KUALA LUMPUR: A fire broke out at the Mid Valley Megamall, one of Kuala Lumpur’s biggest and most popular malls on Wednesday (May 17). In a statement, the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department said that there were no injuries or casualties reported. “The personnel used offensive and defensive methodsContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: Bankruptcy applications by individuals in Singapore could pick up further, as a “small segment of more vulnerable borrowers” face higher risks of financial distress amid rising interest rates and slower economic growth, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan on Tuesday (May 9).
Such applications came in at 959 for the first quarter of this year, slightly higher than the average quarterly figure of 912 in 2022, he said in response to a parliamentary question from MP Saktiandi Supaat (PAP-Bishan-Toa Payoh).
Mr Saktiandi asked for updates on the household debt situation in Singapore, to which Mr Tan replied: “Naturally households with outstanding mortgages will see higher borrowing costs, as interest rates rise from the exceptionally low levels in the past decade.
“They will face the impact of a rise at different points of time, depending on the types of loan packages that they have taken up.”
As of the first quarter of 2023, about 38 per cent of mortgages extended by financial institutions for private residential property purchases are floating rate packages that move in tandem with market interest rates.
The remaining 62 per cent are either on fixed-rate mortgages, or loan packages with rates linked to board rates or fixed deposit rates.
He also cited a separate written parliamentary reply issued on Monday, which noted that nearly 27,000 homeowners had refinanced their mortgages with financial institutions between March 2022 and February this year.
These refinanced mortgages account for 6 per cent of the total number of outstanding mortgage loans.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) estimated that the increase in mortgage payments for these borrowers was about S$240 on average, or nearly 2 per cent of their monthly income.
By comparison, the average monthly income of the 27,000 homeowners who refinanced their loans had increased by about 10 per cent over the last three years, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in the written reply.
Reiterating that, Mr Tan said the higher increase in income over the past three years versus home loan rates would have helped to cushion the impact of higher mortgage repayments on homeowners.
As extreme heat settles over the region, tensions have reached a boiling point in the Rohingya refugee camps of Bangladesh.
Accounts of murder, human trafficking, domestic violence and increased militancy from armed Rohingya groups have become routine. A number of major fires, suspected to be the work of arsonists, have caused mass homelessness since the beginning of the year. And straining things even further, in March, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced a nearly 17% cut to the refugees’ monthly food vouchers.
Legally restricted from getting jobs in Bangladesh, blocked from re-entering Myanmar with citizens’ rights and with little chance of being resettled elsewhere, many of the roughly 1 million Rohingya living in the crowded camps of Cox’s Bazar are making plans to flee by any means necessary. Besides the many who have already cast off into the Andaman Sea on rickety boats, nearly a dozen refugees who spoke with Southeast Asia Globe told of community aspirations such as obtaining false documents to integrate into Bangladesh society or even attempting to cross back into their native Rakhine State of Myanmar, despite the spiraling conflict there following the 2021 military coup.
Camp resident Abdul Hamid* said he was motivated to return to Myanmar because of his four-year-old son. Explaining that he himself has a university education, he saw no prospects for his child to have a good life in the camps and feared the consequences of staying there.
“I have a very talented and intelligent young boy and I know his future would be better if I could just leave camp,” he said, adding that his personal safety was also a concern. “I fear for my life in the camps, as extremists may target educated people.”
Crossing back into Myanmar was a consideration for many who spoke with Globe. But Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition advocacy group, said this is a dangerous move.
“Repatriation without guarantees of ethnic and citizenship rights, the right to return to original villages, freedom of movement, and equal rights as other ethnic groups is like returning to the killing field,” he said.
In 2017, more than 750,000 Rohingya fled in a mass exodus from Myanmar’s Rakhine State across the border to coastal Cox’s Bazar. Since then, conditions in these densely populated camps have steadily worsened.
This deterioration is paralleled by escalating hardship across Myanmar, where the ruling junta has carried out mass killings, arbitrary arrests and other abuses in a bid to defeat several insurgencies and consolidate its rule.
Plans from the government of Bangladesh to resettle the refugees in their native Rakhine State of Myanmar has been widely condemned due to human rights concerns there, particularly the military junta’s continued repression of Rohingya residents. As the violence continues to escalate, the prospect of a safe repatriation feels more distant by the day, leaving those in Cox’s Bazar with seemingly no good options.
Many Rohingya have tried to gain sponsorship to countries such as the U.S., but have failed. An increase in dangerous, and often fatal, sea journeys to third countries, such as Thailand or Malaysia, has been widely reported.
