‘Difficult’ for Iswaran to undertake MP duties amid CPIB probe: Lawrence Wong
In the case of Ridout, questions about the matter were raised in public and in parliament, Mr Wong noted.
The two ministers also asked for an independent review of the matter, to which the Mr Lee agreed and asked CPIB to investigate the matter, he added.
The investigations eventually concluded that there was no wrongdoing or corruption on the part of the ministers. The findings were published and there was a “full accounting” of the matter in parliament, said Mr Wong.
In contrast, Mr Iswaran’s “case is completely driven by CPIB from the beginning” and “there was no public complaint”, said Mr Wong.
“It was CPIB that discovered the matter through their initial findings and investigations and they felt that there was a need to interview Minister Iswaran as part of further investigations.”
CPIB had been looking into an unrelated investigation on a separate matter earlier, and updated Mr Lee on this investigation in May, said Mr Wong, adding that he was also “kept in the loop” at the time.
CPIB then continued their investigations and updated Mr Lee on their findings last week on Jul 5, and asked to interview Mr Iswaran.
Within a day, Mr Lee agreed with the director of CPIB to open formal investigations, which began yesterday, added Mr Wong.
“I know Singaporeans are concerned and have many questions about this case. I’m unable to provide more information than what I’ve just said because the CPIB investigations are ongoing,” he said.
“So I ask everyone that we allow the investigation to take its course and refrain from any further speculation at this juncture.”
“HOW WE DO THINGS IN SINGAPORE”
Mr Wong said the CPIB investigation was “concrete proof of how we do things in Singapore”.
“We have always upheld a clean and incorrupt system of government, and our track record on this over the decades is clear and evident to all,” he said.
“And this is the foundation of the people’s trust in the PAP (People’s Action Party) government. The Prime Minister and I are fully committed to keeping and preserving this trust.”
The government will maintain a tough, zero-tolerance stance against corruption, and investigate cases that come up, said Mr Wong.
“And whichever way the facts eventually fall, they will be taken to their logical conclusion,” he continued.
“We will be upfront and transparent, and we will not sweep anything under the carpet, even if they are potentially embarrassing or damaging to the PAP and to the government.”
Clashing with humans, Vietnamâs wild elephants make a last stand
A trail of enormous footprints, criss-crossing slabs of cracked concrete, lead to a battered ranger station in Vietnam’s Pu Mat National Park. Park staff say the wild Asian elephant that left the tracks is as friendly as it is lonely.
Separated from the country’s remaining wild herds, the solitary giant satisfies her social appetite by interacting with people at the station. Rangers say the 29-year-old female has been alone since her mother died more than a decade ago. Signs of her visits are hard to miss, with craters in the soil left by weighty feet, a fence bent from a playful push and a dented sign toppled by a trunk.
“The elephant usually comes here to play,” said Nguyen Cong Thanh, a ranger at Pu Mat in Vietnam’s north-central Nghe An province, as he pointed out the damage.
But the wild elephant herd that lives deeper in the park’s forests – a group of about 15 individuals – is far less friendly, he said.
Only about 100 wild elephants are estimated to survive in Vietnam, separated into 22 herds across the country. These last survivors of Asia’s once 100,000-strong elephant population face a stampede of threats – including often-violent conflict with people – made worse by habitat loss.
Drawn to fruit trees, corn, rice and other produce, a herd of wild elephants can destroy a farmer’s livelihood in a single meal. And when Vietnam’s remaining wild herds interact with humans, the results are sometimes fatal. As pressure mounts from agricultural expansion and other human development, conservationists warn the dwindling number of elephants will soon approach the point of no return in sustaining a viable population.
In the past two years in Pu Mat, two elephants are suspected to have been killed by poisoning, said Russell Gray, science advisor at non-profit Save Vietnam’s Wildlife, who leads human-elephant conflict mitigation efforts in Cat Tien National Park.
“People get attacked by the elephants and then their families will go and put out poison,” Gray said.
