Good first-hand witness reporting. I miss this ground-level material in modern coverage. I was there for the demo day, but heading off to Surabaya so had to take the Jalan2 tikus to get around the mob. Further back in pre-Suharto history, please note this FPI style of demos follow the rhythm and methods of the PKI in 1964-65, though the FPI uses modern buses to bring their people to town while the PKI trucked them in, their vitriol and spurious accusations and insults are just as concocted.
This extraordinary session of the NLA could merely be a power play between Prayut and Prawit – who are clearly now at loggerheads about whether or not next years’ scheduled election takes place. Prayut swears it will, Prawit – who seems to be currently dominating the media – suggests it may not. Parliamentary head of the NLA says this special meeting may be about fast-tracking certain legislation. It may have nothing explicitly to do with the Royal succession.
Extremely graphic photos of the bloodied and naked bodies of two Kachin volunteer teachers, who were allegedly raped and murdered by the army in northern Shan state, have circulated widely among the Kachin community over the past 24 hours.
So he wrote a letter to President Thein Sein, a former general, telling him how the army had killed his daughter in what witnesses say was a burst of gunfire. He sent a complaint to Myanmar’s human rights commission, launched just four years ago. He asked for an investigation.
What happened next shattered his faith. He got the court case he wanted — but it was not the army that was put on trial.
It was the bereaved father himself.
A United Nations spokesperson has clarified that a senior UN official who visited northern Arakan State last week did not categorically deny rape allegations made by Rohingya women living in the region, contrary to reports by state media.
Graphic video of a gang rape may be the first real evidence of the brutal treatment of captives in the secret camps run by human traffickers in the jungles and plantations of southern Thailand.
Steve Bannon is not an easy read . . . and maybe not a White Supremacist nor anti-Muslim nor anti-Semite as I initially thought.
The guy is definitely smarter than Groper-in-Chief and more depth.
Krisna Murti, your Indonesian government is emulating the same strategy of stick and carrot of the chinese to try to expand its influence in the south pacific region in its efforts to stem the wide support for west papua independence in the region and the carrots no doubt sustain despot and dictator in PNG and Fiji as we see today with catasthropic human rights consequences. What does Indonesia stand to be proud of in criticizing China for freedom of variety of things while itself commits hienous crimes on its own backyard?
In a free and open society, Thailand would be able to accommodate people who are not emotionally attached to the king, people who are against the draconian lese majeste law, and people who are against the monarchy as a person or institution.
The current climate dictates that you must either love and revere the king (Good People) or you must definitely hate the monarchy and be anti-monarchist (Bad People), however.
Anything in between, any nuance and shade that exists, have been purged at the price of truth and honesty.
The problem is not with Suu Kyi or anyone, but with I-have-better-morals-than-the-Burmese-out-there folks out there. There is an ongoing movement in the West namely MY-values-better-and-MY-feelings-matter movement. Rapid advances in IT and automation have pushed most Westerners out of jobs and left them with no choice but become rent-seeking human rights or social justice warriors. Today, more than 12 percent of jobs in America depend on the existence of problems, such as ‘gender or racial inequality,’ etc. If these problems do not exist, the unemployment rate would be around 17 percent.
SO practical solutions to these problem mean you are attacking people’s livelihoods, and they would respond by searching more problems, a search that may sometimes reach overseas, or pointing out that the problem still exists, often in imaginary ways. Today, the smartest graduates would go for STEM and those in the low percentiles would go for retails and food service. But those in the middle have nothing to do: being a waiter does not fit for their dignity, and other jobs have already been automated. So, they are forced into being rent-seeking HR and social justice warriors. It is a sad tragedy of the modern world.
Now, in terms of Rohingya problem, you see the rent-seeking network is well-organized from the bottom. You have Rohingya who will supply journalists with ‘horrible tales’ which cannot be verified because they need aid and asylum. (Note: I do not dispute that their situation is terrible but sadly, their leaders are more responsible for it by insisting on a made-up ethnicity for ulterior political gains. Also I don’t believe in rape, murder allegations because similar incidences have been proven to be false not only in Myanmar.) Then the journalists will report without any fact check because their profession has been increasingly replaced by social media and are anxious to get clicks. Then we have human rights preachers whose employment depends on the existence of the problem. They will say this and that and ask for donations.
In the end, the rent-seeking behavior will only exacerbate in the future and the problem will never be solved to satisfy HR groups because you see, their existence depends on existence of problems. The problems replicate everywhere all over the world. The solution lies in reducing working hours in the Western World and then giving everyone a chance to work in productive endeavors instead of rent-seeking.
