Godzilla Attacks!

Godzilla Attacks Vientiane!


Godzilla Attacks Hollywood!

The news from Southeast Asia has been fairly boring lately, aside from some conference in Laos attended by a gaggle of prime ministers, presidents, communist dictators, outlaw warlords, and other esteemed leaders who deeply, deeply fear that somebody may say something critical about their country, and thereby interfere with their "internal politics." So nobody is allowed to mention massacres of innocent civilians, governments that imprison political opponents and deal drugs to their neighbors, the shocking suppression of the press in an "Asian values" country, terrorists relaxing with an espresso at the local Starbucks, pesky Hmong rebels raising hell in the countryside, murdered journalists, or massive corruption on unequalled scale. "Asian values" and the need to "save face" often triumph over the need for honesty and political evolution.

And so, in brighter news, everyone's all time favorite monster, Godzilla, finally got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! Way to go, Big Guy!

Godzilla gets Hollywood fame star

Movie monster Godzilla has received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, honouring both his 50th birthday and the launch of his 28th film. "Godzilla should thank you for this historical and monumental star," said Final Wars producer Shogo Tomiyama. "But unfortunately, he cannot speak English," he added.

Hollywood's honorary mayor, Johnny Grant, said: "I do hereby proclaim this Godzilla Day in Hollywood. Godzilla was joined by his latest co-stars in Hollywood. "He's loose, he's wild, and I'm getting the hell out of here," he added.

The premiere of Godzilla: Final Wars at Grauman's Chinese Theatre followed the ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard.

The monster was joined by co-stars including Japanese pop star and actor Masahiro Matsuoka. Director Ryuhei Kitamura said it may not be Godzilla's final outing, as it has been billed. "That's what the producers say. But the producer's a liar," he said. "[Godzilla's] been working for the last 50 years. So, I think Godzilla just deserves a vacation." And producer Shogo Tomiyama added: "So long as Godzilla can fascinate people, I believe he will be resurrected by new generations of filmmakers in the future."

Godzilla first appeared in 1954 as a prehistoric lizard woken by atomic bomb tests.

Godzilla Attacks Hollywood and Wants to go to Vientiane. "Screw Asian Values" said Mr. Godzilla, "I'm a Dinosaur and Couldn't Care Less."

Southeast Asia News 44

Photo by Carl Parkes

In otherworldly news, Malaysia has announced plans to be the first Asian country to put tourists in space. The cost will be about $20K and flights start in 2010, if this hair-brained scheme ever leaves the launchpad. Back here on earth, Philippine officals have discovered that the cause of the recent train derailment was the theft of railroad spikes.

More spew from former PM Lee Kuan Yew: British society has gone downhill and "Their media and politicians are anti-elitist, denigrating excellence, wanting to dumb other people and institutions down to the lowest common denominator, to avoid anyone being inferior." Yet local citizens in Singapore are upset with Nike ads in bus stops that resemble graffiti.

Australia is all in a tizzy with Indonesia after a leading paleontologist locked away the Hobbits and refuses to let any scientists study them. And in another insult to Aussie pride, The Mercury News claims that Aussies are fatter than Americans.

Rumors of problems inside reclusive North Korea get more support in an article at The New York Times which warns of a possible regime change. And finally, to lighten the load, Stu Towns goes on a night journey around Bangkok and remembers what he loves most about the country.

Saturday Cat

Cat Eyes

Alexander Reviews at Rotten Tomatoes

Alexander Bomb? Or Major Gay Triumph?

"Puerile writing, confused plotting and shockingly off-note performances make Oliver Stone's epic film a disappointment."
-- Manohla Dargis, NEW YORK TIMES

"You could literally chop Alexander up into six 30-minute blocks, reassemble it at random, and the movie would make the exact same amount of sense (i.e. none). "
-- Scott Weinberg, EFILMCRITIC.COM

"Towards the end of this movie, I wanted to kill Alexander just to get it over with and go home. Even Rosario Dawson’s supposedly stunning nudity was over-hyped."
-- Willie Waffle, WAFFLEMOVIES.COM

"Filled with cringe-inducing, laughter-provoking moments, including more deliciously overripe performances than any single movie can possibly contain."
-- Jeff Vice, DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY

"I predict that Alexander’s one achievement will be as the most walked out on movie of the year."
-- Joshua Tyler, CINEMABLEND.COM

"The epic Troy [&] King Arthur wanted to be.The difference is that Oliver Stone has a clear vision.He knows you can’t do everything & he knows what he wants."
-- Fred Topel, ABOUT.COM

"Pretty much a mess, an alternately turgid and florid movie that feels like a drugged-out version of a Cecil B. DeMille epic."
-- Frank Swietek, ONE GUY'S OPINION

"Oliver Stone doesn't just create trainwrecks. He knocks the train off the rails, sets it on fire, then kills every person onboard. (And takes three hours to do it.)"
-- Eric D. Snider, ERICDSNIDER.COM

"See it, if only for the visuals that keep your eyes happy in between laughs."
-- Chuck Schwartz, CRANKY CRITIC®

"Often skates dangerously close to camp (less forgiving viewers will find the movie hysterical), but the director's daringness to play things so boldly has a grand appeal of its own."
-- Rene Rodriguez, MIAMI HERALD

"3-hour borefest."
-- Steve Rhodes, STEVE RHODES' INTERNET REVIEWS

"Alexander the So-So"
-- Staci Layne Wilson, FANTASTICA DAILY

"A swollen behemoth of a celluloid monster -- sometimes mildly interesting, but most of the time downright boring."
-- Frank Wilkins, REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS

"Alexander often seems a couple of heartbeats away from turning into a gay porno film."
-- Jeffrey Westhoff, NORTHWEST HERALD (CRYSTAL LAKE, IL)

"Ponderous, fails to make us really care for Alexander, and is even more directionless than the Great one wandering about Asia after seven long years."
-- Brian Webster, APOLLO GUIDE

"Like Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, Alexander is an overindulgent, sprawling specimen of the director's lavish strengths and harrowing weaknesses."
-- Phil Villarreal, ARIZONA DAILY STAR

"Watching this film is like going to a bad history class where the teacher is a poor storyteller."
-- John Venable, SUPERCALA.COM

"An act of hubris so huge that, in Alexander's time, it would draw lightning bolts from contemptuous gods. Today it will get sniggers from stunned critics and a collective yawn from a public unlikely to share Stone's egomania."
-- Lawrence Toppman, CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

"One of the year's authentic disasters, the kind of shlockbuster that at first invites derision, then, as the hours drag on, pity."
-- Gary Thompson, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS

"An absolute mess."
-- Bob Strauss, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

"'When (Farrell) is giving his troops a rousing speech the first image that popped into my mind was Bill Murray energizing his fellow camp counselors in "Meatballs."'"
-- Michael A. Smith, NOLAN'S POP CULTURE REVIEW

"It's a perplexing muddle: Every moment of spectacular battlefield action is offset by unintentionally hilarious scenes from Alexander's private life."
-- James Sanford, KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

"Oliver Stone's take on the life of Alexander the Great is overblown, underdeveloped and one of the worst films of 2004."
-- James Rocchi, NETFLIX

"Stone appears to be assembling this ... jigsaw puzzle on the fly. There are more bottom-out scenes than high points. He drags it out for almost three backside-numbing hours."
-- Larry Ratliff, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

Just for the record, FriskoDude thought "Heaven's Gate" was a masterpiece despite all the negative reviews, and that Kevin Costner never looked better than in "Waterworld." And "Showgirls" was the best campy-sex-humor film ever created, not to mention that Elizabeth Barkely is God's gift to man. I also loved "Dude, Where's My Car," so I'll probably love "Alexander."

Alexander Reviews at Rotten Tomatoes

Thai Crime Photos, Inc.

Pattaya Terrorist Surrenders



Kathoeys Stalk Beach Road



Please Point at your "Date"



Together at Last

Future Architecture in China

Beijing Proposal



Proposed CCTV Beijing



Proposed CCTV Beijing



Proposed CCTV Beijing



Beijing National Museum (Under Construction)



Proposed Beijing Residential Towers



Neglected Architecture in Hong Kong

World's Tallest Skyscrapers

World's Four Tallest Skyscrapers



World's Tallest Skyscrapers -- Present and Future Structures



World's Tallest Structures (Note: Guangzhou TV Tower has been Scaled Down)

Shanghai World Financial Centre

Back in Production

Shanghai on track to have world's tallest skyscraper
Associated Press
Nov 24, 2004

SHANGHAI - Construction of a 101-story skyscraper, billed as the world's largest future building, has resumed after a near seven-year delay with the laying of the foundation, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The Shanghai World Financial Centre, which will stand 492 metres tall when it is completed by late 2007, is expected to cost US$1.1 billion, the report said. The building will be 37 metre higher than the 455-metre-high Taipei 101 in Taiwan, regarded now as the world's tallest skyscraper.

However, the Shanghai Centre will be considered shorter than Taipei 101 if the Taiwanese building's spire is taken into account, making it 508 metres tall. The Shanghai skyscraper will stand adjacent to the 88-story Jin Mao Tower - mainland China's current tallest building - in the financial district of Pudong, across the Huangpu River from the city's famed Bund. Construction began in 1998 but was suspended amid a cash crunch because of the Asian financial crisis, which devastated regional financial markets and hobbled many property developers.

Random Noise

Pierce Queen

Remember the Russian lady who rode her motorcycle around the ruins of Chernobyl last year, and then posted her photos on the net? She's back with a less memorable tour of the battlefields of Kiev. A far more impressive journey of photography is found at Pbase (a photo sharing website) where an immensely talented photographer has posted his landscapes of Brazil. And not a thong or sambista in sight.

If somebody had told me years ago that the Soviets had constructed a secret laser space battle station, I would have guffawed, but the proof is shown in these Soviet military photos. These photos of the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival are almost as impressive as those landscapes of Brazil mentioned above, but if you can't jet off to Harbin this winter, hire a Hollywood imposter for your holiday party. More transsexuals than you can shake a stick at.

The Vanity Fair Daily Dose is a better-than-average list of links, but they missed the wonderful Buy Nothing at Christmas movement that might not only save you money but also save your soul. That is, if you have one.

And now for some good news. That fascist, right-wing, immigrant hating, Asian Ann Coulter wannabe, Michelle Malkin been dropped like a hot potato. Who's next? Dan Rather? And the mythological bones of Hogzilla have been discovered by National Geographic. And you doubted the photographs? Unfortunately, National Geographic has been banned from Iran in a war over words. They say Arabian, the mullahs say Persian. The Worldwide Panorama Map might also be banned by the Iranians after they survey this blog and discover more cartographic sacriledge.

Saturday Cat

Tigger and Babe

OK, So I'm an idiot. Today is, what, like Tuesday? Wednesday? And I'm finally posting The Saturday Cat? I promise to do better.

Choose Your Obscenity

Basketball Scandal


Wardrobe Malfunction


Death in Fallujah

All three might be considered obscenities by some people, but what would you consider the most egregious offense?

Southeast Asia News 43

Photo by Carl Parkes

Everybody's beloved Tourism Authority of Thailand has come up with a new slogan to promote tourism in the country, though the promise of "Every Hour is Happy Hour" might strike some visitors are somewhat crazy, after the government recently started closing all bars and nightclubs at the unGodly hour of midnight or 1 am. And in efforts to understand the almost completely corrupt gem industry in the country, a 12-member team of jewelry experts is heading to the Land of Smiles to uncover the hidden world of gemstone production in the Far East. Hopefully, they've had a good look at the gemstone industry as covered at 2Bangkok. The Sunday Times OnLine has yet another warning about farangs and drugs in the Kingdom, while Yahoo provides some useful links for visitors heading to Bangkok.

Laowai Monologues has moved to a new site with a funny report about teaching English in China and the perils of socializing with your drunken boss. The New York Times reports that North Korean government officials call recent stories about the increasingly bizarre behavior of their Great Leader and the removal of his portraits from around the country complete bunko. Time Asia Best of Asia is an amusing and generally accurate list of what's best in the region, though they cop out when it comes to the Worst of Asia, refusing to name names but keeping everything in generalities.

The amazing rise of bold architecture and possible sinking of Shanghai is covered by The Guardian.

Malaysia keeps coming up with both weird and sad stories, such as the recent attacks on animals in the National Zoo and hard times for the beach boys at Batu Ferringhi in Penang. In other Malaysian news, there's a fine story about the dying art of feng shui lanterns in Penang, and the sudden surge of Arab tourism in the country.

Indonesian maids, a.k.a. the slaves from Down Under, are paid only $100 per month and given exactly zero days off per month, though the situation might improve if their slavemasters voluntarily agree to increase wages by $10 per month and give them a single day of rest each 30 days. But it's entirely voluntary, so I don't expect any mercy to be shown.

New American laws can now put you in jail for intending to seek underage sex in the Philippines as pointed out in this case involving an 86-year-old-man, seized at the airport with a suitcase full of porn and love letters to his intended victims. Last week, 14 workers were murdered at a sugar mill north of Manila by government troops, in a national tragedy noted by Teodoro Benigno in Philstar, Tony Lopez at the Manila Times, Len Espinosa also at the Manila Times, and blogger Torn and Frayed in Manila.

Political Moment of the Day

Bush, Putin and Thaksin at APEC Chile

Wearing traditional costumes at international summits is a long-standing ritual, which provides the world with an often hilarious look at political leaders in outlandish garb. Everyone seems to take these photo ops in good humor, but how could anyone forget the sight of a corpulent Clinton all decked out in Indonesian batik, looking like a beached whale on the shores of Kuta Beach? More hilarity is sure to follow, and be sure that FriskoDude will be on the spot to post the most embarrasing moments of political triumph. At least Thaksin, in the above photo, had the good sense to stand in the back of the crowd and not provide his critics with more ammunition.

Thai Crime Photos, Inc.

I've finally found a new hobby to occupy all my spare time here in San Francisco: collecting crime photos from Thai websites. Well, also just silly and incriminating images that probably should have never seen the light of day. Most of the best shots will probably be borrowed from those Thai-language tabloids such as Thai Rath, but everyone who posts these images for public perusal on the net is considered fair game.

