SINGAPORE: Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums for smaller cars dropped further in the latest bidding exercise on Wednesday (Nov 22), while premiums for larger cars and Open Category vehicles climbed back up. This came after prices fell across the board in the last tender, following an increase in the quota for theContinue Reading
SABANG: More than 200 Rohingya refugees were huddled on the beaches of a remote Indonesian island Wednesday (Nov 22) after weeks adrift on a wooden boat, as authorities rejected locals’ efforts to push the members of the Myanmar minority back to sea. The latest arrivals were part of more thanContinue Reading
Drilling has resumed near the mouth of a tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state where 41 workers have been trapped for 10 days.
Work had been suspended on Friday after rescuers heard a cracking sound while drilling.
Officials say other plans to rescue the men, including drilling down from the mountain top, are also on track.
The workers were building the tunnel when a part of it caved it on 12 November due to a landslide.
Authorities managed to establish contact with the trapped men hours later and were supplying them with oxygen, dry snacks and water through a pipeline that was laid for supplying water to the tunnel for construction work.
On Monday, anxious relatives crowded around the tunnel experienced some relief when an endoscopic camera – slipped inside through a new pipe – captured footage of the workers. Officials asked them to identify themselves in front of the camera and assured them that they would be rescued soon.
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The new pipe is wider and authorities say they can now supply more oxygen, food and other essentials such as medicines, mobile phones and chargers.
It was also used on Tuesday to give the workers their first hot meal in 10 days, with rescuers packing khichdi (a rice and lentil dish) in bottles and sending them inside.
Rescuers resumed drilling near the mouth of the tunnel at 02:00 local time (20:30 GMT) on Wednesday, officials told the BBC. They have drilled 39m (128ft) through the debris so far.
Until now, they have managed to insert four pipes, each 900m wide, through the debris – officials say they are now pushing through 800m wide pipes into them and further on through the debris wall using a telescopic tunnelling method.
The plan is to send multiple pipes of differing widths through the estimated 60m debris wall to create a micro-tunnel through which the workers can crawl out of the tunnel.
But the operation has encountered several delays and obstacles due to loose soil, hard rock and falling debris, forcing rescuers to proceed with caution.
On Wednesday, officials said at a press briefing that rescuers also encountered iron rods in the debris during the most recent round of drilling, but that it “thankfully” did not affect the work.
Other plans are also progressing – attempts are on to reach the men through the other end of the tunnel.
A top official said on Wednesday that they had also constructed a track and transported equipment to begin vertical drilling, through the top of the mountain.
While there is no clarity yet about how long the operation could take, officials say they are confident about rescuing the men.
“We are trying all our options and we will succeed,” Col Deepak Patil, who is leading the rescue operation, told the BBC earlier this week.
At the press briefing on Wednesday, an official said they hoped to share some “good news” by tonight or tomorrow. He also added that doctors are at the scene and speaking to the trapped workers.
The Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district is part of the federal government’s ambitious highway project to improve connectivity to famous pilgrimage spots in Uttarakhand. The mountainous state, where several Himalayan peaks and glaciers are located, is home to some of the holiest sites for Hindus.
The region is ecologically fragile and vulnerable to earthquakes and landslides.
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Mr Ong also highlighted the challenges faced by young Americans who had to rebuild from the rubbles of World War II.
By investing heavily in research and development and education, and making civil rights reforms for a fair and just society, America’s GDP 30 years later, in 1975, had multiplied more than eight times compared to before the war.
“Income disparity and discrimination continue to be perennial issues in America, but it is a society that acknowledges its own problems and tries to deal with it. America became the undisputed superpower of the world,” said Mr Ong.
To seize the opportunities of the future, youths need to have a strong sense of curiosity and have the appetite to learn continuously, said Mr Ong.
“Technology is changing rapidly, which in turns disrupts industry, and alters the way work is organised,” he said.
“To inoculate ourselves, we have to adapt and learn, not just in schools, but throughout our lifetime.”
Apart from learning how to use AI, there is also a need to have the right values and attributes, such as sincerity, empathy, care and kindness, he added.
Mr Ong also highlighted the challenges faced by young Americans who had to rebuild from the rubbles of World War II.
