Global Voices » East Asia

Southeast Asia: Restoring Historic Towns

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:42:50 +0000

Dr. Apiwat Ratanawaraha writes about several projects in Southeast Asia that seek to restore historic towns and promote cultural tourism. Some of the ongoing projects are located in Singapore’s Boat Quay, Malaysia’s Georgetown, and Thailand’s Chiang Mai

Southeast Asia: Climate Change and Smallholder Farmers

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:56:16 +0000

The World Agroforestry Centre has released a study on the climate change adaptation options for small farmers in Southeast Asia.

Saudi Journalist Detained in Malaysia for ‘Offensive' Tweet

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:51:33 +0000

Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari was stopped at Malaysia's airport after Saudi Arabia ordered his arrest. The journalist is accused of sending a twitter message that ‘insulted' Prophet Mohammad

Reporter Found Dead in West Papua

Mong Palatino — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:32:56 +0000

Reporters Without Borders condemns the killing of a journalist in West Papua and the attack on local reporters in Indonesia.

South Korea: American Missionary Sue North Korea for Sexual Torture

Lee Yoo Eun — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:32:36 +0000

Robert Park, a Korean-American missionary and human rights activist who went to North Korea on 2009, sued North Korea for sexual torture. Park crossed into the country in protest of North Korea's human rights atrocity. However, as Marmot's Hole blogger wrote, the new has drawn some cynical reactions.

Cambodia: Demolition of Houses in Borei Keila

Sopheap Chak — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:48:33 +0000

The problem of forced evictions is turning for the worse in Cambodia while citizen dissatisfaction over existing resettlement schemes is also rising. While land grabbing is a nationwide problem, it's most evident in the urban areas. In fact, residents of Monivong Hospital, Sombok Chap, Dey Kraham, Group 78, Borei Keila, and Boeung Kak have been evicted already from their homes.

The recent record of forced eviction, which grabbed global attention, happened in Borei Keila, located opposite Bak Tuok High School in central Phnom Penh. This community is home to roughly 1,776 families, including 86 families with members who are HIV positive.

A press statement issued by human rights organization Licadho gives a brief history of the struggle of the residents of the community to assert their land and housing rights:

Demolition in Borei Keila. Photo from blog of Faine Greenwood

Villagers first settled on the land, which was the site of a police training facility, in 1992.

In early 2003, a “land-sharing” arrangement was proposed for Borei Keila, which allowed a private company to develop part of the area for commercial purposes while providing alternative housing to the residents on the remaining land. The idea was hailed because rather than being evicted, villagers would receive compensation for their land in the form of apartments in newly-constructed buildings.

In June 2003, Prime Minister Hun Sen authorized a social land concession for approximately 4.6 hectares of Borei Keila (30% of the total 14.12 hectares of land). Construction giant Phanimex company was contracted by the government to construct 10 apartment buildings on 2 hectares of land for the villagers, in return for obtaining ownership of an additional 2.6 hectares for commercial development.

By May 2007, the Phnom Penh municipality had allocated apartments to only 335 families, including 14 HIV/AIDS-affected families. More than 100 other families, their houses demolished to clear space for new apartment buildings, were left living under tarpaulins in squalid conditions.

In June 2009, 20 HIV affected families in the community were forced to leave their homes and were relocated to Tuol Sambo village of Khan Dangkor, about 20 kilometers outside of the capital. This was strongly condemned by both local and international rights groups as the relocation site was not suitable for human habitation. Moreover, those with HIV were isolated in a remote part of the area which made them more vulnerable to discrimination and social stigmatization.

This case was amply documented in a human rights portal, Sithi.

Phan Imex, the company whose contract with the government was to build ten apartments for villagers, managed to build only eight buildings leaving roughly 300 Borei Keila families excluded from the original agreement. Last month, the company demolished the houses of these ‘excluded' residents with the help from the armed forces. The demolition and dispersal became violent.

Immediately after the incident, a joint statement was issued by several civil society organizations which strongly condemned the violent destruction of the homes:

The destruction of these homes marks yet another sad turn for a development that was once promoted as a model alternative to the eviction and off-site relocation of the Phnom Penh's urban poor.

The statement accused the police of doing nothing to stop the violent demolition of homes:

The demolition was carried out by Phanimex employees and paid workers alongside an excavator, which crushed houses before residents had the opportunity to clear out their belongings. The process was overseen by over 100 mixed police forces who arrested and detained eight community representatives, including one minor who were taken to the main police commissioner and three bodyguards who were taken to an unknown location. Police also fired tear gas and live ammunition on the residents of Borey Keila.