This is a new hobby and I've only had a week or so to collect images, so I'm appealing to all the twisted souls out there who might be secretly collecting these timeless insights into human behavior. Please send them along and I'll post them in complete confidentiality, taking on all the heat and lawsuits that will surely come my way. What a guy.

Here's a few as a start, but you can expect more as a regular Friday feature. Oh, and don't forget about Saturday Cat! And if there's an overwhelming demand, I might add Sunday Babe, but it will be tasteful and classy and nothing like the depraved images posted by other bloggers in Asia. This is, after all, a high-class site.


Mayhem at Disco Raid, Pattaya



Can You Spot the Crime?



Whoopsie!



Thai Rath Strikes Again

Fallujah Images

Fallujah



Fallujah



Fallujah

Southeast Asia News 42

Anna Replaces Thaksin?

Bangkok desperately needs more public parks and green spaces to possibly improve the horribly polluted air, but both the national and local governments have been slow to help the situation until this week, when the government monopoly which controls the tobacco market decided to finally free up some land. This should have been done several decades ago, but better late than never. And if you're looking for maps of the tobacco property near Sukhumvit Road, you might try this unique source of flash-based maps here.

Motorists, motorcyclists, and round-the-world travelers will be cheered by the latest efforts to link India with Thailand via an overland Burmese route as described in this Hindustan Times article. Why in the world they intend to motor around Brunei is beyond conception, but money may have something to do with this curious routing.

As everybody knows, Singapore has one of the most tightly controlled and censored presses in the so-called "free world," but at least it ranks above North Korea and Vietnam as once again pointed out in the annual media report from Reporters Without Borders. Local blogger Myrick and former resident Singabloodypore have more opinions, so see my links over at the right.

Indonesia now ranks as the world's capital of pirates, while oceanic attacks in the Malacca Straits between Malaysia and Sumatra rank second. Almost as dangerous to your pocketbook is purchasing land in Bali, as pointed out by the warnings posted here. Several of my friends have purchased land in Bali in the name of their Indonesian lovers, and I hope to hell they know what they are doing. On a lighter note, some of the best photographs of Bali on the web are posted here on Trek Earth.

Talking about travel photography, India has long been a source of real inspiration as shown here, while travel ephemera to 1930s Europe and Japan are wonderfully nostalgic. And you can remember the horrors of the Vietnam War at this interactive website.

Anna to Replace Rumsfeld?

Anna Accepts Cabinet Position at White House

Although somewhat unlikely, I just thought I'd start an internet rumor and see when it's picked up by Jeff Jarvis.

North Korea's Kim Jong Il Dead?

Team America Takes on the Little Dictator

A pretty slow news day and I don't usually cover news about North Korea, but there's an interesting rumor going around the net that the lovely dictator of North Korea has either died or gone into depressive seclusion after the recent death of his number one consort. It's probably bunko, but a feeble excuse to provide a quick link for the day. Here's a few exerpts:


Removal of Kim Jong Il’s Pictures from Public Places in North Korea
Donga International
Nov 16, 2004

Russia’s state-run communication agency ITAR-TASS reported from Beijing quoting a diplomat in North Korea yesterday that pictures of the chairman of the DPRK National Defense Committee Kim Jong Il are being removed from public places in North Korea. The news reported that foreigners who were recently invited to the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang noticed that only the late President Kim Il Sung’s picture remains and that Chairman Kim’s picture has been removed from the entrance.

They stated that on the wall where Chairman Kim’s picture was originally placed, there remained yellowish trace, which seems to be all that was left after repainting the spot, and a nail. The informed source also conveyed that more cases in which Chairman Kim’s pictures were removed from places where they should be were observed, and it seems that although the reasons have not come to light, that a secret order to remove his pictures has been given within the North.

A Moscow diplomacy source also said, “The removal of Chairman Kim Jong Il’s pictures from public places is well known among foreigners living in Pyongyang, and diplomats of each country are working on understanding the meaning of this.” He conveyed, “Opinions like ‘unsound health,’ that Chairman Kim recently got an operation, and an “internal conflict for power” are spreading, but none has been confirmed.”

Kim Pics in Trash?


Kim Jong Il's ex-chef lifts lid on ruler's fancy tastes
New York Times
By James Brooke
October 20, 2004

In sleepy North Korea, where ox carts outnumber cars, the ruling Kim family dashes from villa to villa in high speed convoys of black Mercedes-Benzes. In a poor country where a prized possession is a used Japanese bicycle, the Kim clan enjoy the most expensive imported toys - Jet Skis, motorcycles, karaoke machines, NBA-regulation basketball courts. And in the late 1990s, when about two million North Koreans starved to death, their Dear Leader - as Kim Jong Il is known - sent his personal chef to Tokyo to buy fresh sushi, to Tehran to buy caviar, to Copenhagen for gourmet bacon and to Paris for the finest wines and cognacs.

This portrait of Kim and his family living a sheltered, pampered existence, a modern echo of ancient Korean royal dynasties, comes from a burly, chain-smoking Japanese sushi chef who until 2001 served as personal chef for the family. Writing under the name of Kenji Fujimoto, a pseudonym adopted for his safety, the chef, who is 56, came out last year with a memoir, "I Was Kim Jong Il's Cook." Published in Japanese and Korean, the book contained 70 photographs, including several of the author with Kim. Last summer, in a new book, "The Private Life of Kim Jong Il," he focused on the dozen villas he had visited, including diagrams and photographs.

"I am the only foreign person to spend time with Kim Jong Il, so close as to feel his breath," he said in a recent interview at his Tokyo publishing house. To disguise his appearance from North Korea agents he believes want to kill him, he had grown a goatee, covered his hair with a bandanna, and carried sunglasses for public forays.

With the death in August of Kim Jong Il's favorite mistress, Koh Young Hee, attention has turned on the secretive, luxurious lifestyle of a family that, according to this former palace insider, treats the nation as its plantation. This fall, three sons are in the running to be groomed as heir to their father. Now 62 years old, Kim started running North Korea at least a decade before his own father died in 1994.

If the North had competitive elections, Kim would have a tough record to campaign on. During his decade in power, fuel consumption has dropped by one-third, per capita income has dwindled to 8 percent of South Korea's, and during the famine years almost 10 percent of the population is believed to have starved to death.

"I think he sensed the reality," the Japanese author said, recalling seeing gaunt and starving peasants as the official motorcade raced along one of the nation's three highways. "You could see the malnourished children standing on the land. Naturally he saw these people through the car windows."

While Kim was slow to admit foreign food donations to ease the famine, he was quick to send underlings on international missions to satisfy his gourmet whims. Grapes came from China, mangoes from Thailand, papayas from Singapore, and, from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, fatty tuna, sea urchins, eels and squid. From France, came boxes of cheeses and enough wine, brandy and cognac to replenish what the author called "the royal wine cellar," a collection of 10,000 imported bottles.

One day, he recalled, the leader's sons came home from boarding school in Switzerland and "reported to Kim Jong Il, 'we ate hamburgers and it was so delicious." So I flew to Beijing, and went to McDonald's and bought a bag of hamburgers," the chef recounted. "Of course by the time I got back to Pyongyang, they were cold. So Kim Jong Il ate cold hamburgers." The experience may have prodded Kim to introduce hamburgers to the masses.

The Grand and Lavish Lifestyle of the Little Dictator


Consort's death rocks Kim Jong-il
The Australian
Nov 15, 2004

HARDLINERS have tightened their political grip on North Korea while Kim Jong-il, the Stalinist state's dictator, has retreated into virtual seclusion after the death of his favourite consort from cancer. Chinese and Western sources say the regime has prepared for a state of siege as it confronts a re-elected US administration under George W. Bush that is determined to break Pyongyang and disarm it of nuclear weapons.

As Japanese envoys tried to persuade the North Koreans last week to rejoin multinational talks, Mr Kim's absence from the scene led to speculation a debilitating power struggle might have paralysed the ruling group. This followed the death of Koh Young-hee, a dancer who had provided Mr Kim with an heir-apparent to the world's only communist dynasty. "The loss of this woman was a blow," said a foreign diplomat.

Diplomats and aid officials in Pyongyang noticed the first signs of a clampdown when some members of their North Korean staff were abruptly reassigned to new jobs and others became more nervous than usual about discussing current affairs. Restrictions had been imposed on foreigners' movements, they said. Telephones used by foreign residents have been cut off and the secret police have assumed control of the country's mobile phone service. Entry permits for foreigners have been curtailed.

The story of how personal bereavement and international crisis became intertwined began with the shipment of an elaborate coffin from Paris to Pyongyang during the summer.

Kim Depressed? From a Loss of Love?


The producer from hell
The Guardian
April 4, 2003

The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has a passion for cinema. But he could never find a director to realise his vision. So he kidnapped one from the South, jailed him and fed him grass, then forced him to shoot a socialist Godzilla. Now, for the first time, Shin Sang-ok tells the full story of his bizarre dealings with - and eventual flight from - the world's most dangerous dictator.

"The task set before the cinema today is one of contributing to people's development into true communists... This historic task requires, above all, a revolutionary transformation of the practice of directing." Kim Jong Il's On the Art of the Cinema (1973)

"What a wretched fate," Shin Sang-ok, now 77, remembers thinking after the meeting with the pudgy man in the grey Mao jacket. "I hated communism, but I had to pretend to be devoted to it, to escape from this barren republic. It was lunacy."

Shin is a film director of legendary stature in his native country - the Orson Welles of South Korea. He modernised movies at a time when people hungered for art, for escape, following the Korean war. He and his wife, the well-known actress Choi Eun-hee, were among Seoul's celebrity set. But, in 1978, he fell foul of the frequently repressive government of General Park Chung Hee, who closed his studio. After making at least 60 movies in 20 years, Shin's career appeared to be over.

What followed, according to Kingdom of Kim, Shin's memoir, was an experience that revived his career in an unbelievable way. Shin and his wife were kidnapped by North Korea's despot-in-training, Kim Jong-il, who sought to create a film industry that would allow him to sway a world audience to the righteousness of the Korea Workers' Party. Shin would be his propagandist, Choi his star.

North Korean apparatchiks have tried to cast doubt on Shin's story, claiming he willingly defected to North Korea and absconded with millions. But Korea experts find Shin's story believable. Eric Heginbotham, a senior fellow at the US Council on Foreign Relations, is one of many and Kim-watchers who say it's consistent with what is known about the regime. Pyongyang now admits it captured 11 Japanese citizens in the late 1970s and 1980s to act as cultural advisers. Several died in captivity, some in suicides.

Shin's story is as fantastical as many of his movies. He writes of being caught trying to escape, and spending four years in an all-male prison camp as a result, left to assume that his wife was dead.

Kim Depressed? Maybe it was "Team America"


MetaFilter
Oh crap. Rumours are starting to emerge that following the death of his favourite consort Kim Jong-Il has retreated into virtual seclusion allowing the the military to take over in a defacto coup.
Nov 16, 2004

That's take over North Korea if no one is aware who Kim Jong-Il is...
posted by PenDevil at 10:44 AM PST on November 16

dear leader has been dead for over 3 weeks.
posted by clavdivs at 10:47 AM PST on November 16

PenDevil - and, that's a BAD thing ? Maybe it is. I really don't know. All I can think of is that Kim Jong-Il puppet, from team America, singing "I'm so wonly......Oh so wonly....".

I bet he's reading this right now. Sorry Kim - even if you are a madman and an evil tyrant.

Kim Dead? Depressed? Maybe Somebody at Metafilter has the Answer

Watch Out World

Here Comes Our New Secretary of State, and She's Not in a Good Mood

Angkor Wat in Virtual Reality

Angkor Wat

Here's some background on the World Heritage Virtual Tour:

The WHTour is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a documentary and educational image bank of printable panoramic pictures and online virtual tours for all sites registered as World Heritage by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). All panoramas are shooted, built and uploaded on this website by Tito Dupret, a 33 year-old multimedia director from Belgium and Bijuan Chen, his 26-year old multimedia assistant from China.

So far, they have covered Bangladesh, Eastern Canada, China, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam. This represents 13.2 % of all 788 WH sites : 104 sites with 525+ Virtual Reality movies (VRs) available via the above menus. This project is at its beginning only and will need years to complete. The WHTour is slowly growing since July 2001 and constantly seeking financial help in order to pursue its mission. People involved in the WHTour are volunteering.

The following explanation about Virtual Reality is taken from the World Heritage Tour site, and gives some background on the fabulous VR images found at their homepage. You'll need Quicktime and some patience - about 60 seconds - to download each file if you're still stuck with 56K dial-up connections.

Quicktime and virtual reality

In order to navigate through the WHTour web site, you need to download the Quicktime plugin. It is easy, fast, free. You will then be able to navigate in virtual reality movies the way described here. Once you've downloaded a VR file, click once directly into the image, then hold the mouse down and drag it around. You seem to fly around the image in all directions, a 360 degree exploration of the environment. You can also zoom in closer with the "shift" key or zoom out with "ctrl" key.

What is virtual reality (VR)?

Virtual reality opens up the world to us in a way hitherto unknown, by allowing people to visit almost any place from practically any location without time constraints. It is a media drawing upon traditional photography and film industry. It depicts more than a photo but without the time limits of a movie. It is an interactive media meaning that the audience is active. Without their participation, the VR movie would be without animation ; in essence the audience gives life to the picture by viewing it from various angles, zooming in/out and clicking hyperlinks/icons.

It is also a very "light" and practical media. One person with skills and a backpack is enough to cover any site in the world. For this reason, it is inexpensive to produce compared to other animated systems. Moreover, it is a broad-ranging medium insofar as it can be supported on many different media systems, from a light web interface to heavy cinema productions or any printing support and at any quality level.

What is QuickTime VR ?

QuickTime VR lets you rotate your view of a scene through a complete 360 horizontal x 180-degree vertical sphere. As you change your view of the scene, correct perspective is maintained, creating the effect of being at the location and looking around. QuickTime VR is the first mainstream technology to enable theses experiences based on real world scenes.

How does the WHTour create virtual reality movies?

Taking a selection of digital images, each VR movie is made by stitching together 28 of these images. The computer creates the effect of being inside a sphere giving the user the scope to view all around oneself at 360 x 180 degrees. Actually, this sphere is made with the six separate sides of a cube : the front, right, back, left, top and bottom sides. The borders of each side connect to the others and the illusion is perfect.

