The Asian reporter., March 19, 2018, Page Page 4, Image 4

Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
March 19, 2018
School dance, anyone? Pakistan lawmakers in Punjab seek ban
By Zaheer Babar and Munir Ahmed
The Associated Press
AHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani
lawmakers
in
a
provincial
assembly voted in favor of a
recommendation to ban dance parties at
schools and other educational institutions,
saying they promote western culture,
according to officials. The move drew
criticism from students and activists, who
vowed to oppose the decision.
Proposed by Shaikh Ijaz, a lawmaker
from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League
party in Punjab, the non-binding
resolution was quickly adopted.
“This resolution was passed to stop
vulgarity and the promotion of western
culture among youths,” he said.
Ijaz said the resolution passed the
Punjab Assembly with no opposition from
secular, moderate, or Islamic parties.
The resolution is considered a recom-
mendation to the government, which is
being asked to “stop the vulgarity” in the
province. Ijaz said the motion followed
L
parents’ complaints that some schools
organized mix-gender gatherings, which
are prohibited in Islam.
Angered over the motion, students said
they would resist.
Vietnamese recruited two months before Kim Jong Nam’s murder
Continued from page 2
Kobe Steel chief steps down over fake data scandal
MURDERERS RECRUITED. Vietnamese
Doan Thi Huong is escorted by police while leaving
a court hearing at Shah Alam High Court in Shah
Alam, Malaysia. Huong and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia
have pleaded not guilty to killing Kim Jong Nam last
year at a crowded Kuala Lumpur airport terminal.
(AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)
Teh also accused Wan Azirul of being “a
biased investigator, not independent, and
not interested in the truth.”
“We are terribly disadvantaged as the
investigation didn’t focus on this area,”
Teh told reporters later.
The two women face the death penalty if
convicted, but not if they lacked intent to
kill. Prosecutors contend the women knew
they were handling poison.
Kim, the eldest son in the family that
has ruled North Korea since its founding,
had been living abroad for years after
falling out of favor. It is thought he could
have been seen as a threat to the rule of his
half brother, Kim Jong Un.
Malaysian officials have never officially
accused North Korea of involvement in
Kim’s death and have made it clear they
don’t want the trial politicized.
Cambodian genocide documented in victims’ preserved clothes
Continued from page 3
same pattern as your mother’s, then that’s
going to bring these memories that are so
palpable, and this is so powerful,” she said.
Less is more in conservation, according
to Brennan, “because we want to keep the
associated dirt and stains and particles as
part of the context and information of the
artifact.”
So for Tuol Sleng’s artifacts, she said she
has been teaching half a dozen Cambodian
colleagues to photograph a piece to identify
it for inventory, “then just to surface clean
carefully with a vacuum or a soft brush,
and then the dirt can be saved as part of
the record and some of the surface soiling
will be loosened.”
Treatment doesn’t end there. In tropical
places like Cambodia, there’s a lot of
mildew and mold as well as live insects to
deal with. To try to protect the material for
the long term, it is put into “micro
climates” in which the relative humidity
can be reduced. Brennan said she
developed this system during her work in
Rwanda, putting the items in dry storage
boxes with desiccants, pellets normally
used in the agriculture industry.
Kho Chenda, a 28-year-old staff member
at Tuol Sleng, has taken Brennan’s
preservation lessons to heart. She said
what she’s learned is vital because of the
museum’s mission to teach the horrific
legacy of the Khmer Rouge.
“If that clothing gets too old and worn
out, then the evidence it offers will be
gone, and when you talk to the younger
generation, they will not believe you,” she
said.
Kong Kuntheary, another of Brennan’s
students, echoed the sentiment.
“This clothing is really important
evidence, so we have to preserve it to make
sure that even in 100 or 200 years, it will
not have disappeared,” said the 52-year-
old employee of the National Museum in
Phnom Penh.
Peck reported from Bangkok.
TOKYO (AP) — The chief executive of
major Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel is
stepping down over a scandal that
surfaced last year involving massive
falsification of inspection data of the
company’s products.
Hiroya Kawasaki, who is also chairman
and president, said he is stepping down
from all three positions. He’s staying on as
a director but only until the annual
shareholder meeting in June.
His successor has not yet been
named.
Kobe Steel has pointed to a zealous
pursuit of profit, unrealistic targets, and
an insular corporate culture as behind the
scandal.
There have been no accidents or injuries
related to the fake data. The systematic
misconduct spanned years, affecting
products sent to more than 680 companies,
including aluminum castings and copper
tubes for autos, aircraft, appliances, and
trains.