By investing heavily in research and development and education, and making civil rights reforms for a fair and just society, America’s GDP 30 years later, in 1975, had multiplied more than eight times compared to before the war.
“Income disparity and discrimination continue to be perennial issues in America, but it is a society that acknowledges its own problems and tries to deal with it. America became the undisputed superpower of the world,” said Mr Ong.
To seize the opportunities of the future, youths need to have a strong sense of curiosity and have the appetite to learn continuously, said Mr Ong.
“Technology is changing rapidly, which in turns disrupts industry, and alters the way work is organised,” he said.
“To inoculate ourselves, we have to adapt and learn, not just in schools, but throughout our lifetime.”
Apart from learning how to use AI, there is also a need to have the right values and attributes, such as sincerity, empathy, care and kindness, he added.
PUBLISHED : 22 Nov 2023 at 13:44
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has denied telling a meeting of Pheu Thai MPs on Tuesday that some party MPs had successfuly interfered in the appointment of police station chiefs.
Mr Srettha was responding to media reports that he made the admission when he discussed his plan to have new police station chiefs help people settle debts with loan sharks.
He said at Government House on Wednesday that at Tuesday’s meeting with Pheu Thai MPs he did not say some party MPs had successfully sought the appointment of police station chiefs.
A video recording of the meeting suggests otherwise.
He was seen saying that new police station chiefs would settle with loan sharks to support the government’s efforts to help people with debt problems. Then he said, “You here [MPs] requested the appointment of many police station chiefs. Some of you were satisfied, and others were not.”
On Wednesday the prime minister said that he actually discussed MPs’ concerns about the anti-drugs performance of officials in some areas.
“MPs did not make any such requests,” Mr Srettha said. “I have no authority over and have never interfered in the promotion of any government officials or police officers.”
“When I said some people were satisfied and others were disappointed, I referred to their feelings about the performance of officials,” the prime minister said.
Democrat MP Chaichana Detdecho, the chairman of the House committee on police affairs, said the committee would convene and ask the prime minister to clarify the issue on Dec 7.
He said that Section 185(3) of the constitution prohibits House representatives and senators from influencing the promotion or transfer of any government official.
Move Forward Party MP Rangsiman Rome said he believed the prime minister accidentally made the remark at Tuesday’s meeting and it raised doubts about the transparency of police promotions and transfers.
Mr Rangsiman said he was checking whether the prime minister’s remark fell under Section 185 of the constitution and laws on ethics and police affairs.
Indonesians living on Rempang Island are protesting against the construction of a multibillion-dollar Chinese glass factory. To make way for the Rempang Eco-City project, 7,500 local inhabitants must move.
This Indonesian National Strategic Project (PSN), backed by a Chinese company’s US$11.5 billion investment, seeks to transform the island into a major industrial, commercial and tourism hub.
Despite living on the island for generations, the local inhabitants lack legal land ownership. The project holds potential for economic development and job creation, driven by the abundance of quartz sand resources – a vital component in glass and solar-panel manufacturing. But the situation underscores the need for transparent and inclusive decision-making processes that consider the rights and interests of local communities.
The local community has occupied the area for decades. The investigation carried out by the Indonesian Ombudsman has revealed that the old villages on Rempang Island existed long before the memorandum of understanding between the government and Chinese investors was established in 2004. The Agrarian Reform Consortium has reported that there is a problem with overlapping tenure in Rempang due to inadequate land governance.
To solve the problem of overlapping tenure, the government of Indonesia launched the One Map Policy (OMP) in 2011 after spatial data differences became known nationally in 2010 during the Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) conference. But the OMP is not functioning well because of both political and technical issues.
The OMP’s effectiveness is hindered by poor land administration and a lack of coordination among ministries. This has resulted in unclear information, making it difficult to achieve the desired outcomes. Overlapping responsibilities among multiple agencies and institutions have also caused a domestic power struggle, creating a significant obstacle to the effective implementation of the policy.
The government could establish a dedicated institution directly under the president’s supervision. This institution should be responsible for coordinating and implementing the OMP and given the necessary authority to ensure that all stakeholders work together toward the same goals.
