Lawmakers Pelt Hong Kong Chief Amid Democracy Demands

 
Political tensions continued to mount in Hong Kong on Thursday as lawmakers threw objects at chief executive C.Y. Leung amid growing calls for his resignation, while commentaries in China's state media struck an ominous note following Tuesday's mass pro-democracy march.

Leung was pelted with various items, including a glass of water that smashed near him, as he attended a meeting with representatives from the city's Legislative Council (LegCo), while others held up banners demanding full democracy in the former British colony.

Leung, who has refused to step down, told lawmakers that proposals for public nominations of candidates in the 2017 race for chief executive were unlikely to win support from Beijing, which recently reasserted its ultimate control over Hong Kong in a June 10 white paper.

More than 20 pro-democracy lawmakers held up banners in the LegCo chamber calling for universal suffrage, shouting slogans as Leung left, and the speaker called a recess.

Leung said legislators, who confronted him after hundreds of thousands took to the city's streets on Tuesday to call for public nomination of election candidates, were using "abusive language" and taking "increasingly radical actions"

"We can see that some LegCo members ... threw objects, including a glass which smashed, right under the gaze of the public," Leung told lawmakers after the incident, although a number of pro-democracy lawmakers had already walked out in protest.

"I think everyone, including LegCo, should be concerned about this developing trend," he said.

'Absolute power'

Lawmaker Raymond Kwong said he didn't remember exactly what he had thrown at Leung.

"I threw a lot of stuff over there, I don't know exactly what," Kwong told reporters after the incident. But he berated journalists for an attitude which would see them "become slaves in future."

"When dealing with this sort of absolute power, one can't be too polite," he said. "So what if I did throw [the glass]?"

Many who marched on Tuesday called for Leung's resignation, saying he is out of step with public opinion, after 800,000 voted last month in an unofficial referendum for some form of public nomination in the 2017 elections.

Police, who detained more than 500 protesters during a peaceful sit-in that followed the march, said they were investigating the incident.

Currently, half of the seats in Hong Kong's Legislative Council  are filled through direct election from geographical constituencies, with the rest chosen by professional groups, businesspeople, and corporations.

A growing rift

The pelting of Leung comes amid a growing rift between Hong Kong officials and lawmakers in the wake of a controversial funding bill last month for two new towns in the northeast of the territory, which many say was forced through by Leung's administration in the face of considerable public objection.

China's tightly controlled state media, which has condemned both the referendum and the march, hit out with an ominous warning on Thursday.

The English-language tabloid Global Times, which has close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said Hong Kong could become the next Ukraine or Thailand if goes ahead with "political upheaval."

In a veiled reference to plans for a civil disobedience movement occupying Hong Kong's Central business district, the paper said Wednesday's sit-in had undermined the rule of law in Hong Kong, which has traditionally enjoyed freedom of the press and of association.

"Without the rule of law, Hong Kong could sink into the likes of Ukraine or Thailand and all kinds of dangerous phenomena could happen," the paper said in an editorial.

"The radical opposition organizers had admitted that their action would be unlawful. But they still went ahead," it said.

"After [their arrest], some of the troublemakers even unreasonably pointed their fingers at the police for 'using force,'" it continued, without offering further details.

Peaceful protest

Hong Kong's police force action against the 2,000 protesters who blocked Chater Road in the city's downtown area overnight was roundly criticized by Amnesty International, which said the freedom to stage protests is enshrined in international law, and that force should only be used as a last resort.

Those protesters, most of whom were students, who hadn't yet been moved got up and walked away at a prearranged time of 8.00 a.m.

Police also came under fire for requesting that journalists leave the scene before they began moving protesters, a move which has added to concerns about press freedom following a string of physical attacks on the liberal media.

Hong Kong lawmaker and Civic Party leader Alan Leong said on Thursday that the student-led sit-in had been conducted in the tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience.

"They were very peaceful, and anyone continuing to try to smear the Occupy Central campaign has no basis in reality," Leong told RFA on Thursday.

"Everyone could see that Occupy Central is likely to be very peaceful because of the way the students behaved."

Meanwhile, lecturers and professors at 41 further and higher education institutions launched a campaign of support for the students being charged with public-order offenses after the sit-in.

"Not only was there no provocation, there was no bad language," they wrote in a post on Facebook. "They just sat there peacefully, arms linked, as the police cleared the area, entirely in the spirit of nonviolent protest."

Need for debate

While Beijing has said Hong Kong can elect its own leader in the 2017 race for chief executive, it has stopped short of allowing candidates to run who have not been previously approved by Beijing.

A poll conducted by the English-language South China Morning Post newspaper found that 91 percent of marchers questioned had joined the march in support of public nominations.

Another major reason given was opposition to a June 10 white paper in which Beijing asserted its rule over Hong Kong, saying the city's traditionally independent judges are "administrators" who should be "patriotic."

