Malaysia not giving up hope on Pedra Branca yet

June 2, 2008
THE ICJ RULING

KL seeking letter by British governor to Johor sultan to back up claim to island
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA has renewed its search for evidence to stake its claim to Pedra Branca, just over a week after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded the island to Singapore.

Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said he has directed his officials to try again to trace a letter written by British governor William Butterworth to the temenggong and sultan of Johor seeking permission to build Horsburgh Lighthouse on the island, The Star daily reported yesterday.

Dr Rais said in an interview with the paper that although the ICJ's ruling on May 23 was final and not subject to appeal, there was a specific provision in the court's rules that allowed for a judicial review of a case within 10 years if new evidence was found. He did not cite the exact provision.

'If we can gain sight of that letter, the gate can be opened again. There is a maximum 10-year period but preferably it should be done within six years,' he said.

During the hearing, Malaysia had contended that Britain had built and operated the lighthouse after getting consent from the Johor rulers.

In its argument before the ICJ, Malaysia had cited governor Butterworth's letters as one of the grounds for its claim to Pedra Branca.

The Star reported that a search for the 19th-century letter had covered 40 institutions in 11 countries, including Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the Netherlands, Portugal, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

'The letter could be in London...We have searched with them but it has not been conclusively proven that they don't have it,' said Dr Rais.

'Probably it is in Singapore. That would be a double jeopardy,' he added.

During the hearing, Malaysia had insinuated that Singapore might have hidden two 1844 letters from governor Butterworth to the rulers of Johor seeking permission to build a lighthouse near Point Romania on the Johor coast.

But Singapore Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar countered that Singapore did not have copies of the letters, and had also searched in vain for them in various archives. He also pointed out that since the letters were sent to Johor's rulers, they were more likely to be in Johor than in Singapore.

Both countries also disputed the area referred to in the letters for which permission was sought. Malaysia said it included Pedra Branca, while Singapore maintained it referred to another group of islands.

Dr Rais said Malaysia could introduce a separate motion to the ICJ if the letter was found.

The ICJ ruling has raised much unhappiness among Malaysian MPs.

Earlier last week, an Umno MP lambasted the government for not archiving its historical documents properly, and thus failing to locate the Butterworth letter.

Following the ICJ's ruling - which awarded Pedra Branca to Singapore and Middle Rocks to Malaysia - the two countries now have to work out how to delimit the territorial waters in the area.

The court did not make a definitive ruling on an outcrop, South Ledge, which is visible only at low tide, saying it belonged to whoever owns the territorial waters it sits in.

Dr Rais said he would propose to Singapore that the waters be opened to fishermen from both countries and also Indonesia.

[Comment: When I first read about the ICJ decision, I was thinking, "shit! what a dumb decision. Probably political decision. Do a Solomon "split the baby" decision. And pass the buck on South Ledge some more."

But now, on reflection and with the above story, I think it was the best possible decision for Singapore. Since the ICJ explained that as far as they were concerned, Pedra Branca originally belonged to the Johore Sultanate. However, after the lighthouse was built, and after Singapore started to exercise sovereignty over the island, Malaysia's silence was implied consent that Singapore was the legal owner of the island.

Thus, even if Malaysia do succeed in finding that letter, it would not have any relevance it changing the decision. It would have confirmed that the ICJ was right in deciding that the island did originally belong to Johore, but that subsequently, Singapore and Malaysia behaved as if the island belonged to Singapore until Malaysia published the maps in 1979.

On hindsight, it was a good decision for Singapore.]

For the love of God, stop grandstanding

June 7, 2008
POLITICS AND RELIGION

By John Bradley
A RECENT effort in Malaysia to ban non-Muslims from using 'Allah' as a synonym for 'God', on the pretext that it could 'confuse' the country's Muslim majority, has dealt another blow to the country's reputation for pluralism.

The Herald, a Roman Catholic newspaper, last month cleared the first hurdle in its legal bid to contest the government's decision not to renew its licence unless its Malaysian-language edition ceased to use the word 'Allah'.

