IV. International
(2-02-09)
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Millions of Chinese
factory workers, who have powered China’s
economic juggernaut, are now returning to their rural
roots. Their future is uncertain. Many do not know
whether they will have jobs in the factories again. Many
did not get their last 3-months pay.
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Local governments are worried that the hamlets or
villages they came from won’t be able to absorb the
returnees. They have begun to implement job creation and
retraining programs. But there are those who are not
slowed down by the economic crisis and are attracted to
the freedom and independence of migrant work despite the
uncertainty.
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Many of those villages have been rebuilt in the past 15
years from money sent home from factories. In some,
almost every house along the main lane is handsome and
new, with multiple-floor built from cement and colored
tile with sturdy windows.
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The grim realities of
the global economy weigh heavily in the hearts of 130
million Chinese migrant workers. Since leaving
home 5 to 10 years ago, many do not have jobs waiting
for them after the weeklong festival (Lunar New Year)
ends. Government survey shows that 6.5 to 9 million had
returned by end of 2008 because of factory shutdowns,
dwindled work hours and disappearing job opportunities.
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With the Chinese economy in the throes of its worst
industrial decline in years, analysts says there won’t
be enough jobs to satisfy the crush of returning
workers, raising the specter of more social turmoil, and
for those staying in the villages, conflicts over land
and family rights.
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The central government is trying to steer joblessness by
pumping billions of dollars into infrastructure
projects, cutting fuel prices and pushing banks to lend
to small businesses. Local governments have stepped up
worker training and are encouraging returnees to launch
their own enterprises, and officials are putting
pressure on employers to hold off layoffs. But most
migrant workers have few skills and little education,
not to mention funds to start their own businesses.
. Japan
Airlines (JAL) carried
out the first successful test flight of a Boeing
airplane run on bio-fuel made primarily of a non-fuel
energy crop called camelina.
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Resource-poor Japan just
discovered a new source of mineral wealth—sewage. A
sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded
a higher yield from sludge than can be found at some of
the world’s best mines. The facility recorded finding
1,890 grams of gold per ton of ash from incinerated
sludge.
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Japan’s industrial output fell at the fastest pace on
record in December while consumer spending slumped and
unemployment hit a near 3-year high, official figures
showed (1/30).
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Japan will provide $17
billion in aid to Asian countries in an effort to
boost regional growth. With 40% of the world’s
population and annual growth rate of around 4% in recent
years, Asia holds the greatest potential for growth in
the world.
. South Korea
is in topsy-turvy in
their reaction to the “dark prophet of market decline.”
His name is Minerva; he is a financial blogger. Police
identified him a Park Dae-sung, with no degree in
economics, no professional experience in finance, and
was not a wealthy investor.
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Park predicted the
collapse of Lehman Brothers 5 days before it happened.
He predicted a sharp decline in the value of South
Korea’s currency a few days before the won
imploded against the dollar. By the time he was led away
in handcuffs from his computer, his blog had garnered 40
million page views in a well-wired country of 48 million
people.
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While Park/Minerva was forecasting down, government
officials spent much of early autumn inaccurately
forecasting moderate market disruption and continued
growth. They groused a lot about unpatriotic market
speculators. What the government is doing to him reveals
a worrisome and immature democratic culture.
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More people were hurt or
killed in Singapore as a result of violent crimes
in 2008, in particular, rape. Crimes that fall under
this category include murder, rape and those committed
using force.
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More than 1,700 families benefited from the government’s
8-year old Home Ownership Plus Education or HOPE
scheme in 2008. It gives young needy families more than
S$70,000 worth of housing and education incentives over
several years.
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For people looking for a place to rent, property
developers are renting out en bloc units at half
the usual price. Many new property projects have been
put on hold due to economic uncertainty.
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New Ebola cases (5 total
to date) are found in the Philippines.
Transmission from pigs to human as not been ruled out as
health officials investigated the source of the
Ebola-Reston virus, normally found in monkeys.
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Who’s behind the execution of suspected criminals in
Mindanao? At least 20 persons have been killed, vigilante
style, by men on motorbikes since the beginning of
the year. Police authorities maintain there is no
such thing as the Davao
Death Squad.