“There’s no doubt the situation has become much more desperate in the camps, with the food ration cuts, increased violence, restrictions on livelihoods and increased Bangladesh government repression of refugees’ rights,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia division director of Human Rights Watch. “These factors certainly play a major role in pushing more Rohingya to risk the perilous sea voyage to Malaysia, where they hope to find respite from oppression and earn a living to support their families back in the camps.”
‘It is normal to hear gunshots at night’
Along with the fear of forced repatriation, the Rohingya population are also worried about violence allegedly at the hands of armed groups in the camps that are increasingly battling for dominance.
In early January, a majhi – or camp leader – named Rashid Ahmed was stabbed to death.
The following day, the son of a deputy majhi, Mohammad Selim, was shot dead. Since these murders, at least seven more reported murders of Rohingya community leaders have taken place in the camps or nearby. Several more apparent assassinations may appear on Twitter but not even on the local news.
Bangladesh authorities allege the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is behind some of the killings, operating in rivalry with the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO).
“It is normal to hear gunshots at night,” said Mohammad Hassan, another camp resident. “In camp, the violence of armed gangs is increasing day-by-day. The armed groups kill, kidnap, and conduct other illegal activities.”
John Quinley, director of non-governmental organisation Fortify Rights and a Rohingya rights advocate, said fear is “palpable” among camp residents – and directed both at militants and authorities alike.
“Our team has documented human rights violations by [the Armed Police Battalion] in Cox’s Bazar including arrest, beatings and extortion,” said Quinley, adding that his organisation had uncovered murders and abductions of community leaders.
Quinley places some responsibility on the government of Bangladesh for the situation.
“Ongoing Bangladesh government-imposed restrictions on refugees legal status, freedom of movement, and access to livelihoods as well as deteriorating security situation in the camps are some of the reasons Rohingya are leaving for countries in ASEAN,” he said.
In March, massive flames ripped through the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, destroying more than 10,000 shelters.
Besides leaving thousands homeless, the fire also gutted essential services including safe spaces for women. A series of smaller fires have broken out since.
“The fire caused a lot of damage to shelters and infrastructure, which has left thousands of people homeless and without access to clothes, food and water,” said refugee Mohammad Riyas. “The camp is already in such a bad way. The fire has been devastating … now we live in fear of another source of hardship.”
The fires are also likely to have been started intentionally by armed groups within the camp in an act of orchestrated sabotage, adding to fears within the community. This possibility, which some investigators say is highly likely, is currently being researched.
Another strain on the Rohingya, further adding to their distress, was the WFP’s February announcement that it was cutting the food aid of the refugees from $12 per person down to $10. The UN agency cited a large drop in funding internationally as the main reason for this change, as the WFP is facing a $125 million funding shortfall.
“The aid situation [in the camps] is not enough, even though the WFP says it is enough. The price of the materials is higher than before, and all are struggling to survive,” said refugee Hassan.
Amin, another Rohingya rights activist residing in the camp, said the available rations consist of only rice, lentils and spices.
“We have been facing so many diseases, as we can’t eat healthy food,” he lamented. “We feel like prisoners eating food that is served in jails.”
Given the deteriorating conditions in the camps, Amin said the refugees saw little choice but to seek other places to live.
“How would you feel in this camp?” he asked. “What would you feel in this situation? I think you would try to move somewhere else, where you felt free and safe.”
Movement with no escape
Some of the camp residents have opted to move to Bhasan Char, an island about 60 kilometers from the Bangladesh mainland.
Windswept and desolate, the island has been used since 2020 by the Bangladesh government to rehouse some of the refugees to relieve pressure in the camps.
Rohingya activist and community member Salim Islam* feels safer living on Bhasan Char. He moved there with his family in 2021 to avoid ARSA, which has yet to establish a foothold there. Salim said the militants targeted him not only for extortion but also recruitment, due to the high level of education he attained in Myanmar.
“Most of the members of ARSA are not highly educated, so they wanted me to conduct advocacy for them,” he said. “They also threatened me and my family when we refused to pay a fake ‘tax’.”
At the same time, life on Bhasan Char offers little in terms of long-term stability to its inhabitants. Even if the island offers some respite for now, many in the mainland camps see it as yet another bad option laid out before them.
Whether those in the Cox’s Bazar camps choose to smuggle themselves back into Myanmar or board a ship to Bhasan Char or some other, farther destination, many of those who spoke with Globe were desperate to get away somehow.
“I don’t want to stay here,” said camp resident Aung Myint, an activist and reporter who had tried unsuccessfully to gain permission to go to the U.S. “This life that I am living, it is like a prison for me. It is like a jail. So definitely, I have to leave here. I have to.”
*Some names have been changed due to personal safety concerns.
The issue of compulsory military service has gained national attention in the lead-up to the May 14 polls, with several parties pledging to end it in favour of voluntary enlistment if elected as the next government.
