South East Asia Summary # 121

At political Front

• Indonesia

Looking at the percentage of women who competed for national parliamentary seats in Indonesia s April 2009 election - 35.25 percent of 11,301 candidates - one can conclude that the right of women to actively participate in Indonesia s political life is guaranteed. When it comes to voting and running for public office this might be true but, collectively, Indonesian women still have a long way to go when it comes to shaping the public policies that affect their lives.

Women s organizations are changing this reality with voter education programs that address political, cultural and, perhaps most importantly, religious issues. Since 1999, organizations have trained women to exercise their political rights so they can improve the efficacy of their participation in politics. With official results of the election released this past weekend, women will occupy 15 percent of total legislative seats. Although limited, this participation is a step in the right direction and helps to set an example and motivate other women to become more involved in politics. Voter education programs that address the obstacles to greater female participation and provide religious justification for women s empowerment will help ensure that this participation is also effective when it comes to shaping policy.

A 40-YEAR-OLD politician on Sunday won a surprising victory over the two top contenders in the election to lead Indonesia's largest political party.

Anas Urbaningrum was elected chairman of the Democratic Party in a two-part vote Sunday at the conclusion of the party's three-day Congress in the west Java city of Bandung, party official Evert Ernst Mangindaan announced.

The outcome shows that the party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is looking to a younger generation of politicians to take on the political machinations necessary to stand off against the opposition or even pro-government coalition parties.

'The young figure who has character and spirit is very much needed by the party for the future, and Urbaningrum fits the bill,' said political analyst Andrinof Chaniago from the University of Indonesia. In a surprising turn of events, popular Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, 47, was ousted in the first round of votes, despite being widely expected to win the chairmanship and having Yudhoyono's son as his campaign leader. In the second round, Urbaningrum won 280 of 531 delegates' votes, defeating House Speaker Marzuki Alie, 54, the party's senior cadre who took 248 votes.

• Philippine

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Friday a deal to end a Muslim separatist conflict in the south could not be reached in her final month in office, but said she would continue to support the peace talks.

Arroyo brought the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) back to the negotiating table, and tapped the Malaysian government to help facilitate talks, after her predecessor waged an all-out war on Mindanao island in 2000. However, negotiators said a peace deal would have to be left to the incoming government, with Senator Benigno Aquino III set to be declared the country’s next president after elections earlier this month. “As president, I fought every day in office to bring that peace to that great island,” Arroyo, who will become a member of Congress after her term ends on June 30, told a forum of international peace negotiators

• Thailand

Despite its calls for “reconciliation” in the wake of last week’s military’s crackdown on “Red Shirt” protests, the Thai government is widening its witch hunt against alleged leaders, financial backers and supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). By widening the witch hunt against UDD leaders, the Abhisit government will only harden hostility among the urban and rural poor toward the ruling elites and ensure that further political upheavals are inevitable.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Saturday that holding of elections this year was unlikely."Obviously, it's a lot more difficult to hold elections by the end of the year," he said at a news conference.Abhisit said peace needed to be fully restored after deadly riots last week involving anti-government protesters and that a reconciliation plan needed to be implemented.

Foreign Relation

• Indonesia

President Barack Obama’s long-awaited return to Indonesia is scheduled for June 14, the US State Department announced on its Web site, but officials in Jakarta couldn’t confirm the date. Obama’s visit to Indonesia, where he spent a few years of his childhood, had initially been set for March but was postponed so he could focus on pushing a landmark health reform bill through US Congress.It was not known whether first lady Michele Obama and their two daughters would also come

At Geo-strategic Front

• Indonesia

Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Friday he believes new opportunities are available for the Malaysian defence industry to collaborate with key defence industry players in the United States. "The US' key defence industry players are starting to look at Malaysia and are more forthcoming on the issue of transfer of defence technology," he said

At economic Front

• Indonesia

The World Bank today approved its first ever development policy loan dedicated to climate change mitigation and adaptation in Indonesia. The US$ 200 million “Climate Change DPL” is designed to support the Indonesian government in its efforts to adopt a lower carbon, more climate-resilient growth path. With this investment, the World Bank joins the support provided over the last two years by the Governments of Japan (JICA) and France (AFD).

• Malaysia

Malaysia must cut subsidies on areas such as fuel and food in order to avoid a debt crisis in the next 10 years similar to that seen in Greece, a minister warned Thursday.

Idris Jala, a minister in the prime minister's department said the subsidies were an unsustainable financial burden on Southeast Asia's third-largest economy that the government needed to address swiftly.

"We do not want to end up like Greece ... Our (budget) deficit rose to record high of 47 billion ringgit (14 billion dollars) last year," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency. "Malaysia could go bankrupt in 2019." Malaysia's economy grew 10.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, its highest jump in a decade, and is on track for six percent expansion for the whole year.Earlier this year it unveiled plans for economic reforms including an overhaul of racial preferences for majority Malays, part of a roadmap to achieve developed-nation status by 2020.

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris in discussion with his Malaysian counterpart Ahmed Susni Manadzlah.External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris met his Malaysian counterpart, Ahmed Musni Manadzlah, during the G-15 summit in Tehran, Iran.

The two Ministers discussed avenues of enhancing bilateral cooperation. Prof. Peiris enlightened the Malaysian Minister on the investment opportunities that have arisen in the post-conflict Sri Lanka.

Strong positive signals are beginning to be received from Middle-East countries to invest in Malaysia, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the Qatar Investment Authority had recently committed a US$5 billion investment in the country, reportedly, to tap, among others, the energy sector as well as strategic real estate development in the Klang Valley.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the QIA and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) was signed on May 14. Accordingly, up to 10,000 additional jobs, involving a substantial number of high-qualification jobs, 100 PhD holders, 1,000 degree holders, 3,000 diploma and certificate holders will be created at the facility over time.

• Thailand

Thai authorities launched a massive clean-up operation in Bangkok's charred commercial district yesterday as the city prepared for the resumption of business after the worst riots in modern history. Thailand's stock exchange and other financial markets will resume full-day trading today, after being closed on Thursday and Friday following a wave of arson and street battles when the army dispersed thousands of anti-government protesters.

The recent violent movement by the anti-government protestors could cost the Thai economy from about 138 billion baht (4.239 billion U.S. dollars) to 155 billion baht (4.761 billion U.S. dollars), Thanawat Polwichai, director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), said on Thursday.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) for the whole 2010 could be deducted by 1.4 percent to 1.6 percent due to the political violence, the Thai News Agency (TNA) quoted Thanawat as saying. "The political unrest has not yet affected the Thai export sector as there was no shut down of airports or sea ports," she said."(The) curfew imposition will have a short term affect on the transportation of oil, but it will not affect the second quarter," she said.

The Philippine economy accelerated in the first quarter, underpinned by a rebound in exports and election-related spending.Gross domestic product rose a seasonally adjusted 3% compared with the previous three months, when the economy grew 0.9%.

On a year-to-year basis, the economy grew 7.3%, more robust than the 0.5% growth recorded in the same quarter of 2009 and from the revised 2.1% expansion posted in the fourth quarter, the National Statistical Coordination Board said Thursday.

• Singapore

Singapore and Hong Kong are the world's most competitive economies, an annual survey said Friday, demoting the United States from the top spot for the first time since 1993.

The study lists 58 economies according to 328 criteria that measure how the nations create and maintain conditions favorable to businesses - a formula that had favored the United States for 16 years."They are so close in the rankings, that it would be probably better to define them as a leading trio," said Stephane Garelli, professor at the Lausanne, Switzerland-based IMD business school, publisher of the World Competitiveness Yearbook.