In the midst of the controversy, a senior official from Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry said: 'Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim God.'

The statement is contentious on a number of levels. For a start, 'Allah' is an Arabic word used for centuries by Arab Christians as a synonym for 'God', even before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed.

The Malay translation of the bible, in which the word Allah appears, has been used by Christians since the church's earliest days.

More worrying is that the statement paradoxically echoes those of numerous anti-Muslim bigots in the West which portray Muslims as worshipping a God 'different' from that worshipped by Christians and Jews, reinforcing fears that Islam poses a threat to Judeo-Christian values and civilisation.

Remember Lieutenant-General William 'Jerry' Boykin? He was named US deputy undersecretary of defence for intelligence in 2003.

In 2005, while recounting a military battle he had fought against Muslims in Somalia, he declared: 'I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.'

When politics, culture and religion are entwined, ignorance usually triumphs. The political motivation for Lt-Gen Boykin's outburst was the US-led 'war on terror', especially as he was addressing a key Bush administration power base: evangelical Christians.

Similarly, Father Andrew Lawrence, editor of The Herald, told the BBC that 'politics and a general election' were the main reasons why the Malaysian authorities decided to raise the issue last year.

But there's also a cultural reason why a Malaysian official could so casually refer to a 'Muslim God': the emergence into the mainstream in Malaysia of Wahhabism, the extremist interpretation of Islam sponsored by the Saudi royal family.

Wahhabism was founded two centuries ago on a belief in the superiority of (Sunni) Muslims and the damning of Jews and Christians as 'infidels'. Historically alien to the diverse Muslim cultures of South- east Asia, Wahhabism spread like wildfire throughout the region in the wake of the 1970s oil boom.

The Saudi religious establishment spent tens of millions of dollars to fund mosques and universities, and offered lucrative scholarships for foreign Muslims willing to complete their religious education at Wahhabi-controlled institutions in Riyadh. It's no coincidence that the ban on Malaysian Christians using the world 'Allah' was first introduced in the early 1980s.

That politics and culture, rather than sound religious understanding, are really at the heart of the debate over the use of the word 'Allah' becomes obvious when Malaysia is compared with Egypt. It, too, has a sizeable Christian minority and a long tradition of Islamic pluralism.

Christians and Muslims in Egypt have lived peacefully together for centuries. But in the 1970s, millions of Egyptians began working in Saudi Arabia, and in many instances, when they returned, they propagated their newly learnt Wahhabi doctrine. At the same time, the Muslim Brotherhood was invited back from exile in the Saudi kingdom, and given a greater role in politics.

The result: Egypt's Christians suddenly found themselves under violent attack. Last week, three Christian workers were shot dead in a Cairo jewellery shop by assailants who stole nothing, while in Upper Egypt, three monks were kidnapped by Muslim extremists protesting against the renovation of a church. Egypt's Christian minority is voluntarily shunning Islamic-inspired terms and expressions.

Instead of greeting one another with asalam alaikum (peace be upon you), many now say ahlan (hi). Before starting a meal, instead of saying bismillah (in the name of Allah), they say bismasalib (in the name of the cross).

Where once they said without thought alhamdullillah (praise be to Allah), they now utter nushkrailrub (we thank our Lord).

In a recent Los Angeles Times article on God vs Allah, which was critical of the Malaysian government's stance, the Lebanese-American novelist Rabih Alameddine wrote: 'We never say the French pray to Dieu, or Mexicans...to Dios. Having Allah be different from God implies that Muslims pray to a special deity.

' It classifies Muslims as the Other. Separating Allah from God, we only see a vengeful, alarming deity, one responsible for those frightful fatwas and ghastly jihads - rarely the compassionate God.'

Creating more differences 'is troubling, even dangerous', he concluded. 'I suggest we either not use the word Allah or, better yet, use it in a non-Muslim context. Otherwise, the terrorists win.'

It's advice that the Malaysian authorities might benefit from.

