Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for the week ending Friday 30th September

In this bulletin:

- Another train crash dents China’s rail safety record,
- Discontent growing over land expropriation ,
- Fans rally for silenced Indonesian broadcaster, and
- Asia increasing IT competitiveness.

But first our SOH focus on China.

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ET-Hundreds of passengers were injured in a rear-end train collision on a one-year-old Shanghai subway track Tuesday September 27. State-owned media first said that a signal malfunction was to blame for the collision; but then published a statement on Sept. 28, attributing the accident to a power failure and operator error.

An engineer familiar with subway safety has characterized the system as unreliable and profit-driven. The accident called further attention to China’s dubious public infrastructure safety record after the devastating Wenzhou high-speed rail collision in July.

In the Shanghai crash 284 passengers were injured according to official figures. Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, which manages the subway, apologized online, saying, ‘This is the darkest day ever for the Shanghai subway.’

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ET-Thousands of residents in two Southern Chinese townships recently took to the streets over unfair land expropriation.

A protest in Wukan was triggered September 21 when villagers learned that one of the last pieces of the villagers’ land had been sold to a developer and construction work was about to begin. Villagers have accused village officials of secretly selling their land and villagers demand authorities disclose accounting details of the land transactions.

The next morning, authorities dispatched paramilitary officers and riot police, along with anti-riot vehicles to suppress the protest, but were met with strong resistance from angry villagers, who overturned seven or eight police vehicles.

The protest in Wukan gave rise to similar unrest in other villages of Lufeng City. On September 23, about two thousand villagers of the neighbouring Longguang Village protested to the Lufeng municipal government. This time a city official came out and said he would investigate the issue and get back to them.

Longguang villagers told RFA that they had been petitioning for six years with no avail, from the provincial level of Guangdong to the municipal level of Lufeng. They said almost every village has been struggling with illegal land seizures.

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NTD-The wife of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has written a letter to the legal working committee of China’s National People’s Congress. Lu Qing is urging them to reject proposed changes to the criminal procedure law. The changes would legalize holding suspects in secret locations for up to six months, in some cases without informing their families.

Police arrested Ai Weiwei at the Beijing airport on April 3. Ai was then held in a secret location for 81 days. Lu describes in the letter the frantic search for Ai by family and friends. The family had not been notified of his whereabouts.

The incident sparked an international outcry. Ai Weiwei was eventually released, but is still under investigation for alleged tax evasion. He’s officially banned from speaking to the media.

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SOH takes a look across the wider Asia-Pacific region.

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ET-Supporters of independent Indonesian broadcaster Radio Erabaru have protested the station’s forced closure and use of its frequency by another radio station. Radio Erabaru fans gathered in front of the headquarters of Sing FM, the station that’s been given their broadcast frequency, Sunday September 25.

The protesters called for Radio Erabaru to be put back on the air on its 106.5FM frequency and for Sing FM to move to another frequency. They also want the authorities to protect the rights of Indonesian citizens to obtain information from radio Erabaru’s broadcasts and stop bowing to pressure from the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta.

The protest came after dozens of Indonesian officials burst into the studios of Radio Erabaru, Tuesday September 13. They walked back out with key broadcasting equipment, despite failing to give any warrant authorizing this seizure to the station.

Officials claimed the station had to be shut down because its broadcasting was disrupting the air traffic in the nearby city-state of Singapore. But within hours Sing FM was broadcasting on 106.5FM, Radio Erabaru’s frequency, calling the claim into question.

Listen out for a special Asia Cast report featuring an interview with Radio Erabaru.

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Coming up on Asia Cast:

- Accusations mainland interfering with Taipei protest,
- Indonesian students protest, ‘lazy lecturers. and
- Australia clears way for female front line troops.

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“You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Network”

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The Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan Thursday September 29 rebutted an accusation that Chinese authorities were trying to block a planned anti-Chinese demonstration held in Taipei.

Two Taiwanese businessmen earlier said they had fallen victim to scams perpetrated by their Chinese partners in collaboration with members of China’s judiciary. The pair are planning a protest in Taipei against such practices in the mainland.

But one of the organisers said he received threatening phone calls from Chinese officials in Fujian Province who said they would investigate the event and collect evidence against him if he failed to cancel the demonstration.

The Mainland Affairs Council said there wasn’t any evidence of interference from the mainland with the two previous similar demonstrations.

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NTD-Typhoon Nesat swept through Hong Kong Thursday September 29, with winds gusting up to 75 miles an hour closing markets, schools and most businesses.

The stock market, government offices and schools were also closed for the day. Nesat hit Hong Kong straight after striking the Philippines where it left at least 35 dead and dozens missing.

No deaths were initially reported in Hong Kong, but local television showed footage of at least two people being hospitalized after falling debris hit them.

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ET-According to the Jakarta Post Indonesian students have protested against what they said are lazy university lecturers.

Dozens of students demonstrated at the Aceh Syiah Kuala University because they said since August only a minuscule portion of their 30 teachers have regularly come to teach them.

In the demonstration, students gave speeches about the woeful state of the university and some of the students called for a boycott of the institute. According to the Jakarta Post the university said students should understand that teachers have to attend training sessions, adding that the situation would return to normal.

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ET-The Australian government is lifting restrictions on female soldiers, allowing them to serve in front line combat roles.

The announcement Tuesday September 27 means specialized military positions such as elite special forces, which were only available to men, will be available to women within five years if they meet the criteria for those roles.

Women can serve in 93 per cent of employment categories in the Australian army, navy, and air force. However, the defence ministry said women currently cannot serve as infantry, navy clearance divers, mine clearance divers, or operate artillery.

Australia currently has around 1,500 troops stationed in Afghanistan, but those are to be withdrawn over the next several years.

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On a lighter note.

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A study released Tuesday September 27 showed as Asian economies strengthen copyright protection and implement regulatory reforms they are closing the gap on the West in terms of their IT competitiveness.

The report by the Economist Intelligence Unit says while the West leads the world in terms of an attractive place for IT firms to work, more Asian nations are moving up the ladder.

The United States retained its position as the world’s most competitive IT industry this year with Europe dominating the top 20. The competitiveness index was based on criteria ranging from foreign investment policies to infrastructure and copyright protection.

But, seven Asian economies managed to make it into the top 20; Singapore (3), Australia (8), Taiwan (13), Japan (16), New Zealand (18), South Korea (19) and Hong Kong (19). Malaysia and India recorded the sharpest improvements among the 66 economies surveyed worldwide.

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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from the Asia Pacific.”