At Social Front

• Indonesia

With the national census due to close at the end of this month, Vice President Boediono on Tuesday stressed the need to focus on the data about people’s lives instead of just being concerned with the size of the population.“Population is a national asset, therefore it should be managed, recorded and developed in the best way possible,” Boediono said during the opening of the 2010 national coordination meeting on population and civil registry at the Bidakara building in Jakarta. Boediono also warned the teams that would be in charge of implementing the programs at the national and regional levels to take care in managing the funds that would be put at their disposal.“There should be accountability for every rupiah,” he said.

Authorities in a devoutly Islamic district of Indonesia's Aceh province have distributed 20,000 long skirts and prohibited shops from selling tight dresses as a regulation banning Muslim women from wearing revealing clothing took effect.

The long skirts are to be given to Muslim women caught violating the dress code during a two-month campaign to enforce the regulation, said Ramli Mansur, head of West Aceh district.

• Cambodia

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that a single country cannot fight against crimes and terrorism, but joint cooperation.Eang Sophalett, spokesman of Prime Minister Hun Sen said the premier made such remarks during his meeting with an ASEANAPOL delegation in Phnom Penh.

"Samdech said that fighting against crimes and terrorism cannot be made alone by a single country, but needs joint cooperation among member states of Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) and other states in the region," he was quoted as talking to the delegation.

• Malaysia

A group of Rohingyas on Sunday appealed to the government to exclude them from the upcoming amnesty programme for undocumented foreigners in the country, since they were registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia concept is a blessing to folk deep in the state's interior because it ensures that they are not left out of the country's development programmes and processes, a gathering here was told Saturday. "This is 1Malaysia. It is about social justice as well where the people, especially the minority groups living in the remote areas, are given due attention," he said at a 1Malaysia gathering with the leaders at Rh.George Chungut in Pakan near here.

Mawan also cautioned the people against falling prey to attempts by a certain group out to disunite them through whatever means.

"These people are simply crazy for power.They will not hesitate to exploit racial, religious and cultural issues to achieve their aims," he said, adding that it was important for the public to remain united to counter the group

• Philippine

The head of the government's peace panel on Saturday asked the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to be more patient with the peace talks.

"Peacemaking is never easy, and the search for a political settlement to long-standing conflicts, such as that in Mindanao, requires continued focus, lots of compromises on both sides and tons of patience," government peace panel head Rafael Seguis said in a statement.Seguis was reacting to MILF panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal's statement that he is "disgusted" with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's failure to seal a peace agreement with their group after 9 years of talks.

TODAY starts a series of mass actions by journalists, workers, students, professionals, business and church leaders and civil- society groups in their vigorous final push for Congress to ratify the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

But the world waits and watches, too. More than just a Philippine story, the 14-year advocacy of Filipinos for Congress to enact the law has become a serious concern of freedom of information advocates, scholars and members of parliament across the globe. At noon today, over 130 groups under the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition will hold a motorcade from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City (Metro Manila) to the House of Representatives to press lawmakers to ratify the Congress’s bicameral conference committee report on the FOI Act.

A Thai court issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on terrorism charges, accusing the fugitive former leader of fomenting two months of unrest in Bangkok that left 88 people dead.If found guilty of the charges, he could face the death penalty.Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and later fled abroad ahead of a corruption conviction, has been accused by the government of being a key force behind Red Shirt protesters who seized areas of downtown Bangkok before being overcome by army troops last week.

• Vietnam

Thirty-five years after the end of the Vietnam war, its most contentious remaining legacy is Agent Orange. Eighty-two per cent of Vietnamese surveyed in a recent Associated Press-GfK Poll said the United States should be doing more to help people suffering from illnesses associated with the herbicide, including children born with birth defects.

After president George W. Bush pledged to work on the issue on a Hanoi visit in 2006, the US Congress has approved US$9 million mostly to address environmental clean-up of Agent Orange. But while the US has provided assistance to Vietnamese with disabilities - regardless of their cause - it maintains that there is no clear link between Agent Orange and health problems.

Vietnamese officials say the US needs to make a much bigger financial commitment - US$6 million has been allocated so far - to address the environmental and health problems unleashed by Agent Orange.

"Six million dollars is nothing compared to the consequences left behind by Agent Orange," said Le Ke Son, deputy general administrator of Vietnam's Environmental Administration. "How much does one Tomahawk missile cost?"

• Singapore

Public beaches stained by an oil slick from a tanker damaged in a collision off Singapore have been closed ahead of the island’s summer school holidays, officials said Thursday.

A chocolate-like film covered a stretch of water along the popular East Coast Park after crude from Tuesday’s collision slipped out of a floating cordon at sea.

Officials maintained that most of the spill was still far from the shores of the city-state, which has one of the world’s busiest ports and expects 11.5 million to 12.5 million tourists this year, more than double its population.

South East Asia Summary # 120

At political Front

• Malaysia

Malaysia’s opposition won a key by-election in Sarawak state on Borneo island yesterday, albeit with a narrow majority, that showed the government had failed to win back ethnic Chinese voters.

The opposition took the Sibu seat with a majority of 398 from the National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 52 years in a boost that came after a wave of defections and as its leader Anwar Ibrahim stood trial for sodomy.

Sibu is around 60% ethnic Chinese in a Southeast Asian country where they account for 25% of the 28mn population that is mainly ethnic Malay and Muslim.

• Philippine

The Philippine deputy mayor, whose wife, two sisters and four other relatives were among 57 people killed in an election-related massacre last year, was yesterday declared winner of the governorship of his troubled province.

Philippine politics will never be the same after the country's first automated ballot electrified voters long used to cheating, violence and disputes over delayed results.

Senator Benigno Aquino, 50, whose parents led the struggle to restore Philippine democracy, will soon become the country's first digitally elected president after a rapid vote count showed him winning by a landslide.

Despite daunting logistic challenges in a sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago with 50 million voters, ballot-counting machines were activated just in time for Monday's elections for 17,000 positions.

The saying that "guns, goons and gold" lord it over Philippine elections may no longer be totally true after a new weapon, the microchip, entered the scene.

After the death of his national heroine mother, Benigno Aquino rode a wave of public emotion all the way to the Philippine presidency. Now he needs to show that politically at least, he is not his mother's son. He has a strong mandate to fight graft and investigate his unpopular predecessor, but must show leadership and assertiveness so far absent in his career to ensure his market-friendly agenda is not derailed by vested interests, internal and external. He has to focus of more significantly of following line along with many others:

1. He cannot avoid the relatives and the people who campaigned for him
2. Fiscal problem is a key requirement if the Philippines wants a ratings upgrade from junk status
3. He has to plan double defence spending to 2 percent of GDP, which should help initial relations, and his large margin of victory should also give him authority.

The conduct of the May 2010 elections has forced the National Statistics Office (NSO) to delay the start of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing. The 2010 census will be conducted through interviews and self-adminsitered questionnaires. This year's census will ask for new data like functional disabillity--like visual impairment, difficulty in walking, among others--and housing rentals. The latter will be among the data to be used by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in regulating rental rates, as prescribed by Republic Act 9653 or the Rent Control Act of 2009.Batas Pambansa Blg. 72 states that integrated census should be conducted every 10 years beginning 1980, and that public school teachers should be employed for enumeration work.Incidentally, public school teachers are also mandated by law to serve as board of election inspectors during elections.

• Cambodia

The Cambodian government Monday urged all parties concerned in Thailand to resume peaceful talks in order to achieve a political settlement to the current stand- off.In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said that Cambodia, as a neighbouring country and a member state of ASEAN "is very concerned by the increasingly severe violence in Thailand."

Cambodia's ruling party has set up local committees nationwide to work out the political preferences of each citizen ahead of national elections in 2013, national media reported Wednesday.A document seen by the Cambodia Daily newspaper said people would be classified as white, gray or black, depending on their affinity to the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), with the party's strongest supporters categorized as white.

