi, an 86-year-old former
agricultural engineer who graduated
from the University of New England
in Australia, recalled in perfect English the horrors he suffered until
1980 in the notorious detention
camp of Baru Island, where a recent
investigation uncovered conditions
that had amounted to slavery.
“I was dismissed from my job at
the Department of Agriculture in
1970 and arrested because I was
Sukarnist, not a communist,” he
said.
“I am speechless about my years
in prison. I was beaten, and continuously electrocuted for three
hours at a time during those years,”
the soft-spoken Rosidi recounted.
“I had three children and I was
married before I went to jail, but my
wife rejected me when I returned,’’
he added.
Strained family ties are a common
theme in the stories of former prisoners, at a time when fear pushed
children to turn against their parents in a bid to escape a life of discrimination.
Like many others, Rosidi faced
difficulties making a living after jail
because his identity card was
marked “Ex Tapol” (former prisoner). That barred people like him
from decent jobs, and banned them
from careers in law, politics and the
military. Their children were denied
access to university education.
Ibu Snanto, now 85 and a housemate of Pak Rosidi, was in jail from
1966 to 1975 because her husband
was a communist party member.
“My husband was the communist
and I was only a housewife, but they
arrested me and I was often electrocuted and sexually abused. I suffer
from heart problems and trauma
because of those years,’’ she told IPS.
∞∞No closure
The massacres started against the
backdrop of the Cold War on Oct 1,
1965, when a group inside the armed
forces calling itself the “Thirtieth of
September Movement” kidnapped
and killed six senior army generals,
allegedly to prevent a coup against
Sukarno, who was sympathetic to
the PKI.
How many were killed and tortured, and the number who were
imprisoned or are still alive, is not
clear.
“We have spent two years of inquiry to find the numbers of people
killed, but we cannot conduct validation. We haven’t had help from military officials,” Nur Kholis, a senior
executive of the official Indonesian
National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM), told IPS.
In the first official report of its
kind—released last July and based
on interviews with 349 former prisoners—Komnas HAM acknowledged that ‘’gross human rights violations” had taken place during the
purge, including “murder, slavery,
torture, sexual abuse, disappearances, cleansing, forced displacement and persecution.”
The report recommends that the
government of Indonesia, the
world’s most-populous Muslim nation, launch a national reconciliation process, and that the attorney
general prosecute those found to be
responsible for the crimes.
Kholis recounted to IPS the story
of a witness in South Sumatra island
who saw army soldiers push 100
half-starved prisoners into the sea.
He also recounted the tale of a
woman survivor in the city of Medan
in North Sumatra island who was
forced to lie down naked while soldiers pushed bunches of lit matches
into her vagina.
Details of the anti-communist
massacres are not found in Indonesian schoolbooks, and communism
remains banned to this day. As recently as 2008, police summoned a
group of artists in Bali to court for
using symbols of the communist
party during an exhibition.
Although Indonesia started its
path to democracy in 1998 after
Suharto was ousted as president, the
current president, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, also a retired army general, has also been reluctant to reopen old wounds.
∞∞Stigma remains
Meanwhile, the 10 former prisoners living on Kramat Street want
nothing more than to have their
names cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I want the stigma to be taken
off us and a recognition that the
government says that we are good
people,” 87-year old Ibu Pujiati,
who spent 14 years in jail after
1965 for being a labour activist,
told IPS.
Australian university professor
Rober t Cribb, who has written
extensively about Indonesia’s recent history, believes that the
government’s refusal to acknowledge the suffering of victims has
had a “profound effect” on the
former prisoners.
“They have not only suffered discrimination, but they have been
portrayed as unreliable citizens.
Things that they believed in have
been portrayed as evil,” Cribb told
IPS.
The biggest Muslim organisation in Indonesia, Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU), whose members took
part in the persecution and killing
of suspected communists alongside the military, believes that the
former prisoners are best forgotten.
“They should not look for compensation. The conflict should be
forgotten,” As’ad Said Ali, a senior
NU official, told IPS.
H e j u s t i fi e d t h e k i l l i n g s a n d
persecution as “human nature”,
saying the massacres were driven
by “revenge” for previous deadly
conflicts between the PKI and NU.
“We don’t like revenge because
everything depends on God, but
we want official rehabilitation for
all of us,” said former prisoner Ibu
Snanto, eliciting nods from fellow
victims at the Kramat Street
home.
The poetry of former prisoner
Putu Oka Sukanta succinctly paints
those years as a time “when human
life was as cheap as a gutter rat’s”.
Seventy-three-year-old Sukanta
describes leftists as being “hunted
down by hungry dogs”. Although
never tried, he was jailed for 10
years for belonging to the cultural
organisation Lekra, which was affiliated to the communist party.
• 17
POLITICS
By Murray Hunter
The Jakarta Post
Greg Wood/A F P Photo
one-way to say the least.
Not surprisingly, the document
still goes out to reaffirm Australia’s
loyalty to the United States.
Historically the US is seen as a
saviour from invasion by the
Japanese during World War II and
consequently there has been a total
commitment from successive
Australian governments through the
Cold War until the present time for
US foreign policy.
This has brought many foreign
policy mistakes and probably cost
Australia in Southeast Asia any
individual identity.
In contrast, China is now so
impor tant to Aus tralian trade,
investment, and tourism, yet Australia
is unconsciously niggling China with
its staunch loyalty to the US.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is greeted by an honour guard upon her
arrival at Wattay airport in Laos to attend the 9th Asia-Europe Summit in
Vientiane on November 4.
‘Australia in the Asian Century’
or lost in Asia?
A
❖❖ Kuala Lumpur
ustralian Prime
Minister Julia Gillard
released recently a long
awaited white paper,
“Australia in the Asian
Century”.
The white paper basically affirms
that Australia’s future lies with Asia
and consequently immense
economic opportunities exist for
Australia to grab.
The paper hinges the nation’s
strategy of becoming a competitive
force within the region through
skills development, innovation,
infrastructure, the tax system,
regulatory reform, and sustainability.
However before a nation can
become a competitive force, it must
18 •
have an accepted place in
the region.
Hoang D inh Nam/AFP Ph oto
Australia’s Latest
White Paper
China saved Australia from a deep
recession with demand for minerals
whereas the US brought the Australian
government anguish over the
involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan,
China would prefer to deal with an
Australia with a mature and
independent foreign
policy rather than an
enthusiastic supporter of
US foreign policy.
China as an ally
presents less of a
dilemma than the US, as
China has historically
always allowed some
deviation from the official
Chinese foreign policy.
For example China
does allow Australia and
A copy of the
other nations to have a
Australian governments s e p a r a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p
White Paper on
with Taiwan, and
“Australia in the Asian
different approaches to
Century” is displayed
regional issues without
in Sydney on Oct 28,
2012.
making these differences
major issues.
On this key strategy,
the white paper does
little more than make a
“rally call” to Australians
to come out and make it
happen.
The paper also reeks of
Austro-centrism where
most of the points made
in the document are
written with the
expectation that
Australia will win out of closer ties
with Asia without necessarily giving
much back in exchange—such as
Australia having closer ties with
Asian universities in order to attract
students and skilled workers. Rather
Maybe Australia can
learn from the Indonesian
approach of dynamic
equilibrium, a doctrine where
Washington and Beijing would
agree to co-exist rather than
compete for supremacy in the Asian
region.
After decades of successive foreign
Romeo Gacad/A F P Photo
and trade policy, Australia still does
not have any embedded position
within the region.
The influence of Australian
business and financial institutions
in the region is minor, nowhere near
the critical mass needed to become
a competitive force in the region.
The only exception is in the mining
sector, which to all intents and
purposes has made the Australian
economy very dependent upon
demand in Asia, particularly China.
Back in the 1990s then prime
minister Paul Keating stated that
Australia is part of Asia and made a
concerted effort to embed Australia
within the region.
This had some positive effect with
Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, and
Timor Leste, but had setbacks over the
recalcitrant remarks about Malaysia’s
former premier Mahathir Mohamad
which soured relations with that
country for a number of years.
However perceptively, all these
gains were lost when John Howard
came to power in 1996 reaffirming
the Canberra-Washington link,
earning the label for Australia as the
US’ deputy sheriff in the Asia.
The Australian relationship with
the region is one where Australia
needs the region more than the
region needs Australia.
The Australian market is small
compared to other markets and of
little interest to regional exporters
who prefer to put their efforts into
the larger markets of China, Japan,
EU, and the US.
Though Australia has some deeply
historical links with many parts of
the region due to some heroic actions
of troops during World War II,
tragically these opportunities to
further develop relationships were
not capitalised upon, due to
Australian mesmerisation with
Washington.
White papers aside, it will be action
and not words that are important and
China and the region will be
surprised to see any real change,
although the intention and
realisation of the need is present
within the foreign policy Australian
US President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah stand for a group photo session at the East Asia
Summit in Nusa Dua on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali last year.
agenda.
However with Australia, old
habits die hard. Australia also has a
track record of falling over itself in
Asia.
It will take much more than a
massive investment in skills and
education to be able to engage the
Asian region, let alone be
“competitive”.
One of the paramount barriers
Australia has to overcome is the
deep set belief that its own cultural
values are not necessarily universally accepted across the region.
It’s not about learning Asian
languages but about understanding
different points of view, approaches,
and “mindsets”. Austro-centrism
must take a back seat in relationships
around the region for Australia to be
seriously considered a member of
the region.
The white paper is still haunted by
Australia’s past. Maybe it’s time for
Australia to release the US security
blanket a little and become a mature
and independent nation within the
Asian region.
However one fears with the
promise of a rise in real incomes
from the “Asian Century” initiative,
that the whole thing is just a pander
to the domestic electorate. As the
report itself aspires, Asia is seen only
as a means for Australian incomes
to become one of the top 10 percapita ones in the world.
The white paper has turned it into
a promissory note for a better future
within Australia based upon the
misconception that internal capacity
building will make Australia more
competitive in Asia, being too
“fuzzy” about developing a real
strategy to engage the region.
Building up capacities is only
building capability.
They are not strategies within
themselves.
Presence and accommodation of
Asia to what Australia really has to
offer is the vital key.
This implies showing the region
that an independent Australia is
truly willing to put its lot in with
Asia and not with the US.
Asian suspicion may arise to the
issue Gillard herself talked about
Australia being a winner in Asia, and
this implies there must be losers.
It’s highly doubtful if anybody in
the region is looking at Australia
with any more interest today.
The writer is an associate professor
at University Malaysia Perlis, and the
author of some books on agriculture,
economics, and entrepreneurship.
• 19
POLITICS
By Kor Kian Beng and Grace Ng
The Straits Times
China’s
New Dawn
PHOTO S BY AF P
Hope springs eternal but will the country’s new
leaders bring about real change?
20 •
❖❖ BEIJING
The Politics Of Xi
Jinping
W
hen a young and
lanky Xi Jinping
was sent to Fujian province to
become the party
boss of Ningde town in 1988, his arrival raised the local people’s expectations.
Many hoped that the princeling
from the north, whose father was a
Communist Party elder and a former
vice-premier, would bring big
changes—and riches—to the town by
using his connections to secure projects from the central government.
But Xi declined and gifted them
with an old saying about patience
and perseverance instead. Di shui
chuan shi, or water dripping steadily will eventually wear a hole in the
rock.
Now, over 20 years later, with Xi
set to assume the highest office in
China, expectations have risen again.
Observers hope that he would
emulate his late father Xi Zhongxun,
who is held in deep respect for his
open-mindedness, honesty and
courage.