Human rights monitors on site witnessed workers using a jackhammer to break up a large rock surrounding a group of police officers, who then took the stones and threw those at residents. Some also attacked residents with sticks. At least 12 people were injured including one policeman, some seriously.

Human Rights Watch reported that more than 64 people were injured and eight residents were detained:

“State security forces that were present used tear gas and rubber bullets against the residents, and both sides threw rocks, sticks, and bottles. More than 64 people were reportedly injured. The authorities arrested at least eight of the residents, one of whom was released on bail on January 18 while seven remain in detention. These eight residents, including two children, have all been charged under both article 218 (“intentional acts of violence with aggravating circumstances”) and article 504 (“obstruction of public officials with aggravating circumstances”) of the Cambodian penal code.

After the dispersal, there have been a series of peaceful protests by the community demanding the intervention of national government officials. They want the government to halt the demolitions and to release the detained protesters. A letter was also sent to to the Cambodian Prime Minister urging the leader to resolve the Borei Keila issue.

Early this month, about 100 residents from Borei Keila and 50 from Beoung Kak who were marching on Monivong Boulevard were blocked by more than 100 riot police personnel and a violent clash took place. Witnesses saw the police pushing six women into a police van, according to an article reported by the Cambodia Daily.

The arrested six female protesters were released after an overnight detention. City Hall then defended its action to arrest the female protesters

Phnom Penh Capital Hall has no other choice but to take an appropriate counter measure in order to maintain public security, safety and order for people in Phnom Penh so that laws can be effectively enforced as a principle of the rule of law can be applied.

Land grabbing has also spurred the rise of activism in many rural and urban communities. In one instance, land rights activists organized an ‘Avatar' rally to oppose the planned destruction of a forested area. The issue also prompted several groups to highlight the suffering of women and children during evictions

It gave the women a platform where they could tell the world about the suffering involved in forced evictions and sent a clear call to government officials to take immediate action on the ongoing scandal of forced evictions and land grabbing in the country.

South Korea: Activist Indicted for Retweeting North Korean Messages

Lee Yoo Eun — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:33:35 +0000

South Korean prosecutors indicted a photographer and freedom-of-speech activist last week on charges of violating national security law, for retweeting messages posted by an official North Korean government Twitter account. Despite the international media's widespread coverage, the case went seriously under-reported in South Korean media.

This case has sparked another round of debate on the controversial national security law, which prohibits “acts benefiting the enemy” without specifying what constitutes such acts.

Controversial tweets

Park Jung-geun, 23, was detained last month, but the incident actually goes back to September 2010, when police raided his photo studio in Seoul. According to one news report [ko], Park, from 2010 March to January 2011, with his two Twitter accounts (@seouldecadence, @dprkdecadence), retweeted about 102 messages originally tweeted by North Korean Twitter account @uriminzok. He also tweeted 30 links that led to North Korean video content.

Twitter profile image of user @windburial, the user switched to this image created by Park in order to show his support to Park.

The overall number of Park's “problematic” tweets is 384, which is only about 0.5 per cent of his entire tweets. In his trial, these tweets were depicted as “an expression of an agreement with the enemy's (referring to North Korea) propaganda” and were accused of “promoting the enemy's messages”.

Park claimed his retweets were a joke made to lampoon the North Korean regime and explained that the misunderstanding rose from reading his tweets out of context.

For instance, Park tweeted a tweaked image of a North Korean poster (see right). Using a typically North Korean poster, which are usually aggressive, warmongering and whose major color is red, Park replaced the soldier's face with his own face and the rifle with a bottle of whisky.

In another example, Park compared himself to North Korea's new heir, Kim Jong-un, since like Kim, he had ‘inherited' something from his father, which in Park's case is a photo studio.

South Korean media silence

What has baffled South Koreans however, is that although the police raided Park's studio last year and there has been quite strong opposition against the case online (including the creation of Internet photo memes of Park), recent updates have mostly come from the international media. Until local media reported about this unusual flow of information, Park's indictment was fairly new to the South Korean general public.

Hong Sung-soo (@sungsooh) tweeted [ko]:

“北 풍자한 박정근이 이적행위?”…외신 일제히 비판 : bit.ly/yK0WtI 뉴욕타임스, 워싱턴포스트, AP, AFP, UPI, CBS, MSNBC, 더 오스트레일리안, BBC… 외신보도 슈퍼 그랜드슬램 달성!!