Just because secularism piggy-backs on science doesn’t make it special or superior, it’s just a philosophy, like any other. Unfortunately, it is one that has become increasingly intolerant of other philosophies.
Secularism actually has zero chance of prevailing against the world’s religions. So it would be better to simply accept the fact that others are entitled to hold different views.
“In theory Islam can be beneficial” Ha ha ha … The next beneficial theory : Asteroid striking Earth can be beneficial…
I think the two theories works in about the same way as far as benefits go..
A 15th century, kill thy neighbours mindset is never never going to be beneficial.. even for the perpetrators..
This next statement is out of context, but is a need to know :
A malaysia State Govt (Trengannu) just passed a law that puts Muslims in jail for 2 years if they missed Friday’s prayers. Here is the middle finger to those who still tout malaysia as a moderate islamic country..
This is a most interesting article discussing an important aspect of Asian culture that most westerners do not know about, or if they do, would not believe in and may even scoff at. It is , however, a serious topic that ex-pat westerners living in Asian countries need to be aware of to enable them to understand the often puzzling behavior that they may personally encounter, or view from afar, via press reports or otherwise, with confusion and astonishment.
For example, the fact that young school children in Thailand know about and can name some 12 different ghosts. What western child knows something like that? Other examples include the spectacle of a man in a white shroud lying in a children’s rubber swim pool claiming to be a snake god (or something) and being prayed to by many people in that guise. To be told that your bad thoughts are manifest in your body language which has been noticed and analysed by a Feng Shui Master, and a manager threatens to place a curse on your family such that your mother and father will die if you do not obey their instructions, are, to a westerner, totally outside their religious and cultural experience, not to mention their workplace experience. Yet, to the Thai, or Chinese, or Burmese participant or practitioner, these are real traditional beliefs.
It is often difficult for a westerner to not dub these practices and beliefs as indicating cultural foolishness and nonsense, indicating social, educational and cultural inferiority, while not being aware of how they themselves are subject to these beliefs in their dealings with their Asian colleagues and associates.
The prolonged interregnum following the death of His Majesty the Late King will shortly come to an end, junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha said at a business conference Friday.
The head of Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Friday said the NLA has called a special meeting on next Tuesday morning to consider an urgent motion from the government.
Myanmar is seeking the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority from its territory, a senior UN official has told the BBC.
Security forces have been “killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river” into Bangladesh, Mr McKissick said.
In support of Krishna Murti’s perceptive comments,above we should also add to Indonesia’s firm stand against Chinese bullying of Asean, the example of Vietnam. Hanoi has a long record of repulsing Chinese invasions [ from ancient history to 1979 is the most recent example]
Vietnam also continues to defend its claims in the East Asia Sea but like Indonesia they are the lone voices of independence.
I think she did in this paragraph that you perhaps overlooked: “However, there were periods, earlier in his reign, when he did connect with his subjects – meeting them in the country’s fields where he dispensed development largesse and his wisdom.”
Anyway I’m have interest on what next in Thailand since I have members of distance family who live there. Interesting reads.
Roy Morien – there has been a LOT of valid commentary covering increasing Chinese penetration / dominance of Africa. See – for example – just about every issue of New Africa magazine, for at least the past 15 years. Ditto its’ sister publication African Business magazine. The BBC has excellently covered the topic, including even with some of their travelogues.
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Echoes of past violence haunt Indonesia
Good first-hand witness reporting. I miss this ground-level material in modern coverage. I was there for the demo day, but heading off to Surabaya so had to take the Jalan2 tikus to get around the mob. Further back in pre-Suharto history, please note this FPI style of demos follow the rhythm and methods of the PKI in 1964-65, though the FPI uses modern buses to bring their people to town while the PKI trucked them in, their vitriol and spurious accusations and insults are just as concocted.
Soul of a nation
This extraordinary session of the NLA could merely be a power play between Prayut and Prawit – who are clearly now at loggerheads about whether or not next years’ scheduled election takes place. Prayut swears it will, Prawit – who seems to be currently dominating the media – suggests it may not. Parliamentary head of the NLA says this special meeting may be about fast-tracking certain legislation. It may have nothing explicitly to do with the Royal succession.
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
21 January 2015
Extremely graphic photos of the bloodied and naked bodies of two Kachin volunteer teachers, who were allegedly raped and murdered by the army in northern Shan state, have circulated widely among the Kachin community over the past 24 hours.
http://www.kachinnews.com/news/2724-alleged-army-rape-and-murder-of-2-kachin-teachers-fuels-anger.html
………………………………..
