Saturday, November 28, 2009

SEA Games Starts on the 9th


History of SEA Games

The Southeast Asian Games owes its origins to the Southeast Asian
Peninsular Games or SEAP Games. On May 22, 1958, delegates from the
countries in Southeast Asian peninsula attending the 3rd Asian Games in Tokyo,
Japan had a meeting and agreed to establish a sport organization. The SEAP Games
was conceptualized by Laung Sukhumnaipradit, then Vice-President of the Thailand
Olympic Committee. The proposed rationale was that a regional sports event will
help promote cooperation, understanding and relations among countries in the
Southeast Asian region.

Thailand, Burma (now Myanmar), Malaya (now Malaysia), Laos, South
Vietnam and Cambodia (with Singapore included thereafter) were the founding
members. These countries agreed to hold the Games biannually. The SEAP Games
Federation Committee was formed.

The first SEAP Games were held in Bangkok from 12-17 December, 1959
comprising more than 527 athletes and officials from Thailand, Burma, Malaysia,
Singapore, South Vietnam and Laos participating in 12 sports.

At the 8th SEAP Games in 1975, the SEAP Federation considered the
inclusion of Indonesia and the Philippines. The two countries were formally
admitted in 1977, the same year when SEAP Federation changed their name to
Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF), and the games were known as the
Southeast Asian Games. Brunei was admitted at the 10th SEA Games in Jakarta,
Indonesia, and East Timor at the 22nd SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The 23rd SEA Games held in the Philippines, which started from 27
November and ended on 5 December 2005, hosting the biennial event for the third
time

East Timor aid "where did billions go?"

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
September 27, 2009 12:00 AM
Dartmouth judge evaluating justice system

Massachusetts Appeals Court Chief Justice Phillip Rapoza of Dartmouth was appointed by the United Nations to lead an international team of experts to evaluate East Timor's justice system over the summer.

Rapoza was in the country last week because the team was presenting its report to U.N., international and national officials, said Joan Kenney, spokeswoman for the state courts.

From 2003 to 2005, Rapoza, then an associate justice of the Appeals Court, took an unpaid leave of absence to work for the U.N. as chief international judge of the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor, according to his biography on the state's Web site.
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DILI, East Timor — A decade after tiny East Timor broke from Indonesia and prompted one of the most expensive U.N.-led nation-building projects in history, there is little to show for the billions spent.

The world has given more than $8.8 billion in assistance to East Timor since the vote for independence in 1999, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press from the U.N. and 46 donor countries and agencies. That works out to $8,000 for each of East Timor's 1.1 million people, one of the highest per person rates of international aid.

But little of the money, perhaps no more than a dollar of every 10, appears to have made it into East Timor's economy. Instead, it goes toward foreign security forces, consultants and administration, among other things.

In the meantime, data from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Food Program, U.N. Development Program and others show the money has done little to help the poor. In fact, poverty has increased. Roads are in disrepair, there is little access to clean water or health services, and the capital is littered with abandoned, burned-out buildings where the homeless squat.

"The international intervention has preserved the peace, which was always its primary objective," said James Dobbins, director of the RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center. "Its success in promoting political reform and economic development has been more limited."

East Timor was once seen as the poster child for U.N. nation-building.

After a bloody 24-year occupation by Indonesia that left 174,000 dead, the people of this predominantly Catholic former Portuguese colony voted overwhelmingly in a U.N.-managed referendum on Aug. 30, 1999, to separate. The vote triggered a rampage by Indonesian soldiers and proxy militias who killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed much of the infrastructure.

A provisional U.N. administration restored basic services, repaired buildings and resettled hundreds of thousands of people who had lost their homes. With greater powers than any previous mission, the U.N. was supposed to help create the pillars of a new country, virtually from scratch.

The vastness and complexity of the job became apparent in early 2006, just as the U.N. was pulling out its last staff members. Fighting broke out between rival police and army factions, killing dozens and toppling the government. Then, last February, President Jose Ramos-Horta was nearly killed by rebel gunmen in an ambush.

