Tuesday, January 27, 2009

politcal spotlight

Title: Probe questions fate of refugees in Thailand

Short Summary:

As hungry Rohingya refugees (members of a Muslim minority group) arrived at the shores of Thailand, they had thought they were finally free of the hard-line military regime of Myanmar (aka Burma). However, CNN investigation has found that at the hands of Thai authorities, the refugees have been towed out to sea, cut loose and abandoned and set adrift. The Rohingya, a persecuted minority in Myanmar, have been fleeing their country in boats for years, in search of a better life. One of the sources from the Thai military claimed local villagers had become afraid of the hundreds of Rohingya arriving each month, and that they were accusing the refugees of stealing their property and threatening them. CNN asked the government for comment and was told that an investigation was being launched and that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has plans to call an emergency meeting once the country's foreign minister returns from Cambodia.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/25/thailand.refugees/index.html


More tidbits /info about Rohingya people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4793924.stm )

Burma’s forgotten Rohingya people of wastern Burma’s Arakan State have been called one of the world’s most persecuted people. Some argue they are also one of the most forgotten.

  • · They are forbidden from marrying or travelling without permission and have no legal right to own land or property
  • · Not only that but even though groups of them have been living in Burma for hundreds of years, they are also denied citizenship by the country's military government.
  • · In addition to their almost total lack of legal rights many have been regularly beaten by police, forced to do slave labor and jailed for little or no reason.

More readings to further knowledge:

Life under Burma’s military: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5071966.stm



Wednesday, January 14, 2009

New Species in Southeast Asia

WASHINGTON, DC, December 15, 2008 -- A rat thought extinct for 11 million years and a hot-pink, cyanide-producing dragon millipede are among a thousand new species discovered in the Greater Mekong Region of Southeast Asia in the last decade, according to a new report launched by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

First Contact in the Greater Mekong reports that 1068 species were discovered or newly identified by science between 1997 and 2007 – which averages two new species a week. This includes the world’s largest huntsman spider, with a foot-long leg span and the Annamite Striped Rabbit, one of several new mammal species found here. New mammal discoveries are a rarity in modern science.

While most species were discovered in the largely unexplored jungles and wetlands, some were first found in the most surprising places. The Laotian rock rat, for example, thought to be extinct 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market, while the Siamese Peninsula pit viper was found slithering through the rafters of a restaurant in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

For the rest of the article, http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2008/WWFPresitem11027.html

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Financial Criss Greatly Impacts SEA Countries

Down and still coupled
By Shawn W Crispin

BANGKOK - With falling exports, declining confidence and tight liquidity squeezed by fleeing foreign capital, Southeast Asia has wholly failed to decouple from the mounting downturns in the United States and Europe. Looking ahead to 2009, the question is not if, but rather how far, the trade-geared economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members will fall in line with the global economy.

As global trade collapses, some of ASEAN's 10 members will be hit harder than others, economists predict. The region's most open economies, namely Singapore and Malaysia, where merchandise exports respectively represent around 200% and 100% of gross domestic product (GDP), will be particularly hard hit. Others including Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, where exports represent a smaller, but still substantial, percentage of GDP will also see declining growth.

Hopes that China - with which ASEAN has a trade surplus driven by exports of raw materials and component electronics and computer parts for re-export to third countries - might buoy the region's economies have faltered with recent softening in China's export figures. Meanwhile, economists say that the stimulus package announced last month by China has been tailored mainly to tide over the domestic economy and Beijing has indicated no plans or extraordinary measures to lift the region's sinking economies.

Link to rest of article: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JL25Ae01.html