Strong earthquake hits Myanmar

REUTER

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A large 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar near the border with northern Thailand on Thursday, killing one woman, police and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the tremors were felt in Bangkok, central Myanmar and as far away as the Vietnam capital of Hanoi where people were evacuated from tall buildings.

Police said a 53-year-old woman in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai province, had been killed when one wall of her house collapsed. Hospital officials said there were no other deaths or injuries reported.

The quake was centered 111 km (69 miles) north of the town of Chiang Rai, Thailand's northernmost province.

"In my 40 years, I never felt an earthquake this strong. A glass broke and I had to hold on to a pillar," Thanawan Sisukniyom, a retired teacher in Mai Sai, told Reuters by telephone.

Witnesses in Chiang Mai, the country's second-largest city, reported no immediate damage, but said the earthquake was felt strongly.

A witness in the Myanmar town of Tachilek, which borders Chiang Rai, said parked motorcycles fell to the ground and cracks were seen in the road.

TPBS television said electricity was cut off in parts of Mae Sai. The earthquake was shallow at a depth of 6.2 miles.

Chiang Rai province is a sparsely populated, hilly area that forms part of the famous "Golden Triangle," known for growth of illicit opium and where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet.

Somchai Baimuang, deputy director of the Thai meteorological department, urged the public not to panic.

"It's too soon to tell if there is any damage," he told Reuters. "Aftershocks are possible in the next two days."

Residents left their homes in the Myanmar capital Naypyitaw and the biggest city, Yangon. No deaths or injuries were reported.

"Many people fled their homes and laid down on the ground outside away from the buildings. We are still sitting on the ground since there are several aftershocks," a resident in Kentung, 50 miles west of the epicenter, told Reuters by telephone.

"In some buildings, TV sets fell off the tables and shrine altars fell down. I don't know anything about the casualties but I think there will be a lot of damage to properties," he added.

Thumbprints for foreigners under new biometric system in Malaysia

thestar online

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreigners entering the country from June 1 will have their thumbprints taken under a biometric system to enhance security at 96 entry points.

The National Foreigners Enforcement and Registration System (NERS) would register and monitor foreigners from their arrival until departure, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

“The system is capable of tackling various immigration issues, including falsification of documents, overstaying, and misuse of visas, passes and permits.

“Foreigners will have their thumbprints taken and processed within 20 seconds upon their arrival. The system will monitor them and a warning slip will be issued should they overstay, so necessary action can be taken,” he said in Parliament yesterday.

The NERS, he added, would not apply to refugees as they were under a different category.

Muhyiddin, who earlier chaired the Cabinet Committee meeting on foreign workers and illegal immigrants, said the management of foreigners needed to be done in a holistic manner given changes in the migration landscape and global mobility.

The Cabinet Committee also agreed in principle to implement a new levy mechanism where employers would be charged more if they employed more foreigners and for a longer duration.

The suggestion would be tabled in the Cabinet for approval before its proposed implementation in June, he added.

Separately, when launching the language culturalisation programme, Muhyiddin warned against mixing Bahasa Malaysia with other languages.

“We should not simply mix Bahasa Malaysia with other languages as it will deteriorate the uniqueness and identity of the national language,” he said at the function organised by the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry.

He added that although Bahasa Malaysia was the national language, the public should not sideline other languages, especially English.

Malaysia is under fire over caning of 30,000 foreigners

channelnewsasia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has said it caned nearly 30,000 foreigners since 2005, a revelation that drew condemnation Monday from rights groups who demanded an end to the "barbaric" practice.

Amnesty International says that caning has hit epidemic proportions in Malaysia, where the beatings are administered with a long stick that leaves permanent physical and mental scars.

Rights groups were outraged after it emerged that the government said in a statement to parliament last week that a total of 29,759 foreign workers were caned between 2005 and 2010 for various immigration offences.

"Judicial caning is a form of torture and ill-treatment against human beings because it causes physical suffering, psychological problems and constant trauma," Andika Abdul Wahab from rights watchdog Suaram said in a statement.

"This form of barbaric solution is prohibited" by international law, he added.

Suaram said the foreign workers were usually picked up during large-scale crackdowns on illegal migrants.

Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest importer of labour, with workers mostly coming from neigbouring Indonesia.

London-based Amnesty also urged Malaysia to immediately halt judicial caning, which is meted out for serious crimes including murder and rape, as well as for immigration violations.

"The government's figures confirm that Malaysia is subjecting thousands of people to torture and other ill-treatment each year," said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director of Amnesty International.

"While most countries have abolished judicial caning, Malaysia has expanded the practice. Parliament has increased the number of offences subject to caning to more than 60," the group said.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein declined to comment on the issue Monday but an aide confirmed the minister's statement made to parliament.

Corporal punishment has become a hot topic in Malaysia, particularly after a Muslim mother of two was sentenced to six strokes of the cane and a fine for drinking alcohol in 2009.

However, caning for such religious offences - ordered by Islamic courts which run in parallel with civil courts in the Muslim-majority country - is much lighter than in the civil justice system.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno's sentence for drinking alcohol was eventually reduced to community service but three other women then received between four and six strokes of the cane after being convicted of sex outside marriage.