Timor still faces grave challenges:

* Between 2001 and 2007, the number of Timorese living in poverty jumped nearly 14 percent to about 522,000, or roughly half the population, according to the World Bank.
* Children make up half of the poor, and 60 percent of those under 5 suffer malnutrition, the World Bank and World Food Program found.
* The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation concluded in a 2007 report that very little aid was channeled into "productive activities, including private sector development."
* The unemployment rate for 15- to 29-year-olds in the capital, who make up the vast majority of the national work force, was more than 40 percent in 2007, according to the IMF and the state.

Atul Khare, who has headed the U.N. operation in East Timor since mid-2006, dismissed the World Bank and IMF figures as "absolutely incorrect" and not representative. He said the country has made "considerable progress" since 1999, and the U.N. East Timor mission has been effective and successful.

"All these figures are a cause of concern, but they are extrapolations, they are not the real figures, and I would not rely on those figures for making assessments," he said. "In the last 10 years, with their own efforts ... assisted by the international community, this country has largely, yes, been a success."

"Were you here in 1999? If you were not here, you cannot gauge."

Khare cited increased fertility rates, among the highest in the world, new buildings and fewer potholes in Dili as positive signs. He said accurate numbers will emerge after 2010, when the next national census is held.

But groups that study East Timor have concluded that a mere fraction of aid money is trickling into the economy — just 10 percent of about $5.2 billion, estimates La'o Hamutuk, a respected Dili-based research institute. Its figure excludes more than $3 billion in military spending by Australia and New Zealand.

The rest went to international salaries, overseas procurement, imported supplies, foreign consultants and overseas administration, the institute said. About 20 percent of pledged aid was never delivered, it said.

Another group, the Peace Dividend Trust, concluded that as little as 5 percent of the U.N. mission budget trickled into East Timor's economy between 2004 and 2007.

The U.N. spent $2.2 billion on missions in East Timor between 1999 and 2009. Roughly $3 billion in donor aid — the bulk of it from Australia, Japan, the European Union, the U.S. and Portugal — was channeled through 500 nonprofit groups and institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The World Bank has expressed concern that too much is being spent on consultants, but could not provide a comprehensive figure. High-level Timorese government officials told the AP that millions of dollars have been wasted on projects that overlapped or were not completed, donor rivalry, mismanagement and corruption. They asked not to be named for fear of a backlash from donors.

President Ramos-Horta, a Nobel peace laureate, said the world needs to rethink its aid model.

"Where has this money been invested? That is the question the donor community needs to ask itself," he said. "If that money were to have been spent mostly in Timor, it would have transformed this country, economically and socially."

Much of the money has gone toward security, for which the impact is difficult to measure. An AP tally shows that $3.6 billion was spent in the past 10 years on troops from Australia and New Zealand, who make up the bulk of a foreign intervention force.

Timor's leaders and most experts agree that without outside help East Timor would have been at risk of becoming a failed state. Thousands of foreign soldiers, U.N. police officers and staff remain across the country, but will start departing early next year.

Today, East Timor's streets are calm. The economy is starting to grow under a new government that took over in 2007 after peaceful elections and is tapping into a $5 billion petroleum fund from oil and gas fields. The fund will be exhausted by 2023, and analysts say if the non-oil economy is not stable by then, people will starve.

Under the current government, compensation has also been paid to a third of the armed forces who deserted in 2006. Pension payments have also started for the generation of guerrilla fighters who battled Indonesian troops in the mountains for more than two decades.

In the meantime, the people are still waiting for help.

Domingos Pereira, a 40-year-old street vendor, lost his father, siblings and other family members in the fight for independence, and his house was destroyed in riots in 2006. He now supports his wife and six children by selling sodas, cigarettes and candy.

"My expectation was that when East Timor became an independent country, small people like me would see an improvement in our lives," he said. "But after 10 years of our independence, I don't have it yet."

Duarte Beremau sleeps in a two-room, dirt-floor shack with eight family members, including four unemployed adult children. The shelter is cobbled together from rusting sheet metal and has no water, electricity or sanitation.

Beremau, who is illiterate and doesn't know his age, earns $10 a week from a coffee factory, part of which he bets on a Sunday afternoon cockfight in the dusty back streets of the capital, Dili.

"Nothing has changed my suffering," he said. "My life is still like it was."
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090927/NEWS/909270316/-1/rss01

Jakarta-KL controversy


By Lynn Lee, Indonesia Correspondent
JAKARTA - A BROUHAHA in Indonesia over Malaysia's usage of the Balinese pendet dance in a tourism commercial has now shifted to another controversy involving the Malaysian national anthem.