In Thailand, serving in the armed forces is considered a national duty under the law. Physically fit men at the age of 21 must undergo military service for up to two years.
Party proposals to scrap conscription have struck a chord with many voters who see compulsory military service as a hindrance to the pursuit of personal interests and career opportunities.
They also associate it with poor welfare, labour abuse and harsh treatment.
The Defence Ministry insists it has heard the call to end conscription and put in place a programme to switch to voluntary enlistment.
However, it has only met 30–40% of the quota, and the need for conscription to make up the shortage remains.
Maintaining national defence
According to Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich, spokesman for the Defence Ministry, the military needs about 100,000 new recruits each year to help fill various posts.
After 10 weeks of basic training, about 30,000 conscripts, or one-third of new recruits, are sent to fill seven border defence units, including those in the South, he said.
The rest of the recruits are sent to various units of the three armed forces, the Defence Ministry and the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters, and their roles are assigned according to their units, such as those mitigating the threat of drugs and cybercrime or engaging in disaster relief operations.
“When there is a flood or fire near a military unit, these conscripts can be relied on to help people in distress, although it isn’t their core mission,” Gen Kongcheep said.
He said the number of people volunteering to join the military has gradually increased from about 20% to 35–40% over the recent years. During conscription season this year, a total of 35,617 people, or 38% of the quota, have joined voluntarily, he said. The rest are recruited through the conscription draw.
Responding to claims there are too many conscripts, the spokesman said only one-fifth, or 100,000 out of 500,000 soldiers, are drafted each year.
Those who do not want to enter service can undergo territorial defence training, known as Ror Dor, for three years to be exempted from the draft, he said.
Former army commander Gen Apirat Kongsompong relaxed some of the rules and cut back on physical training to encourage students to join Ror Dor training.
Transition to voluntary system
The army offers incentives to attract new volunteers, including job opportunities, said Maj Gen Sirichan Ngathong, deputy spokeswoman for the army.
Conscripts who are about to leave the service can apply to continue as non-commissioned officers, while those who apply at an army sergeant school are awarded extra points, she said.
About 4,000 positions in the army are available for conscripts who are about to be discharged, she said.
In addition, the army provides vocational training for conscripts who want to leave after fulfilling their military obligations, she said, adding the army has joined hands with the Department of Skill Development, the Department of Employment and the private sector to find jobs and boost employment opportunities.
According to Maj Gen Sirichan, people aged 18–22 are also allowed to apply to join the military, not just those who are 21 — the group legally required to report for duty.
Those who sign up can apply online and choose units in their home provinces, she said.
Regarding welfare, the army has improved the living conditions of conscripts, adding they are considered “the army’s youngest brothers”.
Abuse scandals
Media reports of assault and abuse stir controversy with the conscription system, according to a source.
Although scandals involving hazing or labour abuse are less frequent, when a scandal erupts, it casts the armed forces in a bad light, making military service less attractive, the source said.
Compulsory enlistment is seen as depriving people of their opportunities to pursue their interests or make money to support their families.
While conscripts are given salaries and allowances, the amount is not enough, and some complain about their food allowance being embezzled.
The armed forces have implemented measures to address these issues, such as directly transferring money to conscript accounts, creating Line groups for conscripts to stay in contact with their families and opening barracks for family visits.
Gen Kongcheep insisted there is no such thing as “servants” in the military, but said there are thurakarn conscripts who perform tasks and errands as their official duty, and they do not run personal errands for officers.
“Thurakarn conscripts are not given jobs like doing laundry or household chores. If this happens, the unit commander will be held accountable,” he said.
However, an army source said the practice of assigning one or two conscripts to work at the houses of senior officers remains and their tasks include doing laundry, cooking and driving.
According to the source, some conscripts, after completing basic training, prefer being assigned as aides to officers because they want to avoid more training, with a chance of being given extra allowances or considered for work after being discharged.
“If their bosses are high-ranking officers, they can expect other benefits and support. It is a deep-rooted practice in the military,” said the source.
However, this could change due to growing calls for the abolition of conscription and the downsizing of conscription numbers.
Avoid hate speech
Politicians and the armed forces may have to sit down for talks and find a consensus when it comes to downsizing the number of troops, according to Gen Kongcheep.
He said both should define the scope of national security and see if their definitions match because there are several dimensions of national security, such as food and energy.
“Let’s say if we want to build a fence for our house, we have to figure how high it should be to protect us from threats.
“If we agree on a 1-metre-high fence and somehow it can’t deal with the threat, it’s our responsibility,” he said.
The armed forces are scaling down troop numbers, but many must be maintained especially along the border, he said, adding the armed forces are looking for ways to boost voluntary enlistment.
“An important thing is to refrain from devaluing the military and spreading hate.
