Archive for
June 3rd, 2008
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China: Clearer answers and investigation into quake response needed
Last month the Chinese government said that the process of obtaining complete information as to why so many school buildings collapsed in last month's earthquake is underway. This week it began reigning in media which have been asking too many questions, even barring grieving parents from protesting. The first attempt at providing answers came this week from the Sichuan Ministry of Education in the form of five key reasons for the number of school-related deaths, which haven't gone over well with many [zh] bloggers.
Well-known blogger-journalist and author Ran Yunfei, who lives in Chendgu, had this to say about these five points in his May 29 post, ‘How are the children wrongfully dead to be allowed to rest in peace?‘
当初地震部门将地震震级从7．８级修正为8级后，有位朋友说政府正在向实事求是的方向挺进。我对朋友说，你未免太轻看这个政府集体为恶的智商了，也许他们正在“科学”而有效地利用灾难找脱辞呢。我并不是个怀疑一切的人，我对活在中国的个体有相当同情之理解，但对政府却很少放弃怀疑的态度，这是几十年来频发的人祸加诸于身的惨痛教训。不轻易相信乃至质疑政府是一个现代公民的基本素质，何况一个权力大到令人惊骇的地步，视人命如草芥，根本没有真正监督的政府？你要是轻信这样的政府，那你所遭遇的一切悲惨生活，就是它对你活生生的恩赐。它这样置你于死地的“恩赐”，你不仅只有接受，你用血汗钱养活了它，反而还要你对着镜头说“感谢党，感谢政府”，它进而戴上“伟光正”的光环，使一切恶政变得不仅自然而且高尚。六十年无一例外，这次发生地震灾难后，政府不少部门的表现就是他们一惯嗜血本能的展现，其中最不能容忍就是中国教育部和四川省教育厅为他们错误的无耻辩解。
许多人看到了昨天四川省教育厅五点所谓对灾区学校倒塌的查处意见，至为愤慨。其实前天教育部新闻发言人王旭明就公开提前定下了四川省教育厅查处学校倒塌的基调。对这个政府运作方式不陌生的人，都应该从逻辑上揣度到，即四川省教育厅这样的查处基调，在震后很短时间内他们早就在内部达成了共识。而且这共识还不只是来源于教育部，应该来源于更高层对去人祸而认天灾的政治把戏。
我认为中央政府应该重建教育部，令部长周济辞职以谢国人；整顿四川省教育厅相关的官员，并对直接责任人绳之以法。不然，恐怕中央政府的公信力，将会越来越低。
[snip]
I feel the central government ought to rebuild the Ministry of Education, make Minister Zhou Ji resign as an apology to the nation; rectify the relevant Sichuan Education Ministry officials, and bring those directly responsible to justice. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the central government will continue to lose the public's trust.
Here are the Sichuan Education Ministry's five concluding points as they've been getting spread around online and as posted by Ran Yunfei, slightly shorter than the official version as they've stripped of bureaucratese and rephrased clearly:
一、这次地震首先是超过了预计强度,学校校舍抗震难以抵御如此强烈的地震。
二、灾情发生在上课期间,集体伤亡人数比较多。
三、学生上课时集中在教室,楼面负荷大,疏散时又集中在楼梯间,这些走廊、楼梯相对来说是建筑比较薄弱的,所以造成了一定的损害。
四、根据四川省教育行政部门提交的材料,四川省倒塌的相当多的校舍建筑时间比较长,校舍陈旧落后,这也是导致部分校舍垮塌的重要原因。
五、学校的建筑在抗震方面本身就存在着设计方面的先天性缺陷。
2. The disaster struck during class time, so the numbers of collective casualties was quite high.
3. During class time, students were gathered inside classrooms, so there was a large burden on the floors, and during evacuation again they were gathered within the stairwell, and these corridors and stairwells were relatively weak parts of the buildings, so this created definite harm.
