1 September 2005

Stories from 1 September 2005

China: Dragon rising

  1 September 2005

Has the World Trade Organization (WTO) failed to restrain the Rising Dragon now that China is also having problems with exporting to the world? The Vagabond Society blog says with assistance rather than insistence, China can grow and advance to be a partner power rather than a balancing power.

China:

  1 September 2005

Just as U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, was making a 5-day visit to China, a group of AIDS patients from Shangcai county had traveled to Beijing to make an official complaint over their plight. AIDS activist Hu Jia was beaten twice by national security police near Beijing,...

Taiwan: Investors beware

  1 September 2005

Scholars and experts warned Taiwanese investors and businesses about the credibility of China's official statistics regarding economic growth. One of them said China's economic growth rate did not tally with unemployment that ran as high as 130 million people nationwide.

Indonesia: Swapping lives

  1 September 2005

Dewi, a 23-year old from Jogjakarta from Central Java, will swap life with Violet, a 19-year old from Sydney for 10 weeks. Violet explored issues ranging from sexuality to the rise of terrorism, besides testing the perception that Muslims are dangerous and unpredictable people. Simultaneously, Dewi documents in Sydney the...

Malaysia: Gagging airwaves & cyberspace

  1 September 2005

Malaysia is gaining harsh perception over its governance of the airwaves and cyberspace. Indonesia-based blogger Indcoup links to a story on Malaysia's newly launched crackdown on porn stored on mobile phones – police are authorised to carry out random spot checks to catch culprits. Quoting Anonymous Blogging, he says Malaysia...

Indonesia: “Dollarization”

  1 September 2005

American economist, Steven Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, has a harsh prescription to cure Indonesia's economic woes: “The only way Indonesia can stabilize the currency is to take all discretion away from the Bank Indonesia… it has no credibility whatsoever.” He wants the “dollarization of Indonesia” to take over.

South Korea: Internationalised TV

  1 September 2005

The Korean emergence now takes the form of internationalized television. After making waves in Southeast Asia, Korean TV serial Daejangeum looks set to conquer stations in the United States, broadcasting under the English title, “Jewel in the Palace”. The Korean government has created an official English website devoted to these...

Singapore: Blogger wins poetry awards

  1 September 2005

Lawyer/blogger Gilbert KohChin Wang won the Golden Point Award 2005 for English Poetry. The Awards is the only national creative writing competition which welcomes entries in the four official languages in Singapore, namely English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

Singapore: New anti-terrorist tactics

  1 September 2005

Singapore tightens anti-terrorist procedure. Trucks carrying petrol and other flammable materials will be limited to three entry points into the central business district effective October1. Besides, satellite guided tracking devices have been fitted to the trucks and alarm will be triggered if the driver strays from the approved routes.