But the difficulty in identifying customary forest boundaries has slowed the policy’s progress. Although the current government is making efforts to uphold the policy by recognizing the rights of local people and implementing agrarian reform, there is still a need to put in more serious efforts to pursue these initiatives, as the progress made so far is limited.
To reduce land-ownership inequalities and empower communities through redistribution, ownership, legalization, and control over land, Indonesia launched a new reform called Lands Subject to Agrarian Reform (Tanah Objek Reforma Agraria). Understood as “agrarian reform” in Presidential Regulation No 86 of 2018, this program involves land distribution and legalization to solve the insecurities and complexities of tenure structures.
The government also issued Government Regulation No 43 in 2021, which aims to address the issue of spatial inconsistencies, forest zones, permits and land rights. Before this regulation, there was no standard procedure that ministries or agencies could follow to resolve the problem of overlapping land rights.
This regulation can serve as a catalyst for the OMP, which will help to resolve overlapping spatial data. For example, when resolving a land-ownership case in a forest area, it is important to compare the year of the letter of land-ownership issuance with the designation year of the forest area.
An added complication is that the current two-dimensional maps created do not accurately represent the complex social relationships and tenurial dynamics involved. The policy could incorporate ground-truthing as a crucial step to ensure that maps accurately reflect the actual conditions on the ground.
Ground-truthing involves a process of verification and direct on-site checking. This is particularly important in Indonesia, given its diverse geography and the need to consider local communities and environmental factors.
Public consultation is also a critical component of spatial planning, and it is legally mandated by various laws, including the 2007 Law No 26 on Spatial Planning. These laws establish a framework to involve the public in the planning process and emphasize the importance of transparency and inclusivity.
The Indonesian Environmental Forum has pointed out that the development of Rempang Eco-City does not conform to national and regional spatial planning documents. Despite this, the project’s special status as a PSN allows it to be implemented without requiring it to be written into a spatial planning document.
Investment in domestic industries requires the involvement of local communities. Communities are not necessarily against investment, but they should not be forced to relocate unwillingly. It is crucial that relevant agencies conduct appropriate consultation and mediation with legitimate community representatives in compliance with Indonesian regulations.
Public participation, as required by Indonesian regulations, is often a mere formality with little substance or purpose. The effectiveness of public consultation relies on the commitment of implementing authorities and the active engagement of various stakeholders, including local communities and civil society organisations.
The main question left to be answered is whether the government can shift its focus toward greater community participation while implementing the PSN.
This article was first published by East Asia Forum, which is based out of the Crawford School of Public Policy within the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. It is republished under a Creative Commons license.
SINGAPORE: A man who married a Georgian woman who was looking for a way to stay in Singapore was convicted over the marriage of convenience on Wednesday (Nov 22), along with the man who instigated the marriage.
Kok Chiang Loong, 43, was found guilty of instigating Goh Khoon Beng, 45, into marrying 37-year-old Akhalkatsi Maia in February 2016.
Goh was convicted of marrying Maia in a marriage of convenience that would offer her an immigration advantage in the form of a visit pass, while he received free lodging from Maia as a reward.
Maia had pleaded guilty to her role in the sham marriage and was sentenced to six months’ jail. She testified for the prosecution against the two men and was subsequently deported.
She had testified about how she repeatedly tried to find a job in Singapore without success. In November 2015, she resorted to plying the nightlife trade and met a Vietnamese woman at a pub, the court heard.
The woman told Maia she could apply for a student pass to remain in Singapore and told her to contact Kok for details, District Judge Marvin Bay said while explaining why he was convicting the two Singaporean men.
Kok arranged for Maia to enrol in an international college, but her student pass application was not approved, said Judge Bay.
Maia testified that Kok then proposed a marriage of convenience.
When she first met Goh at a Vietnamese restaurant, she said she was taken aback by his unkempt appearance but that Kok persuaded her.
The marriage was solemnised on Feb 2, 2016, but they did not consummate it, said Judge Bay.
Goh, who had been staying at the restaurant as he had no home, first lived with Maia at her rented premises. She later paid S$1,000 per month to rent an adjacent room for him.