4. According to information supplied by Sichuan Education Ministry administrators, quite a few of the school buildings which collapsed in Sichuan province were built quite a long time ago, so the schools were old and unmaintained, and this is a major factor leading to the collapse of some schools.
5. Inherent defects existed in the designs of the school buildings themselves with respect to earthquake resistance.
The transcript of a talk given on May 31st by legal scholar and active blogger He Weifang has been posted to message board website Paowang. In it He focuses on the role of the Procuratorate, the Chinese version of the American Attorney General's Office, should be playing in the legal and administrative aftermath of the earthquake, seeing it as the most suitable body to provide that degree of oversight.
He makes several points to that effect, starting off with calling for the need for the Procuratorate to be ensured independence as it carries out its work in, among many things, overseeing compensation given to parents to children lost in the earthquake, transparency as those responsible for things like the ‘tofu dregs' construction of school buildings are sought out, seeing that the practice doesn't continue as new houses and buildings are constructed, and at the same time, ensuring those eventually brought to trial are guaranteed a fair trial and not one aimed at placating an angry public.
The key suggestion He makes however, is the activation now of article 71 of China's constitution, which he says has never been put into effect:
第四点，我回应一下，我觉得目前是不是也应该启动一下特别调查制度。我们国家没有一个超然的、中立的、公开的机构，来对这样一个大事进行调查，我觉得四川的大地震应当马上由全国人大设立特别调查委员会，宪法第71条明确规定人大可以设立这样的委员会，因为它是一个非常综合性的问题，包括地震预报，到底预报没预报，如果已经有了这样一个确定的结论，最后不公开，谁的责任？包括房子的质量问题，包括其他的赈灾过程中出现的问题，我觉得需要有一个委员会来进行一种非常公开、透明、权威、超然的调查。但是我们的宪法第71条存在20多年了，到现在一次都没有启动过。2003年孙志刚事件的时候，许志永他们提出违宪审查制度，但到现在26年时间过去了，我们这个特别调查委员会从来就没有启动过，所以我们说它是一个“睡美人”。
Bermuda: Image Matters
The Bermudian blogosphere has been talking this week about the decision by the island's Premier to hire a Public Relations firm to tweak Bermuda's international image, which has been recently sullied by everything from the ruling party's attacks on the free press to the lack of transparency with electoral reform and freedom of information. All this has been made even more glaring by the Premier's recent shut-down of a parliamentary debate, adding that the Government will do the same “every time there is the implication or insinuation of something dishonest or corrupt” by the Opposition.
A Radical in Bermuda pulls no punches on the issue, saying:
It seems our glorious leader feels it is necessary to spend even more tax payer dollars to come in and “fix” Bermuda's international image, you know, the one the media and opposition ruined.
Politics.bm, in citing a long list of reasons that he believes has caused the island's reputation to be tarnished, adds:
Here's a suggestion. Bermuda's image problem isn't a public relations problem, it's a public policy one.
21 Square analyses the situation in the context of transparency and good governance, saying:
Any reasonable individual would recognize that the easiest means to counter corruption allegations and abuse of parliamentary procedure would be to increase transparency in government.
He goes on:
Premier Brown recently announced that the Bermuda government would hire a foreign public relations firm in hopes of countering the poor image of governance Bermuda has developed. While Premier Brown's suggestion that the opposition is abusing parliamentary privilege may be valid, any reasonable observer would note that the easiest way to counteract this would be to televise the parliamentary sessions and publish Hansard minutes. This would make it readily obvious whether or not the opposition indeed is abusing parliamentary privilege.
Vexed Bermoothes, tongue in cheek, echoes his sentiment:
So, what to do when the uproar about corruption, mismanagement, secrecy, and lack of accountability becomes so great that the country’s reputation begins to get sullied? Of course, hire an overseas PR agency to spin your way out of it! Brilliant!
Nevermind the fact that the Cabinet Office already has a large internal PR team. Nevermind this does NOTHING to address the root problems that are causing the malcontent amongst Bermudians and our customers. Nevermind this will become an exercise in burnishing the Premier’s tarnished reputation. It’s got nothing to do with Bermuda really.
