Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Monday 28th January

In this Bulletin…

- Indonesia’s former President dies;
- Indonesia to host UN anti corruption conference; and
- China facing transport chaos due to snow storms.

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Indonesia’s former President Suharto, has died from multiply organ failure at the age of 86, and is to be buried shortly in Central Java.

Suharto ruled with an iron first for 32 years and was accused of endemic corruption and human rights abuses. More than half a million suspected communists were killed during his rise to power in the 1960s.

He left office in 1998 amid mass protests over corruption and human rights abuses but did not stand trial on health grounds.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will oversee the state funeral in a Javanese royal burial ground near Solo.

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Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will host a U.N. anti-corruption conference this week.
Yudhoyono, Indonesia’s first directly elected president, took office in 2004 on a pledge to tackle endemic corruption.

This week’s United Nations conference in Bali brings together more than 100 countries to discuss how best to recover billions of dollars of assets stolen by former leaders.

Bribes received by public officials from less developed countries are put at $20 billion to $40 billion per year, or between 20 to 40 percent of official development assistance.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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According to state media reports, the Chinese government is bracing itself for a rush of people wishing to marry when the summer Olympics kick off on August 8 — because the number carries a special significance in Chinese culture.

The number “eight” (ba) is considered auspicious by many in China because it sounds like the word for “wealth” and “fortune,” reports the Xinhua news agency.

Nearly 3,400 couples got married on the day last year, some waiting all night outside the marriage registration office in Beijing.

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Meanwhile, the divorce rate in China has increased by almost 20% over the past year, with 1.4 million couples filing for separation during 2007, government officials say.

Some experts put the rise down to a change in the law which has made divorces easier to obtain.
Others say China’s one-child policy has produced a generation of adults focused on their own needs and unable to sustain a relationship.

The government also reported that the number of marriages rose by 12%.

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And now for our original SOH news direct from China

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Farmers from China’s Heilongjiang Province, Shanxi Province and Jiangsu Province have published a public notice requiring all the “collective ownership” of land which had been nationalized by the Chinese Communist party after it took over the government, should be returned to the peasants.

According to a report from “Voice of America”, some forty thousand farmers from the 72 villages including DongNanGang village, Fujin City, and Heilongjiang province declared the ownership of the land belongs to the villages.

Following that, nearly seventy thousand more peasants whose homes were relocated from 76 villages in Shanxi province, have published a public notice and declared their ownership of the land.

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Chinese authorities have ordered urgent measures to be put in place to fight nationwide transport chaos caused by severe weather conditions.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the weather was threatening lives and disrupting supplies of fresh food, oil and gas ahead of the New Year, and he warned worse could come.

Forecasters predict the bad weather will continue for a week, causing travel misery in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday on 7 February. Nearly 18 million people are due to visit relatives during the period.

So far five people have died from the weather, with over one hundred thousand suffering illness and more than two thousand houses have collapsed.

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And now for our daily update on the NTDTV Divine Performing Arts “New Year Spectacular” show.
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The Epoch Times reported that the Divine Performing Arts Chinese New Year Spectacular came to a grand finale on Saturday at the Orpheum Theatre with two sold out shows.

With a total of seven performances in San Francisco, the Spectacular was seen by thousands of Bay Area residents who were able to learn more about traditional Chinese classical dance and culture.

Audience member Ofelia Fischman shared her impressions of the show saying “The show is so beautiful, the costumes, the gracefulness and the way they dance and the pictures in the background are very realistic. You feel that there is life in this world and compassion and caring, everything is there.”

The New Years Splendour shows will begin in New York on the 30th of the January.

To find out more about the shows please visit http://www.bestchineseshows.com.