The Straits Times Blogs - From Around The World

Filipino afire about abuse of power

2009-01-06T06:30:00Z

Alastair McIndoe describes the Internet ire about a high-profile kerfuffle.

In Jakarta

BLOGGERS and internet message boards are seething with anger over a "guns, goons and golf" scandal embroiling a member of President Gloria Arroyo's Cabinet.

It started over an altercation at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo near Manila on December 26th. Businessman Delfin dela Paz and his 14-year-old son claim that they were beaten up by the two sons (one of them a city mayor) of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and three of their bodyguards.

According the Dela Pazs, Mr Pangandaman witnessed the incident but did not intervene. An emotional eyewitness account of the alleged assault was posted on the blog of Mr Dela Paz's 18-year-old daughter Bambee.

Source: Internet

Her story spread like wildfire cross the Internet, with Filipinos here and abroad expressing sympathy for her dad and brother, and largely vilifying the Pangandamans.

"This is a classic display of politicians using their power to get away with whatever they want," wrote Kenneth Ragpala in one of hundreds of comments on her blog.

To be fair, both sides are claiming to be the victims in the affray. And both families filed suits against each other on Monday over the incident.

The online support for the Dela Pazs has vividly shown the deep resentment that many Filipinos feel towards officials in general who throw their weight around.

Motorists, for one, bristle at the sight of luxury SUVs, usually in twos or threes, belonging to powerful officials or politicians packed with bodyguards tearing, sirens blazing, along city highways and country roads scattering everything in their way.

According to Ms Dela Paz, her father complained to a golf-club official that members of the Pangandaman party, riding in golf carts, had cut ahead to the next hole without asking permission, a breach of golf etiquette. She said that her father and mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr then got into a heated arguement on the fairway.

"He attacks my father," she wrote on her blog. "His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father.

"My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop.

"His words still ring through my head....With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face.

"My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were four or five of them attacking now," she wrote.

The rumble resumed in the clubhouse, where she alleges the mayor attacked her brother again and two bodyguards with the Pangandamans drew their guns.

A television news crew later interviewed her distraught brother Bino, a high-school student in Manila. Dried blood was visible on one of his ears.

Ms Dela Paz studies at a university in the Unted States. On her blog, Vicissitudes, she describes herself as a "Full-blooded Filipina. Feminist/Nationalist."

It is flooded with sympathetic messages. Prominent political commentators in the Philippines have also waded into the debate.

Writer and broadcaster Manuel Quezon III, grandson of a former president, wrote on his blog: "When someone like Bambee Dela Paz and her family collide with official thugs, the collision isn’t just physical, it’s cultural. The set of rules that keeps the plebs in their place is never supposed to intrude into places where gentility matters."

Ms Dela Paz made clear that Mr Pangandaman Sr did not take part in the altercation. But, she adds: "He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person...is a Cabinet member."

That he was recently appointed by President Arroyo to a new government panel handling the peace process with the country's largest Muslim rebel group, made the story even more piquant. He comes from a prominent political family on Mindanao Island. His son and namesake Nasser is mayor of Masiu City in Lanao del Sur province there.

According to Ms Dela Paz, Mr Pagandaman Jr yelled at his caddy: "They don't know who we are. Tell them who I am." If he did, that could harden the view that this was not just a hot-blooded row between golfers (and there's a sizable fiery Latino streak in most Filipinos), but a case of the "arrogance of power" as one newspaper columnist put it.

As things stand, the Pangandamans have not given a detailed account of their side of the story. Mr Pangandaman Jr has reportedly claimed that he reacted in self-defence, alleging that Mr Dela Paz attacked him with an umbrella.

A dog's life in Mumbai

2009-01-05T09:23:00Z

P. Jayaram explores the debate on how to control Mumbai's dog 'nuisance'.

In Mumbai

Mumbai, India's financial hub, has an estimated 70,000 stray dogs and every year, they leave more than 25,000 city dwellers nursing dog bites.

The growing problem has left many residents fuming, but not animal lovers.

In fact, the issue has gone all the way up to the Bombay High Court, which ruled by a 2-1 majority judgment late last month that dogs which were a “nuisance” can be killed.

The court gave the ruling in response to a public interest litigation filed by a Mumbai-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), In Defence of Animals, challenging the validity of certain provisions of a law that permits killing of dogs under certain conditions. It said animals had as much constitutional right to life as humans and had a “right to expect compassion from Indian citizens”.

The judges held that apart from putting to sleep stray dogs that are incurably ill, mortally wounded, rabid or perennially violent, the municipal commissioner could use his discretion to order the killing of dogs that are causing “public nuisance”.

The court interpreted “nuisance” in this instance as “anything that endangers life or is injurious to the health of the public at large”.

While it noted that mere barking could not be cause for killing a dog, “dogs that have the habit of chasing moving vehicles, especially two-wheelers, may be treated as a public nuisance as they could lead to accidents”.