Indonesians see Malaysia as appropriating their cultural assets, while Malaysians say these have been part of their culture for as long as anyone can remember.
... more
Indonesians were up in arms after seeing the commercial on Malaysia that featured the pendet dance.

Kuala Lumpur had apologised for the use of the Balinese dance but said the mistake was made by a third party who was paid by Malaysia's Tourism Ministry to produce the commercial.

The Malaysian embassy in Jakarta said in a statement earlier this week: 'Nobody in Malaysia claimed that the pendet dance originated in Malaysia.'

But that is not the end of the story.

A report in yesterday's Jakarta Globe newspaper quoted an executive from a state-owned recording company as asking why Malaysia's national anthem 'Negaraku' (My Country) sounded like the Indonesian song 'Terang Bulan' (Moon Shine).

Mr Ruktiningsih, the head of recording company Lokananta, urged the Indonesian government to act on the 'violation of intellectual property rights'.

'We have to unite against Malaysia, as they keep stealing Indonesia's assets,' he added.

An Internet search found that both songs do indeed share the same roots. Malaysia acknowledges as much on a government website detailing its monarchy system.

The song Terang Bulan comes from a popular French melody in the Seychelles, that spread to the Malay archipelago in the early 20th century.

It was adopted as Perak's state anthem in 1901. And in 1957, it became the national anthem for Malaysia with the lyrics changed.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_423219.html

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Philippines Politician 'to b e charged' over Massacre



Philippine politician 'to be charged' over massacre


A member of a powerful clan suspected of involvement in the killing in the Philippines of 57 people faces multiple murder charges, prosecutors say.

Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor, surrendered to the authorities but denied organising the killings.

Troops and police swooped on towns run by the Ampatuan clan, arresting 20 men suspected of links with the killings.

The massacre happened on Monday, when a convoy of vehicles used by a rival politician was ambushed.

The passengers were taken to a remote hill region, shot at close range and their bodies dumped in shallow graves.

Militia disarmed

Mr Ampatuan Jr - mayor of Datu Unsay town - was taken by helicopter from his hometown in the restive Maguindanao province on Thursday morning to the nearby airport at General Santos City. From there he was flown to the capital Manila for questioning.

"It's not true," Mr Ampatuan Jr said when asked by reporters at General Santos City airport whether he had been involved in the massacre.

Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno said he would file murder charges against Mr Ampatuan Jr on Friday, Associated Press news agency reported.

The military said the Ampatuan family had voluntarily handed over Mr Ampatuan Jr to officials, including Jesus Dureza, an adviser to the president.
Map

About 20 other suspects, including senior members of the Maguindanao's provincial police force and officers of Ampatuan township's force, are in custody and being investigated.

Police also rounded up and disarmed a 350-member militia force under the control of the Ampatuan clan, on Thursday.

Other members of the militia allegedly involved in the killings had fled and are being hunted in the hills of Maguindanao province.

The Philippines authorities have been coming under increasing pressure to bring the perpetrators of Monday's attack to justice, according to the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey.

The Ampatuan clan have been loyal supporters of the president - but since the killings, Mr Ampatuan Jr, his father and his brother Zalday have been expelled from her party.

President Arroyo, who earlier declared a national day of mourning, has promised that the gunmen would not escape justice.

Clan tensions

Philippine politician Ismael Mangudadatu has claimed it was gunmen loyal to the Ampatuans who ambushed his supporters as they were travelling to register his name for the polls.

Among the dead were Mr Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters and several key supporters, as well as at least 18 journalists who were travelling with them to witness his registration as an election candidate.

Bodies buried after Philippines massacre

Between 10 and 15 motorists who witnessed the ambush were also among the victims, news agencies said.

The Ampatuans have effectively been in charge of Maguindanao for decades, analysts say.

Andal Ampatuan Sr has served in the Philippines Congress and won the governorship of Maguindanao unopposed for several terms.