“People may not want to enter the service because they are afraid of being scorned. It is a profession that its members are proud of,” he said.
A source said some people only see the military in a bad light because of its intervention in politics.
He was asked about growing negative sentiment towards the military, especially on social media.
According to the source, anti-militarism appears to have grown following the 2014 coup led by then-army chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, whose prolonged stay in power is aided by the constitution.
ReutersOne airline’s bars stand out as being noticeably vacant in the busy airports of India.
Budget airport Go Really immediately filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week and postponed its planes for a few days. Although the aircraft guarantees refunds to clients, its agents are currently taking calls from angry customers.
The turbulent events bring back memories of Jet Airways, the largest airport in India at the time, going bankrupt in 2019. The second significant Indian airline to meet Jet in four years is Go First.
The National Company Law Tribunal heard the airline’s bankruptcy case on Thursday. The aircraft has requested time court orders to allow it to operate and has also requested limitations on any unfavorable regulatory action. However, the court claimed that the rules did not include a provision for interval relief.
Choose Really claims that its problems are not a result of poor financial management but rather of engine problems. The business claims that so far, it hasn’t missed a single mortgage payment date in its debt papers.
It has accused US engine manufacturer Pratt & watts, Whitney, of grounding many of its aircraft” due to the ever-increasing number of failing engines” it supplied, which the airway claims resulted in a serious cash flow issue.
According to Go First, it was forced to ground 25 aircraft, or roughly half of its fleet of Airbus A320neo planes, costing about 108 billion rupees($ 1.3 billion,£ 1 billion ) in lost revenue and expenses. Cirium, a provider of air analytics, estimates that Go Really will fly 6,225 times in May, totaling more than 1.1 million seats.
Pratt & amp, Whitney have been charged by the airline with disobeying an emergency arbitrator’s order to provide” at least 10 serviceable spare leased engines by April 27, 2023.”
Pratt & amp, Whitney responded, was” complying with the March 2023 arbitration ruling” and was unable to add anything else because” this is now a matter of litigation.”
A320neos with Pratt & amp, Whitney engines make up about 90 % of Go First’s fleet.
The lack of spare parts and a lag in the supply of retrofitted vehicles from the engines builder have caused the helicopters to be grounded since 2020. Flight schedules were impacted and there were occasional cancellations as a result of nearly half of its fleet being unavailable.
Based on scheduled absences, Go First was the fifth-largest flight in India. The firm’s owners, the Wadia Group, according to its operations, have no plans to leave. According to Go First CEO Kaushik Khona, the debt trials are intended to revive the airline rather than sell it.
The aerospace industry in India has expanded quickly. However, due to financial difficulties brought on by increased competition, unnecessary debts, and rising costs, a number of flights have also been shut down or forced to combine, including Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Air Deccan, Paramount Airways and MDLR Airlines.
Despite receiving approvals, Jet Airways has not yet been able to resume operations because of the protracted debt technique it is going through.
According to Mark Martin, the founder and CEO of the air consulting company Martin Consulting, this is the first instance in which an Indian-based aircraft has collapsed as a result of an issue with component supply.
According to Go First, the airline had a steady stream of fantastic flights up until 2020, when the issue of serial engine failures began to affect it.
According to the company’s bankruptcy filing, the pandemic, which affected air travel, already exacerbated the decline in its financial performance.
Due to a lack of rental payments, some of Go First’s leased aircraft have been repossessed by rent business. Fuel marketing companies had looked for an immediate payment design, and as revenues decreased, they were having trouble making every fuel payments.
The firm’s operations stalled despite constant investments from the Wadia Group( 32 billion rupees in three years ) and a government emergency credit line established to assist businesses in coping with the pandemic.
The decline of Go First highlights the fierce competition in the nation’s airline industry, which has experienced one of the most robust air traffic recoveries since the pandemic.
In the first three months of 2023, domestic airlines transported more than 37.5 million passengers, an increase of 51.7 % from the previous year.
India’s private air traffic is anticipated to reach 350 million customers by 2030, according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation.
Competitors like IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, and new competitors like Akasa Air may benefit from the Go Air problems by gaining a larger market share.
Clients, however, didn’t enjoy themselves as much. According to Mr. Martin, prices on Go First’s roads are anticipated to increase significantly over the next three to four months by between 50 and 60 percent.
More than 50 aircraft may be grounded if Go Really shuts down. There are straps on many flights as well. Existing carriers do not even have the capacity to meet the need, he claims, which is quite high.
According to experts, the business may also face problems with the supply chain for engines and aircraft.
The Pratt and Whitney motor bug has also had an impact on IndiGo, the nation’s largest flight by markets share.
