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Cambodian Human Rights Leader Kem Sokha Arrested On New Year's Eve

Beth Kanter · 17:25 · East Asia

It looks like 2006 will be an even more difficult year for those fighting for freedom of expression in Cambodia according to this post by Jinja about the New Year's Eve arrest of Kem Sokha. According to news reports, this means that four critics of the government are now in jail awaiting trial.

The charges are based on actions of Mr. Sokha's organization, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, at a public celebration of free speech at Olympic Stadium on December 10. (International Human Rights Day.)

Mr. Sokha is part of the Alliance of Freedom of Expression in Cambodia, a newly formed group of more than 30 NGOs in Cambodia, which launched a national campaign preceding the event, using the yellow ribbon logo above. Mr. Sokha is a strong advocate for freedom of expression in Cambodia and has been outspoken regarding the arrest of Mam Sonando from ‘Beehive Radio‘.

The KI-Media Blog has posted the above photos of the arrest and an eye witness account by Ms. Theary Seng from Phnom Penh and author of the book, Asrei: Daughter of the Killing Fields.

Jinja includes a roundup of news and listserv postings on this topic and promises further updates as they happen.

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Turkey is Typing….

Deborah Ann Dilley · 16:39 · Middle East & North Africa

Greetings for the new year! Yogurtland, Turkish Torque, and Talk Turkey would like to extend their greetings for a Happy New Year as well. If you happened to be celebrating in Istanbul tonight many Turkish bloggers have been talking about the performance of Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band.

The end of the year is traditionally a time of reflection, and Undomondo has a series of music round-ups: Best toplists, Best Albums, Best Artists, and Best Netlabel Releases. Further on the subject of music, Turkish Torque has an interesting post on the influence of Elvis Presley and Rock and Roll on Turkish culture in the 1950's. And normally a blog covering the music of Turkish pop star Tarkan, Tarkan Deluxe has a post with excellent links for those who are interested in learning Turkish in order to understand Turkish culture more.

Those following the Turkish news will undoubtedly have heard about the trial of Orhan Pamuk for insulting Turkishness, while some of his charges have been dropped, the trial will continue. Pamuk is being cited as a literary hero, and he has recently written an article for the New Yorker about his trial. Of course, this trial is also continuing the debate on the identity of Turkishness, including the issue of the Kurds in Turkey and Northern Iraq.

A few quick notes: Metroblogging:Istanbul writes about housing in Istanbul. Talk Turkey writes about the Turkish influences in the Chronicles of Narnia. Mavi Boncuk has information about the Anatolian Leopard.

For the final line of the year (and I hope that you have a happy and safe holiday) I will leave you a link to a post by Amerikan Turk simply titled “Got Milk“.

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Pakistan: Blog-o-New Year!

Omer Alvie · 05:59 · South Asia

As the year comes to a close, I am forced to look back and ask myself an important question, “why the heck did I not write a post for GV last week?” The answer is relatively factual; I was visiting the nation of Procrasti (Procrasti Nation), a beautiful island off the coast of Ecuador. Lovely people and extremely laidback, and I seem to fit right in. (Actually, the truth is I lost my contact lens and broke my glasses all in the same week, so I was visually impaired for a few days and therefore, couldn't be buggered with fiddling around with my computer).

It is a rather momentous occasion today, as I bring to you my final post of 2005. “The fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and now this!” … I hear you say. Yes, CNN and Fox News were scheduled to present a live broadcast of me writing this post but unfortunately, they had to cover the excruciating minutia of the President's activities during his holidays at his Crawford Ranch in Texas, including his last bowel movement of the year.

So, without much further ado (about nothing), I present to you my tiny collection of blog posts for your perusal:

Suspect Paki presents a rather apt commentary on the Baghdad situation; Windmill presents an alternate version of Pakistan's national anthem; Fountainhead writes about Pakistan's Rosa Parks; Opinionated Voice highlights a tale of torture; Minigma writes about attending the Reviving The Islamic Spirit Convention; and finally, I comment on GW's spy saga.

Before signing off, I would like to wish the founders, editors, writers and readers of Global Voices Online a very happy 2006. May the coming year bring with it tolerance, exchange of ideas, the courage to question authority, and some cold hard cash in unmarked bills for all of us!

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Malaysia: Islamic burial of ethnic Indian

SK Thew · 02:31 · East Asia

The recent controversy over “forced” burial of a Malaysia Everest mountain climber M. Moorthy in accordance to Islamic rites, in which the decision was disputed by Moorthy's family, has stir discussion among public.

Earlier, Moorthy's widow Kaliammal Sinnasamy was seeking to declare that her late husband was a Hindu who practised the Hindu way of life prior to his death and never mention one single word of his purported conversion to her or her relatives. Subsequently, she filed a civil action in the High Court, only to be ruled out later the court will not disturb declaration that Moorthy was a Muslim because the matter was under the jurisdiction of Syariah Court. Only Moorthy's brother who is also a Muslim convert and the only family member that attend the funeral.

Majority of Malaysian public believes converts have the moral obligation to inform family especially if they were married and had children, where International Movement for a Just World President Dr. Chandra Muzaffar proposed a clause be included in the conversion certificate of the new Muslim that he would undertake to tell the family while Malaysia Human Rights Commission chairman Abu Talib Othman said the civil court should not have avoided the issue by merely ruling that Moorthy conversion to Islam came under the jurisdiction of the Syariah court.