As if to underscore this point, 21 Square writes:
So, rather than increasing transparency and giving the public greater confidence in trustworthiness of our leadership, what we're seeing is the opposite. Increasing transparency would absolutely be a reasonable course to countering allegations of corruption and abuse of parliamentary procedure. By decreasing transparency Premier Brown is doing more to raise questions about the trustworthiness of himself and his colleagues as it increases the credibility of the attacks made by the opposition.
Finally, IMHO.bm, in a pained post about a 14-year-old girl who was found dead, says:
On a side note, THIS is the reputation that Premier Brown should be more concerned with. May be the Island would be better off allocating money to the 50 man short police force instead of spending more on a PR firm.
Southeast Asia: Series of unfortunate disasters
A destructive cyclone in Myanmar. The China earthquake which was felt in Hanoi and Bangkok. Two earthquakes in the Sumatra island which rocked Indonesia and Malaysia. A strong typhoon which destroyed many towns in north Philippines.
In the past month, natural disasters hit the Southeast Asian region claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and destroying billions of properties.
Blogger Lynn Leng Lang exclaims:
“Ah, super sad lah. What the hell is happening to Asia?!”
Myanmar is still suffering as cyclone refugees continue to suffer from hunger and illnesses. The junta’s incompetence is another disaster which worsened the situation in the cyclone-ravaged regions of Myanmar.
Perhaps a U.S. official was correct to accuse the junta of being guilty of criminal neglect for blocking large-scale international aid to cyclone victims. Or as the prime minister of Singapore said, “Myanmar is fearful of allowing foreign aid agencies into the country to help because it could show that the ruling junta was not capable of handling the disaster.”
Because of the junta’s behavior, Endoh's dungeon believes the world was right in being pessimistic in giving aid to Myanmar. It is indeed extraordinary that three weeks have passed before Myanmar’s leader issued a public statement about the cyclone disaster. More than 100,000 people were killed and General Than Shwe managed to remained quiet about it. In other countries, this leader would have been ousted already.
Credibility is important so that governments can be effective in disaster management. Aid will not arrive quickly if a regime is perceived to be despotic. The sentiment of As Zewt As It Gets is common today:
“Now, I am sure all of us have got a wonderful generous heart and are all eager to contribute one way or another to help the victims of the recently occurred disasters both in China and Myanmar. However, I just want to say that we should be mindful of the channels to which we are contributing to. If you wish to contribute to any form of Myanmar relief fund, make sure the organization you are contributing to goes directly into the country to aid the victims and not just handing the money to the junta government.”
Many bloggers in the region are not fans of the junta. jere-iamwhatiam from Singapore writes:
“The purpose of a government is to govern the people, to make lives better for them, to take care and protect the people. What the government in Myanmar has done is total disregard for its people's lives and well-being. By delaying aid and a lack of prompt response to the disaster, they are just killing their own people.”
Filipino blogger Under the sun adds:
“What kind of government would put selfish interests ahead of the citizens’ welfare at a time of great crisis, when the only choice is between life and death?”
Noting that Thailand is an earthquake-prone zone, a new law requires all new buildings to be earthquake-proof. Reacting to the recent China earthquake which was felt in Bangkok, bloggers are asking about the safety of old buildings and skyscrapers.
Crunchy is also asking about the steps implemented in Malaysia to prepare for future strong tremors:
“Are houses and high rises in Malaysia built to withstand even a minor earthquake? Or even considerations and guidelines for developers to follow so that buildings can withstand tremors multiple times a year and throughout the years. With the ‘tidak apa' attitude and certain quarters or people who just cared about their pockets, I doubt these issues would get any attention at all until something major happens. What do you think? Am I being too paranoid?”
For many days, the damage wrought by a strong typhoon in north Philippines was not adequately reported by the media. Even the national government was not initially aware of the extent of destruction. The Philippine president was scuba diving in central Philippines a day after the typhoon left the country.