60 plane have been grounded between IndiGo and Go First due to a lack of spare parts. However, IndiGo is in a better position thanks to its more than 250 plane ship, many of which have alternative motors.
SpiceJet has been experiencing financial hardship and suffering significant costs each quarter. The airport controller has been closely monitoring the unusually high number of snags that have plagued it over the past year.
However, according to experts, the American air market’s overall growing drama is still alive and will primarily be driven by two or three competitors.
Air India and Vistara, the nation’s further and third-largest companies, announced their intention to combine in November. Air India additionally set a record for the world in February by ordering 470 plane from US-based Boeing and European Airbus.
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Due to Silicon Valley Bank’s March 10, 2023, crash, investor discussions about the institution spiked on Twitter, which fueled the SVB banks run. These tweets also caused some financial institutions with poor balance sheets to collapse, as we explain in our latest working paper,” Public media as a lender run catalyst.”
The bank’s stock ticker,” SIVB ,” was mentioned in a significant number of tweets on March 9 around 9 am EST. Before posts mentioning” SVB” or” Silicon Valley Bank,” which were aspect of a more general-interest word, started, it had been about 2.5 years.
The rapid decline in the company’s share price on March 9 coincided with that spike in trader tweets, which persisted in after-hours trading and before the market opened the following morning. On March 10, the day the bank failed, trading in SVB’s property was halted.
We categorized US businesses, along with a number of other acquaintances, based on the volume of tweets that were sent about them and their susceptibility to potential bank runs.
We multiplied loses the bankers incurred as a result of the series of interest rate increases that started in March 2022 by the percentage of their payments that were below the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. ‘ s security cap of US$ 250, 000 per account to determine risk.
We discovered that in March, stock of banks with significant Twitter engagement in January and February experienced significantly greater declines. The collection of institutions that were most vulnerable experienced a stronger impact. First Republic Bank was one of them, but it failed on May 1.
The one-third of businesses with the most posts saw drops in their share prices that were, on average, around twice as large as those of the other businesses when we examined what happened to the assets of all those with susceptible balance sheets between March 6 and March 13.
Social marketing may have contributed to Silicon Valley Bank’s death, according to US politicians.
The Great Depression-era bank crisis is primarily responsible for the current understanding of bank functions. Back again, panic among banks customers was spread by word-of-mouth, media coverage, and social signals like lengthy lines outside of banks.
Since traditional media outlets primarily rely on one-way transmission from legal resources to the general public, the size of the reader and the quick spread of ideas set social media apart from newspapers and broadcast message.
Banks will undoubtedly continue to be concerned about this, especially in light of the problems that some financial institutions are currently experiencing.
Many of the ideas we raised in our documents were emphasized in a statement on SVB’s loss that the Federal Reserve released on April 28. It highlights SVB’s poor risk management and a sizable portion of Silicon Valley startup neighborhood savers, who are frequently very energetic and well-connected on social media.
Another group of academics, under the direction of Itamar Drechsler, a finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania, found that the subsequent rise in insured deposit accounts may weaken banks.
The development of perfectly modern businesses and mobile banking apps may increase this risk even more, according to ongoing research from a team of researchers at Columbia University and the University of Chicago.
According to reports, lenders who quickly withdrew money from SVB already used telephone calls, group email messages, Slack, and WhatsApp to express their worries.
However, since there is no content that is readily available to the public, it is difficult to determine what part those some, less formal dialogues played in causing the SVB bank run.
Tony Cookson is Associate Professor of Finance, University of Colorado Boulder and Christoph Schiller is Assistant Professor of Finance, Arizona State University
Under a Creative Commons license, this story has been republished from The Conversation. read the article in its entirety.
When Mee Xaiyasongthor first began to doubt the everyday, dark feelings of loneliness that she couldn’t seem to tremble, she was just a teenager.
She set out on a desire to free herself from her own terrible thoughts as she felt more and more cut off from the rest of her peers, solitary, and misunderstood in her rural northwestern Laos home. & nbsp,
She remarked,” I started asking myself what was wrong with me.” ” I didn’t have any friends I could talk to.” I feared being by myself.
Mee, a top health technology student in Vientiane’s capital, quickly realized she needed assistance. However, since she lacked support, she was forced to teach herself coping skills she had learned online. In addition, & nbsp,
She said,” That’s when I realized I wanted to assist those who are mentally ill and unable to see relief.” I aspired to work in psychology.
Mee quickly discovered, however, that earning a psychology degree is not an easy option for students in Laos because such degrees are not offered it. & nbsp,
The nation’s health infrastructure is usually constrained, with mental health infrastructure being particularly so. The closest philosophy university at any of Laos’ three regional universities is helpful psychology, which is more closely related to teaching, despite having a dispersed population of 7 million and only one licensed psychiatrist. & nbsp,
During the confinement of the Covid – 19 pandemic, development agencies, civil society, and youth-led counseling advocacy groups like Gamlang Chai and WeCare made progress in improving fundamental solutions. Even so, a general lack of knowledge or awareness of mental health conditions frequently makes it challenging for those in need to seek assistance before it’s too soon.