His father was a prime mover behind China’s first Special Economic
Zone in Shenzhen, which spearheaded the country’s market reforms
in 1980.
Xi senior also spoke out bravely
against the sacking of reformist
Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang
in 1987 by conservative party elders
opposed to his market reforms.
The late Xi also called for a softer
approach towards Tibet and reconciliation with the Dalai Lama, the
region’s exiled spiritual leader.
Those who wish the son will take
after the father want to see big
changes under Xi, 59, such as more
intra-par ty democracy, a reappraisal of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Incident and a more moderate
policy towards restive Tibet and
Xinjiang.
Of late, there have been signs Xi
could be keen to pursue a reform
agenda.
However, some observers believe
Xi will prefer a slow and steady approach after he succeeds President
Hu Jintao. So do not expect any big
bangs, they say.
As University of Nottingham analyst Steve Tsang puts it: “Bloodline
and heritage don’t count for much.”
Observers also point to Xi’s 33year track record in politics which,
they say, has been much more conservative than his father’s. Nothing
stands out by way of political reform.
Such cautiousness comes from
having witnessed first-hand the
brutality of power struggles. His
father was among the first communists to be purged by Mao Zedong in
1962.
The purge upended the Xi family’s
privileged lifestyle in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound. Xi senior
was banished to work in a factory
and later detained and tortured
when Mao launched the Cultural
Revolution in 1966.
His son, only 13, was sent to a poor
village in northern China where, for
the next seven years, he worked
among peasants, survived on cornchaff bread and slept on a flea-infested bed.
It took repeated attempts before
he managed to join the Communist
Party and enrol at the prestigious
Tsinghua University to study chemical engineering. After he graduated
in 1979, his family—by then politically rehabilitated—got him a plum
job as secretary to then Defence
Minister Geng Biao.
Still, it was not all smooth sailing
for the young Xi, who was dealt several early setbacks that perhaps
helped to cement his cautious and
conservative nature.
His first marriage failed in the
early 1980s when his wife Ke Lingling, youngest daughter of former
ambassador to Britain Ke Hua, left
him.
During his three years from 1982
in Zhengding, in Hebei province, Xi
never became its party boss because
provincial chief Gao Yang, peeved
that princelings were being parachuted into leadership posts, reportedly blocked his promotion.
Says analyst Chen Gang of Singapore’s East Asian Institute: “Those
setbacks made him more cautious
and also taught him the importance
of compromise and of not provoking
people, important traits that have
helped him rise to the top.”
Making compromises will limit
the things Xi can do even if he really wants to do them, say analysts.
“There are powerful forces in favour of, if not maintaining, the status quo, then making only minor
• 21
POLITICS
readjustments,” says Professor
June Teufel Dreyer from University of Miami.
Any tweaks, if they come, are
likely to be in three areas—intraparty democracy, the fight
against corruption and reducing
the state’s role in the economy.
And much of these will be
made out of necessity rather than
by the force of Xi’s personality,
experts say.
With the days of strongman
rule long gone in China, new
leaders like Xi will need to justify their power, which means
intra-democratic measures like
voting may be beefed up, says Dr
Chen.
Corruption is entrenched in
the party and Xi, who has a clean
reputation, must be seen to be
fighting the “cancer” rigorously.
Similarly, the dominance of
the state has long stifled private
enterprise in China. Many will
expect Xi to back a supporting
role for the government in
business.
The more than two decades he
spent running coastal provinces
Fujian and Zhejiang, and also
Shanghai are believed to have
helped make Xi more inclined
towards the private sector.
Overall, it is a good bet Xi will
at least be more liberal than Hu
Jintao, says University of Chicago analyst Yang Dali. Another
factor, he adds, is Xi’s exposure
to a wider social circle, thanks to
his second wife Peng Liyuan, 50,
a famous singer whom he met in
1986. The couple has a daughter
Xi Mingze, 20, who is studying
at Harvard University.
But Xi will get things done
without causing too big a ripple,
like water dripping on a rock.
“As a new leader, it’s easy to
make rousing speeches and attempt big things while people’s
spirits are high,” he was quoted
as saying years after leaving
Ningde.
“But once you’ve raised expectations, it means a huge disappointment for them. I cannot do
such a thing.”
22 •
The Economics Of
Li Keqiang
When a report in February
warned that China will face a
crisis unless it reins in powerful
state monopolies, it attracted
global attention not just because
of the politically sensitive topic,
but also because Li Keqiang supported it.
Until then, the man tipped to
be China’s next premier had given
few indications whether he would
be more reform-minded than current Premier Wen Jiabao.
When he met World Bank
president Robert Zoellick, who
was in Beijing to present the
468-page report co-written with
a Chinese state think-tank, it
seemed that he was open to
shaking things up.
Li was “instrumental in facilitating the report on reforms of
state-owned enterprises”, noted
Royal Bank of Scotland’s China
economist Louis Kuijs. And
“many elements of the reform
agenda discussed by the World
Bank appeared to have his
agreement and support”, added
the former World Bank economist in Beijing.
But does Li have the dynamism and political will to push
through tough reforms?
As economist Yolanda Fernandez Lommen of the Asian
Development Bank’s China resident mission warns: “Rebalancing is unlikely to occur in the
absence of bolder policy adjustments.”
Wen pledged to do those
things. He did not get very far.
Li, 57, will have to be even more
aggressive to make things work
in the next decade.
Many analysts are not optimistic.
“His track record has been
quite lacklustre. It’s unclear
whether it is because he does not
have power [to push through
reforms] or he is not competent
enough, or a combination of
both,” says Chinese University of
Hong Kong analyst Willy Lam.
When he was in charge of
central Henan province, he was
criticised for covering up a scandal in which government-run
blood banks caused an outbreak
of Aids among blood-sellers. The
infections mostly took place
before he arrived, but he was
said to be slow to react.
When he moved to northeastern Liaoning in 2004 to revitalise its loss-making stateNovember 16-29, 2012
owned enterprises, it sparked a spate
of labour protests.
Some critics say Li “lacks former
premier Zhu Rongji’s political courage and Wen Jiabao’s charisma”,
according to China politics expert Li
Cheng.
So his policies thus far have been
tepid. They have been more defined
by his strong support of mentor and
President Hu Jintao’s “harmonious
society” principles to improve social
equity, rather than by radical reforms to boost private enterprises.
All these had led some to see VicePremier Wang Qishan, 64, as a
preferred candidate to succeed Wen
instead.
The rumour arose after former
Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan
Yew, a renowned China watcher, was
quoted in a 2009 United States diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks
as saying Wang, a protege of Zhu,
was preferred.
But Wang’s chances of becoming
executive vice-premier, Li’s No. 2, in
the new team appear to be fading,
say some China analysts.
There are concerns that Wang’s
vast experience and forceful personality may overshadow the more
subdued Li. The latter is said to have
a more academic style—poring over
copious reports—to meeting China’s
challenges.
Still, there is cause for optimism
based on his history. Most officials
who have risen to the top did so by
toeing the line and making conservative moves, notes Tsinghua University professor Patrick Chovanec. “It
could well be that once Li is in
charge, he may not feel the constraints he had in the past,” he says.
The son of a minor party official
in eastern Anhui had shown an inclination for radical ideas when he
read law.
After working as a manual labourer in the countryside during the
Cultural Revolution, he enrolled in
the prestigious Peking University in
1977. That was a time of intellectual
and political ferment.
Li was known to have mingled
with liberals at a student-run intelNovember 16-29, 2012
(L-R): Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin and Wen Jiabao.
lectual “salon”, which later participated in the 1989 Tiananmen protests. Among the liberals was
prominent dissident Chen Ziming,
who later described Li as “very ambitious and knowledgeable”.
He also took an interest in Western or international standards. In
his college days, he translated a law
book by a famous British judge, Lord
Denning. In recent years, he has
made several speeches in fluent
English—a rare trait among top
Chinese leaders.
His proficiency is partly helped by
his wife Cheng Hong, a professor of
English in a top Beijing university.
Two years younger than her husband,
she is an authority in China on
American nature writing. The couple
has a daughter, who graduated from
Peking University and is reportedly
studying medicine in the US.
Little is known about Li’s extended family, although his brother Li
Keming is the top official at China’s
state-owned tobacco monopoly, according to elite politics expert Li
Cheng.
Li Keqiang can be a smooth political operator, having built a network which may help garner support
for tough policies. For a start, he is
likely to target inflated housing
prices, which have been par tly
blamed on speculative activity by
some officials and state-linked enterprises.
“One of his urgent tasks is to resolve the housing bubble and allow
o r d i n a r y f o l k t o a ff o r d t o b u y
homes,” says Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences professor Yi Xianrong.
Li has already made state-subsidised housing for the masses a pet
project. This interest dates back to
his days as Liaoning provincial chief,
a 2008 essay on the official People’s
Daily website claims.
Pained by the squalid conditions
of a local shanty town, he exclaimed:
“Even if we have to smelt pots to sell
iron (a Chinese idiom meaning to
sell everything one has to raise cash),
we must help the people move out of
these shanty towns!”
That sparked a drive to move 1.4
million shanty inhabitants into new
homes—an unprecedented scale in
China’s history, the essay grandly
adds.
For Li to accomplish more historical feats, he will have to draw
upon the connections he built while
working closely with 86 of the more
than 350 members in the Central
Committee of the Communist Party.
More importantly, he is a known
close ally of Hu. “If Mr Hu stays on
as head of the Central Military Commission, he should be able to provide
some backing for Mr Li, especially if
there is a power struggle behind the
scenes between him and Mr Wang,”
said Lam.
• 23
POLITICS
By Lee Joo-hee
The Korea Herald
Styling The Future
President
Body language, tone, audience connection and clothes matter when
you’re trying to win voters’ hearts
❖❖ Seoul
I
t is said a person’s style reflects his or her character. In
that case, all three of Korea’s
major presidential candidates must be modest, neutral and even a little dull.
As if by unanimous agreement, all
three—Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party, Moon Jae-in of the
Democratic United Party, and independent Ahn Cheol-soo—appear to
prefer achromatic tones as opposed
to statement pieces when dressing
themselves.
To advisers’ recommendation that
they consider sprucing up their style,
their univocal response is said to be,
“I’ll just go as naturally as possible.”
The three also have something in
common in the way they speak, with
their monotonous elocution style, a
reserved sense of humour and forced
or minimal gestures.
Image experts point out that style
is more than just fashion. It is something that can make or break a can24 •
didate by defining his or her image.
Style played a major role in the
first nationally-televised US presidential debate between then-senator
John F. Kennedy and then-vice
president Richard Nixon in 1960.
Kennedy’s dark blue suit against
Nixon’s tepid gray projected a young
and strapping image, and put him
into the lead in the race. Kennedy
held on to become the United States’
35th president.
According to Albert Mehrabian,
professor emeritus of psychology,
UCLA, 55 per cent of a person’s message is received and processed based
on the speaker’s body language, and
38 per cent on tone of voice. Only 7
per cent is based on content.
“We voters have no way of knowing the candidates’ inner thoughts.
Because of that, we can only rely on
the politician’s accomplishments,
their pasts, looks, expressions,
speech patterns and gestures when
making our judgment,” said Jung
Yun-ah, president of image consulting firm Imagetech Institute.
Because of Korea’s traditionally
conservative nature stemming from
Confucianism, it is still considered
virtuous to appear modest and avoid
aggression as much as possible, she
explained. Considering this election’s key phrase is “self-reflection
on politics”, the mood is even more
sombre.