For the WHTour, all VR movies are produced on site with a laptop and then disseminated on the internet through local connections. Each VR is about 1/2 day postproduction according to the complexity of stitching. Each VR of the WHTour is manually stitched.

Angkor Wat in Virtual Reality

Fantastic Travel Photos at BigTrip.Org

Angkor Wat by Isaac at BigTrip.Org

Have you ever wanted to travel around the world, take outstanding photographs, and post them on your website to universal acclaim? Well, Isaac and his girlfriend did this last year, and the results are nothing short of stunning. The most curious thing about his website is the complete lack of personal biography, contact information, or background on his journey. Does anyone have the story on Isaac and his round-the-world photographic tour? Be sure to check his images of Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh, Hong Kong, and India.

The Best Travel PhotoBlog Ever

Southeast Asia News 41

New Guinea by Carl Parkes


Temples, Monks and Abandoned Cars
Electric New Paper
Nov 16, 2004

TEMPLES are where Thai Buddhists go to in search of a new life. But at one quirky temple in Bangkok, it is also a place where old, discarded cars get a new lease of life. At Wat Huakrabeu in Bang Khunthien district, which is located around 20km from downtown Bangkok, close to 100 classic cars of various makes have found a new home and new purpose. Previously unwanted and discarded, they've become the object of desire for people who have been flocking to the temple just to see them.

Temple abbot Vibul Pattanasak, 58, said the idea started seven years ago when the 31-year-old temple started a car workshop to create mechanic jobs for the nearby villagers. 'When some owners of these classic cars started to leave them here without retrieving them after the repairs, we decided to keep them,' he told The New Paper in Thai. 'These are rare cars seldom seen on the roads today. We want to keep them so that future generations will have a chance to see them.' Today, the temple has become a classic-car haven packed with cars of various makes and models, ranging from Chevrolet, Ford, MG, Land Rover, Peugeot, Toyota to Nissan, although most of them are Mercedes-Benz.

Even Buddhist Monks Love Old Derelict Mercedes


Cambodians chided over 'magic cows'
Mail and Guardian
Nov 15, 2004

A recent spate of reports of magic cows in Cambodian provinces prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday to beg the public to be more rational in what they believe. Speaking at an inauguration ceremony at a pagoda in the country's north-eastern province of Kompong Cham, the prime minister pointed out two recent reports of people worshipping purportedly magic cows and said it is a trend that concerns him. "The beliefs of human beings are different from person to person, but we should try to believe something reasonable," he chided the public in a speech broadcast on national radio.

"In local newspapers we have heard about some cases [where] there was a 'magic cow', or at least people look upon it as magic and use its urine to cure their disease. Oh, dear, why do we do like this? "In this province, recently there was a two-headed cow, and I think maybe some people use 'magic' cow excrement to boil in water and give to their children to drink. Don't do this. Please don't do like this! This is not a rational belief." He said the government "is not able to prohibit people because this is their freedom of belief", but added that he will appeal for common sense to prevail.

What Does Hun Sen Have Against Magic Cows?


FEER: Gay Asia cover story
Far Eastern Economic Review
Oct 28, 2004

For many, the journey has yet to begin, but a growing number of Asian gay men and women are finally on the road to winning social and legal acceptance. Some are benefiting from the belief that open societies equal stronger economies; others are finding the courage to stand up for themselves as they find--often through the Net--that they are not alone. In this special report, we examine the changing lives of Asia's gays. We begin in Singapore, a state where contradictions abound, but where one message has hit home Gay rights make economic sense.

On a hot tropical night, around 8,000 gay men are dancing to pulsing house music. Laser lights play across sweaty bodies. Many of the men have whipped off their shirts. Some are down to just their Speedos. Welcome to Singapore.

Sean Ho, a 33-year-old information-technology consultant surveys the scene. He's wearing a T-shirt that proclaims "Choose Sin" in large, red letters. Below, in smaller type, is "gapore." "Singapore's become much more tolerant and open," says Ho. "They are giving us a lot more space."

The annual gay Nation party, held to coincide with Singapore's National Day in August, is an event the city-state's conservative founders would probably never have imagined. But stodgy Singapore has recently witnessed a flowering of gay culture. Gay bars, dance clubs and about a half-dozen bath houses have sprung up. The national art museum even featured an exhibit of homoerotic photos this summer.

The driving force behind this liberalization appears to be economic. One consideration Earning "pink dollars" from gay tourists. Organizers estimate that Nation and related events pulled in about 2,500 foreign visitors and nearly $6 million. But Singapore's more relaxed attitude towards homosexuality is also part of a broader government strategy to transform the city into a creative, ideas-driven economy. That, Singapore's mandarins realize, will require some loosening-up, as well as a serious effort to change the world's perception of Singapore as a rigid, authoritarian place.

Gay Tourism is Good Business


Deaths of Filipino Journalists on Rise
International Herald Tribune
Nov 16, 2004

DAVAO CITY, Philippines The continuing attacks on Filipino journalists have outraged domestic and international media groups, which have denounced the government for its failure to stop killings that have made the Philippines one of the world's most dangerous places for journalists. The latest to die was Gene Boyd Lumawag, a 26-year-old photojournalist working for the independent news agency MindaNews, which is based in this southern Philippine city. Lumawag was shot to death Friday a few minutes after he took a picture of the sunset in Jolo, a town in the Philippines' southernmost part, a lawless area where execution-style slayings are a common occurrence.

Lumawag, who was based in this city, had taken photographs for the International Herald Tribune for articles on the Islamic separatist rebellion here and on the exodus of Filipino nurses to other countries. He was the ninth Filipino journalist killed this year and the 58th since 1986. None of the killers have been convicted. The authorities have not arrested any suspect in Lumawag's slaying and could not yet pinpoint a motive for the attack. The military first said it was the handiwork of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, but it later recanted the statement.

The Slaughter of Filipino Journalists


Meet Connie Veneracion
A Sassy Lawyer in the Philippines
Iateneo

The House on a Hill is Connie Veneracion's second home. Named after her family's residence in the high lands of Antipolo, it is where a big part of Connie's identity finds its expression and lives. Since the online house's birth on April 15, 2003, it has grown to host five sub-weblogs and has inspired a webring, each with its own personality-little parts of the person of Connie.

It started with The Radical Chef, a Filipino food, cooking, and recipes journal. It was soon followed by A Sassy Lawyer in Philippine Suburbia, a blog that deals with Philippine law, politics, government, and culture. There is Tropical Scenes, a photoblog that features her creative side as well as Family Ties which is all about persons and family relations, her own little contribution to society. Finally, Connie also keeps A Sassy Diary which as the name suggests is her online diary.

House on a Hill also used to have a segment entitled The Philippines According to Blogs, Connie's way of promoting the country and its citizens through showcasing exceptional Filipino writing and ideas. The segment has moved on to become an independent webring, now with more than 250 Filipino blogger members and still growing.

When asked about the beginnings of her weblog, Connie claims to have had no idea that she would become a personality in the blogging world. According to her, "What I really wanted to do was design websites, for the heck of it lang (just for the heck of it). In the process, I discovered this new genre of websites called weblogs. It was everything I wanted. Templates and auto updates. So I started tinkering with the first script I used."

Profile: A Sassy Lawyer in the Philippines


The Filipino's Biggest Enemies
INQ7.Net
William Esposo
Nov 8, 2004

Among the most telling of these encultured counter-productive mindsets of many of our countrymen are the following:

Democracy is the cure all

The Filipino is stuck in the belief that democracy and elections are the answers to the nation’s problems. The truth is – most Filipinos don’t really know what democracy is and how every Citizen should act for democracy to work. The freedom to vote is not democracy. Democracy is the freedom of the majority to set and enforce their own policy on how their country should be run. In a democracy, the people, and not the elected public officials are the rulers.

Blind trust in America

We continue to look up to the US as our “Great White Father” – benevolent, kind, trustworthy, and one who will always look after our interest. Look at the many Filipinos who so willingly backed the Iraq War of George W. Bush, not realizing that this runs contrary to our interest as a country with millions of OFWs in the Middle East providing the single biggest relief to our financial woes. The trusting Native Americans once regarded the US as the “Great White Father” – and they ended up victims nearing total annihilation.

Opinion: What Ails the Philippines?


Drug accused in jail with Bali bombers
Herald Sun
Nov 16, 2004

THE 27-year-old Australian beauty school student awaiting trial for allegedly smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia now shares a prison with notorious Bali bombers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra.

Schapelle Corby has been moved to Kerobokan prison, the long-term home to 23 Bali bombers, including the core operatives,all three of whom have been sentenced to death for the 2002 blasts, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. It is believed the unrepentant trio is kept in solitary confinement.
Ms Corby, who was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport early last month when she flew in from Brisbane, was transferred to Kerobokan prison from her cell at Bali police headquarters. Although the Gold Coast student has repeatedly proclaimed her innocence, police have recommended charges that carry the maximum penalty of death.

Accused Pot Smuggler Hangs Out with Convicted Terrorists


Spreading the blog-linking love
Macam Macam
Nov 15, 2004

Ah, it's about time I repay a little of the generous linking and referrals from some of my favourite Asian blogs. So here goes.

Big ups to Aussie Simon of Simon World fame who continues to blog with abandon from Hong Kong. Asia by Blog remains the greatest exposition of Asian blog link-loving I have yet seen.

Jodi at Asia Pages maintains the rage and asks the questions from Korea and thereabouts.

Rajan Rishyakaran is a feisty Malaysian who serves up a healthy dose of irreverence to Malaysia, a country prone to take itself a little too seriously sometimes.

And Asian blogs don't come much bigger than Gweilo Diaries, courtesy of the inimitable Conrad.

Keep up the love, y'all.

Macam Macam Recommends Several Asian Bloggers


EXECUTION OF JUSTICE
NORMAL
Nov 13, 2004

Three Australians May Face the Death Penalty in Indonesia As Authorities Try to Curb the Drug Trade, Report Sian Powell and Olivia Rondonuwu. INDONESIA'S bitter war on drugs has roared unchecked across a nation where civil liberties, due process and merciful sentencing are luxuries enjoyed only by the elite. A few brave voices have spoken out against capital punishment for drug crimes and a few others have lamented the sledgehammer approach of the police. But, for the most part, Indonesians are happy to see drug dealers and users sentenced to death.

Of the 54 men and women crossing off the days on Indonesia's death row, 31 have been convicted of smuggling or possessing drugs. Murder comes a poor second, with 19 people sentenced to death, and terrorism third, with four. Three drug smugglers -- two Thais and an Indian -- have been shot by firing squads so far this year, the first executions since 2001. As many as seven other drug criminals have had their last appeals for mercy rejected and await imminent execution.

The drug-war rhetoric of religious leaders and government figures has galvanised a nation fearful of the damage heroin, amphetamines, opiates and even marijuana can wreak on impressionable youngsters. Now three Australians have been caught up in the fevered rush to punish drug criminals, and punish them severely.

Schapelle Leigh Corby, 27, a beauty-school student from Queensland's Gold Coast, was arrested at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport last month and accused of trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia. Indonesian police have recommended prosecutors charge her under laws that carry the death penalty.

NORMAL Reports on Drug Policies in Asia

Saturday Cat and Sunday Moose

Best of Friends

Southeast Asia News 40

Great Wall Waterslide

An historical perspective on the South
The Nation
November 09, 2004

The threat posted by the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) on its website, vowing that Muslim separatists would burn Bangkok “to the ground” in retaliation for the 85 protesters who died as a result of mistreatment by state troops, harked back to the South’s tortuous past.

Instead of referring to the capital as Krungthep or even Bangkok, the website referred to Bangkok as “Phra Nakorn”, a term that refers to the capital of Siam at the time of the Ayutthaya era.

With that comes the baggage of history, of centuries of war and subjugation, mostly by Siamese troops. It’s undeniable that Thai-Malay Muslim separatists in Pattani want to regain the glory and independence of the Islamic kingdom of Patani that was incorporated into Thailand just a century ago.

While separatists have latched onto the history of the South, the majority of Thais seem ignorant about the historical perspective in the ongoing violence. Buddhist Thais have also latched onto a view of the past that Pattani was part of Siam and Thailand, yet they tend to be almost oblivious to Thailand’s past aggressions.

Both parties seemed trapped in their own “imagined states”, to adapt well-known Cornell scholar Benedict Anderson’s notion of an “imagined community”, and appear unable to compromise. With this frame of mind, the Thai state and majority of the Thai public cannot view the people who carry out daily killings in the South as anything but senseless. On the other hand, those killers are likely to view themselves as “freedom fighters”, no matter how gruesome their killings of Thai Buddhists, including monks, may be.

Amidst the killings by militants, and the equally heartless handling of Thai-Malay Muslim protesters at Tak Bai by government forces, it is vital that the Thai public tries to understand the historic dimensions of the conflict.

In the early Bangkok period, from the reign of King Rama I to King Rama III, Malay Muslim villagers were forcibly uprooted from Pattani to Bangkok after Siamese troops suppressed a rebellion, or invaded Pattani, depending whose point of view one adopts. The biggest lot of captured villagers transported to Bangkok numbered up to 4,000. The largest number of troops dispatched from Bangkok was 300,000, during the reign of King Rama III, led by Dij Bunnag in 1832, after Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin of Pattani tried to liberate his land from Siamese control

Historical Background on Southern Thailand


Tigers have killed 20 cows at Sungai Lembing
New Straits Times
Nov 3, 2004

KUANTAN Tigers are on the prowl at Kampung Kawah, Sungai Lembing, near here, and so far this year, they have killed at least 20 cows belonging to the villagers. In the latest incident on Oct 14, five cows were killed by the tigers and dragged into the nearby jungle. Not much was left of the carcasses, which were found several days later. State Wildlife Protection and National Park Department (Perhilitan) today started the process of setting traps on the outskirts of the village to capture the tigers.

