MM Lee says S’poreans must reach out to new immigrants

MM Lee says S’poreans must reach out to new immigrants

By Cheryl Lim/Teoh Song Keng,

SINGAPORE : Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said it is important for Singaporeans to reach out to new immigrants and help them integrate into Singapore society.

Although inter-mixing is a two-way process, he stressed that Singaporeans must extend an open arm to new immigrants to help them be a part of Singapore.

Speaking at a seminar organised by Chinese newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on Sunday, Mr Lee said a country can progress only if its people are united as one.

One 92-year-old man, who emigrated to Singapore from Malaysia six years ago, said living in Singapore has given him a greater sense of security.

Other new immigrants from the Chinese cities of Fujian, Shanghai, Wuhan and Sichuan said they have received fair treatment in Singapore.

One person said: “After living in many countries like the US, Indonesia and Europe for the past 18 years, I feel that Singapore is really a good place. I am very thankful.”

Another commented: “I want to thank the Singapore Government for developing my son into an excellent person.”

Speaking at the “Making Singapore Home” seminar, Minister Mentor Lee said inter-mixing new immigrants with Singaporeans is important and both sides should make the effort.

He said: “I think families should begin to adopt new families coming here. Invite them to your homes, have food, have tea, take them out to places they have never been to in Singapore, and you make friends. In that way, you make their entry to our society easier and more comfortable.”

He told new immigrants their children must study hard for better prospects, and that mastering English is an essential step towards achieving success in Singapore. Only then will they be able to compete on an equal footing.

Mr Lee said: “If you want to succeed in Singapore, you must have a good grasp of English. English is a common language to communicate with people from different places and races.”

Mr Lee also felt that new immigrants who have a high standard of spoken Mandarin can help improve Singapore’s Chinese standards.

He said: “I have asked MediaCorp’s Channel 8 and U to consider employing new immigrants who speak standard Mandarin as their news presenters.”

The seminar was attended by some 450 participants. - CNA/ms

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 13 Apr 2009

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China to help Asean’s recovery

China to help Asean’s recovery

BEIJING: - China plans to create a US$10 billion (S$15 billion) investment cooperation fund and offer US$15 billion in credit to its South-east Asian neighbours, extending its influence as the region attempts to weather the global financial crisis.
The investment fund will promote infrastructure development linking China with the 10 members of the Association of South- east Asian Nations (Asean), while the loans will be offered over three to five years, according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry website yesterday, citing an interview with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

The measures from the world’s third-largest economy, and one of the few forecast to maintain growth this year, may help speed recovery from the global financial crisis and cement China’s leadership in the region.

The nation has already signed currency swap agreements with Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia this year to help ease foreign exchange shortages and aid bilateral trade and investment.

‘China is going to take the opportunity of this crisis to further establish itself in Asia,’ said Mr Huang Jing, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. ‘All this will have a huge political and diplomatic impact in the region, in addition to the economic impact.’

Other planned measures include 270 million yuan (S$59.9 million) in aid to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and donation of 300,000 tonnes of rice to an emergency East Asia rice reserve to boost food security, the statement said.

Premier Wen Jiabao was to announce the proposals at the Asean summit that was cancelled in Thailand over the weekend.

BLOOMBERG

Source : Straits Times - 13 Apr 2009

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Thank you, Mr Lee, say new immigrants

Thank you, Mr Lee, say new immigrants

They pay tribute to him for the many chances S’pore has given them

By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent

ONE by one, they stood to thank Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew for his governance of a country that has given them so many opportunities.
The youngest was 20-year-old Lin Shuang, formerly from Sichuan, who completed her A levels at Temasek Junior College and has received many offers from universities in Britain and Hong Kong.

The oldest was 92-year-old Teh Wan Boon from Malaysia, who emigrated to Singapore when he was 86 because of the ‘good security’ here.

In-between, there were five others.

It was meant to be a question and answer session for the new immigrants with Mr Lee at the launch of Lianhe Zaobao’s new feature section, Crossroads.

But the session yesterday evolved into a series of tributes to the elder statesman, who was visibly touched.