Having a sophisticated sense of
humour can also help, said Choi Jin,
head of the Institute of Presidential
Leadership.
“The two axes of the 21st century’s
emotional politics are ‘tears’ and
‘humour’. While Korea has seen a lot
of tear-jerking politics, it is difficult
to find witty politics,” he said.
“While Park, Moon and Ahn are
likable with their looks, it is hard to
find a tasteful or elegant sense of
humour in them.” He suggested “fun
leadership” as an alternative to
negative offensives and in dealing
with politically charged issues to
better appeal to voters.
Jung, on the other hand, suggested
the candidates step outside the box.
∞∞Park Geun-hye
Park, 60, favours neutral-colored
trouser suits like dark olive and blue,
usually with stiff collars and black
or grey heels. On special occasions,
she wears brighter red, the emblematic colour of the Saenuri Party. Her
most signature look is her up-do,
reminiscent of the 1960s and her
mother and former first lady Yook
Young-soo. As an accessory, she
rarely wears anything bold, but
sticks to a wristwatch, a brooch, or
a thin gold necklace.
Until last year when she headed
the Saenuri Party’s emergency committee, Park was rarely seen wearing
trousers but instead a long and flowy
skirt. She wore trousers during a
crisis period of her leadership to
maximise her epicene image. But
since announcing her presidential
bid in July, she has only worn a skirt
a couple of times, mostly on her
tributary visits to the gravesites of
her mother or former presidents.
Her willingness to wear jeans to approach the younger voters even
made headlines.
She is said to be frugal and recycles
her wardrobe that she relies on with
the help of a long-time local tailor.
Because Park has been under the
spotlight since she was a teenager as
the daughter of former President
Park Chung-hee, she tends to be
cautious and restrained in her body
language.
Rather than speaking in lengthy
eloquent words, Park tends to give
short remarks and answers. Experts
say while such a pattern may depict
her as trustworthy, it could expose her
vulnerability in longer debates. Her
habit of using “um” and “uh” in sentences also depreciates her message.
She could go as far as to show the
scar on her chin, which she hides
under make-up, to highlight her
political history, Jung suggested.
Park was cut with a knife by an attacker on the campaign trail in
2006.
Experts also suggest Park add
emotional touches to her speeches
to better engage the audience.
Park’s refined manner, meanwhile, is deemed to show her principled nature.
∞∞Moon Jae-in
Moon, 59, likes to emphasise his
enthusiasm by rolling up his sleeves
on the campaign trail. The former
presidential chief of staff refuses to
dye his signature salt-and-pepper
hair despite his aides’ recommendation as a way of looking younger.
The most drastic change he made
in his style recently was to change
his glasses from a square frame to a
circular one for a milder image.
Moon likes to wear olive greencoloured neckties on special occasions
to represent his camp’s symbol, ivy.
Because of his hair colour, Moon
tends to stay away from wearing gray
suits, instead prefering dark ones. He
also started wearing wider neckties
to enhance his leadership image. His
suits are domestic brands like Cambridge Members or Manstar.
Sometimes, he wears jeans to appear more liberal.
In speeches, Moon is usually serious but lacks dramatic effect, experts say. Despite his capacity to
memorise lines, Moon relies on
reading off prepared speech notes.
Due to extensive dental implants he
had done during his days at Cheong
Wa Dae, his pronunciation sounds a
little muffled.
Moon is more skilled at a defensive speaking style, rather than an
offensive one like his former boss,
the late president Roh Moo-hyun.
While he tries to gesture more during his speeches, it needs to become
more natural, experts say.
“Because his image is still very
much associated with him having
been the chief secretary [rather than
a leader], he could better achieve an
image of a strong leader if he was to
colour his hair to dark brown, or
even style it more neatly,” Jung said.
“He also tends to wear his necktie
lower than recommended by around
5 to 7 centimetres, which can make
him look outdated. It is good to wear
the tie so that the tip touches the
bottom line of a belt buckle,” she
suggested.
In terms of speaking, Moon
should raise his speech volume a
notch as well as his tone, experts
suggest.
Observers point out that Moon
generally has a friendly and approachable image and gives off an
intellectual vibe as a former attorney.
∞∞Ahn Cheol-soo
Ahn, 50, has a young and scholastic
image. His carefully parted hairstyle
shows he is sensitive and prudent,
but his semi-formal suit depicts him
as young and progressive.
Ahn rarely wore ties but started
doing more so upon his presidential
bid announcement in September.
The former software mogul sometimes attempts a bolder colour, such
as by wearing a bright necktie or
wearing a green jacket with an orange sweater, depending on the formality of the event he is attending.
He often carries around a Northface backpack, and wears his blue
Ungaro jacket on the campaign trail.
His dark suits that he has been wearing for years are said to be by Giorgio Armani or a domestic brand.
Although he has been teaching
students for years, he still appears
shy and tense when giving speeches,
with his voice trembling at times.
Ahn also tends to use the so-called
“sit-down” speech, or conversational
language, where he addresses the
audience more casually.
While the no-tie look showed his
liberal image appealing to younger
voters, he would appear more aggressive by wearing blue shirts as his
signature look with ties of sophisticated colours like burnt orange,
Jung suggested.
Observers say Ahn’s speeches are
more like lectures.
Observers also point to the former
professor’s use of English terms during his meetings with ordinary citizens, leaving most of them baffled.
Ahn, instead, is seen to excel in
giving emotionally ringing speeches,
benefitting from his untainted and
fresh image.
• 25
Society
By Sushmita S Preetha
The Daily Star
Unravelling The Pain
Ramu Sada
Chit Bihar.
Fear, insecurity haunt Buddhists in Bangladesh even weeks after
unprecedented attacks
❖❖ Dhaka
Mu mit M/ Th e Daily Star
T
he places look vaguely
f a m i l i a r a s yo u wa l k
through the debris, ashes,
broken statues and burnt
puthis (religious scrolls)
of the holy sites. Many of the burnt
houses remain like they did weeks
ago. Some army tents stand erect
amidst the debris. There is nothing
familiar about the overwhelming
hate and cruelty that exudes from
the remnants of the temples, monasteries and shima bihars in Ramu,
Ukhiya, Teknaf and Patiya areas, at
least not for those who haven’t seen
the Gujarat massacre or Babri
mosque demolition.
No amount of newspaper reports, op-eds, video clips or Facebook images prepare you for the
magnitude of the destruction that
took place in this southeastern part
of Bangladesh on September 29-30.
You wonder about human capacity
to be cruel as you stroll through
the temple and view the intricate
26 •
artwork that is now destroyed, the
statues that now lie beheaded, and
the ancient texts that are now disintegrated remains lying there, not
really waiting to be rescued or
replaced.
And you wonder how to mend
this scar.
∞∞Fretful night
Infuriated over a derogatory image of Islam allegedly found in the
Facebook profile page of Uttam
Barua, a Buddhist man, mobs gathered in different parts of Ramu, a
sub-district of southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar, on the evening
of September 29.
“When the meetings were taking
place, people from different political parties joined in—Awami
League [ruling party], BNP [main
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist
Party], Jamaat [Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party],” recollects a
college student, wishing to remain
unnamed. People gave inflammatory speeches, for instance, Nurul
Islam Selim, president of local
press club, threatened turning everything dysfunctional if Uttam
Barua was not handed over to them
in two days while others said that
the Baruas (a Buddhist surname)
had disrespected Islam and so
must pay, he added.
“At 11:30pm, they marched towards Barua village with a procession and attacked people’s houses.
Then they rushed to the temples,”
says Shantosh Barua from Ramu.
“We communicated with everyone—the police superintendent,
local police and administration. But
no-one heed to do anything, not
even the local lawmaker,” he adds.
Before dawn, 12 temples were
burnt down, another six totally
ruined and 50 houses destroyed. “I
felt completely helpless. The Borokang Buddha Bihar and Kendriyo
S h i m a B i h a r, wh i c h we re d e stroyed, were about 400 years old.
The Lal Ching temple was even
older,” says a Buddhist schoolteacher who witnessed the unprecNovember 16-29, 2012
Ukhiyar Ghona Buddhist Bihar at Ramu.
edented attack from the rooftop of
his house in Ramu.
T h e n e x t d ay, t h e v i o l e n c e
spread to Ukhiya and Teknaf areas
of Cox’s Bazar and Patiya sub-district of Chittagong when eight
more temples and monasteries,
including two Hindu temples, and
many homes of the Buddhists were
destroyed.
∞∞Attack pre-planned
According to witnesses, police
investigations, independent inquiries and newspaper reports, it was
not a spontaneous act of communal
hatred, rather meticulously orchestrated plan against the Buddhists.
The Daily Star has found that the
image of Uttam’s Facebook page,
which was circulated to incite the
attack, was actually photoshopped
to make it look like as if one “Insult
Allah” group had shared the image
with Uttam. The unsuspecting locals joined the outsiders, who
came in trucks, in the processions.
The two youths, one of whom has
ties to Jamaat’s student front Islami Chhatra Shibir, have been arrested for fabricating and disseminating the image.
The victims recognised many local Muslims in the processions
brought out before the attacks but
can’t say for sure whether they
were involved in the torching and
looting. “It was dark and we were
too afraid to come out and face
them,” says a Baruapara man whose
house was torched. He can’t think
anyone he knows could do this.
The attacks continued for four
hours but the local administration
did nothing to stop it, locals said.
Ramu Sada Chit Bihar.
Nazibul Islam, officer-in-charge of
Ramu Police Station, joined a rally
later and said, “I am a Muslim. I
should’ve joined the procession.” He
was later withdrawn from his post
and is now facing an investigation.
It seems different groups led the
attacks in the various areas. There
are reports of Rohingyas’ involvement in some capacity too. So far,
262 people have been arrested. But
who the real masterminds are remains still unclear.
∞∞Living in the ruins
Weeks after the fateful night,
fear and insecurity are still written
on people’s faces. “We don’t want
money; we want a guarantee that
nothing like this will happen again,
we want assurance that the Buddhist community can survive in
Bangladesh,” says Polash Barua
(not his real name), whose house,
overlooking the Laal Ching temple
in Ramu also came under attack on
the night of September 29.
Afraid of retribution, they decline to disclose their names. Some
say that they have received threats
while others don’t want to feel alienated by their Muslim neighbours and colleagues. People in
Teknaf allege that local goons walk
around saying, “How long will the
army protect you? Make too much
noise and we will make sure all the
Baruas’ heads are cut off.”
In some odd way, Ramu seems
more alive in its bereavement than
it did when it was a regular tourist
site. There are people clicking away
with their cameras, conducting interviews, holding protests, giving
fiery speeches, distributing relief.
While the ruling AL is blaming
the local BNP lawmaker for “fann i n g c o m m u n a l v i o l e n c e,” i n
Ramu, the BNP is capitalising on
the inaction of the local administration to point fingers at the ruling party.
Due to of tremendous international and national pressure, the
government distributed money
among victims for rehabilitation. It
is however unclear whether it will
be able to keep its promise to rebuild the temples and monasteries.
“Even if they replace everything,
how would they address the insecurity and suspicion people here
are undergoing now?” asks one
Nirmal Barua.
Denying any role in the attack,
Muslims in Baruapara said they
steered away fearing retribution by
the angry mob, except for a handful ones who rushed to help their
Buddhist neighbours.
“We have lived together for
years, Buddhists and Muslims, as
neighbours, as friends. They would
participate in our festivals and we
in theirs. In the blink of an eye, all
of that changed. Even if they didn’t
themselves partake in the violence,
why didn’t the local Muslims come
forward to stop it?”