Is canine culling legal?
ST Photo: Rakesh Sahai

The killing of dogs is not permitted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act except under certain conditions, and the court’s ruling drew opposition. The NGO, In Defence of Animals, has secured a six-week stay of the court’s order, to appeal to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, other activists have begun a campaign to save the strays.

Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, a self-avowed animal lover and prominent international animal rights campaigner, may join Bollywood stars at a planned rally to protest against the court’s order.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said the rally would also include Bollywood actors like John Abraham and Raveena Tandon.

Peta’s India head, Anuradha Sahwney, said killing the stray dogs was not a solution. “If you kill a dog, another one will come. You have to encourage people to adopt them and remove their food source from the roads and sterilise them,” she said.

“We plan to launch a fully focused attack to raise awareness among the people about the importance of cleaning the garbage (on which the stray dogs feed) and sterilisation of the dogs.”

The stray dog problem is not confined to Mumbai. Almost every city has a huge stray canine population, and there have been cases of such dogs attacking children, necessitating, in some cases, hospitalisation.

Residents of some parts of Mumbai, angry with the civic authorities’ failure to check the stray dogs menace, have also reportedly poisoned the animals.

In 1999, the Bombay High Court had stopped local civic bodies from killing stray dogs and ordered sterilisation drives to control their population after several NGOs petitioned it describing the killings as “barbaric and inhuman”. The latest order reverses that decision.

Opinion on dealing with the stray dogs remains divided.

“Every night, when I return from work, a pack of dogs come barking and chasing my rickshaw,” Mr Andre D’Souza, a resident of Mumbai’s Bandra area, told the DNA newspaper. He added: “I want a solution to this problem soon because I do deserve to move in my locality freely as and when I wish to.”

Faced with protests over the court order, the Mumbai municipal corporation has decided to set up a “euthanasia committee” to recommend a “humane way” to kill the stray dogs.

“We will inject them with phenol barbipone which will kill them in a more humane way,” a municipal health officer said.

Earlier, the civic body used to kill the animals by putting them in water and electrocuting them. According to some NGOs, some 400,000 stray dogs have been killed in Mumbai since 1994, but that has not brought down their number.

Sterilisation may be a more "humane" way to deal with the strays, but the question is how do you round up 70,000 of them?

Find us if you can.
Source: AP

Bangkok tragedy hits home

2009-01-05T01:03:00Z

Carolyn Quek describes the atmosphere as relatives identify victims.

In Bangkok

IT IS the same scene over the past four days I visited the mortuary at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok, where most bodies of the Santika night club tragedy are kept, and more and more are being identified and claimed.

Outside, photos of the unidentified dead are slowly taken off - one by one - as soon as it is established who's who.

Scores of relatives line up outside the mortuary office for updates or to settle administrative matters; others cry in anguish as their dead loved one is transferred into a coffin and last rites performed.

A majority of these relatives are Thai, but two sets of Singaporean friends have also been seen there in the past two days.

They have been hoping against hope that Mr Lu Weiye and Mr Leslie Yeo would be alive.

They had searched through forensic photographs in the hope that something familiar would show up.

Their search was finally put to an end on Sunday, though it was not the way they would have wanted it to be,

The two men were positively identified through DNA tests and will assist the families of these men when they reach Bangkok today.

The suddenness of the tragedy has left the families and loved ones of the victims in shock, denial and in need of answers.

A bereaved mother of a 28-year-old Thai victim in the Bangkok nightclub tragedy told me she sought the help of a famous fortune teller to find out what had happened and to ask those still missing to "get out of the club".

Her son was among a group of seven friends that had hit the Santika night club that night; Mr Lu was one of them.

The families and loved ones of these victims must get their answers - not through fortune tellers, but from those responsible for the club.

The tragedy is senseless and preventable, and should never happen again.

And as much as the friends and relatives of Mr Lu and Mr Yeo were hoping that they had gotten out of the club safely, it wasn't to be.

Now, another two bodies will be flown back to Singapore in coffins.

Converging agendas hold up traffic

2009-01-04T08:03:00Z

Lynn Lee on recent rallies in Jakarta that weren't just about Israel and Gaza.

In Jakarta

HUNDREDS of Indonesians - mostly university students and members of Islamic religious groups - have been staging protests against Israel's aggression towards Gaza for the past week.

On Friday, it was the turn of thousands from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), an up-and-coming Islamic political party that pundits will be watching closely in the April legislative election.

The party, which has cleverly branded itself as a moderate Islamic party championing anti-corruption and good governance, took slightly over 7 per cent or 8.3 million votes in the 2004 polls. Some analysts have predicted that they could double this result this time round.

While the plight of Palestinians was the focus on Friday, the gathering smacked of a show of strength by the party in their stronghold, which consists of Jakarta and its surrounding cities.

Aptly, the protest began brewing in an area considered to be the heart of downtown Jakarta, amidst hotels, upmarket malls and offices.

