Commentary: South Korea’s gender imbalance is bad news for men

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A PREFERENCE FOR SONS

There are several reasons why South Korea’s SRB was out of balance for 30 years.

South Korea experienced a rapid fertility decline in a 20- to 30-year period beginning in the 1960s. From six children per woman in 1960, fertility fell to four children in 1972, then to two children in 1984. By 2022, South Korea’s fertility rate had dropped to 0.82 – the lowest fertility rate in the world and far below the rate of 2.1 needed to replace the population.

Yet, South Korea’s long-held cultural preference for sons did not shift as quickly as childbearing declined. Having at least one son was a strong desire influencing fertility preferences in South Korea, especially up through the early years of the 21st century.

And the declining fertility rate posed a problem. When women have many children, the probability that at least one will be a boy is high. With only two children, the probability that neither will be a son is around 25 per cent, and when women have only one child, it is less than 50 per cent.

In order to ensure that families would continue to have boys, many South Koreans turned to readily available techniques to identify the gender of the foetus, such as screening in the early stages of pregnancy. Abortion, which is legal and socially acceptable in South Korea, was then often used to allow families to select the sex of their child.

SEX BY THE NUMBERS

In South Korea, beginning in around 1980 and lasting up to around 2010 or so, many more extra boys were born than girls. When these extra boys reach adulthood and start looking for South Korean girls to marry, many will be unsuccessful.

The extra boys born in the 1980s and 1990s are now of marriage age, and many will be looking to marry and start a family. Many more will be reaching marriage age in the next two decades.

I have calculated that owing to the unbalanced SRBs in South Korea between 1980 and 2010, about 700,000 to 800,000 extra boys were born.

Already this is having an effect in a society where over the centuries virtually everyone was expected to marry, and where marriage was nearly universal. Recent research by Statistics Korea showed that in 2023, only around 36 per cent of South Koreans between the ages of 19 and 34 intended to get married; this is a decline from over 56 per cent in 2012.

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Commentary: Anwar moves to slow down the rise of PAS with new deputy religious affairs minister

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An Islamic mass-based organisation established in 1971, ABIM started out in student and youth activism on Malaysia’s university campuses. ABIM quickly gained fame and expanded its members’ activities into the education and economic sectors, including lecturing at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. ABIM gradually moved into local and global humanitarian and charitable causes, and was a pioneer in promoting interfaith dialogue in Malaysia.

AN INSTRUMENTAL ALLY TO ANWAR IBRAHIM

ABIM was an instrumental ally to Anwar when he was part of then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s administration in the 1980s and 1990s. This was not surprising since Anwar was one of the founders and former leaders of ABIM.

In fact, ABIM activists spearheaded the Policy on Inculcating Islamic Values introduced by Mahathir at that time. ABIM was also seen as responsible for promoting the concept of “Madani” which Anwar first coined in 1997.

Unlike groups such as Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) which had direct links with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), ABIM was known for utilising MB’s recruitment methods and activities to expand their membership, although they emphasised a Malaysian approach.

In her post on X (formerly Twitter) welcoming Zulkifli to the administration, Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek stated that he has been her “source of reference” on various issues, adding that he is an authoritative and young intellectual. This is significant, given that Fadhlina is the daughter of the late Siddiq Fadzil, the great maestro of ABIM who served as its president from 1983 to 1991. He was famous among university students, cultural activists, educators and even clerics for his leadership style.

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Commentary: Japan Airlines ‘miracle escape’ is precisely why passengers should listen to safety briefings

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HOW TO GET People TO Give Interest

Making safety meetings more engaging for individuals may be one way to encourage them to pay closer attention.

The in-flight security video from Singapore Airlines, which was created in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board and features well-known locations throughout the island, is very fascinating to watch. Along with British Airways ‘ Disney-themed film and Air Canada’s, which stars tennis player Emma Raducanu, musician Little Simz, and sex education professional Ncuti Gatwa.

Virtual humans are featured in Korean Air’s most recent inflight picture, which was released on January 4 in a nod to modern technology.

With these new concepts, we hope to alter how passengers perceive inflight protection videos, making them more relevant and interesting, according to a Korean Air representative.

However, aside from videos, there has n’t been much of a change in how passengers have been informed about safety. How you airlines use creativity to persuade customers to put down their phones for five minutes so they can listen to a safety presentation?

