Idled Thai taxis go green with mini-gardens on car roofs

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 18 September 2021

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By JERRY HARMER

BANGKOK — Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term “rooftop garden,” as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as small vegetable plots.

Workers from two taxi cooperatives assembled the miniature gardens this week using black plastic garbage bags stretched across bamboo frames. On top, they added soil in which a variety of crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers and string beans, were planted.

The result looks more like an eye-grabbing art installation than a car park, and that’s partly the point: to draw attention to the plight of taxi drivers and operators who have been badly hit by coronavirus lockdown measures.

The Ratchapruk and Bovorn Taxi cooperatives now have just 500 cars left plying Bangkok’s streets, with 2,500 sitting idle at a number of city sites, according to 54-year-old executive Thapakorn Assawalertkul.

With the capital’s streets deathly quiet until recently, there’s been too much competition for too few fares, resulting in a fall in drivers’ incomes. Many now can’t afford the daily payments on the vehicles, even after the charge was halved to 300 baht ($9.09), Thapakorn said. So they have walked away, leaving the cars in long, silent rows.

Some drivers surrendered their cars and returned to their homes in rural areas when the pandemic first hit last year because they were so scared, he said. More gave up and returned their cars during the second wave.

“Some left their cars at places like gas stations and called us to pick the cars up,” he recalled.

With new surges of the virus this year, the cooperatives were “completely knocked out,” as thousands of cars were given up by their drivers, he said.

Thailand’s new infections have ranged just under 15,000 in recent days after peaking above 23,400 in mid-August. The government hopes the country is easing out of this wave, which has been the deadliest so far, accounting for 97% of Thailand’s total cases and more than 99% of its deaths. In total, Thailand has confirmed 1.4 million cases and over 14,000 deaths.

The situation has left the taxi companies in financial peril, struggling to repay loans on the purchase of their fleets. Ratchapruk and Bovorn cooperatives owe around 2 billion baht ($60.8 million), Thapakorn said. The government has so far not offered any direct financial support.

“If we don’t have help soon, we will be in real trouble,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The taxi-top gardens don’t offer an alternative revenue stream. The cooperatives staff, who were asked to take salary cuts, are now taking turns tending the newly-made gardens.

“The vegetable garden is both an act of protest and a way to feed my staff during this tough time,” said Thapakorn. “Thailand went through political turmoil for many years, and a great flood in 2011, but business was never this terrible.”

Beijing blasts 'Uyghur Tribunal' investigating human rights in Xinjiang

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 11 September 2021

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By Asim Kashgarian

BEIJING - China is criticising a process called the "Uyghur Tribunal," a quasi-judicial effort by opponents of the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities designed to publicise evidence of alleged human rights abuses.

At a September 9 news conference in Beijing, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that "no matter how many 'actors or actresses' it recruits and how many 'hearings' it arranges, it is nothing but a kangaroo court and a futile attempt."

"It has nothing to do with law, justice or truth, and is just another farce staged to smear and attack Xinjiang," Zhao told the press, calling the tribunal members clowns.

The "tribunal" heard from 38 witnesses in its first round of hearings in June in Church House, London. That event focused on alleged rights abuses in China's northwest region of Xinjiang. The second set of hearings is scheduled from September 10 to 13, according to the organisers.

Led by Sir Geoffrey Nice, a prominent lawyer and expert in international criminal law, the nine "jurors" include academics, medical and business practitioners, diplomats and lawyers, according to Nick Vetch, vice chair of the tribunal.

A six-member team of lawyers is helping to collect and present evidence. They are British, French, German, Iranian and Maltese nationals.

By year's end, the jurors plan to issue a "verdict" regarding China's actions in Xinjiang.

"[It's] not possible for the allegations made against the PRC [People's Republic of China] to be considered in a formal court such as the International Court of Justice, and it has not been dealt with by states, and therefore it is left to the citizens to seek and answer these questions of such gravity," Vetch told VOA.

Some countries such as the U.S. as well as rights organisations like Amnesty International accuse China of genocide and crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.

Among other things, they point to arbitrary detentions of an estimated 1 million people and to reports of forced labor and involuntary sterilisation.

China denies abusing Uyghurs, saying they are being given vocational training and language skills. Beijing says people in Xinjiang are free to choose their work.

In December 2020, the International Criminal Court said it would not investigate because China, like the United States, is not a party to the Rome Statute, a treaty that defines ICC's jurisdictional reach.

"The tribunal is simply seeking in fact and law to answer whether crimes against humanity and/or genocide have or are occurring," Vetch told VOA. The final judgment will be issued before the end of this year.

"The June hearing was focused on factual evidence," said Vetch. "The September hearing is focused on expert evidence, with some 24 experts and nine fact witnesses."

Rahime Mahmut, U.K. project director of the World Uyghur Congress, (WUC) supports the tribunal by interpreting and translating the witness testimonies.

She told VOA Mandarin that in the absence of a formal court, it is important to have an independent examination and collection of the evidence.

"Once the tribunal makes its judgment, we will have a credible legal determination on the Chinese regime's persecution of Uyghur people," Mahmut said.

According to Hamid Sabi, the head of the six-member team of lawyers, the body was set up at the request of Dolkun Isa, WUC president.

China was invited on numerous occasions to take part in the process but organizers received no response.

"We do not present a case for or against China," Sabi told VOA. "The tribunal members and the counsel team are the same as the June hearing."

Foreign Ministry's Zhao called WUC a separatist organisation and Isa a terrorist listed by the Chinese government. "These so-called 'chair', 'experts' and 'witnesses' have deplorable track records and are habitual liars," Zhao charged, "who have become a laughingstock in the international community long time ago."

