Rupak D Sharma in Bangkok

In December of 1970, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s party, the Awami League, wins elections in Pakistan with a clear majority. However, the victory of Awami League, a major political party in East Pakistan, is not acceptable to those in West Pakistan.

There is widespread opposition in the Pakistani military and the Islamic political parties to Mujibur becoming Pakistan’s prime minister. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leader of Pakistan People’s Party, the largest West Pakistani party at that time, even threatens to boycott the assembly if Mujibur is allowed to form the new government.

As the rift between leaders of East and West Pakistan widens, Mujibur calls for independence of East Pakistan and asks the people to launch civil disobedience campaigns against the West Pakistani regime which had always treated them as third-class citizens. The people of East Pakistan, who were infuriated by the central government’s treatment of the devastating November’s cyclone victims, readily join in.

Following this, then Pakistani president Yahya Khan bans the Awami League, declares martial law and orders the army to arrest Mujibur and other East Pakistani leaders and activists. The ruthless decision, however, forces Mujibur to declare independence of East Pakistan at midnight on March 26, 1971, giving birth to Bangladesh.

Mujibur is later arrested and sent to prison in the West. But this does not quell the tension and the army can do nothing to stop the people, who by that time were determined to liberate Bangladesh from the hands of the authoritarian West Pakistani regime.

Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam’s debut novel, A Golden Age, finds its root in this tensed environment, where West Pakistan’s so-called attempt to restore order in Bangladesh results in terror and bloodshed. It is a story of a country at war, where chaos is the order of the day and disappearance and murder of people become everyday affair.

Amidst this situation, Rehana Haque, a widowed mother of two, finds it increasingly difficult to protect her children. Like every mother she has selfish love for them and since she had once been separated from them after her husband’s death she does not want to repeat the same ordeal.

But the war’s intensity is so great, no one can easily isolate or escape from it. As some of the characters of the novel put it: “Everyone is fighting—even people who weren’t so sure, people who wanted to stay with Pakistan.”

Then finally one day, Rehana’s eldest son, Sohail, comes home and says he has joined a clandestine guerilla operation launched by university students.

At first Rehana finds it hard to believe him. Yes, he was the revolutionary type who had posters of Lenin and Che Guevara on his room’s walls. He also recited speeches like ‘Peking or Moscow? Third World Socialism’ and ‘Jinnah: Statesman or Imperialist Demagogue?’ in college. But Rehana never thought her son would go this far. After all, she had always known him as a pacifist, someone who would not rush to join a war.

In this, as in all other things, Rehana tries to veer between “indulgence and censure”. “There was a part of her that wanted to allow her children to do anything—any whimsy, any zeal, any excess,” the author explains. “Another part of her wanted them to have nothing to do with it all, to keep them safe, at home.”

Rehana chooses the former and allows Sohail to go to war. In the meantime, her daughter, Maya, who had also joined the revolution, moves to Kolkata in India to work for a newspaper, which was supporting the Bangladeshi independence movement.

At this juncture, Rehana finds herself all alone in the house. Instead of Sohail and Maya, she starts living with talks about whereabouts of Mujibur and Anwar Sadaat and uproar, in the city or beyond, in Islamabad, where one punishing law after another was passed. “And every hiccup of the political landscape made its way to their door,” Tahmima writes.

A Golden Age is a story about a mother trying to keep her family intact during war. It is about the contribution made by a liberal middle-class Muslim family—living in harmony with Hindus—in liberating Bangladesh from the hands of Pakistan. It is a story about curfew sirens, empty streets, closed shops, locked gates, a burned and blistered city. At the same time it is also a story about courage and sacrifices, where mothers lose their children, wives mourn the death of their husbands and friends bury their fellow companions.

However, to give a light flavour to the gripping story the writer also talks about the love life of central character, Rehana, with a former army major who stays in her house for 96 days to recuperate from a major injury. She also talks about delicious foods like, paratha, samosa and puri and old Hindi as well as some English songs to give a breezy touch.

Tahmima’s style is sure and sharp, studded with illuminating images. She has not gone to the extent of over-explaining her characters and the novel’s plot is not monotonous.

Try the novel and you will have a sound knowledge on how Bangladesh emerged as an independent country in the 1970s. The book will also give you an insight into the strong ties that Bangladeshi family members maintain that provide them support in times of trouble. Moverover, it also gives you a bird’s eye view of Bangladeshi culture, their idea of merrymaking and their fondness for food.

Rupak D Sharma in Pokhara

At the library of Sishu Shishu Kalyan Primary School in Bharatpokhari, around 10km from scenic western city of Pokhara in Nepal, a drawing hanging on the wall shows a cigarette and a cross on top of it. The title of the sketch warns: “Don’t Smoking”.

This gives a hint of the quality of English that the primary school is offering. Ironically, the state-owned Shishu Kalyan had recently changed its language of instruction from Nepali to English to compete with private schools in the locality, which were attracting more students due to their English medium courses.

The initiative taken by this school—where most of the government-run institutions fail to adapt to change as long as they get state subsidy—is praiseworthy. But what kind of products will it generate is a big question.

This kind of quality-related problem in education sector is not only prevalent in Nepal. In India, a survey conducted in 28 states found that 38.2 per cent of the Grade 1 students could not read alphabets and 53.7 per cent failed to identify numbers. While 47 per cent of children in Grade 5 could not even read a Grade 2 text fluently.

Another study conducted in Pakistan showed that a bare majority of Grade 3 students had mastered the Grade 1 mathematics curriculum and only 31 per cent could correctly form a sentence with the word ‘school’ in the vernacular Urdu. While in Laos, only 1 per cent of the children completing Grade 5 were found to have reached a level of competency in mathematics that would allow them to continue their studies further. The corresponding figure for language was 17 per cent.