KL makes right fuel move

June 7, 2008

THREE days ago petrol in Malaysia cost RM1.92 a litre, a false rate kept low by subsidies. The price is now RM2.70, up 41 per cent, but still cheaper by half than in full-price Singapore. Malaysians have been put on notice they could be paying RM4 by August, when most price supports will have been removed. Diesel is up by 63 per cent and electricity charges will be raised next month. These adjustments dictated by the oil price hovering around US$130 a barrel are easy for the Malaysian government to justify: The savings of RM14 billion will lighten the impossible burden of a RM50 billion fuel subsidy taxpayers will have to bear by the end of the year if prices were unchanged. The country has been running Budget deficits, with the fuel subsidy at 7 per cent of GDP being one of the highest ratios in the world. The comparative ratio in Indonesia, a notorious case of price coddling demanded by street agitation, was to be 3 per cent, considered worrying, until prices were raised by 30 per cent last month. India and Taiwan have also raised regulated prices.

Malaysians accustomed to cheap car travel and marginal businesses sustained by cheap fuel are bound to punish the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi for what to them would seem a badly timed move. For comparison, a simple matter of road toll charges being increased has frequently caused public commotions. What now, when the fuel spike, on top of food price movements, could double the inflation rate to 6 per cent, say economists. And the national oil company Petronas is rolling in riches, with each US dollar increase in price bringing the nation RM250 million more a year. The people have some vengeful nervous energy left over, even after having taught the neglectful Barisan Nasional government a lesson in the recent elections.

But they would be wrong and unjustified to take it out on PM Abdullah or his government. They should, as the Prime Minister has advised, change their habits, like driving less. He has been brave and decisive in cutting the subsidies. These are not only unsustainable to the Treasury but are also wrongly targeted in their aim of helping the poor. A study of fuel subsidies by the International Monetary Fund found that the richest households, not the poorest, gained the most (by 42 per cent against 10 per cent) from their use of big cars and air-conditioning. The comparable gap in Malaysia would be smaller as car ownership is fully democratised in a country with patchy public transport, but it makes sense for the saved ringgit to go into social programmes like health care and education. The government should be supported in its effort of putting public funds to more productive use to help the poor, not for discretionary consumption.

[Comment:The fuel subsidy wrongly benefits the Thais - I hear they drive big tankers over the border to get the cheap fuel - and Singaporeans - who have been enjoying relatively cheap food from M'sia due to the low fuel and transport costs.

It is a courageous and unpopular move by Abdullah Badawi. I wonder if he is choosing to make all the unpopular moves now, take all the blame, and then hand over to Najib so Najib can begin with a clean slate?]

S'pore rig builders win $1b of deals to build four rigs

June 7, 2008

SembMarine unit and Keppel Fels secure contracts from Norway-listed Seadrill
By Michelle Tay
ROCKETING oil prices are causing plenty of pain worldwide, but they have ignited a gusher of gold for Singapore's blue-chip rig builders.

Firms are winning huge orders - seemingly by the day - from oil companies that see deep-water exploration as a way to find new fields and reduce their dependence on the Middle East.

Orders were pumping at full volume this week. PPL Shipyard, a unit of Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine), and Keppel Fels, a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), yesterday secured contracts totalling $1 billion to build four rigs.

PPL Shipyard will build two deep-drilling offshore rigs worth a total of US$430 million (S$588 million). Keppel Fels has been contracted to build two similar rigs worth US$420 million.

The four rigs - all for Norway-listed Seadrill - will be able to drill down to 9,100m. They will be delivered in 2010.

These deals came after Keppel Fels secured a US$537 million contract on Monday to build an ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rig for Texan oil firm Ensco. That would be delivered in 2012.

Two days later, it announced that Brazilian oil and gas giant Petrobras had contracted the firm to build a rig worth US$385 million.

The shares of both firms have recovered well from their year lows. SembMarine is up more than 50 per cent from February, while Keppel Fels' parent, Keppel Corp, has advanced almost 30 per cent since its March slump.

But their bulging order books tell a more dramatic story of the sector's remarkable boom over the past three years.

