Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
May 2, 2016
China to ban stars’ children from reality shows
BEIJING (AP) — Administrators plan to ban the children of famous enter-
tainers from appearing on popular reality shows in order to prevent the
manufacture of future child stars, according to Chinese state media. The official
Xinhua News Agency said the ban from the State Administration of Press,
Publication, Radio, Film, and Television also covers appearances on chat shows
and reports about them on entertainment programs. Reality shows featuring
stars and their children travelling or performing tasks together have grown
hugely popular with Chinese viewers in recent years. Apparently concerned
with the growth of celebrity culture, the administration ordered in July that
producers of the dozens of reality shows on satellite channels cut back on
appearances by minors and tamp down parts of the shows seen as attempting to
make them stars on their own.
Cambodian ruling party sues commentator for defamation
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s ruling party has filed a
complaint charging a prominent social commentator with criminal defamation
for saying the party was manipulating a sex scandal involving an opposition
leader. The complaint filed by the spokesman of the Cambodian People’s Party
charged that Ou Virak, who heads the Future Forum think tank, made a false
allegation that damaged the party’s honor. Virak’s comments to the U.S.-backed
Radio Free Asia referred to a complicated series of events that began two months
ago when taped phone calls of Kem Sokha, deputy leader of the opposition
Cambodian National Rescue Party, speaking with at least two women were
posted on the internet. The contents seemed to indicate Sokha was having an
adulterous affair.
Australian refugee detention camp ruled illegal
SYDNEY (AP) — Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court has ruled that Austra-
lia’s detention of asylum seekers at a facility on the country’s Manus Island is
unconstitutional. The Pacific island nation’s ruling could jeopardize Australia’s
divisive policy of refusing to accept any asylum seekers who try to reach its
shores by boat. The country pays Papua New Guinea and the tiny Pacific island
nation of Nauru to hold them in detention camps instead. The court dubbed the
detention of the asylum seekers a violation of their constitutional right to
personal liberty. The court ordered the Papua New Guinea and Australian
governments to take immediate steps toward ending the detention of asylum
seekers at the Manus Island facility. The center houses approximately 900 men.
Media company greases wrong palm, flouts gift limit
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s new government has scolded a
media group for flouting guidelines against corruption by presenting an
envelope with more than $4,000 as a gift to an official. The limit to such gifts is
25,000 kyats ($21). The state Myanmar News Agency reported that the
president’s office announced that the media company was notified of the
violation when it gave 5 million kyats ($4,237) in cash to the personal assistant
of an important official as a present during the Buddhist New Year festival. The
announcement named neither party involved, saying no action would be
pursued as it was the first violation and fell under a grace period. The money will
be given to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement for building
water supply facilities, it said. The guidelines enacted in April also include a
yearly limit of 100,000 kyats ($85) in gifts to civil servants. The new
government, whose de facto head is Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has
declared tackling the country’s serious corruption as a priority. Under the
previous military-backed government, civil servants were allowed to accept gifts
worth up to 300,000 kyats ($254).
U.S. says piracy in Gulf of Guinea rising at alarming rate
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States has warned that piracy and
armed robbery are increasing at an alarming rate in the Gulf of Guinea, pointing
to reports by industry experts of at least 32 attacks off the coast of Nigeria alone
so far this year. U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison singled out two pirate attacks
off the Nigerian coast on April 11 that led to the apparent kidnapping of a total of
eight crew members including the captain of one vessel, a Turkish cargo ship.
She told a U.N. Security Council meeting that “the economic consequences for
the people of the region are devastating,” pointing to a report by the London
think-tank Chatham House saying as much as 400,000 barrels of crude oil are
stolen every day in the Gulf of Guinea. She said ineffective government
operations, weak rule of law, and inadequate maritime law enforcement all
contributed to the increase in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, a major route for oil
supplies shipped around the world.
China human-rights campaigner Harry Wu passes away
BEIJING (AP) — Longtime Chinese human-rights campaigner, author, and
founder of the Laogai Research Foundation, Harry Wu, has died. He was 79
years old. Laogai Human Rights Organization administrator Ann Noonan told
The Associated Press that Wu died while on vacation in Honduras. Wu was
sentenced as a university student to 19 years in China’s prison camp system
known as laogai, or “reform through labor.” After his release, Wu moved to the
United States in 1985 but returned frequently to China to conduct research on
the labor camp system. Having become a U.S. citizen, Wu was arrested during a
visit to China in 1995 and sentenced to 15 years on espionage charges. He was
immediately deported to the U.S. where he continued his work documenting
Chinese human-rights abuses.
TURTLE TROUBLES. A Cambodian Royal Turtle walks on the sand of Sre Ambel river bank, in Koh Kong province
in western Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in this June 24, 2015 file photo. Cambodia’s Royal Turtle is nearly extinct, with fewer
than 10 left in the wild because of increased sand dredging and the illegal clearance of flooded forest that has shrunk its
habitat, according to a conservationist group. (Wildlife Conservation Society via AP, File)
Cambodian Royal Turtle nearly
extinct — less than 10 in wild
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) —
Conservationists say Cambodia’s Royal Turtle
is nearly extinct, with fewer than 10 left in the
wild because increased sand dredging and the
illegal clearance of flooded forest have
lessened its habitat.
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) said in a statement that fewer
than 10 turtles remain in the Sre Ambel river
system where they were successfully protected
by a joint project of the government’s Fishery
Administration and WCS.
The statement said commercial activities
along the river in Koh Kong province resulted
in a decline in the nesting of the turtles.
The turtle, also known as the Southern
River terrapin, is so named because in
historical times only the royal family could
consume its eggs. The species was designated
as Cambodia’s national reptile in 2005.
Tibetans in exile re-elect Lobsang Sangay as PM
By Ashwini Bhatia
The Associated Press
HARMSALA, India — Lobsang
Sangay has been re-elected prime
minister of the Tibetan government-
in-exile in voting, according to officials, with
Sangay saying the election shows that
Tibetans in exile “are practicing democracy,
whereas China is not.”
Tibetan election officials announced the
result in April in the northern Indian town of
Dharmsala, the headquarters of the
government-in-exile. Sangay, 47, defeated his
only rival, Penpa Tsering, receiving about 58
percent of the 58,740 votes cast.
It was the second election since the Dalai
Lama stepped down as head of the
government-in-exile in 2011 to focus on his
role as the Tibetans’ spiritual leader. Tibet-
ans living in exile cast their votes in 40
countries.
China says Tibet has historically been part
of its territory since the mid-13th century, and
D
the Communist Party has governed the
Himalayan region since 1951. But many
Tibetans say they were effectively indepen-
dent for most of their history, and that the
Chinese government wants to exploit their
resource-rich region while crushing their
cultural identity.
The Dalai Lama and his followers have been
living in exile in Dharmsala since they fled
Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against
Chinese rule.
China doesn’t recognize the Tibetan
government-in-exile, and hasn’t held any
dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai
Lama since 2010.
“This election sends a very clear and
powerful
message
to
the
Chinese
government and the country, China,” Sangay
told reporters after the result was announced.
“It is a clear statement that even exile
Tibetans are practicing democracy, whereas
China is not.”
Sangay said his government would continue
Continued on page 8
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78.375
4060.0
6.484
2.0619
7.7589
66.33
13180
30304
107.19
8113.5
3.9045
106.13
104.78
3.1496
46.913
64.305
3.7503
1.3435
1139.4
146.25
32.27
34.93
22293