Traffic crawled to a snail's pace for close to 2 hours at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

According to the Jakarta Post online, the protest was organised by a PKS branch from Bekasi, a satellite city east of Jakarta. A spokesman named Chaider (he uses a one word name) had said on Thursday that the organisers were "urging everyone to join in a long march to pressure the US government to take firm action to halt the Israeli air raids against Hamas in the Gaza strip."

Usually bustling with honking cars and motorbikes at lunchtime, the streets around the traffic circle had been eerily quiet in the morning.

But by 1pm, they were clogged up by supporters - dressed in party T-shirts and holding the white, yellow and black party flag - and policemen sent there to maintain the peace. The police later estimated that "tens of thousands" of protesters showed up.

A few young men perched on the back of a blue pick-up truck, using a loudhailer to rally sympathy for the more than 400 people who have been killed in Gaza so far. As their voices bounced off the walls of the buildings, women in headscarfs clutched the hands of young children and shuffled along the hot tarmac enmasse.

Around them, the atmosphere seemed festive, as if families were enjoying a day out with their children before the start of the school term next week.

Some sat on groundsheets under blue skies, chatting and tucking into their lunches of nasi rames (rice with different dishes) and gado-gado. Street vendors were all around, hawking bottled water and Wall's ice-cream, prepaid mobile phone cards, and PKS paraphernalia like badges.

Yet others were taking the opportunity to promote the party's candidate for president, in the July presidential elections.
They wore black T-shirts that said "HNW for President", referring to former party chairman and current leader of Indonesia's constitutional assembly Hidayat Nur Wahid

But as the afternoon unfolded, weary faces - of Indonesians wanting to get on with their lives - began to appear in the crowd.

One mall closed off its exits and entrances temporarily, with shoppers either stuck in the malls or on the sidewalk. Taxi drivers circled the small streets in the area, unwilling to leave the area and get caught up in the gridlock. And hundreds of commuters in Trans-Jakarta buses - buses that ply the main arteries of the city and have their own bus lanes to beat the city's horrible traffic congestion - were left stuck onboard, watching as the bus lane filled up with around 10 buses.

Things cleared up after 3pm when the supporters finally left the area for the United States embassy, a 30-minute walk away. They ended up staging a demonstration outside.

For them, Friday afternoon turned out to be time well-spent for their multiple agendas to be played out.

A coordinator from the party, Tubagus Arif, said in a statement to media later that the aim of the protest was to show solidarity with the Palestinians facing "Israeli atrocities".

But for those in Jakarta unknowingly caught up in the crush of people and the traffic snarl, Friday afternoon turned out to be not so pleasant after all.

Freedom for one, despair for others

2009-01-01T07:15:00Z

Lynn Lee on why 2008 ended on a sour note for Indonesia's human rights defenders.

TO human rights defenders in Indonesia and beyond, 2008 ended on a sour note when a man alleged to have masterminded the murder of a prominent activist walked away free.

Four months after he was charged for the 2004 killing of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, Muchdi Purwoprandjono, a former deputy chief of Indonesia's National Intelligence Agency (BIN) was released of all charges by an Indonesian court.

The case was deemed a litmus test for Indonesia's commitment to human rights and the rule of law, some 10 years since its birth as a democracy.

Still, mutterings among diplomats and analysts in the weeks before was that Muchdi might go free, as the claims that established his involvment in the case had recently started to look shaky.

For instance, the prosecution had argued that Muchdi had a clear motive to kill Munir, then the head of Kontras (the commission of missing persons and victims of violence). Muchdi had been sacked after a brief stint in a top Army post, after an investigation led by Munir revealed his role in the disappearance of anti-government activists in 1997 and 1998, said the prosecution. But testimonies by two senior military officers went against this claim, while other witnesses for the prosecution had retracted statements given to police during initial investigations.

But hopes were still high among Munir's supporters on Wednesday morning, when around 500 of them gathered in the courthouse compound in South Jakarta over an hour before the session began.

Dressed in red T-shirts that said "Justice for Munir, Justice for All" in Indonesian, women in headscarfs and youth in tight jeans stood side-by-side in the muggy heat, as police officers, in their cursory checks of all those who entered the compound, amassed a collection of water bottles at the front gate.

As 9.30am and the start of the session approached, the police presence increased substantially. Some 400 were dispatched to the site, the Jakarta Post later said. And they were all around. Dressed in their signature mud-brown uniforms, some bore cannisters of tear gas while others inserted themselves in between groups of supporters, watchful of rising tensions.

One officer directed traffic with a loudhailer - a job that mostly consisted of him yelling at minibuses plying the 2-lane street to leave the entrance to the compound clear, instead of offloading passengers there. In a corner of the compound, rows of plastic shields - used by riot police to fend off aggressive crowds - stood ready to be used.

Supporters of Muchdi - a much smaller group - slouched around the entrance of the courthouse. Dressed in blue, they filed into the building early on and occupied a corner of it, waiting for the verdict. Not far from them, more red T-shirt-clad supporters stood silent, bearing placards that read "I love Munir".