SembMarine's total order book for jack-up and semi-submersible rigs was $4.4 billion in 2006 and $5.4 billion last year. Total orders this year are even better, standing so far at $6.7 billion, of which $1.86 billion comprise new deals.

Keppel Fels' orders at the end of 2005 were $7.2 billion, $10.5 billion a year later and $12.2 billion at the end of last year. It is now approximately $13.5 billion - with new orders, including yesterday's Seadrill deals, totalling $3.5 billion so far this year.

Keppel O&M chairman and chief executive Choo Chiau Beng said: 'In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented surge in demand for oil rigs. Ten years ago, we had about five newbuild rigs in our yard. Today, we have 43 in various stages of construction across our yards worldwide.'

He added that last year, half of the world's new jack-up rigs were delivered by Keppel O&M, which employs more than 27,000 worldwide.

Singapore now accounts for 70 per cent of the world's jack-up rig-building market with more work to come.

SembMarine said demand continues to be strong, with orders trending towards deepwater rigs as high energy prices make such costly ocean exploration and drilling much more viable.

Mr Alf Thorkildsen, chief executive of Seadrill Management, said: 'Our focus will continue to be on the deepwater segment.'

Financial services group Nomura reported last week: 'With high oil prices seemingly here to stay, oil companies should step up offshore prospecting, and we believe the boom in drilling activity will continue well into 2009 and 2010.'

It added that total exploration and production spending will rise by more than 11 per cent this year, marking the sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth. That means the flow of orders to Keppel Corp and SembMarine is likely to stay robust, with both firms developing sound track records with the big guns in the industry.

Mr Choo added: 'The level of inquiries and customer interest remains positive. This indicates that the rig market, in the next few years, will remain healthy.'

[Comment: The last time there was such good news for our rig builders, there was bad news down the road when the US$ dropped and their profits evaporated. I hope this time they have better sense and signed the contract in a more stable currency.]

A tale of two cities

June 6, 2008
Singapore's poor turn to temples to fill bellies
SINGAPORE - WEARING a pair of worn grey slippers and dirty Bermuda shorts, Mr Quek hungrily chews mouthfuls of free vegetarian noodles on the second-level canteen of a Singapore temple.

The unemployed 31-year-old is one of many Singaporeans increasingly turning to free meals at temples to fill their stomachs, as surging global commodity prices hurt, even in a country that is one of the richest in Asia.

The Singapore Buddhist Lodge, where Mr Quek eats every day, is now serving up to 5,000 people on weekends. It has seen a 30 per cent rise this year in the number of people coming for meals, as well as a rise in donations.

'We saw the increase happen when the markets started to go bad and inflation started rising,' said Mr Lee Bock Guan, the temple's president. The Buddhist Lodge cooks about 400 kg of rice every day and up to 10 vegetarian dishes to serve to the masses.

Long lines of strained faces wait inside to scoop up ladles of rice, noodles and stir-fried dishes. They then stand next to walls to shovel in the food if they can't find a spot at packed tables.

Most are elderly or labourers, in a country that has the second highest GDP per capita in Asia after Japan but ranks alongside the Philippines and Guatemala for income disparity.

Singapore says combating inflation, at a 26-year high, is a priority and the government is worried about a widening income gap. A dozen opposition party members were arrested earlier this year for protesting about rising prices.

The government says welfare should not be a crutch and there are no food subsidies, unemployment benefit or minimum wage.

Buddhist, Christian, Taoist and Sikh organisations in Singapore give out free food to help the poor. The country is 54 per cent Buddhist, 13 per cent Christian and 15 per cent Muslim.

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, which gives free meals to about 200 people daily, has also seen a rise in numbers.

'We don't count how much it has gone up, we just keep cooking. Once one batch is finished, we keep refilling,' said Mr Sheng Hua, spokesman for the monastery.

Food prices have been a key driver of Singapore's annual inflation hitting 7.5 per cent, the highest since 1982. Global rice, corn and wheat prices have all hit records this year.

'I have no choice. You go outside and eat, food now is very expensive. Here it's free so I can save a bit of money,' Mr Quek told reporters.