Its director, Zainuddin Abdul Shukor, who led a team to the village, said there were at least three tigers involved in the killing of the cows and other animals in the area. Two dogs will be used as baits for the two large steel traps which will be set up near the sites where the tigers were last spotted by the villagers early this month. He said using dogs as bait was more practical than using goats. Dogs tend to make a lot of noise when the tiger approach. This will anger the predator, prompting it to attack and be trapped more easily," he added. The first trap will be set up tomorrow in an orchard which is believed to be the favourite haunt of the tigers while the other will be installed at a later date.

Tigers Still Roam in Malaysia


Western countries are unfair says Tun Dr Mahathir
The Star Online
Nov 13, 2004

PETALING JAYA: Western nations are not interested in resolving the Palestinian issue, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He said the Western media had labelled Yasser Arafat a murderer although the late Palestinian leader had acted as he did because of the need to protect himself. On the other hand, he noted, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had deliberately killed Palestinians.

“But Sharon is not being called a murderer. So, this shows how the Western countries are very unfair to Arafat and his cause. And they do not really want to see a solution to the Palestinian issue,” he said. Dr Mahathir added that Arafat had continued to pursue his cause even in trying conditions and under stress.

“He was really dedicated to the cause but there were those, like CNN, who had falsely accused him of being a murderer on the day he died,” he told reporters on Saturday after signing the condolence book at the Palestinian Embassy. Dr Mahathir and his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, were met by the embassy’s counsellor, Dr Azmi Al Daqqa. The former prime minister also warned that peace would not be achieved and terrorism would continue as long as the Palestinian issue was not resolved.

Asked whether Arafat’s death signalled a change in the peace process, Dr Mahathir said: “There will be an interregnum for some time because things will have to be sorted out, but I doubt the new leadership will adopt a different stand because they are all united. “They might sound more conciliatory but the objective remains the same, which is is regaining the land belonging to the Palestinians and the return of the refugees,” he said.

Mahathir Lectures Again


Activists urge Singapore not to portray AIDS as "gay disease"
AIDS activists urged Singapore's health authorities Saturday to stop portraying HIV/AIDS as a disease that mainly afflicts homosexuals.
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 13, 2004

The group Action for AIDS was responding to comments made Wednesday by Balaji Sadasivan, the minister of state for health, that gay men are a bigger concern in the city-state's fight against AIDS than heterosexual men. "Myths of HIV/AIDS being a 'gay disease' need to be dispelled to prevent a false sense of complacency among heterosexuals," the Singapore-based advocacy group said in a statement. "Efforts to reduce HIV transmission in (heterosexual men) must also be intensified."

Health ministry figures show that heterosexuals comprised 65 percent of the 138 HIV infections reported in the first half of this year, while homosexuals accounted for 23 percent. The rest were the result of intravenous drug use and other forms of transmission. Singapore, a country of 4 million people, bans gay sex, defining it as "an act of gross indecency" punishable by a maximum two years in jail. However, there have been few prosecutions.

Singapore AIDS Issues


Singapore facing AIDS epidemic
Reuters News UK
Nov, 11 2004

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore faces an AIDS epidemic, with the number of new infections diagnosed expected to hit a rate of 1,000 a year by 2010. Homosexuals and heterosexual men who have casual sex in other countries were two groups that needed attention, said Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan on Thursday.

The number of new cases of HIV/AIDS in Singapore has been increasing and is set to cross 300 a year in 2004, he said in a speech. If this continues unchecked, Singapore may have 15,000 people with HIV/AIDS by 2010. "The number of new (HIV/AIDS) cases diagnosed appears to double every 3 to 4 years. At this rate of increase, we can expect more than a thousand new cases to be diagnosed in the year 2010," he said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are about 4,000 people in Singapore with HIV, and less than half of them have been diagnosed, he said. Sadasivan pointed to the sharp rise in new AIDS infections among homosexuals, from 54 cases last year to 77 in the first 10 months of this year. "This recent explosion of cases is due to the promiscuous and unsafe lifestyle advocated and practiced by some gays," he said.

He urged the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) to draw up measures to tackle the problem, including border screening of people in high-risk groups.

"If the CDC can screen high-risk Singaporeans at our borders when they return, we may be able to protect Singapore women from catching AIDS from these men," he added. Most HIV and AIDS patients are treated at the CDC. As at the end of September, there were 972 reported HIV patients and 1,334 reported AIDS cases in the city-state, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman said.

Singapore AIDS Epidemic


Slithering menace leaves Singaporeans afraid to go to toilet
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 11, 2004

SINGAPORE, (AFP) - Emerging out of toilet bowls, wrapping themselves around altars in high-rise apartments and feasting on kittens, snakes have earnt themselves a fearsome reputation in highly urbanised Singapore. More than 80 snake species exist alongside this tiny Southeast Asian city-state's bustling population of 4.3 million people, with pythons as long as seven metres (23 feet) and deadly black spitting cobras among the most common.

While vast swathes of tropical Singapore have been turned over to housing and offices during its rapid development from third-world status to first in little more than 30 years, snakes have adapted and in some cases thrived. Their habitats include the lush forests and parks that still take up significant tracts of land, mangroves and reservoirs, as well as gardens of the large middle and upper classes who can afford landed properties.

The nation's sewage system is also infested with pythons and cobras, giving rise to tales, some of which are undoubtedly urban myths, of city dwellers encountering snakes while with their pants around their ankles at the toilet. "Pythons live in the sewers because their food source is there. They feed on the sewer rats. It's also a place that is perpetually damp and they are undisturbed. So it's ideal for them," pest control expert Patrick Chong told AFP.

Chong said his company received two cries for help recently from the first-floor tenants of an office building in the heart of the business district. "We are not sure whether they were imagining it but twice they claimed there was a snake that came up through the toilet bowl," said Chong, the operations director at Aardwolf Pestkare, one of Singapore's biggest pest control companies.

Toilet Snakes Terrify Singapore


Former Miss Universe contestant enters Singapore politics
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 11, 2004

SINGAPORE (AFP) - A former Miss Universe (news - web sites) contestant and television game show host Eunice Olsen has won a spot in the nation's parliament in what may be one of the easiest contests of her career. The government named Olsen on Wednesday as one of nine "nominated members of parliament" to serve a two-year term starting in January, meaning she will become an MP without having to fight an election.

Aside from the 84 elected MPs, Singapore's political system allows for nine nominated MPs who are appointed by a special parliamentary committee to reflect independent, non-partisan views. At age 27, Olsen, who won the Miss Singapore Universe title in 2000 and has since co-hosted the local version of the Wheel of Fortune game show, will become the youngest member of parliament.

Good News in Singapore for Angry but Beautiful Anarchists


Photojournalist shot to death in southern Philippines
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 13, 2004

An unknown assailant fatally shot a photojournalist in the southern Philippines, the latest victim of attacks on journalists in the country, police and the military said Saturday. Gene Boyd R. Lumawag, photo editor for the independent Filipino news agency MindaNews, was shot in the head Friday while on his way to take a picture of the sunset in southern Jolo town. "No one in the crime scene could say how it happened," said Carolyn Arguillas, chairman of MindaNews, who was also in Jolo.

Arguillas, who was in her hotel room at the time, said in a statement she was told by army investigators they suspected an "urban terrorist group" from the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group linked to al-Qaida and active in the area, about 950 kilometers (594 miles) south of Manila. "He was on his way to shoot the sunset from the pier of Jolo when felled by a lone bullet from a caliber .45 handgun," Arguillas said. "Gene Boyd was looking forward to his first coverage of eidl fitr, the celebration marking the end of the (Muslim) holy month of Ramadan."

Another Journalist Murdered in the Philippines


Bohmu Aung, Myanmar independence hero, dies at 95
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 9, 2004

One of the last surviving members of Myanmar's "Thirty Comrades" independence heroes has died. Bohmu Aung was 95. He died of natural causes at his residence in the capital Yangon on Tuesday, said family members, who asked not to be named. Bohmu Aung and the other Thirty Comrades _ many of whom had been student anti-colonial activists _ secretly went to Japan in 1940 for military training to fight their British rulers.

They returned to form the Burma Independence Army, which operated alongside the Japanese but turned against them toward the end of World War II. The group was led by the young and charismatic Gen. Aung San, who was assassinated by political foes in 1947, shortly before Myanmar _ then called Burma _ obtained formal independence from Britain. His daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, today heads the opposition to the ruling military regime.

After independence, Bohmu Aung served in various capacities under the democratic government of U Nu, but was jailed after Gen. Ne Win _ another of the Thirty Comrades _ took power in a 1962 coup d'etat. When Ne Win was forced from power in 1988, Bohmu Aung became actively involved in the pro-democracy movement, which briefly flourished until it was crushed by the military. In 1989, he was placed under house arrest for nearly two years.

His sympathies, however, remained with Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement. He signed several public appeals urging the ruling junta to negotiate with her National League for Democracy party, which won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power. Only two of the Thirty Comrades now survive: Bo Kyaw Zaw, who is believed living in Beijing, and Bo Ye Htut, who lives in Yangon. Bohmu Aung's family said the latter offered his condolences on Wednesday.

Bohmu Aung Dead in Burma


Asian Development Bangk says sex industry continues to thrive in Myanmar
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 12, 2004

Myanmar has a thriving sex industry despite vigorous denials by its military government, and a recently released report by the Asian Development Bank says soldiers and policemen are among the major procurers of commercial sex.
"There is a complicated but sizeable domestic sex industry in Myanmar," said the Manila-based bank study titled 'Mobility and HIV/AIDS in the Greater Mekong Subregion.'

"A demand situation, along with a supply of women, ensures that the trade expands. There is hardly any brothel-type service or red-light district," said the study penned by Supang Chantavanich of the Asian Research Center for Migration, adding karaoke bars and restaurants along Myanmar's major highways and trading places are often transformed into prostitution dens.

"Small (hotel-like) guest houses operate where men can take women (to have drinks and sex)," says the report, adding that some border towns even have "special entertainment" centers for "cross-border sex workers" that cater to visitors from neighboring China, Thailand and elsewhere. The report warns the continued migration of Myanmar nationals, particularly women, to the borders with Thailand, China, India and Bangladesh to seek jobs has abetted the transmission of the AIDS-causing virus and could lead to a serious HIV-AIDS epidemic in that Southeast Asian country.

"The continuing political struggle and the ensuing economic hardship have forced millions of people to move from place to place for jobs and income," the report notes. There are 530,000 Myanmar people who are sick with AIDS, according to UNAIDS 2000 estimates. More than 26,000 people have tested positive for the virus during the last 12 years and more than 3,500 AIDS cases have been confirmed, according to National AIDS Program statistics.

The feared explosion in HIV cases casts another dark cloud over the future of Myanmar, which is already saddled with a stagnant economy, widespread poverty, political instability and a poor human rights record.

AIDS in Burma

Guilty

Peterson Guilty of 1st Degree Murder

My Next Vehicle?

I've been quite happy tooling around San Francisco on my trusty Honda Elite 250 scooter for several years (plus buses and BART), but I now need something larger and more powerful to suit my oversized ego, and scare the hell out of the natives. Which one should I choose?



Hydrogen BMW



Airplane Limo



Hellcat Confederate



Jeep Treo



Japanese Trucks



Giant Truck



Smart Truck III

Just what America needs - a car even bigger than the Hummer
By David Usborne in New York
10 November 2004

It may not be long before drivers of the Hummer - the steroid-laden sports utility vehicle favoured by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger - get a fright when they look in their rear-view mirrors. Trailing them will be a set of wheels even bigger, greedier and more eye-catching than their own.

The US Army and the Chicago manufacturer International Truck and Engine Corporation are jointly developing a replacement for the venerable Humvee troop transporter, from which the Hummer was derived. Last week, prototypes of the so-called "Smart Truck 3" were displayed at a trade show in Las Vegas. The army also wants the vehicles to be marketed to other customers such as government agencies or regular Joes who only feel right using a stepladder to get behind thewheel.

The commercial version would not have the electronics designed to detect anthrax, the Kevlar armouring on the underside, the night-vision cameras and the 25-inch LCD touch-screen computer monitors. But it would be just as big. The Smart Truck would weigh in at no less than 8,000lb, compared to nearly 5,000lb for the second generation Hummer, the H2. It would be about 3in higher than the Hummer and 4ft longer, but its fuel consumption would be lower.

However, the era of bigger-is-always-better may have passed, even in size-obsessed America. Sales of the Hummer in the first 10 months of this year were down by a fifth compared to 2003

Fallujah Images

Fallujah Map SF Chronicle



Fallujah Map NYT



Fallujah



Fallujah



Fallujah



Fallujah

Southeast Asia News 39

Ko Phi Phi by Carl Parkes

Bangkok police corrupt, from top to bottom, study says
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 6, 2004

From senior officers to cops on the streets, the police force in Thailand's capital is riddled with corruption, says a study cited by newspapers Saturday. Low pay, unfair promotion policies and a system that allows corrupt policemen to go unpunished were cited as key reasons for the endemic corruption, the study by three academic researchers said.

Reports on the study, which was presented at a seminar Friday, were carried by the Bangkok Post and other local newspapers. The researchers, who conducted interviews at five of Bangkok's 88 police stations, found "corruption deeply entrenched from the bottom ranks to the top and in every section of each station -- administration, prevention and suppression, crime detection, investigation and traffic."

Those on the crime prevention and suppression beats cultivated "gray businesses" such as entertainment outlets opening beyond legal hours and shops selling pirated goods, demanding tea money to turn a blind eye, it said. Crime detection police got their extra income from gambling dens, illegal lottery operations and places of prostitution with some gambling operators having to pay police station chiefs up to 3 million baht (US$73,000; euros 56,780) a month.

More on Police Corruption in Bangkok

Blind up in arms at massage ban plans
Bangkok Post
Nov 10, 2004

About 30 blind people gather at Songkhla provincial hall to oppose the Public Health Ministry's plan to issue a regulation which blocks the disabled from obtaining licences to practise therapeutic massage. Blind people yesterday gathered to oppose a Public Health Ministry draft regulation that will ban the disabled from obtaining licences to perform therapeutic massage.

About 300 rallied at the ministry and another 30 from Songkhla and its neighbouring provinces protested at Songkhla provincial hall over the ministry's plan saying it was discriminatory. One part of the draft regulation states that to obtain a licence to perform therapeutic massage, applicants must not suffer from any physical disabilities.