These instances sum up the quality of education provided by public schools in Asia, where enrollment rates in primary and secondary levels have increased significantly in the last two decades but very few are getting the kind of education that would make them competitive and ensure them decent jobs in the future.

This low quality of education is feared to take a toll on the children of poor families.

As is known, most of the students attending public schools belong to economically disadvantaged families. These families do not even earn US$1 a day and thus cannot afford expensive private school education. Low quality education in this segment means imparting knowledge and skills that will not get recognition in the market.

In today’s knowledge-based society, where people can also generate self-employment through the education, low quality education will ultimately force them and their families to stay in the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.

Another important feature of the students belonging to economically disadvantaged families is that they are first generation learners whose parents have never attended school and do not know the true value of education. If these first generation learners do not see tangible benefits of formal education, they, like their parents, will not consider going to school a worthwhile mission. This may increase their chances of dropping out of school, Rakha Rashid, education specialist of United Nations Children’s Education Fund (Unicef) tells AsiaNews on the sidelines of United Nations Girls Education Initiative (Ungei) Global Advisory Committee meeting held recently in Kathmandu, Nepal.

So who should be blamed for this situation?

As many reports have said, one of the important factors affecting student achievement is teachers. A study conducted among 400,000 students in 3,000 schools worldwide concluded that “while school quality is an important determinant of student achievement, the most important predictor is teacher quality”.

This is where Asia seems to be lagging behind.

Although Southeast and East Asia seem to be having relatively more number of qualified teachers, the situation is particularly startling in South Asia. In Nepal, only 31 per cent of the teachers have received professional training. In Bangladesh, the number is 48 per cent, while in Afghanistan only 36 per cent of the teachers are trained.

“Even in countries where more than 70 per cent of teachers have received professional training, one finds wide variation across different regions,” says professor Rangachar Govinda of National University of Education Planning and Administration of New Delhi.

For instance, the northeastern states in India have a very low proportion of trained teachers compared with other regions. While in other countries, schools located in difficult terrain and schools attended by linguistic minority groups suffer from lack of trained teachers.

But in some cases it is also apathy of teachers. In countries like Nepal, public school teachers usually draw more salary than private school teachers and are at times better trained than private school teachers. However, their performance seems to be lagging behind mainly due to their focus on their private businesses rather than on school work.

This is where organisations like Ungei have to intervene, says Rajan Sharma, advisor of Education Journalists Group, Nepal.

Ungei—which has now taken the initiative of providing quality education to all the children, including those with disabilities and HIV/AIDS—comprises representatives of major donor agencies, including the World Bank and DFID, Danida and Norad, the international development agencies of the UK, Denmark and Norway, respectively.

“Ungei should urge these donor agencies to create pressure on governments to put education on top of the agenda and introduce programmes to enhance the quality of teachers,” says Sharma.

Adds Els Heijen-Maathuis, regional representative of Save the Children-Sweden for South and Central Asia: “Delay in providing proper education to teachers may prove to be detrimental to the achievements made in increasing the enrollment rates of students in schools.”Published in AsiaNews

Rupak D Sharma in Pokhara

Thirty-something Raj Kumar Thapa likes to call himself an open-minded father. Although the fruit seller cannot give a clear definition of an ‘open minded’ person, he deems it has to be someone like him. “Someone who does not discriminate between a boy and a girl child,” he says.

In a conservative male-dominated society like Nepal, where daughters are still considered an economic liability and thus denied equal opportunity, Thapa’s definition of ‘open mindedness’ holds some meaning. But what contradicts his assertion is his choice.

Thapa, a resident of a small village in Hemja, around 10km from Pokhara in Nepal, is a father of three children. From a daily income of 150 rupees to 200 rupees (US$2.17 to $2.90), he is managing to send all of his three children, an eight-year-old son and two daughters aged 12 and 15, to school. The only difference is: while his son attends a private school his two daughters go to a public school.

A soft-spoken Thapa, however, does not consider this discrimination. “It is a compulsion not a choice,” he says. “If I had enough money I would have sent all three children to private school.”

In a country like Nepal, where public schools usually generate unsaleable and inferior products, parents send their children to private school believing education in a private institution will enhance their competency level in the job market. They also believe private school education will teach them how to think critically and turn them into smarter kids than their peers attending public schools.

But the beneficiaries of this quality education, especially in lower-middle class families, usually become boys, as the parents believe it is them who will support the family once they grow old. “Whereas daughters are considered temporary family members, who will stop contributing to the household economy once they get married and move to their husband’s home,” says Om Bahadur Kunwar, a teacher of Gauri Shankar Higher Secondary School.

Because of this belief, parents do not mind investing 10-20 times more on boys’ education. Girls, on the other hand, suffer silent exclusion like in the case of Thapa’s youngest daughter, Ritu, who, despite performing well, was transferred from private to public school while in Grade 3.

This tendency of sending boys to private schools is increasing the population of girls in public schools.

In a village where population of girls and boys is almost equal, statistics of the state-owned Gauri Shankar School show presence of only 134 boys as against 219 girls.

“We do not know how to address this problem but we fear this tendency may develop inferiority complex in girls,” says Kunwar.

After the launch of the Unesco-led Education For All campaign in 1990, various governments, NGOs and donor agencies have been working relentlessly to improve girls’ access to formal education. And in the last 18 years, significant achievements have been made not only in Nepal but throughout Asia. A few decades ago, girls constituted only one-third of the total enrolment in Asia’s primary schools. Whereas today there are nearly equal number of boys and girls in schools. And in some countries in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, more girls have started attending school than boys.

But even as the presence of girls in the schools are increasing, gender disparities still persist in subtle and insidious ways like in the small village in Nepal.

“These unchallenged gender biases and stereotypes are seriously constraining efforts to achieve true gender equalities,” says professor Rangachar Govinda of the National University of Education Planning and Administration of New Delhi.

