Asia-Pacific

Photo: Nepal still trying to recover from the devastating earthquake of October 2015. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne |IDN-INPS

Government Exam for Journalists in Nepal Riles the Profession

By Kalinga Seneviratne

KATHMANDU (IDN) – The democratically elected Communist Party government in this former Hindu Kingdom is trying to change decades old media laws that were enacted before the digital age and is running into opposition from journalists who fear that the government is trying to muzzle a free media.

“The communist party came to power with a two-thirds majority in 2017 and they didn’t come to enhance media freedom,” argues Kunda Dixit, Editor and publisher of the popular weekly Nepali Times. But he believes that the government does not want to do it suddenly.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 September 2019

UN Denies Endorsement of India in Nuclear Suppliers Group

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – India, Pakistan and Israel, three countries armed with nuclear weapons, are not recognized as nuclear weapon states by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – a “privilege” bestowed only on the world’s five major nuclear powers: the U.S., UK, Russia, France and China, which are also members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)

But in a report titled “António Guterres backs India’s coveted NSG membership”, the New Delhi-based Economic Times said “India has received a shot in the arm for its civil nuclear program from the UN, with Secretary-General António Guterres announcing support for Delhi’s NSG membership in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi” (on August 25).

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 September 2019

Photo: Baby monks waiting to welcome Sikkim Chief Minister to inaugurate the Phodong Monastery , a government funded guest. Credit; Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS.

After Kashmir Sikkim Buddhists Fear Losing Their Special Constitutional Rights

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 34th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles.

GANGTOK, Sikkim (IDN) – Since the special status accorded under section 370 in the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir was abrogated by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5, 2019, there has been a sense of unease among the people of the northern Indian state of Sikkim – which also enjoys special status under Section 371F enshrined in the Indian constitution. This unease is felt mainly by the Buddhists who feel that the special protections given to them could be taken away.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 September 2019

Photo: Police firing tear gas to disperse protesters near Central Government Complex on 5 August 2019. VOA Cantonese. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Non-violence Is the Need of the Hour in Hong Kong

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The gloves are off in Hong Kong. Judging from the pictures on September 3 BBC News the police no longer have any compunction about beating protestors. Ironically, they don’t appear to get close to the fringe of protestors who are using violent tactics. Rather they are swinging their batons left right and centre at any young person they meet, even chasing them on to the metro trains where commuters get thwacked too.

It reminds me vividly of the tough sheriffs of Alabama and Mississippi in the 1960s who used dogs against the civil rights protestors and cracked heads.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 03 September 2019

Photo credit: twitter.com/antonioguterres

UN Chief Applauds Japan-Africa Partnership Through TICAD

By Taro Ichikawa

YOKOHAMA (IDN) – "I see Africa as a dynamic continent of opportunity where winds of hope are blowing ever stronger. TICAD has played a critical role in focusing international dialogue on Africa, built on the twin principles of African ownership and international partnership," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres kicking off the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7). The United Nations, UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and the African Union Commission (AUC) co-hosted the conference in Yokohama city.

: Taro Ichikawa; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 September 2019

New Climate Reality Is Frightening, But Surmountable

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heatwaves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such as drought. Yet heat is only part of the picture.

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 28 August 2019

Photo: Cover of ‘The Disaster Riskscape Across Asia-Pacific: Pathways for resilience, inclusion and empowerment’. Credit: ESCAP

Asia-Pacific Faces a Daunting Spectrum of Natural Hazards

New UN Report Warns of Huge Economic Losses

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – Vulnerable and marginalized communities are among the hardest hit by natural disasters that occurred in a relentless sequence in Asia and the Pacific in the past two years, beyond what the region had previously experienced or was able to predict. This, according to the latest report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is “a sign of things to come in the new climate reality” where economic losses are set to quadruple.

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 August 2019

Photo: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressing a mass audience. Source: IISG/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

How the Kashmir Debate in India Is Being Fuelled by Falsehoods

Viewpoint by A.G. Noorani

India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah claims that if it wasn't for the country’s first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir would have been in India’s possession. The truth is, if Kashmir is a part of India, it is almost entirely because of Nehru, writes A. G. Noorani, an Indian lawyer, constitutional expert and political commentator. This article first appeared in The Wire on 9 August 2019.

MUMBAI (IDN-INPS) – The Sangh parivar’s hatred of Jawaharlal Nehru is perfectly understandable. At the time of the Partition of India, he stood by Gandhi and bravely fought back the rising surge of hate fostered by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The RSS supremo, M.S. Golwalkar’s plans to exterminate Muslims were detected, as the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Rajeshwar Dayal revealed in his memoir A Life in Our Time.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 August 2019

Photo: 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition law protest on 16 June, captured by Studio Incendo from Flickr. CC BY 2.0

In Hong Kong the Two Sides Must Meet Each Other Half Way

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – In 1995 in a little remembered event Li Ruthuan, a member of the Chinese Politiburo (containing the top seven in the government), made a speech likening the Chinese take-over of Hong Kong to the case of a lady who had agreed to sell a 100-year-old Yi-Xiang teapot that was famous for the taste of the tea it poured.

Unbeknown to her, its quality derived from the residue that had accumulated on the inside of the pot. In her eagerness to prepare the pot for sale she cleaned and polished it. When the purchaser came to try using the pot the tea was dreadful and he demanded his money back.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 20 August 2019

Photo: A boy reads from his textbook in a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Credit: UNICEF Patrick Brown

Rohingya Refugee Children Want to Learn, Says UNICEF

By Sean Buchanan

NEW YORK (IDN) – The daily struggle to survive for Myanmar’s Rohingya people in some of the world’s largest refugee settlements has caused overwhelming despair and jeopardised the hopes of an entire generation, according to the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore.

In a report marking two years since the arrival of around 745,000 Rohingya civilians in Bangladesh – after fleeing State-led persecution and violence in Myanmar – UNICEF Executive Director Fore appealed for urgent investment in education and skills training.