AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Sunday 14th October

- UN criticises Sri Lanka’s human rights record

- Burma’s military junta stages pro-government rally

- Hong Kong’s leader in trouble over slur on democracy

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has criticised Sri Lanka’s rights record and questioned the government’s readiness to improve it.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, there have been over 1,000 recent abductions, although the country’s government says many reported cases are false.

Ms Arbour also criticised the Tamil Tiger rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland for the Tamil minority, for using children as combatants, forcibly recruiting adults and killing civilians.

The high commissioner said a UN human rights monitoring mission could improve the situation. The government has, however, rejected such a proposal, saying what is needed is more help to increase the capacity of national institutions.

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In a bid to re-establish its waning authority, Myanmar’s junta staged a massive pro-government rally in its main city on Saturday by forcing hundreds of villagers to march or face steep fines if they did not.

Residents of Shwe Pyi Thar village carried pro-regime placards after junta officials on Friday demanded at least one person from each household march in the government’s rally. Junta officials also approached local factories and demanded they provide 50 workers.

The junta also detained two top dissidents as its relentless and ruthless response to last month’s pro-democracy uprising showed no signs of easing.

In addition, Amnesty International said another prominent activist had been arrested. Amnesty International said one other activist was also in police custody but gave no name.

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In a public statement, Hong Kong’s leader, Donald Tsang, said that too much democracy could lead to another Cultural Revolution in the country, claiming gangs of youths would be given free rein to persecute suspected government opponents in mainland China.

Mr Tsang’s comments quickly drew criticism from pro-democracy lawmakers who questioned his willingness to fight for democracy in Hong Kong.

Tsang said Hong Kong must promote democratic development without compromising social stability and government efficiency.

Mr Tsang has since apologised for suggesting that the Cultural Revolution was an extreme form of democracy.

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Thailand’s much loved and influential King Bhumibol Adulyadej was hospitalized on Saturday after feeling weakness on the right side of his body, the royal palace said.

The 79-year-old King and world’s longest serving living monarch, was admitted to Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital, where tests found a slightly inadequate blood flow to the brain, a palace statement said.

His condition improved after doctors administered medicine for eight hours, the statement said. He was kept in the hospital for monitoring.

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According to Chinese state media, at least four million people are to be moved from the area around China’s Three Gorges Dam amid warnings of an “environmental catastrophe”.

Critics have long warned the dam, the world’s largest hydro-electric project, could cause huge environmental damage, including landslides, soil erosion and pollution.

Millions of people are now set to be relocated to the sprawling city of Chongqing at the reservoir’s west end.

Many of those destined to be shunted to Chongqing over the next 10-15 years have already been moved once. Some were fishermen and farmers who left their age-old villages, before they were flooded, to set up home higher up the valley.

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As the Chinese Communist Party seeks to further control domestic media a popular Chinese website covering the “Rights and Interests of Owners in China”, which was set up by landlords all over China to defend their rights, has been forcibly switched off.

The Beijing Police Bureau justified the close down saying it was necessary for “stabilizing the society at the 17th Party Congress”. One day later, it re-opened due to pressure from the public.

Human rights activists have continued to condemn the Chinese Government’s dictatorial control over the media saying it is unconstitutional and unlawful.

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For the first time since 1964, a rare South China tiger has been seen in the wild, according to reports from China’s official Xinhua news agency.

The sighting, which came after a farmer handed in some pictures, surprised researchers who feared the tiger was extinct.

Experts have said that no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers were believed to remain in the wild, but none have been spotted in decades, with many fearing that a small number of captive-born tigers were all that remained.

Numbers of the South China tiger, the smallest tiger subspecies, were greatly reduced after China’s Communist leader Mao Zedong labelled the elusive felines “pests” and ordered an extermination campaign.

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