''This condition completely limits our rights to work on an equal basis with people who don't have disabilities. It also shows people at the ministry still judge the disabled by physical abilities, and not our capabilities,'' said Torpong Selanon, spokesman for the Thailand Association of the Blind, who led the protesters at the ministry.

Thai Government Discriminates Against the Blind

Thailand, the land of metal smiles
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 9, 2004

BANGKOK (AFP) - On Bangkok's elevated Skytrain network, a 14-year-old girl with shining hair, flawless skin and a crisp white shirt smiles beautifully to reveal a mouthful of blue metal, perfectly matching her pleated skirt. This is the latest fad among adolescents in the capital of the "Land of Smiles": false orthodontic braces fitted with coloured rings to match their outfits or their mood for the day.

The Thai teenage craze has transformed the once-hated devices into essential pieces of jewellery for the hip, despite health professionals' warnings over their dangers. At markets where girls and Thailand's famed lady boys, or transsexuals, go browsing, the stalls bristle with devices to suit every taste and budget. "The coloured rings are very cute," said Jessica, a 14-year-old schoolgirl with an orange smile. She paid 1,000 baht (25 dollars) for her braces.

The Latest Teenage Trend in Bangkok

Graham Greene Biography, Heavy on Sex, Draws Some Outrage
New York Times
Nov 4, 2004

The final volume of Norman Sherry's three-part, 2,251-page biography of Graham Greene was supposed to be the capstone of an obsessive 30-year undertaking, one that would build on the widespread critical success of the first two volumes and take full measure of the man and his achievements. Instead, members of Greene's family are furious that Mr. Sherry - who had exclusive access to many of the author's papers - chose to highlight Greene's fondness for prostitutes and his sordid sexual pursuits. The new volume has received widespread praise in the United States, but critics in England have condemned its unconventional style and are livid. Mr. Sherry has interjected himself into the narrative, dropped in bits of his own poetry, even included a picture of himself riding on a donkey in Mexico as he retraced Greene's research for the novel "The Power and the Glory."

Volume III of "The Life of Graham Greene,'' published in the United States last month by Viking, covers the last years of the life of the author of "Brighton Rock," "The Heart of the Matter," "The Quiet American" and many other novels. It describes Greene's life as a British agent, his travels through Cuba and Congo, his friendships with Hemingway, Eliot and Evelyn Waugh. But it also portrays a darker side of Greene, who once wrote a list of 47 prostitutes with whom he had had sex, along with coded details of the encounters.

NYT on Graham Greene Biography

India-Asean rally will put Asian Highway to the test
Asia News Network
Nov 11, 2004

More than 60 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) will leave Guwahati in India's north-eastern state of Assam this month for Singapore - via Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia - and on to Indonesia. The trip, designed to underscore the growing relationship between India and Asean, is also meant to demonstrate the utility value and infrastructure investment potential of the Asian Highway - a network of roads being developed by governments in the region with the help of multilateral agencies.

The 1,400km trilateral highway will link India with Thailand and Myanmar, and eventually with Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The Asian Highway will eventually make it possible to drive a goods truck from Vientiane in landlocked Laos, or from Chiang Mai in Thailand, due west to India's north-east - with a link north to Kunming in China. The highway was agreed upon in March 2002 and a survey completed last year.

The US$800 million (S$1.3 billion) needed for upgrading the India-Thailand section is being provided by the Indian and Thai governments, and includes India's contribution towards setting up an optical fibre telecommunication network along the route. Economists say the highway will unlock the potential of interior areas and re-energise overland trade routes.

The rally will flag off from Guwahati on Nov 22 and enter Myanmar at Tamu on Nov 24. After passing through Mandalay in Myanmar, it is due to enter Thailand on Nov 28 at Mae Sai, and travel onwards to Vientiane in Laos, where it will provide Asean leaders at their summit on Nov 30 with a diversion as they flag it off on its journey via Bangkok to Singapore, where the cars will roll on to Orchard Road on Dec 10.

Will We Ever See the Trans-Asia Highway?

Vietnam's World Heritage RD Project Awaits Approval
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 8, 2004

HANOI - A tourism project to establish a "World Heritage Road" running 1,500km through Vietnam is still waiting for legal approval from Vietnamese authorities.
The road, also known as the "East-West Corridor", would span from Vinh to Da Nang utilising part of Highway 1 and is intended as a banner name under which tourism festivals, routes, and events could be promoted. It is also expected that the road would link up with routes that take traffic directly to Laos, Thailand, and Burma.

Although the project attracted a lot of attention from the Vietnam General Administration of Tourism (VNAT), provinces, and tourism investors when it was declared in 2002, it has since been stalled by administrative red tape.

This World Heritage Thing is Completely Out of Control

Mysteries of newly-found 'hobbit' lure tourists to remote Indonesian isle
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 7, 2004

LIANG BUA, Indonesia (AFP) - The discovery of remains of a tiny human closely-related to man on the remote Indonesian island of Flores and tales of Hobbit-like creatures who still roam its jungles have triggered an influx of visitors in search of a fabled lost world. Palaeontologists last week said they had exhumed the bones of a previously unknown species, Homo floresiensis, from a cave near the village of Liang Bua, a revelation which has shaken the evolutionary tree and the science community.

The find, by researchers speculating that the tiny humans match tales of gluttonous little folk seen in the island's uncharted forests, has fired the imagination of visitors willing to make the arduous trek to what they hope will be a real-life Jurassic Park. Canny local tour operators have already posted a package deal on the Internet, offering a five day expedition to the village Liang Bua from the popular resort island of Bali -- a trip with a price tag of 570 dollars.

Flores Tiny People Tourism Takes Off -- German Tour Buses First on Location

Inappropriate’ Raya promo poster rejected
The Star Online
Nov 8, 2004

SIN CHEW DAILY reported that the Kota Baru Municipal Council recently rejected a set of Hari Raya sales and promotional posters for an electrical appliances chain as the posters were said to show male and female models in an “inappropriate” pose – being in close proximity and touching each other. The daily reported that the electrical store, which has a chain of outlets nationwide, was forced to “alter” its promotional posters by substituting the life models with cartoons.

The original poster had two sets of images, one showing a man using his hands to cover a woman’s eyes while the other had a woman covering a man’s eyes instead.

Malaysia Bans Electical Appliance Advertisment

Penang Church to Exhume Graves
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 9, 2004

Church postpones plan to exhume missionaries' graves in Malaysia following criticism. A plan by Malaysia's Catholic church to exhume more than 200 bodies from a 19th-century graveyard has been postponed, following opposition by activists and family members, a bishop said Monday. The graves _ mainly of European missionaries and former church parishioners who died more than 100 years ago _ are scattered haphazardly in church-owned land that the Roman Catholic Diocese wants to turn into a park for orphans on Malaysia's northern Penang island.

But activists claim the plan shows little respect for the dead, their descendants, or history, and warn it could undercut the island's hopes of becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bad News for Dead Missionaries

Shabu capital of SE Asia
Manila Times
Nov 9, 2004

Philippine authorities have had some success in discovering and raiding shabu manufacturing facilities. According to Cebu City Congressman Antonio Cuenco, more than 20 so-called shabu laboratories have been uncovered and raided, most recently two in Mandaue City, Cebu. The others were located in Metro Manila. However, not once were the local contacts of these shabu manufacturing operations identified and brought to justice. Neither was the level of involvement or guilt of local government officials established. Local government units have the power—and duty—to regulate businesses in their areas of jurisdiction. Business establishments need business permits to operate. While city officials may not know everything that is going on in their city, barangay officials and tanods are there to monitor at the community level. And the police is supposed to protect the public against crime and illegal operations.

Marvelous Mandaue Makes the News

Belly dancing gaining popularity in Singapore
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 8, 2004

SINGAPORE: A combination of sexy outfits, sensual moves and hypnotic music, makes belly dancing a feast for the senses. It's gaining in popularity in Singapore - with classes organised at Community Clubs more than doubled compared to two years ago. The People's Association says Community Clubs organised nearly 120 classes for over 1,300 participants in the first 10 months of this year. This compares to less than half that number of participants for the whole of 2002.

Belly Dancing in Singapore? What's Next? Cosmo?

Cosmopolitan doing roaring sales in Singapore after 22-year ban lifted
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 7, 2004

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Popular US women's magazine Cosmopolitan is back with a vengeance in Singapore after the government lifted a 22-year ban on the publication, the Sunday Times reported. The city-state's leading book retailers all reported brisk sales for the latest edition of the magazine despite its hefty price tag of almost eight US dollars for each copy.

The Kinokuniya store said all 100 copies of the November US edition of Cosmopolitan, which cost 7.83 US dollars each, were sold out while 50 copies of the UK edition, which cost almost nine US dollars, were also all snapped up. US book retailer Borders also said sales had been "very encouraging" but declined to give figures.

Cosmopolitan has been banned in Singapore for 22 years with local authorities accusing it of espousing extreme liberal values that they view as offending family and moral norms in the conservative city-state. The government, after extensive consultations with a censorship review committee, in September removed the ban but attached conditions to the sale of the magazine here. It cannot contain illustrations with full frontal nudity or explicit sexual acts, or articles promoting alternative lifestyles such as homosexuality.

Cosmo in Singapore? What's Next? Belly Dancing?

Singapore woman jailed for scalding Indonesian maid who took afternoon nap
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 9, 2004

A 28-year-old Singapore woman has been imprisoned for six weeks after she admitted to scalding her Indonesian maid because she took an afternoon nap, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Lee Ai Ling was imprisoned Monday for the offense committed in May, the Straits Times newspaper said. Lee had returned home and was told by her daughter that Puriah Misri, 25, had taken an afternoon nap, the newspaper said. Lee then scolded the maid and poured hot water on her feet, it said.

Puriah ran away and was found at a park a day later, the newspaper said. Lee also admitted three other charges of abuse, it added. She could have been sentenced up to 18 months under the charges. Singapore courts frequently hear cases of maid abuse and authorities have come under fire from critics who say they are not adequately protecting the rights of foreign domestic helpers.

Another Case of Maid Abuse in Singapore

Ashcroft Memories

Ashcroft Burns the Constitution



Ashcroft Relaxes at Home



Ashcroft Cops a Feel



Good Riddance

Good News for America

Ashcroft Resigns

Ashcroft Resigns
MSNBC News
Nov 9, 2004

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans resigned Tuesday, the first members of President Bush’s Cabinet to leave as he headed from re-election into his second term. The resignations were announced by White House press secretary Scott McClellan, who said Bush had accepted the decisions of both secretaries.

“The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved,” Ashcroft wrote in a five-page handwritten letter to Bush, adding that he believed that the Justice Department “would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration” and that “my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons.”

Ashcroft Resigns

Random Noise

Doggie Diner Dogs on Parade

Strange City Names

What a wonderful world
Straits Times
Nov 2, 2004

SOMEWHERE off the coast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, about 4km from the city's shoreline, a near perfect world is emerging. The world is not enough. So Dubai is building another one to attract the super rich and famous and boost tourism. Even James Bond would be impressed. Long forgotten, too, are the animosities between Israel and Palestine - the troubled two simply do not exist.

Instead, it is a world of lavish residential villas, hotels and leisure outlets, all of which will be bathed in year-long sunshine and bordered by glistening azure waters. Welcome to The World, a US$3 billion (S$5 billion) development that is a cluster of 300 man-made islands shaped and positioned like countries on a world map.

Wanna Buy an Island in Dubai?

Create a Map of All the Places in the World You Have Visited

Excellent PhotoBlog

Gadling - A New Blog about Travel

Ferris Wheels in Tokyo

An excellent new blog all about travel, with plenty of links to Asia, including a mention of this blog under Media:

Gadling Travel Blog

Gadling Mentions FriskoDude

Southeast Asia News 38

Opium Museum at the Golden Triangle


Thailand holds first world transvestite pageant
Straits Times
Nov 7, 2004

PATTAYA (Thailand) - Re-shaping their bodies with tape - and in some cases, surgery - the Miss International Queen contestants looked more feminine than many women could ever dream of, even though they were all born boys. Contestants from around the world, including Singapore, France and Germany, took part in the Miss International Queen pageant. The title and US$7,000 prize went to Thai college student Treechada Petcharat (far right).

The 24 cross-dressers and medically altered transsexuals from 11 Asian countries, Germany and France, caked on makeup, sprayed their hair, and donned glamorous gowns and skimpy bikinis for the international beauty pageant that was broadcast live in Thailand. Held at one of Pattaya's most famous transvestite cabarets, Tiffany's, the contest carried on into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The Miss International Queen title and US$7,000 prize went to college student Treechada Petcharat who flat-out passed the test - no one could guess she was once a boy.

'I don't think that I'm more woman than the women here,' said a breathless Ms Treechada, crowned with a gemmed tiara. 'But I definitely feel like a real woman.' First runner-up went to Singaporean Arisha Rani, 29.

Another World's Record for Pattaya


Thailand Elite Card Now on Sale!
All About the Failure/Rip-Off from Thaksin Shinawatra

Thailand Elite Card is the world’s first country most prestigious membership club providing exclusive friends of Thailand with benefits and privileges to enable foreign visitors and expatriates with an access to recreation, living accommodation, entertainment, health care and variety of lifestyles throughout the Kingdom of Thailand.

The individual membership is for a lifetime and members can obtain assistance with all information such as booking arrangement, tourism, recreation and any other as well as investment information through the Call Center before or during the stay in Thailand. Elite members are also entitled to special residential privileges that cover multiple visa, immigration, and properties and business services provided by Chiangmai Trade Point to assist Elite members regarding investment opportunity.

Thaksin is also trying to sell a Bridge in Brooklyn


Melted Bart
2Bangkok
May 4, 2003

On May 10, 1993 a fire broke out in the Kader Toy Factory in Thailand and 189 workers died. It was the height of the Simpsons craze and the factory was producing Simpsons toys. After the fire, labor activists collected discarded toys and a melted Bart became a symbol of the tragedy.

