Malaysia Ex-Deputy PM Charged With Graft, Money Laundering

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19 October 2018, 11:50

United Malays National Organization's (UMNO) Pexresident Ahmad Zahid Hamidi waves as he walks into courtroom Friday at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Yam G-Jun / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister has been charged with abuse of power, corruption and money laundering involving millions of dollars in another graft investigation against the leaders ousted in shock election results earlier this year.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi now leads the opposition after his party was ousted in May’s general elections. He was brought to court Friday, a day after he was detained by the anti-graft agency. He pleaded not guilty to eight counts of abusing his power, ten counts of criminal breach of trust and 27 counts of money laundering.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife also were charged with graft after the elections.

Dozens of supporters from Zahid’s United Malays National Organization rallied outside the court, slamming the charges as politically motivated.

Farangs Face Hard Time For Chiang Mai Vandalism

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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19 October 2018, 11:29

CHIANG MAI — A Briton and Canadian face 10 years in prison and a 1 million baht fine for tagging an ancient, historical wall in Chiang Mai.

British man Lee Furlong and Canadian national Brittney Lorretta Katherine Schneider, both 23, were arrested Thursday afternoon on suspicion of spray-painting a portion of the city’s Tha Phae Gate.

Security camera from a nearby cafe shows four foreigners approaching the site at about 4am on Thursday. Two of them approach the wall and one begins to spray it. Apparently realizing it was misspelled, the vandal returns to fix it to say “Scouser Lee B.”

“Scouser” is British slang for a Liverpool native.

Furlong told police he and the group were drunk and walking back to their guesthouses. Along the way he saw a spray can on the ground so he picked it up and looked for something to paint.

Col. Teerasak Sriprasert, chief of Chiang Mai police, said the two under arrest could be jailed for 10 years and fined 1 million baht. Though what they are accused of amounts to vandalism, he said a heavy penalty must be imposed as they desecrated a historical site highly valued by the public.

Police are looking for the other two foreigners who were at the scene.

Tha Phae Gate dates back to 1296 and the reign of King Mengrai, who founded the Lanna kingdom which later became Chiang Mai. The gate and wall today are modern reproductions erected in 1985 from an old photograph of the gate from 1899.

Exiled Vietnamese Blogger: I’m Not Alone Advocating Freedom

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Associated Press

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19 October 2018, 10:58

HOUSTON — A prominent blogger freed from prison in Vietnam on condition that she live in exile in the United States says she is glad to be reunited with her family and that she knows she is not alone in advocating for freedom.

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was smiling when she emerged from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on Wednesday night to be greeted by a crowd, many of them Vietnamese-Americans. Her two young children and her mother travelled with her.

Quynh blogged as “Mother Mushroom” about human rights and industrial pollution. She was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of defaming Vietnam’s Communist government – a conviction that drew criticism from some governments and human rights groups.

Speaking to reporters upon her arrival, Quynh said that even though she had prepared herself for seeing her family again, she was overwhelmed.

“I was shocked when my son and my daughter hugged me on the plane,” Quynh said. “We had to wait (for this moment) for two years.”

Quynh could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.

Quynh said she knows she is not alone and that she and others will still speak up for freedom in her native country.

Vietnam has stepped up a crackdown on dissent over the past two years with scores of activists and bloggers jailed for national security-related offenses.

Amnesty International says there are more than 100 “prisoners of conscience” in Vietnam.

The U.S. Embassy welcomed Quynh’s release and said it would continue to press for the release of other “prisoners of conscience.”

“We will continue to call on the government of Vietnam to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience and allow all Vietnamese citizens to express their political views without fear of retribution,” U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Karen Tang said in a statement Thursday.

Quynh was released as U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis visited Vietnam, aiming to boost military cooperation between the two former foes amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Julia Mason said Thursday that Quynh had previously told U.S. officials she wanted to come to the United States if released from prison.

Quynh’s immigration status in the U.S. was not immediately known.

In an email, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said due to privacy reasons, it can’t comment “on whether or not individuals have applied for immigration benefits or any decisions involved in the adjudication process.”

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Quynh plans to live in Houston. The Texas city has the third-largest Vietnamese population in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center.

