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
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.
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