Isa, a witness during the first round, confirmed to VOA Mandarin that the tribunal had been established following his request but maintained that it is independent.

"The tribunal acts wholly independently, although the WUC closely supports the hearings by arranging Uyghur witnesses and translation, among other things," Isa said.

Teng Biao, a Chinese human right lawyer in the U.S. and an expert witness at the tribunal's second hearings, said the Chinese Communist Party always tries to discredit the witnesses and survivors to cover up truth.

The Uyghur Tribunal, he said, "plays a very significant role to at least disclose the truth and the nature of the crime."

Taliban hard-line path worsens Afghanistan dilemma

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Written by northsouth

Category: Asia

Published: 09 September 2021

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By KATHY GANNON

KABUL — Reminiscent of their previous harsh rule in the 1990s, the Taliban have already begun to wipe out some of Afghanistan’s gains of 20 years. They’ve denied women a seat at the Cabinet, beaten journalists into silence and enforced their severe interpretation of Islam, on occasion violently.

And yet there seems little the international community can do about it.

The world will need to engage with the Taliban to some extent, despite disappointment with the new all-Taliban Cabinet that defied earlier promises it would be inclusive.

The U.S. needs Taliban cooperation to evacuate the remaining Americans and to fight an increasingly brazen Islamic State affiliate, considered the greatest terrorist threat against America emanating from Afghanistan. In recent weeks, the IS flag has been seen flying from several districts of the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Meanwhile, a humanitarian disaster that threatens millions of Afghans has the world scrambling to respond. On most days, Qatar is flying in food and medical supplies. Pakistan has announced it is sending planeloads of aid to Afghanistan.

The United Nations has launched a $606 million emergency appeal to help nearly 11 million people in Afghanistan, or nearly one-third of the population. They are deemed to be in desperate need as a result of drought, displacement, chronic poverty and a sharp increase in hostilities as the Taliban swept to power last month.

Even before the Taliban takeover, nearly half the population needed some humanitarian aid and more than half of all children under the age of 5 were expected to face acute malnutrition, according to the U.N. report that accompanied the emergency appeal.

The economic challenges are steep. Most Afghans live on less than $2 a day, 80% of the country’s budget was covered by international funds over the past 20 years, and no industries of note have emerged to provide employment to a mostly young population. Tens of thousands of Afghans have fled, most of them members of the educated elite.

Yet despite such dependence on international support, the Taliban sent a message with their Cabinet lineup this week that they intend to run Afghanistan on their terms. They named a government filled with veterans of their 1990s rule and the subsequent insurgency against a U.S.-led military coalition. Their Cabinet includes former Guantanamo Bay prisoners and — perhaps one of the most eyebrow-raising appointments — Sirajuddin Haqqani, wanted by the FBI for questioning in several deadly attacks, as interior minister.

They also forbade protests without prior authorization in a new attempt to silence dissent and reportedly banned some women’s sports.

The Taliban would seem to want it both ways — to run Afghanistan according to their harsh interpretation of Islam, while maintaining some level of cooperation with the international community.

In portraying their Cabinet as a caretaker administration, the Taliban signaled there is still room for change and that other nations can do business with this government without recognizing it first.

In a three-page policy statement that accompanied the formation of the government, the Taliban also addressed concerns of the region and the larger world. They promised Afghanistan would not be used as a staging arena for attacks on other countries. They said they would not interfere in the affairs of other nations and demanded the same in return. And they pledged to allow Afghans to leave the country, provided they have the proper travel documents.

“I imagine the use of the term “caretaker” is very strategic,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center. “The idea is to create an impression that at some point the government will change and become more inclusive, and therefore more amenable to the West.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, directing his words at the Taliban, warned Wednesday that “any legitimacy, any support will have to be earned.” He spoke after hosting a virtual meeting of ministers from 22 countries as well as NATO and the European Union.

It’s unlikely, however, that the Taliban’s top leadership will change anytime soon. Its tens of thousands of fighters will have to be brought under a single Afghan National Security Force banner, even integrating some of the previous military personnel into the mix. But that won’t happen without the likes of Haqqani, the new interior minister, or the Taliban founder’s son Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the defense minister.

In time, economic necessity might prompt the Taliban to loosen their grip and allow women and non-Taliban into the administration, but likely in secondary roles. For women, this might mean work in the traditional fields of health and education.

The Taliban “need to open the door and trust non-Taliban in governance. They need to bring technocrats ASAP to get the economy going,” said Torek Farhadi, an adviser to previous Afghan governments.

The Taliban face a number of challenges to their rule.

Prolonged economic stagnation could lead to protests by the country’s growing poor who might eventually decide they have little to lose by openly challenging the hard-line rulers. Afghans of 2021 are not the compliant population of 1996 — a time when the Taliban had little trouble imposing their uncompromising edicts.

There are also debates and differences within the movement and no one among the Taliban has absolute authority, unlike in the past, under the late founder Mullah Mohammad Omar who had the final word.

The West and Afghanistan’s regional neighbors hope to use money and recognition as leverage to influence the Taliban.

Wednesday’s ministerial meeting signaled that the U.S. and Europe will be watching the Taliban closely.

Kugelman, from the Wilson Center, said others, such as Pakistan, China and Russia, might eventually set a lower bar for formal recognition of a new Afghan government. China has already promised to stay engaged and mine Afghanistan’s vast mineral resources while helping rebuild the war-ravaged nation. Still, Kugelman said, the Taliban badly need access to billions of dollars in foreign reserves that the West has denied them.

“The announcement of its very non-inclusive Cabinet will put those funds further out of reach,” he said.