An invisible wall seems to have
been erected between the Muslims
and the Buddhists since the attack.
Even though there has never been
any real tension between the two
groups, the engineered incidents
have succeeded in giving rise to a
feeling of exclusion, insecurity and
apprehension among the Baruas,
making them feel like strangers in
their homeland.
• 27
TECHNOLOGY
A F P Photo
By Niki Cheong
The Star
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
suggests that the current ‘social
norm’ is that things are less private.
Digital Privacy
Divide
Technology is fuelling the
debate over what is public,
and what is private
❖❖ London
I
t’s recently that two Malaysian
made the headlines both in
their country and across the
causeway in Singapore. Alvin
Tan and Vivian Lee came under the spotlight when their blog,
featuring videos of them having
sex, gained mainstream attention.
The morality issues of the ac28 •
tions of these two are not the
topic here. Many people have already stated their opinions through
media channels and online social
networks.
The couple also had a chance to
respond to critics, making several
media appearances and even releasing a question and answer
video response.
What is interesting about this
incident, from a digital culture
perspective, is the way Lee responded in an interview.
“I see nothing wrong in posting the
nude pictures and videos of our sexual relationship on the Internet. It was
intended for the world to see how
much we love each other,” she said.
Her statement alludes to the very
public nature of online platforms,
which, for many, is a major issue of
concern when it comes to the use
of Internet and social networking
sites in particular.
One site that has been heavily
criticised for its interpretation of
what constitutes public information is Facebook.
This was especially so after its
founder and chief executive officer
Mark Zuckerberg, in an interview
in 2010, defended the site’s move
to change the privacy settings of
its then 350 million users, suggesting that the current “social norm”
is that things are less private.
∞∞evolution
The evolution of the Internet
over the past 15 years facilitated
this change. When the World Wide
Web caught on back in the mid’90s, people started finding ways
to post information about themselves online.
Before that, conversations were
already happening via email and
bulletin boards. But the Web meant
that you could have your own public site and write there whatever
you wanted.
Free sites such as Geocities and
Tripod emerged, offering to host
personal web pages. Then blogs
started becoming all the rage, and
Internet users found that they did
not need to replace old web pages
with new ones.
Blogs would let them add fresh
content while at the same time
archive all their old information on
the very same site.
It is no surprise then that sites
which made it easier for you to talk
about yourself—and with design
templates, too—emerged. Enter the
Norafif I E hsan/ The Star
world of social networking where
sites like Friendster and MySpace
dominated much of the midnoughties, allowing you to not only
talk about yourself, but connect
with other people—friends and
strangers alike—to share your life
with.
∞∞the debate
When Zuckerberg talks about
how privacy has changed, he is not
entirely wrong. Whether or not
this justifies his company’s decision to meddle with the personal
accounts of so many users is still
being debated. But the fact is that
digital technology has changed the
way people view what is public and
what is private.
Which is why it’s interesting that
Lee went on to say, “I cannot understand why people have to make
so much fuss about this. It is our
private affair.”
That she would talk about both
being public in wanting to share
her life with the world, yet consider that part of her life private,
shows how fluid her understanding
of privacy is. It is hard to imagine
that she is alone in this way of
thinking.
No doubt this viewpoint is increasingly common—we just need
to look at the public uproar at
Facebook’s privacy policies, yet a
billion people today still share
personal information on the site.
The fact is that the nature of
“private” and “public” have always
been subjective, even before the
emergence of networked environments.
Often, our understanding of the
two is linked to context and selfexpression, the way we may divulge a particular bit of information to a confidante, but will deem
the very same tidbit not for the
consumption of others.
The same can be said of our online identities.
The videos were created by two
people who were just sharing it
with a limited audience who, ac-
Sex bloggers Lee and Tan being
interviewed by Star Media Group in
Petaling Jaya.
cording to Lee, were “mostly Westerners” as “a form of art”. But it
went viral when online site Gutterpost picked it up. This led to the
videos being taken out of the context of its creators’ intentions.
It is, however, hard to blame
people, particularly their critics,
from looking at it differently. After
all, in isolation, these videos don’t
look very different from the millions of others which appear on
various sites on the Internet.
And isn’t this an age in which
personalities like Paris Hilton and
K i m K a rd a s h i a n go t t h e i r b i g
breaks from the “release” of sex
tapes?
The difference, however, was
that both celebrities claimed the
release of the tapes was unauthorised—and therefore, an invasion of
their privacy.
Tan and Lee’s intentions were
different, although what they did
is not exactly new. With the advent
of recording technology—from
digital cameras to webcams to
smartphones—millions around the
world are creating such videos and
sharing them online on a daily
basis.
But the issue of privacy in digital
culture is not just about how each
person understands and perceives it.
Digital technologies are also
making it much easier for people
to breach those private spaces.
A case in point is the 2008 scandal involving sex photos by Hong
Kong star Edison Chen, who had
sent his laptop for repair, only to
have them downloaded and distributed.
In this case, as with Hilton and
Kardashian, you don’t have to do
the uploading yourself—if someone gets access, they might do it
for you.
It just goes to show that if you
really want something to remain
private, keep it off the Internet or
better still, don’t put it in any
digital form.
As for the issue of “private” and
“public”, some people’s understanding of the former has no
doubt changed in recent years but
as can be seen from the backlash
Tan and Lee received, society still
has sharply different views on the
latter.
• 29
HEALTH
By Chularat Saengpassa and Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
Thailand succeeds in stem-cell research despite
lack of funding
❖❖ Bangkok
T
hailand is fascinated with
“roadmaps”, but when it
comes to life-or-death
matters like regenerative
science, the country has
none.
Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon cheered regenerative scientists around the world, including
those working on stem-cell body
rebuilding in private and public
hospitals here, when they were
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in October.
But looking back at the environment at home, Thai scientists
sighed. Local development of the
technique has been direction-less
and under-funded.
Stem-cell research has drawn
attention from scientists around
the world, including Thai scientists, ever since South Korea’s Dr
Hwang Woo-suk and his team re-
STEM CELL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTIN THAILAND
HOSPITALS ENGAGED IN RESEARCH:
7
em -da
br y-o
yo ld
The Perfect Cure
ported that they had successfully
created human embryonic stem
cells by cloning in 2005.
Even though much of this
“breakthrough” research was later
found to have been faked, many
researchers and scientists in Thailand continued to follow their curiosity to discover how to effectively use stem cells for treatment.
Over the past decade, stem cellrelated research centres have
mushroomed at public and private
educational institutions and hospitals across the country, such as
centres for heart disease, diabetes,
Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s
disease, thalassemia and leukaemia.
Already this year, at least three
universities have reported success
in stem-cell research.
Chulalongkorn University early
Siriraj: Plans to establish a stem-cell bank using tissue
from pregnant women such as umbilical chords,
amniotic fluid and placentas.
Chulalongkorn: Operates Thailand’s first human
embryonic stem-cell bank and will conduct tests on
guinea pigs next year.
Police General: It will set up a STEP centre to treat
degenerative joints.
Lerd-Sin: Researching the use of bone-marrow stem
cells to treat HIV patients.
Bangkok: Is providing stem-cell treatment for bone
marrow transplant.
Ramathibodi Hospital: Researching the use of adult
stem cells to treat patients with arthritis.
Srinakharinwirot University: Researching the use of
adult stem cells to treat patients with arthritis.
Stem cells can treat:
¬ Blood diseases like
leukaemia*;
¬ Alzheimer’s;
¬ Parkinson’s;
¬ Heart disease;
¬ Cancer;
¬ Diabetes;
¬ Arthritis
Source: The Nation
30 •
Stem cell beauty
treatments:
¬ Solves skin problems
¬ Eliminates wrinkles, acne
and eye bags
¬ Moisturises dry skin
¬ Stimulates skin cell
renewal
¬ Restores facial tissue
¬ Enhances elasticity
¬ Reduces the appearance
of fine lines
¬ Makes skin youthful
* The Medical Council has only approved stem-cell treatment for
blood diseases like leukaemia and thalassemia. Use of stem-cell
preparations for aesthetic purposes has not been approved yet.
NATION GRAPHICS
By Thanapat Kitjakosol
The Nation
this year proclaimed that it was the first in
Thailand to produce human embryonic
stem cells and established the country’s
first embryonic stem-cell bank.
The Police General Hospital has developed adult stem cells to treat arthritis sufferers. The hospital is now conducting a
clinical trial on 60 arthritis patients aged
45-60. The human trial is expected to be
completed next year.
● Lack of support
But looking behind their success stories,
we can see that most of them had to rely
on their own funds to establish their laboratories and conduct studies. Only a portion of the money came from the government.
“The government has never paid attention to supporting scientific research. We
had to use our own funds collected from
donations to do stem-cell research and
conduct studies,” Lt-General Jongjet Aojanepong, director of Police General Hospital said.
Researchers need not only funding but
also a national roadmap to steer stem-cell
research and development.
“Stem-cell therapy will be a key treatment in the near future. We need a formal
forum to see the future together,” he said.
Stem-cell research is booming in Thailand, but there is no central organisation
to systematically manage the research
budget and chart the direction of stem cell
research.
Even though the government has set up
the National Research Council of Thailand
(NRCT) to oversee all research in the
country, most of the budget was allocated
to support research on agriculture, which
is a priority need for the country.
The council gets about 10 billion baht
(US$325,600) from the government to support all research in the country, but only
60 million-100 million baht per year goes
to stem-cell research, said Dr Soottiporn
Chittrmittrapap, secretary-general of the
NRCT.
“I think the number of people who might
benefit from stem cell research is only in
the hundreds—[less than] in other fields,”
he said.
However, he agreed with Jongjet’s idea
of drafting a national roadmap so that
Thailand can have a clear direction for
researchers and scientists to conduct research.
Saving lives
P
etcharat Pokrang says it
is a miracle that her
7- y e a r - o l d s o n P a l wawat, or “Ton Kla”, survived
after being diagnosed with
severe aplastic anaemia—a
condition in which bone marrow fails to produce sufficient
new blood cells—in April last
year.
Doctors in Saraburi told her
the boy would not survive
without a bone-marrow transplant, which costs up to 1
million baht (US$32,600).
Petcharat could not afford
it. But as the boy’s condition
worsened—the whites of his
eyes turned red and he experienced oral bleeding—his
doctor helped him to obtain
assistance from the Ramathibodi Hospital Foundation to
seek free treatment. Ton Kla
received a stem-cell transplant using tissue taken from
his younger brother Noppaklao in August. He was rel e a s e d f ro m h o s p i ta l o n e
month later and now lives a
normal life, playing with his
friends.
Ton K la’s is just one of
many lives that the Ramathibodi Hospital Foundation has
saved.
Dr Suradet Honging, vice
president in charge of stemcell transplants at Ramathibodi Hospital, said stem-cell
technology had enabled the
hospital to treat patients suffering from liver and kidney
disease, leukaemia, lymphom a , t h a l a ss e m i a , a pl a s t i c
anemia and immuno-def iciency.
The hospital is seeking app rova l f ro m t h e Nat i o n a l
Health Security Off ice
(NHSO) to allow patients suffering from these diseases to
receive free treatment under
NHSO sponsorship. Less than
10 per cent of the Thai popu-
lation can afford an organ or
stem-cell transplant, Suradet
said.
