by Edward Reed

On January 23, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun delivered a live televised New Year’s address to the nation. In that one-and-a-half hour speech, he discussed in detail the domestic economic challenges facing the country and his government’s policies to address them. He also chided the political opposition and the media for obstructing his search for solutions. Lacking more time, he omitted the part of his prepared text related to national security and policy toward North Korea. This could be considered remarkable given that South Korea now faces a nuclear-armed North, and the Six Party negotiations have reached a critical stage.
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By Andy Andrews

50 years after independence, Malaysia has taken an important step toward increasing ethnic harmony through Cabinet approval of an Ethnic Relations Module developed by the Ministry of Higher Education in cooperation with historians and religious scholars. The 210 page module, which underwent six revisions, includes basic concepts on ethnic relations and pluralism, as well as economic and political development in the context of ethnic relations in Malaysia. Targeted for university students, the module furthers the understanding and appreciation of unity in diversity of the Malaysian people. Timeliness of the module is underscored by a recent national survey of the Merdeka Center in Kuala Lumpur which found ethnic identity amongst Malay youth higher than national identity.

The module is a positive step forward in educating students about the roles various ethnic groups have played in nation building, as is the approval of the module by Malaysia’s multi ethnic cabinet in opening up a dialogue on the highly sensitive issue of ethnicity. However, because the module has not yet been released for public review, some leaders are withholding judgment and acceptance. Their approval will be instrumental to the success of the program. Because the module is designed for university students whose attitudes and opinions may be more established, one has to ask if the program is targeted toward the most responsive group. Concepts of pluralism are best introduced at an early stage of education when attitudes are being formed. The Government needs to build on the positive measure it has taken with university students and generate ethnic relation modules to instill positive thinking about nation building amongst lower level students. Religion and ethnicity in Malaysia are inextricably intertwined, and if the country is to reach its full potential, it must find a way to promote ethnic harmony and religious tolerance. The Ethnic Relations Module reflects a positive movement in this direction.

By Bill Foerderer Infante

Last week, the editors of Mongolia’s major newspapers addressed an open letter to the resident international community on behalf of 1 million Mongolians and the 50,000 infants born every year whose health is compromised by chronically poor urban air quality in Ulaanbaatar and other Mongolian cities. The letter was a plea to help curb the choking urban pollution, caused by coal and wood-burning stoves used to heat and cook, and by inefficient and antiquated energy, industrial and transport infrastructure that emit particulates and other airborne wastes and greenhouse gases. During winter months in particular, urban air pollution obscures vision, and negatively impacts human health.

On January 30th, nearly a dozen and a half embassies, multinational organizations and international non-governmental organizations responded to inform Mongolians what they are doing to help reduce urban air pollution, citing short and long term initiatives underway. The World Bank, for instance, noted its five-year old “urban stoves program” which has introduced energy efficient stoves and cleaner burning briquettes, and the Asian Development Bank’s subsidy program for fuel-efficient stoves. But other remedies targeting inefficiencies in the generation, transmission and distribution of energy, heat and hot water were also identified, as were demand-side measures associated with curbing consumption. The international community appealed to the newspapers to continue publicizing the need for comprehensive and “holistic” planning and policy measures, to raise awareness and engage citizens themselves in efforts to reduce urban air pollution.

By Katherine Hunter

In 2007 East Timor will hold its first national elections as a sovereign nation after achieving independence in 2002. The elections are an important test for any young nation, but particularly for East Timor. After 400 years as a Portuguese colony and nearly 25 years under Indonesian administration, a 1999 referendum on the independence of East Timor led to widespread destruction by the Indonesian military and local militia groups. United Nations peacekeepers and civilian advisors helped to stabilize the country and administer the country’s first elections for the president and the legislature.

Violent unrest in 2006 led government leaders to invite 3,000 international troops to stabilize the security situation and the United Nations Security Council to agree upon an expanded police presence in the build up to the elections. The violence delayed the timetable for election preparations, and the passage of the country’s election laws did not take place until December 2006.