Mr Fong Chi Chung, 42, who owns Pu Tien restaurant, which serves the cuisine of his native Putian in Fujian province, started the ball rolling by saying simply: ‘I want to express my gratitude to you.’

He left Fujian in 2000 for Singapore, and has since made a success of his culinary business, with four outlets.

‘I hope that I will have the privilege of you trying the food in my restaurant,’ Mr Fong told Mr Lee, who chuckled and asked him to leave his namecard.

Next was businesswoman Zhang Run Zhi, formerly from Shanghai, who recounted how she began her life in Singapore 20 years ago selling vacuum cleaners door to door. Now, she owns two companies - one selling vacuum cleaners, the other wine - with a turnover of more than $1million a month, she said.

‘When people ask me which is better, Shanghai or Singapore, I say that China is my parent and Singapore is my husband,’ she said. ‘Both are good!’

To this, Mr Lee said wryly: ‘Born-and-bred Singaporeans do not think that way; they feel that Singapore is not good enough.’

Wuhan native Zhao Feng Zhong had a different take. She came to Singapore in 1987 and now has a 20-year-old son who has just received a flying licence in national service.

‘I want to thank the Government for cultivating my son so well,’ she said.

But she has one worry: ‘My son doesn’t recognise China - he thinks it is backward and not as good as Singapore.’

Mr Lee assured her with a laugh: ‘Wait till Wuhan becomes a first-tier city.’

Younger new immigrants also expressed their gratitude.

National University of Singapore commerce undergraduate Yu Jian Hong, 22, spoke of how his family of four came from Fujian 11 years ago and lived in a one-room flat in Marsiling.

Since then, his father, who is uneducated, has become the boss of a precision engineering company.

He had been supporting himself through school since the age of 16 with weekend jobs.

‘Singapore is a unique place. If you can study and are willing to work hard, the Government will give everyone the same opportunities,’ he enthused.

Mr Lee asked Mr Yu if he had studied English in China.

Switching to English, Mr Yu, who proudly announced he received his citizenship two months ago, replied with a grin: ‘No, and for my A levels, I scored a B for my GP (General Paper). No problem.’

Another was Ding Na, 24, a fresh graduate from a polytechnic here. She came here from China alone at age 16.

‘I would like to thank you for this fair and safe country,’ she told Mr Lee. ‘Here, once you are willing to work hard, there are opportunities.’

The odd one out was native Malaysian Mr Teh, the only one not from China.

‘I have been all over the world, and in the end, at the age of 86, I chose Singapore because it has good security.

‘At my late age, I want a good place to settle down. Thank you for your leadership in turning Singapore into a safe and peaceful society.’

Their successful assimilation underscores Mr Lee’s message which the audience heard earlier in the morning: that it is a ‘matter of time’.

He said: ‘You speak Mandarin with different accents…Your lifestyles, foods and diets have been different. Slowly but surely, you will come to take to Singaporean lifestyles and culinary tastes.’

The process takes place with help on various fronts.

One is a group of volunteers called ‘integration and naturalisation champions’, gathered by the People’s Association. They made contact with more than 13,000 new immigrants last year.

Another is the National Integration Council, which plans to encourage more ground-up initiatives such as involving new immigrants in welfare organisations.

‘When new and old citizens get to know one another better, they will warm up to one another,’ Mr Lee said.

Integration is not an ‘overnight matter’, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew said in his speech.

It does not always come naturally, he added. ‘There has to be commitment on all sides to build and sustain bridges of friendship and understanding.

‘It is…something that we need to work hard on.’

Source : Straits Times - 13 Apr 2009

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Old and new citizens get equal chance, says MM Lee

Old and new citizens get equal chance, says MM Lee

By Li Xueying, Political Correspondent

SINGAPORE is a meritocracy that does not distinguish between old or new citizens, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
Whether it comes to the giving out of jobs or business contracts or scholarships, whoever excels will be rewarded, he stressed yesterday.

In fact, the idea that guanxi (connections) is not a factor in one’s success attracts people to put down roots here.

Mr Lee was addressing about 450 people - two-thirds of whom are new citizens and permanent residents - at the launch of a new feature section in Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao.

Called Crossroads, it is aimed at new immigrants and will feature news and issues that concern them.

Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Lee, who attended the event as a special guest, said the most important principle of meritocracy is: All citizens are equal.

‘There is no difference between races, religions, new or old citizens,’ he said. ‘Our policy is: Whatever your background or race, we use the best people. So, I think, those who choose to emigrate to Singapore, you do so because you understand Singapore does not require guanxi…They know Singapore’s governance is open, transparent and fair.’

However, this also means the immigrants must master English, he said. ‘If you want to succeed in Singapore, you need to have a good grasp of English - our common language. So when you communicate with the world or among races, there is no advantage whether you are Malay, Indian or Chinese.

‘Thus, the competition is very fair.’

During his 30-minute session, which included a question-and-answer segment, Mr Lee also addressed the concern that many new immigrants use Singapore as a stepping stone to other countries.

Sichuan-born Lin Shuang, 20, who had just completed her junior college studies, asked Mr Lee what advantages Singapore offers to new immigrants, compared with the United States or Britain.

‘Many of my peers from China treat Singapore as a stepping stone. They want to live the American dream,’ she said.

In his reply, Mr Lee conceded that this is a ‘very difficult problem to resolve’.

‘The grass is greener on the other side. We have no choice - unless we make them sign a contract.’

But, he said: ‘I think it is better to give them the freedom of choice.’

He added: ‘Some go to the US. After a few years, they know it is not a Chinese society, it is not a ‘heaven’ for the Chinese. Some will come back.’

The need to bind new immigrants to Singapore as well as to assimilate them smoothly into society was a recurring theme at yesterday’s event.

It comes at a time when Singapore is welcoming record numbers of immigrants, as its resident fertility rate continues to hover around 1.29, below the replacement rate. Last year, 20,513 foreigners became citizens, while 79,167 took up permanent residency.

With this uptick comes concerns about societal tensions as Singaporeans grapple with issues ranging from foreign worker housing to competition in schools, hospitals or the workplace.

While acknowledging this, Mr Lee also said the faster the new immigrants meld into society, the better for the society and economy. ‘The fears of you as competitors will diminish as Singaporeans recognise that you are part of the Singapore team, making our team stronger and more likely to succeed in the global competition,’ he said.

At the same time, he added, integration must be a two-way process.

Switching to English, he urged Singaporeans who are born and bred here to reach out to the new immigrants.

‘If we don’t reach out to the newcomers, they feel isolated. They will become defensive, and they will recede into their own oysters,’ he said. ‘Then they meet people of their own backgrounds, from the same town, and they never integrate.’

One way may be to get Singapore families to ‘adopt’ new families settling down here, he suggested.

When he was in the United States for a sabbatical at Harvard in 1968, for instance, he was invited by various Americans, including professors, to ‘endless dinners’.

The same happened when his two sons were in the US for military training. Each was ‘adopted’ by an American family. At Thanksgiving, the families would invite them ‘to their house to enjoy Thanksgiving together’.

‘So, they make you feel welcome.’

He added: ‘We are new in this. We haven’t developed the techniques. But we are trying, and I think families should begin to adopt new families coming here.

‘Invite them to your home, have food, have tea, take them to places they have never been, and make friends. In that way, you make their entry into our society easier and more comfortable.’

Source : Straits Times - 13 Apr 2009

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Thai protesters defy state of emergency

Thai protesters defy state of emergency

They storm Interior Ministry to get at Abhisit as tanks roll in

By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent

Protesters surrounding and attacking a government official?s car at the Interior Ministry in Bangkok yesterday.– PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK: - The situation in the Thai capital deteriorated sharply yesterday after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency and threatened force against defiant anti-government protesters.
By midnight, troops had sealed off Chitralada Palace, the King’s residence, and there were unconfirmed reports of special forces being rushed here from Lop Buri, 150km north-east of the city.

When he announced the emergency decree on television in the afternoon, Mr Abhisit pledged to ‘restore normality as soon as possible’.

But by evening, after an attack on him at the Interior Ministry by the ‘red shirt’ protesters, he said force would be used if necessary.

Troops and some armoured personnel vehicles, including, tanks were seen on the streets in the afternoon, while more ‘red shirts’ poured into the area around Government House to swell the numbers of protesters in the area.