After they were married, Maia’s applications for extensions of her visit pass were all approved, with Goh as her sponsor. Maia said she also supported Goh with his daily expenses.
Judge Bay said that while Goh had claimed trial, he “maintained an ambivalent disposition” in putting forward his defence and did not seem to take issue with the prosecution’s case.
His own statements did not differ from the prosecution’s characterisation of the marriage as a sham, conceding in one of his statements that his reason for marrying was for shelter.
According to Goh, Kok had dictated the terms of marrying Maia at their first meeting at the restaurant.
Goh also testified about Kok taking “such an involved role” in their proposed marriage, to the point of setting the date.
He said Kok even had access to his Singpass, from as far back as July 2015, when Goh divorced his then-wife.
Goh said he had misgivings about the marriage, as he was with a Vietnamese woman at the time. Despite this, he attended a pre-marital class with Maia.
Kok’s lawyer, Mr Rajwin Singh Sandhu from Rajwin & Yong, tried arguing that the couple had a genuine relationship.
This was because Maia testified about helping Goh overcome his fear of water by bathing him and shaving his armpits and private parts.
Judge Bay said these seemed to be “isolated acts of kindness that did little to dispel the impression of the transactional nature of their association”.
He also noted that Maia was a trained beautician in Georgia and this assistance would “not be at all unusual or unexpected”.
Judge Bay said Maia herself confessed that she was repelled by Goh when she first met him and said she could not marry Goh as she did not like him.
This resulted in a delay in the planned marriage.
“Kok’s persistence in seeing through the planned marriage had extended to his bringing Goh to Maia’s residence and leaving him there,” said Judge Bay, adding that Maia was eventually persuaded when Kok told him the only way to extend her visa was to marry Goh.
While the defence had introduced witnesses claiming to have heard Goh “exult over his married life” and seeing expressions of affection, Judge Bay said these were merely expressions, if at all accurate.
They were also “flatly contradicted by the testimonies of the actual protagonists – Goh and Maia”, he said.
The couple has since divorced.
For entering into a marriage of convenience under the Immigration Act, Goh can be jailed for up to 10 years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.
Kok faces the same penalties for instigating Goh into entering into a marriage of convenience.
The pair will return to court for sentencing at a later date.
Kok has two charges under the Immigration Act pending against him.
Calling Indonesia “the Saudi Arabia of nickel,” one of the metals underpinning global steel production and ambitions to decarbonize energy and transport systems, would be an insult to Indonesia’s market dominance.
Indonesia’s mines accounted for nearly half of global nickel production in 2022. It has banned raw nickel exports since 2020 as the country pushes to move up global value chains for renewable energy.
Indonesia is a G20 member, a developing democracy and has an enormous potential home market for both steel and electric vehicles (EV).
But despite the seeming centrality of nickel to net-zero ambitions, Indonesia may find itself in a situation eerily similar to that of Saudi Arabia and its oil reserves — sitting atop plentiful resources whose value is set to wane as the EV sector booms. The challenge lies in navigating two landscapes, one geopolitical and one chemical.
In a shifting geopolitical environment, Indonesia is attempting to secure a more prominent place in the EV battery supply chain. This involves moving beyond mining ore and benefaction to battery assembly at a time when major EV battery importers like the United States and the European Union (EU) are onshoring battery assembly.
In the United States, these attempts include enticing tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In Europe, they include government loans via the InvestEU program, independent member-state initiatives and an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese automakers.
The investigation aimed to prevent Chinese EV makers who source nickel from Indonesia from flooding the European market with cheap imports. In both instances, Indonesia’s reliance on Chinese manufacturers and finance in the nickel sector creates vulnerabilities for its EV ambitions.
The second challenge is more fundamental. Indonesia’s nickel reserves and industrial ambitions are at risk of being rendered less valuable by changes in battery chemistry, or the combination of materials and technologies used in the batteries themselves.
Nickel is a key component in nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries, which currently dominate the market due to advantages in range and power-to-weight. But this dominance may be fleeting.
As with most things EV-related, Tesla is the bellwether. In 2021, Tesla adopted lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, with nearly half of its production models using them by the first quarter of 2022.