Mee believes the crisis was at least a turning point for sensitivity, despite the fact that she really believes Laos has inadequate overall mental health support. More tangible ideas feel deep off for the time being.
She said,” I quickly realized that becoming a neurologist was neither simple here.” ” My only option was to begin my medical studies before submitting an application for a scholarship to study overseas.”
Where are the authorities?
The United Nations Population Fund( UNFPA) has contributed to the development of a more robust set of hotlines for those seeking assistance over the last three years.
In order to maintain longer hours and high-quality counseling through current alerts as well as creating new ones to visit interest during the pandemic, UNFPA worked with the Health Ministry, the Vientiane Youth Center, Lao Youth Union, and the Women’s Union.
According to UNFPA Laos nation representative Mariam Khan,” there is an increase in the burden of thought well-being whenever there is distress, whether physical, emotional, or socioeconomic.” ” Our goal is to establish a secure support group that is trained to offer consolation and security to local areas so they can feel relaxed reaching out.”
Khan added that the lack of experience became” very apparent” when UNFPA started looking for national counseling educators, but the biggest problem was finding enough certified and trained individuals throughout Laos who specialized in this field.
Dr. Kongsy Chounlamany is currently one of only two individuals in the nation with a master’s degree in information psychology from Thailand; the other is retired. She is also the only person with a Doctorate in academic philosophy from Sweden’s Ume University. Chounlamany is the only public psychology professor in the nation and the evil dean of the National University of Laos’ Faculty of Education in Vientiane.
The biggest issue, according to Chounlamany, is that even in hospitals, physicians who treat psychological illnesses are not psychology or doctors. ” They don’t have any formal mental health exercising.”
She claims that among Lao academics, mental medical studies have never been well-liked. She claimed that belief or folk medicine, which attributes for conditions to a mother’s uncomfortable pregnancy or is completely ignored, has historically been used to diagnose mental health disorders. In addition, & nbsp,
The subject is still largely prohibited in Laos. People who spoke with Globe claim that as a result, mental health issues are typically ignored until they become extremely serious or lead to suicide, which would be extremely embarrassing for the victim’s life.
Later in the 1970s, the National University established an Education and Psychology Department, but due to a want of instructors and students, it quickly closed. The ministry didn’t resume its doors until 2017 but, once again, the same issue arose. & nbsp,
According to Chounlamany, there are only seven students on the staff this year.
Lao students offering assistance
She does, however, believe that the subject may now be beginning to change. & nbsp,
People started setting up support groups and mental health advocacy sections on social media as a result of the grief brought on by pandemic lockdowns. Federal public services, in the meantime, increased their efforts in offering counseling training to medical professionals and emergency response participants across the nation in collaboration with international organizations like UNFPA. & nbsp,
Since 2021, Khan has also observed a discernible change in mental medical assistance. & nbsp,
However, she claimed that in Laos, discussing self-harm to the point of suicide is still viewed negatively, just like in many other faiths. She countered that by emphasizing the function of traditional support systems in guiding the susceptible away from ruin. Health emergency response to such incidents is either limited or nonexistent in most places.
The strong sense of community is what makes this place really distinct, according to Khan. There is a propensity to interact at the community level, even though the legal service system may not be as well developed for catastrophes and emergencies.
This strategy led Lao Youth Radio speech Valy Phommachak to co-found the Gamlang Chai social media community support system, which is roughly translated as” cheering and supporting you.”
During the pandemic’s hardships, Valy served as a public radio speaker and felt highly the target of scathing remarks on social media from enraged individuals.
She remarked,” I couldn’t get any more hateful comments, and I was no longer able to handle it on my own.” ” All I wanted to do was stop. I was aware that I needed assistance.
Valy wanted to provide a secure environment for her own members who were having trouble with their mental health as she was able to get assistance through shattered charity organization. Gamlang Chai was the end result, which she and her party introduced in late 2020.
Since then, they have held numerous Wellness Festivals, screen debate, and many activities in Vientiane. In order to get all the tools and data about mental health in Laos, including line numbers, breathing techniques, and a list of medical service providers, they are now looking for funding to develop if necessary.
Valy stated,” We wanted to educate people about mental health and to destigmatise it.” I’m not an expert, but one way I do know is that even the smallest amount of assistance can make a difference.
Three-month-old Tayabullah is quiet and motionless. His mother Nigar moves the oxygen pipe away from his nose and puts a finger below his nostrils to check if she can feel him breathing.