Speaking from self-exile abroad to several thousand of them via a video link, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he was monitoring the situation and vowed that ‘if there is any violence, I will return to Thailand immediately’.

‘I will not allow them (the authorities) to use force,’ he told the crowd.

Going head-to-head with Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of Security Suthep Thaugsuban, who had also gone on TV to urge the army to get tough, Thaksin thanked the soldiers for not using violence and repeated his call for a ‘people’s revolution’.

‘The troops who have already come out can come and join the ‘red shirts’ to help us to get democracy for the people,’ he said. ‘This is a golden minute. We will make history, and there will be no more coups in Thailand. We have to help achieve democracy for all of us.’

In the morning, red-shirted supporters of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) demonstrated at the Interior Ministry following the arrest of one of their leaders, Mr Arisamun Pongruengrong.

He had led Saturday’s protest in Pattaya, which ended in the cancellation of Asean summit meetings with its partners, leaving Mr Abhisit deeply embarrassed.

The ‘red shirts’, upon seeing Mr Abhisit leaving the ministry shortly after announcing the emergency decree in Bangkok and five surrounding provinces, stormed the building to get at him.

Details remained sketchy, but in the melee, two cars - one possibly ferrying the Premier - were attacked and shots allegedly fired by one of Mr Abhisit’s bodyguards. Leaders of the UDD claimed two of their members were killed, but there was no independent confirmation.

‘I believe the people have seen what happened to me,’ Mr Abhisit said on television shortly afterwards. ‘They have seen that the protesters were trying to hurt me and smash the car.’

The ‘red shirts’ also detained one of his bodyguards. Mr Jakrapob Penkair, one of the UDD’s key leaders, said they were willing to hand him over to the police.

Mr Jakrapob vowed to gather more people to defy the emergency decree.

‘We see the state of emergency as a declaration of war against the people,’ he told Bloomberg in a phone interview.

‘They are forcing us to engage in a people’s war. We will gather more and more people peacefully without arms at Government House and around the country.’

Many parts of the city remained normal, though shuttered, as the first day of the annual water festival Songkran got under way. But several incidents of violence across the capital reflected the volatility of the crisis.

In other incidents, the ‘red shirts’ staged protests in front of the Siam Paragon mall in the heart of the shopping district and seized two armoured personnel carriers (APCs) deployed there by the military. The mall was closed at 5.30pm, and shoppers told to leave.

Two other APCs were seized elsewhere in the city by the ‘red shirts’, who assembled in scattered groups and set up makeshift roadblocks with parked cars and buses and metal barriers for several blocks around Government House.

Under the emergency, law and order will still be in the hands of the police, with the army ready to assist if required, said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn.

Source : Straits Times - 13 Apr 2009

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Yahoo, Microsoft said to be talking over an ad deal

Yahoo, Microsoft said to be talking over an ad deal

Pooling advertisers may create a bigger No2 to Google in search

(NEW YORK) Yahoo and Microsoft, which held a protracted series of fruitless merger and partnership negotiations last year, have restarted discussions, this time over a possible advertising agreement, a person briefed on those discussions said on Friday.

Under pressure: Microsoft CEO Ballmer is said to be talking to Yahoo’s Carol Bartz. Analysts say Microsoft has to make a deal with Yahoo to stay in the online area
Conversations between the two sides have been scant since Carol Bartz was named Yahoo’s chief executive in January. But they have started anew recently, and Ms Bartz met Microsoft chief executive Steven Ballmer a week ago, said the person briefed on the discussions, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

Yahoo and Microsoft declined to comment.

The discussions are in early stages and may not lead to any agreement, the person said. They have centred on ways for the companies to pool their advertising efforts, including a possible partnership under which Microsoft would sell search ads for Yahoo, and Yahoo, in turn, would sell display ads on Microsoft properties, the person said.

After merger and partnership talks collapsed last year, Microsoft continued to make sizeable investments in its search business to compete better with Google. Those investments included the hiring of a string of top search executives and engineers, some of whom had previously worked at Yahoo, including Qi Lu, a well-regarded technologist who took charge of Microsoft’s overall online business, including search.