Education and tests are being done more frequently in cabin simulators for crew members to simulate the conditions they might experience during an evacuation. Had passengers be subjected to a related 3D model? To create safety instructions more understandable and enjoyable, how about an engaging app or handheld display?

In an emergency, people are more likely to maintain their composure if they take their cabin safety briefings significantly. Getting the message across earliest is crucial.

At CNA Digital, Alison Jenner serves as Supervising Editor and is in charge of &nbsp, writings.

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Commentary: Taiwan’s slowing growth and national security

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China is no longer dependable for boosting socioeconomic development.

During the Cold War, Taiwan’s regional defense was crucially supported by a robust economy. Taiwan dedicated 6 to 11 % of its GDP to bolstering its regional defense between 1951 and 1991, a time when the economy was booming.

Taiwan’s financial growth has slowed down since the 2000s. Military spending as a percentage of GDP has decreased from 10 % in 1961 to 6 % in 1991 due to increased demand for social welfare spending. Taiwan’s military spending will simply make up 2.6 % of its GDP in 2024, despite having a higher defense budget.

Taiwan has relied on exporting technologically advanced technological goods to China since the 1990s to maintain economic growth. Following its democratic peace with the United States, China’s financial liberalization has made the cross-strait production network functional.

However, China is no longer dependable for Taiwan to grow its economy, according to the country’s mounting social conflict with the United States, real estate crisis, stagnant household consumption, and rising local government debts.

Taiwan’s development model, which relied on sending transitional products to China for ultimate assembly, is evolving. Taiwan’s total exports from China and Hong Kong decreased from 44 % in 2020 to 35 % in 2023. In the meantime, the proportion of imports to the United States, Europe, and ASEAN nations as a whole increased by 7 %.

Taiwan’s investment in China decreased by 17 % to US$ 2.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, which is significantly less than its$ 9.6 billion US investment and slightly higher than theUS$ 2.3 billion Singapore investment. According to China’s salary increases, more stringent labor laws, and environmental regulations, Taiwan began to invest less in the country before 2013.

Geopolitical tensions between the US and China since 2018 have accelerated the evacuation of investments. Taiwan’s funding away from China will continue to be hampered by the continued political tensions between the US and China, the economic slowdown of the Chinese government, its restrictions on private enterprise, and its growing hostility toward foreign traders.

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Commentary: Heed the warning of Japan New Year's Day earthquake

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One of many adjustments to the building code that have been made since World War II as the country learned how to adapt to its numerous catastrophe, that structure was constructed in 1972, a century before an reform of Japan’s national andnbsp, building standards. One of the reasons I still support Japan’s unreserved method to demolishing ancient structures and replacing them with new ones is because of these same standards.

Storm defenses likewise held up; reviewers love to criticize Japan’s preference for using concrete to solve problems, but presumably scenery-damaging nbsp, tetrapods, and seawalls occasionally prove their worth. &nbsp,

GETTING READY FOR CALAMITIES THAT WE CAN’TAVOID

However, the message being conveyed here is not that the nation is impervious to harm. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 sounds ( and is ) large. However, the range is nonlinear, meaning that the 2011 earthquake of magnitude 9 temblor&nbsp released more than 125 times as much energy as the New Year’s aftershock.

Building seawalls wo n’t be able to stop all the damage caused by such a tsunami; instead, we must take lessons from the past and gradually move away from these coasts.

That Japan was n’t serendipitous, hit harder on New Year’s Day. However, it is almost certain that it will receive a more significant blow quickly.

According to government estimates, a long-awaited follow of the 1923 earthquake that struck immediately beneath Tokyo could result in up to 23, 000 fatalities from fires and fell buildings. Even replacing the stock of pre-1981 buildings wo n’t completely eliminate the risk of fire, despite the nation’s best efforts.

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Commentary: Neon still has a hold on the hearts of Hongkongers

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” Whenever I went for a tour in Hong Kong in the 1980s or 1990s, I was greeted by the lake of fluorescent,” said the author. According to advocate Cardin Chan, who works for the nonprofit Tetra Neon Exchange, it exuded a sense of belonging or home. ” To be seen, companies had to battle.” ” They could shake hands with each other,” she said, referring to symptoms that were so close. &nbsp,

NOSTALGIA AND Growth

The symptoms hark back to an earlier, more rollicking time in a city that has seen significant tumult in recent years, including strong clampdown on protesters and greater power by Beijing. &nbsp,