The penalties triggered uproar among women's activists and human rights advocates.

Of human rights and detention

Thestar online

A United Nations group tabled its report on detainees in Malaysia after visiting detention centres and interviewing inmates. The Malaysian Government has two years to act on the report and its recommendations.

MALAYSIA will have two years to implement recommendations made by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention after its final report is accepted by the Human Rights Council (HRC).

The report of the fact-finding mission was presented to the HRC in Geneva yesterday.

The four-member delegation that had been here from June 7 to 18 at the Government’s invitation, had visited detention facilities and interviewed detainees in confidence.

Describing the process at the HRC, Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee chairman Andrew Khoo said its members could make comments and ask questions following the presentation of the report.

“Malaysia will then have the opportunity to respond,” said Khoo.

Asked whether Malaysia could challenge for errors, he said it would have had sight of a draft to check for inaccuracies.

“After the report is adopted by the HRC, Malaysia will be given two years to implement the recommendations,” he said, adding that Forum Asia, through its Malaysian member Suaram, would be making a statement during the discussions.

The Government’s response will be of great interest since DAP chairman Karpal Singh had said on Saturday that older prisons and lock-ups in Malaysia were so overcrowded that they were unfit for habitation and needed the attention of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Also, when they released the initial findings here last June, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein had taken umbrage at certain groups for ignoring the positive findings and instead latching onto the revelation that almost all detainees under preventive laws interviewed had said they were tortured by police to obtain confessions or evidence.

The delegation to Malaysia comprised the Working Group’s Chair-Rapporteur El Hadji Malick Sow from Senegal, member Roberto Garreton (Chile) and two members of its Geneva secretariat.

A statement of their findings at the conclusion of their mission is on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10176&LangID=E.

While they were pleased to find a decrease in Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees, Malick said 1,535 had died in prisons, rehabilitation centres and immigration detention centres between 2003 and 2007.

“Eighty-five others died in police custody. Most occurred in hospitals and they include a high number affected by HIV/AIDS,” he said, adding that inquests must be held in every case of death as soon as is possible.

The group noted that there were no complaints about the treatment by prison and detention centre guards.

However, they found that the Lenggeng Detention Centre suffered from “overcrowding, poor sanitation and inadequate medical care”, which helped transmit communicable diseases, particularly skin diseases.

He reminded the Government of its obligation to guarantee the right to safety of all foreigners, particularly when deprived of their liberty.

Malick said the excessive powers given to police and Rela had facilitated the detention of many at immigration detention centres, including those with UN cards from the High Commissioner for Refugees.

They recommended that the ISA, Emergency (Public Order and Prevention of Crime) Ordin-ance, Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act and the Restricted Residence Act be repealed or amended to conform with the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Malick said that they had found – at centres reserved for detainees under these laws – even those charged with common offences when they should be dealt with under the regular penal procedure.

Among other concerns were:

-- The police could, in some cases, arrest without a warrant and that magistrates routinely extended the initial 24 hours detention; and

-- Detainees under the preventive laws were not told of their right to contact relatives or consult a lawyer but if they knew, some police officers would say that the latter would “make their situation more complicated.”

Malick said the detention situation would improve if the judiciary were fully independent, based on the principle of separation of powers and composed of independent and impartial judges and magistrates.

Malaysia urged to let refugees work

CB Online

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's government has relaxed a freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers in the services sector, with plans to bring in 45,000 Indians to meet a labor shortage that is undermining businesses, a Cabinet minister said Tuesday.

However, rights activists urged the government to allow more than 90,000 refugees in the country to work instead of importing more foreign workers.

Malaysia relies heavily on foreigners mainly from other Asian nations such as Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar for low-paying menial tasks shunned by locals. It is one of Southeast Asia's top labor markets, with foreigners making up some 2 million of its work force of 12 million. Hundreds of thousands more work illegally in the country.

Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam said the government banned the intake of foreign workers in the services sector last year mainly to weed out illegal foreigners in the country. But the process is taking too long and the freeze is hurting businesses, especially restaurants that rely heavily on foreign workers, he said.

"We don't want newcomers to come until the problem of illegals is sorted out, but that sorting out process is taking too long. Industries are having a lot of issues on the ground, some are on the verge of closing," he said.

"There must be some relaxation of rules ... so now for industries that are critically affected, the government is giving approval on individual merits. Last month, the Cabinet approved the recruitment of 45,000 foreign workers" to meet demand in 13 business sectors in the service industry, he said.

The 45,000 laborers will come mainly from India following a request from ethnic Indian businessmen who initially asked for 90,000 foreign workers to fill up vacancies for restaurant workers, barbers and newspaper vendors, he added.

Local rights groups Suaram, however, said the government was not wisely utilizing existing human resources, particularly 92,900 refugees registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

"Most of the said 13 business sectors facing manpower shortage are in the small-scale business and can be filled by refugees," it said. "The ministry should give them opportunity and allow them to work instead of bringing in more foreign workers."

Subramaniam said a Cabinet committee will meet mid-March to discuss how best to tackle the country's reliance on foreign workers.

"We have told industries to make it more lucrative to attract more locals to work and at the same time, redesign their businesses so that they are less dependent on foreign workers," he said.