Microsoft is expected to release the results of its latest research and development efforts in search technology this summer when it plans to introduce a major overhaul of its search engine.

Microsoft executives are enthusiastic about the capabilities of the new service. But they readily admit that it does not address one of the principal challenges the company faces in competing with Google: Microsoft’s audience and its base of advertisers are tiny compared with Google’s.

That makes Microsoft’s search business, in which advertisers bid against one another in an auction, less lucrative than Google’s.

A partnership that would pool Microsoft’s and Yahoo’s users or advertisers could go a long way toward addressing that problem, and could help create a more powerful No 2 competitor to Google in search.

Yahoo, which reported its first loss in almost seven years last quarter, might reap as much as US$450 million in profit by combining its search business with that of Microsoft Corp, an analyst said.

The partnership is likely to happen, Jeffrey Lindsay at Sanford C Bernstein & Co said in an interview.

‘Yahoo is really the only independent option Microsoft has,’ said the New York-based Mr Lindsay. ‘Microsoft has to try to do a deal because it’s all they’ve got left to try to stay in the online area.’

Ms Bartz will probably be able to squeeze ‘top dollar’ from Microsoft, Mr Lindsay said. The positive impact to Yahoo’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation would likely be US$250 million to US$450 million a year, Mr Lindsay said.

Yahoo gained 55 cents to US$13.47 in Nasdaq trading on Thursday. Microsoft rose 48 cents to US$19.67. US markets were closed on Friday. — NYT, Bloomberg

Source : Business Times - 13 Apr 2009

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Betting on low-cost forex trading

Betting on low-cost forex trading

Oanda offers online currency trading at near zero cost, even for retail customers

By CONRAD TAN

HALFWAY across the world, a firm started by just two people is hoping to change the way most people view the world’s vast currency markets.

Oanda’s webpage: Its technology and the low cost of its online business model, make it possible for Oanda to offer spreads that are far below what banks can offer
New York-based Oanda Corp aims to lower the cost of trading currencies to near zero, even for retail customers who have traditionally had to pay more than large institutions, its chairman and co-founder Richard Olsen told BT on a recent trip to Singapore.

‘Currency is just a commodity. We want to really commoditise it - to bring down spreads to ultra-low levels,’ he said.

Oanda offers currency trading and risk-hedging services through its website. To non-traders, it is perhaps best known for its online currency converter tools that are used by many firms, including Singapore Airlines, on their websites.

In February, Oanda launched its Asia-Pacific business based in Singapore and appointed K Duker, a former director of Deutsche Bank’s online currency trading business in the Asia-Pacific, as managing director and head of Oanda’s business in the region.

Oanda Asia Pacific Pte Ltd is the group’s first office in Asia so far. It has about a dozen staff and is still expanding, said Oanda co-founder and chief executive Michael Stumm. Just last month, it hired Darrel Forrest as head of sales, from Royal Bank of Canada’s Singapore office, where he was director of fixed income and currencies.

Mr Stumm said that customers from Asia-Pacific are the firm’s fastest-growing customer base ‘by far’. Despite the financial crisis worldwide, ‘we see account acquisitions and new deposits at a record’, he added.

Foreign exchange markets are generally believed to be the most liquid of financial markets, since it is usually possible to find a willing buyer for major currencies at any time, without incurring much loss. Proponents say that the huge volumes transacted daily also mean that forex markets are less vulnerable to price manipulation than equity markets.

Still, forex markets have traditionally been less popular than equity markets for individuals looking to take a punt, in part because forex trading takes place off public exchanges.

But the proliferation of online trading platforms such as Oanda, Forex.com, CMC Markets and FXCM, as well as similar services offered by major banks, has made it simpler for anyone to sign up online for an account and trade.

The firms act as market makers, quoting rates for different currency pairs. They earn their revenues from the spread, or the difference between the price that a trader pays to buy a currency and the price he can sell at.

But the vast trading volumes mean that the movements in currency exchange rates are usually much smaller - though more frequent - than the price changes for stocks.