At the Central Sikh Temple, which serves free vegetarian Indian meals to 600 daily, the rising cost of food is affecting handouts.

'Our costs have doubled since last year. We are already curtailing the number of hours we give away food. We will have to be more prudent - if it really gets out of hand, we may have to reduce further,' said Mr Dilbagh Singh, vice president of Central Sikh Gurdwara Board. -- REUTERS



June 6, 2008
Downturn forces more in US to rely on free food
MONROE (Georgia)/DOUGLAS (Arizona) - IN the richest nation on earth, a rising number of people line up for free food because they are struggling to put meals on the table at home.

Demand at food banks in the United States is up 15 per cent to 20 per cent over last year and many food banks are having difficulty coping, according to America's Second Harvest, the largest United States food bank provider with 200 in its network.

Food bank networks procure nonperishable and fresh produce from suppliers, then stock it in warehouses before distributing it via a chain of community food banks across the country.

The total number of people who use them is not known but the upward trend is one sign of a US economic downturn in which soaring fuel costs and the rising price of other basic goods have pushed many people on low incomes or without jobs into hardship.

The banks say more people with steady jobs are turning up at their centers to wait in line, fill out forms and collect rations of free or reduced-price food. In a parallel development demand for government food stamps is also rising.

'Having a (low wage) job isn't enough anymore. Having two or three jobs isn't enough anymore,' said Ms Marcia Paulson, spokesman for Great Plains Food Bank in North Dakota, where nearly half the households receiving food stamp benefits have one or more working adults.

Ms Olga Medina's story illustrates the dilemma for many on low wages who said they considered their need to resort to free food a humiliation in a country that prides itself on independence and stresses work as a sure route to success.

Ms Medina works full time providing homecare for old people in Douglas, on Arizona's border with Mexico. She said she earns US$1,100 (S$1,500) a month with which she also supports her parents and a sick son, but is unable to make ends meet due to rising food and fuel costs.

Most weeks she forages for milk, fruit and vegetables in dumpsters outside the Safeway supermarket. One day last month she waited in line with 147 others outside the Douglas Area Food Bank for a grocery handout because she had no bread.

'We have to put up with a lot of humiliation just to survive,' she said, putting on a pair of sunglasses to hide tears. 'It's not dignified but we are hungry and hunger is ugly.'

Providing food
At a giant warehouse in Monroe, Georgia, scores of volunteers and paid workers using fork lifts or pallet jacks load food onto big trucks - everything from carrots to frozen spare ribs to canned goods.

The warehouse is part of Angel Food Ministries, a national organisation headquartered in Monroe that offers food at half price to people who need it. A typical food pack contains US$60 of family groceries and is sold for US$30.

The organisation, which is linked to a church, purchases food in bulk at a discount and passes the savings on to 500,000 families a month who use its service in 35 states, distributing through a network of churches.

Its founder, Mr Joseph Wingo, argued that perceptions that the US economy was doing better than is reported failed to take into account a different reality for millions of Americans, not least senior citizens.

'Go into any community that has been devastated by job losses and you will find there's more people (struggling to provide food) than you think,' said Mr Wingo, who set up the organisation in response to demand in Monroe.

Broken dreams
For Ms Selena Lewis, 28, who owns a boutique in Alpharetta, Georgia, going to the North Atlanta Community Food Bank brings an added irony - just last year she donated some of her money to the bank as an act of charity.

But the downturn has stifled demand at her boutique and some days she makes just a single sale, not enough to pay off debts and feed herself and her son and leading to a dilemma about whether to close the boutique and seek other work.

'I don't want to give up on my dream because the hardest thing to do is to start,' said Ms Lewis who said she gave up a high-paying corporate marketing job to start the boutique.

Her story illustrates how small business owners are caught up in the downturn, but problems exist at the other end of the spectrum of age and opportunity.

Standing in line at the Douglas food bank was Ms Brenda Salazar, a neatly dressed woman of retirement age, who worked for 25 years as a nursing assistant in the city.