His son was reportedly planning a similarly unopposed run to replace his father when Mr Mangudadatu decided to contest the office.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8379990.stm

Malaysian Prince Wins Defamation Suit Against Wife



Malaysia prince wins defamation suit against wife
AP
By SEAN YOONG,Associated Press Writer - Thursday, November 5

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Malaysian prince won a defamation suit Thursday against his teenage wife who accused him of sexual and physical abuse after she fled back home to Indonesia.

The High Court ruled in favor of Tengku Fakhry Ismail Petra, a prince in Malaysia's northern Kelantan state, because his wife had no lawyers to represent her, said the prince's lawyer, Mohamad Haaziq Pillay.

The prince had sought 105 million ringgit ($30 million) from Manohara Odelia Pinot and her mother for making false allegations against him, but the court would decide later how much they should pay him, Mohamad Haaziq said. The prince's lawyer said they would look into what legal measures can be taken later to obtain payment from Pinot. However, he stressed that Tengku Fakhry was more concerned about simply clearing his name.

"My client feels vindicated," Mohamad Haaziq told The Associated Press. "They made him look like a monster, they tarnished his reputation internationally, but it has all been lies. This was their opportunity to come back to prove their case against him, but they failed to do so."

Pinot's lawyer in Jakarta could not immediately be reached for comment.

Malaysian lawyers hired by Pinot in the defamation case quit in September, saying she had not cooperated with them, gave them no clear instructions and refused to return to Malaysia for discussions. The High Court then said it would automatically rule in favor of the prince if Pinot failed to appoint new lawyers.

Pinot, a well-known socialite in neighboring Indonesia, married the prince last year after she turned 16. She left him in what she claimed was a dramatic escape from a hotel in May while accompanying the royal family on a trip to Singapore.

She and her mother subsequently told the media that Fakhry, 31, had held her captive and treated her as a sex slave. She also made graphic allegations of physical torture during their marriage.

Tengku Fakhry filed a demand in the Islamic Shariah Court in July calling on Pinot to return to him and fulfill her responsibilities as his wife. The court is expected to hear the case within weeks, and Tengku Fakhry's lawyer indicated he would launch divorce proceedings if Pinot refuses his demand.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20091105/tap-as-malaysia-runaway-royal-b3c65ae.html

Flash Flood in Malasia

2 dead, 5,000 evacuated in Malaysia flash floods
AP
AP - Monday, November 9


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Heavy rains triggered flash floods that killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes in northern Malaysia, officials said Monday.

The downpours mark the start of an annual monsoon season between November and February that often leads to widespread flooding in low-lying towns and villages in peninsular Malaysia's northern states.

A 9-year-old girl drowned Sunday after she fell into a rain-swollen river while playing with her friends, said Mohammad Abdul Aziz, a flood relief effort coordinator.

Separately, authorities recovered the body of a man who was swept away while swimming in a river, said Ismail Saat, a police officer in northern Kelantan state.

Officials in three separate states said about 5,000 people have taken shelter at schools and community centers since the downpours began late last week.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20091109/tap-as-malaysia-floods-b3c65ae.html

Landslide Killed 13 in Vietnam




Storm-triggered landslide kills 13 in Vietnam
AFP
AFP - Saturday, November 7

Storm-triggered landslide kills 13 in Vietnam

HANOI (AFP) - – At least 13 people have been killed in a landslide in central Vietnam following storms and flooding that have now left almost 130 people dead, according to officials.

The 13 were killed and another person was seriously injured in the early hours of Friday in the coastal province of Quang Nam, local emergency official Vo Xuan Quang told AFP.

The landslide, triggered by rains that have lashed the country since Tropical Storm Mirinae hit on Monday, dumped thousands of tonnes of earth and mud on a group of gold miners, who were sleeping at the time, Quang said.

The storm and flooding that followed have left another 116 people dead, most of them in the country's easternmost province of Phu Yen.

Mirinae also killed two people in Vietnam's neighbour Cambodia and left 27 people dead in the Philippines, where thousands are still living in evacuation centres after a series of deadly storms this typhoon season.

Obama Urges to Free Suu Kyi


US President Barack Obama has urged Burma's prime minister to release the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Obama delivered the message as he met leaders of the Asean grouping of south-east Asian nations in Singapore.

White House press secretary said Mr Obama raised the issue "directly" with General Thein Sein.

Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest was extended in August beyond the elections planned for next year. She has spent 14 years in detention in the past two decades.

Lawyers for Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, have lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against her extended house arrest.

The Apec summit brings together leaders of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), which includes Burma.

Cautious engagement

Before the closed talks in a hotel room, Mr Obama and the Asean leaders stood in a line on a stage, crossing their arms to shake hands with the leader on either side.

Gen Thein Sein was not close to Mr Obama - a direct meeting would have marked the first time in 43 years a US president had met a Burmese leader.

But the fact that a US president has sat down at the same table with a member of the Burmese military government is a clear sign that America is serious about wanting to re-engage with the region, says the BBC's Rachel Harvey in Singapore.

US presidents have previously refused to hold meetings with Asean when Burmese leaders were present.

Mr Obama linking hands with Asean leaders
The US has previously boycotted Asean meetings because of Burma

"The president was just - as you know - in the scheduled meeting with the 10 Asean nations, and brought up in the meeting the... release of Aung San Suu Kyi by Burma. So, he brought that up directly with that government," Mr Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs said.

A joint statement released after the US-Asean talks, welcomed Mr Obama's policy of engagement with Burma and "underscored the importance of national reconciliation" there, but did not mention Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The general elections to be held in Myanmar in 2010 must be conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community," the statement said.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won Burma's last elections in 1990 but the military never allowed her to take power.

Observers believe Burma's authorities want to keep the pro-democracy leader in detention until after polls scheduled for next year.

The Obama administration has said it favours cautious diplomatic engagement, with sanctions against the regime remaining in place until real progress on democratic change is made.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8361081.stm

Yellow-shirt Rally: Five Injured in Blast at Rally

By The Nation
Published on November 16, 2009


A man was arrested after at least five people were injured when a bomb exploded at a rally held by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) at Sanam Luang yesterday evening.

The rally went on after the explosion. A man captured by PAD guards for allegedly throwing the bomb near the back of the stage, was taken under police custody. One of the injured was a woman and another was a boy who was badly wounded in the leg, witnesses said.

Thousands of people joined the rally, the first since the PAD set up its New Politics party. The explosion occurred when PAD and New Politics leader Sondhi Limthongkul was addressing his supporters and lambasting arch-rival Thaksin Shinawatra over the Thai-Cambodia row.

A plan was also mooted yesterday to give a Bt10-million award for Thaksin's arrest, with funds to be mobilised primarily from PAD supporters.

Thaksin's "betrayal" - his activities leading to the worsening Thai-Cambodian row - was the focus of the rally, which was peaceful until the explosion. The PAD reiterated its ultimate objective of protecting the monarchy and in a statement called on Cambodia to end the Thaksin-driven hostility and join efforts to restore

friendly relations between the two countries. The bomb attack took place despite hundreds of policemen being deployed and bomb experts searching for explosives around the rally site.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday said the Thai-Cambodian situation was not a cause for concern regarding safety of Thai expatriates there. He also vowed that the Thai citizen charged with spying and held in a Phnom Penh prison would receive due justice as guaranteed by international law.

"If necessary, the government stands ready to provide confirmation that the flight plan is not classified information and that the flight in question was known before the arrest of the Thai air-traffic controller," he said.

The Foreign Ministry and the Thai company operating air-traffic control services at Phnom Penh International Airport will provide legal assistance to Siwarak Chothipong, accused of leaking the flight plan of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

"Even though the government is in no position to meddle with the Cambodian judicial process, the charge will likely be dropped in light of the evidence," he said.

Talks with Cambodia to mend fences at this juncture were unlikely to resolve any differences, he said.

The Cambodian government should take the welfare and benefits of the peoples of the two countries into consideration instead of acting on a whim to vent its displeasure at the Thai administration, he said.

The rumour of the arrest of another Thai spy, reportedly working in Siem Reap under Thailand's Armed Forces Security Centre, was unfounded, he said.

Thai citizens should remain calm and not act hastily, he said, adding that the future of Thai-Cambodian ties hinges on whether Cambodia would adjust its stance toward Thaksin, he said.The Foreign Ministry plans to lodge its strongest protest if Cambodian authorities file false and trumped-up charges against Siwarak, said Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister.