The object is to work out what motivates people who fall into the gray or black categories, then 'transform the black and gray to become white,' the document said.

It said another purpose is to prioritize help for ruling party supporters while CPP officials claimed information gathered on political affiliations would be used solely for internal purposes

• Thailand

Thousands of Red Shirt supporters in a fortified camp appeared calm as Thai troops staged a bloody operation to disperse anti-government protesters today. Some were eating or sleeping. Others prepared for battle.

The United Nations urged Thailand to "step back from the brink" to avoid further loss of life as troops and protestors Tuesday remained locked in a tense confrontation after deadly street clashes.

Leaders of the "Red Shirt" protestors offered the government a truce Monday after five days of violence in central Bangkok that have left 38 people dead and more than 270 wounded.UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on both sides to negotiate an end to the violence, which has turned parts of the Thai capital into no-go zones.

Thailand's government rejected protesters' unconditional offer to negotiate Tuesday and insisted there would be no talks until the dwindling anti-government movement abandoned the ritzy areas of central Bangkok it has occupied for weeks.

Protest leaders argued over whether they should continue to resist a crackdown that has left 39 people dead over six days. The government estimated that only 3,000 people remain in the downtown encampment, down from 5,000 on Sunday and 10,000 last week.

Scattered clashes continued Tuesday outside the main protest area, but they appeared to be less intense than in previous days. Since the army surrounded the fortified entrances to the protest zone last Thursday, fiery battles have raged between soldiers firing live ammunition and hundreds of rioters with homemade weapons.

Thailand’s government must engage former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in reconciliation efforts after a bloody crackdown on his Red Shirts supporters, or risk inflaming the nation’s crisis, analysts said.

The government has accused Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon ousted in a 2006 coup, of bankrolling and masterminding Thailand’s worst political violence in decades which has left 83 dead since Reds rallies erupted in March.

Thaksin lives in exile to avoid a jail sentence for corruption, but the government has exerted pressure on countries he has visited, moved to freeze his finances and sought a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges.

Foreign Relation

• Singapore

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says Singapore's links with China will strengthen as China's economy continues to grow. Mr Lim said China is the top investment destination for Singapore companies.

The investments are well-diversified across many sectors, like manufacturing and retail. Singapore companies are also exploring opportunities in less developed areas in Western and Central China. On whether Singapore businesses are affected by the current upswing in China property prices, Mr Lim said that is mainly concentrated in the residential property segment.

US military presence remains crucial to the balance of power in Asia, says Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. East Asian security still needs the presence of American forces, so the region can continue its economic growth and balance the emergence of China, a country that is also important for this balance as there is no one country that should dominate Asia

• Indonesia

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in Singapore for a retreat with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. This is the Indonesian leader's second visit to Singapore within a span of eight months.

• Philippine

Apparent president-elect Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd and US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. discussed “potentials for increased cooperation” between Manila and Washington during a meeting on Friday.

Calling on Aquino in what could be the first for a foreign ambassador in the country, Thomas practically declared his host as the next president of the Philippines although the votes from the May 10 elections still have to be counted officially.“We want to [talk] with the incoming administration, work very closely with them, and . . . it is up to them to decide how they will like to talk with the US,” the ambassador said during an interview after his meeting with Aquino.

At economic Front

• Indonesia

Indonesia is committed to have a nuclear power plant soon as new source of energy, officials said here on Monday.For the purpose, Indonesia has allocated 7 billion rupiah (about 769,633 U.S. dollars) for nuclear power plant socialization to curb fear among people.

"The government has allocated the fund in 2009. That is a clear indication that the government is ready to move to seize the opportunity," Minister for Research and Technology Suharna Suryapranata told a parliamentary hearing.He said that his ministry is given limited authority for the project, just for preparation of the power plant construction.

MalaysiaHe also said that in the economically point of view, the reactor must provide benefit for a country."As the operators would be private parties, surely they know calculation in bringing profitability," he said.However, members of parliament said that the government must regulate it very carefully so people would not be burdened by the power cost

The biggest one-day drop in more than a year on Wall Street on Thursday hit the Indonesian market on Friday, as fresh doubts about the strength of the US economy added to worries about European debt, causing jittery investors to flee riskier assets such as developing market stocks.

The Jakarta Composite Index dove 4 percent in morning trade before trimming its losses to 2.6 percent, and capping its worst week since the height of the global financial crisis in November 2008. The index tumbled 8.2 percent over the week, and has fallen 12 percent from a record high set in early May. A drop of more than 10 percent is considered a correction by some analysts.

• Thailand

The Thai stock exchange said on Wednesday that it would be closed for the last two trading days of the week due to violence that has gripped the capital Bangkok. The news was announced on the bourse’s website. Dow Jones Newswires said a fire broke out on the ground floor of the Stock Exchange of Thailand’s headquarters. The index was open for half a day before closing up 0.71 percent, or 5.43 points at 765.54.

The Thai government has extended an overnight curfew to 21 provinces as unrest spread from the capital to seven provinces, with town halls burnt in three northern area

Central World shopping centre burns after troops evicted anti-government “Red Shirt” protesters from Bangkok’s shopping district yesterday. Protesters torched at least 17 buildings, including the Thai stock exchange and Central World, Southeast Asia’s second-biggest department store complex. Thailand’s benchmark stock index ended up 0.71% at 765.54 yesterday. Analysts said some investors bought on news the military had moved in to disperse protesters who have paralysed a central commercial district for more than six weeks. “For investors, it is going to take years to bring credibility back to the country,”

Thai seafood exports have received minimal impact from the riots in Bangkok with only a small volume of cargoes being delayed at the capital's ports.The protests that forced the government to announce national holidays for the entire week interrupted export procedures and delayed some shipments, said Panisuan Jamnarnwej, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association.

• Malaysia

Malaysia’s minister of plantation industries and commodities, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, has claimed that the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive unfairly excludes palm oil from the European market. The minister made the statement at 3 May meeting that also saw the launch of the Indonesia-Malaysia Palm Oil Group, a coalition of six Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil producer associations. The group aims to address concerns over the sustainability of palm oil production.

• Singapore

Despite the economic uncertainties in Europe, many Singaporeans are still keen to invest in a new property. A recent survey by PropertyGuru, an online property site, found that seven in 10 home hunters will buy a property in the next 24 months.

The private residential market remains resilient with a bumper sale of 2,207 new units in April. Private apartments are hot property, and public housing flats are also enjoying good demand since the second half of 2009.

The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) have inked an agreement to launch Southeast Asia's first carbon label. The label quantifies and declares the carbon footprint of products and services. SEC's executive director, Howard Shaw, said the label will encourage businesses to take steps to reduce the carbon content of their products and services

Senior finance executives worldwide have reported growing optimism about economic recovery. But the executives are proceeding with caution investing in categories that will boost growth such as sales and product development while selectively increasing discretionary spending in areas like marketing and technology; In Singapore, eight in ten respondents expect to see economic growth in the year ahead.

Some 21 per cent of the respondents said their companies have already experienced an increase in demand for their products and 51 per cent expect an increase in the second or third quarters of this year. Also, about 84 per cent said their companies plan to increase headcount this year. Meanwhile, respondents from Singapore are also expecting their companies to increase business travel spending in the next year.

Singapore's economy grew by a better-than-expected 15.5 per cent year on year in the first quarter, spurred mainly by strong global demand for electronics, official data showed Thursday. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, gross domestic product (GDP) surged 38.6 per cent in the three months to March, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said.

Initial government estimates released in April showed the economy expanded an annual 13.1 per cent and 32.1 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The MTI said the first quarter display was driven by the manufacturing sector's annual 32.9 per cent surge amid buoyant global demand for electronics products, especially semiconductor chips.

"The strong momentum seen in the first quarter was broad-based, led by the manufacturing sector. The electronics cluster enjoyed the strongest growth, underpinned by strong global demand for semiconductor chips," the MTI said.

