Commentary ,Asia (Page 25)

SINGAPORE: A quintessential Thai-style hung parliament has emerged after the Thai Senate twice obstructed Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader and prime ministerial candidate of the Move Forward Party (MFP), in his bid to become Thailand’s 30th prime minister.

The fiery contention between the country’s political parties has led the Pheu Thai Party to exclude the MFP as a coalition partner. The political deadlock shows little signs of resolution, as questions linger about the Senate’s readiness to endorse Srettha Thavisin of Pheu Thai as an alternative candidate. 

During the first parliamentary meeting to select the prime minister on Jul 13, the Senate, which consists of 250 members hand-picked by the military government in early 2019, overwhelmingly abstained or voted against Pita’s candidacy. They accused the MFP of attempting to subvert the monarchy by campaigning to amend Article 112 or the lese-majeste law. 

Consequently, the MFP-led coalition, consisting of eight parties, fell 51 votes short of a majority endorsement from the bicameral parliament (that is, 375 out of 749 votes). 

On Jul 19, the Senate reaffirmed its opposition to Pita by voting against his renomination. The rationale was that Pita’s renomination constituted a motion that had already lapsed, making it ineligible for resubmission in that parliamentary session, according to Rule 41 of the parliamentary rules and procedures.

THAI SENATE OPPOSITION NO SURPRISE

The Senate’s opposition to Pita comes as no surprise, given that most of its members were appointed by the National Council for Peace and Order established after the May 2014 military coup. The Senate predominantly consists of individuals closely linked to the junta, including friends, relatives, and former members of the junta’s Cabinet, lawmakers and top active-duty military commanders. 

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BREAD AND BUTTER CONCERNS

The Malaysian job landscape presents a dual-sided coin with its own complexities.

Despite being an upper middle-income economy, Malaysia has grappled with persistently modest average graduate pay scales.

According to the Socso survey, 28.7 per cent of graduates’ placements in 2022 started below RM1,999 (US$440) a month.

The average household in Malaysia spent RM5,150 per month in 2022, according to the Household Income and Household Expenditure Survey released last month.

Employers often cite education-job mismatches as a reason for stagnant wages, alongside what they perceive as lacklustre work attitudes from graduate employees. Conversely, many graduates may be hesitant to work for employers who offer what they consider inadequate or subpar wages.

In the Socso graduate job survey, data showed that close to 65 per cent – nearly two-thirds – of those underemployed went into “sales and services”.

It can be argued that these underemployed graduates may prefer the often commission-based remuneration schemes associated with such roles, which they may feel are more commensurate with their job contribution. Others within this category might take up essentially franchised independent-contractor positions, such as e-hailing, which gives them greater flexibility over their schedules.

In the realm of “sales and services”, these graduates, while perhaps still mildly perturbed at being underemployed, are likely to be more preoccupied with practical concerns such as meeting sales targets and fulfilling financial commitments.

Politically, they would be more likely to prefer parties they perceive as effective in managing the economy and rolling out socioeconomic policies with promises of tangible improvements to their livelihoods, irrespective of whether their employment status aligns with their educational qualifications.

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NEW DELHI: Not for the first time in its modern history, Pakistan’s judiciary – tacitly backed by the rest of its “establishment” – appears to be seeking to snuff out the career of a leading politician.

Late last week, former Prime Minister Imran Khan was convicted of misappropriating official gifts. He has been sentenced to three years in prison and cannot stand for election for five years.

Khan claims, not without reason, that the slew of legal proceedings against him are intended to keep him from contesting the next general elections, expected this fall. Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI, has won a streak of by-elections since being forced out of power last year and had a good chance of returning to power.

That prospect is anathema to Pakistan’s establishment, in which the military plays a dominant role. After first embracing Khan’s insurgent, Islamist, anti-US rhetoric, the generals have more recently recoiled against his increasingly direct, populist attacks.

Past Pakistani leaders, including Khan’s predecessor Nawaz Sharif, have been disqualified on equally flimsy grounds.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN KHAN AND TRUMP

In many ways, though, Khan’s hold over his followers is unique – closer to that wielded by a figure such as former US president Donald Trump, himself caught up in an expanding legal morass. Neither man’s opponents should celebrate too soon.

On the one hand, it is true that the populist movements led by figures such as Khan and Trump are highly dependent on their personalities.

Khan’s decades in the public eye as the charismatic captain of the national cricket team mean that his followers see him not as a “regular” politician but as a successful celebrity outsider capable of transforming the country.

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But if we continue to accept these supposed norms, we do so at the expense of gender equality and women’s well-being and mental health.

“By perpetuating gender inequality and economic disempowerment, unpaid care and domestic work affect women’s health, their education and employment opportunities while also increasing their vulnerability to violence,” APEC said in the 2022 report. 

An analysis of 19 studies covering 70,310 people globally, published by The Lancet Public Health in 2022, also found that the more of this unpaid labour women do, the worse their mental health. 

This is a good reason to stop perpetuating gender stereotypes and raising generations who think it is acceptable for women to shoulder the bulk of household and caregiving responsibilities.

Gendered expectations start from young. If girls are expected to clean up after meals, while boys are allowed to slack off – because girls are more organised and well, boys are just being boys – they will grow up thinking this is the norm.

“We have to educate and advocate for mindset changes towards gender roles and ‘de-feminise’ the caregiving and household responsibilities,” said Georgette Tan, president at United Women Singapore, in the Ipsos report. “By ensuring shared responsibilities, this will allow women more time for self-care, pursue their career aspirations and contribute even more to the community.” 

