February 20, 2017
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
Once-reviled scavenger bird now the pride of its Indian home
SAVING THE SCAVENGER STORK. Stu-
dents at Sankardev Sishu Niketan, a school in Dadara
village, west of Gauhati, India, mold clay in the shape
of a greater adjutant stork, an endangered bird with
a total population of 1,200 in the world. A group of
women have taken it upon themselves to save the
endangered bird. They call themselves the hargila
army, for the bird’s name in the local Assamese
language. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
By Wasbir Hussain
The Associated Press
G
AUHATI, India — The greater
adjutant stork used to be an object
of revulsion in northeast India.
It’s not a pretty bird, with its large,
dull-orange bill and gray, black, and white
plumage. A carnivore and scavenger, it
leaves bits of dead animals in its nests.
People thought it brought bad luck, so they
destroyed nests and sometimes poisoned
the birds.
The fortunes of the species may turn on
local pride.
Local women took it upon themselves
early last year to form a conservation
movement for the bird in Assam state, one
of only three homes the species has left.
The women, known as the hargila army for
the bird’s name in the Assamese language,
sing hymns and weave scarves and other
items on handlooms with motifs of the bird
to create awareness about the need to
protect the species.
Only 1,200 of the large storks survive in
the world, according to estimates from the
International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources. Assam has
about two-thirds of them, largely in three
villages just northwest of the state capital
of Gauhati.
The other 400 or so greater adjutant
storks are found in the eastern Indian
state of Bihar and in Cambodia.
The conservation movement wasn’t easy
to sell; wildlife biologist Purnima Devi
Barman needed almost eight years to
convince locals the bird was crucial to the
ecosystem.
“It was seen as a bird with an evil omen
that brings in carcass and other rotten
stuff,” said Barman, who works with a
local conservation group called Aranyak.
“We had to involve the locals because the
bird nests on trees owned by individual
households. The future of the greater
adjutant stork depends on individual tree
owners who used to fell trees earlier to get
rid of the nests,” Barman said.
The locals now call Barman “hargila
baideo,” or hargila sister, after she
organized and named the movement, now
involving nearly 150 women.
Once the women began to feel pride in
ensuring the survival of the bird, they
spread the message.
Hymns are sung in the local prayer hall
for the stork’s survival. At Sankardev
Sishu Niketan, the school where most local
children study, the teachers talk about
protecting the bird.
“We have launched a pride campaign
among the children and youth so they can
proudly say their village is home to the
hargilas,” Barman said.
The movement also found support from
local government authorities, who have
provided nets to protect young storks
falling out of the nest during storms or
windy days. The critical period is the
breeding season from August to April.
“We are providing looms for the weavers
and educational grants to children of tree
owners in the area as they are going all out
in protecting the bird,” said Vinod Sachan,
the local district magistrate.
In January more than two dozen greater
adjutant storks were found dead in a
neighborhood near Gauhati. Forensic
testing is being done to learn the cause.
“The news of so many hargilas dying has
cast a pall of gloom amongst us. We need to
do more to save this globally endangered
bird,” said Barman.
North Korea says it will reject Malaysia autopsy of Kim half brother
By Eileen Ng
The Associated Press
K
UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —
North Korea says it will reject the
results of an autopsy on its
leader’s estranged half brother, the victim
of an apparent assassination at an airport
in Malaysia. Pyongyang’s ambassador
said Malaysian officials may be “trying to
conceal something” and “colluding with
hostile forces.”
Speaking to reporters gathered outside
the morgue in Kuala Lumpur, North
Korean ambassador Kang Chol said
Malaysia conducted the autopsy on Kim
Jong Nam “unilaterally and excluding our
attendance.”
Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or 46 years
old and had lived in exile for years,
suddenly fell ill at the Kuala Lumpur
airport while waiting for a flight home to
Macau. Dizzy and in pain, he told medical
workers at the airport he had been sprayed
with a chemical. He died while being taken
to a hospital.
