Muslim MPs meet in Palembang
From News Reports:
Palembang, January 28: At least 32 of the 52 parliaments of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s member countries are attending its seventh Parliamentary Union conference in Palembang, southern Sumatra.
The meeting, which began on Tuesday, January 24, is scheduled to end next Tuesday.
Countries represented at the conference include Malaysia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Pakistan and Palestine.
The conference agenda includes discussion of political economy, legal affairs, including human rights, and the environment.
It will include the first meeting of women parliamentarians.
The Southeast Asian Times

Suspensions worry rights chairman
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 27: Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission chairman, Hasmy Agam, has complained that the rights of several students were impinged when they were suspended for allegedly tarnishing the image of universities and disrupting public order.
The suspensions also went against prime minister Najib Tun Razak’s readiness to change the Universities and University Colleges Act to accord with the Federal Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the right to freedom of speech, form associations and hold peaceful assemblies, he says in a statement.
“Student economic, civil and political awareness should be viewed positively to complement and enrich their education and formal training in universities,” he says.
“Any unreasonable restrictions in curtailing student rights will deny them the opportunities to enrich their education and experience, which is very important in their development as future leaders.”
Student Adam Adli Abdul Halim, 21, who lowered a flag carrying the image of the prime minister, was suspended for three semesters from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak, earlier this month.
The 18-month sentence was imposed after a 90-minute hearing of the university's disciplinary committee.
The university’s deputy vice-chancellor, Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar, as saying the five-member committee found the student guilty of two charges: -damaging the reputation of the university and endangering morals and public order.
The Teaching-of-English-as-a Second-Language, or TESL, student said he would not appeal the decision and instead take legal action against the university.
The third-year student lowered the flag carrying Najib Tun Razak's image outside The United Malays National Organisation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, December 17.
The Southeast Asian Times

Think tanks recognised
From News Reports:
Petaling Jaya, January 26: The United Nations has recognised the Malaysia-based Centre for Public Policy Studies, CPPS, and the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, Asli, as among the world's best think-tanks.
Asli-CPPS had been ranked 16th among the world’s top think-tanks, The Star newspaper quotes Asli chief executive and director Dr Michael Ye Asli chief executive and director Dr Michael Yeoh as saying.
“Among the smaller think-tanks with smaller annual budgets of below US$5million we came out number fourteen globally,” he said.
“We are also the only Malaysian think-tank ranked in the top global 30 for transparency and governance.”
The rankings were published on Wednesday, January 18.
The United Nations University and the University of Pennyslvania surveyed 6,545 think-tanks from 182 countries over one year to compile the global rankings.
The Malaysian think tanks had proved independent, impartial in providing objective policy research, strategic analysis, and total commitment in upholding truth and justice, said Dr Yeoh.
The Southeast Asian Times

Marine secretariat agreed
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 25: The Malaysian and Indonesian government have agreed to establish a permanent regional secretariat to assess sustainable marine development, resources management, research and development projects and ways to improve the income of their coastal communities.
The agreement is part of the Coral Triangle Initiative and the regional secretariat will be established in Manado, Indonesia, reports The Star newspaper.
The agreement follows a meeting between Malaysia's Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Dr Maximus Ongkili and Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister, Sharif Cicip Sutarjo, in Jakarta.
The Southeast Asian Times

Awards honour pioneer reporter
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 24: All the winners of this year’s Adinegoro Journalism Awards are expected to be named on Wednesday, February 1.
The awards, which honour pioneer Indonesian reporter Djamaluddin Adinegoro, who was born in West Sumatra in 1904 and died in 1967, are made for five categories.
These are: In-depth news, editorial, photojournalism, opinion caricature and television journalism with a special award for cyber work.
The awards are held every year for National Press Day.
This year’s award for caricature was won with a work titled Asing, or foreign, by Jitet Kustana published in the mass circulation daily Kompas and its sister English-language daily, The Jakarta Post.
The caricature depicts a fish on a plate with flakes of meat to imply that Indonesia is not a country of plenty.
It is intended to remind readers of the critical situation and reawaken their nationalism.
The work carries a rupiah 50 million, about US$5,509, prize and a trophy, which will be presented at a ceremony on National Press Day in Jambi, central Sumatra, on Thursday, February. 9
The Southeast Asian Times