“There are more than 4,000
people who are suffering
from thalassemia and waiting
to get stem-cell transplants;
every day some die before
they can reach hospital,’’ he
said. The hospital was the
first in Thailand to carry out
a liver transplant from a parent to a child, and the first in
Asia to successfully perform
k i d n ey a n d b o n e - m a r row
transplants, which free patients from the need to take
immune system suppressants.
“We are the first hospital in
the country to perform a
stem-cell transplant from a
person who was not a blood
relative of the patient,’’ Suradet said.
Currently, the odds of finding a stem-cell donor whose
tissue matches a patient are 1
in 30,000, because Thailand
started to seek stem-cell donations just 10 years ago, and
has only 140,000 registered
donors.
The hospital has performed
more than 600 bone-marrow
transplants since 1989. Due to
limited state funding, medical
facilities and personnel, the
hospital can only perform
stem-cell and organ transplants for 10 people per
month.
The professor has called on
the government to increase
funding for research in stemcell technology, as he believes
the hospital has the potential
to become the region’s leader
in this field.
“Research in this medical
technology can def initely
improve Thais’ health and
well-being, which in turn will
help save the state money
needed to provide medical
treatment for patients,” Dr
Suradet said.
*US$1=30.7 baht
• 31
ENTERTAINMENT
By Ina Parlina
Asia News Network
Best Talent
winner Beni
Tukishima
from Japan.
Noa Herrera from
Venezuela dances as
Odette in ‘Swan
Lake’.
And Best Talent C
Award Goes To...
❖❖ Pattaya
S hamim A sh raf/A s ia News Networ k
contestants vying for this year’s
international queen prove they are
more than just pretty faces
32 •
heerful melody from the
“Willy Wonka and the
C h o c o l a t e Fa c t o r y ”
musical film started to
pl ay and t wo Oompa
L o o m p a s — c re a t ure s f ro m t h e
film—popped out from the
colourful dress of Ruby Bel la
Cruz, one of 2012 Miss
International Queen contestants
from the United States.
Cr uz, who looked ver y tal l
because of her stilts, danced
swiftly with the two.
The funky mood of the stage
changed as Noa Herrera from
Venezuela danced to “Swan Lake”.
S h e p l ay e d a s i m p l e s o l o a s
Odette, the white swan.
Not even a single jete—one of
Ballet jumps—nor a perfect Swan
Lake’s lame duck turn piqué turn
en dehors, but the crowd still applaused.
On October 30, three days before the final judgment night, 15
contestants w ith best performances—out of 21—showed off
Imanni Da Silva
tries to wow the
judges with her
burlesque dance.
their talents in front of the judges
at the Aksra Theatre in Bangkok.
In black red satin attire,
Angolan Imanni Da Silva
performed some kind of a
burlesque dance. She even lit a
candle at the end of her show.
Ly i ng o n t h e f l o o r, s h e l a t e r
poured the hot wa x to her
chest.
Another constant from Russia
preferred a simple modern dance.
Veronika, who is deaf, played a
heart-breaker woman who was
chased by four men. The 25-yearold danced confidently. Back in
Russia, she is a theatre manager.
S i x o t h e r c o n t e s t a n t s , wh o
could not perform that night as
they did not meet the talent
night’s prequalification, watched
the shows from afar. Sitting at the
b a c k row, t h e y c h e e re d t h e i r
friends on. “They are all good,”
one of them said.
A 32-year-old Mexican Morgana
stood out singing “Besame Mucho”
during the talent night.
“That was easy. All my life, I
have been singing,” said Morgana
‘Willy Wonka’ dance
by Ruby Bella Cruz
from The United
States.
who is a singer in her country.
Kev in Balot, 21, who was
crowned 2012 Miss International
Queen, said she did not have time
to prepare for her performance.
She took her chance by dancing a
popular quirky move by Korean
rapper Psy.
“Before the talent night, I
watched some music videos, and
I picked it up from ‘Gangnam
Style’ music video],” she said,
adding she only had two days to
prepare.
“I start to move my legs like
this,” she said, mimicking Psy’s
move in the “Gangnam Style”
music video that has been a viral
hit.
They tried so hard to impress
the judges that night. But, it was
Japanese Beni Tuk ishima who
stole the show.
The crowd cheered as
Tukishima’s left hand, out of a
sudden, popped off and fell to the
ground.
She cried; it was a sacrifice for
a guy he loved.
Later, a dancer showered the stage
with little shreds of glittering paper
to duplicate a sakura shower. And
the couple reunited again.
Tukishima won the Best Talent
award for her Japanese theatrical
performance.
“I have to lose my hand to win
the award,” she said, laughing.
The 36-year old added that her
preparations for the talent night
took two months.
“I’m always confident; I prepared
everything [for her show] all by
myself […] choreography, costumes,”
said Tukishima who is an owner of
a show lounge in Japan.
Head judge Seri Wongmonta
said their performances showed
that they were more than just
pretty faces.
“They are talented. They have
many things worth to consider as
human beings,” he said. “ They
can do what other genders can
do.”
That night, Da Silva won as first
runner-up and Matrica Mae Centino, who performed a Broadway
style song, was second runner-up
title.
• 33
LIFESTYLE
By Shamim Ashraf
Asia News Network
Filipino model Stefania Cruz
puts on make-up backstage.
In Pursuit Of
Acceptance
Transgender beauties from 15
countries hope to promote
recognition of the third gender
S hamim A sh raf/A s ia News Networ k
❖❖ Pattaya
T
he silence seems deafening.
All the overhead lights
go out, except the spotlight
focusing on just two of
them. The cheering crowd
turns silent. A flustered Kevin
walks to Jessika slowly. Her heart
beating fast, she grabs Jessika’s
hand, embraces her.
“And the title of Miss International Queen 2012 goes to the Philippines’...” Kevin feels she is col34 •
lapsing. She throws up her hands
in the air in utter ecstasy. Scores of
shutters keep on clicking as the
Tiffany’s Show theatre comes to
life again with the announcement.
A s t e a r s r o l l d o w n Ke v i n ’s
cheeks, beyond control, Thailand’s
Sirapassorn Atthayakorn, winner
of the 2011 competition, hugs her.
The Filipino holds her tightly.
“Once that I’ve got the recognition on world stage, I hope my dad
will now discover that he has a son
and a daughter in me. He has big
expectations from me since I’m the
only boy in the family,” she gushes
minutes later, as journalists from
local and international media
houses pour onto the stage.
Balot will tell her father and
people back home that her physical
feature has more to do with taking
pride than feeling ashamed of.
“Be yourself. Have confidence in
your talent no matter what your
sexual preference is. But make sure
you are doing the right thing,” she
says.
The awards earn the winner and
the two runners-up—Brazilian
model Jessika Simoes, 27, and Thai
Panvilas Mongkol, 22—cash and
other prizes. But it’s the recognition that they hope will help them
in their call for freedom and equality for transgender people.
The three happily reply to journalists’ queries, mostly on their
future plans. But it has not been a
happy story all throughout.
“You know the Philippines is a
Catholic Christian society and
people are not ready to accept gay
people like us. You have to be either man or woman. There is no
Ruby Bella Cruz of the United States
poses during the final round.
Jessika Simoes (left) and Panvilas
Mongkol, first and second
runners-up, kiss the winner.
recognition of the third gender,”
says Kevin, a nursing graduate
from Far Eastern University.
Talking with Asia News Network, she says her boyfriend left
her as she decided to take part in
the competition. “But I decided to
pursue my dream.”
T h e s a m e c o n f i d e n c e g ive s
Kevin an edge over the two other
contestants during the question
and answer segment in the final
round of the pageant at seaside city
Pattaya on November 2.
“All the participants are beautiful
and talented. But simple, being
simple makes me simply the best,”
she replies when asked what makes
her a standout among the contestants.
Co m m e n t i n g o n h e r p e rfo rmance after the competition, head
judge Seri Wongmonta says: “We
really looked at her in the first
round because she’s lovely, and she
is very personable. We liked the
way she answered the question.
She’s really smart.”
For the contestants, it’s a platform to express their thoughts and
opinion.
And that’s what lies at the core
of the competition, which, now in
its eighth year, drew 21 transvestite
or transsexual contestants from 15
countries, who were born male.
As they vied for the title of the
competition fashioned after the
Miss World beauty pageant, contestants from places as far as
Guam, Brazil, Japan and Indonesia
proved that their sexual preference
does not make them lesser human
beings. This year’s contestants
Kevin Balot takes questions from
journalists minutes into winning
the title.
were a mixture of models, singers,
dancers, theatre managers, actresses, fashion designers and even
a bank executive and telecommunication officer.
Aptly themed “Gallery of Glamour”, the pageant raised 442,800
baht (US$14,383) which will be
donated to the Chaipattana Foundation.
The contest is about more than
just outer beauty. It is about celebrating success, education and
talent too, the organisers say.
“I would thank my mom for giving birth to me,” a proud Simoes
says when asked who she would
call if she won the competition.
Most of the contestants travelled
to Thailand at their own expense
to compete in the pageant hoping
to show the world—and their
families—their existence.
As the competition drew to a
close, the heat could be felt backstage. The contestants opened up
before journalists how difficult life
is for transgender and transsexuals.
“I was five years old when boys
started to push me away because I
looked a little different,” Imanni
Da Silva from Angola says, adding
that bullying and discrimination
continued.
It was the f ifth competition
across the world for the 31-year-old
artist. “No more [beauty contests],” she says, adding she would
continue her profession in the
fashion industry.
Stressing the need for organising
such pageants, she says: “This is
more about showing our courage
than about a beauty contest. This
is to show that we’re happy to be
who we are...Some people don’t
understand us. Some people think
we are animals.”
Matrica Mae Centino, 25, from
Guam earned her father’s “dislike”
for being “different” when she was
three.
“My father did not like that I was
weak, unlike his other sons. So, it
was an everyday struggle at home,”
Centino, who won the Miss Perfect
Skin prize, says, adding that life
could be unbearable for her had
she not gotten the support of her
mother and brothers.
“Whenever you are out there at
schools, in the street or anywhere,
people would tease you, call you
“ l a d y b oy ”, a n d d i s c r i m i n a t e
against you at every stage of life.”
“I’m tired of this struggle to
prove myself as a human being,”
she says.
Mexican opera singer Morgana,
32, also had to undergo “problems”
at her own home after she was
found to be different at the age of
four.
Asked why he joined the competition, she says: “To know about
persons like me in other countries.”
Some of the contestants, like
26-year-old Romanian Tanja, deliberately needed recognition to fight
their cause back home.
“If I win the title, I will be the
mother of the transgenders and
transvestites in my country. We
will no longer have to struggle
much to prove ourselves, our
worth as human being, like others
in the society—male and female.”
• 35
ENTERTAINMENT
Photo provided to The Ja karta P ost
By Adisti Sukma Sawitri
The Jakarta Post
behind
the screen
ASIAN
FILMMAKERS
LOOK FOR A
FORMULA THAT
WILL ATTRACT
THE AUDIENCE
❖❖ Busan
I
t is almost destiny that the
Hallyu, the Korean cultural
wave, has finally swept the
world. Given saturation in
Japan and uninspired
d e ve l o p m e n t i n C h i n a , Ko re a’s
media industry has hypnotised and
inspired locals and even Asians
with its glitz and dynamism in
music and movies.
The Korean movie industry has a
long-standing reputation for quality,
making the nation’s cinema one of
the few that survived the onslaught
of Hollywood productions.
Surviving the censorship era in 1980,
the local industr y has benefited
from a government protectionist
policy introduced in the 1990s. The
government has imposed quotas on
commercial theatres to show locally
made movies. A fter almost two
decades, Koreans have found it hard
to love films other than their own
movies.