Now disabled, she receives US$944 a month in benefits and food stamps, but after paying rent, utilities and gassing up her car, she had just US$16 for food to tide her over.

'I bought a gallon of milk, I bought a bag of green onions and a bag of grapes. It was US$17. It was three items .... Now I have to pray that God will put gas in my car.' -- REUTERS

Human-rights 'fanatics' is what S'pore needs

June 6, 2008

PROFESSOR Walter Woon's attack on human-rights activists as 'fanatics' is very disturbing (A-G cautions against human rights becoming a 'religion' with fanatics, May 31). Surprisingly (although perhaps not) it comes at a time when the Singapore Government itself is trying to promote the Asean Regional Mechanism on Human Rights.

Last year, prior to the signing of the Asean Charter in November, Professor Woon and the then Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong declared at the Asean Civil Society Conference that 'the principles of good governance, rule of law and democracy will be enshrined as 'aspirational goals' in the Asean Charter (Asean Charter to turn region into community, Oct 28, 2007)'.

My questions are: What did they mean by 'aspirational goals'? Who set the views of what is acceptable and what's not? Who defines the ideals of human rights in a 'democracy'?

Surely the obvious answer is that in a democracy, views and rights become accepted and enshrined through an on-going process of negotiation between governments and its citizens.

We have seen over many years Singapore officialdom's strategy of undermining the passionately held views of advocates of human rights, for instance, 'liberal democratic views' and 'feminism' have been dismissed as 'corrupt Western views'.

When the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) started in 1985, its members were considered by the Government and conservatives to be disruptive, bra-burning 'fanatics' that would destroy the family. More than 20 years later, Aware has proven itself as a positive advocate for women and families in Singapore. 'Fanatics' - or in our opinion advocates - are often exactly what our society needs.

I note, not surprisingly, the contradiction between the dismissal of human-rights activists as 'fanatics' and Singapore officialdom's promotion of 'human rights'.

The strong words of dismissal are inappropriate and unbecoming in the context of the time and circumstances, especially seeing the continued and appalling degradation of our domestic workers (Couple jailed for maid abuse, June 4) and the neglect and suffering in Myanmar.

Considering the limitations imposed on civil society activism in Singapore and the official ambivalence over the term 'human rights', I applaud and celebrate the so-called 'fanatics' of human rights for the work they do.

Constance Singam
President, Aware

[Comment: AWARE not fanatical enough because they "approved" by Govt.]

Fishermen back plan to merge Middle Rocks

June 5, 2008

JOHOR BARU - A PROPOSAL being floated to merge the rock outcrops called the Middle Rocks next to Pedra Branca has won support from fishermen, who say they will benefit from development there.

Pengerang Fishermen Association chairman Abu Bakar Mohamad said the waters around Middle Rocks are a strategic location for fishermen, who fish there and seek shelter in storms and strong winds.

He gave a thumbs-up to the Foreign Ministry proposal to develop the Middle Rocks, which Malaysia was awarded sovereignty of by the International Court of Justice last month. The proposal included the possibility of setting up a meteorological research centre and a maritime observatory.

'I am confident if the rock outcrops are merged, various activities can be carried out to benefit the fishermen,' he told Utusan Malaysia yesterday.

Foreign Minister Rais Yatim had announced the proposal on Tuesday, saying the two rock outcrops, which lie about 1.1km south of Singapore's Pedra Branca, could be merged to make them longer and wider.

Engineers have also described the idea as feasible, reported Utusan Malaysia.

'Although it looks difficult, we have the expertise to do it,' the Malay-language daily quoted Malaysian Engineering Institute president Gue See Sew as saying.

'The construction can be done, but we have to do a little bit of research to ensure everything goes smoothly.'

Research and Postgraduate Dean of Universiti Utara Malaysia Mohd Mustapha Ishak was also reported as hailing the idea.

[Alternative Title: Iskandar Development Region revamp to cover just Middle Rocks. Malaysian Cabinet says revamp would be more feasible than previous plan.]