“We just had one guy who recently got his leg broken,” he said of an incident in April in Cat Tien, in which a farmer illegally took his cow to graze in a protected area fenced off for wild elephants. The elephant became territorial, killing the cow and attacking the man. “We’re trying to connect with the family to make sure that they don’t do the same.”
With Vietnam’s elephant populations trailing on the very edge of sustainability, each incident of conflict threatens the future existence of the species in Vietnam.
“It’s pretty dire because the national elephant population has a threshold of about 100 individuals,” Gray said. “Once it [falls below] that threshold, it’s pretty much over for their conservation.”
Vietnam’s elephants on the brink
Asian elephants are listed as critically endangered on the Vietnam Red Book of rare and endangered species, while the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List categorises the species as endangered at the global level.
Vietnam’s wild elephant population has been in sharp decline for decades. Huge swathes of forest were destroyed during the country’s 20-year-long war, and the animals’ habitat has continued to shrink as the country has developed.
Hunted for ivory and the elephant skin trade, and captured from the wild for use in logging and tourism, Vietnam’s wild elephants have fallen from approximately 2,000 individuals in 1980 to between just 91 to 129 last year, according to the national Forestry Administration.
“Out of 13 Asian nations [with extant wild elephant populations], Vietnam is the one with the fewest wild elephants left,” said Cao Thi Ly, an elephant expert and retired professor from Tay Nguyen University in the province of Dak Lak. “We have to change to help the elephants.”
The few surviving wild herds live in areas close to Vietnam’s borders with Cambodia and Laos, with the largest groups in three national parks: Cat Tien, Pu Mat and Yok Don. Even then, the first two are home to fewer than 20 elephants, while 28 to 60 are estimated to live in Yok Don, according to the Vietnam Forestry Administration.
The rest of the nation’s wild elephants are sparsely scattered across nine provinces, with four provinces counting just a single wild elephant.
A national plan to save elephants
Vietnamese authorities, with technical consultation from conservation and animal welfare groups such as Humane Society International, are currently drafting a national action plan to protect the country’s remaining wild elephants. This programme will run from this year to 2032 and set a vision for 2050.
Mai Nguyen, the Humane Society’s wildlife programme manager, said the group is encouraging authorities to find “appropriate interventions” to mitigate conflict between elephants and local communities.
The plan must be signed by Vietnam’s prime minister or the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development before it comes into effect. Nguyen is now working to submit a final draft to the government in the hopes of it being signed by the end of this year.
“To sort this out is not easy and it takes time. We must represent the elephant voice,” she said. “The conflict is unique and very complicated.”
But like the number of wild elephants, time is running out.
Retaliation and reconciliation
Some traditional methods used to scare elephants away from crops in Vietnam can be harmful to the animals. While many farmers will bang pots, flash lights and set off firecrackers, some have also used more violent means.
“One of the male [elephants in Cat Tien], the local people say that they threw a Molotov cocktail and set it on fire maybe four or five years ago and this is one of the aggressive males now,” Gray said. “You can see the scars all over some of the elephants from the active mitigation methods that they’ve tried.”
Conservationists had initially hoped that ‘bio-fences’ such as bee boxes and chilli plants could be used to deter elephants, but these passive interventions have been mostly unsuccessful.
Another potential solution, which some are pushing to be included in the conservation plan, is a countrywide compensation programme for property destroyed by elephants. These initiatives are intended to prevent acts of retaliation against the animals, and though some exist on the local level, there is no such country-wide mechanism.
“We hope some compensation to local people can settle down the conflict and hopefully we can protect the elephants,” said Thong Pham, a research manager with Save Vietnam’s Wildlife.
Finding the right tactics to defuse such encounters is a work in progress.
Ly, the elephant expert, led a training and brain-storming meeting in May with researchers, government officials and members of a community quick-response team just an hour from Pu Mat National Park. The gathering was arranged by non-profit Fauna & Flora International, which backs the response team.
Rubber plantations and slash-and-burn farming near Pu Mat have shrunk elephant habitat and food sources, said Dang Dinh Lam, a member of the quick-response team.