These practices, despite rising levels of education, are ultimately limiting overall growth of women and ruining their chances of playing critical roles in the societies.

An example of education failing to benefit women can be seen in Sri Lanka’s non-agricultural labour market. In spite of having higher education level among women, female labour participation in the country is much lower than in Bangladesh and Nepal, meaning most of the women are either engaged in subsistence agricultural activities or staying at home and taking care of children and participating in unpaid labour.

Situation is pretty much the same in India, which recorded lowest female labour participation despite registering high economic growth rates in recent years. In fact, the whole South Asia lags behind the world, where only 18 per cent of women are currently employed in non-agricultural sector, compared with the world average of 39 per cent.

“This unevenness highlights the complexity of efforts required for implementing an agenda of gender equality,” says Govinda.

To address this problem many governments in Asia have introduced laws to ease the entry of women in the labour market and enhance their performance in every sector. Some of the countries like Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives have also established special organisations to streamline gender-related concerns.

“These policy measures and mechanisms have undoubtedly brought gender concerns to the centre stage of policymaking, says Govinda. “But actual progress at the ground level has been very slow.”

He adds: “Effective action in this regard requires strong commitment on the part of the top leadership to push ahead necessary reforms and legislations reforms with a gender perspective. Equally important is the role of the civil society in facilitating transformation of social attitudes and perspectives among the people at large.”

Failure in this regard could spawn more people like Thapa who hold biased attitude towards women.Published in AsiaNews

Rupak D Sharma in Langkawi

On a cloudy morning in Malaysia’s sunny Langkawi, Bertrand Bitaud of Gartner, a research company, rolled out a slide of Harley-Davidson motorcycle on the big screen hanging on the conference room wall of Andaman Resort.

It was rather strange as he was supposed to deliberate on the business strategies of Asia’s telecom service providers. But before anyone in the audience could think of what he was trying to prove he started: “Harley-Davidson has something to tell to all (telecom) service providers.”

His underlying message was: telecom industry should learn the tricks of surviving in a competitive market from the giant American motorbike company.

Harley-Davidson, established in 1903, was a leading manufacturer of motorbikes in North America. However, by 1985, the company’s market share had shrunk to less than 10 per cent and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, mainly due to competition from the Japanese companies.

Its fall was inevitable.

But at this critical juncture things took a U-turn. And today it has once again established itself as a very successful company with a strong brand image and customer following.

“What the company did was get out of the motorbike business,” Bitaud told the audience participating in NetEvent’s Asia Pacific summit. It diversified and customised its product portfolio by stepping into other businesses.

Today, Harley-Davidson is not only about motorbikes. “It is also in the fashion business; it’s a lifestyle company,” said Bitaud. It makes apparels and other fashion accessories. Thus, Harley customers today feel that with the purchase of every Harley product they are also buying an experience and a lifestyle.

Bitaud was trying to prove that Asia’s telecom industry could be compared with the Harley-Davidson of the early- and mid-1900s. Like in the Harley’s heydays, Asia’s telecom companies are also generating huge revenues and profits at present. The profitability rate of Asian telecom industry is, in fact, higher than of any other telecom companies in the world.

For instance, China Mobile, Asia’s largest cellular carrier, generated a net profit of 24.1 billion yuan (US$3.44 billion) in the first quarter of 2008, up 37 per cent. Last year, Bharti Airtel, India’s biggest mobile operator, earned a net profit of 67.01 billion rupees ($1.56 billion), an impressive 57 per cent growth.

But if you look at the sources of these profits, they came mainly from subscription of new mobile phone lines.

Bharati added 25 million new mobile users last year alone, pushing its entire subscriber base to over 64 million. China Mobile, on the other hand, already has around 400 million subscribers on its list. And this trend will continue until 2012.

According to estimates, mobile connections in Asia will record a compound annual growth rate of 13.6 per cent between 2008 and 2012, led by growing demands in India, China, Indonesia and other countries in the region.

In other words, Asia’s telecom companies will continue to earn profits simply by signing up new customers of virgin markets in smaller cities and rural areas.

There is no doubt that availability of mobile connectivity in less-affluent areas will help countries to push up the teledensity rate, which is of the utmost importance for entire development of the country. But the concern is about the sustainability of this revenue generation mechanism?

It is estimated that the number of mobile subscribers in Asia will hit 4.4 billion by 2011. With this huge cluster of users, the market saturation will also start to grow, meaning telecom companies will find it difficult to add in new customers to its networks. This will have direct impact on their incomes and profit levels.

The only solution to this problem, according to Bitaud, is to move away from connectivity and diversify products and services range.

Talking about diversification, some telecom companies in Asia are already focusing on geographic diversification. Singapore’s largest carrier, SingTel, has expanded its business in eight other markets including India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh. China Mobile also made its foray into Pakistani market and although Bharti Airtel could not clinch a deal with largest mobile carrier of Africa, other Indian companies are making attempts to enter into emerging overseas markets.

“These deals did work in the past (to keep the companies ahead in competition),” said Bitaud. “But we don’t necessarily think that that is going to work in the future.” The reason: same as above, growing market saturation.

In this context, Bitaud said, companies must try to build their brand and promote brand loyalty so as to forge an emotional bond with customers. The idea is to make customers captive to your services, he added.

Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder, Infonetics Research, laid three steps to meet this target: consolidation of businesses, convergence of technologies and innovation.

What these three things churn out is a next generation network. “What this means is moving away from many single-purpose networks like telephone, mobile, broadband, data as separate networks onto a single network, a single Internet protocol packet network, where all the traffic, all the applications run on one network,” Howard said.

The Chinese government’s recent decision to merge six state-owned telecom companies into three can be considered the first step towards creating a next generation network (although it is not new in Japanese, European or American markets).

As per the decision, China Mobile will merge with China TieTong Telecom. China Telecom will acquire China Unicom’s CDMA business and Unicom’s GSM assets will be merged with China Netcom.