Neon serves as a reminder of Chan’s children. She recalled a youth in which she claimed that the lamps had to be kept on even during the oil crisis, saying that “brightness equal prosperity.” She said,” You could see how crucial brightness was to Hong Kong in making an ( positive ) impression on outsiders. &nbsp,

She acknowledges that the memories for neon may be more profound for some people. Chan remarked,” It is sentimental, you ca n’t avoid it, especially with the changes of the last few years.” The handwriting, metalwork, and setup all date back to a time when cottage industries predominated in Hong Kong. &nbsp,

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Commentary: No, seriously, this is one Japan scandal that’s important

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POTENTIAL FOR WIDER IMPLICATIONS

It’s likely that if the prime minister does depart, key programmes such as defence and semiconductor spending will be taken up by a successor. But don’t underestimate Kishida’s ability to get things done: Abe, too, dreamed of doubling the defense budget but couldn’t get it passed.

Kishida has made it a key policy, even if he hasn’t figured out how to pay for it. Conversely, party unity forced Kishida to retreat from more left-leaning economic policies touted before he took office. A prolonged decline of the Abe faction might endanger that. 

The scandal could even affect monetary policy. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda wouldn’t discuss the impact when asked Tuesday (Dec 19). But analysts are already speculating that a sidelining of the Abe faction, which supports easy money, would make it easier for the BOJ to end negative rates. Alternately, Kishida (or a successor) might wish to avoid any more turmoil; that might have been the message his economy minister was sent to deliver when Yoshitaka Shindo, unusually, attended Tuesday’s central bank meeting. 

Further out, the ruling coalition makeup and even the party itself could be under threat. Calls to eliminate factions entirely will likely grow. The LDP’s long-standing partnership with junior coalition partner Komeito has been in rough waters for some time, and this could end it; as Harris writes, the “predictable stability that characterised Japanese politics since 2012 is in all likelihood over”.

Japan has largely avoided the trend of populism that has consumed many countries over the past decade. But if it starts to lose seats, the LDP might be forced to make friends with some less mainstream parties – opening the door for more fringe figures.

There’s also a danger that, as has happened elsewhere, this affair could exacerbate public disillusionment with the system itself and spill over into something much less palatable – a concern made worse by the lack of a convincing mainstream opposition that could step in to take over from the LDP. 

One way or another, we’re witnessing a moment with the potential to redefine Japanese politics in profound and unexpected ways. This time it’s worth paying attention. 

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Commentary: The missing piece in Malaysia’s muddled Bumiputera governance debate

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KUALA LUMPUR: Ethnic Malay interests remain front and centre in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Malaysia Madani. An uptick in ethnic polarisation and a poor showing by parties from Anwar’s unity government in Malay-majority seats in 2023’s state elections leave the administration under pressure to shore up Malay support.

To that end, the Malaysian government will be wheeling out a Bumiputera economic congress in January 2024 (Bumiputera, meaning “sons of the soil” in Malay, is an official term for Malays and indigenous ethnic communities).

Decades after the inception of the New Economic Policy affirmative action program and its various reincarnations, Anwar has flagged the need to review the use of Malay corporate equity as the yardstick of Bumiputera empowerment and move towards a “participation rate and … control of the Bumiputera economy (that are) more meaningful”.

This is a step in the right direction. Malaysia’s muddled Bumiputera empowerment plans and metrics are in dire need of change.

Championing Malay corporate equity is historically synonymous with Bumiputera empowerment. But the approach fails to empower the Malay majority and sidelines vulnerable communities while enriching the politically connected.

UPROAR OVER BOUSTEAD PLANTATIONS SALE

Yet the recent uproar over the arranged sale of Boustead Plantations (BPlant) – a Bumiputera government-linked company (or GLC, denoting part or whole state ownership) – to the primarily Malaysian Chinese-owned multinational company Kuala Lumpur Kepong suggests two things.

First, securing buy-in for non-equity metrics will be an uphill battle because of political sensitivities. Second, significant issues, such as the principal-agent problem in Bumiputera empowerment agendas, remain unaddressed.

The government extended financial lifelines to the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) in October. LTAT is a government-linked investment company (GLIC) legally mandated to provide retirement earnings to Malaysia’s military personnel through profits generated via the GLCs in which it – or LTAT’s holding company Boustead Holdings – holds stakes.

The roster of GLCs includes BPlant, Boustead Naval Shipyards and Pharmaniaga – all of which have added to LTAT’s financial woes by underperforming, due to mismanagement and corruption.