“Really? Has Park committed national treason by lampooning North Korea?” Foreign media unanimously criticized (the indictment), including the New York Times, Washington Post, AP, AFP, UPI, CBS, MSNBC, the Australian, BBC - Congratulations on hitting the Grand Slam in the international media coverage.

A journalist from progressive newspaper, Huh Jae-yeon (@welovehani) tweeted [ko]:

우리만 보도안하고 있음

Only we - the Korean media - are remaining silent on this matter.

A Twitter account has been set up to support Park (@freepark_bot), summarizing[ko] in just one sentence what his real charge is:

박정근의 죄목: 트위터로 이것저것 한 거

The name of Mr. Park's crime: Trying this and that on Twitter.

Internet photo meme

Here are some of the meme photos produced back in September 2011, consolidated by Wiki Tree: firstly, starting with Park's original Twitter profile photo:

Park's original Twitter profile image, Image from his account @seouldecadence

Profile image of Twitter user @blu_pn. Posted on Wiki Tree site, CC

The image above shows Park's image with him holding a large blue pen. The tweet [ko] read:

I've switched my profile photo. (Sorry for using Park Jung-geun's photo without permission) It is to voice opposition against the government authority's raid on Mr. Park. I have never met Mr.Park, neither am I a socialist party member (like Park himself). I am not even his follower. But as a member of our civil society, I support his rights to freedom of speech!

Some of the messages from the Wiki Tree link [ko] read…

Twitter user @yawoori [ko]:

우리 모두는 박정근이다!

We are all Park Jung-geun!

Twitter user @Chocoberryp [ko]:

프로필 제 사진 아닙니다. ‘국가보안법 위반'이라는 이유로 박정근님에 대한 압수수색에 항의하는 의미에서 수많은 사람들이 프로필에 박정근을 자처하고 있습니다.

This profile photo is not mine. Many people have changed their Twitter profile photos to Park's image as an expression of protest against the police raid on Mr. Park, which was done under the name of ‘violation of the national security law'

Various Internet meme photos of Park Jung-geun, Posted in the Wiki Tree site, CC

Twitter user @Solidaritat [ko]:

이토록 많은 박정근을 죄다 가두지는 못할 것이며, 또 이토록 많은 박정근으로 인해 그 한 명의 박정근은 반드시 자유로워질 것이다. 필시 그리될 것이다.

They cannot arrest all these Park Jung-geuns. And thanks to all these numerous Park Jung-geuns, that one Park Jung-geun will be set free. That will eventually happen.

Rights advocates, including Amnesty International, released a statement to voice worries that the law “has a chilling effect on freedom of expression in South Korea” and “is used not to address threats to national security, but instead to intimidate people and limit their rights to free speech”.

Park's socialist party filed an online petition [ko] denouncing such decision as “an abuse of the national security law which is an icon of the military, authoritarian regime era”.

The remaining problem is that still a considerable number of Korean public are in support of this controversial law under which a considerable number of innocent citizens have been arrested and detained. Kim Nakho (@capcold), who has a Twitter profile photo that tweaked Park's profile image, tweeted [ko]:

어처구니없는 박정근 구속…보다 그에 관한 외신보도 때문에 급 조명받는 시대착오 국보법. 이왕 관심 가진 김에, 왜 그게 지금껏 살아있는지에 대해도 관심을. 국보법 없으면 국가보안 망한다 믿는 평범한 많은 이들의 학습능력 결여된 지지 말이다.

Park's arrest is so outrageous. What is more ridiculous is that this outdated national security law that recently caught the attention of the media because of the international media's coverage on it. Since we have started looking into this matter, we should focus on why that law has survived til now. It is because the ordinary people who so blindly bought into the notion that if the national security law stops existing, national security will be compromised. Those people who support the law for that reason are really lack the educational ability [lack understanding].

China: Another Grassroots Uprising in the North

Oiwan Lam — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:27:21 +0000

Follow Wukan Uprising, Panhe Village in Zhejiang province is also revolting against local government and developer who are colluded to grab away villagers' land. David Wertime from Tea Leaf Nation has the story.

Malaysia: Organization Advocates for Human Rights Through Video

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:26:24 +0000

An interview in EngageMedia showcases KOMAS, an organization in Malaysia that since 1993 has been using video production as a tool to educate and advocate for human rights.

