Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
April 1, 2019
Rangers free six trapped baby elephants in Thailand
BANGKOK (AP) — Six baby elephants, trapped in a mud hole and separated
from their parents, have been rescued by a team of park rangers in northeastern
Thailand. The rangers came across the elephant calves as they struggled to
climb the pit’s slippery banks, according to officials of Thap Lan National Park.
Some of the rangers went for help, while others spent the night with the baby
elephants. As the elephants wallowed together at one side of the pit, rangers at
the other side spent four hours using hoes and pickaxes to dig out enough mud to
form a ramp. Video of the great elephant escape released by the Department of
National Parks showed the animals climbing out of the muck and quickly
heading into the forest, a few dozen yards away. The rangers cheered the
elephants on, with comments like “Go, go on, child!” One elephant struggled,
slipped, and fell, but finally all made it out of the muck. The last of the animals
then lingered, after all the others made it past the tree line. It faced the rangers
for a moment, turned, paused, and finally ran into the jungle. “Gone, they’re
gone,” cried a ranger, as the rescue crew came together to celebrate. Park chief
Prawatsart Chantep said there were signs that a herd of elephants believed to be
related to the trapped infants was circling the area.
CURBING CONGESTION. A Mass Rapid Transit train passes by during a trial run in Jakarta, Indonesia, in this Feb-
ruary 21, 2019 file photo. Commuting in the gridlocked Indonesian capital will for some involve less frustration, sweat, and
fumes. The 10-mile system running south from Jakarta’s downtown is the first phase of a development that if fully realized
will plant a cross-shaped network of stations serving an area with 30 million people. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)
Indonesia’s first subway opens
in its gridlocked capital
Sumatran tiger cubs explore jungle habitat in Sydney zoo
By Niniek Karmini
SYDNEY (AP) — Three boisterous 10-week-old rare Sumatran tiger cubs
play-wrestled and explored their jungle habitat in their first public appearance
at a Sydney zoo. Taronga Zoo manager Mandy Everett said the cubs were born
January 17 to first-time mother Kartika. The female cubs were named Mawar,
or Rose in Indonesian, and Tengah Malam, which means Midnight. The male’s
name is Pemanah, or Archer. Everett says Sumatran tigers are the most
critically endangered tiger subspecies and are under increasing pressure as
their jungle habitat shrinks. She said the Taronga cubs will likely grow up to
become part of breeding programs in other zoos around the world.
The Associated Press
China to give $989 million to build highway in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — China has agreed to provide a loan of $989
million to Sri Lanka to build an expressway that will connect the island nation’s
tea-growing central region to a China-run seaport on the southern coast. A
finance ministry statement said the Export-Import Bank of China has agreed to
provide a concessional loan covering 85 percent of the contract price for the
expressway, whose total estimated cost is $1.16 billion. The loan comes as Sri
Lanka struggles to repay $5.9 billion in foreign loans this year. Much of Sri
Lanka’s foreign debt is from China.
Saris stand out on Indian fashion runway
NEW DELHI (AP) — It’s fashion season in India’s capital, with the country’s
top designers showcasing their latest collections to lure the rapidly growing
domestic and export markets for Indian haute couture. Before the styles debut
on the runway lie days of planning, fittings, and hair and makeup sessions to
experiment with looks, poses, and choreography. Just days ahead of the big
show, tailors take models’ measurements and fashion designers finish
rehearsing. The show celebrated the sari, Indian women’s most idiosyncratic
garment, six yards of fabric that symbolize a centuries-old tradition. “As a long
piece of fabric, it’s not easy to drape, a lot of designers have worked on it over
time and it is being styled differently to inspire the younger generation to wear,”
Vaishali S., a Mumbai-based designer, said of the sari. Models sashayed down
the runway in a riot of color and glitz as Delhi socialites, Bollywood stars, and
prospective buyers watched for the season’s next “it” items. The sari was
juxtaposed with other Indian ensembles, western wear, and fusion clothing
collections for men and women. The show finale was an ode to the sari, worn by
the runway models in modern, reconstructed forms, along with elaborate
jewelry and accessories against striking backdrops. Vaishali said the saris on
the runway paid tribute to the great variety across India of “weaves, textures,
drapes, and fabrics with every state and every village having its own strongly
distinct and contemporary style, alive and evolving.” At the end, avid
fashionistas in the audience blended in with fashion models as buyers thronged
the stalls of designers, who offered their creations for sale, pret-a-porter.