Cambodian authorities dismissed the consular request from Thai charge d'affaires Chalothorn Phaovibul to visit Siwarak in his prison cell on grounds that it was the weekend, he said.

In a telephone interview from Phnom Penh, Chalothorn said Siwarak was detained at a Phnom Penh prison.

Monday, November 2, 2009

SEASA Presents 'Taste of Thailand'!!

Join us to an Authentic Thai meal at Bangkok Bistro this weekend!
We will take you to explore the taste of Thailand.

Date: Sunday, November 8th
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Bangkok Bistro (Cleveland Circle)
Fee: TBA



Loy Kratong Festival in Thailand - Monday Nov 2nd



"Loi" means "to float". "Krathong" is a raft about a handspan in diameter traditionally made from a section of banana tree trunk (although modern-day versions use specially made bread 'flowers' and may use styrofoam), decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles, incense sticks etc. During the night of the full moon, many people will release a small raft like this on a river. Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations also build much bigger and more elaborate rafts, and these are often judged in contests. In addition, fireworks and beauty contests take place during the festival.

In Chiang Mai Loi Kratong is also known as "Yi Peng". Every year thousands of people assemble to float the banana-leaf krathong onto the waterways of the city, honouring the Goddess of Water. A multitude of Lanna-style sky lanterns (khom fai) are also launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the skies. These are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets.


--Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loy_Krathong

SEASA Next Event!! : Scalpels, Straighteners & Skin Bleachers featuring Bobby Pins Up Your Nose


“Scalpels, Straighteners, & Skin Bleachers” will take place during this coming “Love Your Body Week”, in an effort to promote a positive attitude towards body image and to elaborate on individual beauty. This event will feature a gallery of different images depicting the extreme measures Asian and Asian American women takes to obtain the “ideal” essence of beauty.
“Bobby Pins Up Your Nose” is a short theatrical performance featuring two women, Christina Chan and Judy Tso. It is a humorous rendition of the real life stories of Asian American women who try to manipulate their bodies to fit western culture’s idea of beauty. Wrestling with nose shape, breast size and their short stature, performers Chan and Tso take you on their adventures with body image in this funny and poignant performance piece. Their performance two years ago was well received, and BC SEASA would like to have them perform once more for a new student body.

Share this on: Mixx Facebook Twitter Digg delicious reddit MySpace StumbleUpon Fourth typhoon in month hits Philippines


(CNN) -- The fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in a month came ashore east of the capital, Manila, on Saturday morning, bringing heavy rain, flooding, and washing away shanty houses near the coast.

Typhoon Mirinae quickly moved west into the South China Sea and became a tropical storm. It was forecast to continue due west and then take a slight turn south, hitting Vietnam in about 48 hours, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

There were power flashes across Manila, as the storm hit Saturday and cut the electricity supply, videographer James Reynolds said. The storm was weaker than expected, he said, but it still brought fierce winds and lots of rain.

"The wind and the rain and the floods have still caused quite a considerable amount of damage, certainly in the southeastern portion of the city, which is where we were," Reynolds told CNN by phone from Manila. "We saw many shanty-type houses that had been washed away and residents frantically try to get hold of their household material."

The storm dropped at least 85 millimeters (3.3 inches) of rain on Manila. The city of Daet, on the eastern coast, received 149 millimeters (5.8 inches) of rain, and Virac, which sits on an island that juts into the Pacific, received 72 millimeters (2.8 inches) of rain.


The first of the four typhoons to batter the Philippines happened in late September, when Ketsana drenched the island nation with its heaviest rainfall in 40 years. Eighty percent of Manila flooded and more than 420 people died.

Flooding from Ketsana has lasted well into October, and tens of thousands of people are still in evacuation centers, according to the disaster coordinating council.

On October 3, Typhoon Parma made landfall in a rural region of fishermen and farmers in Luzon, the largest of the Philippine islands. It destroyed 55,000 houses and killed more than 430 people.

Last week a third typhoon, Lupit, narrowly missed making landfall but still brought lots of rain to the Philippines.

Bibles Seized As Malaysia Minorities Fear Fundamentalism

By Saeed Ahmed, CNN
October 29, 2009 8:54 a.m. EDT
Non-Muslims in Malaysia fear that Islamism is seeping into the moderate nation's fabric.