The move is expected to promote greater competition and offer better services to consumers as all three new companies will be able to offer mobile, fixed-line and broadband Internet services. This will also pave way for the long-awaited distribution of 3G services, through which customers can watch Internet televisions on mobile phone, hold teleconferences and send and receive huge bursts of data. More structural changes can be made by integrating other smart technologies and businesses such as that of providing Internet contents (like what Google, Yahoo and Cisco are doing).

“Once a service provider starts offering two or three or four services from one network, customers will find it difficult to switch to other company,” Bitaud said.

“So, it is adios! telecom companies and hello! communication companies. That’s a message.”

But on top of all this company’s pricing strategy should be that of Honda Accord, he added. The car comes at roughly the same price as five years ago, except that the Honda Accord has richer features, has better engines and is more stable. Bitaud said: “In other words the price of service should remain same but customers should get more.”Published in Asia News

Bangkok

At around 10:30pm on June 4, Burmese security officials barged into the residence of Burma’s renowned comedian, Zarganar, and took him in custody. The officials also confiscated US$1,000 in cash, a computer and some DVDs of the cyclone that hit Burma on May 2 and 3 from his residence.

Zarganar’s fault: trying to help Burmese cyclone victims by raising money and mobilising volunteers.

This is how Burmese authorities reward those who try to extend support to victims of the disaster, which turned more than 100,000 lives into corpses and affected 2.5 million people.

One month has passed since the deadly disaster completely swept parts of Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon, but the attitude of the military junta towards the victims has not changed. Neither does it take initiative to alleviate the pain of survivors nor does it want the locals or foreigners to come to their aid. Whereas in the disaster affected areas, hundreds of thousands of people with empty stomach are desperately looking for food, medial supplies and shelter to protect them from frequent monsoon showers.

For the first two weeks after the cyclone the generals insisted that their relief operations were running smoothly. But after reports about survivors suffering with diarrhoea, dysentery and other infections being unattended started flooding in international media, the generals finally agreed to partially open the gates for international humanitarian agencies. However, the relief materials that entered the country after that period have assisted only half of those affected by the cyclone. According to the UN, more than one million people are still in desperate need of food, shelter and medical care.

In order to reach out to the unattended victims and expedite aid distribution process, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also held a meeting with Junta leader Than Shwe some days ago. During the talks, Than Shwe pledged to allow foreign aid workers to enter the country. But even after that many foreign aid workers are still being denied travel permission and nine civilian helicopters flying on behalf of the UN World Food Programme, are sitting in neighbouring Thailand since the last week of May waiting for the green signal from concerned Burmese authorities.

To show the international community that it was concerned about the people, the junta had also erected some temporary shelters made of blue tents where survivors were receiving food and other relief materials. But now they are forcing people to leave these camps.

Recently, the junta evacuated people from eight refugee camps located in Bogale of the Irrawaddy delta and dumped them in places with no food and other aid supplies. Camps in Labutta in Irrawaddy are also being closed down, making it even more difficult for aid agencies to deliver emergency relief materials. Many others who had sought shelters in schools and other government buildings are also being forced to return to the ruins of their homes.

A Burmese of Nepali origin, who was recently in Bangkok, requesting anonymity, told Asia News Network that people are “very angry with the way military generals are handling the situation”.

“The people are keeping quiet because of fear. Fear of meeting the same fate of some of the monks who were burnt alive during the September (2007) riots,” he continued. “After all, people who do not bother to take lives of religious figures can do anything to ordinary citizens.”

While the Burmese people are cursing the rulers, victims of China’s 8-magnitude earthquake are praising their leaders as saviours.

The extent of damage caused by the May 12 quake—centered on Wenchuan County, about 100 km southwest of Beichuan—is much the same as in Burma. Areas about the size of Greece or Iceland were destroyed by the powerful earthquake. At least 69,000 people lost their lives, about 18,000 are still missing and millions have been rendered homeless. In addition, more than 10,000 aftershocks reported since May 12 have continued to send chills down the spine of survivors.

But unlike in Burma, generosity shown by society and the government is helping alleviate the pains of survivors. Due to the enthusiasm shown by Premier Wen Jiabao in leading relief efforts, many ordinary citizens have also joined hands in helping the victims generating a synergy.

For those who have closely followed the event, the strength, spirit and solidarity of the Chinese people in the face of massive devastation as well as the discipline and dedication of the armed forces are nothing short of impressive. In the quake zone itself, tales emerged of incredible altruism—teachers who sacrificed their lives to save students; a farmer who had just lost his only son, yet worked tirelessly to rescue the children of others; a policewoman who nursed an orphaned baby.

Even the materialistic and self-centred children and youngsters of the so-called ‘Me’ generation, who never learnt how to share or give, were donating money.

Chen Shulin, 51, said she was delighted at her son Yi Pei’s decision to donate 2,000 yuan (US$287)—an entire month’s pay—to the China Red Cross, which was helping the millions made homeless by the quake.

“I have never seen him do one unselfish thing before this. I was resigned to the fact that we had raised a generation of good-for-nothings who care only about themselves,” said Chen, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Beijing.

And the government has only added to the spirit of mutual self-help by announcing to build temporary houses for the victims and write off their debt.

The central Chinese authorities recently pledged to build one million temporary houses for victims of the earthquake within three months. Each house, according to the initial plan, will be spread in 20 sq m of land and by the end of June, the first batch of 250,000 such temporary houses will be provided to the quake victims. Primary and middle schools, clinics, stores, rubbish collection and water supply facilities will also be established alongside these houses. Children, who are mentally disturbed by the loss of their parents are receiving special treatment.