She begins to cry as she realises her son is fading.
At this hospital in Afghanistan, there is not a single working ventilator.
Mothers hold oxygen tubes near their babies’ noses because masks designed to fit their small faces are not available, and the women are trying to fill in for what trained staff or medical equipment should do.
Every day, 167 children die in Afghanistan from preventable diseases, according to the UN children’s fund Unicef – illnesses that could and should be cured with the right medication.
It is a staggering number. But it’s an estimate.
And when you step inside the paediatric ward of the main hospital in the western province of Ghor, you will be left wondering if that estimate is too low.
Multiple rooms are full of sick children, at least two in each bed, their little bodies ravaged by pneumonia. Just two nurses look after 60 children.
In one room, we saw at least two dozen babies who appeared to be in a serious condition. The children should have been continuously monitored in critical care – impossible at this hospital.
Yet, for the million people who live in Ghor, this basic facility is still the best equipped public hospital they can access.
Public healthcare in Afghanistan has never been adequate, and foreign money which almost entirely funded it was frozen in August 2021 when the Taliban seized power. Over the past 20 months, we have visited hospitals and clinics across this country, and witnessed them collapsing.
Now the Taliban’s recent ban on women working for NGOs means it’s becoming harder for humanitarian agencies to operate, putting even more children and babies at risk.
I’m also a mother, and when I saw the baby die, I felt like I’ve lost my own child
Already defeated by a lack of resources, medics at the Ghor hospital used whatever little they had to try to revive Tayabullah.
Dr Ahmad Samadi was called in to check his condition, fatigue and stress visible on his face. He put a stethoscope to Tayabullah’s chest – there was a faint heartbeat.
Nurse Edima Sultani rushed in with an oxygen pump. She put it over Tayabullah’s mouth, blowing air into it. Then Dr Samadi used his thumbs to perform compressions on the boy’s tiny chest.
Watching on looking stricken was Tayabullah’s grandfather Ghawsaddin. He told us his grandson was suffering from pneumonia and malnutrition.
“It took eight hours on rubble roads to bring him here from our district Charsadda,” Ghawsaddin said. The family, who can only afford to eat dry bread for meals, scraped together money to pay for the ride.
For half an hour, the efforts to revive his grandson continued. Nurse Sultani then turned towards Nigar and told her Tayabullah had died.
The sudden silence which had enveloped the room was broken by Nigar’s sobs. Her baby boy was wrapped in a blanket and handed over to Ghawsaddin. The family carried him home.
Tayabullah should be alive – every disease he had was curable.
“I’m also a mother and when I saw the baby die, I felt like I’ve lost my own child. When I saw his mother weeping, it broke my heart. It hurt my conscience,” said Nurse Sultani, who frequently does 24-hour shifts.
“We don’t have equipment and there is a lack of trained staff, especially female staff. When we are looking after so many in serious conditions, which child should we check on first? There’s nothing we can do but watch babies die.”
Minutes later, in the room next door, we saw another child in severe distress, with an oxygen mask on her face, struggling to breathe.
Two-year-old Gulbadan was born with a heart defect, a condition called patent ductus arteriosus. It was diagnosed six months ago at this hospital.
Doctors have told us the condition is not uncommon or hard to treat. But Ghor’s main hospital is not equipped to perform routine surgery that could fix it. It also doesn’t have the medicines she needs.
Gulbadan’s grandmother Afwa Gul held down her small arms, to try to prevent the little girl from pulling down her mask.
“We borrowed money to take her to Kabul, but we couldn’t afford surgery, so we had to bring her back,” she said. They approached an NGO to get financial help. Their details were registered but there’s been no response since then.
Gulbadan’s father Nawroze stroked her forehead, trying to soothe his daughter who winced with every breath she took. Stress etched on his face, he pursed his lips and let out a sigh of resignation. He told us Gulbadan had recently begun to talk, forming her first words, calling out to him and other members of their family.
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“I’m a labourer. I don’t have a stable income. If I had money, she would never have suffered this way. At this moment, I can’t even afford to buy one cup of tea,” he said.
I asked Dr Samadi how much oxygen Gulbadan needs.
“Two litres every minute,” he said. “When this cylinder gets empty, if we don’t find another one, she will die.”
When we went back later to check on Gulbadan, we were told that’s exactly what had happened. The oxygen cylinder had run out, and she died.
The oxygen production unit at the hospital isn’t able to produce sufficient oxygen because it only has power at night, and there isn’t a steady supply of raw material.
When this [oxygen] cylinder gets empty, if we don’t find another one, she will die
In a matter of a few hours, two children died of diseases that could have been prevented or cured. It’s a crushing but all too familiar blow for Dr Samadi and his colleagues.