That’s one reason why firms that provide forex trading services to retail customers typically offer margin trading, which allows traders to bet many times the amount of cash, or margin, that they actually hold in their trading accounts. At Oanda, the margin requirement can be as low as 2 per cent, although it recommends that clients maintain a margin of at least 5 per cent. Some firms offer margins of just one per cent.

Margin trading is highly risky; it greatly magnifies both the gains and losses from bets - by 50 times, if the margin is 2 per cent. Losses can quickly wipe out an initial investment if a bet goes wrong.

But Mr Olsen, who has spent more than a decade studying extremely rapid price fluctuations in financial markets, suggests that the liquidity and high frequency of trades in currency markets can be turned into an enormous advantage, without the need for highly geared bets.

Since a currency trade always involves a pair of different currencies, it is possible to make a gain whether the value of a particular currency rises or falls - if you bet on the correct currency. That two-sided nature of currency trading also adds to its risk.

But with computer trading programs designed to detect and capture as much as possible of each upward or downward movement, what determines the maximum potential gain is no longer how much a particular currency strengthens against another, but the total size of all the movements - both up and down - in the relative values of a currency pair. For the most frequently traded currency pairs such as the US dollar/ euro - that total turns out to be an astonishing number.

‘The ‘coastline’ - if you try to measure how much profit opportunity there is in foreign exchange - is something of the order of 2,500 per cent a year,’ said Mr Olsen. ‘That is, if at every turning point you get it right, you’ll earn 2,500 per cent.’

That’s a theoretical maximum, but he suggests that a return of several hundred per cent in a year is actually achievable. ‘This, at a total risk that it goes in any one way, of a maximum of 30-40 per cent,’ he added.

That sort of trading is only possible with specialist software, ‘but there are today products that do this’, he said.

According to Mr Stumm, since Oanda’s beginnings in 1995, it has always been ‘primarily a technology company that happens to be in financial services’.

‘Our product, FXTrade, is where we generate all our revenue, but most of our effort and energy is spent developing technology to revolutionise the markets,’ he added.

That technology, and the low cost of its online business model, makes it possible for Oanda to offer spreads that are far below what even the big banks can offer. ‘The cost of every transaction, including all the overheads involved, is less than one US cent,’ said Mr Stumm.

That’s the source of Oanda’s confidence, despite the influx of competitors, he added. ‘For the early starters, it was easy to get into the market and to make a lot of money. But I think that as clients start to discriminate more, you ultimately will compete on price. That’s our bet.’

Source : Business Times - 13 Apr 2009

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China planning assistance measures for Asean

China planning assistance measures for Asean
US$10b investment fund, US$15b credit seen cementing its leadership in region

(BEIJING) China plans to create a US$10 billion investment cooperation fund and offer US$15 billion in credit to its South-east Asian neighbours, extending its influence as the region attempts to weather the global financial crisis.

Helping hand: Mr Yang said that the investment fund will promote infrastructure development while the loans will be offered over three to five years
The investment fund will promote infrastructure development, linking China with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while the loans will be offered over three to five years, according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry website yesterday citing an interview with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

The measures from the world’s third-largest economy, and one of the few forecast to maintain growth this year, may help speed recovery from the global financial crisis and cement China’s leadership in the region.

The nation has already signed currency swap agreements with Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia this year to help ease foreign-exchange shortages and aid bilateral trade and investment.

‘China is going to take the opportunity of this crisis to further establish itself in Asia,’ said Huang Jing, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. ‘All this will have a huge political and diplomatic impact in the region, in addition to the economic impact.’

Other planned measures include 270 million yuan (S$60 million) in aid to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and donation of 300,000 tonnes of rice to an emergency East Asia rice reserve to boost food security, the statement said.

Premier Wen Jiabao was to announce the proposals at the Asean summit that was cancelled in Thailand over the weekend.

‘Asean leaders hope China could play an important role in pushing forward cooperation in East Asia, and with other countries to overcome the difficult times,’ Mr Yang said.

Mr Wen’s proposals reflect a resolve to ‘realise the Chinese government’s sincerity, responsibility and confidence in pushing forward Asean cooperation’, he said.

Macquarie Securities Ltd and China International Capital Corp estimate that China’s economy will expand as much as 8 per cent this year. The World Bank expects 6.5 per cent growth.