In Aug ust, the Korean blockbuster The Thieves beat the US blockbuster The Avengers as the No. 1 film
at the local box office, a frequent
36 •
South Korean blockbuster ‘The Thieves’.
occurrence in Korea, but something
that is rare in Europe and other
Asian countries.
The action movie, which resembles Steven Soderbergh’s heist picture Ocean’s Eleven, is a proof that as
an industry, South Korea film has
reached its full flower. Directed by
Choi Dong-hoo, it has grossed over
US$82 million domestically.
But South Korea has not only followed Hollywood’s path. The ultraviolent film Pieta made by Korean
auteur director Kim Ki-duk received
the best picture award from the
Venice Film Festival, one of the
world’s most influential events. It
was not even for his first time on
the red carpet: In 2004, Kim won
best director awards from the Berlin
Film Festival and the Venice Film
Fetival.
∞µ Shortcomings
The industry also has its
shortcomings. Benefiting from
government protection, it has not
completely escaped the ethos of
Hollywood, which only eyes large
commercial projects.
Film director Choi Equan said
that to reach wider audiences, the
industr y has long departed from
auteur cinema.
“A lack of attention to artistic
films has also exerted a negative
effect on the film industry, leading
the industry to become more profitseeking,” Choi, who also heads the
Korean Academy of Film Arts, said.
He said that the biggest problem
was that that supply exceeds the
demand. In other words, there is no
way to make a profit.
“The government has been trying
to recover the value-added market,
such as through online download
sites, where illegal downloading was
done,” he said.
Exporting more movies abroad
has also seemingly become inevitable.
∞µ Southeast Asia cases
In Southeast Asia, national movie
industries hardly exist and local
movies are not the darling of local
cinemas. When The Avengers arrived
in Indonesia early this year, movie
theatres used almost all their screens
for the movie—as if there were no
local movies waiting for distribution
at the same time.
“It is clear that local theatres prioritise Hollywood,” said the awardwinning Indonesian director Edwin,
who prefers distributing his works
in festivals and outside the country.
The gap between moviemakers
and producers on one side and
theatres on the other did not emerge
without reasons. Another
I n d o n e s i a n d i r e c t o r , Te d d y
Soeriaatmadja, admitted that many
Indonesian movies nowadays were
not selling.
After the supernova of Riri Riza’s
“Laskar Pelangi” (Rainbow Troops)
emerged in 2008 and collected about
4.6 million viewers, movies today
are striving just to reach 1 million
tickets sold at the box office.
Even the internationally acclaimed
and locally made action f lick The
By Adisti Sukma Sawitri
The Jakarta Post
Raid: Redemption released this year,
only sold 1.8 million tickets.
“About 10 years ago, it was the
producers who kept asking me to
make movies—any movie that I
had in mind. But these days, it
just doesn’t go that way,” said
Soeriaatmadja.
He said that while there was a
growing interest to make various
kinds of movies in the country,
the government should help nurture the industry.
In Philippines, the countr y’s
National Statistics Board reported
that only a third of the 229
productions screened in the
c o u n t r y l a s t ye a r we re f ro m
home. T he rest were from
Hollywood.
The relatively small portion of
local movies, however, also is not
a sign of declining interests in
movie-making.
In 2012, for the first time, the
Philippines saw a locally made
movie, The Road—a horror film
about a haunted estate—get a
c o m m e rc i a l re l e a s e i n No r t h
America. Written and directed by
Yam Laranas, who had his earlier
work Sigaw (Scream) remade in
the US, the movie depicts scenes
that look as good as any Iranian
art-house film.
Laranas said that it took more
than just quality pictures to win
a wider audience, especially in
North America.
“If there is an Asian film with
a good story that can resonate
with a universal audience—and
then add a huge sum of money
to promote it—then you may have
a chance of making it,” he said.
Laranas said a huge budget for
promotion and marketing was
required for any movie to make
it in the US.
“Let’s just say that US$1 million is just enough to help create awareness in a market as big
a s N o r t h A m e r i c a . Te n t p o l e
movies in the US with a $100mil lion budget almost always
have the same marketing budget,” he said.
In Busan, the Auteur
Meets the Commercial
W
hile Hollywood floods the
world with effects-driven
franchise films and strays
from independent productions, an
Asian festival shows that auteur
and commercial are still boiling in
one pot.
We l c o m e t o t h e B u s a n
International Film Festival. It is the
place where critically acclaimed
French fantasy drama Holy Motors
screened alongside Choi Donghoon’s The Thieves and Bangladeshi
satire about traditional Muslim’s
technology phobia, Television.
Growing with the local movie
industry for 17 years, the festival
has developed multiple initiatives
to make it more than just a gallery
of Asian films. The festival’s Asia
Film Market is evidence that Busan
also means business. It has evolved
into a place where Asian moviemakers get funding and widen
networks.
“Busan real ly looks into the
quality of the films that they do.
They have established themselves
over the years to be a very important film festival not only to Asian
market, but also internationally.
We look at Busan to see projects
and inform us about the projects
that we should be looking at,”
said Tamir Muhammad, the features director of Tribec a Film
Institute.
Selecting thousands of film projects for funding every year, Muhammad said that he is proud that
the institute has supported “Abigail
Harm”, a US-Chinese co-production about a lonely woman living
in fictionalised New York City.
Inspired by the Korean folktale The
Woodcutter and the Nymph, the project was presented at the film
market last year.
Iranian independent film distributor Mohammad Attebai, who
has come to the festival eight
times, said he counted on Busan
to find funding amid the slumping
local industry after the country
was imposed with economic sanctions.
Attebai presented Persian Gulf, an
anthology of seven stories about
the life of people in the region
who are worried about possible
war in the region. The project finally secured $25,000 in grants for
post-production a fter w inning
festival’s pitching session Asian
Project Market’s Technicolor Asia
Award.
Korean director, Hur Jin-ho,
tries his take to adapt famous
novel Dangerous Liaisons into a Chinese production featuring international actress Zhang Ziyi and Korean Jang Dong-gun. The novel has
been adapted to the silver screen
five times, including Hollywood’s
version in 1988. The film project
was also presented at the festival’s
film market last year.
When the four-day film market
concluded on October 11, another
large-sc ale Korean production,
Masquerade, sold its distribution
rights to Japanese distributor Twin.
∞µ From festival to blockbuster
The Thieves, is an exceptional
movie that is considered experim e n t a l t o l o c a l t a s t e s , wh i c h
mainly stil l prefer to go w ith
drama genre, but could still have
commercial success. In the intern a t i o n a l s c e n e , h o w e v e r, t h e
movie would easily fall into the
Hollywood stereotype for success
—large budget, star-studded with
international names and a full
swing of action.
Th e Thieves, wh i c h w a s f i r s t
traded along with other independent projects at Busan festival’s
market, has been in commercial
release in North America since
October 12.
If Hallyu made it to North America, it would be a full circle after
rapper Psy’s global invasion with his
horse-prancing Gangnam dance.
But, chances are unlikely after
Ocean’s Thirteen was released five
years ago.
• 37
PEOPLE
By Jintana Panyaarvudh
The Nation
Willment Leong, third from
right, holds the Thai national
flag with his winning team at the
IKA World Culinary Olympics
2012 in Germany.
The Leong Way To Cook
A culinary guru
runs a worldclass boot
camp for the
next best chef
38 •
❖❖ Bangkok
L
ess than 20 years ago, the
man behind the success of
Thailand’s recent culinary
Olympics was so down on
his luck that he was seriously considering suicide. Willment Leong has long been out of
the emotional doldrums but his
past problems are today proving of
benefit to Thailand’s youth.
Three years ago, as a way of saying thanks to Thailand, which he
has called home for the last 13
years, Leong sunk his entire savings into setting up the Thailand
Culinary Academy (TCA). The
aim, he says, is to groom both
young Thai chefs and professional
chefs.
“During my hard times, I earned
money working here so I wanted
to give something back to Thai
society. I can see the forte of Thai
chefs so founding the academy
makes a lot of sense,” says Leong,
who recently led a group of Thai
chefs to the IKA World Culinary
Olympics 2012 in Germany where
they won four gold medals and one
silver. For the chairman of the
academy, winning at the world’s
most prestigious culinary competition is recognition that he’s on the
right track.
Born into a poor family, Leong
was pushed hard by his father, who
borrowed money to pay his tuition.
Told he would never starve to
death if he learned how to cook,
Leong reluctantly studied cooking
for one year after finishing junior
high but failed to graduate. He
found two jobs, working two eighthour shifts to make enough money
to survive.
“Being born poor doesn’t mean
you will be poor forever. If you are
confident, diligent and devote your
life to work, you can succeed one
day,” says Leong in fluent Thai.
Leong succeeded enough to open
his own business but when that
failed, he became suicidal. Just 25,
he was talked out of killing himself
by a respected elder, fleeing the
wrath of his creditors by heading
first to Cambodia then to Thailand
where he found work as a chef.
● Living a dream
Founding the TCA has been a
dream for the past several years.
“I love to create things that are
unique and different. If I had said
three years ago that I would be
ready to send Thai youths to compete in the Culinary Olympics,
people would have laughed at me,”
he grins.
Leong put some 2.5 million baht
(US$81,400) into his academy.
“Luckily, my parents supported
my i d e a . Th ey sa i d t h at eve n
though my rivals at the Olympics
included a fellow Singaporean, I
needed to win for the Thais.”
The 42-year-old chef quit his
permanent job at a five-star hotel
seven months ago to focus on the
academy. “If I’d carried on working, we would not have achieved
the biggest awards in Germany,” he
says.
“But all the credit must go to the
Thais. Without Thai support and
the Thai students, the academy
would never have happened.”
Founded in 2009, the TCA focuses on sending Thai chefs to
compete in international cooking
contests. Leong offers free study
and training. The academy has so
far produced 80 chefs and they’ve
bagged 44 trophies, 60 gold medals, 50 silver medals and 60 bronze
medals. Leong organises a few
cooking contests in Thailand,
coaches and also recruits potential
Thai chefs for international contests. The academy, now located at
Suan Dusit Rajabhat University,
receives most of its funding from
businessmen and private sectors.
Only a few state agencies have
recently offered support.
“Trophies or medals are not what
I want. What’s important to me is
that Thai youths see the outside
world, learn new experiences, get
to know strengths and weaknesses
of foreigners, and bring back these
experiences to transfer to their
compatriots,” he says.
Over the last 20 years, expat
chefs have all but ignored Thais on
the world competition stage. “Today they feel scared of Thai teams
because our goal is to sweep as
many medals as we can,” he says.
“I want Thai chefs and Thai cuisine to be better known worldwide.”
● Boot camp
Leong says his young student
chefs are keen to adapt and flexible
but tend to lack discipline, so he
uses the “boot camp” approach
learned both from his dad and his
own military training.
“I test them with tough lessons
to see if they can stand. For me
there is no left or right. You go
straight and you will be able to
complete your mission,” he says.
He is also very serious about
punctuality. Any student arriving
late has to walk to the place where
the contest is being held.
“When I assign my students a
task and they ask me when I will
need it, I will say yesterday,” he
says.
Producing a talented or medalwinning chef isn’t hard, Leong
says. What is far more difficult is
managing feelings and characters.
“One of the most serious problem with Thai chefs is that they
never truly learn the basics of Thai
food. Instead they learn how to
cook Western dishes and how to
use cooking equipment, which is
very sad,” he says.