• Cambodia

Cambodia is devastating its coast by dredging vast quantities of sand to sell to tiny Singapore for expansion projects, with multimillion-dollar profits going to tycoons close to the Cambodian prime minister, a watchdog group said last week.

Impoverished Cambodia has become the new prime source of the masses of sand used for projects to artificially enlarge Singapore's island territory now that several other Southeast Asian nations, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, have banned sand exports because of environmental concerns.

Singapore has increased its surface area by 20% in recent decades by filling in coastal seabeds to create valuable waterfront ground, a process known as land reclamation.

London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness criticized Singapore for the practice, pointing out that the wealthy island city-state at the same time "presents itself as a regional leader on environmental issues.

• Vietnam

Vietnam raised this year’s inflation goal to 8 percent amid signs it will miss the current forecast of 7 percent as strengthening economic growth pushes up prices.

The Southeast Asian nation’s inflation expectations need to be “consistent” with its 2010 economic growth target of 6.5 percent, according to a statement on the government’s website Monday.

The Vietnam government’s top priorities are to implement measures to stabilize the economy, control inflation and to ensure a return to “solid economic growth,” Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said Thursday.

“General socioeconomic conditions in the first months of 2010 continued to improve and inflation is still under control,” Hung said in the opening speech of the National Assembly meeting in Hanoi. “The macroeconomic situation is not really stable as it is facing new difficulties and challenges.”

At Social Front

• Indonesia

Amid bilateral negotiations, Indonesia and Malaysia remain committed to signing a new labor agreement to provide legal protection, which will reopen the supply of Indonesian migrant workers to the neighboring country.Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said upon his return from Kuala Lumpur Thursday that the agreement was expected to be signed during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's official visit to the Malaysian capital on May 18.

• Cambodia

TEARFUL Cambodians marked an annual 'Day of Anger' with a re-enactment of Khmer Rouge crimes at a notorious 'killing field' on Thursday to commemorate relatives killed by the regime.Some 3,000 people, including Buddhist monks, watched as students mimed raping, bludgeoning, strangling and eviscerating bound victims to remember those who died at Choeung Ek, a field outside the capital Phnom Penh.

Many sobbed during the performance by the black-clad students just metres from mass graves where Khmer Rouge soldiers murdered thousands of people during the rule of the hardline communist movement in the late 1970s.

• Brunei

THE arrears in electricity for homes and commercial buildings in Brunei keep rising every month and in 2009 alone have reached the $1 billion

So Calling on Bruneians to save electricity, the religious leaders brought out facts and figures to show that the people owed the government a whopping $1 B in electricity bills up to last year 2009 alone. And up to March 2010, hotel owners owed $4Million dollars to the Government.

Trying to make the point that what one can't pay shouldn't be used, the Imams said that it's a colossal waste to use so much more than one needs. They urged Bruneians to be prudent in electricity usage. The government and the private sectors call upon the public to be proactive in answering the call to be wise and prudent in energy usage through three simple ways namely by switching off lamps when not in use, switching off water heaters when not in use, as wellas to setting air conditioners to 24 degrees Celsius or at least, one degree higher than usual

At environmental Front

• Philippine

Seven people, including the governor of a province in the southern Tagalog region in the Philippines, died in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon.

Quezon Governor Rafael Nantes, a pilot and two of his security aides were on board the ill-fated private helicopter that crashed in a residential area in the provincial capital of Lucena five minutes after taking off from a state-run school where he had a speaking engagement.

The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group wants incoming President Benigno Aquino to offer a clear, long-term solution to the rebellion in the south of the mainly Catholic country, a senior guerilla leader said yesterday.

Since 1997 there have been off-and-on negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end a conflict that has run more than 40 years, killing 120,000 people and displacing 2mn in the resource-rich south.

A sustained resolution to the conflict is essential to removing a long-term investment risk in the Philippines, and could improve access to gold and copper deposits on the island of Mindanao, as well as nearby offshore gas and oil fields. Mohaqher Iqbal, the MILF’s chief peace negotiator, said he was optimistic talks would continue under Aquino, who has a commanding lead in unofficial tallies of last week’s vote, but wanted more details of the new government’s plans. Iqbal said the 11,000-strong MILF had dropped demands for a separate and independent Islamic state but wanted more than just an autonomous government, including a greater share of revenues generated by strategic resources, such as oil and gas and metals.

Muslim separatists blamed for years of conflict and displacement on the southern island of Mindanao have agreed to help the government rid the area of unexploded ordnance and landmines. The move is part of an effort to protect thousands of civilians returning to their ruined homes and villages, rebel and government spokesmen confirmed to IRIN.

Heavy fighting broke out between two separate factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Barangay Kulambog, Sultan sa Barongis in Maguindanao province Friday afternoon allegedly due to a turf war, police and government reports said.

Senior Superintendent Alex Lineses, Maguindanao police provincial director, said fighters from the 105th and 106th MILF Base Commands started an armed confrontation at around 4 p.m, which escalated and continued for several hours. At least 2 houses went up in flames during the fighting, he said

• Cambodia

The European Union is likely to sign an agreement with Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Maldives to assist the three countries to combat the adverse impact of the climate change.

The agreement is expected to be signed at the two-day regional conference of the Global Climate Change Alliance to be held in Dhaka on May 30-31 in collaboration with the European Union, officials said.Nine countries of Asia - Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Yemen - will participate in the conference.

ASEAN

ASEAN countries are developing cooperative programs of defense, Vietnam's official said at an ASEAN defense ministers' meeting wrapped up in Hanoi on Thursday,

Minister of National Defense Phung Quang Thanh was quoted as saying that the cooperative programs will include joint sea and land patrols, and fighting terrorism.

ASEAN countries will also plan rehearsals for rescues and humanitarian missions in case of emergencies caused by natural disasters, Thanh told the meeting on regional security and defense.During the four-day session, the ministers and high-ranking defense officials shared their views about ASEAN current security situation and report on each countries’ defense policy, another news website Vietnamnet said.

Clockwise, friends console a woman looking for a relative, a "red shirt" protester who was not on the train arriving from Bangkok, at the Chiang Mai train station, 700 km north of Bangkok yesterday. An army soldier stands guard over anti-government "red shirt" supporters detained at a Buddhist temple in central Bangkok. Bullets and a picture of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra are found from the encampment of the "red shirt".Reuters