“The conflict has two sides. Elephants lack habitat, and because they destroy crops and property, people dislike them,” Lam said. “I hope that the government and people will be more responsible about protecting elephants.”
Engineers of the forest
Half-a-country away, similar dramas play out in and around the 115,000-hectare Yok Don National Park in southern Vietnam.
“When I was young, I could see elephants everywhere,” said Quynh Pham, driving an e-cart into the park nestled within the verdant Central Highlands, which is home to the country’s largest wild elephant population.
The area is also home to an additional 37 domesticated or captive elephants as of last year. Pham is the ethical elephant-tourism manager for Animals Asia, a non-profit working in Vietnam and China to improve the welfare of captive wildlife. He cares for 10 elephants in the park that had previously been used for rides.
But as the park transitioned to a more ethical tourism model, the elephants now roam freely during the day, with mahouts travelling with them to ensure their safety. Visiting tourists can watch the grazing, bathing and mud wallowing from a safe distance. Overnight, the elephants are kept on long chains.
While far from the hundreds of elephants that Pham remembers from his youth, the 10 retired individuals can now play their key natural role in forests.
Trampling through the forest, two female elephants graze on bamboo and plough through thick vegetation – a long way from the elephant rides of their past. Wild Asian elephants do this for 18 hours a day, dispersing seeds and creating new forest trails for smaller species as they go.
Forests across Asia have deteriorated with the loss of these ‘ecosystem engineers’, but the hybrid model at Yok Don between wild and rescued elephants may fill that niche.
Ly, the retired professor, said that for elephants to maintain this role in Vietnamese forests, the government must actively reconnect their habitats. Elephants could once travel freely along the length of Vietnam, but as their forests have become increasingly fragmented it’s nearly impossible today for different herds to interact and interbreed.
The loss of habitat in general has made conflict with humans “systematic”, Ly said.
“Due to the conflict between humans and elephants over the small leftover shared resources, bad outcomes arise,” Ly said. “The confrontation between humans and elephants has intensified.”
A similar plight across borders
The decline of elephants in Vietnam is mirrored in neighbouring nations.
The wild Asian elephant populations of both Laos and Cambodia are estimated to number less than a thousand. In China, barely 300 wild elephants are believed to survive, with their once enormous range now limited to a pocket of the southwestern province of Yunnan.
Conflict over resources is a major concern for China’s remaining wild herds. In 2021, 14 elephants usually resident in a nature reserve in Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna region began to move northwards. On their months-long journey, the elephants destroyed property, creating a challenge for authorities in finding a balance between elephant conservation and protecting citizens’ dwellings and livelihoods.
According to local authorities, 150,000 people were evacuated from the elephants’ path to avoid potentially dangerous incidents, and the government paid out a total of $770,000 in property damages.
Such measures, while extensive, still don’t address the underlying land-use issues threatening elephants today. It’s also unclear how Vietnam’s pending elephant conservation plan would react to a situation such as that in Yunnan, or if similar resources could be made available to compensate property-owners.
Just steps from where Pu Mat National Park’s lonely female elephant is often spotted, Ly underlined how important habitat protection is if there is to be any chance of saving the last giants of Vietnam.
“Vietnam is the weakest in everything in elephant conservation,” she said. “We have the chance to help the elephants to keep growing their population in the future, but we need to rebuild forests.”
This story was produced in collaboration with China Dialogue and The Third Pole.
Additional reporting by Nguyen Hao Thanh Thao.
Belt and Road a net benefit for Bangladesh
In recent years, China has emerged as Bangladesh’s largest trading partner and one of its biggest providers of development assistance. Since 2016, the two sides have been a strategic partnership.
Like 150 other countries, Bangladesh joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Since then, nine BRI projects have been agreed upon, including the Padma Rail Link, the Bangabandhu tunnel under the Karnaphuli River and the Dasherkandi sewerage treatment plant.