“There’s nothing wrong in learning Western food but our chefs
need to learn how to cook Thai
food and to adapt Western food to
Thai food. That will give us the
advantage in competition,” he says.
“International food is tasteless
while Thai food tastes ‘just right’
so Thai chefs will be able to benefit more than other nations when
tasting the food.”
With his own money running
out, the academy is now facing
funding problems but Leong intends to keep it running for as long
as he can.
“I was so happy when I saw the
smiles on my students’ faces before
competition and after they won the
prizes from our first win in Dubai.
That’s inspirational and something
money cannot buy,” says Leong.
• 39
Photo s from Thai C ulinary Academy
The Thailand Culinary Academy’s 22-member team won three gold medals, two silver medals and 13 bronze medals during the Singapore
Expo competition in April.
TRAVEL
By M. Taufiqurrahman
The Jakarta Post
Tale of
Two
Cities
Stairway to Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon.
❖❖ Naypyitaw/Yangon
Ph otos provided to The Ja karta P o st
O
ther than the massive
1 5-lane thoroughfare
that could double as an
airstrip, another
spectacular attraction
in the new capital of Myanmar, is
the parliamentary building.
It is a massive imperial
compound that can only be gawked
from a distance. Far enough to see
what really happens inside—but
then again, the long distance may
be intentional, because not a lot
happens inside the building. The
country’s lower house only has five
sessions per year and we can safely
assume that lawmakers, and
majority of public officials, don’t
want to be in Naypyitaw in the first
place.
Naypyitaw is the place where no
one wants to be. As one travel
writer succinctly puts it, this is the
place where “no one bothered
settling over the past 2,000 years”.
Had it not been for a sudden decision
40 •
by the military junta, only farmers
and cattle herds would live in this
arid, mountain-framed spot in
Central Myanmar, 400km south of
the old capital, Yangon.
Had it not been for the construction boom ahead of the SEA Games
2013 and the influx of foreigners and
investors, who are now jockeying for
getting the first contracts from the
local government, Naypyitaw could
easily win the title as the dullest
capital city in the world.
This is the place where most of
government buildings are painted
grey as if to match the overhanging
cloud that graces its September
afternoon sky.
Even travellers will only walk to
a modern but deserted, concreteand-glass airport with no duty-free
shops or even a refreshment stand.
And the 45-minute travel from
the terminal to downtown Naypyitaw is a trip back in time.
A long a six-lane tree-lined highway, there’s nothing to see but a long
stretch of paddy fields with buffaloes
grazing on them and the city limit is
hard to find. This is probably what
much of Southeast Asia looked like
in the late 1950s or 1960s.
Pe ople k n ow t hat t hey a re in
Naypyitaw when they begin to see
signs of hotel, government buildings
and a handful of shopping malls.
Then there’s the inexplicably large
presence of Thai restaurants. With
s o m a ny Ja pa n e s e, C h i n e s e,
American businessmen and UN
wo rke rs co m i n g i n to t h e c i ty
following the lifting of the sanction
by Western governments, these
Thai establishments appear to be the
only place where the foreigners can
gather after a long hot stay in a place
where nothing ever happens.
Even on the busiest working day,
the biggest traffic that this capital
city has is the convoy of military
truck followed by a handful of
locals speeding on their Chinesemade motorbikes.
A n d i n a c i ty w i t h s o l i tt l e
attractions, the most visited site is
the parliament, although it does
not function as a tourist attraction.
The compound was surrounded
by a 5-metre-tall fence that will bar
visitors from entering the premise,
but close enough for them to snap
photos from a distance. Military
personnel stationed to guard the
compound are lazily plopping
down their M16 on their lap.
“Don’t get too close,” shouted a
taxi driver when tourists stood too
close to the fence. Why work hard to
maintain security when they can
deputise the job to the general population? So much for a police state!
The job of maintaining security,
which can also mean confusing
foreigners, is also deputised to
road signs, which are all written in
local script. No wonder if people
believe that the regime moved to
this capital because they fear Iraqlike invasion, the road sign appears
to confuse all the ground troops
parachuted to the city.
The fence that circles the parliament building is in fact symbolism
for the top-down political liberalisation in Myanmar. There have
been talks that the current regime,
learning from the breakdown of
sociopolitical order in transitional
Indonesia, hold on to the reins of
democratisation tightly and decide
how fast it ought to go. The fenced
parliament building is another way
for the junta of telling its people
that the regime will set the terms
for transition to democracy.
In Yangon, such liberalisation
means that the face of Aung San
S u u Ky i c a n b e p l a s t e r e d o n
T-shirts to be sold to tourists and
the logo of her political party can
Streets of Yangon.
Shwedagon
pagoda
in Yangon.
now appear on coffee mugs.
It can also mean that the first
sign that foreigners see when they
enter Yangon is the oversized
banners for Coca-Cola and
Samsung attached to the wall of the
city’s international airport.
Inside Yangon, these Coca-Cola
and Samsung billboards have to vie
for space with ones promoting
thanakha (traditional makeup)
with pictures of plus-size Myanmar
beauties smiling proudly.
The juxtaposition of old and
new, West and traditional, is now
what gives new colour to Yangon.
Travelling next to each other, in
the narrow streets of Yangon, are
the latest edition of Japanese SUVs
and rickety old trucks and taxis
that Asia left behind in the late 1960s.
While the affluent and the
powerful get cellular services and
free WiFi at the lobby of some of
the city’s plush hotels, tourist
spots and at the ground of the
world-renown Shwedagon pagoda,
longyi-wearing, betel-chewing
Yangon locals can easily be spotted
using landline connections from
makeshift payphones at almost all
bus stops throughout the city.
Behind some of the city’s modest
shopping malls are traditional
markets bustling with buyers and
vendors haggling over a slice of
watermelon, 1kg of rice or the
traditional betel mix. Anti-smoking
campaigns will probably be of little
use in this city, as none of males in
the city seem to smoke.
The relative absence of smoke—
be it from car exhaust, factories or
smokers—gives Yangon the feel of
an imperial town from the time
when kings and regents still ruled
their subjects. If you can ignore the
SUVs and ubiquitous roadside
Samsung ads, you can easily think
that this is still the same city that
George Orwell came to in 1924,
before he embarked on a journey to
shoot that famous elephant.
Of course there are the people,
men in longyi and petite demure
women in traditional dress, who
exude a quiet confidence. Their
demeanour supports the impression
of their ability to endure decades of
isolation.
It takes a great deal of patience—
and almost an hour—just to get a
ride on a packed public transportation truck. Drivers wait patiently
for the traffic to pass, on some of
the city’s congested narrow roads—
and they only honk when they are
trying to overtake other motorists.
This patience has enabled life in
Yangon to move at a slow, glacial
pace. After all, what should you do
when generals call all the shots —
there are even instructions to go
vegan on national TV!
And probably 20 years from now
when capitalism is already in
full swing, when high-rises
dominates Yangon skyline,
when women are already
dressed in Zara and most of
the men suited-up en route
to some glass and steel office,
when congestion is worse,
people of Yangon will rue the
day when life drifted by
slowly like the clouds that
The gate to the parliament building in Nay Pyi Taw.
roll by in the city’s monsoon sky.
• 41
EXPLORE
By Wayne Johnson
The Star
day out in
haunted
city
For some spinetingling places,
Tokyo is the
place to be
❖❖ Tokyo
The Star photo s
I
must confess that after arrangi n g to j o i n a g u i d e d wa l k
called Haunted Tokyo, I was
expecting something gimmicky, despite the positive
reviews I had read on the Internet.
My previous experience of ghost
tours had been in Edinburgh and
London, which, rather than being
scary, had, in fact, degenerated into
pantomime. So, although I was
interested to find out about Tokyo’s eerie edges, I was a little
sceptical.
While waiting at the meeting
place, Shinomasi train station, I
kept expecting to spot a large
group of over-excited tourists, or
a large sign with dripping red characters advertising Ghost Walks.
After 20 minutes of scouring the
station for signs of non-Japanese
people, I started wondering if this
was not the beginning of supernatural happenings, i.e. the walk
didn’t really exist.
However, I was relieved when a
small group finally began to gather
42 •
A painting of Oiwa who is the spirit
portrayed in Ju-On and The Ring.
Lore and legends: The more the prayer
sticks the more active the spirits.
around a petite and unassuming
lady dressed all in black—without
a pointy hat or horror make-up—
who announced that her name was
Lilly and that she would be our
guide to “the most haunted city in
the world”.
The group was a mix of Americans, British, Cambodians and
Chinese, all united in their love of
Japanese horror movies and their
curiosity over Tokyo’s mysterious
underbelly.
Lilly came equipped with a portfolio of photos and colourful pict u re s d e p i c t i n g To kyo’s pa s t ,
alongside those of hideous spectres and demons of Japanese folklore. And she began by showing us
images of how Tokyo had been
rocked and devastated by various
earthquakes, fires and bombing
raids from the Edo period until
World War II. This bloody history
helped buttress her belief that Tokyo had more ghosts than any
other city in the world.
Listening to Lilly, who had an
excellent understanding of the
Japanese language and culture, was
itself an interesting experience,
and somehow I felt we were in safe
hands should we be confronted by
an angry demon or spectre.
As we left the station, she explained that Japanese people hate
to move and it’s the same with
their ghosts, so older neighbourhoods tend to have a large collection of spirits. Japanese people
respect and accept this, and apparently most homes in these areas
have goblins or demons hanging
outside to ward off evil spirits.
A short walk from the station led
us to the Samegabashi district,
known in the Edo period as the
Valley of 1,000 Days or, more gruesomely, the Valley of Death, because of the number of cemeteries
located there. The first stop on the
walk, which set a suitably creepy
tone, was a vertical cemetery.
It resembled a small apartment
block, albeit one with distinctly
creepy occupants, its three floors
containing the partly cremated
remains of hundreds of bodies removed from an old graveyard.
While we stood looking at the
building, Lilly told us that while
the Japanese cremate their deceased, the temperature of the fire
is often not high enough to burn
the bones, so families still bury the
remains.
As she told us this, she also revealed, much to our unease, that it
was the first time she had ever
seen a light in the upper storey
window.
We were all eager to move swiftly on, although, as the next stop
was a haunted tunnel, we soon
regretted our haste. The dimly lit
road tunnel brought to mind classic images of modern Asian horror
movies, where the last place you
want to find yourself is a deserted
road at night.
Thankfully, we had safety in
numbers but Lilly said that the
road was rarely used because people fear the spirits here, particularly the taxi drivers who have reported being woken from their
sleep by a ghostly white face in the
rear view mirror.
We thought it was remarkable
how distant the ultra-modern glitz
of Tokyo seemed in this quiet,
under-lit district of small houses,
apartments and cemeteries.
And just as fascinating as hearing the spooky stories was seeing
the dwellings in this old district,
how the ancient shrines and haphazard graveyards coexisted with
the cramped houses. It all seemed
a million miles from the madness
of Shibuya crossing, which was
only 30 minutes away.
This feeling intensified when we
stopped to visit the grave and
shrine of Hattori Hanzo, one of
Japan’s most famous samurai. As
the Sainenji Temple where he is
buried was closed, Lilly asked us
to move quietly so that we did not
disturb the resident priest and his
wife.
But the wife unexpectedly came
out and asked what we were doing
there. Fortunately, in a great example of Japanese hospitality, she
invited us inside the temple, where
we saw Hanzo’s 14-foot-long spear
The old district of Tokyo
looks spooky at night.
and helmet, which had been preserved for over 500 years.