South East Asia Summary # 119

At political front
• Indonesia
Indonesia’s National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri holds a paper showing terrorist suspects during a press conference at the police headquarters in Jakarta yesterday Indonesian militants captured in recent police raids were planning a series of attacks including a Mumbai-style hotel siege targeting foreigners and an assault on the president at an Independence Day ceremony, police said yesterday. The men also planned to target US President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to visit the country later this year, and plotted the attacks to instal sharia law in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, officials said
• Malaysia
Campaigning began yesterday for a Malaysian by-election in a government stronghold state whose outcome could boost Prime Minister Najib Razak’s confidence to call snap national polls as early as next year.The race for the mainly urban and ethnic Chinese parliament seat of Sibu in the timber and resource rich Borneo state of Sarawak pits a party in Najib’s National Front coalition against the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). The uncertainties have helped dent foreign investment, with net portfolio and direct investment outflows reaching $61bn in 2008 and 2009 according to official data.
Retention improved this year, mainly into a bond market fuelled by a Malaysian interest rate hike and the use of the ringgit as a proxy for a possible Chinese yuan revaluation, although Malaysian assets have been hit by risk aversion due to investor fears that Greece may default.
Political tensions in Malaysia are also being fueled by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s ongoing trial for sodomy that resumes next week and which he says is a political conspiracy.
A contentious verdict in the trial that ends late August could anger his supporters and lead to a repeat of the street demonstrations that rocked the capital following Anwar’s sacking as Deputy Prime Minister in 1998, political analysts have said
• Thailand
Two Thai policeman were killed and 13 people wounded in gun and grenade attacks overnight, threatening efforts to forge a deal on ending nearly two months of anti-government protests that have undermined the economy. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has put forward a plan to end the rallies that have crippled Bangkok and scared off tourists, but it remains in limbo as talks drag on over the details, including a proposed early election in mid-November The stand-off has paralysed the commercial heart of the capital for nearly two months, but its roots stretch back to the prime ministership of Thaksin Shinawatra — a populist tycoon ousted in a 2006 military coup — and the deep social divisions it exposed between Thailand’s traditional elite and rural masses.
Anti-government protesters said Monday they will accept Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s national reconciliation plan, including an early general election Nov 14. But, they added, they will continue their sit-in protest in Bangkok’s prime shopping and commercial streets until the government allows their satellite television to go back on the air and until key government leaders face charges related to bloody April 10 clashes in which 25 people were killed and more than 800 others wounded.
The economy and the people's health have improved significantly, but most Thais are seriously disturbed by politics, Thailand's 2009 Human Development report says.
According to the report, poverty and disease have decreased significantly, but people are still at risk from crime, road accidents, food safety, pollution, human trafficking, drugs, domestic and sexual violence, the destruction of natural resources, and political disorder.
While major diseases such as HIV/Aids have been on the decline, people are suffering from stress and the political rift was giving rise to conflict and polarisation in society.
Human security in Thailand overall was deemed more than moderately secure, according to the report.
Some of the issues facing Thailand in coming years include addressing the needs of small farmers, non-citizens, social inequality, issues surrounding the ageing population, climate change, and water supply management, the report said.
Southeast Asian leaders have raised concerns about regional stability in the wake of Thailand's political crisis, in what observers say is the latest sign the ASEAN regional bloc is slowly easing its policy of non-interference in the affairs of member states.

• Philippine
More than 85,000 candidates are contesting about 17,000 positions.Front-runner for president is Noynoy Aquino, the son of Benigno "Ninoy" and Corazon "Cory" Aquino.His father was shot and killed on his return to the Philippines from political exile in 1983.Cory Aquino became president after a "people power" revolution in 1986 against Ferdinand Marcos.Noynoy, 50, has served as a legislator for the past 12 years. His mother Cory died last year.The other main candidate is Senator Manny Villar, 60, one of the richest men in the Philippines. However, his polling figures have slipped in recent weeks.Another presidential hopeful is Joseph Estrada, 73: the former film star has been president before, but was ousted in a popular revolt after two years in power.More than 85,000 candidates are contesting about 17,000 positions.
Muslims, on the other hand, are around eight million. Muslims of this country have been divided and conquered by their rulers from Manila. The MNLF and the MILF are independent of each other but fighting for the same constituency. The MNLF leadership has been fragmented by the denizens of the Palace, made palatable to the co-opted with the offer of political positions. The Muslim politicians are divided, following whoever controls the release of funds (over the last 9 years, that was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo). Civil society leaders rail against our political marginalization but have not learned the lessons offered by the late Ka Erdie Manalo of INC and Pastor Quiboloy.
The Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy together with the members of the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines and representatives of Muslim civil society gave the Bangsamoro/Muslim Political Agenda to the presidential candidates and their parties. We might as well have burned the paper and sent smoke signals for all the attention we received.
Smartmatic, the company in charge of the automation electoral project and services for the Philippines General Elections, successfully deployed its electoral solution in the Asian country. Of a total of 76,340 voting machines used, only 350 (0.50%) failed as they broke during transportation, which is a number way below of the expected 2% for these cases. Most of the machines that had any problems were replaced right away.
One hour and a half after closing the polls, 40% of results had been transmitted and tallied. It is expected that in less than 24 hours there will be an announcement regarding the winner of the Presidential contest. In the previous General Elections celebrated on May 2004 this took 40 days, causing severe tensions in the country. Smartmatic is a multinational company that designs and deploys technological solutions aimed at helping governments fulfill, in the most efficient way, their commitments with their citizens. It is one of the largest cutting-edge technology suppliers, with a wide and proven experience in the United States, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Philippines' president-apparent Benigno Aquino III refused Friday to take an oath of office before the new chief justice, alleging impropriety in the appointment by the outgoing president in the dying days of her term.The move would be a symbolic first blow against the scandal-tainted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo if Aquino takes office.The son of Philippine democracy icons questioned Arroyo's appointment on Wednesday of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was her chief of staff and spokesman. Aquino cited constitutional prohibitions on appointments two months before the end of a president's term, but a majority of Supreme Court judges ruled in March the two-month ban does not apply to the position of chief justice
• Cambodia
The Cambodian government signed the treaty with China on February 25, 2010 in Phnom Penh.The treaty was based on the norm of the 1963 Vienna Convention to which Cambodia is a party since 2005.Hor Namhong, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs told the parliamentarians that the treaty was significant to promote further cooperation between Cambodia and China.
The treaty allows consular officials to make direct contacts with their own citizens who run businesses or work in the country where consular office is located
At economic Front
• Indonesia
Indonesia's economic growth accelerated in the first quarter to its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2008, as households continued to spend amid benign inflation and companies invested more on rising confidence in the economy, the government said Monday.The official statistics agency said Southeast Asia's largest economy expanded 5.7% year-to-year in the quarter ended March, accelerating from 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, nonseasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter economic growth was 1.9%, a reversal of the previous quarter's 2.4% contraction.The data showed that the domestic economy's recovery remains on track, even if growth came in slightly slower than expected. The statistics agency also said its quarterly surveys showed that companies and consumers are confident the economy will continue to improve in the second quarter of the year. The agency added that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.4% as of February from 7.9% in August, and 8.1% in February 2008
Indonesia welcomes the Group of 20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation but hopes to see the world’s largest economies address other important global issues such as climate change and food and energy security at the summit in Seoul later this year, Jakarta’s top envoy to South Korea said in a recent interview.
“Indonesia is very rich in natural as well as human resources,” he said. “Korea has capital, skills, management, finance, funding and technology. We can complement each other,” he said. “This is a very important point that makes the prospect of our relationship extremely bright.”
Indonesia’s major exports to Korea include energy resources such as coal, oil and gas. Agricultural and textile products are also main export items to Korea, according to the ambassador.
In the 2010 budget, government of Indonesia has allocated Rp 9 billion for modernization of old textile and leather machineries in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), informed a government official.
Textile and leather products manufactured in SMEs fail to strongly compete in the market due to their aging machineries, which are the biggest obstacle in the development of these SMEs. The textile and leather industries are supposed to modernise machineries of about 80 to 100 factories per year, under a six-year restructuring program that was implemented in 2009 for the first time. This program was to help modernize at least 50 percent of the plants by the year 2014. The government, under this six-year program, will offer 25 percent funds to the industries to import new machineries and 30 percent funds will be offered for acquiring new machines from the local machine manufacturers, in the price range of Rp 40 million to 2 billion each.
The Indo-Indonesian trade has expanded by over 20 per cent in the first two months of 2010.India is set to strengthen its ties with the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) as well as Indonesia.According to the Indian envoy in Indonesia, Mr Biren Nanda, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Asean on investment and services may be through within a year.The treaty is expected to boost Indian investments in the natural resource-rich Indonesia substantially. Acting chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Adi Putra Taher told the Post that the government still had to strengthen domestic industries to increase their competitiveness before implementing any FTAs. "We are not ready to implement any FTAs because there are still many existing problems such as a lack of infrastructure and electricity supply," he said.