These three are on the verge of completion while six other projects are either underway or waiting to begin. Apart from the BRI, China provides development finance in various forms including public-private partnerships and soft loans. As Bangladesh accepted these loans and projects cordially, there has been a boom in Chinese projects across the country in the last eight years.
While the specter of a “debt trap” has hung over the relationship, as skeptics drew parallels with the Hambantota port lease deal in Sri Lanka, it seems Bangladesh has proved the specter – in its own case, at least – to be a myth thanks to Dhaka’s sustainable infrastructure drive.
Bangladesh’s deepening trade and financial engagement with China has created the image of a “China-tilting country” in the eye of the US – even though Bangladesh is determined to remain neutral amid the superpower rivalry. Despite worries about a debt trap, it seems Bangladesh has gain a net benefit from BRI and other Chinese projects.
A caveat: Net benefit refers to summing up all benefits and then subtracting the sum of all costs of a project. Net benefit provides an absolute measure of benefits rather than the relative measure provided by a benefit-to-cost ratio, which in today’s neoclassical economics may be the more popular approach to determining success and failure.
While net benefit normally would be expressed as a crunched number, i.e. a specific amount of money, I am not aware of any quantitative analysis specifically on Bangladesh’s BRI projects.
Here I use the term in a qualitative sense, to provide only an overview of the idea. My argument is that the input for Bangladesh is money while the outputs are diverse – and, subjectively, are clearly greater. In this sense, I posit that there has been a net benefit.
Bangladesh’s infrastructure drive
In the last decade, Bangladesh focused national policy on developing physical infrastructure to boost connectivity. The riverine country with a fast-growing economy identified infrastructural development as a prerequisite for expanding the size of the economy as well as socio-cultural development.
In the absence of significant infrastructure, it was difficult for Bangladesh to expand its economic activities outside of the capital and coastal region. For instance, the North Bengal and North-West region could not be industrialized without smooth connectivity and logistical infrastructure, both of which it lacked.
Development finance was needed to fill the gaps. But until China arrived, the existing development finance market could not raise the required funds for several projects in the billion-dollar range. In this context, Bangladesh’s demand met with China’s ambition to expand its geo-economic ambition under BRI.
Take, for instance, the new benefit accrued from the BRI-funded Dasherkandi treatment plant. As in many developing countries, rainwater and household waste combined in primitive systems that stank and caused severe health problems.
Now, the new treatment plants refine these dirty waters before they get to water bodies – from where the water is again collected, treated and supplied for household use. Besides Dasherkandi, which I have seen, there is also another Chinese treatment plant in Dhaka. The advantage of having those, if not priceless, surely is worth more than Bangladesh’s cost.
Other Chinese-funded or assisted projects are also benefitting the country. The Padma Bridge – the country’s first self-funded project implemented by Chinese engineers and using Chinese technology – is already bringing benefits to Bangladesh’s north and northwestern regions. It has shortened transport routes significantly and connected these regions directly with the capital, Dhaka.
The economy is already expanding and the circular economy – sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, recycling – is also becoming larger in terms of geography. The bridge has also reduced pressure on internal waterways, which benefits commercial carriers greatly.
It is eye-popping that a single bridge is estimated to have increased the entire country’s GDP by 1% and reduced poverty by 0.84% at the national level. Other Chinese-funded or assisted projects are also benefitting Bangladesh as they contribute to the country’s effort to revamp the circular economy and address energy demand.
BRI and other Chinese projects are also introducing the country to sophisticated technologies. Take, for instance, the Bangabandhu tunnel project under the Karnaphuli River, marking the first time a tunnel-boring machine has been used in Bangladesh.
It has also marked the first time the country has undertaken underwater excavation. As Bangladesh now has a tunnel-boring machine in the country, the technology will be used for the underground section of the country’s first metro-rail.
Besides technology transfer, revamping and increasing the circular economy and growing the overall economy, BRI projects are also benefitting the country by increasing connectivity and trans-border trade.