Hanzo was said to have been able
to disappear and appear at will.
After his death, supernatural activities have been reported near his
grave.
Our final stop on this three-hour
tour was the most terrifying of all.
No name strikes fear into Japanese
people as much as Oiwa, the vengef u l s p i r i t wh i c h h a s b e e n t h e
model for the evil ghosts portrayed
in countless movies, including in
The Ring and Ju-On. The spirit also
inspired a famous play called “Yotsuya Kaidan”.
Oiwa was the 17th century wife
of a samurai lord who wanted to
leave her for a younger woman. To
rid himself of her, he set about
poisoning her, and when she died
in agony, he married his youthful
lover. Oiwa’s spirit vowed revenge
and did not rest until both the
samurai and his new wife were
dead.
Her mission accomplished, Oiwa’s ghost was still not content and
sought to bring misfortune and
The supposedly haunted tunnel that
is rarely in use out of fear for the
supernatural.
misery on all who had offended her
or made her angry in any way.
To appease this most vengeful of
entities, the owners of her old
house built a Shinto shrine to
Oiwa. It’s a pilgrimage site for actors playing her part in “Yotsuya
Kaidan”, who come to ask for her
blessing.
Lilly said the spirit remained an
angry one even after all these centuries and that we should be careful not to offend her. This was the
first time I sensed a genuine unease in the group, as we stood facing the shrine on a dark deserted
street, with a wind rustling some
red flags atop bamboo poles guarding the gate.
We heaved a sigh of relief after
leaving the area for a small water
shrine situated inconspicuously
next to a 7-11 store on a modern
bustling street.
Lilly asked us to take a small sip
of water and sprinkled salt on our
shoulders to cleanse us of any spirits that might still remain attached
to us!
• 43
EXPLORE
By Tatin Yang
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Photo s by Tatin Yang
Rilakkuma merchandise to
commemorate Tokyo Sky
Tree’s opening.
Miffy wears a
kimono.
Kawaii Adventures
More than sushi, ramen and samurai, Japan is also
the land of cute
❖❖ Tokyo
A
fter a Sunday afternoon
a t Ts u t a y a , o n e o f
To k y o ’ s p o p u l a r
bookstores, my friend
and I were about to part
ways when he insisted I stop by at
Ginza. Ginza on a Sunday is a
must-see for any tourist because
the roads are closed to
transportation, turning the wide
swath of concrete into a walking
and picnic area for the residents of
the city.
As I walked up the subway steps
off Ginza station, I saw families
setting up lounge chairs in the middle of the road, soaking up as much
summer sun as the tall buildings
and boutiques (Uniqlo is a 12-storey affair) would let in.
On my way to exploring the
44 •
street, I saw a crowd gathered on
one of the street corners, chattering excitedly with their phones
whipped out. At first I thought it
was an accident, an arrest or a cel eb r i ty c a u g h t u n awa re s , s o I
pushed myself through the thick of
the crowd to check out what had
everyone so excited: It turned out
to be a pair of kittens with hair
scrunchies around their necks (an
Elizabethan feline reenactment?)
were perched on a street sign,
looking naturally cute and slightly
befuddled at all the hoopla. The
other foreigners behind me were
chuckling and shaking their heads,
marvelling at the Japanese predilection to all things cute or kawaii
(with the “eeee” part drawn out as
a squeal in direct proportion to
how cute something is), but as a
fellow kawaii-lover, I completely
understood, and whipped out my
own phone camera to start taking
pictures of the cute kitties on their
perch.
● Teeny-tiny cute
This is my version of Japan. As a
kid growing up, my dad would always bring home a cute gift (usually Hello Kitty themed) from his
Japan trips, and I would grow up
recognising Japan and cuteness to
be synonymous.
It’s not just the merchandise,
though that is certainly a big part
of it. In Inuyama City in the Aichi
Prefecture north of Nagoya, for
example, their mascot is a giant,
friendly brown dog dressed in a
robe reminiscent of shoguns
named “Wanmaru-Kun”. When I
asked our tour guide to explain
why a dog had been chosen to symNovember 16-29, 2012
Kawaii goods are
popular among
trendy teens.
bolise the city, he gestured that the
imperial family’s symbol was a
circle (wan), while at the same
time, a dog’s bark is also “Wan!
Wan! Wan!” (yes, this is how dogs
bark phonetically in Japan), ergo,
Wanmaru-kun. A neat—and thoroughly cute—explanation.
Public reminders and other announcements also contain polite
messages heralded by a happy cartoon or a cute animal dressed in
human attire. It’s a visual treat and
it leaves one a happy feeling, certainly happier than our own “Do not
cross or else you die” road signs.
Re s i d e n t s o f Ja pa n a re a l s o
known for their fascination over
keitai straps, or little charms they
attach to their mobile phones. No
one is exempt from the lure of the
cute mobile phone charms. Even
our fiftyish male tour guide Yoshisan, has a wooden cartoon fish
dangling from his mobile phone.
Keitai straps are ubiquitous—you
can f ind these at any souvenir
shop, department store, and even
convenience stores. Some are
sparkly, some are furry, some are
teeny-tiny, while others are bigger
than the actual mobile phone.
● Wealth of cuteness
We should not be surprised at
the wealth of cuteness in Japan.
After all, it is the birthplace of the
mouthless cat Hello Kitty who has
been around forever and has been
charming children and adults alike.
It’s not unusual to see Hello Kitty
collaborating with big designers
and big brands in Tokyo, or dressed
up in traditional Japanese costume
or even as different kinds of sushi.
At the recently opened observation deck and broadcasting tower
Tokyo Skytree (currently the tallest freestanding broadcasting
tower in the world at 634 metres
high), long queues were not only
reserved for the observation deck
and museums. A queue was building up to enter and eat at Moomin
House Café, a coffee shop dedicated to Moomin, characters illustrated and written by Swedish-Finn
author Tove Jansson.
Inside Skytree Town Solamachi’s
shopping complex are shops dedicated to ubiquitous TV characters
such as Domo-kun, and further
down is a shop featuring one of my
favourite characters, Rilakkuma
( l i te ra l ly t ra n s l ate d a s “ re l a x
bear”). The Rilakkuma store was
packed to the gills with mostly
adults filling up baskets with every
Rilakkuma-themed merchandise
imaginable, from cookware, home
decor, plushies, jewellery, ties and
even bottled water.
At Harajuku near Meiji-Jingumae, I continued my search for
kawaii by braving a parade and the
intense summer heat by looking for
a corner shop that caters to Tintin
fans. The shop, which sells Tintin
merchandise exclusively is a beautiful homage to intrepid journalist
Tintin and his adorable canine
companion, Snowy. Tintin fans
should not miss this.
Fellow kawaii lovers and tourists
with their kids in tow should set
aside at least half a day for Kiddy
Land. This five-floor shop at Harajuku is stuffed from floor to ceiling
with every cute character you
could possibly dream up. Each
floor is dedicated to characters
with cult followings—Snoopy and
the Peanuts Gang, Studio Ghibli
and the lovable Totoro, Disney,
Hello Kitty, Rilakkuma, they’ve got
everything (even the restrooms are
decorated according to character),
you will scream from the unbearable cuteness of everything (your
wallet will also scream in agony
after). As if that weren’t enough,
telling shopkeepers your purchases are presents will entitle you to
free gift packaging complete with
cute stickers and charms to accessorise your gift wrapping with.
Five days in Tokyo and I’ve
barely scraped the tip of the kawaii
iceberg and I can’t wait to go back
and lose myself in all the kawaii
goodness.
• 45
DATEBOOK
SH AN G H AI
China Shanghai International
Arts Festival
During the China Shanghai
International Arts Festival,
the city becomes a mosaic of
world arts, with venues
hosting an eclectic mix of
events from Chinese opera
to Russian ballet. Different
cultural weeks focus on
BANG KO K
10th World Film Festival of
Bangkok
Enjoy a feast of visual
aesthetics and meet and
greet film directors from
around the world at the
10th edition of the World
Film Festival of Bangkok.
This year, the festival
presents a quality
selection of 84 films in
five categories: Cine
Latino, Cinema Beat,
Doc Feast, Short Wave
and Asian Contemporary.
The event is supported
by the Office of
Contemporary Art and
Culture, Ministry of
Culture in collaboration
with Nation Broadcasting
Corporation, The Nation
newspaper, and Major
Cineplex Group.
When: November 16-25
Where: Ratchada,
Bangkok
promoting the talents of
selected countries.
Outdoor spaces become
stages to create a carnivallike atmosphere in the city.
In the 2012 edition, featured
performances include those
by vocalist Elaine Paige, and
the Linguere National Ballet
of Senegal.
When: Until November 20
Info: www.artsbird.com
SEOUL
Hi Seoul Festival
The Hi Seoul Festival presents
themed live cultural and artistic
performances at Yeouido Hangang
Park and Seoul’s urban squares. The
programme features street theatre,
live music and parades at venues
including Seoul Square.
When: Until November 25
Where: www. hiseoulfest.org/2012
UT TAR P RADESH
Ganga Mahotsava
F U KUOKA
The November Basho
The greatest Sumo wrestlers in
Japan, and therefore the world,
congregate at the Fukuoka Kokusai
Centre for the November Basho, one
of the year’s six Grand Tournaments.
Crowds cheer as the huge men battle
using throws, trips and tricks.
46 •
The best seats in the house are
those situated closest to the dohyo
(the ring). The large arena provides
many seating alternatives, however,
ranging from a simple cushion in the
isu-seki (balcony) to a box-seki
(similar to a corporate box).
Where: Chikko-honmachi, Japan
Info: www.sumo.or.jp/eng
The banks of the sacred River
Ganges at Varanasi transform during
the spectacular Ganga Mahotsava.
Thousands of Hindu pilgrims congregate each year on the ghats (steps)
next to the river before dipping
themselves and their oil lamps into
the holy waters.
Several thousand Hindu pilgrims
come to the water’s edge during the
day —each one carrying an oil lamp
which they float on the surface.
When: November 24-s27
Where: Uttar Pradesh, India
50 years of Sino-Thai:
Growing with strength and
sustainability
Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction
Public Company Limited, one of Thailand’s
leading construction companies, recently
organized a grand celebration to mark
the 50th anniversary of the company’s
successful operations. Led by Prof.
Rawat Chamchalerm, Chairman, and Mr.
Vallop Rungkijvorasathien, President,
and with management and employees
of Sino-Thai, the event was attended by
leading figures from Thailand’s business
and social circles.
Throughout the past 50 years, SinoThai has expanded its experiences and
expertise in the construction sector,
completing an extensive and varied
portfolio of projects in categories covering
infrastructure, buildings, power and
energy, industrial and environment. The
company has created numerous high-value
and high-quality projects, deserving the
recognition and trust of clients from the
public and private sectors, both within
Thailand and overseas, and always focus
on delivering complete customer satisfaction. At the same time, the company
has continuously given importance to
social and environmental responsibility,
enabling Sino-Thai to grow with strength
and stability up until the present day,
and to continue expanding in future as a
leading Thai construction company active
in the international arena.
The 50th anniversary celebrations
highlighted Sino-Thai’s strength and
leading status in Thailand’s construction
industry, with music performed by the
Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra as well
as Thai and international songs performed
by well-known singers Nadda Viyakarn
and Maneenuch Smerasuta. The event
was held at the Bangkok Convention
Center, 22nd Floor, Centara Grand at
CentralWorld recently.
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.

China`s new dawn India`s coffee- flavoured

Transcription

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