• Malaysia
Governments worldwide that are reeling from the aftershocks of the global financial crisis should admit that their present monetary, financial and banking systems are faulty and open to abuse and manipulation and must therefore be reviewed and modified or abolished to prevent abuse, former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohammad said here in a lecture.
Speaking at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), Mahathir said: "The way forward is to restore the role of governments in overseeing and regulating the markets." "The financial market must seek government approval before introducing new get rich quick schemes and products," said Mahathir. "We have to accept that restrictions of financial markets will slow down economic growth as represented by GDP [gross domestic product] and per capita income, but the lower growth would represent real wealth of a country."
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is expected to witness the signing of six business agreements worth US$1bil during his three-day official visit to Cambodia beginning Sunday.
The five business agreements will be between the private sectors of both countries while another agreement will be signed between a Malaysian company and a Cambodian government agency
Malaysia's economy probably grew the most since 2000 in the first quarter, an acceleration that may convince the central bank to raise interest rates even in the aftermath of Europe's debt crisis, surveys of economists showed. The economy grew 9.4 per cent in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, the median forecast of economists showed before the central bank's report at 6 pm today.
Asian central banks are pulling back monetary stimulus as the region's growth outpaces the rest of the world.
The impact of Europe's sovereign debt crisis, which led the euro area to prepare an almost US$1 trillion bailout package this week, may be muted on Malaysia, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said this week and recommended buying the ringgit.
'Malaysia, and the rest of Asia too, is well-positioned to avoid large and sustained contagion from what looks set to be a prolonged adjustment in Europe,' said Kevin Grice, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd in London.
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund plans to invest $5bn on projects including energy and real estate in Malaysia, according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed yesterday by both countries.
A joint committee will be set up between the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), a Kuala Lumpur-based wealth fund, to explore potential ventures, a joint statement said.
Malaysia is placing “high priority” on signing a comprehensive economic pact with India before the end of this yearUnder Malaysia's New Economic Model now being blueprinted, merit would be emphasised to make the country's economy more competitive and resilient at home and abroad. However, “affirmative action is still our policy,” with the focus being shifted to help those belonging to “”the bottom 40-per-cent of the income bracket, irrespective of race,” said Mr. Mustapa.
The original affirmative policy, launched in 1971, was designed to favour the country's Malay-Muslim majority so as to redress its historical economic backwardness. Under the new policy now, affirmative action would apply to those in need among not only the Malays but also the minority groups of ethnic Chinese and the people of Indian origin
• Thailand
Sino-Thai economic links have helped shore up Thailand's export-oriented economy, Thailand's finance minister stressed Wednesday, highlighting the importance of a strategic partnership."China's sustained economic growth facilitates Thailand's economic recovery. The Thai government and economy have maintained normal operations, despite the current internal situation," H.E. Korn Chatikavanij said Wednesday as he wrapped up a three-day trip to China, - his first official visit.
　　In an unexpected move last month, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) purchased a 97.24 percent stake in the Bangkok-based ACL Bank, Thailand's largest lender by asset, which operates 17 branches across the country.
Consumer confidence in Thailand suffered a record drop in April, hit by political turmoil as weeks of protests turned deadly, data showed yesterday, pointing to trouble ahead for a nascent economic rebound.The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce said its consumer confidence index fell by a record 2.6 points to 67.2 in April, the lowest since July 2009. It is down sharply from a 21-month high of 71.9 struck in January.
Thailand's finance minister offered a slightly improved outlook for 2010 GDP on Wednesday - projecting growth of 4.5 to 5 percent -- but noted the ongoing political crisis could shave 0.3 percentage point off that target.During a visit to Beijing to meet Chinese officials, Korn Chatikavanij also said he expected first quarter GDP to have grown by 9 percent from a year ago.Thailand's gross domestic product is about $260 billion, making it southeast Asia's second-largest economy.
• Philippine
With a new administration promising to wage war against endemic corruption, more Filipinos are optimistic that economic growth will trickle down to their personal lives, according to Social Weather Stations (SWS).The exit poll conducted by SWS and sponsored by TV 5 shows that 49% of Filipinos are optimistic that their quality of life will be better in the coming 12 months. Meanwhile, only 2% expect life to be worse.The poll targeted a national sample of over 35,000 voters from 731 out of 802 voting centers. Unlike the previous SWS polls in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004 -- which were conducted in the homes of the respondents -- this year's exit poll was conducted 50 meters away from polling centers.As for economic outlook this year, 52% of survey respondents are optimistic, while 2% are pessimistic.The Philippines conducted its first ever automated elections on Monday, with about 75% of the country's more than 50 million eligible voters casting their ballots.
• Vietnam
Vietnam will invest around US$8.6 billion in island infrastructure to boost national defense and economic development on its remote ocean outposts. Nearly 60 percent of the program’s total cost – VND162.5 trillion ($8.6 billion) – will be paid by the government with the rest sourced from the private sector and foreign official development assistance, according to a government decision released recently. The program targets an annual economic growth on Vietnam’s islands of 14-15 percent, increasing the island economies’ share of the country’s total economic growth from the current 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent by 2020.
Major ports will be constructed for ships of around 1,000 tons on many islands while the ports on Con Dao and Phu Quoc islands will be expanded.
Vietnam’s economy may expand 7.2 percent this year, the fastest pace since 2007 and more than the government’s target, according to HSBC Holdings Plc. Gross domestic product in the Southeast Asian nation gained 5.8 percent in the first quarter. The government is targeting growth of 6.5 percent in 2010, which compares with a decade-low 5.3 percent in 2009.Vietnam’s first-quarter growth rate has been “significantly weaker” than other quarters over the past decade, with the historical tendency for the economy’s pace of expansion to accelerate through the year, Wellian Wiranto, a Singapore-based economist at HSBC, said in a research note received Monday.
• Cambodia
Cambodia's foreign minister says China will donate equipment to the country's military. The announcement comes after the United States cancelled a shipment of military vehicles when Phnom Penh expelled Uighur asylum-seekers at China's request.Twenty people were expelled last December.Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has announced that China will donate more than 250 trucks and 50,000 uniforms to the Cambodian military.At the time of the expulsions, Washington said Cambodia had failed in its international obligations by sending the Uighurs back to an uncertain fate in China, and it threatened punishment. Within days of the expulsions, China had awarded Cambodia more than $1 billion in economic aid, although both countries denied any link to the Uighur expulsions.China is a key investor in Cambodia, particularly in infrastructure. Acceptance of China's latest donation is a less than subtle message that Cambodia is prepared to play off one big power against another. Minister Hor Namhong says China's President Hu Jintao has promised more military assistance in the future.
• Singapore
Singapore will share its experience in corporate governance and developing infrastructure projects through the public-private partnership model with Indonesia. This will be done through a newly set-up state-owned company under Indonesia's Finance Ministry. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Tuesday between the World Bank, the Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise to formalise the cooperation.
At Social Front
• Malaysia
The young man who claims opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim sodomized him acknowledged in court Monday that he had met with Malaysia's prime minister four days before making a police complaint against Anwar.The defense hopes that Saiful Bukhari Azlan's testimony under cross-examination will bolster its contention that the sodomy trial against Anwar is a political conspiracy masterminded by Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife. Najib denies Anwar's claim that he is a victim of a government conspiracy to undermine the opposition alliance, which hopes to win power in national elections scheduled to be held by 2013.
Anwar's lawyers point to some contradictions in Saiful's testimony. One medical report says Saiful initially told a doctor a plastic object had been inserted in his anus.
• Thailand
Thai authorities plan to cut water, electricity and food supplies to thousands of protesters occupying Bangkok's main shopping district for nearly six weeks and said they might resort to force if they fail to disperse.The threats follow the unravelling of a peace plan proposed last week by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to end a political crisis that has killed 29 people, paralysed parts of Bangkok and slowed growth in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.Leaders of the mostly rural and urban poor protesters remained defiant on Wednesday, refusing to leave their 3 sq km (1.2 sq mile) encampment in Bangkok's main shopping district and challenging the government from behind medieval-like walls built of tires, sharpened bamboo staves and large trucks.
• Philippine
Nine people were killed in outbreaks of violence as millions of Filipinos went to the polls in nationwide elections yesterday, local authorities said. Yesterday’s killings brought to at least 40 the number of people killed in political violence over the past four months, according to police statistics. This does not include 57 people massacred in Maguindanao in November, allegedly by a powerful Muslim clan to stop a rival from running for provincial governor

1Malaysia: A review of concept, process & outcome

By: K.K.Tan (Fri, 10 Jul 2009)

ONE of the first things Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak did when he took over as prime minister was to announce his concept of 1Malaysia. He took great pains to publicise it and even created a special website for it. His aim was to reach out to as many people as possible, sending out a personalised e-mail to a long list of names.