Although BRI projects are providing net benefit for the economy and improving living standards, the sudden surge of Chinese funding in Bangladesh since 2016 has drawn the attention of the US. Washington now perceives Bangladesh as a China-tilting country, even as Dhaka aims to maintain an equal balance among the great powers.
The key to avoiding unnecessary costs and a debt trap is to equalize odds in geopolitical aspects, assess the economic viability of projects and stick to sustainable financing.
Bangladesh has showed prudence in these aspects as it scrapped or declined many proposed projects that may not be viable economically and is only opting for crucial projects that address its “infra-shortage” without giving geopolitical advantages to one superpower over the other.
Doreen Chowdhury is a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Groningen.
Prayuth Chan-ocha: Thailand coup leader departs the stage
REUTERSPrayuth Chan-ocha, the army chief who overthrew an elected government nine years ago, and has run Thailand ever since, has announced he is retiring from politics.
General Prayuth contested the May general election as prime ministerial candidate for a new conservative political party, but it performed poorly, winning just 36 out of 500 seats in parliament.
He was known as a straight-talking, ultra-royalist army commander when he seized power on 22 May 2014 in a skilfully-choreographed coup-d’etat which ensured there was little organised opposition.
Unlike what happened after a previous coup eight years earlier Gen Prayuth stayed in power, giving himself the job of prime minister.
Despite promises that his tenure was only temporary, he has remained in the job ever since, and profoundly reshaped Thailand’s power structures.
His military government pushed through a new constitution in 2017 which ensured that the coup leaders would extend their influence, largely through a 250-seat senate which he appointed, even after returning to democratic rule.
Today that senate, made up largely of conservative royalist men like Gen Prayuth, still has the power to block the reformist coalition which won a clear majority in the recent election.
Gen Prayuth was a gruff, sometimes irascible leader, unaccustomed at first to having his decisions questioned by journalists, who he once jokingly threatened to have executed.
He deployed his fondness for singing after his coup by penning ballads promising to return happiness to the people, and was visibly frustrated when that failed to happen.
His was a relatively light-handed form of dictatorship, but his government was intolerant of dissent, and hundreds were prosecuted and jailed under a range of military decrees and national security laws, most notably the harsh lese majeste law, which was used extensively against those who questioned the role of the monarchy.
Gen Prayuth remained personally popular with many older Thais, but became the focus of younger protesters who opposed military rule.
His inability to revive Thailand’s slow-moving economy and the persistence of corruption in his administrations persuaded many Thais that he and his authoritarian style of leadership had to end, helping the youthful new Move Forward party, with its promise to end military interference in politics, to a stunning first place in the last election.
He may consider his greatest achievement as helping manage a difficult royal transition from the revered King Bhumibol, who had been on the throne for 70 years, to his much less popular son King Vajiralongkorn. This may well have been a primary reason for his coup.
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Mega Bangna explains escalator incident
Amid heightened concern since Don Mueang travelator incident, shopping centre issues timely report
The management of Mega Bangna shopping centre in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan have explained why an escalator suddenly stopped working on Tuesday.
The incident was accompanied by a loud noise and alarmed some customers, one of whom posted about it on Facebook.
The statement said the incident occurred at 4.51pm and was caused by an object that dropped onto the moving staircase and blocked its movement. This caused the safety switch to cut off the system, in line with safety standards.
The loud noise might have caused some alarm, but nobody was hurt.
The escalator was temporarily suspended from use while it was inspected and fixed.
All equipment used at the shopping centre was regularly checked and maintenance carried out, the statement said.
The management welcomed opinions and constructive advice to improve its services, the statement said.
Public concern about the safety of moving walkways has been heightened since an incident last month at Don Mueang Airport, where an accident on a travelator cost a 57-year-old woman a part of her left leg.
Airports of Thailand has ordered a thorough investigation by experts and is expected to release a public report soon.
Coroner urges proper life vest use after Singaporean found dead on Batam shore with unused lifejacket
SINGAPORE: A Singaporean who fell overboard at sea after performing maintenance work on a vessel was found dead on the shoreline of Batam, Indonesia, with an unactivated life vest.