“We are greatly pleased that Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh is finally free, but strongly reiterate that she never should have been imprisoned in the first place,” said Shawn Crispin, the committee’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Authorities should follow through on the move by releasing all the other journalists still wrongfully held behind bars in Vietnam.”

Freedom Fighters: Prison Doesn’t Deter Vietnam’s Dissident Bloggers

US Tuna Brand Admits Fixing Prices, Faces $100 Million Fine

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Associated Press

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19 October 2018, 10:36

Frozen tuna imported from Japan at Ladkrabang Customs near Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 March 2011. Thai Union Frozen Products, the world's largest canned tuna supplier, said Friday it will buy out US tuna company Bumble Bee Seafoods. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK<br /> — Frozen tuna imported from Japan at Ladkrabang Customs near Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 March 2011. Thai Union Frozen Products, the world's largest canned tuna supplier, said Friday it will buy out US tuna company Bumble Bee Seafoods. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK

SAN FRANCISCO — StarKist Co. agreed to plead guilty to a felony price fixing charge as part of a broad collusion investigation of the canned tuna industry, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.

The DOJ said StarKist faces up to a USD$100 million fine when it is sentenced. Prosecutors allege that the industry’s top three companies conspired between 2010 and 2013 to keep prices artificially high.

“We have cooperated with the DOJ during the course of its investigation and accept responsibility,” said StarKist chief executive Andrew Choe. “We will continue to conduct our business with the utmost transparency and integrity.”

The scheme came to light when Thai Union Group’s Chicken of the Sea attempt to buy San Diego-based Bumble Bee failed in 2015, according to court records. Chicken of the Sea executives then alerted federal investigators, who agreed to shield the company from criminal prosecution in exchange for cooperation.

Bumble Bee Foods last year pleaded guilty to the same charge and paid a $25 million fine, $111 million lower than prosecutors said it should have been. Prosecutors said they feared putting the financially struggling Bumble Bee out of business with a high fine and agreed to let the company make interest-free payments for five years.

Two former executives of Bumble Bee executives and one from StarKist have also each pleaded guilty to price-fixing charges. None of them have been sentenced.

Former Bumble Bee chief executive Christopher Lischewski has pleaded not guilty to a price fixing charge.

“The conspiracy to fix prices on these household staples had direct effects on the pocketbooks of American consumers,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim.

In addition, the three companies face myriad lawsuits from wholesalers, food service companies and retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kroger.

Immigration Joins Weibo to Regain Chinese Tourists

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Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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18 October 2018, 14:38

BANGKOK — Immigration police took another step Wednesday to reach out to the country’s largest tourist group.

The immigration police launched an official account on Sina Weibo, the top Chinese social media channel, hoping to regain tourists from the mainland, which dropped for the first time ever this year.

The move is described as part of the junta’s “Thailand 4.0” tech innovation initiative and aims to improve communication with Chinese tourists, according to Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, the newly appointed Immigration Bureau chief.

Via Sina Weibo, Chinese tourists can exchange information and give direct feedback to immigration police.

As of Thursday afternoon, the page had already gained more than 23,000 subscribers.

Ten million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2017.

But after nearly 50 Chinese tourists died in July’s Phuket ferry tragedy, more than 660,000 tourists from the mainland canceled trips to the kingdom, amounting to an estimated loss of 37 billion baht.

Tourism officials have vowed to reassure travelers of their safety and regain their No. 1 source of tourism revenue.

Tourism Authority to ‘Win Back Trust’ After Chinese Cancel Trip

Migrants Moving Again in Guatemala, Trump Targets Democrats

By

Associated Press

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18 October 2018, 13:49

A Honduran migrant bound for the U.S. border pushes a baby carriage Wednesday in Zacapa, Guatemala. Photo: Moises Castillo / Associated Press

CHIQUIMULA, Guatemala — More than 2,000 Honduran migrants traveling en masse through Guatemala resumed their journey toward the United States on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump sought to turn the caravan into a political issue three weeks before midterm elections.

A day after warning Central American governments they risk losing U.S. aid if they don’t do something and saying that anyone entering the U.S. illegally would be arrested and deported, Trump turned his sights on Democrats and urged Republican allies to campaign on border security.

“Hard to believe that with thousands of people from South of the Border, walking unimpeded toward our country in the form of large Caravans, that the Democrats won’t approve legislation that will allow laws for the protection of our country. Great Midterm issue for Republicans!” Trump said in a Wednesday morning tweet.