Anna Har is the director of Pusat KOMAS (Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat) Community Communication Centre, and she explains the role video has in their outreach programs where they produce resource materials, facilitate processes, organize communities and give media training on the topics of non-discrimination, citizenship and voter education, as well as grassroots advocacy:

KOMAS is not a video production house nor do we specialise in producing films; rather, we see it as part of the strategic and creative use of media tools for the advocacy of human rights.

Freedom Film Fest by KOMAS

Between Love and Race is a short film focusing on racial discrimination, produced by KOMAS on 2006. In it, Angela and Rashid face backlash from friends and family because they've decided to date each other. Angela's parents object because they wanted her to date a Chinese boy,

Rashid's mother wishes he dated a nice Malaysian girl, as do Rashid's friends. Angela's friend Yati at least speaks Mandarin since she went to a Chinese school, so even among Yati's friends, Angela is singled out for not speaking her family's language.

Angela comes to discover that through labels, stereotypes, discrimination and expectations on race and love, what maters is how she and Rashid feel about each other.

In addition, KOMAS has also been running the human rights documentary festival FreedomFilmFest in Malaysia since 2003. The festival includes a documentary film competition where a first time film maker can pitch a proposal that they'll be able make into a documentary if they win, video workshops and film screenings; and it has become a platform for showcasing human rights documentaries that may not have enough commercial backing or space in mainstream media to get otherwise exposed. The 2012 FFF will be on the subject of Democracy, with the slogan of “Democracy – Who is the boss?”

The 2011 festival trailer gives us a perspective on the types of issues and topics the film festival promotes:

One of the 2011 winners of the documentary competition include Afiq Deen, who directed Huruf J, a short documentary on the hardships and discrimination faced by divorcees in Malaysia. A society that sets them apart for their condition, debt, poverty and a legal system which is unable to enforce fathers' financial obligations with their children are some of the hurdles these women have to face when trying to move on with their lives. The film includes some subtitles and audio in English.

With the online premiere of the documentary, the FreedomFilmFestival is asking you to view and review the documentary so they can add the opinions on their site.

Hong Kong, China: Netizens Mock the University of Hong Kong

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:18:06 +0000

The University of Hong Kong has finished a review report on the arrangement of China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang's visit to the university last year for its centennial celebration, or the so-called Hong Kong 818 incident.

During the ceremony, the campus was sealed off by heavy police forces stationed among students and alumni present, and the scene of a student brutally held down by a group of police officers when he tried to join other protesters quickly stirred up public outrage.

The newly-released report now reveals that the ceremony was scheduled to coincide with the vice premier's visit, proving true much public speculation that the ceremony was carefully designed as a political “show” aimed at pleasing the Beijing government.

The comic below is a recreation of the university's logo which has been widely circulated on Facebook this week. Replacing the symbol of the dragon-lion with the flag of China and the school motto, “Sapientia Et Virtus”, with “loyalty to the Party and to the State - the First People's University of Hong Kong City, Guangdong province” (忠黨愛國﹣廣東省香港市第一人民大學), the comic is a mocking reference to the downgrading of a what is currently an international university to that of a third-grade (city level) university in China. (I have shared the picture in my own Facebook Wall).

A satirical comic widely circulated online about the Hong Kong 818 incident

China, North Korea: Spreading Meth Across the Border

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:56:22 +0000

Jende Huang from Sino-NK has written an investigative report on the spreading of meth across the China and North Korea border.

Hong Kong: Oldest English Newspaper Turning Red?

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:55:25 +0000

Asia Sentinel has a news story about the latest development of the oldest English newspaper, South China Morning Post, in Hong Kong. The writer believes that the appointment of the newspaper's new Chief editor, former China's Daily's reporter and a CPPCC member Wang Xiangwei is part of the trend of the China Communist Party's move in media takeovers in Hong Kong.

China: New Registrations for Sina Weibo have Fallen

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:39:00 +0000

Bishop from Digicha follows up Sina Weibo's new user registration growth after the implementation of real name registration and the blogger provides three possible explanation on the falling trend.

China: Cats found in RMB100 Banknote

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:32:49 +0000

Jacky Huang from ChinaHush translated a local story from Beijing News about the new discovery by netizen of the printing of a “worshipping cats” totem on the RMB100 Banknote. The cats' image is very comical, but experts said it was from Ancient China's the Warring States period (5th-3rd cent. BCE).

China needs less division, more action

Oiwan Lam — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:20:24 +0000

China media project has translated journalism professor Zhan Jiang's article on the division between the “rightists” and the “leftists” in addressing the current political situation in China.