Mr Abd Karim Ali, 58, had likely drowned, in what was a work-related death, State Coroner Adam Nakhoda found on Wednesday (Jul 12).
The coroner urged those in the industry to conduct briefings before workers attempt to transfer between vessels at sea.
He also said employees making such transfers must wear approved life vests and be taught how to use them, and that there should not be contradictory instructions on how to use them.
In Mr Karim’s case, there was a label on his life vest stating it would inflate automatically, even though it was a manual type that needed to be inflated by hand.
The coroner also said that workers at sea making transfers between vessels must maintain three-point contact, with three out of four limbs in contact with whatever vehicle or ladder they are climbing.
Mr Karim was part of a three-man crew tasked to perform maintenance work on a vessel off Eastern Petroleum A Anchorage, a sector of the Singapore port, on May 17, 2022.
The trio were disembarking the ship to take a company boat back to Marina South Pier, when the accident occurred.
Mr Karim, who was the only one of the three men who wore a life vest, hopped or lightly jumped across the gap between the two vessels.
When he landed, his lost his balance and fell backwards into the sea. He was carrying a backpack containing equipment weighing about 9kg.
His crew saw him fall and tried to rescue him, but he was swept away and they lost sight of him after he went under.
Search and rescue operations were futile.
Five days later Mr Karim’s younger brother alerted the Police Coast Guard to an Indonesian news article stating that an unknown decomposed body was found along a shoreline in Batam.
He believed it was his missing brother, and went to the hospital in Batam, where he recognised the clothing on the body as Mr Karim’s.
This was confirmed through fingerprint analysis after the body was taken back to Singapore.
SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS
After Mr Karim’s death, the Workplace Safety and Health Council issued an alert, recommending measures to prevent similar accidents.
These include a pre-transfer briefing for workers to be aware of the safe method of transfer, on-site hazards and personal protective equipment to be used.
The council said vessel transfers should not proceed if there are unfavourable weather or sea conditions, extensive vessel movement or if anyone feels unwell or that it is unsafe to proceed.
The council recommended that all belongings, loose items and equipment be packed into bags for separate transfer.
Boarding areas of service boats should not have slip or trip hazards, and should have sufficient handholds while remaining within the line of sight of the boat operator.
The council also proposed that a deckhand be deployed on the service boat and a gangway watch on the vessel, to supervise and assist workers during transfers and to activate emergency response and rescue procedures when required.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore recommended the use of Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) type-approved lifejackets, or a lifejacket meeting ISO12402 standards with performance level 100 or higher. Lifejackets should be checked to ensure good condition before use.
Mr Karim’s lifejacket had a performance level of 150.
Delivery riders, private-hire car drivers in Singapore will be able to seek representation from 2024
This comes after an Advisory Committee on Platform Workers said representation for platform workers should be enhanced.
Platform workers include delivery riders, private-hire car drivers and taxi drivers who use online platforms. There were around 88,000 platform workers in Singapore last year.
Recommendations from the tripartite workgroup take reference from the way unions represent employees in an industry or company, but adjustments were made based on differences between platform workers and employees.
During consultations, platform worker representatives said they need a legally empowered voice to negotiate with platform companies on issues such as improving earnings, welfare and work prospects.
At a dialogue with 120 platform workers, Dr Koh Poh Koon, adviser of the tripartite workgroup, said many workers want to have a voice for themselves and to “negotiate on a balanced relationship” with companies.
“With representative bodies, platform workers can better negotiate for (their) interests and platform operators will also benefit from clear processes and rules for negotiation, and more efficient dispute management,” said Dr Koh, who is also Senior Minister of State for Manpower.
Platform companies have internal processes for platform workers to provide feedback, submit enquiries and raise grievances, but there are challenges that limit workers from collectively voicing and negotiating, the workgroup said in a report.
When associations – such as the National Taxi Association, National Private Hire Vehicles Association and National Delivery Champions Association – negotiate with platform companies, there are obstacles to moving beyond an informal dialogue.