“Republicans must make the horrendous, weak and outdated immigration laws, and the Border, a part of the Midterms!” he continued.

In Guatemala, the migrants rose early and many left without eating breakfast, bound for Zacapa, the next city on their route. Overcast skies and a light drizzle took the edge off the sweltering heat and humidity, making the trek more bearable.

Luis Navarreto, a 32-year-old migrant in the caravan, said he had read about Trump’s threats to his country but was undeterred.

“We are going to continue,” Navarreto said. “It is God who decides here. We have no other option but to move ahead.”

The migrants are fleeing widespread poverty and gangland violence in one of the world’s most murderous countries, and many blame Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez for what they call unlivable conditions back home.

“We are here because of Juan Orlando,” said Nelson Zavala, a 36-year-old laborer.

The previous day the migrants advanced about 30 miles (40 kilometers) from the Honduras-Guatemala border to arrive at the city of Chiquimula.

That is a tiny portion of the almost 1,350 miles (2,200 kilometers) they would have to travel to reach the closest U.S. border.

Some were able to hitch rides, packing the flatbeds of pickups and farm trucks, and even cargo holds of semis, while many more continued on foot with backpacks, strollers and Honduran flags. Hundreds advanced farther and faster than the main group to reach the Guatemalan capital, according to the Casa del Migrante shelter there.

The caravan has snowballed since about 160 migrants departed Friday from the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, with many people joining spontaneously while carrying just a few belongings. Estimates of their numbers ranged up to 3,000.

Three weeks before the U.S. elections, the caravan was bound to draw Trump’s ire. But he did not follow through on a similar threat to cut aid to Honduras in April over an earlier caravan, which eventually petered out in Mexico.

On Tuesday, Honduras’ president accused unnamed “political groups” organizing the caravan based on lies in order to cause problems in Honduras.

“There are sectors that want to destabilize the country, but we will be decisive and we will not allow it,” Hernandez told reporters.

Earlier the Foreign Ministry alleged that people had been lured to join the migration with “false promises” of a transit visa through Mexico and the opportunity to seek asylum in the United States.

In a joint statement Wednesday, Mexico’s Foreign Relations and Interior departments said anyone in the caravan with travel documents and a proper visa will be allowed to enter, and anyone who wants to apply for refugee status can do so.

But the statement said all cases must be processed individually, suggesting that authorities have no intention of letting the migrants simply cross the border en masse without going through standard immigration procedures.

It warned that anyone who enters Mexico in an “irregular manner” faces detention and deportation.

None of the migrants The Associated Press spoke to on the road was carrying a passport. When agents in Guatemala near the Honduran border asked a crowd of them what documentation they were carrying, they held up national personal ID cards, which allow them to move through most countries in Central America – but not Mexico, which requires foreigners to present a passport for entry.

Late Tuesday, Trump said via Twitter that Washington had told Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that the U.S. will stop aid “if they allow their citizens, or others, to journey through their borders and up to the United States, with the intention of entering our country illegally.”

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said Wednesday that he had spoken twice with U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence.

As for Guatemala’s government, Morales said, “We do not accept conditions; we do not impose conditions. What we do is accept our responsibilities and we are going to prioritize what our laws say.”

He added that he had also discussed with Honduras’ Hernandez the facilitation of “the most comfortable, feasible and humane return possible for any who wish to go back.”

Morales said that while Central Americans are legally free to transit from country to country, a “massive ingress of people without registering” puts Guatemala in a difficult position because it’s impossible to know who the people are and what may be the intentions of any of their leaders.

Luis Arreaga, the U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, posted a video message on Twitter to migrants thinking of entering the United States illegally.

“If you try to enter the United States, you will be detained and deported,” Arreaga said in Spanish. Addressing those already en route, he added: “Return to your country. Your attempt to migrate will fail.”

Also Wednesday, some 300 Hondurans arrived at the El Salvador border hoping to make it to join the caravan in Guatemala.

A Salvadoran government statement and the country’s migration director, Herbert Hernandez, said about 100 of the Hondurans tried to enter “without going through the obligatory migration control” and soldiers and police took control of a border bridge between the two countries.

Some from the group went through the standard migration processing and were allowed to enter El Salvador. Others who refused were partially impeding the crossing.