The broad concept of 1Malaysia, based on the principle of “People First, Performance Now”, is to bring the country’s multi-racial, multi-ethnic and multi-religious people together as “one” to create a united, harmonious, strong and successful nation. It may be seen as his response to the dynamics and changes taking place in the country and the world today.
At the outset, the concept was loosely put forward and there was some confusion over what it really meant. Perhaps the prime minister wanted to get feedback from the rakyat of all ethnic background to help him craft and define the concept better.
The initial looseness in the concept had also allowed his critics to brush it aside as “wishy-washy”, “nothing new” or that it was in fact very similar to past concepts on national unity such as “Bangsa Malaysia” (by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) or “Rakyat Malaysia” (by MCA) or even the “Malaysian Malaysia” (by DAP).
But what these detractors missed perhaps is, for a start, the concept’s emphasis on the vision of “oneness” as a people and nation. The power of “oneness” and its simplicity seem to have a special appeal to many people. In view of both the ethnic diversity of the country and current racial discord, it is certainly an innovative and catchy way to drive home this point about the need for “oneness”.

Before we look at the process needed to achieve 1Malaysia, let’s examine the perceived intended outcome. The intermediate outcome is to have a united and harmonious society where all races treat each other as equals in the spirit of ­brotherhood. But without fairness, equality and mutual respect, it would be hard to achieve national unity or harmony, which is not an end by itself but an essential ingredient for our people to work efficiently together in order to increase the economic pie for all. Thus, the end game is to have a successful, wealthy and developed society with a great improvement in the standard of living and quality of life for all Malaysians.

The prime minister has recently said “there is no point in having a larger share of a shrinking pie”. He has made a strong case on the need for national unity in order to improve our (declining) competitiveness and increase our economic wealth.
The biggest challenge to 1Malaysia is how the prime minister allocates the resources and opportunities available and balances the needs and aspirations of the various communities and social classes. It would become a zero-sum game if the our wealth and resources are fixed and declining and we do nothing about it. But if we the people can unite and collectively recreate and re-engineer our society to greater prosperity and heights, it would be a win-win situation for all.
It may be too early to expect much outcome of 1Malaysia in ­Najib’s first 100 days. We can only see the direction he is heading based on the concrete decisions he has made so far. One positive result of the promotion of 1Malaysia is a greater openness to talk about racial issues in an honest and respectful manner and more readiness to give feedback to the authorities concerned.

As for the “process” needed to achieve 1Malaysia, there have been positive signs lately to show the prime minister is serious about it. The recent cabinet’s decision on child conversion case (although some issues still remain), liberalisation of the services sector, new scholarship scheme based solely on meritocracy and the latest decisions on the FIC and IPO rules are sending the right kind of signals to our people and investors that meritocracy is the way forward to drive our competitiveness and economic performance.
A glaring case is that foreign investments in the manufacturing sector for the first five months of this year amounted to RM4.2 billion while for the whole of last year it was RM46.1 billion. Surely this cannot only be due to the global economic downturn but some defects in our economic structure which need fixing.

The prime minister now has to ensure proper implementation of the new measures and policies। He has to ensure the civil service and his party give him the support and cooperation needed. The NEP was meant to address social inequality regardless of race but its implementation was flawed in many ways. The fact that only RM2 billion remain in Malay hands out of a total of RM54 billion worth of shares sold to Malays from 1985 to 2004 says a lot about its past implementation.

There are, however and ironically, three current factors working in the prime minister’s favour to get the support he needs. The severe economic recession (a shrinking pie), racial polarisation (undermining performance and quality of life) and the loss of public support for his ruling coalition since the last general election (and a stronger opposition alliance which also controls four states), should somehow compel his party and the civil service (which values stability) to support his recent decisions on restructuring the economy and society.

Internal opposition, resistance to change and even sabotage are serious obstacles that the prime minister has to deal with firmly and resolutely. He must personally monitor the implementation at the ground level and respond appropriately to public feedback. He must demonstrate clearly that he is taking ownership of these policy changes and he will brook no nonsense from anyone who tries to undermine them.

The prime minister has also shown how we can learn from Sarawak and Sabah which have diverse ethnicities and yet their harmony appears to be much better than that in Peninsular Malaysia. Any effort to promote the multiple identities of our nation is a step in the right direction towards 1Malaysia. Our diversity is a strength and not a weakness. The prime minister should also oppose any attempt from any quarter to promote singular identity based on chauvinism or misplaced pride or misinterpretation of religion.
If the prime minister wishes to hasten 1Malaysia into a reality, he should also look at:
» ensuring that any new affirmative policy must be strictly based on income and social class
(which would help a large majority of ­bumiputras anyway) and not race or ethnicity, and

» instituting broad anti-discrimination legislation to promote a more inclusive and united society consistent with 1Malaysia, so that no group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability or special needs would be wittingly or unwittingly, neglected or discriminated against.
The 1Malaysia initiative by the prime minister looks promising so far, the real acid test lies ahead in maintaining the momentum and implementation.
The writer, CEO of a think-tank and strategic consultancy firm based in Kuala Lumpur, can be contacted at kktan@jukenworld.com