In a joint statement, representatives from the associations said platform workers can look forward to clear processes and rules that will make it easier to negotiate.
“As platform workers ourselves, we understand the unique struggles that platform workers face in our work,” they said.
NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng said the acceptance of the recommendations is a significant milestone.
“We seek to work closely with our partners and platform workers, to champion them in the areas of better wages, welfare and work prospects,” he said.
REPRESENTATION FOR PLATFORM WORKERS
A platform worker representative body will be able to obtain a mandate through direct recognition from the platform company or through a secret ballot after it has been registered with the government.
With the exception of those who are very new or inactive, all platform workers will be able to vote in the event of a secret ballot.
If an organisation informs a platform company that it intends to represent platform workers on Apr 1, those who signed up with the platform on or after Jan 1 would be considered “very new” and will not be eligible to vote.
“Inactive” workers who have not taken any jobs between Jan 1 and Apr 1 will also not be eligible.
In this way, the focus is on platform workers who have a greater stake in negotiated outcomes, the report said.
Voting will be conducted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and will be done electronically. MOM will determine the duration and date of the ballot, and disseminate information on how to access the voting system.
The representative body must gain majority support from those who vote, and at least 20 per cent of eligible workers must cast their votes for the poll to be valid.
That compares with an employee union needing majority support, or more than 50 per cent of all employees it seeks to represent, in order to obtain a mandate.
GPs being trained to treat paediatric patients with milder conditions under new programme by KKH, NUH
Children with life-threatening conditions are attended to first, and those assessed to have less severe ailments may have to wait longer for their turn. Common ailments include symptoms such as fever, cough, vomiting, diarrhoea, minor injuries and rashes, the statement added.
Speaking to CNA’s Singapore Tonight, KKH’s Emergency Medicine department head Associate Professor Sashikumar Ganapathy said that the partnership, which extends the hospitals’ reach, ensures that a child receives appropriate timely treatment while also getting an assessment on whether a trip to the children’s emergency is really necessary.
MANY DO NOT NEED EMERGENCY CARE
His hospital sees about 15,000 paediatric emergency cases every month on average while the number is at 3,800 for NUH, Assoc Prof Sashikumar noted.
“A large number of children who come to our children’s emergencies are found to have very common ailments that do not really require emergency care,” he said, adding that the programme is meant to ensure that a child who really needs such care can be attended to as soon as possible.
“Time is especially crucial for those who come to our children’s emergency with life-threatening conditions. If we are able to give them immediate treatment, it can actually save their lives.”
Assoc Prof Sashikumar, who is also a senior consultant, added that children with mild to moderate symptoms who go to the private doctors will experience a shorter waiting time and receive appropriate treatment and medication, which can help ease their discomfort even sooner.
Thai police detain suspects who abducted, dismembered German businessman
BANGKOK: Thai police have detained two people in connection with the abduction and killing of German businessman Hans-Peter Mack, whose dismembered body was found in a freezer in a southern Thailand home, local media reported on Wednesday (Jul 12).
A 52-year-old German man was apprehended in Bangkok on Tuesday evening, and a 47-year-old German woman turned herself in earlier in the day, according to the Khaosod newspaper.
Police also identified three more suspects, including a Pakistani man with Thai citizenship
They said the gang had targeted the 62-year-old real estate broker and was well-prepared after planning for more than a month, reported Khaosod.
Authorities added that the female German suspect had deceived Mack into entering the house “for property purposes”.
The report also quoted a police official as saying 3 million baht (US$86,000) was transferred to several accounts and that they believe there are more individuals involved in the crime.
The body of the 62-year-old was on Monday night stuffed found into a chest freezer in a home in Nong Prue, an upscale settlement popular with foreigners northeast of Pattaya in Chonburi province.
He had been missing for a week and was seen driving his Mercedes sedan in Pattaya, the coastal city where he lived with his Thai wife.