“We will categorically reject the result of
the postmortem,” Kang said, adding that
the move disregarded “elementary
international laws and consular laws.”
Kang said the fact that Malaysia has yet
to hand over the body “strongly suggests
that the Malaysian side is trying to conceal
something which needs more time and
deceive us, and that they are colluding
with the hostile forces towards us who are
desperate to harm us.”
South Korea has accused its enemies in
North Korea of dispatching a hit squad to
kill Kim Jong Nam at the airport in Kuala
Lumpur, saying two female assassins
poisoned him then fled in a taxi.
North Korean diplomats in Malaysia
objected to an autopsy and had requested
custody of Kim Jong Nam’s body, arguing
that he had a North Korean passport.
Malaysian authorities went ahead with
the procedure anyway, saying they did not
receive a formal complaint.
The autopsy could provide some clarity
in a case marked by speculation, tales of
intrigue, and explosive, unconfirmed
reports from duelling nations. Authorities
are awaiting the autopsy results.
Malaysia said it wants DNA samples
from Kim Jong Nam’s family as part of the
post-mortem procedure and that officials
were not yet willing to hand the body over
to the North Koreans. Although Kim Jong
Nam is believed to have two sons and a
daughter with two women living in Beijing
and Macau, police in Malaysia say none
have come forward to claim the body or
provide DNA samples.
“If there is no claim by next-of-kin and
upon exhausting all avenues (to obtain
DNA), we will finally then hand over the
body to the (North Korean) embassy,” said
Abdul Samah Mat, a senior Malaysian
police official. He would not say how long
that process might take.
Malaysian police have arrested three
people in the investigation but have
released few details.
Indonesia’s national police chief said the
Indonesian woman arrested for suspected
involvement in the death was duped into
thinking she was part of a comedy show
prank. The police chief, Tito Karnavian,
said he was citing information received
from Malaysian authorities.
Karnavian told reporters in Indonesia’s
Aceh province that Siti Aisyah, 25, was
paid to be involved in “Just For Laughs”
style pranks, a reference to a popular
hidden-camera show.
He said she and another woman per-
formed stunts which involved convincing
men to close their eyes and then spraying
them with water.
“Such an action was done three or four
times and they were given a few dollars for
it, and with the last target, Kim Jong Nam,
allegedly there were dangerous materials
in the sprayer,” Karnavian said. “She was
not aware that it was an assassination
attempt by alleged foreign agents.”
Karnavian’s comments were made after
a male relative of Aisyah said in an
Indonesian television interview that she
had been hired to perform in a short
comedy movie and travelled to China as
part of this work. Indonesian immigration
has said Aisyah travelled to Malaysia and
other countries it did not specify.
Investigators are still trying to piece
together details of the case, and South
Korea has not said how it concluded that
North Korea was behind the killing.
Malaysian police are questioning three
suspects — Aisyah, another woman who
carried a Vietnamese passport, and a man
they said is Aisyah’s boyfriend.
Kim Jong Nam was estranged from his
younger half brother, North Korean leader
Kim Jong Un. He reportedly fell out of
favor with their father, the late Kim Jong
Il, in 2001, when he was caught trying to
enter Japan on a false passport to visit
Tokyo Disneyland.
Yoji Gomi, a Japanese journalist who
wrote a book about Kim Jong Nam, said he
criticized the family regime and believed a
leader should be chosen “through a
democratic process.”
Gomi said he met Kim Jong Nam by
chance at Beijing’s international airport in
2004, leading to exchanges of 150 e-mails
and two interviews in 2011 — one in
Beijing and another in Macau — totalling
seven hours.
Kim Jong Nam appeared nervous
during the interview in Macau, Gomi said.
“He must have been aware of the danger,
but I believe he still wanted to convey his
views to Pyongyang via the media,” Gomi
said. “He was sweating all over his body,
and seemed very uncomfortable when he
responded to my questions. He was
probably worried about the impact of his
comments and expressions. The thought
now gives me a pain in my heart.”
In Indonesia, Aisyah’s family and form-
er neighbors said they were stunned by her
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