China’s proposals give Asean countries ‘another option’ besides going to the International Monetary Fund or the Asian Development Bank for funding, Prof Huang said. That may aid China’s standing with Asean, where memories are still fresh of the painful conditions imposed by the IMF in exchange for rescue packages during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. — Bloomberg

Source : Business Times - 13 Apr 2009

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A big blow for Thailand, a test for Asean

A big blow for Thailand, a test for Asean

No better time for the bloc to prove its spirit is still strong and it can recover

By LEE U-WEN
CORRESPONDENT

AFTER the fiasco in Pattaya over the weekend which saw a key Asian summit abruptly cancelled, the chaos in Thailand has spread to the capital Bangkok, which, at least as of last night, was a city out of control. The big question is what the immediate future holds for the country and its embattled prime minister.

Awkward: The summit’s cancellation was embarrassing for Mr Abhisit, who earlier said that it was a step towards normalcy
The summit’s abrupt cancellation was deeply embarrassing for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who had earlier claimed that the meeting - attended by 16 regional leaders - was an important step in the kingdom’s return to normalcy after a long period of political turmoil.

Instead, a state of emergency was declared as the summit was hijacked by several thousand red-shirted pro-Thaksin protesters who successfully forced their way past rows of security cordons and burst into the conference venue.

What happened next was like a scene out of a Hollywood action movie as helicopters landed on the rooftop of the luxury hotel where the leaders were staying and whisked them off to safety, one by one.

Mr Abhisit, who was the first to flee the chaos, had to personally apologise to each of them later for the debacle.

After he got home, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that there were ‘deep problems’ in Thai domestic politics; while new Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has thrown his weight behind Asean chair Thailand, saying that it should be given another chance to reconvene the summit at a later date.

But time is fast running out - not just for Thailand to sort out its own house, but for Asean and East Asia as a whole to come up with concrete responses to the ongoing global economic and financial crisis. The leaders from Japan and China, for instance, were planning to announce their new stimulus and assistance plans.

Joint statements that went unissued included one to encourage the speedy conclusion of the US$120 billion Chiang Mai Initiative, a multilateral currency swap scheme meant to help struggling member countries.

But for now, attention has shifted to the events in Bangkok, where a state of emergency was declared amid protesters running amok. Although some of the protest leaders have been arrested, it is doubtful that this will suffice to restore law and order.

An army and police crackdown - assuming that it was feasible - could restore calm, but that too is unlikely to be a durable solution, given the deep political divisions that have developed, and now intensified, in Thailand - and not only in Bangkok.

Mr Abhisit could perhaps try to reach a political compromise with the Red Shirts, but the possibility of this is slim, given the mood among the pro-Thaksin camp and the need for Mr Abhisit to maintain credibility within his own party.

As for Asean, perhaps the best way forward at this difficult period is for Thailand to bite its lip and hand the Asean chair duties to a fellow member country that can successfully organise the summit.

It will not be easy, however, to find a willing party on such short notice. Jakarta, home of the Asean secretariat, is one obvious choice, having stepped in to host a special meeting of Asean finance ministers last December after the original summit was postponed. But with Indonesia in the midst of a presidential election, that option looks highly unlikely now.

Kuala Lumpur and Singapore would be regarded as suitable venues, but Malaysia’s priorities for now, understandably, are to settle in its newly formed Cabinet after Mr Najib took over as prime minister earlier this month. Singapore, meanwhile, has its hands full with hosting the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this November.

There was some talk among the delegates in Pattaya that Vietnam, which is the incoming Asean chair, could consider assuming the role ahead of schedule. Whether that is a feasible option, however, remains to be seen.

While this past weekend’s catastrophe may be seen as the worst in Asean’s 42-year history, there is no better time for the 10-member bloc to prove to the world that its spirit is still strong and it can recover from this setback.

There has been much good work done in the past few months - in particular, the successful entry into force of the Asean Charter.

Despite this latest blow to its credibility, Asean - long derided as nothing more than a talk shop - must display solidarity at this difficult time and go ahead and hold the summit, if not in Thailand, then somewhere else.