South East Asia: Summary

At Political Front
• Indonesia
A critical component of Indonesia's democratic future involves recognition of the special role of Islam in the state. Because most Indonesian Muslims want their government to respect Islamic customs even if they do not support the creation of an Islamic state, the line between support for and opposition to Islamic law is often blurred.
Many Indonesians, including those who are only nominally Muslims, hold conservative values and support strict moral laws without necessarily seeing them as purely religious or based on sharia, or Islamic principles. It is easy to mistake support for a conservative moral law as support for political Islam when it is more simply a reflection of basic conservative values.
"A dialogue, if carefully prepared, offers the possibility of addressing longstanding grievances, without calling Indonesian sovereignty into question”, says Sidney Jones, senior adviser to Crisis Group’s Asia program. “But it will only succeed if all issues -- political and historical, not just economic -- are on the table, and President Yudhoyono gives it visible, public backing”.
The urgency of dialogue is underscored by the upsurge of violence in the second half of 2009 and early 2010. The report examines several incidents where members of the KNPB either claimed responsibility for the violence, although in one case playing no direct role, or appeared to be working in co-ordination with local guerrilla commanders of the Free Papua Movement’s National Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebasan Nasional/Organisasi Papua Merdeka, TPN/OPM).
An intriguing sidebar to the story of the Indonesian president's visit to Australia this week has been the additional insight into Jakarta's role in trying to solve South-East Asia's biggest problem: the brutal grip of Burma's military regime.
Burma is the most glaring bit of evidence for the critics of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, ASEAN. To them, the regional grouping's inability to persuade Burma's military junta to retreat from political power shows it up as a toothless tiger, unable to provide the foundations for a wider security arrangement in Asia, and its human rights standards to be set at the lowest common denominator. ''Among the lessons in democratisation that Indonesia has to offer Burma is the realisation that the 'experts' failed to anticipate Suharto's downfall and the military's retreat to the barracks,'' Kingston says.
• Thailand
Thailand's weekly cabinet Tuesday decided to impose the Internal Security Act (ISA) during March 11- 23 to ensure law and order in a mass anti-government rally by the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) group. The mass rally by the anti-government UDD group will start from March 12 when the UDD or red-shirted supporters from the countryside will travel to capital Bangkok.And, in the morning on March 14 the UDD protesters will stage their mass rally at Sanam Luang, the open field and public square in the center of Bangkok. Thai authorities have deployed 50,000 troops on the streets of Bangkok ahead of ralliesby anti-government protesters that they fear could turn violent, the deputy prime minister said
• Malaysia
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has admitted that the party is facing a problem after three MPs quit recently.He said the resignations served as a good lesson that only loyal members should be chosen as candidates in future elections.“PAS had the same problem when its president quit while the late Tunku Abdul Rahman also quit Umno. Keadilan is now facing a little problem,” he said at a political rally at Pulau Gadong on Friday night.
Malaysia's opposition alliance, at one point poised for a possible takeover of the federal government, is now starting to suffer from internal squabbling and an increasing number of defections.The three-party alliance made history two years ago by capturing power in five of the country's 13 states and denying the powerful ruling coalition its two-thirds majority in Parliament. But recently, the opposition has appeared to be struggling to maintain some semblance of control and public confidence.Led by former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, the People's Alliance consists of Anwar's People's Justice Party, the hardline Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) and the multiracial Democratic Action Party (DAP).
• Cambodia
The Cambodian parliament [official website] passed a controversial anti-corruption bill Wednesday meant to further transparency in government while opposition parties staged a walkout, saying the new law would stifle criticism and foster corruption. The law will create a national anti-corruption council to oversee investigators, but critics have said that the lack of independence from the government is troubling.
Foreign Relation
• Indonesia

With President Obama’s health care bill hanging in the balance, the White House is facing intensifying questions about whether Mr. Obama should take his planned trip to Indonesia and Australia next week.The visit, which has been timed to coincide with spring break for the Obama daughters, Malia and Sasha, is something of a homecoming for Mr. Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. The trip is unusual, experts say, in that there is no economic summit or other multinational gathering for the president to attend.
• Malaysia
Malaysia wants to revive the Look East policy with South Korea by broadening areas of co-operation in capacity-building, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.“New areas of co-operation are like green technology and biotechnology as well as initiating co-operation in third countries.
At Economic Front
• Indonesia
Indonesia’s central bank raised its 2011 economic growth forecast to as much as 6.5 percent from an earlier forecast of as much as 6 percent as consumer spending accelerates, Deputy Governor Hartadi A. Sarwono said. Yudhoyono, 60, has pledged to double spending on roads, seaports and airports to $140 billion over the next five years, part of his push to deliver economic growth of at least 6.6 percent by the end of 2014. While countries such as China, India and Vietnam have opened their doors to foreign investment by cutting red tape and lifting other barriers, Indonesia persists in making it difficult for non-Indonesians to do business in this country The truth of the matter is that without foreign direct investment, Indonesia’s economy will never expand at the 7 percent rate that is required to create new jobs and boost new sectors. “The perception that corruption is especially bad in Indonesia will make it more difficult for the country to attract foreign direct investment,” the PERC report said. It noted that “the absolute level of corruption in Indonesia might not be any worse than in any other Asian country.
Last year, I wrote an article that said a big population was good for the economy. As it turned out, the big domestic market size, healthy purchasing power and a tendency to save that kept the big economies of Brazil, China, India and Indonesia from sinking, at least for now.
Indonesia remains the most corrupt country in Southeast Asia and graft is getting even worse, a poll of businessmen said, dealing a blow to the president’s efforts to clean up the country. The Philippines, however, was not far behind and was ranked 13th on the list of 16 countries that included developed economies for comparison purposes.
• Malaysia
Growing demand from traditional markets like the United States and Europe is boosting exports of the local timber industry, which is expected to chart an improved performance this year.Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) chief executive officer Cheah Kam Huan said the industry could surpass its 2008 export figure, at about RM23bil, if the export markets recovered at a faster pace.
The consolidation programme for the domestic banking sector introduced by Bank Negara after the financial crisis in 1998 and the Government’s RM67bil stimulus package to boost the economy have helped to make banks bigger and stronger and more resilient to weather the recent rough global financial problems.
IS the worst over for the Malaysian economy? Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last month announced that the country had emerged from the economic crisis, chalking up gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 4.5% for the fourth quarter of 2009. Although the economy shrank by 1.7% for the whole of 2009, this performance was far better than the expected 3% contraction.
• Thailand
To mark the 120th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and the signing of an economic partnership agreement, Japan and Thailand have agreed to vigorous programme to jointly develop Thai small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).
• Philippine
New computerized electronic voting machines are meant to prevent fraud in Philippines election in May. But in tests, the voting machines rejected ballots and failed to connect to the cell phone networks to transmit results.
Concerns are rising that the use of electronic voting machines in the May Philippines election, meant to prevent vote-rigging, could fail due to technical problems and end up threatening rather than reinforcing the credibility of the ballot.
Filipino-American leaders are asking the US government to send top-level election monitors to the May 10 elections in the Philippines amid concerns that the Southeast Asian nation’s first automated elections are being rigged to fail.
PHILIPPINE President Gloria Arroyo will not be able to achieve her aim of ending a decades-old Muslim rebellion before she steps down in June, the government's top peace negotiator said on Tuesday.
Mrs Arroyo has backed years of tortuous negotiations in between outbursts of violence in the southern Philippines, but a 'comprehensive compact' that she had wanted is beyond her reach, negotiator Rafael Seguis told AFP.
At Social Front
• Cambodia
Survivors of rape in Cambodia face limited access to justice, medical services and counselling, Amnesty International says in a report issued today, as rapes of women and girls appear to be increasing.
Sexual violence in Cambodia, issued to mark International Women’s Day, exposes how corruption and discrimination within the police and courts prevent survivors of rape from receiving justice and the assistance they require, while most perpetrators go unpunished.
• Brunei
The American State Department yesterday published its Human Rights Report for the year 2009, which for Brunei carried a mixed review of the human rights conditions that can be found, according to their assessment and observations, within the individual, civil, political and worker rights that have been stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On the whole, the US report that was compiled by the US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour found that among the human rights problems that it listed for Brunei were the "inability of citizens to change their government; arbitrary detention; limits on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association; restrictions on religious freedom; discrimination against women; restricted labour rights; and exploitation of foreign workers".
At Environmental Front
• Indonesia
The Toba super eruption occurred between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago at Lake Toba (present day Indonesia), and it is recognized as one of Earth's largest known eruptions. The related catastrophe theory holds that this super volcanic event plunged the planet into a 6 to 10 year volcanic winter, which resulted in the world's human population being reduced to 10,000 or even a mere 1,000 breeding pairs, creating a bottleneck in human evolution. Some researchers argue that the Toba eruption produced not only a catastrophic volcanic winter but also an additional 1,000 year cooling episode.
• Malaysia
THE movie 2012 made us to ponder what may happen if disasters such as an earthquake or tsunami were to ravish our home. Are we prepared for such disasters? One should not think that Malaysia is free from all natural disasters. If we may recall, in 2004 a tsunami hit India, Sri Lanka, Aceh as well as Penang and Kedah as a result of an underwater earthquake measuring 9.1 magnitude in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
• Thailand
Thailand's biggest foreign investors have learned to live with a lot in recent years, including mass protests, airport closures and persistent rumblings about military coups. But now there is another issue that has companies such as Ford Motor Co. and a host of petrochemical firms wondering if they should be putting their money somewhere else: the government's struggle to deal with tough new environmental regulation.