This is placing heavy pressure on President Xanana Gusmão to quickly set election dates in accordance with these new laws, while also maintaining the 2007 timetable. Setting dates of the first national elections is not as straightforward as it appears, and is spurring lively debate among constitutional and legal experts for analysis and interpretation of the country’s growing body of law. Analysis by respected lawyers Tiago Sarmento and Dionisio Babo Soares found that relevant provisions in key subsidiary laws do not comply with the constitution. Aside from legal considerations, others are concerned that holding to a compressed schedule for the parliamentary and presidential elections will not allow adequate time to educate citizens about the election and what they are voting for.

By James Klein

Thailand’s ousted Thaksin Shinawatra can return home if he stays out of politics, interim prime minister Surayud Chulanot has said. The Thai print media extensively reported Thaksin’s censored CNN interview, in which he claimed that “enough was enough” as well as similar interviews with the international print media purporting that he has no intention of going back to domestic politics. Few supporters or detractors, however, believe his repeated assertions as his actions in the past have always spoken louder than his words.

At this time, it is more likely that the reason for Thaksin’s recent media blitz is based not on any desire to return to Thailand and play a continuing role in politics, but rather on how to safeguard his personal freedom and protect his billions in assets from seizure.

Thaksin, with professional advice from public relations firm Edelman and Washington lobbyist Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, is painting himself as a victim: a clean man, a true patriot wrapped in allegiance to the rule of law who built a vibrant, dynamic economy, and sacrificed relentlessly for the marginalized, the ignored poor rural farmers of Thailand. This image campaign, designed to whitewash allegations of extra-judicial killings and disappearances, policy corruption that lined his family’s pockets (including the sale of family-controlled Shin Corp to Singapore government investment arm Temesak), abuse of power — and insider contracting deals for substandard construction that caused hundreds of cracks on the runways in the four-month-old Suvanabhumi International Airport — will come to a crescendo as indictments are progressively lodged against him, his family, and his associates and as court proceedings begin to suggest potential guilty verdicts.

The intended result of this public relations campaign is worldwide sympathy for Thaksin, which will enable Thaksin to secure political asylum and protection for his billions in assets from court seizure. For the Thai public, the real end result following a year of political and economic chaos ignited by Thaksin’s dissolution of parliament on February 25, 2006 will be a lack of closure; a failure once again in its history to assert the rule of law to bring to justice those who believe they are above the law; and yet another failure to clearly signal to corrupt bureaucrats and politicians that Thais do indeed desire the type of transparent, accountable, and just government that was the antithesis of Thaksin’s authoritarian style of governance.

by John Brandon

The euphoria that greeted Thailand’s military coup on September 19, 2006, which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has largely dissipated. During the coup, General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and other members of the Council for National Security (CNS) appeared to be decent men trying to strengthen democracy in Thailand after Thaksin’s emasculation of democratic reforms embodied in the 1997 constitution. The army pledged to restore democracy by rewriting a new constitution and holding elections within a year.
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Steve Rood

The Philippines took center stage this week while hosting ASEAN, ASEAN plus 3 (China, Japan, South Korea) and East Asia Summit (adding India, New Zealand, and Australia). Here in the Philippines press, much of the commentary was along domestic political lines: Did embattled President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo score a triumph (she did); would the new ASEAN Convention on Counter-Terrorism be ratified by the Philippine Senate (probably); would the controversial Ant-Terror bill now be passed into law (who knows?)

The international press, however, focused on the absence of the United States – surmising that it has a weaker role now in East Asia, especially vis-à-vis China.
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Nick Langton

After a decade of violent insurgency, representatives of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) joined parliament on January 15th under an interim constitution ratified as part of their peace accord signed with the government last November. Maoist party members and their civil society nominees now hold 83 of the interim legislature’s 330 seats.
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