“Transit at the El Amatillo border is blocked by these people, not by … the government,” Hernandez said.

Story: Sonia Perez D.

Savor 30+ Gins at Weekend Chinatown Fest

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Lobsang Dundup Sherpa Subirana, Deputy Editor

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18 October 2018, 13:19

BANGKOK — The air will fill with the scent of juniper this weekend at a two-day festival celebrating classic herbal liquor in the capital’s old town.

A small street in Chinatown will host the Bangkok Gin Festival across four bars starting Saturday, featuring varieties of gin tonic cocktails at each venue and rising female bartenders from throughout Asia.

On the first evening, Teens of Thailand will welcome Charmaine Thio from Singapore’s 28 Hong Kong Street bar, who will make the “Hendrick’s & Tonic” with the classic Scottish gin and slices of cucumber atop a highball glass.

“Star & Tonic” will sell at Ba Hao with Nikki Vera from Hong Kong’s Pontiac bar using Star of Bombay gin and orange peel.

Jay Hutch will be at Tep Bar using the small-batch Caorunn gin and garnishing her cocktail with apple slices. Hutch works at the EC Proof bar in Singapore.

Finally, Shelly Tai from the Quinary bar in Hong Kong will use The Botanist, a dry gin which she’ll pair with lime to make her cocktail variety at Asia Today.

Head over Sunday afternoon to sample more than 30 types of gin at the Banana Press gallery. Prices will range from 200 baht to 300 baht and people will need to bring their own glass.

Attendees of the Saturday bar hop will be given a booklet in which to collect stamps. Those who gather 16 from all four bars combined will receive a free T-shirt if they (survive and) attend Sunday’s event.

The Bangkok Gin Festival starts at 8pm on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday in Chinatown’s Soi Nana, which is reachable by foot or taxi from MRT Hua Lamphong.

Khashoggi Warns in Last Column of Free Rein to Silence Media

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Associated Press

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18 October 2018, 11:56

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi speaks during a press conference in 2015 in Manama, Bahrain. Photo: Hasan Jamali / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Washington Post has published a new column by missing Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi in which he warns that governments in the Middle East “have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate.”

The Post published the column Wednesday, more than two weeks after Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and only hours after a gruesome account in Turkey’s Yeni Safak newspaper alleged that Saudi officials cut off Khashoggi’s fingers and then decapitated him inside the consulate while his fiancee waited outside. The Saudi government, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has denied any involvement.

In a note affixed to the top of the column, Post Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah said she received the essay from Khashoggi’s translator and assistant a day after he was reported missing. Khashoggi first began writing for the Post’s opinion section in September 2017, and his columns criticized the prince and the direction of the Saudi kingdom.

In the op-ed, titled “Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression,” Khashoggi recounted the imprisonment of a prominent writer who spoke against the Saudi establishment, and cited an incident in which the Egyptian government seized control of a newspaper.

“These actions no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community. Instead, these actions may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence,” he wrote.

“As a result, Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate,” Khashoggi wrote.

President Donald Trump, who initially came out hard on the Saudis over the disappearance but since has backed off, said Wednesday that the U.S. wanted Turkey to turn over any audio or video recording it had of Khashoggi’s alleged killing “if it exists.” He has recently suggested that the global community had jumped to conclusions that Saudi Arabia was behind Khashoggi’s disappearance.

In the column, Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen who went into self-imposed exile in the U.S. over the rise of the crown prince, also discussed the practice of Middle Eastern governments blocking internet access to control tightly the information their citizens can see.

“The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power,” Khashoggi wrote.

He praised the Post for translating many of his columns from English into Arabic and said it’s important for Middle Easterners to be able to read about democracy in the West. He also said it’s critical that Arab voices have a platform on which to be heard.

“We suffer from poverty, mismanagement and poor education,” Khashoggi wrote. “Through the creation of an independent international forum, isolated from the influence of nationalist governments spreading hate through propaganda, ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural problems their societies face.”

The Post initially held off on publishing the column amid hope for Khashoggi’s return, Attiah said. But, she wrote, “Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen.”

She ended her note: “This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A freedom he apparently gave his life for. I will be forever grateful he chose The Post as his final journalistic home one year ago and gave us the chance to work together.”