Questions remain about Indonesiaâs reparations program
Last month, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced a reparation program for victims of past human-rights abuses. Speaking in Aceh province, Widodo stated that this resolution “is needed to heal the nation’s pain caused by past gross human-rights violations, which have left a heavy burden for the victims.”
Reparations will come in the form of financial settlements, scholarships and cash payments for victims and their families.
The comes after Widodo expressed his “deep regret” in January for historical abuses committed on behalf of the Indonesian state. This was a result of an unprecedented investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights, a key election promise by the president.
At the time, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed Widodo’s comments as a “step on the long road to justice for victims and their loved ones.”
The 12 abuses eligible for reparations occurred between 1965 and 2003, including a deadly purge of suspected communists from 1965, the shooting of protesters in 1982 and 1985, and the gunning down of students in the late 1990s.
Severe abuses were also documented during conflicts in the Aceh and Papua regions. Overall, is it estimated that more than 500,000 people were killed.
These steps are a culmination of attempts by Widodo to deal with past human-rights abuses since he was elected in 2014. The announcement offers more than just an apology and is a historic opportunity to right the wrongs of Indonesia’s dark past.
But there are problems – and detractors.
The government’s announcement lacked crucial detail. The number of people who will be eligible for reparations was not disclosed, nor any targets, and the process for applying for compensation is unclear.
The National Commission on Human Rights has estimated there are between 500,000 and 3 million victims and survivors from 1965 purges alone and that, so far, only 6,400 victims had been verified from eligible atrocities.
Rights groups express concerns
This raises questions about how serious the government is in rolling out the program and justifies fears that victims and their families will not be identified, and that only a small fraction will have access to reparations.
Human-rights groups have been critical, claiming Widodo has ignored some atrocities, such as those carried out by Indonesian security forces in Timor-Leste between 1975 and 1999, extrajudicial killings in Tanjung Priok district, North Jakarta, in 1984 and the killing of civilians in Paniai, Central Papua province, in 2014.
The same groups also argue that reparations do not go far enough and that the government’s expressions of regret are meaningless unless crimes are legally resolved in the courts and perpetrators tried and jailed.
This includes Amnesty International, which welcomed the announcement but warned it “must include accountability” and that it was crucial to “bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law and human-rights violations to justice in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts – and put an end to impunity.”
A representative for Human Rights Watch reacted to the announcement by saying it was a “step forward” and “better than nothing” but that it was “not enough.”
Widodo has confirmed that while the government was focusing on a “non-judicial resolution” through reparations, this will not come at the expense of or replace any legal action taken by victims and their families.
But critics are right to worry. Indonesia has a history of not holding perpetrators to account.
A report from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence found that police and security forces were responsible for 72 extrajudicial killings last year.
While six soldiers have been arrested for their involvement in the deaths of four Papuans in Mimika regency of the Papua region, the vast majority of Indonesian security forces continue to enjoy a large degree of impunity.
It also remains commonplace for prominent military figures associated with past atrocities to hold key positions in government.
For example, Major-General Untung Budiharto, alleged perpetrator of enforced disappearances under the Suharto regime, was appointed as commander of the Greater Jakarta Command Area last year. Prabowo Subianto, Budiharto’s commander, was made minister of defense in 2019.
If Widodo is serious about providing justice for victims of human-rights abuses, his administration needs to walk the talk.
This can be achieved by thoroughly and impartially investigating anyone suspected of past abuses, including government officials, the military and police. If there is sufficient evidence, these people should be prosecuted publicly in criminal, not military, courts.
The government should also work to ensure that the reparations program is adequately funded and has the resources and scope to identify as many past victims and their families as possible.
Finally, human-rights abuses should be prevented in the present and future. Indonesian security forces continue to commit abuses, particularly in the remote Papua region, and against journalists and human-rights activists. The government should take a no-tolerance approach to human rights and hold any perpetrators accountable.
Indonesia is taking legitimate steps to reckon with its dark history, but more needs to be done. Until this occurs, victims and their families will not get the justice they deserve.