2017 Exemplary Community Volunteer Award Recipient:
Lac Hong Vietnamese School
AR Photo/Jan Landis
to Mr. Y at the Hay Bar, which belonged to
Thuy and her husband, and asked for a
salary of $1,000 a month.
Huong said she participated in her first
prank outside Hanoi’s Opera House,
where she was told to kiss a stranger on
the cheek. She said in the police statement
that it was unsuccessful because the
person shied away.
Teh told the court that Thuy had
declined to come to Malaysia to testify but
was questioned by Vietnamese police in
March last year and made sworn
statements that supported Huong’s claims
to police.
The lawyer said Thuy told Vietnamese
police that Mr. Y, who speaks fluent
Vietnamese, had initially wanted to
recruit her but she declined due to family
commitments. She said she then
remembered Huong loved to act and
introduced her.
The youngest of five siblings, Huong, 29,
said in her police statement that her
parents were farmers and that she studied
accounting at Hanoi Business and
Technology University and later worked
for three years as a waitress in Hanoi.
Teh was cross-examining chief police
investigator Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan
Aziz, who acknowledged that he hadn’t
investigated Huong’s claims or contacted
Vietnamese police to get details from
Thuy. The lawyer said his law firm had
written to Malaysia’s attorney general to
seek Vietnam’s approval for Malaysian
police to probe the case there but was
refused.
Aman Batool, 22, a university student
said they had the right to dance and sing at
campuses.
Mahwash Ajaz, a Dubai-based Paki-
stani psychologist, opposed the motion,
saying it was not only ridiculous, but also a
violation of civil liberties of individuals.
“It is up to parents to decide what their
underage children can and cannot do in
schools. It is not the business of politicians
or state to interfere in such matters,” she
told The Associated Press from Dubai.
“Don’t we have more pressing concerns
to consider such as physical abuse of
NO DANCE PARTIES. A Pakistani dancer
performs during a ceremony arranged by the Pakistan
National Council of Arts in collaboration with the Min-
istry of Information, Broadcasting, and National Heri-
tage to mark International Dance Day, in Lahore, Paki-
stan, in this April 29, 2017 file photo. (AP Photo/K.M.
Chaudary, File)
children, sexual abuse, and quality of
education rather than kids having some
function or dancing once or twice a year,”
she asked.
Sahir Ali Bagga, a Pakistani singer, said
the best response to violence at campuses
was to promote performing art.
It was not the first time that a provincial
legislature recommended a ban on school
dance.
A similar attempt was made in the
southern Sindh province in 2016, but it
was rejected by a majority of the
lawmakers.
Pakistan’s English-language news-
paper The Dawn opposed the ban, saying it
should be resisted.
In an editorial, the paper said “over the
decades, similar attempts to narrowly
redefine our identity have been made.
None have fully succeeded because,
inevitably, we show our true stripes:
diverse, tolerant, and defiantly joyous.
This is reflected in our shared kinetic
energy, whether through the boisterous
bhangra, the elegant Kathak, or the
transcendental Sufi raqs.”
Ahmed reported from Islamabad.
The Lac Hong Vietnamese School was formed in 2004 to promote and preserve
Vietnamese culture, to mentor youth, and to facilitate cooperation among Vietnamese
Americans. The language school, which started with 88 students at its inception, has grown
to an enrollment of more than 200 students from Pre-K to level seven, who take classes in
the Vietnamese language, culture, dance, LEGO robotics, lion dance, and art. The classes,
taught by 58 active volunteer teachers, meet at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek
Campus on Saturday afternoons. Students at Lac Hong Vietnamese School have performed
cultural dances at community events, including Culture Days at Washington Square mall
and the Vietnamese Community of Oregon’s Lunar New Year celebration. The organization
also supports Tieng Hoai Huong, a music group promoting and teaching Asian traditional
instruments; True Connection; the Portland State University Vietnamese Student
Association; the Asian American Youth Leadership Club at David Douglas High School;
Vietnamese Scouts; and the Vietnamese Community of Oregon. In addition, the school also
holds a Volunteer Day to support the local Oregon Food Bank. To learn more, visit
<www.vscso.org>.
The Asian Reporter Foundation is accepting nominations
for its 2018 “Exemplary Community Volunteer” awards.
The recognition banquet will be held Thursday,
April 26, 2018 at southeast Portland’s Wong’s King Seafood Restaurant.
Nomination forms and award guidelines are available
for download at <www.ARFoundation.net>.
The nomination deadline is Thursday, April 4, 2018 at 5:00pm.
The Asian Reporter Foundation’s 20th
Annual Scholarship & Awards Banquet features:
Most Honored Elder Awards
Cultural entertainment
Exemplary Community Volunteer Awards
Ethnic dinner
College Scholarship Awards
Silent auction