Story: Ashley Thomas

New Army Chief Open to Staging Another Coup

By

Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer

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18 October 2018, 11:53

Army chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong speaks to reporters Wednesday in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — The refusal by Thailand’s new army chief to disavow another military coup drew a heated response Thursday.

Former Pheu Thai Party MP Watana Muangsook said the army chief, who spoke to reporters for the first time Wednesday since assuming command earlier this month, is already placing himself above the law and damaging the investment climate.

“It shows that the army leader is autocratic and acts above the law because such remarks during the interview were a threat to use force to overthrow [the government] or change the constitution, which is a crime of treason under Article 113 of the Penal Code,” Wattana said in comments published online.

Read: New Army Chief Calls Royal Petitioners ‘Insane’

Gen. Apirat Kongsompong on Wednesday refused to commit to not staging another military coup when asked by a reporter if how he would handle another political crisis such as that which precipitated the 2014 coup that brought the current ruling junta to power.

“I am confident that if politics does not cause a riot, there won’t be any. Thailand has had more than 10 coups, but it’s no longer like in the past, because the recent ones occurred due to politics,” Apiwat said.

The new army chief, himself the son of the general who led the 1991 coup, assumed the all-powerful position on Oct. 1. He also defended current junta leader-cum-prime minister, saying he believes that Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha did not intend to stage a coup over four years ago.

“I truly believe Gen. Prayuth never wanted to as well, but he had to sacrifice himself. What would have happened if Gen. Prayuth did not decide to stage the coup?” said the army chief, adding that he hopes there will be no future political violence.

Others on Facebook expressed anger at Apirat’s non-committal stance.

“An ungrateful guy! I’m a taxpayer!” Facebook user Kanonkkorn Onlamri wrote.

“I can’t believe that he would dare speak this way. They don’t respect the people who pay their salaries through taxes,” Facebook user Poom Pattara wrote.

Some defended Apirat and the most recent coup, however.

“The coup occurred after political demonstrations!! We must ask why protesters committed arson or shot innocent people …” @Notergg tweeted.

“I agree with the soldier,” @Skcallcenter tweeted last night.

One Twitter user put forth their idea for a solution: arming the electorate.

“Amend the law to enable people to more easily own guns, and there will be fewer coups,” wrote @Mowtntan on tweeted.

Trump Starts Leaving Postal Union in Latest Anti-China Move

By

Associated Press

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18 October 2018, 11:46

U.S. President Donald Trump, second left, first lady Melania Trump, left, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan stand together as they tour the Forbidden City in 2017 in Beijing, China. Photo: Andrew Harnik / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The United States announced Wednesday that it is preparing to pull out of an international postal treaty that allows China to ship packages to America at discounted rates. The move would escalate a trade dispute with China.

President Donald Trump argues that the 144-year-old Universal Post Union benefits China and other countries at the expense of U.S. businesses – making it cheaper to ship packages from Beijing to New York than from San Francisco to the U.S. East coast, which particularly benefits Chinese manufacturers. The officials say the treaty is used by shippers of the narcotic fentanyl to the U.S. from China.

The U.S. is willing to renegotiate the treaty over the next year but will leave the union if no agreement can be reached, the officials said.

Bishar Hussein, director of the Universal Postal Union, said he regrets the U.S. decision and will seek a meeting with American officials.

The move was welcomed by the U.S National Association of Manufacturers, which called the exiting postal pact “outdated” in the age of e-commerce and at a time of Chinese manufacturing dominance.

“Manufacturers and manufacturing workers in the United States will greatly benefit from a modernized and far more fair arrangement with China,” Jay Timmons, president of the manufacturers association, said in a statement.

The U.S. and China are already locked in a trade war. The United States has imposed tariffs on about USD$250 billion in Chinese goods, and Beijing has responded by targeting about $110 billion in U.S. products.

The world’s two biggest economies are clashing over U.S. allegations that China is using predatory practices to challenge American technological dominance. These include hacking into U.S. companies’ computers to steal trade secrets and forcing American firms to hand over technology to China in exchange for access to the Chinese market.

Trump has made a point of cutting America’s international ties. His first week in office he pulled the United States out of a trade pact with 11 Pacific Rim countries. He also has left UNESCO and the United Nations Human Rights Council and pulled U.S. funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Story: Zeke Miller, Paul Wiseman

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