The Chinese government has also announced to start the reconstruction work as soon as possible. The government has provided already 70 billion yuan ($10.11 billion) for the purpose. The banking regulators have allowed an extra lending quota of about 100 billion yuan ($14.44 billion) for the affected regions; more than 32 billion yuan ($4.62 billion) of donations had been pledged as of May 27; and the Sichuan provincial government is expected to invest heavily in the reconstruction projects.

“The Chinese government’s ability to organise and provide very quickly for the needs of the victims has won much merited praise,” Eunice Moe Brock, 91, who rushed to China to help earthquake victims from the US, said.

“The Wenchuan earthquake is terrible and destructive. These are hard times for China. But I believe that when united, Chinese people can overcome any difficulties”

These are hard times and these deadly disasters will remain etched in the memories of most of the survivors in Irrawaddy delta of Burma and Sichuan province of China for years to come. What will also remain etched in memories are the government’s responses to the calamities and its attitude towards the victims.Reporting by Rupak D Sharma/Asia News Network, The Straits Times, The Star and China Daily (Published in Asia News)

By Rupak D Sharma in Vientiane

Upon my arrival in Vientiane, the first thing I noticed about the city was its remarkably low population density.

It was Friday morning when I reached there but the streets gave an impression as if it was a weekend. When the weekend finally rolled in the next day, the thoroughfares looked completely deserted.

If this was the situation in the capital city, I wondered, how empty would other parts of Laos look.

With all these thoughts in my mind I was waiting for a friend in front of KP Hotel when I started seeing into foreign tourists. One, then another and another. In the span of around 20 minutes, when I stood there, I realised that on average every fourth person that I had come across was a foreigner.

I didn’t know what to make out of it at first but later this explained a lot about the correlation between Laos’ scanty population and booming tourism industry.

Laos: An Intro

Laos, a landlocked country hidden between China, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Viet Nam, is spread in an area of 236,800sq km and has a population of 6.52 million. In other words, only 25 people live in 1sq km of land compared with 253 persons per sq km in Viet Nam, 122 in Thailand and 78 in Cambodia.

This is one of the reasons why the country is a haven for tourists looking for destinations with little distractions. This is also the reason why it is favoured by those who have become tired of hopscotching crowded and bustling places of Southeast Asia.

With treasures such as the 700-year old scenic city of Luang Prabang in the central north, the Plain of Jars in the north, the 4,000 Islands in the south and plenty of archaeological wonders and breathtaking scenes, the country can be called a huge showcase of riveting sights and idyllic spots that can keep one engaged for days.

The place is not over priced either. Average accommodation costs in fine hotels are US$40 per night and Beerlao, one of the tastiest beers in the region, is priced at $1 in most restaurants.

But what adds more charm to all these is its relaxed and welcoming people, whose innate hospitality moved me more than once during my sojourn.

This incredible mixture of low population density, hidden treasures, inexpensiveness and people’s benevolent attitude are giving a shot of adrenaline to its tourism industry.

Tourism’s Benefits

For a less industrialised economy like Laos, where around 27 per cent of the population do not earn $1 a day, tourism offers a lifeline and provides the much needed foreign currency required to execute development works and reduce incidents of poverty.

Last year, a total of 1.6 million foreign visitors thronged Laos—up 23 per cent from 2006 and more than double of 2001—bringing in $233 million to the country.

The foreign receipts helped the country to narrow the current account deficit to 15 per cent of the GDP (of $4 billion) and maintain a sound foreign exchange reserve of $530 million.

Vayakhon Badhisane, president of Lao Association of Travel Agents, told AsiaNews that benefits of tourism have also started to trickle down to the poor, “which is now visible in less-developed areas of the country”.

Due to the influx of foreign travellers, residents in rural areas have started opening convenience stores, restaurants, small souvenir shops and other businesses, she said. “This, on one hand, is augmenting their incomes and improving living standards, while, on the other, enhancing their entrepreneurial skills and bringing them into the mainstream of development.”

A recent Asian Development Bank report said a significant investment is also being poured into accommodation and other facilities to cater to the needs of rising number of tourists, generating additional employment opportunities. Laos currently has 211 hotels and 1,120 guest houses and resorts. According to ADB, every additional hotel room creates two jobs directly and several indirectly.

Repercussions Of Boom

But the paradox is that tourism, which has become a chief agent in keeping the economy vibrant, is also ripping the country off of its precious, priceless and irreplaceable treasures.

Luang Prabang, the most famous destination in Laos, is an example where intrepid tourists are turning the city ugly and trampling on the cultural heritage.

Some years ago Unesco warned of Luang Prabang, a World Heritage Site, turning into “another tourist town where softdrink billboards dominate the landscape, where the sound of tour buses drowns out the soft temple prayers, and where the town’s residents are reduced to the roles of bit-players in a cultural theme park” if proper measures were not taken to preserve its cultural legacy and authenticity.

The overflow of tourists in Luang Prabang is also pushing the natives to move to other places by leasing their lands to guest house, restaurant and massage parlour owners.

These newcomers usually snub the idea of supporting the monasteries, which largely depend on the people’s offerings. Many fear if this trend continues, the number of people enrolling for monks may shrink drastically, delivering a severe blow to the age-old tradition, which is considered the pride of the city.

There are also fears that the growing number of incoming tourists may lure many looking for quick bucks into prostitution and degenerate the ecosystem resulting in depletion of many land and aquatic species that are found in abundance in Laos.

Glimmer Of Hope

As many reports have said “supply of distinctive, living ethnic cultures combined with an exemplary natural environment is diminishing throughout the world” due to booming tourism. And Laos seems to be falling victim to this trend.

But when supply declines, demand goes up. Since Laos’ natural and cultural heritage is not deteriorating at a fast pace, the country still has the opportunity to capitalise on the fundamental economic theory and make tourism a sustainable income generating source.

For that, it must do more to preserve its pristine spots and ethnic traditions.Published in Asia News

By Rupak D Sharma in Bangkok

When do Nepalis sneak off to visit a fortuneteller?