A top U.S. diplomat on Wednesday called on China to give Hong Kong the space to debate its political future and allow the "vigorous" voices of the city's residents to be heard.

"We want to see continued evidence that the rights of the people of Hong Kong are being respected and that the principles that China embraced in connection with reversion are honored," America's top diplomat for East Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, told Agence France-Presse.

China's foreign ministry responded by telling Washington to stay out of its internal affairs.

"The Chinese government resolutely opposes any interventions by any other countries and expects the relevant country to stop making irresponsible comments on Hong Kong's internal affairs," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.

Hong Kong was promised "a high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 handover from Britain to China.

Four Held, Curfew Declared in Mandalay City After Deadly Violence

 
Myanmar authorities detained four people and imposed a curfew in the country’s second largest city Mandalay on Thursday after two consecutive days of anti-Muslim riots left two dead and more than a dozen injured.As hundreds of armed police patrolled the city to restore calm, President Thein Sein, in a radio address, called for stability and appealed to the people to avoid incitement of unrest.

He did not directly refer to the latest Buddhist-Muslim violence besetting the country, which is emerging from decades of harsh military rule.

The two people who died — a Muslim and a Buddhist — were not involved in the violence, reports said.The violence was triggered by Buddhist mob attacks on minority Muslim shops, homes and a mosque in Chan Aye Thar Zan township on Tuesday following unconfirmed reports that a Muslim tea shop owner raped a Buddhist woman.

The next day, a Muslim man was on his way to a mosque when he was attacked by a mob and left dead in the street while a Buddhist man suffered the same fate as he went out to collect money that had been owed to him.Police said aside from the two deaths, 14 people were wounded during the nights of violence on Tuesday and Wednesday, which continued into Thursday morning.

The curfew, covering all six townships in Mandalay, was announced Thursday by the local government, which asked residents to remain indoors from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and prohibited gatherings of five people or more during the restricted hours.

Four detained

Four people suspected of involvement in the riots have been detained, said Mandalay Chief Minister Ye Myint who met religious and community leaders Thursday to seek help in restoring calm in the city.“We will work on long term plans to take care of all citizens’ safety,” Ye Myint said.He said plans would be devised particularly to provide security to mosques.

Mandalay is regarded as the country's monastic heartland and home to tens of thousands of monks, including Wirathu  the leader of a controversial nationwide campaign known as the “969 Movement” which claims Myanmar’s minority Muslims are threatening the Buddhist majority.On Wednesday night, Buddhist mobs on motorcycles shouted anti-Muslim slogans in Chan Aye Thar township, triggering clashes with Muslims, a local official of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party told RFA.

“They threw bricks and stones at Muslim homes. There were clashes and some people were hospitalized and some motorbikes were destroyed,” said Myo Naing, executive committee secretary for the Mandalay region branch of the NLD.

A senior police officer in the capital, Naypyitaw, told Reuters news agency that charges of rape had been filed against the Muslim tea shop owner and his brother at a police station in Pyinmana, a town about halfway between Mandalay and Naypyitaw where the rape allegedly took place.Sectarian violence in Myanmar has left up to 280 people dead and another 140,000 homeless since 2012—mostly Muslims, according to rights groups.

While most of the violence has occurred in western Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state, several incidents have occurred in the country’s central region, including a wave of arson attacks in Meikhtila city—about 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of Mandalay—which left 43 dead and 13,000 homeless in March 2013.

Muslims account for about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people.

‘Avoid instigation’

In his monthly radio address to the nation, President Thein Sein called on the people to avoid incitement of unrest, saying the country needed stability for reforms to succeed.“In order for reform to succeed, I appeal to all to avoid instigation and behavior that incites hatred among our fellow citizens,” he said.Reminding the people that Myanmar was a multi-racial and multi-religious nation, he said reforms he introduced since coming to power in 2011 would succeed only if the country is stable and united.

The U.S. embassy in Yangon issued a message on its official Twitter feed on Thursday calling for calm."Rule by law not rumor and mob action (is) essential for justice, stability and development," it said.Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi blamed the authorities for the worsening violence, saying prompt action should have been taken.She cautioned the public against trusting unsubstantiated reports.“The authorities should properly handle those people who are spreading rumors. Without rule of law, more riots will come,” she told RFA.

Deadlock longest in history

 
Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha yesterday asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to show more flexibility in negotiations in order to break the political deadlock.
His request comes at a symbolic juncture: The political impasse following last July’s national election has now become the longest ever since the UN brought multiparty elections to the Kingdom in 1993.
It took 340 days after the 2003 election until Prime Minister Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh inked an official deal in a ceremony broadcast on national television. The pact brought an end to 11 months of deadlock and saw Funcinpec join the Cambodian People’s Party in a coalition government.
Today marks 341 days since the July 28, 2013, poll. While this time, the CPP has been able to form a government on its own, parliament still remains nearly half empty due to the CNRP’s boycott.
Yesterday, Sokha called on Hun Sen and the CPP to be more flexible about how National Election Committee members should be selected.