It took an hour and a half before chief judge Soeharto came to the verdict. And when he announced that Muchdi was free to go, cheers rang out from one side of the court, while shouts exploded in the rest of the compound. At one point, Munir's supporters surged towards the entrance of the court, while a member of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (KASUM) group urged them to stand back. Then, they moved into the carpark of the compound, chanting "Pembunuh, Pembunuh" (killer) and "Pak Munir, siapa yang bunuh! Muchdi" (who killed Munir! Muchdi?).

Yet there was little more they could do, although some 200 of them later took to the Presidential Palace in central Jakarta in protest.

Munir's widow Suciwati summed it up best when she told reporters outside the court that she felt the prosecutors had not been forceful enough in pushing for justice for her husband.

And perhaps, some ordinary Indonesians feel the same way.

Leaving the courthouse close to noon,The Straits Times reporters bumped into the owner of restaurant specialising in duck dishes down the street.

"What's the verdict? How many years did Muchdi get?" he asked excitedly.

Muchdi is free, came the reply from one of us.

At that, the restaurateur shook his head, threw his hands up in mock despair, and muttered quietly, "How can this be?"

Rowdy streets vs hotel lobbies

2008-12-31T07:17:00Z

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja describes how Jakartans celebrate the new year.

STREET vendors selling trumpets - made out of used magazines and calendar papers - have flocked to the shoulders of Jakarta streets. They are reminders that New Year's eve is around the corner.

For most Jakartans, New Year's eve means driving around the capital city's streets blowing trumpets around midnight. Some would climb on top of public buses and dance away while the vehicle cruises at a snail's pace in the heavy traffic while police officers on duty look on. Others who are not so daring would hire pick-up trucks and throw themselves into the back for their very own mobile celebrations.

The irony is that newspapers on the first paper day the following year (Jan 2) would report how various traffic accidents have happened at the change of the year.

Strangely, this doesn't seem to scare away anyone as every year the streets are packed more and more with such fun seekers who seemed to put safety at the bottom of their priority list.

As for the middle, upper-class Jakartans, their scene is somewhat different. They don't like to stay on the streets. Instead, they shuffle off to five-star hotels to either hang out in the lobby with friends or indulge themselves in expensive gastronomic delights to the sweet serenade of some of the nation's top singers.

What is that again, Mr Hu?

2008-12-31T04:19:00Z

Peh Shing Huei on three words set to become China's 2009 catchphrase.

In Beijing

IT IS not easy being a government translator in China. At almost all official press conferences and events, a Chinese-English translator would be around, required instantly to bridge the gap between the Chinese officials and the foreign journalists.

Most of the time, they do a fairly decent job. But a recent phrase from Chinese president Hu Jintao had translators, foreign media and even academics, flummoxed.

During a commemorative event to celebrate 30 years of China's reform and opening up policy on Dec 18, Mr Hu took a rare break from official speak and used a colloquial phrase.

His words "bu zhe teng" - or do not "zhe teng" - drew audible gasps and laughter from audience in the Great Hall of the People. "Zhe teng" is a phrase popular among the people in northern China, but rarely, if ever, used by central government officials in a formal setting.

What does it mean in English? Here's the tricky part. It is one of those Chinese phrases that seem almost impossible to be neatly translated into English.

Some foreign English media translated it as "don't flip flop", "don't get sidetracked", "don't sway back and forth" and "no major changes".

Perhaps finding the task too cumbersome, the official Xinhua news agency left the phrase out of its English dispatches altogether.

The wordy "don't do something over and over again, and to little effect" seem to capture it best. Essentially, the phrase "zhe teng" has negative connotations and is usually used to refer to someone who keeps trying new things, but in a messy and disorientated way and with no useful final product to show.

So when Mr Hu said "bu zhe teng", he meant to say that China, and in particular the Chinese Communist Party, should be focused on its current system of governance - socialism with Chinese characteristics - and not waste time searching aimlessly for a new model.

During a press conference on Dec 30, when the phrase was brought up again, a State Council official translator simply gave up and said "bu zhe teng" in Chinese - but with a slight English twang.

I guess it's all just too much for the poor translators.

Do you have a better translation? Leave them in your comments here!

The future will take care of itself

2008-12-31T02:21:00Z

Goh Eng Yeow on the need to tackle flashpoints before they become crises.

THE Queen of England recently posed this question: Why did no one predict the credit crunch ?

The response from the professor, who was attending to her, was so straightforward that it was obvious that the world would not be in such a big financial mess if people with the authority had simply asked the right question.

"At every stage, someone was relying on somebody else and everyone thought they were doing the right thing," he said.

It is a dilemma faced not only by great and powerful nations like the United States and Britain but right here in Singapore as well.

Put simply, someone is assuming that someone else will be doing the right thing to ensure that we ride out the financial storm safely.

And many people here are assuming that the Government has all the solutions to the problems at hand.

Take the increasingly serious credit squeeze faced by small and medium sized firms for example.