2Bangkok with the Full Scoop on the Simpsons in Thailand


Reality TV catches fingers in honey pot
Manichi Daily News from Wai Wai
By Ryann Connell
November 6, 2004

Nothing about the show is staged and there's no acting. We offer young girls the chance to live for free in a Shinjuku apartment for one month. The girls don't know where cameras are located, and we have several set up throughout the place, which can be switched remotely," a PR man from Paradise TV says, going on to explain how the satellite channel sets about skirting the legal ban on displaying genitalia. "Telecasts are live, so we can't use a mosaic, which means we've got to be really careful about the angles we use."

Just Wait Until Hollywood Hears about Reality TV in Japan


From clients to porn stars
Asian Sex Gazette
Nopvember 4, 2004

Hong Kong - Brothels in Hong Kong are turning customers into unwitting porn movie stars by filming their antics on secret cameras, a news report said on Thursday. Sophisticated pinhole surveillance cameras have been found in raids on brothels in the city's Mongkok red light district, the South China Morning Post reported.

Police believe the cameras may have been used to secretly film customers having sex with prostitutes for movies sold on the underground pornographic film market. Chief Inspector Vincent Cheng, who led the raids, told the newspaper that officers were checking confiscated film cassettes to see if they included footage of clients.

More than 200 people, most of them prostitutes from mainland China, were arrested in a series of raids by police on brothels in Mongkok operated by two crime syndicates. Thousands of women from relatively poor southern China are arrested for vice-related offences in Hong Kong every year. Most are charged with working on tourist or visitor visas.

WhoreMongers in Mongkok Should Carefully Check Those PeepHoles


Museum remembers Cambodia's Killing Fields
USA Today
Nov 4, 2004

For years, Leon Lim didn't want to talk about what he saw in the Killing Fields of Cambodia. He wanted to focus on his new life in America, not on the torture endured under the Khmer Rouge and the loved ones lost. Now, Lim and fellow survivors have a forum for helping heal their emotional scars, for preserving their past, and for educating others of the atrocities that can be perpetrated by an unbridled communist regime. That place is Chicago's new Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which the project's organizers say is the only public memorial in the USA that honors victims of the Khmer Rouge.

Museum to the Cambodian Holocaust Opens in Chicago

In Malaysia, 'Islamic civilization' is promoted
Asian Sex Gazette
By Paul Wiseman
November 4, 2004

But Abdullah's own government and the country's courts, eager to avoid antagonizing the country's Muslim majority, have sent out mixed signals about their willingness to treat Muslims and non-Muslims equally. "While all of us are equal," attorney Malik Imtiaz quips, "some of us are more equal than others." Consider:

• In two controversial decisions this summer, Malaysia's courts refused to defend the rights of non-Muslims and of Muslims who want to leave Islam. In one case, the court ordered a Hindu woman to raise her children as Muslims after her ex-husband converted them to Islam without her permission. In the other, Malaysia's highest court refused to acknowledge the rights of four Kampung Batu 13 villagers to leave Islam. Instead, the justices upheld contempt-of-court rulings imposed by Muslim judges in a sharia (Islamic) court; lawyers for the four are petitioning the high court to reconsider its decision.

• Authorities banned Muslims from viewing the Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ this year, restricting showings to a handful of theaters. Tickets were sold through churches. (Even so, The Associated Press reported, 40,000 Malaysians saw the movie. Some Muslims bought tickets from Christian friends through the churches.)

• Islamic leaders are successfully fending off a campaign this year by women's and human rights groups seeking to criminalize marital rape. Muslim clerics and activists insist that Islam gives husbands the right to demand sex from their wives.

• The government last year stopped publication of a Christian Bible in Iban, the language of an indigenous Malaysian tribe, to prevent Christians from proselytizing.

Non-Muslims, who account for 40% of Malaysia's people, can worship freely. Unlike Muslims, however, they are forbidden from attempting to attract converts. And they sometimes run into official resistance when they want to open temples or churches. "Nobody has been told they can't go to their church," says Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia specialist at Johns Hopkins University. "They're told they can't take their church out and witness to other people."

Religion in Malaysia is tangled up with the politics of race. Ethnic Malays, who make up 58% of the population, are Muslim by definition, according to the government. Chinese, who tend to be Buddhist, account for 24%; ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus and Christians, represent another 8%.

The Racist Policies of the Malaysian Government as Reported by the Asian Sex Gazette!


Transsexual debate in Malaysia
By Jonathan Kent
BBC, Kuala Lumpur
Nov 5, 2004

Transsexuals in Malaysia have called for new laws on gender identity after a judge ruled that those who have undergone sex change operations were in a legal limbo. In what has been called a landmark ruling, the judge, V T Singham, dismissed an application by a 33-year-old who wants to become legally male after having had surgery. The judge said only parliament could approve such a change.

Wong Chiou Yoong went to court seeking to be formally recognised as a man. Born female, Wong had a sex change operation two years ago and produced evidence from two specialists saying that he was now a functioning man. However, Malaysia's National Registration Department labels Wong a woman on the basis of his birth certificate.

Judge V T Singham told the court that biological characteristics are set at birth and that biological rather than psychological tests determine identity. In the absence of any laws covering gender reassignment, the judge said he was unable to accept the application. Any change in the legal status of transsexuals was a matter for parliament, he said. A local trans-gender group, the Pink Triangle Foundation, has called for new laws that allow people to choose their own identity.

Transsexuals? In Malaysia? Isn't that the same country that threw Anwar in prison for six years for sodomy?


Man arrested for possessing synthetic drug
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 6, 2004

SINGAPORE : Central Narcotics Bureau officers arrested a man and seized 100 LSD stamps - a synthetic drug. Following a tip-off, CNB officers moved in on the suspect next to Aljunied MRT station on Thursday.A red packet containing 100 LSD stamps was found in his right trouser pocket.

LSD is a synthetic drug which can cause hallucinations. It can be added to absorbent paper and divided into small decorated squares, like stamps. Each square represents one dose of the drug. The 31-year-old suspect also tested positive for amphetamines after a urine test, and will be investigated for trafficking a controlled drug. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of five years behind bars and five strokes of the cane.

Acid Possession May Bring Five Years in Prison


Singapore says: Get me to the church on time
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 5, 2004

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - After exhorting citizens to smile more, flush toilets after use, be courteous on the road and to have more babies, Singapore is zeroing in on rude wedding guests in its latest bid to improve etiquette. Infuriated by reports of weddings marred by tardy guests, the government-led Singapore Kindness Movement launched a "Punctuality Drive at Wedding Dinners" campaign for a second straight year, a spokeswoman for the group said on Friday.

About 800,000 "punctuality reminders" have been sent to hotels, which usually plan weddings in Singapore. These are passed to couples to include with invitations, and contain a gracious "thank you" for guests who turn up on time. It is double the number of cards sent last year. Older relatives often show up late at Chinese wedding banquets to show their importance. But the government is incensed that younger people are doing it too.

Singapore, known for micro-managing its wealthy population of 4.2 million people, frequently rolls out extensive national campaigns aimed at moulding social behaviour.

More Behavior Control Programs from the Singapore Government

Corrupt Cops in Bangkok? Shocking!

Dope Dealers and the Bangkok Police

Graft 'part of daily life' for police
Bangkok Post
Nov 6, 2004
Bribes, kickbacks at all levels in every station

Corruption is part of daily life among police in the capital as they exploit government policies and city regulations to take advantage of people and make them pay, a new study reveals. The study by Supoj Jun-anantatham, Visanu Wongsinsirikul and Natthanan Wijit-aksorn of five of the 88 police stations in Bangkok, which are under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, found corruption deeply entrenched from the bottom ranks to the top and in every section of each station _ administration, prevention and suppression, crime detection, investigation and traffic.

The findings were presented at a seminar on corruption held yesterday by the National Economic and Social Development Advisory Council and Dhurakijbundit University. Mr Supoj said that a lack of incentives such as financial rewards and career advancement, systems that allowed corrupt officers to escape unpunished and government policies towards nightspots, gambling houses and brothels encouraged police to cheat.

Non-commissioned officers with no chance of promotion were most likely to get involved in graft, while only 20% of corrupt officers were penalised and many were spared a disciplinary investigation, Mr Supoj said. Mr Visanu said other causes included obsession with status, money and lavish lifestyles, and corruption in the promotion system that forced officers to resort to extortion so they could find money to buy key positions. Mr Visanu said it seemed metropolitan police could look for ways to make money from just about anything.

Those responsible for crime prevention and suppression cultivated ''grey'' businesses such as entertainment outlets opening beyond legal hours, shops selling pirated goods and unlicensed factories as sources of their ''extra'' income, with the firms paying police to turn a blind eye to their illegal activities. Crime detection police earned their extra income mainly from ''black'' businesses such as gambling dens, underground lottery sales, prostitution and soccer betting syndicates, Mr Visanu said. Some gambling operators had to pay police station chiefs one to three million baht a month, he said.

Police investigators, meanwhile, twisted the law to help wrongdoers, as long as they were paid. For example, a driver who killed a person in a car accident would not have to go to prison if he paid the police to cover up the facts. Traffic police extorted money from motorcycle taxis and truck drivers, the researcher said.

Administration officers cheated on overtime, petrol and procurement budgets and demanded kickbacks for permits to run food shops at the station and issue licences, he said. Corruption money was distributed among officers and was also given to senior officers at the Metropolitan Police Bureau and the Royal Thai Police Office, said the researcher. Mr Natthanan said social acceptance of bribe-taking made police corruption widespread.

''Illegal businesses are willing to pay police because that costs them less than making their businesses legal, while some are not allowed at all under the law,'' Mr Natthanan said. Massage parlours and nightspots paid police up to 10-20% of their income but gambling houses paid 10,000-20,000 baht a day as police could not guarantee they would not be raided by teams from other police units, Mr Natthanan said. The research team suggested financial incentives such as special allowances and position allowances as a way to tackle police corruption.

Narat Sawettanan, a director at the Justice Ministry's Department of Special Investigation, said the study was useful but noted the findings may not reflect the ''truth'' because the samples were too small, and several respondents had personal connections with the researchers or were retired. The stations taking part in the survey were not identified.

Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dusitsan Herapat said the bureau would check the report to see where things went wrong so corrections could be made. Pol Maj-Gen Dusitsan admitted corruption was rampant at Bangkok police stations.''Police are being scrutinised so they cannot just act as if nothing happens. They have to right the wrong,'' he said.


DIRTY COPS: Kickbacks galore in capital – study
Corrupt investigative, administrative and traffic-police officers are laughing.
The Nation
Nov 06 , 2004

Many metropolitan police officers exploit their authority to solicit bribes from social services and the public, a new study has found. “Taking a bribe happens two ways: officers themselves solicit one or others offer one,” Nutthanun Vijit-aksorn, a researcher at Dhurakijpundit University, said yesterday when releasing the study’s findings at a seminar at the National Economic and Social Advisory Council.

The study was conducted through interviews with low- and high-ranking officers, including generals, from five of the 88 metropolitan police stations. It found that investigative officers received or asked for kickbacks from illegal businesses offering sex, football betting, lotteries, pirated products and drugs.

A small gambling operation, Nutthanun said, would have to pay bribes of Bt200,000 to Bt300,000 every 15 days while larger operations could have to pay as much as Bt1 million. Although administrative officers are not on the streets, Nutthanun said, they are part of the corruption cycle. Administrative corruption includes officers asking for kickbacks to extend entertainment-venue licences and faking receipts for petrol expenses.

The study revealed that a number of kickback channels were open to traffic officers, as they were closest to operators whose businesses depended on customer convenience. Operators, for example, will pay officers so that their customers can park in prohibited areas. Some traffic officers set up illegal checkpoints, which their commanders have not approved, in order to extract bribes from commuters, Nutthanun said.

Dhurakijpundit researcher Visanu Vongsinsirikul said most operators were willing to bribe officers to keep their businesses running. “No solution to the problem will work as long as the operators do it,” he said. The study concluded that a low salary was the main factor which led officers to ask for bribes. A sergeant makes between Bt4,000 and Bt13,000 a month, the study said. “The low salary makes it difficult for officers who have to feed a family,” said Dhurakijpundit researcher Supoj Chun-anantatham.

Better welfare for officers is urgently needed to erase the culture of bribery, Supoj said.

Has Taksin heard about these reports and that most of the cops in Bangkok are corrupt? Has he done anything about this problem, and why doesn't he just declare that the situation will be fixed in 90 days, and then forget about the issue?

The Triumph of Bush, Part Two

The New Map of North America



Prepping for his Second Term

Saturday Cat (a day early)

Attention Dogs! Cat Marching!

Not much news to report, so thought I'd get this weekly obligation filled before I forget and get inundated with thousands of complaints from my readers.

The Bush Triumph

Daily Mirror



The Wizards in the White House



Time Magazine's Next Cover



The Independent



Dark Forces

Singapore News on this Blog

Singapore Handbook by Carl Parkes

Greetings to everyone coming in from Myrick's Blog from Singapore, the fabulous Mr. Brown, and Simon at Simon's World. Over the past six months, I've posted over 40 articles -- mostly as a clipping service -- to Singapore, plus some original writing included in my guidebook to Singapore as pictured above.

I intended to track down all these links, but it's easier for everyone to use the Search button at the top of this page and just type in "Singapore" for a quick summary of the links on this blog. I'd recommend the links relating to press freedoms in Singapore, questions about capital punishment, and the suppression of poltical rights in the city-state. Oh, and I've also got stuff on gay rights, dancing on table tops, and legalized prostitution.

Southeast Asia News 37

Shans at Market in Maymyo

Police foil serial killer's alleged plan to escape from Nepalese prison
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 3, 2004

Police said Wednesday they foiled an alleged plan by a serial killer known as "The Serpent" to drug guards and escape from a prison in Nepal, where he is serving a life sentence for murdering two Western backpackers in 1975. Authorities seized a laptop computer, a wireless phone and a cellular phone from Charles Sobhraj's prison cell in Katmandu earlier this week and discovered an e-mail where he allegedly asked a friend to help him escape, a police official at the prison said on condition of anonymity.

In the message, Sobhraj asked for a list of chemicals that could be used to make people lose consciousness and for arrangements to be made to allow him to flee to India and then onto France, the officer said. Sobhraj _ who was nicknamed "The Serpent" because of his talent for disguise and escape _ allegedly planned to use the chemicals to drug his guards and fellow inmates, allowing him to slip away.