Most probably when they want to know something about their future or when they are uncertain about moves they should make to ensure success and prosperity in the forthcoming days. There may be other reasons as well but most of them, most likely, will be associated with future, decision-making and wellbeing.

But almost 2,500 kilometers away from Nepal in what is known as the ‘Land of Smiles’, the reasons for visiting a soothsayer may be quite different and bizarre at times.

In addition to satiating curiosity about destiny, people here in Thailand sometimes visit fortunetellers to generate fear among citizens and tune political climate to suit their needs.

A couple of days ago, two renowned Thai fortunetellers came up with two predictions, creating ripples in the country where occult beliefs are common. Both of them said there will be chaos and even bloodbath in May. But they polarized on the why.

Varin Buaviratlert, a renowned Thai astrologer, who is said to have close relationship with the junta, claimed there would be chaos and even bloodbath if the constitution is amended. His comments came a few days after Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej expressed his intention to modify the constitution.

A day after Varin expressed his view, Luck Lekhanethet, another renowned astrologer who is said to be close to the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP), asserted that there would be chaos and even bloodbath if the constitution is NOT amended.

Whether their predictions will come true or not is another thing, but the two contrasting comments delivered in the span of two days has made it apparent that “both of them are being used as pawns in political information warfare of bigger forces”, said Professor Worapol Promigabutr, former dean of sociology and anthropology department of Thammasat University.

What is also apparent is that the 18th constitution, drafted by September 2006 coup makers, is at the heart of the current problem in Thai politics and it can be a root cause in erupting violence and turbulence in a country which is basking in the heat of awkward political stability.

Ever since the new government took office earlier this year, it has been at an uncomfortable peace with its opponents and critics.

The opponents still blame the government of being a proxy of former PM and business tycoon, Thaksin Shinawatra and claim it is working towards serving Thaksin’s interest rather than of the nation.

The latest proposal on constitution amendment floated by PM Samak is also being seen by them as an attempt to favor Thaksin. They say by making amendments the present government will pave way to extend pardon to Thaksin and 110 other leaders of his disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, who were prohibited by junta-led Constitutional Tribunal from participating in politics for five years last year.

These arguments may be valid to some extent but the question is can the veil of Thaksin cover all the flaws in the constitution which has been labeled ‘unpopular’ and ‘divisive’ by many.

One of the biggest defects in the present constitution is the enormous power it has relented on the senate (upper house), which is dominated by handpicked members.

The current senate, which consists of 150 members, only has 76 elected representatives. The others were appointed by a tribunal, which is full of people close to coup-makers.

But the irony is that this senate, with three-fifths majority, can remove elected high-profile figures like the prime minister and minister from their posts. This is what poses a serious threat—not only to the ruling party but the Thai democracy as well.

Currently, the nine-member tribunal, which selects almost half of the senators, is filled with junta’s aides. But tomorrow if PPP or any other political party is able to fill those positions with their confidants, they will also try to exploit the constitutional clause to best serve their needs. In other words, this will only give leeway to unelected members to wield power against elected members and promote nepotism and authoritarian rule. The best way to avoid this catastrophe is to select senators through polls.

Another flaw in the constitution is the power it has given to independent bodies to ban political parties for the mistakes committed by executive members of the party. Recently, the Election Commission (EC) of Thailand ordered dissolution of two smaller parties—Chart Thai and Matchima Thipataya—that are part of the ruling coalition. The charge: electoral fraud committed by some of the executive members. The case has now been forwarded to the Constitution Court and if it upholds the EC’s decision then the two parties will be disbanded.

The EC has also accused the former general secretary of PPP and House Speaker, Yongyuth Tiyapairat, of electoral fraud. He is fighting his case in the Supreme Court. If he is found guilty, PPP may also be dissolved, eventually bringing down the current government. This raises a question of how logical is it to punish the entire party for the mistake of one person.

The problem with Thailand, like many other nations, is that whenever it tries to strengthen its democracy, subverters always barge in and destabilize the entire process. The case is not different this time either.

But what these people, who are playing the game of pride and prejudice, don’t see is the political tension it is brewing in the country, which in turn is creating instability and keeping foreign investors at bay.

Soon after the elections, Thailand was able to restore much of the confidence in foreign investors which was lost during the junta’s rule. The performance of stock market had also improved after the new government announced introduction of an economic stimulus package and removal of capital controls on foreign investment.

Announcements to simplify red tape for investors, set up a liaison officer at the Board of Investment, and shorten approval times for small and medium-sized investment projects from two months to 20 days had also improved investment environment in the country.

However, recent political maneuverings by people behind the scene and the EC’s decision to ban two political parties have put the gains of post-election period at stake.

If Thailand fails to find a proper solution to the problem, things may go worse and more foreign investors may start moving to other locations like Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

We don’t need a fortuneteller to predict this.Published in The Kathmandu Post

Rupak D Sharma in Bangkok

Lately everyone seems to be fretting about the ills of climate change. Rising temperatures and sea level, melting glaciers, bigger floods and other natural disasters and further deterioration of the ecosystem are highlights of daily news reports.

But what is little told about this bane of humankind is its ability to create new jobs and fight poverty, especially in developing Asian countries. Thanks to the Kyoto Protocol, under which 37 industrialised nations are legally obliged to reduce five per cent greenhouse gas emissions from 1990s level by 2012.

In order to meet the emission target, the Kyoto Protocol has offered three mechanisms, which allow developed countries to either buy carbon credits, invest in projects in developing countries or invest in countries with economies in transition.

Of the three available mechanisms, the most popular to date is the clean development mechanism (CDM), under which developed countries set up clean-energy projects, such as hydroelectricity, wind power and natural-gas-fired power plants, in developing countries to meet their emissions cap.

The United Nations has said that 979 CDM projects worth US$18 billion are currently registered in the world. Of this, 62 per cent or 611 projects are registered in Asia, mostly in China and India.