Successive CEOs have undertaken asset fire-sales and divestments to alleviate LTAT’s debts and improve cash flow, most recently through BPlant’s sale to Kuala Lumpur Kepong. But this acquisition was cancelled at the last minute. While LTAT did not clarify why, several factors suggest that racial optics deterred the acquisition.

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Commentary: ASEAN leadership needed when US is distracted by wars and election

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There are few visible efforts from Southeast Asian capitals to invest in updating the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) so that it can more effectively perform its existing mandate in a more contested and uncertain world. Otherwise, committing to at least starting ASEAN reform or the development of related Southeast Asia-based mechanisms would seem like a reasonable approach to evolving conditions.

There is a tendency among regional actors to look at ad hoc bi-lateral or mini-lateral arrangements involving both regional and extra-regional actors to address economic and security needs. Examples include Cambodia and Thailand’s enhanced bilateral military cooperation with China, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework as well as the Malacca Strait and Sulu Sea patrols. Ironically, this could result in more of the global and regional fragmentation many Southeast Asian capitals seek to avoid.

SOUTHEAST ASIA HAS A CHOICE TO MAKE

Both Southeast and Northeast Asia historically gained from a United States committed to supporting economic liberalisation and stability, along with a China that came around to accepting and gaining from this arrangement from the late 1970s.

Not all people benefitted from the liberal order advanced by their actions. The Korean War, the three Indochina Wars, China’s support for the Khmer Rouge, as well as the excesses of anti-communism and the War on Terror underscore the very real human costs that came with the prosperity and partial stability.

Whatever its faults, the liberal, rules-based order is now under challenge. Both the United States and China are now more suspicious of each other’s intentions, with the former looking more inward and toward its allies on economic and security terms, even as the latter focuses on its domestic economy and resisting external pressure.

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Commentary: The first debate unveils the character of Indonesia’s 2024 presidential campaign

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THE ROUND ONE WINNER IS …

The inaugural debate focused on six themes: Law, human rights, governance, corruption eradication, bureaucratic reform and the fortification of democracy. Moderated by two hosts, the event featured 11 panelists comprising subject matter experts who had meticulously formulated the debate questions and were responsible for randomly picking questions for the three candidates to address.

The participants could pose selected questions to one another and there were some heated exchanges, mainly between Prabowo and Anies. However, in a display of political finesse, all three seasoned politicians adeptly navigated the harder questions without providing definitive answers.

In this author’s view, the standout performance of the night belonged to Anies Baswedan, who presented himself as a candidate advocating for change. He appeared assertive and went on the offensive early, clearly positioning himself as a catalyst for transformation.

Leveraging his intellectual background, Anies was exceptionally at ease and energetic in the debate. He skillfully incorporated data to bolster his arguments. By making “change” the central theme and mission of his campaign, Anies strategically drew a sharp contrast between himself and President Jokowi’s administration, establishing himself as a formidable opposition figure.

On the flip side, Prabowo Subianto appeared defensive, particularly when addressing his first question on past human rights violations in Papua and Anies’ challenge to him on the Constitutional Court’s decision allowing Gibran to run as a vice-presidential contender.

Answering the charge that he was behind the kidnappings of pro-democracy activists in 1997-98, Prabowo countered that those problems had already been resolved. He bluntly asserted that even democracy activists who were once victims of kidnappings now supported him. An activist who was imprisoned during the New Order era, Budiman Sudjatmiko, former head of the leftist People’s Democratic Party, visibly endorsed Prabowo by raising his hand from the audience stand at that point.

Ganjar Pranowo assumed a middle ground and appeared somewhat uncertain about his stance, while avoiding drawing sharp contrasts with Jokowi. Ganjar’s positioning, seemingly vying for the role of Jokowi’s successor against Prabowo, might prove risky in the election. Ganjar’s debate performance lacked memorable moments even though he seemed at ease and confident, as it left voters with little to recall.

Prabowo and Anies undeniably commanded the stage. When Anies further probed Prabowo’s human rights record, it revealed Prabowo’s quick temper and tendency to condescend. Near the end of the debate, Prabowo defiantly declared he did not fear losing power. To the audience’s (albeit mainly his supporters) delight, he mocked Anies at least twice by shaking his head when addressing him, and even engaging in a gesture from his “goyang gemoy” dance.

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