He used a similar technique to escape from a maximum-security prison in India's capital in 1986, but he was caught a few days later. Sobhraj was held in India for two decades before being deported without charge to his home country of France in 1997. He resurfaced in Nepal's capital, Katmandu, in September 2003 and was arrested at a casino.

Sobhraj, 59, is believed to have killed at least 20 people in Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Nepal, Iran and Hong Kong. He has admitted to killing Western tourists and was convicted of murder by a court in Nepal in August.

The Charles Manson of Asia


Pollution in lower sections of the river 'critical'
Bangkok Post
Nov 3, 2004

Communities are continuing to pollute the Chao Phraya river, worsening the problem in its lower section to a ''critical'' level, despite years-long efforts to restore the water quality, the Pollution Control Department said yesterday. The department has been monitoring the river from Nonthaburi to Samut Prakan for 12 years and has found no significant improvement in water quality, while many key indicators are still well below acceptable standards. Officials have detected very high levels of bacteria and ammonia, which make the lower Chao Phraya as dirty as the lower sections of the Tha Chin and Lam Takhong rivers.

The Death of a River


Cambodia's child sex shame
Julian Pettifer
BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents

After generations of war, corruption and poverty, the sexual exploitation of children in Cambodia has become an epidemic, and only now are a few hesitant steps being taken to protect the young and punish their abusers. There is another face to Cambodia beyond the beaches and temples The children of Cambodia are desperately vulnerable, and their plight has been aggravated by the rapid growth of international tourism.

Not all foreign visitors are attracted by Cambodia's beaches and by wonders of Angkor Wat. According to some surveys, up to 20% are sex tourists - and among them are those seeking children. But according to Naly Pilorge of Licadho, a Cambodian human rights organisation, it is important not to overstate the influx of Western paedophiles as a cause of child exploitation.

Mostly the perpetrators are family members or men in the local community. Speaking to the BBC's Crossing Continents programme, she said: "Up to 70% of our caseload for children is rape. "Mostly the perpetrators are family members or men in the local community. Of the reported cases, we have a small number of foreign paedophiles."

Who are the Child Sex Molesters in Cambodia?


The Far Eastern Economic Review
By HELENE COOPER
Published: November 3, 2004

For someone who grew up dreaming about swashbuckling journalists reporting from far-flung places, there was no greater model than The Far Eastern Economic Review, a weekly founded in Shanghai in 1946 and put out by a raffish staff of adventurers.

To me, the review's reporters embodied what journalism was about. There was Bertil Lintner, the Swedish buccaneer who spent a year walking along the Chinese-Burma border during the 1980's with his wife. Their baby was born along the way, and Mr. Lintner continued to file mammoth articles that gave voice to a culture nobody would pay anyone to cover. There was John MacBeth, the New Zealander who kept reporting from East Timor to Jakarta even after his leg was amputated, battling the Indonesian strongman Suharto. There was Nayan Chanda, the Bengali from Calcutta, among the last reporters left in Saigon when North Vietnamese tanks invaded the city. Mr. Chanda was filing his article as Communist tanks were crashing through the city gates. He kept working until two Communists walked up to him and literally pulled the plug of the telex machine.

And then there was Nate Thayer. My hero. During the 1980's and 90's, the mercurial Mr. Thayer hung out with the Cambodian resistance, dodging Khmer bullets in the jungles around Angkor Wat, fleeing Vietnamese troops across the Thai border and even at one point inadvertently running over a land mine, which exploded and destroyed his pickup truck. In 1997, he finally got the reward he had been seeking: Khmer commanders took him deep into the jungle, where he found Pol Pot.

Last week, Dow Jones, publisher of The Far Eastern Economic Review, announced it was shutting it down and laying off 80 people. The current Nov. 4 issue will be the last of its kind; while Dow Jones is keeping the brand name alive, FEER will be a monthly with essays from academics and government officials: not a Nate Thayer in the bunch.

New York Times on the End of the Far Eastern Economic Review


Asia by Blog
Simon in Hong Kong
Nov 1, 2004

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Please send me an email if you would like to be notified of new editions. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains the consequences of unpaid wages in China, an American nuclear scientist who defected to China, profits and politics don't mix, being gay and fast food in North Korea, Singapore's unfree press and more...

Simon's Asia by Blog


Aussie on drug charges in Bali faces tough lawyer
The Herald Sun
Cindy Wockner
03nov04

THE Bali prosecutor who will lead the case against Australian student Schapelle Corby has already prosecuted more than six foreigners accused of smuggling drugs. One of them received the death penalty. Yesterday Denpasar prosecutors said Ms Corby's case, where she is accused of importing 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali, was serious compared with other cases before the courts.

Ms Corby, who emphatically denies the charges or any knowledge of the drug, is being referred to in local media as the Queen of Marijuana. Prosecutors said that early this year a man from Sierra Leone, found guilty of importing 0.5kg of heroin into Bali, received the death penalty. He had initially received a life sentence and when he appealed the decision in Denpasar's High Court, he was hit instead with a death sentence

Aussie Waits in Bali Jail


Obama Mixes Exotic, Practical Experience
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 4, 2004

Barack Hussein Obama grew up on the beaches of Hawaii and the streets of Indonesia. He was raised by his white mother and barely knew his African father. He experimented with drugs and seemed headed nowhere, yet ended up excelling at elite universities. His life, in short, has been far different from the average voter's.

But Obama had the political skills and charisma to turn those differences into an advantage in his U.S. Senate race, which saw him handily defeating Republican Alan Keyes on Tuesday to become only the fifth black senator in U.S. history.

Who Would Have Known? Barack Obama Once Lived in Indonesia


Marriage denied as groom is ‘dead’
The Star
Nov 3, 2004

KOTA KINABALU: Lijoun Edwin Kasang went to register his marriage to his childhood sweetheart only to get the shock of his life on finding out that officially he is dead. National Registration Department (NRD) officials turned down his marriage application because their records showed that he had died about two years ago.

Kasang holding up his identity card to stress that he was very much alive despite the NRD saying otherwise. “I am alive and well. There can’t be two of me,” said the 30-year-old, who had gone to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) office here yesterday to seek advice on the matter.

NRD officials had told him that he was declared dead by the Forensic Unit of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. “They told me I had died in an accident aboard a merchant ship two years ago,” said Lijoun, adding that he believed someone had been using the identity card he had lost a few years ago.

Dead Man Walking


Two elephants hit by train die
The Star
Nov 3, 2004

SEGAMAT: Two female elephants crossing a railway track were hit and killed by a passenger train travelling to Johor Baru from Kuala Lumpur, here on Monday evening. They were with four other elephants, which escaped unhurt, and all six are believed to have come out from the Endau-Rompin part of Taman Negara in Sungai Karas, Labis.

The train did not derail and the passengers unhurt. The train stopped at Bekok checkpoint near the scene, OCPD Supt Amer Awal said yesterday. Wildilfe and Taman Negara Department staff checking one of the elephants that died after it was hit by a passenger train at Sungai Karas in Labis on Monday. The latest deaths come just two weeks after a 15-year-old elephant fell into Sungai Sekayu in Hulu Terengganu and drowned after it was shot with tranquilliser darts during a relocation attempt that went wrong.

Tragedy in Malaysia


Religious dept officer arrested of allegedly molested a woman
The Star
Nov 3, 2004

NILAI: A State Religious Department officer has been arrested after a young woman claimed that he had molested her during a khalwat raid at a budget hotel here. It was learnt that the 30-year-old officer was nabbed when he turned up at his workplace at 9.30am – about six hours after the incident yesterday.

The victim, from Kuala Lumpur, alleged in her police report that the officer had forced her to strip and then touched her breast and private parts. It is learnt that the officer had ordered the victim to take off her bra to check whether she had any love bites and even demanded that she take off her jeans to see if she was wearing any panties.

Islamic Policeman Arrested for Sexual Molestation


AIRPORT WORKER SUCKED INTO JET ENGINE
The Mirror
Nov 3 2004

AN aircraft engineer suffered a gruesome death when he was sucked into a jet engine. His body was completely shredded and all that was left was his boots strewn under the plane. The man had been examining the engine when the pilot, not realising he was under the plane, started it up. Within seconds the engineer's entire body was sucked through the huge rotor blades. His screams were drowned out by the roar of the engines.

Blood was splattered on the ground near the Boeing 737-700 about to leave Moscow for London. Everything apart from his work boots were chewed up by the powerful CFM56 engine.

Another Reason Not to Fly Kazakstan Airlines


Filipino workers continue into stream to Iraq despite ban
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 2, 2004

Filipinos continue to slip into Iraq in search of work despite a ban by the Philippine government, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday, as news came in that another Filipino has been kidnapped. One unidentified woman interviewed by Filipino diplomats based in Baghdad said she was at the U.S.-run Camp Anaconda working with 40 Filipino workers recently smuggled into Iraq from Turkey, according to a department statement. "She knew of another group of 120 (Filipino workers) scheduled to go to Iraq through the same route in the coming week," Philippine special envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu was quoted as saying.

In July, the Philippines banned its citizens from working in Iraq, although as yet no penalties have been prescribed for employment agencies sending workers there or for individuals who enter the country to find jobs. The ban was introduced after Manila was forced to withdraw its small peacekeeping contingent from Iraq to save the life of a Filipino truck driver who was taken hostage by militants there and threatened with beheading.

Filipinos Continue to Seek Work in Iraq Despite Recent Kidnappings


"Albatross" aims to trace Admiral Cheng Ho's voyage
Yahoo News Asia
Nov 3, 2004

SINGAPORE : Next year will be the 600th anniversary of Admiral Cheng Ho's circumnavigation of the world. To mark the occasion, an American registered yacht called "Albatross" will be sailing along Cheng Ho's route, covering most of the cities or seaports he stopped at in the original voyage. "Albatross" arrived in Singapore on Wednesday and is docked at the Raffles Marina.

The yacht set sail on August 8 at the exact date and place where Cheng Ho began his 15th century navigation - Jiang Su Province in China. And it is expected to end its voyage in Kenya next February. China's Phoenix Satellite Television is filming the modern day voyage in a documentary.

Cheng Ho Historic Voyage to be Recreated


NAMELESS S'POREBLOGGERS
Myrick
Nov 3, 2004

The Straits Times today ran a feature on the recent emergence of political bloggers in Singapore - even managing to track down Steven (AKA Hicky) from Singabloodypore. Naturally, local columnist and celebrity blogger Mr Brown is also interviewed. They fail to track down Xeno Boy, who in September 2004 (yes, this year) impressively launched "Singapore's First Political Blog."

There were a few new ones, most of which I have tried to find links for. If anyone can provide a working link for Molly Meek, PAP!PAP! or Jeff! Lim it would be appreciated. No URLS were given on either the ST website nor in the paper. I've tried to include them all below.

And despite the threatening headline with the ominous 'nameless' bloggers - the item is reasonably fair to the bloggers it discussed. And good news... the Media Development Authority says "blogs need register (with the government) only if the MDA asks them to do so."

Ahhh, yes, sweet freedom....

Myrick Looks at Straits Times Article about Bloggers in Singapore

And the Winner is......

Kerry and Clinton

Bush as Cadet

It's 8pm here in San Francisco and Bush is ahead in both the popular and electoral votes, and Ohio and Iowa remain very tight. Youth vote is going for Kerry by 56%, but their turnout has been as low as in past presidential elections. Kerry has taken California and its 57 electoral votes. Bush is slightly ahead in Florida but, as they say in political rhetoric, it's "too close to call." Bush now has 207 electoral votes, while Kerry, after his anticipated win in California, has jumped up to 199.

I think Kerry will win the popular vote, but Bush will take the Electoral College and remain as president. Good God. I'm moving to somewhere in Southeast Asia, either Pai or Bali.

Update: Bush has been declared the winner with 51% of the popular vote and an estimated 280 electoral votes.

Southeast Asia News 36

Sarong Party Girl


Hong Kong man gets six-month jail term for ordering dog to attack cat lover
Yahoo News Asia-Pacific
Oct 30, 2004

A Hong Kong taxi driver was sentenced to a six-month jail term for ordering his dog to attack a cat lover, newspapers reported Saturday. Handing down the sentence on Friday, Magistrate Julia Livesey said she believed Joseph Cheung gestured and verbally ordered his dog to attack Yip Ko-yuen, the Oriental Daily News reported.

Yip saw Cheung's dog chasing a cat and tried to stop it. Cheung and the dog then fled, but Yip chased them, the Ming Pao Daily News said. Cheung then turned his dog on Yip, it said. Yip owns 23 cats and is a volunteer for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Hong Kong, according to an earlier media report.

Your Best Friend is Your Dog


Sotheby's auctions work of Hong Kong graffiti painter
Yahoo News Asia-Pacific
Nov 1, 2004

Better known for fetching multimillion bids for Monets, van Goghs and Picassos, U.S.-based auction house Sotheby's now counts among its sales the work of a Hong Kong graffiti painter in his 80s, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said Monday. Sotheby's Hong Kong branch sold a piece by Tsang Tsou-choi, known for his Chinese brush writings on Hong Kong's public walls, along with a photograph of his street work, for a total 55,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$7,050; euro 5,500), spokeswoman Kaye Shu said.

Shu said the auctioneer opened bidding on Tsang's piece _ painted on a wooden board _ at HK$10,000 (US$1,280; euro 1,000), and it was sold within minutes after 24 bids. The final price far exceeded the initial estimated range of HK$15,000 (US$2,000; euro 1,500) to HK$25,000 (US$3,200; euro 2,510).

Tsang's street calligraphy strikes the uninitiated as incoherent garble, but on closer glance it appears to list names of his family members along with royal titles. Tsang dubs himself "King of Kowloon." In a sign of Sotheby's broadening tastes, Tsang's work was auctioned on Sunday as part of a new contemporary Chinese art program.

Hong Kong Graffiti Artist Strikes It Big


Thai death sentence for Briton
BBC Mews
Nov 1, 2004

A Briton has been sentenced to death and another to 33 years in prison in Thailand over drugs charges. Anthony Flannaghan, 33, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, was convicted of possession of drugs with intent to sell and given the death penalty.