Darlene's blog site writes about the situation in one of the provinces hit by the typhoon:
“Typhoon Cosme destroyed more or less 700,000 homes affecting at least 38,000 families. This frightful event left residents no choice but to temporarily transfer in evacuation centers. Moreover, Cosme also lead a landslide causing roads to be closed and great flood destroying land farms.”
Strangely out of place was shocked:
“The following day, Candelaria looked waaaaaay different. The electric cables were all on the ground. Big acacia and mango trees were on houses and establishments. The church, the school and the public library had some windows broken. Almost every corner you turn you’ll see roofless houses. Some of the older structures looked like cardboard boxes on the ground. The town was, and I quote my mom, “extremely devastated.”
Pictures of the typhoon disaster in the worst-hit province were uploaded by The harvest is great. Northern Philippine Times lambasts government inaction:
“Every year, government officials say during dry months they have contingency measures for calamities like storms in preparation for rainy months. But every time a typhoon strikes, most government offices are caught flat-footed while roads are closed, barangays are submerged and power lines are down. Programs regarding disaster control or management are reactive, not proactive.”
Natasha loves noodles comments on the China earthquake, Myanmar cyclone, and the Philippine typhoon. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore delivers a speech about the need for international cooperation to help Myanmar. Assistance can also be given to other countries in the region:
“We in ASEAN cannot perform this job on our own. Myanmar's needs are way beyond what Myanmar itself or ASEAN as a whole can provide. This is why ASEAN and the UN have jointly convened this Pledging Conference. We in ASEAN can play little more than a facilitating role in fostering greater trust and cooperation between the international community - which has the capabilities - and the Myanmar government.”
Venezuela: Gaining Admission to Public Universities
Last year, President Hugo Chávez anounced the elimination of admission tests to get into universities in Venezuela. They will be substituted by a National System of Admission. This new system must, according to the experts, create a social value, be practical, and be feasible with the country's resources. It must also be part of the public policies regarding Higher Education
Every year around 400,000 students seek to be admitted in Venezuelan public universities. Unfortunately, it is not possible to satisfy every demand, which leads to the discussion of how to assign students to a specific program based on certain criteria…but which criteria?
The Central University of Venezuela has witnessed demonstrations on the issue, especially during the election of the heads of the Academy. Some say that these changes are another of the President's demagogic strategies to (re)gain popularity by satisfying mediocrity and immediacy. Others feel that this new system represents a more democratic and more equal way to have access to a post-secondary education. The new policy has yet to be placed in effect, but Venezuelan bloggers have their own thoughts on the current and new systems.
Photo by Kit Kath and used under a Creative Commons license.
To Josefina of El Muro Te Lamenta [es], the elimination of the admission test doesn’t solve the issue:
El problema no es entrar, sino hacerlo en condiciones para salir exitosamente. Sin condiciones básicas de entrada, no se pueden formar profesionales competentes comprometidos con su país. Una vez recibidos, la Universidad no puede defraudar, ni a ellos ni al país.
The problem is not how to get in, but doing so in certain conditions that would permit one to successful finish. Without basic conditions for admission, it is impossible to educate competent professionals committed to their country. Onde they are accpeted, they cannot defraud them or the country.
Joacoramon of Venezuela Libre [es] adds the goal should be to provide equal education for all:
Eliminar las pruebas internas para ingresar al sistema de educación superior no resuelve el problema (…) El Gobierno lo sabe, pero prefiere colocar el paño caliente, antes de resolver el problema de fondo. Este es el problema de los gobiernos con vocación populista (…) abanderados de una igualdad que no existe. Iguales, como gotas de agua, deberíamos ser desde el principio de nuestra educación, calidad es lo que debe privar en la escuela básica y en el diversificado. (…) Y me pregunto: ¿quién, después de ver toda la discriminación impulsada por este Gobierno puede dar garantía que todos los bachilleres serán considerados a los ojos del Ejecutivo, iguales, como gotas de agua?