Although there is no shortage of critics who question the effectiveness of these projects in preventing the Earth from overheating, many admire the role it has played in spurring green economic growth and the contribution it has made in helping developing countries mitigate adverse effects of climate change.

Besides, it is creating a win-win situation for both the developed and developing world. On one hand, more money and technology are flowing into developing countries, and, on the other, these projects are churning out carbon credits for industrialised countries—a must to meet the emission reduction target by the time the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.

According to the UN, industrialised countries have acquired 128 million carbon credits through these projects to date. Each credit is equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2). Similar projects are estimated to generate more than 2.7 billion credits by 2012.

With more carbon credits flowing into the market and demand for carbon increasing every day on the run up to meet the Kyoto Protocol deadline, the size of carbon market is also increasing everyday.

Last year the carbon market was valued at $60 billion, up 80 per cent from 2006 and the volume of carbon trade increased by 64 per cent to 2.7 billion tonnes.

Point Carbon, a leading carbon consulting agency, estimates carbon transaction to reach 4.2 billion tonnes this year, inflating the size of the market to $92 billion. The inclusion of aviation and marine transport in emissions-cap regime—as agreed during Bangkok climate change talks—is expected to further expand its horizon, which will result in additional demand for CDM projects.

“This lays a huge opportunity for developing countries to draw investment,” said John Hay, chief communications officer of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.

In addition, it is said that a massive $20 trillion will be invested in energy sector until 2030. It is likely that most of these investments will go into low carbon sectors as various experts have warned that failure to do so could increase global greenhouse emissions by up to 50 per cent by 2050. Once again, large portion of this investment will go into developing Asian nations, particularly India and China, where hunger for energy is growing immensely everyday.

Another sector from which Asian countries is expected to benefit is  carbon sinks. Under this technology, CO2 is removed from the source, say chimney, of a power plant using highly advanced filter. It is then put under pressure and turned into liquid, which is then pumped underground into sources, such as trees, which can absorb CO2.

“Although carbon capture and storage technologies are not something that can be applied on a large scale very soon, it is a promising technology and can reduce the cost of emissions reduction by one-third,” Hay said.

Once the technology comes into practical use, it will benefit large number of Asian nations with vast forested areas. It will also benefit countries like Indonesia which has embraced reforestation and afforestation programmes.

However, not all experts are in harmony over usage of trees in offsetting carbon emissions footprint.

Peter Holmgren, director of environment, climate change and bioenergy division of the Food and Agriculture Organisation told Asia News Network: “The trees store carbon as long as they grow and in managed forests, where you harvest wood, you have a continuous segregation of carbon. Thus, the losses from deforestation are in same order of magnitude as the gains from new forests.”

He also expressed doubts about carbon sinks technology reducing emissions “as there are possibilities of CO2 leaking back into the atmosphere”. “We should therefore to do a reality check before creating a market for forest and land use in achieving emissions reduction,” he said.

Although there are differences on which technologies to adopt to mitigate emissions, there is no disparity that the only way to fight global warming is by increasing investment in sectors that promote clean technology. This means there is still a huge market for CDM projects. But, one hurdle remains.

Developed countries, led by Japan, recently said that unlike 25-40 per cent legally binding emission reduction target as proposed last year, it favours a voluntary reduction target. If Japan is able to press the issue and convince others, we may not see as much money flowing into this sector as we are now.
“It is a catch-22 situation,” Hay said. “The international carbon market would not work without legally binding targets. You need to have targets in order to have an international carbon market.”Published in Asia News

Rupak D Sharma in Bangkok

On the last day of the UN Climate Change Talks in Bangkok, I asked Yvo de Boer, UN’s top climate change official, how much score would he give to the five-day long meeting.

After scratching his head for a while, the tired-looking man, who probably had not slept enough due to late night negotiations, said: “3.5 out of 4.”

Watching the heated debate between developed and developing countries over Japan’s proposal for ‘bottom-up sectoral approach’, which ended without reaching a conclusion, it was hard to believe him.

But the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gave his explanation: “Apart from the outstanding issue on Japan, we were able to map a clear picture on what needs to discussed in different sessions and which topics need in-depth discussions and special workshop. I think it was a very big achievement.”

One of the biggest achievements of the meeting, de Boer said, was the agreement to further expand the size of carbon market to fight global warming.

It means that more carbon credits will be traded in the international market, developed countries will invest more in developing countries to set up clean projects in energy and transportation sectors and more funds will be streamed into nations with economies in transition.

But this scenario can only turn into reality if developed countries agree to set legally binding targets on emissions reduction.

Currently carbon market is booming and money is flowing into developing nations because 37 industrialised countries are legally obliged to reduce 5 per cent of the emissions from 1990s level by 2012.

But if they opt for voluntary emission reduction target in the post-2012 period, like suggested by Japan, the possibilities of the size of carbon market shrinking cannot be ruled out.

During the UN-led climate change meet held in Europe in August 2007 a proposal to set a legally binding emission reduction target of 25-40 per cent by 2020 was floated. It has received strong support from the European community. But Japan, the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases–with the backing of major polluters like the US and Canada–is expected to oppose the plan by sticking to its position of setting voluntary targets.

This is not a good news to the carbon market and Japan’s failure to show any flexibility on its standpoint during the Bangkok Talks has only made matters worse.

A bad news to the carbon market translates into bad to news to our environment. In other words, earth’s temperature and sea level will continue to rise, floods will continue to sweep away our homes and natural habitats will continue to degrade.

Commenting on the stance taken by the developed nations, Marcelo Furtado, campaign director of Greenpeace Brazil said: “It is clear that the rich countries are still not addressing the issue of what they are going to do to stop climate change …. They seem to be more interested in discussing their rights to emit rather than reducing it.”