Authorities in Malaysia have seized more than 20,000 Bibles in recent months because they refer to God as "Allah," Christian leaders said Thursday.

The seizures have fed fears among minority groups, which see signs of encroaching Islamic fundamentalism in the predominantly Muslim but multi-racial country.

"There is a growing sense of Islamic assertion, yes," said the Rev. Hermen Shastri, general-secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia. "There is some concern."

The Bibles were written in the country's official language, Malay -- in which the word for God is "Allah," as it is in Arabic.

However, Malaysia's government says the word is exclusive to Islam.

Its use in Christian publications is likely to confuse Muslims and draw them to Christianity, the government says. So it has banned use of the word in Christian literature.

"Malay has borrowed from Arabic, just as it has from Sanskrit and Portuguese," Shastri said. "We have maintained the community has the right to use the word.

"But I think this has ignited a cause in the Muslim communities, who are interpreting it as a siege on Islamic beliefs."

A Home Ministry official directed requests for comment to the ministry's Publications and Quran Text Control Department, which enforces the ban. An employee there redirected calls to a spokeswoman, who in turn asked CNN to call the Home Ministry back. Calls to other departments were similarly redirected.

A Roman Catholic weekly newspaper, The Herald, is challenging the ban in court after the government threatened to revoke its license for using the word in its Malay edition. Hearings on the case have gone on for two years.

"We quote it as it is. We cannot change the text of the Scripture," Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew told CNN last year. "I cannot be the editor of the Bible."

Among the Bibles confiscated were Malay-language ones that the Bible Society of Malaysia said it had imported from Indonesia. About 10,000 others also were confiscated from Gideons International, which places free copies in hotel rooms and other places.

The Malaysian constitution provides for freedom of religion. The country has a dual-track justice system, in which Islamic courts operate alongside civil ones.

Rulings by the Islamic, or sharia, courts are directed toward the country's Muslim, who make up 60 percent of the population. But they worry non-Muslims who see them as Islamism seeping into the moderate nation's fabric.

In November, the National Fatwa Council -- the country's top Islamic body -- banned Muslims from practicing yoga. It said elements of Hinduism in yoga can corrupt Muslims.

The council also bans short hair and boyish behavior for girls, saying they encourage homosexuality.

In northern Malaysia's Kelantan state, authorities have forbidden bright lipstick and high-heeled shoes, saying the bans will safeguard Muslim women's morals and dignity, as well as thwart rape.

And last month, an Islamic court judge in the eastern state of Pahang upheld a verdict to cane a Muslim woman for drinking beer in public.

The country has been mired in inter-faith disputes as well in recent months. In those cases, many non-Muslims complain that the civil courts generally cede control to Islamic courts.

Muslims cannot convert to other religions without the permission of the Islamic courts, which rarely approve such requests.

In relationships in which a Muslim parent has converted children to Islam over the objection of a non-Muslim parent, the sharia courts usually have upheld the conversions.

And earlier this year, a Sikh family lost a court battle to cremate a relative after officials said the man had converted to Islam years before his death, though the family said he hadn't.

Thailand's Southern Crisis - More Discussion with Malaysia

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Tuesday cautiously acknowledged the suggestion by his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Raza, that the Malay-speaking region in the deep South be granted some form of autonomy as part of a strategy to bring an end to the ongoing violence.

Speaking to reporters after the Tuesday weekly Cabinet meeting, Abhisit said the policy of the Thai government was more or less in line with the need to acknowledge the special needs of the Malay-speaking region where nearly 4,000 people have been killed since January 2004.

Abhisit said he will discuss the issue about the conflict in the deep South with Najib during his upcoming visit to the restive region in December.

In an interview with Nation Channel over the weekend, Najib said Thailand should offer "some form" of autonomy to the region".

"You may not want to call it autonomy but there could at least be some form of involvement. It is Thailand's decision to consider how far such autonomy in the deep south should go, and Malaysia, as a neighbour, would not intervene in the matter," Najib was reported as saying.

Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the Malaysian leader understands that the problem is Thailand's domestic affairs and vowed to cooperate with the country to solve the problem.

"Thailand is supporting this approach but it's not an independent region. It does not contradict the constitution, but instead allows more publi

--The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/10/27/regional/regional_30115348.php