On Tuesday, the premier said talks could restart if the CNRP abandoned its request that NEC members should have to be approved by two-thirds of parliament.
“In negotiations, we cannot say we are absolute, and we must do things like this or like that. If we are absolute, there is no need to negotiate. Our stance is like this and the stance of the other side is like that, so we must negotiate so we can find a joint position that can be acceptable,” Sokha said.
But senior CPP lawmaker and negotiating team member Chheang Vun said, personally speaking, he did not think the CPP could move away from the 50-per-cent-plus-one formula that it favours. But he did say that NEC members should come from both parties.

“In my mind, I think that the NEC having nine members is good, with five members from the CPP and four from the CNRP. The NEC president is from the [CPP] and deputy president is from the [CNRP],” he said.In response to the current deadlock gaining the distinction of “longest ever”, Cambodian Center for Human Rights chairman Ou Virak said it was important to recognise post-poll problems as part of “the growing pains of democracy”.“The takeaway from all of this is whether the deadlock can be a good thing. If it can reform the NEC and other institutions, it can be a good thing, and we can look at it as [providing] an opportunity to reform,” he said.

Thais free 14 Cambodian workers

 
Charges against 14 Cambodia migrant workers arrested in Thailand last month have been dropped and the group will return to the Kingdom tomorrow, government officials have told the Post.
A hearing at the Sa Kaeo provincial court in Thailand this morning determined that the workers had been deceived by their brokers, according to Pich Vanna, chief of the Cambodia-Thailand border relations office.“They will be released soon today and will return to Cambodia tomorrow through Poipet international checkpoint,” Vanna said.

“[The court] found them guilty of having fake documents, but because they were cheated and didn’t mean to use the fake documents, the court decided to drop charges against them.”
The workers were arrested at the border for possessing fake visas as they tried to return to Cambodia amid last month’s sudden mass exodus of migrant workers from Thailand.
The announcement comes a day after "yellow shirt" activist Veera Somkwamkid arrived back in Thailand after being granted a royal pardon in Cambodia.

Clemency for Veera, who was three years in to his eight-year espionage sentence, was arranged during a Thai delegation’s two-day visit to Phnom Penh earlier this week. During the discussions, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked for a reciprocated release, calling on Thailand to free the 14 jailed Cambodian migrants.Both governments have denied that the releases were a prisoner swap or resulted from any sort of exchange of favours.By contrast, political analysts have predicted since the 14 workers were arrested that such a diplomatic deal would take place, and potentially improve Cambodia’s relations with the Thai junta.Neth Serey, Cambodia consular for Sa Kaeo province, was unavailable to provide the list of names and ages of the soon-to-be-released workers.

Malaysia to send back envoy to New Zealand to face sex charge

 

Malaysia says it will send back to New Zealand an envoy who used diplomatic immunity to flee a sex charge there, defusing a messy wrangle between the nations.Malaysia's government released a statement Wednesday saying it would return Second Warrant Officer Muhammad Rizalman Ismail to New Zealand "to cooperate fully and assist" authorities in their investigation into allegations against himIsmail, 38, faces charges of burglary and assault with intent to commit rape, relating to an alleged attack in Wellington on May 9, according to officials in both countries.

Superintendent Sam Hoyle, commander of Wellington police district where the alleged offenses took place, said in a statement that Ismail would be arrested at the New Zealand border and taken to the nearest court on his return. No date had yet been set for Ismail's return, he said.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully welcomed the news of Ismail's impending return, saying in a statement that it underlined the "good faith and integrity" with which Malaysia had approached the case.

Ismail was working as a defense staff assistant at Malaysia's High Commission in Wellington when he allegedly stalked a 21-year-old woman and attacked her in her home.He was apprehended by police and appeared in court the next day, but returned to Malaysia with his family on May 22, Malaysia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.The case caused an outcry when it was reported in the New Zealand media, with Prime Minister John Key telling reporters it was his country's "very strong preference" that the man face justice there, rather than in Malaysia.But it later emerged that while at a formal level New Zealand had pressed Malaysia to waive Ismail's diplomatic immunity, Malaysian officials were under the impression after informal discussions that the New Zealand government was comfortable with him returning home to face justice, CNN affiliate TVNZ reported. 

McCully apologized Wednesday for his ministry's handling of the case, TVNZ reported.

"It is now clear to me that officials engaged in informal communications over what is a complex case, in a manner that would have been ambiguous to the Malaysian government," he said in a statement. "I can say that the Malaysian side have acted entirely in good faith."Under the 1961 Vienna Convention, diplomats are granted full immunity from local laws while embassy staff are immune from criminal charges but not from specific civil matters.Malaysia's Ministry of Foreign affairs said in its statement that it had "complete faith in the New Zealand legal system" and "full confidence" Ismail would be dealt with fairly.