Thailand recognises Palestine
From News Reports
Bangkok, January 23: Thailand has recognised Palestine as an independent state and informed the Palestinian delegation and all member states at the United Nations in New York, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi.
Thailand also has friendly ties with Israel and is a major tourist destination for Israelis.
The Southeast Asian Times


Minister issues Tet warning
From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 22: Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cao Duc Phat has ordered the strict monitoring of imports and the slaughter of cattle and poultry for the lunar new year, or Tet, which begins Monday.
The minister reportedly told a meeting in Ha Noi that containers of decomposed animal organs had been intercepted on their way into Viet Nam.
He warned that the rampant slaughtering of animals and the selling of quarantine certificates would trigger the illegal sale of animals in the country, threatening the husbandry sector as well as transmitting disease.
The Southeast Asian Times

US blacklists Thai trade representatives
From News Reports:
Bangkok, January 21: The United States government has blacklisted prospective member of the Thai cabinet Nalinee Taveesin for helping the government of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, says a South African news website.
The report says Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a statement accusing Nalinee Taveesin together with two businessmen and a physician.
The blacklist is supposed an attempt to raise pressure on Zimbabwe’s "undemocratic" government.
The statement accuses Thai Trade Representative Nalinee Taveesin as having been part of business dealings on behalf of President Mugabe and his wife Grace.
The Southeast Asian Times

Farmers rally for massacre victims
From News Reports:
San Pablo City, The families of the 13 victims of the Mendiola Street massacre of January 22, 1987, when government anti-riot personnel fired on peasant farmers marching on Malacanang Palace, Manila, killing 13 and wounding numerous others, were to begin a two-day rally Supreme Court .with militant farmers organisations yesterday.
Their spokesman Orly Marcellana told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the families of the victims would continue to seek the re-distribution of estates to the farmers who worked it as well as justice for those who were slain.
Cory Aquino, the daughter of a landowning family, was president at the time of the massacre.
Farmer spokesperson Orly Marcellana said that at least 56 farmers had been victims of extrajudicial killings since her son, Benigno Aquino, had become president and his administration had not redistributed land.
Last year about 100 Philippine national police prevented peasant farmers from delivering petitions to the Supreme Court and Justice Department in Manila that called for investigation of the massacre.
The Southeast Asian Times

Senator McCain
drums for military alliance
From News Reports:
United States Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has arrived in Manila with three other members of congress where they met Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario yesterday afternoon.
But The Philippine Inquirer reports that departmental spokesperson Raul Hernandez, did not provide details about the meet.
The United States Ambassador in Manila Harry Thomas Jr said the delegation, which was scheduled to leave the Philippines today, would “meet with government leaders, discuss cooperation and reaffirm the alliance” between the governments of their two countries..
The three congressmen with Senator McCain are Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island, and Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire.
The Philippine Inquirer says Foreign Secretary asked Washington to expand military and political support to Southeast Asian nations against China in the South China Sea during a meeting with Senator McCain in Washington last year.
The Senator said the United States government should help members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Asean, such as the Philippines develop and deploy an early warning system and coastal vessels in the disputed waters.
Washington should also turn to diplomacy to help Asean members sort out their own disputes and “establish a more unified front,” he said.
The newspaper quotes Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance, Bayan, Renato Reyes Jr. said: “the visit comes in the wake of the unveiling of a new United States defence strategy that would deploy more American troops in the Asia Pacific.”
Senator McCain “has been a vocal advocate of United States intervention in the Spratlys dispute,” he said.
“This visit is a reaffirmation of the defense ties that make us a colonial outpost of the United States.”
“Sadly, the government will again reaffirm the Visiting Forces Agreement, including the decade-long deployment of US troops in Mindanao.
“Predictably, the government will again lobby for more United States military junk and second-hand equipment like the naval ship we got recently.”
The Southeast Asian Times

Tamils want movie banned
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 17: Supporters of the Tamil political party Indiya Jananayaga Katchi and Tamil Nadu Parakavakula Munnetra Sangam want a Tamil film banned and it renowned director Shankar, 37, arrested.
The Tamil daily Malaysia Nanban says the protests against the film – staring tarring popular South Indian actor Vijay Nanban – because it supposedly defames the Parakavakula Community and SRM University chancellor and founder of both the university and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi, T.R. Pachamuthu.
Opponents of the movie have threatened to demonstration if their demands were not met.
The Southeast Asian Times