TAKING THE INITIATIVE

Men need to realise that they play an equally essential role in raising their children and maintaining the household. They need to step up their game.

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WE’RE TOO SELF-CONSCIOUS

But it’s unlikely the facekini will find its place in Singapore for now, even with our year-round summer climate. According to the National Environment Agency, UV radiation can reach very high levels between 11am and 3pm on a day with little cloud cover in Singapore.

Women here may be willing to spend on our beauty routines but we are still a relatively coy bunch who will be too self-conscious walking around the beach or downtown in a facekini. The humidity certainly doesn’t help encourage us to put on an accessory likely to make us perspire even more.

It’s far easier to hide from UV rays under an umbrella or dodge into an air-conditioned shopping mall.

Those who do rigorous sports may also find a facekini inconvenient compared to slathering on sunscreen or wearing a cap for UV protection.

Something that offers sun protection while being more discreet than a facekini may yet find its market here.

A recent trend of using “sun patches” has already picked up in South Korea. These are UV-protective plasters pasted on the high points of the face where UV rays tend to hit first to act as a physical barrier and help with sun protection.

These first gained popularity among golfers and are beginning to be seen on Korean beachgoers, especially after members of K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN were seen using them in a TV programme.

And if the trend of using sun protection accessories goes on in South Korea, it might not be long before the beauty-conscious crowd decides to go all out and invest in a well-designed, more fashionable facekini.

So hold in your laughter for now. Because who knows, after a few K-pop idols are seen wearing it for both sun protection and privacy, we may start seeing trendy people in facekinis lounging along the beaches of Sentosa.

Kristen Juliet Soh is the editorial director and co-founder of Daily Vanity.

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Meanwhile, through the BURMA Act – incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act and signed by President Joe Biden in December 2022 – the US pledged to provide nonlethal assistance, such as medical supplies, radar equipment and armored military vehicles, to pro-democratic forces in Burma.

Although this is welcomed by supporters of Myanmar democracy, it nonetheless makes it harder to force a weakened opposition to the negotiating table – especially if it believes it is winning the war.

And finally, although the junta is finding it difficult to force an emboldened pro-democracy opposition into submission, it is still the strongest party in the conflict. Knowing that might make it more reluctant to negotiate.

As it is, any mediator faces the problem of trying to force a military junta used to being in power and accustomed to impunity over its actions to the table.

WHAT IS INDONESIA’S ROLE?

So where does that leave Indonesia’s attempt to play regional peacemaker?

Patience is understandably running thin for international observers who watch the military junta committing atrocities on the opposition daily. Some have called on Indonesia to suspend Myanmar’s ASEAN membership.

Although Indonesia and the rest of ASEAN member states decided not to invite the representative of the junta to attend this year’s summit, they are unlikely to suspend its ASEAN membership out of concern for destabilising the region further.

As an aspiring regional power, Indonesia has the ability to harness not only its economic and military weight but its moral voice by continuing to appeal to warring parties to better protect the lives of Myanmar civilians.

Getting the combatants to agree to end the violence might be an unattainable goal during its tenure as the chair of ASEAN. But if Indonesia is to become a stabilising leader in the region, it will need to continue efforts long after it relinquishes that role in December 2023.

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SYDNEY: Myanmar’s commanders have huge shown an incredible capacity for both memory and ignorance. This occasionally serves them soon. When the earth even thinks about Myanmar, a large portion of it neither remembers nor learns.

Therefore, on Tuesday( Aug 1 ), Myanmar’s ruling junta announced that some important members of the democratically elected government it overthrew in February 2021 would receive shorter prison terms.

Aung San Suu Kyi‘s 33-year sentence was reduced by six times after she was overwhelmingly elected position advocate in November 2020. Win Myint, the former leader of Myanmar, had his word reduced by four years. Another social prisoners’ sentences may also be reduced in the near future. & nbsp,

The defense junta extended the state of crisis it claims to act by an additional six weeks one day prior to the word cuts. In violation of its own law, which only permits two extensions, this was the third such extension.

NOT SOMETHING TO BE CELEBRATED IS Limited Reprimand

This information will be loudly proclaimed as a positive growth signifying real change by cynics, the naive, gullible, and several vested interests in military principle in Myanmar. No, it isn’t. Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Myint, and any of the various political prisoners who are being mistreated in Myanmar’s appalling prisons shouldn’t even be present.

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His exposure to different ideas and approaches is likely to play a role in shaping his leadership style in both domestic and international political landscapes.

The relationship between Cambodia and the US has been tense due to the US’ interference in Cambodia’s democracy and human rights issues.

After the election, the US derided the polls as “neither free nor fair” and announced visa bans on individuals it said had undermined democracy. It also paused several foreign assistance programmes in Cambodia.  

“As the ruling Cambodian People’s Party forms a new government, authorities have an opportunity to improve the country’s international standing, including by restoring genuine multi-party democracy, ending politically motivated trials, reversing convictions of government critics, and allowing independent media outlets to reopen and function without interference,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

China, Cambodia’s key partner country, on the other hand congratulated Hun Sen on his victory. 

“China and Cambodia belong to one community with a shared future,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping in his congratulatory letter. 

Although the Cambodia-China relationship is expected to remain core to the nation’s foreign policy, under Hun Manet’s administration, a robust implementation of hedging and diversification strategies is expected.

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