Nov. 2, 2015
So he wrote a letter to President Thein Sein, a former general, telling him how the army had killed his daughter in what witnesses say was a burst of gunfire. He sent a complaint to Myanmar’s human rights commission, launched just four years ago. He asked for an investigation.
What happened next shattered his faith. He got the court case he wanted — but it was not the army that was put on trial.
It was the bereaved father himself.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9e396b5128de44e2a804337b8bb930ea/no-justice-myanmar-father-accusing-army-killing-child
………………………….
Myanmar journalist says she was fired over story on military rape allegations
Oliver Holmes
Friday 4 November 201
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/04/myanmar-times-journalist-fired-fiona-macgregor
………………………………
10 November 2016
A United Nations spokesperson has clarified that a senior UN official who visited northern Arakan State last week did not categorically deny rape allegations made by Rohingya women living in the region, contrary to reports by state media.
http://www.dvb.no/news/un-clarifies-position-arakan-rape-claims/72465
……………………….
24 November 2016
Soldiers are “killing men, slaughtering children, raping women”, says John McKissick of the UN refugee agency in Bangladesh
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38091816
………………………….
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Graphic video of a gang rape may be the first real evidence of the brutal treatment of captives in the secret camps run by human traffickers in the jungles and plantations of southern Thailand.
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/shocking-rape-video-provides-first-visual-evidence-trafficking-camp-brutality-thailand-21238/
…………………………………………
Afraid new world
More on Steve Bannon, Groper-in-Chief’s Chief Counsel
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/11/26/look-steven-bannon-and-his-years-harvard-business-school/B2m0j85jh5jRKzKbMastzK/story.html
Steve Bannon is not an easy read . . . and maybe not a White Supremacist nor anti-Muslim nor anti-Semite as I initially thought.
The guy is definitely smarter than Groper-in-Chief and more depth.
The east is red
Krisna Murti, your Indonesian government is emulating the same strategy of stick and carrot of the chinese to try to expand its influence in the south pacific region in its efforts to stem the wide support for west papua independence in the region and the carrots no doubt sustain despot and dictator in PNG and Fiji as we see today with catasthropic human rights consequences. What does Indonesia stand to be proud of in criticizing China for freedom of variety of things while itself commits hienous crimes on its own backyard?
Lèse-majesté today
In a free and open society, Thailand would be able to accommodate people who are not emotionally attached to the king, people who are against the draconian lese majeste law, and people who are against the monarchy as a person or institution.
The current climate dictates that you must either love and revere the king (Good People) or you must definitely hate the monarchy and be anti-monarchist (Bad People), however.
Anything in between, any nuance and shade that exists, have been purged at the price of truth and honesty.
Pravit Rojanaphruk,
November 26, 2016
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/opinion/2016/11/26/purging-truth-honesty-not-act-love/
Kudos Khun Pravit , Kudos
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
The problem is not with Suu Kyi or anyone, but with I-have-better-morals-than-the-Burmese-out-there folks out there. There is an ongoing movement in the West namely MY-values-better-and-MY-feelings-matter movement. Rapid advances in IT and automation have pushed most Westerners out of jobs and left them with no choice but become rent-seeking human rights or social justice warriors. Today, more than 12 percent of jobs in America depend on the existence of problems, such as ‘gender or racial inequality,’ etc. If these problems do not exist, the unemployment rate would be around 17 percent.
SO practical solutions to these problem mean you are attacking people’s livelihoods, and they would respond by searching more problems, a search that may sometimes reach overseas, or pointing out that the problem still exists, often in imaginary ways. Today, the smartest graduates would go for STEM and those in the low percentiles would go for retails and food service. But those in the middle have nothing to do: being a waiter does not fit for their dignity, and other jobs have already been automated. So, they are forced into being rent-seeking HR and social justice warriors. It is a sad tragedy of the modern world.
Now, in terms of Rohingya problem, you see the rent-seeking network is well-organized from the bottom. You have Rohingya who will supply journalists with ‘horrible tales’ which cannot be verified because they need aid and asylum. (Note: I do not dispute that their situation is terrible but sadly, their leaders are more responsible for it by insisting on a made-up ethnicity for ulterior political gains. Also I don’t believe in rape, murder allegations because similar incidences have been proven to be false not only in Myanmar.) Then the journalists will report without any fact check because their profession has been increasingly replaced by social media and are anxious to get clicks. Then we have human rights preachers whose employment depends on the existence of the problem. They will say this and that and ask for donations.
In the end, the rent-seeking behavior will only exacerbate in the future and the problem will never be solved to satisfy HR groups because you see, their existence depends on existence of problems. The problems replicate everywhere all over the world. The solution lies in reducing working hours in the Western World and then giving everyone a chance to work in productive endeavors instead of rent-seeking.