Restaurant caught cooking tiger
From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 16: Police have caught chefs cooking tiger bones in the Tay Bac Quan restaurant, the Thanh Xuan District, reports Thanh Nien or Youth newspaper..
The bones, from a tiger skeleton, weighed 150 kilograms, it says.
The newspaper says Vietnam Science and Technology Institute representative Dang Tat The, who accompanied police, confirmed that the bone belongs to a protected tiger species. nt.
Investigation revealed that the tiger was brought to the restaurant two days earlier and the restaurant owner, Nguyen Thi Thanh, 44, had it slaughtered.
It is believed that Viet Nam now has fewer than 50 tigers in the wild.
In July last year, rangers seized the carcasses of 15 endangered monkeys from two poachers in the Nui Chua National Park central Ninh Thuan Province.
The species is listed on both local and international endangered animal lists.
The Southeast Asian Times

Sister temples agreed
From News Reports:
Manado, January 15: Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, Siem Reap, and Indonesia’s Borobudur temple in Central Java are to become sister sites, reports The Jakarta Post.
The newspaper says an Indonesian delegate I Gusti Putu Laksaguna announced the agreement between Cambodian and Indonesian tourism ministers during a bilateral meeting at the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, Asean, Tourism Forum at the Grand Kawanoa Convention Centre in Manado, North Sulawesi.
“The temples will become sister sites and the provinces will become sister provinces,” he said.
The delegate said that the Cambodian delegation had also asked that Indonesia open a direct flight to Siem Reap, an idea that the Indonesian delegation supported.
“Indonesia already has a plan to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta to Siem Reap, he told reporters in Manado.
The Southeast Asian Times

Indelible ink approved
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 14: The National Fatwa Council has declared the proposed indelible ink for Malaysia’s 13th general election
The decision will allow the Election Commission to immediately buy the substance, reports The New Straits Times.
The newspaper says 22 members of the council, Election Commissioners and chemists from the Islamic Development Department attended the muzakarah or meeting at which the decision was made.
Council chairman Dr Abdul Shukor Husin said the muzakarah had based its findings of the chemists.
“The indelible ink, if applied to Muslims, can absorb water and it does not pose any problem for them to perform their ablutions or prayers,” he said.
“The use of the ink will not interfere with a Muslim’s faith.
“So, as long as the same ink sent for analysis is used, we see no obstruction for Muslim voters to use it.”
Parliamentary Electoral Reform Committee chairman Dr Maximus Ongkili said the Electoral Commission could now proceed with the necessary preparations for the use of the ink in the next general election.
“This will include amendments to the election regulations, training of officers on the application of the ink as well as the procurement of the substance,” he said.
The use of indelible ink in the 2008 general election was dropped after police received reports of a plan to “sabotage” the election process in Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan.
The use of indelible ink was first proposed in June 2007 to safeguard against multiple or phantom voting.
The Southeast Asian Times

Student suspended for lowering PM’s flag
From News Reports:
Tanjung Malim, January 13: Student Adam Adli Abdul Halim, 21, who lowered a flag carrying the image of the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been suspended for three semesters from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak.
The 18-month sentence was imposed after a 90-minute hearing of the university's disciplinary committee, reports The Star newspaper.
The newspaper quotes the university’s deputy vice-chancellor Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar as saying the five-member committee found the student guilty of two charges: -damaging the reputation of the university and endangering morals and public order.
The Teaching-of-English-as-a Second-Language, or TESL, student said he would not appeal the decision and instead take legal action against the university.
The third-year student lowered the flag carrying Najib Tun Razak's image outside The United Malays National Organisation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on December 17.
The Southeast Asian Times