Source : Business Times - 13 Apr 2009

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Emergency declared in Bangkok

Emergency declared in Bangkok

Anti-government demonstrators step up protests across the city, demand Abhisit’s resignation

(BANGKOK) Thailand declared a state of emergency in Bangkok yesterday, spurring anti-government demonstrators to step up protests across the capital as they demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

On your knees: An anti-government protester and Thaksin supporter kneels down to plead for armed soldiers not to use violence against demonstrators on the street
‘We announce the state of emergency and related announcements to give legal power to the government to restore order and bring back normalcy as soon as possible,’ Mr Abhisit said on state television. ‘The government will try to prevent any losses. We hope to get support from the public to bring peace to the nation.’

Mr Abhisit’s motorcade was attacked after he announced the decree, the capital’s third since September, according to television reports.

‘Abhisit may need to step down before the situation can go back to normal,’ said David Cohen, director of Asian forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. ‘The prime minister may need to turn to the king to calm people down.’

‘This summit incident will deepen the rifts in Thai society. Thailand will be divided and unstable for the next few years,’ said Somchai Phagaphasvivat, an academic at Thailand’s respected Thammasat University. ‘Anyone could become leader in the future - even a junta government.’

‘It is unclear whether Saturday’s security failure was due to a broken chain of command, divisions within the Thai military, or a cynical willingness to risk national humiliation in order to have a pretext to crack down hard on the Red Shirts,’ said Michael Montesano, a visiting research fellow at Singapore’s Institute of South-east Asian Studies.

The emergency decree comes a day after protesters stormed a regional leaders’ summit in the resort town of Pattaya, forcing its cancellation and the evacuation of heads of states from 13 Asia-Pacific nations.

Police arrested Arismun Pongruenrong, a former pop singer, in Bangkok yesterday morning, charging him with inciting illegal acts. Arismun led more than 1,000 so-called Red Shirts protesters in smashing glass panels and blowing horns and whistles as they stormed through the summit venue in Pattaya on Saturday.

Thailand’s fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra told his rallying supporters in a telephone address yesterday that he would return to the kingdom if authorities launched a violent crackdown on protests in the capital. ‘I will closely monitor the situation and if there is any violence, I will return to Thailand immediately. I will not allow them (the authorities) to use force,’ he said.

Dr Thaksin thanked the army for not using violence against his Red Shirt movement and urged them to join his campaign to overthrow the government.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, in a national televised address earlier, appealed directly to security forces to get tough as they appeared reluctant to deal with anti-government protesters.

But there were signs that the government might not be able to contain the protesters.

Anti-government protesters seized an army tank deployed to enforce the state of emergency in Bangkok and may have taken others, a police spokesman told AFP yesterday.

‘The protest has spread to many parts of Bangkok. Protesters have seized tanks and armoured cars,’ Suporn Phansua, spokesman for Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told AFP. He added they were still tallying up how many had been taken.

Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that soldiers and police were being moved to more than 50 key points in the city, including bus and railway stations. He said that the military presence was not a sign of an imminent coup - a common feature of Thai political history.

About 400 soldiers armed with rifles ringed Chitralada Palace, the Bangkok residence of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. But the monarch was believed to be at his seaside palace.

Thai financial markets are closed until Thursday for a holiday. Patareeya Benjapolchai, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said that he was concerned.

‘It’s really up to the government now how it manages the situation within this five-day break. What happened was a loss for the country. The Asean summit was supposed to be a step up for our economy,’ Mr Patareeya told Reuters.

Tourism Council of Thailand chairman Kongkrit Hiranyakit predicted that the country would lose at least 200 billion baht (S$8.5 billion) as foreign tourists shunned the country like they did after the airport takeovers. Tourism, Thailand’s major foreign currency earner, is especially important as the country grapples with the global economic crisis.

Editorials in Bangkok newspapers yesterday lashed out at both the protesters for destroying Thailand’s international reputation and the government for a massive security breakdown.

‘The situation has gotten completely out of hand. Violence and bloodshed is very much possible’ if Mr Abhisit does not resign or dissolve Parliament, said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and former rector of Bangkok’s Thammasat University. — Bloomberg, AFP, AP, Reuters

Source : Business Times - 13 Apr 2009

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