When I was gathering views to write a column on the subject two weeks ago, I was appalled by the type of reactions I was getting from the professionals like auditors and lawyers who must be aware of the financial trauma which their clients were facing.

"The Government has a lot of feedback already, and they have so many scholars. They will know what to do," one accountant said when asked for his views.

Surely, even a doctor must know what is wrong with his patient before he can diagnose the ailment and prescribe the correct medicine.

But the $2.3 billion emergency life support extended by the Government does not seem to be getting through to the SME patients which needed it.

In the three weeks since it was launched on Dec 1, loans applications from 30 companies worth $5 million were approved.

In contrast, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used up all the US$350 billion given to him by the US Congress to recapitalise troubled financial institutions in less than two months

It is not that the SME patients had been exactly helpful in identifying the problem. It is extremely frustrating to talk to them. They don’t want to be identified and they don’t want to be quoted. They like to brag about their achievements but not their failings.

They would talk about the tight general credit situation, the reluctance of banks to lend, and the problems faced by their friends in getting loans. In other words, anything to avoid cast the spotlight on the sort of problems which they were facing.

In all, I wrote a commentary, a news analysis, a news story and a blog on the subject in the past two weeks.

Given the importance which small and medium sized firms play in our economy, employing the bulk of our workforce and forming a large fraction of the counters listed on the Singapore Exchange, this is too serious a problem to ignore.

It is good to learn that the Government will shoulder more of its share of insurance premiums for loans to try to get much-needed credit flowing to the business community.

But more problems are likely to flare up in the dark months ahead. Let’s not assume that someone else will be doing something right to make sure that everybody ride out of the crisis safely together.

For better or for worse, we are all in this financial quandary together, and we should take a more pro-active stance to tackle flashpoints before they snowball into a big crisis.

It will not be an easy year ahead but there is no need to be despondent. As the old saying goes: Look after the present and the future will take care of itself.

Happy New Year.

A dangerous bang

2008-12-30T13:04:00Z

Alastair McIndoe explains why he will be dodging fireworks in Manila on NYE.

In Manila

FILIPINOS love to see in the New Year with a bang.

Even as I write this in my house in Manila, and it's only Tuesday afternoon, I can hear the plop of fireworks exploding in the distance.

Come nightfall on Wednesday, there will be a rising crescendo of explosions in the run-up to midnight as fireworks are let off in the streets and in organised displays, covering the city in a thick blanket of smoke for several hours.

The dark side of all this pyrotechnic merriment are the several hundred injuries caused by fireworks across the country over the New Year season.

Between Dec 21 and 29, 119 people, many of them children, were treated for fireworks injuries, a slightly lower toll than the average for the same period over the previous four years, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

The numbers, of course, rises sharply as New Year nears, and 434 cases were reported at last New Year's Eve, half the total injuries between Dec 21 2007 and Jan 5 2008. Thirty-five per cent of the injured were under 10 years of age.
As in previous years, the government has been running blood-curdling information campaigns on the perils of mishandling fireworks in various media over the past several days.

The current Health Secretary Francisco Duque is known to favour a total ban on fireworks, though it is hard see that happening.

Because of the thick smog, environmental groups are urging revellers to make a noise barrage by banging pots and pans instead. But seeing in the New Year with fireworks, as well as noisemakers, remains an unshakable Filipino tradition.

The DOH's breakdown shows that three of the top five types of fireworks causing the current crop of injuries were illegal. These garishly packaged but potentially hazardous products are sold openly in markets and roadside stalls.

An illicit backyard fireworks industry thrives in and around a handful of small towns near Manila. A heavy duty clampdown is sorely needed, but has yet to happen.

I visited one makeshift operation near Bocaue, about an hour's drive from the capital two years ago. In the corner of a field, shaded by a tarpaulin, several boys in their late teens, covered in grey dust, were packing chemicals into cardboard tubes to make rockets.

Source: REUTERS

There is a sizable above-board fireworks industry, too. But, as an editorial in The Philippine Star noted a few days ago, sales have fallen sharply in the face of foreign competition. I guess that means from China.

"The imports offer brighter and more elaborate fireworks and are safer to handle," said the paper.

Two years ago, much to the alarm of the authorities, a craze started for a bazooka-like canon made of PVC pipe called a boga. Using denatured alcohol or methylated spirits rather than gunpowder, it made an ear-splitting bang. It was swiftly banned.

One of the most popular illegal fireworks - and a major cause of injuries - is the quaint-sounding piccolo, a type of firecracker. Pla-plas, triangular envelopes of thick cardboard packed with gunpowder, make predictably thunderous bangs. And the tyre-sized Sawa, an awesome device, packs up to 5,000 rounds of explosives in its coils.

In the fiesta-like atmosphere of New Year in the Philippines, stray bullets fired by revellers - some in uniform - are another cause of injuries.

Policemen in a number of precincts in the capital have the barrels of their guns taped and initialled by senior officers a few days before New Year to make sure they don't fire off a round or two. Those that do face dismissal.