Stephen Wilcox, 39, of Blaby, Leicester, had his life term for possession reduced after a guilty plea. Flannaghan had denied the charges, involving heroin, ecstasy, and amphetamine, and is planning to appeal. During a raid at Wilcox' home on the island of Koh Samui, police found 1.2 ounces of heroin, one ounce of marijuana, 14 ecstasy tablets and 11 tablets of methamphetamines.

Thailand Sentences Briton to Death


Want to paint the town red? In Bangkok, be ready to give a urine sample
Daniel Lovering
Canadian Press
November 1, 2004

BANGKOK (AP) - Police burst into the dark nightclub after midnight, weave through the crowd and lock the doors, trapping nearly 400 bewildered customers inside. The lights flicker on and a voice over loudspeakers orders everyone to submit to urine tests for drugs. Unsurprisingly, the three-year-old "social order" campaign to curb drug abuse has cast a damper over Saturday night partying in Bangkok.

It started in 2001 with the then interior minister, Purachai Piemsomboon, leading television crews into the neon-lit venues on high-profile busts. He has since gone on to higher office, but his "Mr. Clean" title has passed to Pracha Maleenont, a former entertainment business and TV station owner, who hasn't missed a beat in seeking to tame Bangkok's famously freewheeling nightlife.

"The rules are there and so easy to follow," Pracha, 57, said after taking office as deputy interior minister in late 2002. "Don't do anything illegal and I'll leave you alone." On a recent night, authorities trained their sights on the Q Bar, a chic Thai-owned establishment often packed with Thai and foreign customers.

Waving flashlights, about 50 officers in brown uniforms or civilian clothes moved through the club, handing out sample bottles to the men and women. Woozy customers, men and women, crowded into bathrooms. Someone vomited. Others cursed the police, denying they had taken drugs. The operation went on for about three hours, ending after 3 a.m.

Each had to hand a sample to health workers who came with the police, and had to show ID. But there was no system for making sure a customer handed in his or her own urine, and some said they provided samples for others

Thailand Raids Nightclubs in Bangkok


Myanmar teenager caught trying to swim to Singapore using inflated garbage bag; 200th person this year
Yahoo News Asia-Pacific
Nov 1, 2004

A Myanmar teenager caught swimming from Malaysia to Singapore on an inflated garbage bag was charged Monday with trying to enter country illegally, police said. The 19-year-old youth became the 200th illegal immigrant fished out of Singapore waters by authorities this year, police said in a statement. He was trying enter Singapore to seek employment, police said.

The waterway separating Malaysia from Singapore is about a kilometer (0.6 miles) at its narrowest point. Police said the man, whose name was not released, could be sentenced to 6 months in prison and three strokes of the cane if found guilty of illegal entry.

Garbage Bag Sails to Singapore


Singapore demolishes historic Changi Prison
Yahoo News Asia-Pacific
Nov 1, 2004

Singapore's Changi Prison, notorious as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, has been torn down to make way for new development, despite appeals from some quarters to preserve it as a monument. The 68-year-old prison, located in the eastern part of Singapore, has been regarded as one of the more poignant symbols of the war because the Imperial Japanese Army had interned about 76,000 prisoners of war at the prison and surrounding areas after Singapore fell in 1942.

Most of the prisoners were Allied soldiers from Britain, Australia and New Zealand who had defended Singapore. The Australian government had opposed Singapore's plan to tear down the prison, but Singapore's Home Affairs Ministry, which oversees the prison, has insisted that the scarcity of land in the small island state has made it necessary to tear it down to enable modern prison facilities to be built on the grounds. Demolition work was carried out over the past month after inmates of the prison were moved earlier this year to a new prison complex nearby.

Farewell to Changi


East Asia and Middle East have worst press freedom records
Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders announces its third annual worldwide index of press freedom. Such freedom is threatened most in East Asia (with North Korea at the bottom of the entire list at 167th place, followed by Burma 165th, China 162nd, Vietnam 161st and Laos 153rd) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia 159th, Iran 158th, Syria 155th, Iraq 148th).

In these countries, an independent media either does not exist or journalists are persecuted and censored on a daily basis. Freedom of information and the safety of journalists are not guaranteed there. Continuing war has made Iraq the most deadly place on earth for journalists in recent years, with 44 killed there since fighting began in March last year.

Reporters Without Borders Reports on Press Freedoms in Asia

The Death of a Magazine

Rippin' Up Singapore

Wall Street blow to Asian media
Asia Times Online
Nov 2, 2004
By James Borton

"Dow Jones never understood the Review, or Asia," said Bertil Linter, a frequent contributor to the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), which ceased publication last week with a stunning corporate announcement issued in Hong Kong, home to the respected weekly magazine.

The news weekly, which succeeded in fostering dialogue and often steering the debate on Asian issues for 58 years, publishes its last issue this week on Thursday, It will be relaunched as an "opinion-led" monthly, stated Dow Jones & Co, publishers of the Asian Wall Street Journal.

At the historic Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club and bars in Wan Chai, expat journalists lamented their loss: more than 80 now unemployed reporters and administrative staff and a venerable Asia Pacific publication now silenced, not by an authoritarian Asian government, but rather by the citadel of freedom and capitalism - Wall Street.

It was only three years ago, that another US monolith, Time Inc, a business unit of AOL Time Warner Inc, under increased pressure from shareholders, closed its Hong Kong-based Asiaweek magazine after more than 26 years of publication. "I believe the era of regional newsweeklies, even excellent ones like the Review, is nearing an end, given the other available sources of daily and more frequent news and analysis," wrote Peter Kann, the chairman and chief executive in an internal Dow Jones memorandum obtained by Asia Times Online.

Did the WSJ Kill FEER?


Without FEER
South China Morning Post
Philip Bowring
Oct 30, 2004

Not with a bang but with a whimper. So died the weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, a product born in Hong Kong 58 years ago and which in its heyday between 1965 and 1990 was a major force in Asian journalism, nurturing many a fine writer, getting up the nostrils of governments and businessmen everywhere - and making money.

Doubtless, autocrats will be having a good laugh, having first neutered the magazine, which was once a thorn in their side, to the point where few bothered to take it seriously. In its heyday it took on Lee Kuan Yew in his own courts, losing but achieving a huge moral victory.

There are plenty of distinguished people around who'll look back with pride or nostalgia at a magazine which gave scope to their talents. They include globally famous writers such as the late David Bonavia and Ian Buruma, financial gurus such as Christopher Wood and Credit Lyonnais Asia boss Gary Coull, Asiaweek founder T.J.S. George, Singapore hotel entrepreneur Ho Kwon Ping - twice jailed for his reporting efforts.

Legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing cut her teeth on the magazine. Former Central Policy Unit head Leo Goodstadt was deputy editor and gave Court of Final Appeal judge Andrew Li Kwok-nang a job there during his legal studies. Its roll-call of Asian writers included Paisal Sricharatchanya, Denzil Pieris, Nayan Chanda, Susumu Awanohara, K. Das, Shim Jae Hoon and Salamat Ali - the latter both doing jail terms for their reporting - and non-Asians such as Hamish McDonald, Jonathan Friedland and Margaret Scott.

Its growth came from skilful use of local writers. When I joined the staff in 1973, it had no staff correspondents, relying entirely on stringers and outside contributors. By 1992, it had more than 20 staffers outside Hong Kong. It was the first publication to recognise that there was such a thing as a regional English-language market. It gained a reputation, too, from its critical reporting on the Vietnam war, and for its stance during the Cultural Revolution riots in 1967, when it was highly critical of the government but stood up against threats and taunts from the left.

The death of the Review came by a thousand cuts inflicted primarily by Karen House, the emissary from New York who took over responsibility for the Review two years after Dow Jones, previously a minority shareholder, acquired 100 per cent of the magazine in 1988.

House, who happens to be the wife of Dow Jones chairman Peter Kann, was in Hong Kong for the death. Perhaps fortunately, Derek Davies, the fiery rotund Welshman who had presided over the Review's glory days, was unable to witness the end. He died two years ago.

The thousand cuts were a succession of failed makeovers and revolving editors after House arrived on the scene. Between 1946 and 1992, the magazine had just four editors: the founder, Eric Halpern, Dick Wilson (still alive in London), Davies and myself. In the 12 subsequent years under House management it had six, of whom the last, David Plott, had been in the chair just a few months.

The magazine lost its way because people in New York thought they understood what the readers wanted more than those who were on the ground in Asia who had nurtured the magazine from humble beginnings to the most successful regional magazine in the world, which made a $16 million profit in the year that Dow Jones acquired it.

My own successor, Gordon Crovitz, was a bright young writer on legal affairs who had no experience, either in Asia or of magazines. He not only set the new tone but combined the role of editor with publisher, which necessarily led to a softening in the magazine's stance. There is an inherent conflict of interest between the demands of editorial and those of the advertising salespeople, headed by the publisher.

The new approach was soon evident in the deal the Review cut with Singapore, from which the magazine had been banned for more than four years. Before the ban, about 15 per cent of the circulation had been in the city state. But the price of return was to stop covering Singapore in the forthright manner the readers expected. The magazine had thrived on controversy and promoting a free press in a none-too-free Asia. Although the costs in the short term could be high, the reputation that the magazine acquired more than made up for it.

Another deep cut was the dumbing-down of the magazine in an effort to make it "more readable". The Review had appealed to a coalition of often quite specialised readers - wanting in-depth coverage of, for example, Malaysian politics, economic policy in Thailand, or banking regulation in Hong Kong. But New York looked for shorter, simpler pieces. The result was that correspondents were unable to display their strengths, stories were cut and shaped into homogenised prose.

The number of correspondents was slashed to make room for more copy-shufflers in Hong Kong, some imported straight out of journalism school in the US. The net result was a product which often gave the reader no more than a summary of the wire services.

Another cut was to move away from hard-hitting, controversial coverage of corporate and financial scandals, of which there is an endless supply. The magazine had started the slide on Jim Slater's Asian empire in 1974, uncovered numerous tales of dodgy dealings in Malaysia, exposed the banking misdeeds of Overseas Trust Bank and Ka Wah Bank before the banking commissioner woke up to them and was forced to come to the rescue with billions in public money. Its coverage of insider trading in Hong Kong led directly to the first rules on the subject. Its weekly Shroff column was a must-read among the investment fraternity.

In place of this kind of reporting, the Review resorted to soft, usually glowing pieces about this or that multinational - American ones in particular - in Asia. It followed, unsceptically, the dotcom boom. It also became a mouthpiece for a right-wing US ideology which left a very sour taste in the mouths of many Asian readers.

Prior to my departure, the Review had only occasionally run editorials, believing that it was impossible to impose a single world view, a one-size-fits-all judgmental yardstick on so diverse a region. Commitment to a free media had been the Review's only ideology and that was given away by Dow Jones in pandering to Lee Kuan Yew and his ilk.

As a small, locally owned publication, the magazine had been feisty and prepared to suffer for its beliefs. In the hands of a multinational without such commitments it proved Mr Lee right. He had always argued that if he hit the critical western-owned press at its pocket, it would shut up. That didn't work with the Review of Derek Davies. But Dow Jones surrendered to Singapore after a few shots across the bows. It was an especially pathetic response given the resources of Dow Jones. But the interests of the Review were subordinate to the group's other commercial demands.

Indeed, it was an interesting fact that the magazine had complete editorial freedom when owned primarily by the South China Morning Post at the time when this newspaper's major shareholder was the Hong Kong Bank. The bank provided the chairman - in my time Eric Udal, John Boyer and Frank Frame - and they were always supportive in our run-ins with governments, despite the embarrassment this could cause to their bank. They didn't pretend to know much about journalism and took Review assumptions of editorial freedom for granted.

Yet another cut was the shift away from the in-depth coverage of business and politics to soft-centred features of the sort that appear in airline magazines. The latest and last issue devotes eight pages to chillies! This was yet another ill-judged attempt to broaden the Review's appeal. It lost the magazine respect and gained it no new readers.

Although the circulation has apparently increased a little in recent years, much of that is illusory. Back in 1992, more than 70 per cent of circulation consisted of individual subscriptions - people prepared to pay good money to get a valuable product.

The last audit report (in the first half of this year) shows 50 per cent of the average paid circulation of 87,500 to be deeply discounted bulk sales. News-stand sales had collapsed to 3,000, or less than half the 1990 level.

Of course it is true that the market has become much more competitive than it was in the 1970s and 80s. Local English-language publications have improved in some countries. Media freedoms have come to others. New electronic media offers competition, as do foreign magazines such as The Economist and Business Week. But the very success of those two publications in Asia attests to the market for serious political and business coverage. They have not found it necessary to dumb down and write about chillies. The Review abandoned its readers before they abandoned it.

The final insult to the Review, and indeed to Asia, was Dow Jones' refusal to sell the title. It has had plenty of offers - which would benefit its own shareholders.

But it is more important for House and her husband that no one gets the chance to revive what it has suffocated. Nor do they wish for more competition for advertising which would add to the losses of the Asian Wall Street Journal.

There is a parallel here between Time and Asiaweek. Time bought locally-born Asiaweek even though it appeared to be in direct competition for readers and advertising. Not so long afterwards, Time closed Asiaweek rather than its ailing Time Asia. It was corporate imperialism more than commercial sense which brought Dow Jones to buy control of the Review, which was a direct competitor for niche regional advertising. Faced with the fact that both have been losing money, it naturally decided to close the regional product rather than its own Asian Wall Street Journal - a paper being daily trounced by the Financial Times.

Critics of globalisation will doubtless see in this kind of behaviour the use of financial power of large multinationals to snuff out local products and create a bigger field for their own product. I see no such conspiracy.

But I do see repeated examples of big corporations not comprehending the needs of small, niche businesses such as the Review. And it is clear that the closure of the Review, as of Asiaweek, represents an attack on diversity and further reduction in the variety of print media. In short, Dow Jones has undermined the pluralism and anti-monopolism which the US at its best has always represented.

Meanwhile, the "new" monthly Review will doubtless serve as another outlet for the right-wing ideology and imperialist postures of the Wall Street Journal editorial page - from which its editor is being recruited. Another insult for Asia.

Former Editor Looks at the End of FEER