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The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) accused
Pres. GMA (1/31) of “fooling around” with the Mindanao
peace talks by creating a preparatory committee to amend
a 2001 law expanding the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMI).
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Challenges facing
Abhisit Vejjajeva’s administration were thrown into
stark relief when thousands of his opponents surrounded
the parliament, forcing him to deliver his speech in the
foreign ministry. He warned that the stalled economy is
unlikely to recover if the country is being held hostage
by political conflicts.
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Political conflicts that have spread to civic groups
could push the economy, along with the tourism industry,
into recession if action is not taken quickly to resolve
them and revive confidence among investors and foreign
tourists. These conflicts exacerbate Thailand’s
weakness at a time the world economy is entering its
worst crisis in a century.
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Supporters of Somchai and his political patron Thaksin
Shinawatra question the legitimacy of the new government
& have vowed to continue demonstrating until parliament
is dissolved & new elections are called
. Indonesia
is SE Asia’s largest
oil producer, but its inability to meet even domestic
demands due to aging wells and declining investment
forced it to quit the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPE). Days earlier, fuel
subsidies were slashed to avoid a budget blow-out.
Prices at the pump jumped nearly 30% overnight as did
the cost of cooking oil
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Fifty-five RI citizens
who were deported from US for visa violations arrived in
Jakarta (1/29). The US government reportedly covered all
costs to send them back.
. An Indonesian
businessman (author and international speaker Tung Desem
Wasingin) threw 100 million rupiah ($10,600) out
of an airplane over Jakarta as a publicity stunt to
promote his new book.
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Thai armed forces
have been accused of turning hundreds of migrants from
Burma out to sea and leaving them to their fate
with inadequate food and water and only paddles as a
means to reach land.
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Most of the migrants are
from the Rohingya ethnic minority, tens of thousands of
whom have fled to Bangladesh to escape repression and
economic hardship in their homeland in W. Burma.
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Reports in the regional news media say that hundreds
have died and that many bodies have been found trapped
in mangrove forests around India’s Andaman Islands.
Hundreds more people, starving and dehydrated, have been
rescued by Indian and Indonesian authorities after days
adrift.
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Indians spend an average
$32 for a wedding, or about $7k more than the average
bill for American nuptials, according to industry
experts, despite India’s significantly lower
average annual family income.
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It’s all seen as once-in-a-lifetime extravaganza that
most families save for decades, or even generations.
Marriage is to the Indians of traditional Indian society
an occasion that links families permanently and is often
seen as an indicator of wealth and status.
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As India has prospered, so has the country’s vast
wedding industrial complex, now estimated by analysts to
be worth $10 billion. Because of the economic crisis,
many are scaling their wedding down somewhat holding it
a hall instead of a 5-start hotel and keeping the guest
list to 300.
. Pakistan
expressed concern to key ally the US over missile
attacks against Islamist militants on its soil ahead of
an anticipated surge of US troops into neighboring
Afghanistan.
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A more aggressive US
strategy is likely to further antagonize Pakistan that
has reacted angrily to dozen of suspected missile
strikes on its NW region since August. Pakistan sought
to relay its concerns to the US about domestic backlash
against a weak civilian government caused by missile
strikes, believed to be the work of unmanned drones from
the CIA.
. Pakistan
reiterated its firm commitment in fighting terrorism,
and the US side reaffirmed support for Pakistan’s effort
in anti-terrorism.
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Government forces
captured the Tamil Tigers’ de facto capital
(Kilinochi) in N. Sri Lanka dealing a devastating
blow to the rebels’ quarter-century fight for an
independent state, Pres Malinda Gunarekera announced.
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Kilinochi held great symbolic value as the center of
Tamil Tigers’ state, and its capture was expected to
badly damage the rebels’ morale. Rebels used it as their
main headquarters and set up entities there for an
independent state, e.g., police force, courts and tax
offices.
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US, EU and others have called for a political solution
to the crisis saying that warfare will not resolve the
underlying tensions between Tamil and Sinhalese
communities that led to violence in the first place. The
army first captured Kilinochi from the rebels in 1996
but lost it to rebel counterattack in 1998.