“I feel exhaustion and agony. Every day we lose one or two beloved children of Ghor. We have almost got accustomed to it now,” he said.
Walking around the rooms, we saw an overwhelming number of children in distress. One-year-old Sajad’s breathing was raspy. He’s suffering from pneumonia and meningitis.
In another bed is Irfan. When his breathing became more laboured, his mother Zia-rah was given another oxygen pipe to hold near his nose.
Wiping tears that rolled down her cheeks with her upper arm, she carefully held both pipes as steady as she could. She told us she would have brought Irfan to the hospital at least four or five days earlier if the roads had not been blocked by snow.
So many simply can’t make it to hospital, and others choose not to stay once they get there.
“Ten days ago a child was brought here in a very critical condition,” Nurse Sultani said. “We gave him an injection, but we didn’t have the medicines to cure him.
“So his father decided to take him home. ‘If he has to die, let him die at home’,” he told me.
What we saw in Ghor raises serious questions about why public healthcare in Afghanistan is crumbling so quickly, when billions of dollars were poured into it by the international community for 20 years until 2021.
Where was that money spent, if a provincial hospital doesn’t have a single ventilator for its patients?
Currently there is a stop-gap arrangement in place. Because money can’t be given directly to the internationally unrecognised Taliban government, humanitarian agencies have stepped in to fund salaries of medical staff and the cost of medicines and food, that are just about keeping hospitals like the one in Ghor running.
Now, that funding, already sorely inefficient, could also be at risk. Aid agencies warn that their donors might cut back because the Taliban’s restrictions on women, including its ban on Afghan women working for the UN and NGOs, violates international laws.
Only 5% of the UN’s appeal for Afghanistan has been funded so far.
We drove up one of the hills near the Ghor hospital to a burial ground. There are no records or registers here, not even a caretaker. So it’s not possible to find out who the graves belong to, but it’s easy to distinguish big graves from small ones.
From what we saw, a disproportionate number – at least half – of the new graves belong to children. A man who lives in a house close by also told us most of those they are burying these days are children.
There may be no way to count how many children are dying, but there is evidence everywhere of the scale of the crisis.
Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson and Sanjay Ganguly
When the authorities manage to identify and nab the perpetrators, they are charged in court. But before that, investigators and prosecutors such as Mr Chong have to sift through the evidence, with some cases involving thousands of videos.
“Many of us felt nauseous when we viewed such clips, as they involved young toddlers or infants being harmed. It is particularly distressing when we can see or hear the children in distress or pain,” Mr Chong told CNA.
“Personally, I always feel most affected when I see a child unsuccessfully trying to cover their face when being filmed, as even this tiny bit of dignity is being taken away from them.
“There can also be feelings of helplessness, as the children appear to be in faraway countries. These children may never be rescued, and the people involved in inflicting such unspeakable harm may never face justice.”
He has advised his colleagues to take frequent breaks when reviewing such material, and to do it in the mornings so that the images “do not become the last thing we work on before going home for the day”.
Nevertheless, he said that their job was to remain objective and impartial no matter how grave the offence, and that they find it rewarding to successfully prosecute such cases.
Since the dedicated laws came into effect in 2020, the culpability of offenders has been “tiered” at every level, said the prosecutor.
Offenders who are involved in the production of such material can be jailed for up to 10 years. Those who download, stream, access, or possess such films can be punished with up to five years’ imprisonment. Caning and fines can also be imposed.
Those who distribute child sexual abuse material can be jailed for up to seven years, caned, fined, or a combination of those punishments. Before the new laws, such offenders could only be prosecuted for transmitting obscene material, which carried an imprisonment term of up to only three months and/or a fine.
Following a conviction, some offenders will serve time behind bars and be placed in rehabilitation programmes.
The prison service said that offenders will undergo a psychological assessment to identify their risk of reoffending and intervention needs.
These psychological interventions aim to help them address problems with:
After this, inmates are guided to develop individualised risk management plans. Inmates will also undergo other rehabilitative activities, like work, religious counselling and family-based programmes.
After their release, they may also be referred to relevant agencies in the community for further counselling and support, if a psychologist assesses it to be necessary.
People who committed serious offences as specified in the First Schedule of the Prisons Act – which includes crimes involving child sexual abuse material – are required to undergo mandatory supervision and aftercare support upon their release. This includes curfew hours and electronic monitoring.
SPS said: “With the Mandatory Aftercare Scheme, better protection of society is achieved through closer supervision … of these serious crime offenders after their release, as well as enhanced aftercare support such as case management to assist their reintegration and reduce their reoffending risk.”
Under the proposed Bill, maintenance enforcement officers can obtain personal financial information directly from government agencies and banks, and provide this to the court.Continue Reading