Source: AP

So come Wednesday, new year revellers in the streets will have to be mindful to dodge exploding fireworks, and heaven forbid, stray bullets too.

Beware the eerie Delhi fog

2008-12-29T15:30:00Z

P. Jayaram warns travellers about the bad weather in India.

IF YOU are planning to visit India, particularly eastern and northern India, at this time of the year, you may be well advised to choose flights within the country that land and take off in the afternoons.

Otherwise, there is a good chance that your entire travel schedule and your booking may be upset.

During winter, northern and eastern India regularly get enveloped in a thick blanket of fog that reduces visibility to just a few metres.

That throws flight and train schedules out of gear and the usually crowded airports and railway stations become more so, with angry, muttering passengers cursing the weather, the airlines and themselves for choosing to travel on such a day.

A Delhi metro rail worker controls the traffic amidst morning fog, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Dec. 29, 2008. Normal life in capital New Delhi and parts of northern India was affected Monday with rail and air traffic being hit due to dense fog and cold wave conditions.
Source: AP photo

Take today, for instance. According to the Meteorological department, the visibility was just 50 metres.

I didn’t need the Met chaps to tell me what was in store. I knew it when I went out for my usual morning walk to the nearby park at 5.30. I could not see the street lights till I was almost near the lampposts. And though there were fewer walkers in the park, one had to take extra care not to collide with those coming from the opposite direction.

The Delhi fog is peculiar. It has an eerie quality. It virtually blinds you, particularly if you are driving. The headlights of your car reflect back at you from the white rolling wall threatening to devour you. Even fog lights are of no help.

You have to be extremely careful while driving. The fog not only makes it difficult to see the road but it totally disorientates you.

The police issues regular advisories asking drivers to switch on the hazard lights while driving in foggy conditions and to follow the vehicle immediately ahead. The problem is that it could well become a case of the blind following the blind.

People commute amidst the fog on a chilly morning in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh December 29, 2008.
Source: REUTERS photo

There are innumerable stories of drivers taking the wrong turn and ending up at some unintended place.

Some people, wisely, park the car on the road side and sleep in the car till the fog clears up, rather than take the risk of driving in such difficult conditions.

Invariably, after every foggy night and morning, newspapers are full of pictures of some major accident or another.

One New Year morning some years ago, when the fog was really bad, more than a dozen vehicles were involved in a multiple collision on a bridge in eastern Delhi.

And this is what the fog did to travellers today: airport and railway officials said several international and domestic flights were delayed for hours and two domestic flights cancelled. Several trains were running hours behind schedule.

But let all this not frighten you if you are intending to travel to India. Because winter is the best time to visit the country.

But just be prepared. Your flight may be delayed, or cancelled or you may be taken to a different destination where the plane can land.

After all, what is travel without some unplanned adventure!

A new league

2008-12-29T11:11:00Z

Marc Lim explains why Vietnam's win scores well for Asean football.

YOU can usually tell how important an event is just by watching the people who react to it.

The sight of a photographer jumping for joy, his both hands in the air, after Le Cong Vinh scored Vietnam's winner in Sunday's Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup final said it all.

For a brief moment, lost in the sea of euphoria that surrounded the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi, he joined the millions of Vietnamese across the country in celebrating Vietnam's first Asean crown.

Work? Who cares!

The chance to have the picture you took published across the front pages of major newspapers? Not interested!

Yet Vietnam's win didn't just make Vietnamese all over the world happy.

For the neutral, the 1-1 result (Vietnam won the title 2-1 on aggregate) was the best possible result.

Good, because Vietnam were deserving champions, having played the the most compelling football of all the teams in the tournament.

They kept the ball on the ground, passed it around in a neat fashion even when supposedly more gifted teams such as Singapore and Thailand tend to opt for the long ball once too often.

Also because it a hectic tournament, which saw teams having to play three group matches in five days, Vietnam showed that it was possible to actually up their performance each match.

They were humbled 0-2 by Thailand in the group stages, yet turned the tables in the final.

Vietnam came away with victories at the National Stadium in Singapore (a 1-0 win in the second-leg semi-final) and the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok (a 2-1 win in the first-leg final), two venues which have traditionally favoured the host.

Vietnam's win will also do the nation's football plenty of good. Rocked by match-fixing scandals - both at the international and domestic levels - being champions of Asean will hopefully help shed a more positive light on the Vietnamese football. A new generation of young Vietnamese kids will now have sporting heroes like match-winner Cong Vinh to idolise, so important in developing nations such as Vietnam.

Yet more importantly, Vietnam's win can also do wonders for Asean football. With Thailand and Singapore the only winners in the six-edition old AFF Cup, Vietnam's win has added an added touch of rivalry to the mix.

Yes, the clashes between Singapore and Vietnam fans were uncalled for and should be condemned, but the next edition in 2009 will now be richer for the threat that Vietnam now poses as defending champions.