[…] “The civil court should have considered the constitutionality of the amendment to the Federal Constitution, which was presented by the Government and passed by Parliament, and decide whether it is constitutional or not. Because in the matter of constitutionality, the civil court is competent.” […]

Also, the commision does not interfere interfere on matters that have been decided by the courts, however the commission could probe whether human rights principles have been violated in this case, if the family lodge a report with commision.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz too spoke the need for a ‘better way' to settle Islamic matters affecting non-Muslims and said that when there was a dispute over conversions, the case should be heard in a civil court where all sides can be represented while Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism feels that a subsection of the Federal Constitution should be repealed to make it clear that the Syariah Court has no jurisdiction to hear matters involving non-Muslims.

Politics 101 Malaysia believes the case which started off as a legal wrangle and progressed into a constitutional crisis, needs a political solution while Maobi dedicated a blogwatch on this case.

Malaysia Opposition Leader and blogger Lim Kit Siang will convene a parliamentary roundtable in Parliament this coming Thursday (5th Jan 2006) on what what Parliament could do to rectify the injustices emanating from Malaysia Federal Constitution Article 121(1A), where non-Muslims have no remedy in any court where their rights have been adversely affected by syariah court decisions.

So far, only the Senators Club has asked media to stop reporting on the controversy.

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Chinese Blogosphere:Year in Review

Frank Dai · 01:48 · East Asia

The development of blog in 2005 is fast and influential. Compared with early years when blog was first introduced, 2005 is the booming year of Chinese Blogosphere in terms of the number of blogs, quality of posting and recognition of blogging.

From perspective of blog hosting service, all the BSPs experienced firece competition following a acquisition of Blogdriver by Bokee. The three major BSPs, Bokee, Blogcn and Blogbus have received funding from venture capital firms, which showed the confidence from investment. They have been making progress on cultivating their blogosphere culture and improving the quality of their service. On the other hand, the traditional website and online portal, like MSN, QQ, Sina and Sohu, all have entered the new fast growing market, who are steadily gaining large portion of market share.

As for the number of blogs, the exact number of blogs and bloggers are very difficult to calculate exactly. Though the statistics from Baidu has been questioned by some bloggers, the fact is undeniable that in 2005, the number of Chinese blogs is skyrocketing. Also some blog searching engines can prove the rise of blogs in Chinese as a test by Keso demonstrated(in ZH).

Besides, a group of opinion leaders in blogosphere have emerged. They are usually well-educated, focusing on the development and news in certain field. More significantly, much of their prestige is gained from blogging, like Keso, Mumu, Anti and Milk Massage (Who is the DW Best Blogger winner). As more and more people became acquainted and familiar with blog, blog has been transformed from new stuff into a normal means of communication and expression, and the writing style of blogging is now more mature and diversified.

From media coverage on blogging phenomenon from newspapers and magazines, we can perceive the recognition of blog by the mass media. Economic Observer and Life Weekly have run stories or specials on their cover. This kind of attention reached its highest point in November, when the first Chinese Blogger Conference was held in Shanghai. Under the limelight, blog has become a major application of internet.

For some reasons like censorship, Chinese blogs are very slow to adopt the grassroots news concept, or citizen journalism. The people who treated blog as a media are still very few; instead they are inclined to express feeling of life rather than political opinion.

The biggest question for Chinese blogs is still the censorship issue. As the blogosphere evolved, so did the great firewall. Blogsome, Typepad and Blog-City were blocked in succession, and Blogspot, after a short interval, were still blocked by the government. The policy that require every website to resigster administrator's real name, and the Regulation on Internet Information and News Services, have put rigid control and restriction blogger. Whatever the consequence of such measures are, the censorship will influence the development of blog to a very large proportion.

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Echoes from the Tunisian blogosphere

Mohamed Marwen Meddah · 01:44 · Middle East & North Africa

The results for the Tunisian Blog Awards were announced, here in French and here in English.

Tarek writes about “Tree of Paradise”, an exhibition of mosaics at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, in which some mosaics from a synagogue in Hammam Lif, Tunisia, are showcased.
He gives an interesting insight into the background of these mosaics and explains their importance.

Zizou is happy to see that shopping malls in Tunisia are playing a role in creating a little book reading revolution by making books more available and accessible to people, and putting an end to a time when only a few people would have to go to dusty bookstores, with unfriendly librarians, to search for books. Now no one hesitates to grab a book or two while they're doing their shopping. (in French)

MMM writes about how he thinks that what we need is not a new and modernized Islam, but a new and modernized understanding of Islam.

Tunisian Globetrotter announces the launch of an online radio station by the supporters of the Tunisian soccer team, Club Africain. The radio will be covering the club's news, events and matches. (in French)

Sup'Comian boy has noticed that news and information about the Internet and Telecom world is somehow a common interest in the Tunisian blogosphere and suggests the creation of a group blog covering these issues in Tunisia. (in French)

Tarek is sick and tired of salespeople who are trained to intimidate customers and make them disburse the most. He talks about his experience buying a laptop recently, and how the salesperson kept trying to convince him to buy more accessories and a 3 year warranty.

Nawarat is writing an article about female Tunisian bloggers for a Tunisian female magazine, and she is inviting female Tunisian bloggers to help her with the article by answering some questions or suggesting some ideas. (in French)

Jrayda writes about the differences in dialect between the people from the capital, Tunis, and the people from the south of Tunisia, as well as the funny situations that occur because of those differences. (in French)

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