US congressman meets Agent Orange victims
From News Reports:
Ho Chi Minh City, January 12: United States House of Representatives member Robert Earl Filner, 69, has met Agent Orange victims and their families in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, and Quang Ninh.
He will also assess programmes being carried out for victims.
The congressman told Sai Gon Giai Phong, or Liberated Sai Gon, newspaper that he was moved and impressed to see the physicians caring for the victims, and would raise his voice in the confress on their behalf.
The congressman met Viet Nam Association for Victims of Agent Orange chairman Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh and Ho Chi Minh Association for Victims of Agent Orange Major General Tran Ngoc Tho in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Democrat Party member became chairman of the House of Representatives Veteran Affairs Committee in 2007.
In December, United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility – a grouping that unites 182 governments in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organisations and the private sector to address global environmental issues –started to clean Agent Orange from the former Phu Cat airbase in Viet Nam’s central Binh Dinh province.
The work includes establishment for a landfill site that will be used to isolate 5,400 cubic metres of dioxin-contaminated soil.
The landfill site is part of a US$5 million project that the United Nations agency and the global group launched in July 2010.
Its purpose is to help remove dioxin contamination from three former United States military bases.
It is also intended to minimise disruption to ecosystems and health risks and will answer to Viet Nam’s Natural Resources and Environment ministry.
The first phase of the clean-up focuses on containment, isolating the toxic soil and sediment in the landfill and, thereby, reducing the exposure risk and eliminating risks to people and animals.
The second phase will be to permanently destroy the dioxin.
UNDP will support the completion of the first phase – the containment at the former Phu Cat airbase and pave the way for the second phase – dioxin destruction – by testing appropriate technology at the former Bien Hoa airbase.
Phu Cat is one of the three former military airbases that are still highly dioxin contaminated because of the quantities of herbicides stored or handled there during the American War.
The third is the former Da Nang airbase.
In November, newly-elected Australian Green Party Senator Lee Rhiannon told parliament of the need of justice for Agent Orange victims and identified the work of the newly-launched Agent Orange Justice - Australia Viet Nam Solidarity Network.
Agent Orange Justice was the Australian component of the international campaign to hold the United States government responsible for the disaster it created for millions of Vietnamese as a result of its 10-year spraying of the chemical weapon Agent Orange, the senator from New South Wales said.
The senator reminded parliament that August 10 marked the 50th anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare programme in Viet Nam.
The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange-Dioxin had started and international campaign that targets the United States government and the chemical companies which produced Agent Orange to pay to clean up the poisoned soil and wherever else this contaminant is found in Viet Nam's environment, she said.
The campaign was also calling for adequate compensation for about three million Vietnamese who were still affected by this chemical.
The US has so far refused to accept full responsibility.
Australian troops were also involved in the use of herbicides and insecticides in Viet Nam and some troops were exposed to Agent Orange.
The Southeast Asian Times

Malaysians fail in bid to vote absentee
From News Reports:
Kula Lumpur, January 11: High Court judge Rohana Yusuf has denied six Malaysians resident in Britain the right to be registered as absent voters in the next general election.
The judge ruled that the Election Commission's decision not register the six as absent voters accorded with the law, says The Star newspaper.
“I must say that this application is rather odd. It is essentially a challenge
of a decision by a body that simply complies with the law. In other words, it is
a challenge of a perfectly valid decision of the EC under the Regulation,” said the judge in her ten-page judgement..
“If the Regulation is not challenged and is thereby accepted as valid law, then I am unable to understand how a decision made pursuant to such law can be subject to a judicial review,” she said.
The six, Dr Teo Hoon Seong, electrical engineer Vinesh, entrepreneur Paramjeet Singh, Dr Yolanda Sydney Augustin, translator Sim Tze Wei and software architect Leong See See lodged their application in October.
They sought a declaration that as Malaysians staying abroad, they were entitled to be registered as absent voters and directed the Electoral Commission, named as the single respondent, to register them.
The Southeast Asian Times

Karangasem turns to spiritual tourism
From News Reports:
Candi Dasa, January 10: Spiritual tourism has become crucial to the economy of the Karangasem, eastern Bali, the island’s most impoverished regency, regency reports The Jakarta Post.
The newspaper quotes yoga instructor I Nyoman Kawi as saying he teaches in two five-star hotels for four days a week and at the Gedong Gandhi Ashram, Candidasa, with charging a fee for two days a week.
“Everybody can come to the ashram. There’s no need to pay,” he said.
“Maybe they began to feel a ‘magnetism’ to practice yoga on the eastern coast of Bali,” he told the newspaper arguing the regency’s administrators and tourism enterprises should design a master plan to develop spiritual tourism in the regency.
Karangasem was devastated when Mount Agung erupted in 1963, ultimately killing 1900 people. Karangasem was a kingdom before Bali was conquered by the Dutch.
The Southeast Asian Times