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
Neptunium – asteroids hitting earth HAVE been beneficial. The last one wiped out dinosaurs, thereby enabling Mankind to evolve, along with birds.
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
Just because secularism piggy-backs on science doesn’t make it special or superior, it’s just a philosophy, like any other. Unfortunately, it is one that has become increasingly intolerant of other philosophies.
Secularism actually has zero chance of prevailing against the world’s religions. So it would be better to simply accept the fact that others are entitled to hold different views.
The east is red
The Chinese did not plant a flag and declare Africa to be theirs, in the name of the Queen!! (or Mao?)
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
“In theory Islam can be beneficial” Ha ha ha … The next beneficial theory : Asteroid striking Earth can be beneficial…
I think the two theories works in about the same way as far as benefits go..
A 15th century, kill thy neighbours mindset is never never going to be beneficial.. even for the perpetrators..
This next statement is out of context, but is a need to know :
A malaysia State Govt (Trengannu) just passed a law that puts Muslims in jail for 2 years if they missed Friday’s prayers. Here is the middle finger to those who still tout malaysia as a moderate islamic country..
A festival of the deprecated spirit lords of Burma
This is a most interesting article discussing an important aspect of Asian culture that most westerners do not know about, or if they do, would not believe in and may even scoff at. It is , however, a serious topic that ex-pat westerners living in Asian countries need to be aware of to enable them to understand the often puzzling behavior that they may personally encounter, or view from afar, via press reports or otherwise, with confusion and astonishment.
For example, the fact that young school children in Thailand know about and can name some 12 different ghosts. What western child knows something like that? Other examples include the spectacle of a man in a white shroud lying in a children’s rubber swim pool claiming to be a snake god (or something) and being prayed to by many people in that guise. To be told that your bad thoughts are manifest in your body language which has been noticed and analysed by a Feng Shui Master, and a manager threatens to place a curse on your family such that your mother and father will die if you do not obey their instructions, are, to a westerner, totally outside their religious and cultural experience, not to mention their workplace experience. Yet, to the Thai, or Chinese, or Burmese participant or practitioner, these are real traditional beliefs.
It is often difficult for a westerner to not dub these practices and beliefs as indicating cultural foolishness and nonsense, indicating social, educational and cultural inferiority, while not being aware of how they themselves are subject to these beliefs in their dealings with their Asian colleagues and associates.
Thailand’s succession: rolling coverage
Thailand Will Soon Have New King, Prayuth Says
The prolonged interregnum following the death of His Majesty the Late King will shortly come to an end, junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha said at a business conference Friday.
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2016/11/25/thailand-will-soon-new-king-prayuth-says/
Thailand’s succession: rolling coverage
Nov. 25
The head of Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Friday said the NLA has called a special meeting on next Tuesday morning to consider an urgent motion from the government.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-11/25/c_135858608.htm
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
Myanmar is seeking the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority from its territory, a senior UN official has told the BBC.
Security forces have been “killing men, shooting them, slaughtering children, raping women, burning and looting houses, forcing these people to cross the river” into Bangladesh, Mr McKissick said.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38091816
The human cost of Duterte’s drug war
A bit amusing that no one can even think about talking about the effect of not just drug but all criminal activity crackdown on the streets of cities.
The east is red
In support of Krishna Murti’s perceptive comments,above we should also add to Indonesia’s firm stand against Chinese bullying of Asean, the example of Vietnam. Hanoi has a long record of repulsing Chinese invasions [ from ancient history to 1979 is the most recent example]
Vietnam also continues to defend its claims in the East Asia Sea but like Indonesia they are the lone voices of independence.
Soul of a nation
We have to wait for the outcome of this EXTRAORDINARY calling of the Thai Parliament, to see how the succession pans out, Mark Dunn : http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2016/11/25/televised-parliament-meeting-called-tuesday/
The cult of a dead king
I think she did in this paragraph that you perhaps overlooked: “However, there were periods, earlier in his reign, when he did connect with his subjects – meeting them in the country’s fields where he dispensed development largesse and his wisdom.”
Anyway I’m have interest on what next in Thailand since I have members of distance family who live there. Interesting reads.
The east is red
Roy Morien – there has been a LOT of valid commentary covering increasing Chinese penetration / dominance of Africa. See – for example – just about every issue of New Africa magazine, for at least the past 15 years. Ditto its’ sister publication African Business magazine. The BBC has excellently covered the topic, including even with some of their travelogues.