Your football is only as good as your competition, as the saying goes. Vietnam's win, the manner in which they showed the bigger boys of Asean football that attack is the best form of defence, will force teams to come back even stronger in 2009, and in turn raising the standard of the tournament.

Asean football can only be richer for that.

Not too jolly

2008-12-28T09:27:00Z

Bhagyashree Garekar explains why good cheer is lacking in the US this season.

In Washington

WHERE'S good cheer to be found this season? There's no respite in bad tidings - the economy is expected to get worse before it gets better, unemployment will scale new highs, stocks are at unimaginable lows and property market continues to stagnate. Even the weather's been lousy, with a cold snap causing misery in large parts of the country.

Retail therapy, anyone? Not really. This Christmas period has seen the lowest sales in 40 years, say retailers who unfortunately depend on holiday shopping for as much as a third of their annual sales. Consumers are keeping away despite discounts as deep as 80 per cent. Amazon and WalMart look like the only ones who have been hearing cash registers ring.

Grimacing at their prospects, the retailers are trying to move Congress to approve three 10-day periods of tax-free shopping in the new year in an effort to encourage consumer spending. Whether these will entice the deeply-indebed consumers on enforced belt-tighening regimen remains to be seen. But analysts note that personal bankruptcy filings are up too, rising to 131,672 in November, up 37 per cent from a year earlier.

In this gloomy scenario, there has been one bright spot for the consumer - relief from the high petrol prices experienced this year. Right now, a gallon of gas (the unit used in the US) is below US$2 - this is the lowest price in 5 years and a drop of over 60 per cent form the high of over US$4 in July.

One analyst estimated that the price decline was equivalent to a tax cut of up to US$300 billion.

The consumers are not inert to this 'stimulus', the vow to drive less and take the train more has fast come undone. Hybrid vehicles are beginning to seem like a summer fad. Fuel-guzzling trucks and SUVs, which are available for heavy discounts, will outsell cars in December - that hasn't happened since February. The sales of hybrid vehicles - for cars like Toyota Prius and Honda Civic had weeks of waiting period and a premium just a few months ago - are headed south.

Not too surprisingly, conservationists are frowning. Good cheer is in limited supply this season.

Like a scene from a gangster movie

2008-12-26T03:49:00Z

Lee Tee Jong on the Korean Parliament, gangster style.

In Seoul

CURRENTLY the Korean parliament looks like a scene from a gangster movie.

While the trade committee tries to submit the Bill to ratify the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, opposition lawmakers used a sledge-hammer and electric saw to break down the door to thwart the plan which was in session.

All hell broke loose.

Security personnel sprayed the protestors with fire extinguishing foam to try to disperse them. Blood was streaking down the supposed representatives of the people involved in a melee fit for a Mike Tyson brawl.

Tables were smashed with hammers. Cups were shattered on the ground. Vicious blows were thrown at the faces.

Under pressure from President Lee Myung Bak, the ruling Grand National Party wants to ratify the FTA to put pressure on the US Congress to do likewise.

All the opposition parties opposed the move for various reasons. One reason is that the incoming US President Barack Obama wants re-negotiation to allow more exports of US cars - the industry is currently in dire straits - to South Korea. Ratifying the treaty will lead to bilateral disputes.

Another source of opposition comes from the lawmakers representing the protectionist agricultural lobby which wants to protect their turf from cheaper imports.

The ruling party is asking for dialogue but the opposition are in no mood for any compromise. Looks like more blood-letting is on the cards.

A winter's tale

2008-12-22T10:33:00Z

Peh Shing Huei experiences the cold, hard truth of winter in Beijing.

IN THE past three months since arriving in Beijing, friends - both foreigners and locals - have assured me that the winter here is quite bearable.

"It's getting warmer and warmer in Beijing in the last few years," said a few.

"It rarely snows in Beijing these days, but when it does, it is really lovely. You would love it," said others.

They lied. Beijing's winter can be unbearable and not very lovely.

On Sunday, the Chinese capital experienced its coldest December day since 1951. It froze at -12 degrees celsius. At its warmest, it was only -8.8 C.

For a guy from the tropics, it was like hell freezes over.

Strong winds from Siberia and Mongolia lashed the city, keeping Beijingers indoors and forcing some small shops to close.

It even tore off parts of the roof of Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications' sports stadium.

At a job fair in eastern Beijing, there were hardly any job seekers on Sunday despite the ongoing global financial crisis.

Not surprising since the lashing winds turned even a short stroll into a painful trek, with people spotted walking backwards so as to avoid having their faces pummelled.

Let's hope there are no more record-breaking climate feats in the next two months.

Although I must admit it would be nice to see a white Christmas here in Beijing.

Mall crazy Philippines

2008-12-21T22:00:00Z

Alastair McIndoe on why malls can help the economy from being mauled.

In Manila

THREE of the world's 10 largest shopping malls are now in the Philippines.