Eliminating admission tests does not solve the problem. The government knows that, but prefers to put a band-aid instead of solving the real problem. This is the problem with populist governments (…) defenders of an equality that doesn’t exist. Our education is the one that should be exactly alike, just like two drops of water, but from the beginning. A high quality education should be start from elementary school and go all the way through high school. (…) and I wonder, who, after seeing all the discrimination supported by this government can honestly believe that all high school graduates will be seen as equals, like two drops of water, to the eyes of the government?
In a Country of the Blind [es], Andrés shows another fact about the differences between private and public education in Venezuela:
¿Por qué entonces se produce el fenómeno de la exclusión de los estudiantes de las escuelas públicas? El mayor grado de admisiones a aspirantes provenientes de los colegios privados es consecuencia de la baja calidad de la educación pública del país.
Es también preciso comentar que existen varios factores que agravan la situación de las admisiones en las universidades y están son el factor socio-cultural. Durante el primer gobierno de Rafael Caldera decidieron cerrar las escuelas técnicas, con esto vino la idea de que todos debíamos ser universitarios, cualquier cosa por debajo era indecoroso, y con ello vino un segundo problema de mentalidad.
Luego esta un factor de injusticia que son los articulados de las normas de las universidades publicas que otorgan cupos a hijos de trabajadores, profesores, políticos, deportistas y artistas destacados. Por que hablo de injusticia sobre este caso pues hoy por hoy el 40% de la población estudiantil universitaria de la universidades publicas ingresan por medio de los conocidos artículos, que además son blanco de la corrupción interna de la universidad, del CNU, y de la OPSU.
Why does this produce a phenomenon of exclusion of public school students? The high number in admission of graduates from private schools is a consequence of the low quality in public schools.
It is also correct to comment that there are certain factors that make the situation even worse: the socio-cultural factors. During the first Rafael Caldera’s administration, they decided to shut down technical schools and after this, came the idea that we all should be university students. Anything below that was shameful. With that, came another problem; a mentality problem.
Then, there is another unfair factor: some articles in laws of public universities laws grant admission to the children of workers, professors, politicians, athletes and artists. Why do I say it’s unfair? Well, it seems that 40% of the students in public universities have been granted admission thanks to these laws, something that has been the target of corruption inside the university and the organizations that arrange general admission tests.
Writer and professor Barrera Linares in his Duda Melodica [es] gives an opinion on whether the tests also measure other important skills.
De las varias pruebas que llegué a evaluar alguna vez, muy pocas estaban relacionadas, por ejemplo, con procesos relativos a otros fenómenos, si se quiere más cualitativos, pero también humanos, como la reflexión, la opinión, la argumentación, el ambiente, la vida comunitaria, la actitud crítica, las comunicaciones, entre otros. A mi juicio también muy importantes si los relacionamos con algunas carreras universitarias existentes o futuras.
From all the tests I ever evaluated, few of them were related, for example, to other areas, more qualitative if you will, but also human, like insight, opinion, debate, environment, life in community, critical thinking, and communications among others. In my opinion, these are also important if we relate them with some careers that currently exists or will exist.
Links for Tue, 2008-06
Agry [pt] starts a series of interviews with the female Portuguese speaker bloggers on his blogroll, people who show a commitment to promote their people's history, culture and hopes. The series starts with Brazilian economic consultant Milu Duarte, from Blog da Milu [pt].
Pedrabika [pt] is getting surprised by the day about the rise in petrol prices in Cape Verde: “200 $ 00 for petrol, is that it? Even beer is cheaper. This way we'll have to start traveling on foot and continue ignoring the pocket shaking policies. Otherwise no one reacts, political parties make some statements, people mourn and life goes on…”
Cicer et cetera, the blog of the Deputy Director of the Boston-based Armenian Tree Project, reports on the organization's award for one of its projects in Armenia at the Energy Globe Awards recently held at the European Parliament in Brussels. The blogs gives a brief overview of the project.
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