In August of this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company would be transitioning most of its entry-level vehicles – Model 3 and Model Y – and its shorter-range semi-trucks to using LFP batteries. For a regional hub, Tesla chose to set up shop in neighboring Malaysia rather than in the nickel giant.
Tesla did not invent or even bring to market the first EVs, but it popularised and democratized them. Its move toward LFP batteries is one major reason that S&P Global forecasts that after 2030 the dominance of NMC batteries will wane in favor of LFP batteries. LFP batteries offer less range and high-end performance.
But they are also less prone to catching fire and are made of much more globally abundant and cheaper raw materials. For most EV users, LFP batteries provide more than enough range and power.
This forecast does not include the effects of potentially market-disrupting frontier technologies like sodium-ion and solid-state batteries, upon which Toyota has placed a heavy bet.
These technologies would further depress the relative demand for nickel. There will still be a market for NMC batteries in performance-oriented EVs offering pavement-wrinkling torque and acceleration.
But the global market in the future may be smaller than the current one – and with technology, disruption is rarely linear. The market may change even more quickly than S&P anticipates.
For Indonesia to sustain nickel as an engine for growth and development within these landscapes, its priority should be to cultivate closer relationships with the United States and the EU. These markets and their comparatively affluent consumer bases will drive an appetite for higher-performance, NMC-based EVs.
Indonesia’s relationship with the EU is seemingly on track to expand, with shared ambitions to conclude negotiations on a comprehensive Indonesia-EU free trade agreement (FTA) before Indonesia’s 2024 election.
The outlook regarding the United States is less straightforward. In September, Indonesian President Joko Widodo proposed a critical minerals trade agreement with the United States during talks with Vice President Kamala Harris.
A limited, critical minerals-specific FTA would allow Indonesian materials to qualify for the IRA’s domestic and FTA partner tax incentives. The FTA would seemingly be consistent with the US Biden administration’s desire to avoid creating more comprehensive, multi-sector and multi-issue FTAs.
Cultivating tighter US and EU relationships should not come at the expense of partnerships with Asian firms, including those in China and Korea. And EU and US partnerships will not be cost-free.
Both the EU and the United States are concerned about Indonesia’s use of export bans as a tool of economic policy. The EU has already challenged Indonesia’s ban and won at the World Trade Organization.
The text of the IRA also specifically requires any minerals-specific FTA to commit parties to “reduce or eliminate restrictions on exports” while allowing less extreme policies, like export taxes.
And agreements with the EU and US will bring heightened scrutiny on the environmental impacts of open-pit mining and new business rules that some in Indonesia’s opposition view as too capital-friendly, allowing provincial governors to set minimum wages without input from trade unions and experts from civil society.
For Indonesia, the price of stronger EU-US partnerships may be substantial. But it would be preferable to seeing its nickel and related industrial ambitions become a casualty of changing chemistry and a shifting geopolitical landscape.
Cullen Hendrix is Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC.
This article was originally published by East Asia Forum and is republished under a Creative Commons license.
“It is essential for staff to engage in purposeful interactions not only with their co-workers but also inmates and supervisees under their charge,” said the SPS.
“Therefore, staff will be trained to contextualise and apply coaching skills in their daily operational engagements, strengthening the ongoing rehabilitation and reintegration efforts.”
The approach has ignited a flame in Brenna and many other inmates.
For Brenna, she found her purpose in the kitchen and is ready for a new chapter in life.
“I just enjoy cooking, but I never thought it would become a career. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life, if I can,” she said.
“I feel more motivated. I am actually enjoying something, I am actually doing something I like.”
Paradise Now director Jonathan Koh has been impressed with her work ethic, as she has shown her passion and drive to excel in the field.
“I think what she brings to the kitchen is creativity, hard work, and definitely a passion for cooking. The passion to be able to push the dishes further at every step is definitely what every kitchen will look for,” he said.
“I won’t be surprised to see her running her own restaurant someday in the future.”
Mr Koh added: “It is not easy, definitely not an easy industry to be in, and even harder to excel in.
“I think she really put in a lot of dedication and showed me that she really wanted to work hard to achieve her dream of becoming a cook. I felt that we could really help her, to help her excel.”