The great malls of China - South China Mall in Dongguan and the Golden Resources Shopping Mall in Beijing are the two biggest.

But coming in a respectable third place, thanks to a 90,000 square metre extension that opened this month, is the SM City North Edsa in the Philippine capital.

A visit to a mall - and I'll say right off that I would not recommend SM City North Edsa - is a must on a trip to Manila, along with the old Spanish walled city of Intramuros and a baywalk stroll at sunset.

The country's jumbo-size mall chains - SM and Robinsons - were founded by Filipino-Chinese taipans: SM by Henry Sy; Robinson's by John Gokongwei. Both are living legends here, who helped shaped this country's vibrant retailing landscape.

The big malls typically have vast food courts; exhibition centres; multiplex cinemas, some with as many as 12 screens; amusement arcades; skating rinks or bowling alleys; health and wellness centres; and, of course, floors of shops from local retailers to famous international names like Marks & Spencer and Ralph Lauren.

On Sundays, Catholic masses in this predominantly Christian country are held in the walkways, where shoppers squeeze past worshippers.

Inside the box, there is not a lot of difference between the two chains: The SMs malls have a shaper look; Robinsons a cosier atmosphere.

Manila's first malls were built back in the 1970s. Rising disposable incomes among the middle-classes spurred a mall boom in Manila (population:12 million) over the past two decades. That malls are now springing up at a rapid rate in the larger provincial towns is an encouraging sign of how the economy is faring, despite the current gloom.

It is unlikely that malls would play such an important part in the lives of ordinary Filipinos - both for shopping and killing time - had it not been for the billions of dollars sent home by the several million Filipinos living and working overseas.

This year, their remittances, despite the global financial meltdown since the fourth quarter, is expected to exceed a record US$15 billion. That's about a tenth of the country's entire gross domestic product to put in perspective.

The hard-earned dollars of Filipinos working as house helpers in Singapore, English-language teachers in Thailand and nurses and searfares in scores of countries are not, of course, being merrily blown in the malls by their loved ones.

The bulk of the money goes on household expenses and the education. All the same, a tidy sum, nobody knows for sure how much, is keeping the tills ringing in the malls and providing a powerful incentive to build new ones.

To be sure, consumer spending has largely underpinned a long run of growth in the economy, which expanded an eye-catching 7.2 per cent in 2007, its best performance in three decades. Growth is expected to fall sharply this year and next because of the global financial crisis. Still, economists, as things stand, aren't predicting a recession.

Despite the hard times, SM City North Edsa's six-storey The Annex got off to a respectable start a few weeks ago, with tenants singing up for 70 per cent of the leasable space. The extension is expected to provide employment to nearly 3,000 workers.

The steel-and-glass dome-fronted complex faces a busy intersection on the Edsa highway in Quezon City, the biggest of 16 cities that make up Metropolitan Manila.

For visitors, its location and the motor madness of Edsa keeps it off my mall picks, which I list below, along with the world's 10 largest malls.

Not all of Manila's malls are large, shiny complexes like the SMs. Many of the older ones have seen better days and know it; their air conditioners and escalators are often turned off to save money. The tattiest ones often sell bootleg items.

I'd be suprised if another mega-sized mall was built in Manila the medium-term. But the city is likely to see more smaller, boutique malls aimed at well-heeled shoppers, like the Power Plant Mall in the Rockwell Center in the financial district of Makati and The Podium next to the ADB in Ortigas.

Here are the world's 10 biggest malls by interior floor space for leasing:

- South China Mall , Dongguan, China - 660,000 sq-m
- Golden Resources Shopping Mall, Beijing, China - 560,000 sq-m
- SM City Edsa North, Manila, Philippines - 425,000 sq-m
- Mall of Asia, Manila, Philippines - 386,000 sq-m
- Dubai Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 350,000 sq-m
- West Edmonton Mall, Alberta, Canada - 350,000 sq-m
- Cevahir Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey - 348,000 sq-m
- SM Megamall, Manila, Philippines - 332,000 sq-m
- Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 320,000 sq-m
- Beijing Mall, Beijing, China - 320,000 sq-m

Source: American Studies at Eastern Connecticut State University
Shopping Mall and Shopping Center Studies (http://www.easternct.edu/depts/amerst/MallsWorld.htm) and SM Prime Holdings.

And my top malls in Manila in order of preference:

- SM Megamall in Ortigas: Opened in 1991 and still Manila's best-loved mall. Its 12 cinemas have large screens, there's a good range of restaurants, and its easy to navigate. The galleries of Filipino art on the fourth floor are highly recommended.
- Robinsons Place Manila on Padre Faura, Ermita has a shiny new extension, and it's good starting-point for a walk around one of Manila's most atmospheric quarters.
- The Mall of Asia, Pasay City: Manila's newsest king-sized mall overlooking Manila Bay opened in 2006. It has IMAX cinemas and Olympic-size skating rink. Easy to get lost in.
- Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center: small but very upmarket mall, focused on fashion, in pleasant surroundings.