Adding to the woes, Japan proposed for a ‘bottom-up sectoral approach’ at Bangkok Climate Talks. Under this proposal, Japan called for setting mid-term national emissions reduction targets based on industry-specific targets, which was backed by developed countries like the US, Canada and Australia.

This meant Japan wanted all major economies, including the major emerging developing economies, to give their industries some sort of target for reducing emissions by 2020.

Calling it ‘sectoral approach’, Japan also wanted to send a strong message that it is not only the responsibility of the developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and developing countries should also shoulder equal burden in offsetting the global carbon footprint.

“If Japan’s proposal were to be accepted, major developing countries would also have to set the same type of quantified GHG emissions reduction target as Japan,” Yurika Ayukawa, WWF Japan’s climate change programme special advisor said.

This simply infuriated the developing nations.

Time and again developing countries have been saying that rich nations are largely responsible for the environmental degradation, which intensified with the herald of the industrialisation process in early 1900. They thus feel that the developed countries should play a bigger role in cleaning up the litter.

The developing countries, led by G77 and China, also pointed out that Japan’s proposal went against the outcomes of high-level UN Climate Change Meeting held in Bali in December 2007, where developing countries had agreed to undertake voluntary emissions reduction actions in their own countries. After both the parties could not settle the dispute during the Bangkok Talks they have agreed to discuss it in another climate change meeting in August.

What is apparent is huge differences surfacing between developed and developing nations. In a way, it is also obvious for divergent views to emerge as climate change agreement also deals with economic growth of a country.

But what is disturbing is widening rift between developed and developing nations and negotiations deviating from its goal of curbing global warming.

All parties involved in the talks, despite knowing, have failed take into consideration that we only have 18 months to sign a new climate pact in Copenhagen, to replace Kyoto Protocol.

In other words, we only have 18 months to save our planet from overheating. If concerned parties fail to strike any deal till that time all will continue to suffer the ills of global warming.Published in Asia News

By Rupak D Sharma in Bangkok

The United Nation Climate Change Talks ended on Friday in Bangkok further widening the rift between the developed and developing countries.

The most contentious issue during the five-day long talks was Japan’s proposal on ‘bottom-up sectoral approach’, which received support from major polluters like the US, Canada and Australia but was booed by developing countries, including China, India and Brazil.

“It simply threatened the interest of developing countries. The developing countries, represented by ‘G77 and China’, termed it a regressive move, which goes against the spirit of the Bali Roadmap,” Yurika Ayukawa, WWF Japan’s climate change program special advisor, told the Post on the sidelines of the conference.

Under the ‘bottom-up sectoral approach’, Japan called for setting mid-term national emissions reduction targets based on industry-specific emissions reduction targets.

This means Japan wants all major economies, including the major emerging developing economies, to give their industries some sort of target for reducing emissions by 2020.

Ayukawa said: “If Japan’s proposal were to be accepted, major developing countries would also have to set the same type of quantified GHG emissions reduction target as Japan.” Currently under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, only industrialized countries have agreed to reduce emissions by five percent from 1990s level.

By tabling the proposal Japan also wanted to make it clear that it does not only want to see the developed countries making contribution in curbing the global warming but wants to incorporate major developing countries like China, India and Brazil in the process.

This was simply unacceptable to the developing countries, which have been reiterating that “developed countries should shoulder bigger responsibility in fixing the environmental problem as it was them who deteriorated it since the beginning of industrialization process in the early 1900”.

They said Japan’s proposal also went against the outcomes of high-level UN Climate Change Meeting held in Bali in December 2007, where developing countries had agreed to undertake voluntary emissions reduction actions in their own countries.

This debate between developed and developing nations continued through out Friday. After they were unable to reach to any logical conclusion by 11pm (local time), the parties decided to make further deliberations on the topic during another climate change meet in August.

With the question on ‘sectoral approach’ still left unanswered, all the eyes have now turned to leading industrialized countries’ summit called G8 going to be held in Japan in early July this year.

It is said the climate change will remain the biggest agenda during the meeting, which will be participated by the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. Japan has also invited India and China in the meeting for intense dialogue on climate change.

However, Ayukawa said: “The G8 summit may not be able to deliver favorable outputs, if Japan fails to change its position on sectoral approach.”

She also feared Japan, which has repeatedly called for setting voluntary targets on emissions reduction may not agree on legally binding emissions reduction target of 25-40 per cent during the G8 Summit, which may give a jolt to the future UN negotiations process.

Since the UN meeting of August 2007 a proposal for reducing emissions by 25-40 per cent from 1990s level by 2020 has been floated. It has received strong support from European Community. Japan, the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has not made any comments on this.

Although the UN-led talks in Bangkok were marred by differences between developed and developing nations, many participants expressed satisfaction on the outcomes of the meeting participated by around 1,200 representatives of 162 countries.

“Apart from the issue on sectoral approach, we were able to map a clear picture on what needs to be discussed in different sessions and which topics need in-depth discussions through special workshop. I think it is a very big achievement,” Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) told the Post.

The Bangkok meeting was the first biggest meet held after the Bali Conference. The two core objectives of the meeting were to: spell out steps needed to sign a post-2012 climate change deal in Copenhagen, Denmark next year and analyse possible tools available to developed countries to reach emission reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol.

Ayukawa also agreed the meeting was productive saying “real negotiations have started taking place”.

She, including other environmental groups, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of the part on “mitigation in the work program”, where discussions should have been held on mitigation commitments of developed countries and actions that need to be taken by developing countries to lessen the ills of global warming.

Mitigation, which deals with human interventions on reduction of emissions, is one of the four building blocks on which the future climate change agreement will be formulated. Other three are: adaptation, technology transfer from developed to developing countries and mobilization of financial resources to support adaptation and mitigation programs.

The next UN climate change meeting will be held in Bonn, Germany in June. Published in The Kathmandu Post, asianewsnet.net