Worsening air pollution reducing lifespans in Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s air quality has deteriorated from
among the cleanest in the world to one of the most polluted over the past two
decades, shaving five years from life expectancy in some regions, researchers
say. The study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago says
an increase in coal-fired power stations, burning of land for plantation
agriculture, and rising car ownership are responsible for the worsening
pollution in the world’s fourth-most populous country. The greatest spike
happened in the last few years with air pollution more than doubling between
2013 and 2016, it said. The burden on public health has become one of the
highest in the world, behind only India, China, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
“High air pollution is now undermining Indonesians’ health,” said researchers
Michael Greenstone and Qing Fan. “In 1998, air pollution barely impacted the
life expectancy of Indonesians. In fact, even in 2013, it shaved only a few months
off of average life expectancy.” According to the researchers, sustained high
concentrations of particulate matter in the air people breath will cut 2.3 years
from lifespans in the capital of Jakarta. On the islands of Sumatra and Borneo,
both of which suffer land fires every year, the expected reduction in lifespans is
four years on average. It rises to 4.8 years for the southern Sumatran city of
Palembang and 5.6 years for its neighboring Ogan Komering Ilir district.
AKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s
long-awaited first subway opened in the
country’s capital with the aim of
relieving crippling traffic gridlock in
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
Minutes after inaugurating the 10-mile
transit line running south from Jakarta’s
downtown, President Joko Widodo presided
over a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the
beginning of the second phase: a five-mile
northward line planned for completion by
2024. The two projects are being built at a cost
of $2.6 billion.
“Today we will begin a new civilization by
operating the first phase of Mass Rapid
Transit in Jakarta,” Widodo told several
thousand guests and residents at the
inauguration.
The new line that opened includes seven
elevated and six underground stations built by
two consortiums of local and Japanese
companies. Passengers rode for free until the
end of March, after which operator PT MRT
Jakarta began charging the equivalent of
between 70 cents and $1.
Widodo, who is campaigning for re-election,
told the crowd that he has instructed Jakarta
governor Anies Baswedan to begin the next
phase of construction of an east-west line
covering a distance of about 54 miles this year.
Jakarta’s first subway line, the latest of
many infrastructure improvements across the
world’s fourth most populous nation, is aimed
at helping it catch up with other Southeast
Asian capitals such as Kuala Lumpur,
Singapore, and Bangkok in public transport.
J
Jakarta is officially home to about 10 million
people, but the population of the greater
metropolitan area swells to 30 million.
The project, funded through a loan from the
Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), has been planned since the 1980s, but
its construction was hampered by political
crises, red tape, and funding disagreements.
Widodo was the Jakarta governor when con-
struction finally kicked off in October 2013.
JICA has predicted that without a major
investment in transportation, Jakarta would
be overwhelmed by traffic jams by 2020.
Annual losses from congestion are forecast to
reach $6.5 billion by next year.
Congestion has relentlessly worsened in the
past decade as car ownership rose, squeezing
more and more vehicles onto Jakarta’s
unchanging road network. The average peak
hour speed has “significantly decreased” to 6.2
miles per hour, according to the transport
ministry. It often can take two or more hours to
move three miles in some pockets of the city.
The line opened runs from the southern
neighborhood of Lebak Bulus to Jakarta’s
downtown and is expected to take less than 30
minutes.
In addition to the subway project, a
$2.4-billion elevated rail network linking
Jakarta and its satellite cities is also taking
shape, with the first stage expected to begin
operating in April.
But it likely will take several years for new
transit systems to make a dent in the
congestion. About 1.4 million people commute
into central Jakarta on work days. The initial
subway line aims to carry only about 130,000
people a day by the end of this year.
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Asian Currency
Exchange Rates
Units per U.S. dollar as of 3/29
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Singapore Dollar · ·
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Taiwan Dollar · · ·
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83.68
3980.2
6.7112
2.1035
7.8499
69.16
14225
42025
110.66
8614.1
4.08
111.31
140.6
3.373
52.635
65.683
3.7503
1.3543
1136.1
175.47
30.851
31.72
23040