Thailand returns to military monarchy

Thailand went to the ballot box yesterday to vote on a new constitution. The results so far seem to favour the change. But whatever the final result, the referendum is unlikely to resolve the country’s political crisis.

Since the shift from absolutist rule to constitutional monarchy and parliamentary government in 1932, the Thai people have developed a taste for democracy, yet they have never managed to entrench it irreversibly at an institutional level. Over the last 84 years Thailand has witnessed 19 constitutions and 13 coup d’états.

Thailand’s military junta, led by Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha, seized power in 2014 on the pretext of eradicating corruption under the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, just as the previous coup in 2006 did against her brother Thaksin Shinawatra. The referendum is ostensibly a stepping stone on the junta’s roadmap back to democracy.

The real issue, as Patrick Jory explains, is the ‘ongoing uncertainty about the future of the monarchy’, in light of 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s poor health. His reign of over 70 years makes him the longest serving monarch in the world and the longest in Thailand’s history. Thailand has undergone a great transformation under Bhumibol from a deeply poor country in the early days of the Cold War to middle-income status. But there is concern among those privy to palace patronage — including the military, bureaucracy, urbanised elite and other royalist supporters centred in Bangkok — about the royal succession after the King is gone. The Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, while protected by lèse majesté laws at home, has struggled in the age of digital media to preserve his royal image especially during his long sojourns in Germany where tabloid media have exposed his somewhat unroyal activities.

At stake is not just the continuation of the institution of monarchy and the traditions that it represents, but the wealth and the clout that the palace confers upon military, bureaucratic and political elites through its stewardship of the Crown Property Bureau (CPB) and the imprimatur that its blessing gives government. The CPB is estimated to control between US$37 to US$53 billion in assets — across hotels, land, banks and cement companies and the like — and is not required to pay tax. The King is in principle free to spend its income as he likes. While much of this wealth is used on the monarchy’s household expenses, it also funds provincial developments and charity that boost palace prestige. Yet the opaque nature of the CPB and its use makes cries from the military and royal supporters of Shinawatra family corruption ring hollow.

Thaksin, as prime minister from 2001 to 2006, introduced healthcare initiatives, rice subsidies and extended patronage to the poorer areas in Thailand’s rural north and northeast, that helped establish his election winning machine. Thaksin and his successor parties have won every election since 2001. Royalists and the urban elite worried that Thaksin had not only entrenched an electoral system that would keep out forever their favoured Democratic Party but also that his business empire would ultimately establish a patronage network capable of supplanting that of the monarchy.

For all his faults, including blurring the lines between politics, media and business and vigilante justice meted out to drug lords in Thailand’s far south, Thaksin recognised the inequality between urban Bangkok and the poor in the rural north and northeast. With three-quarters of government spending concentrated on Bangkok and surrounding areas which comprise only 17 per cent of Thailand’s 67 million people, Thaksin established a politics that attracted the loyalty of the rural disadvantaged. Yingluck (2011–2014) continued Thaksin’s strategy, focused principally on maintaining party popularity rather than on much needed structural and democratic reforms.

The last time the military government handed power back to a democratically elected government, after the 15 months between September 2006 and January 2008, it did not halt the success of Thaksin’s successor parties (the People’s Power Party under Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat, and Pheu Thai Party under Yingluck). This time around the military government appears intent on preventing elected politicians from ever being able to threaten monarchical interests again. If the current referendum fails, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has said he will simply promulgate another before elections possibly in 2017.

As Pavin Chachavalpongpun explains in our lead essay this week, after the rejection of a previous draft constitution by a military appointed council in September 2015, Prayuth’s government has been at pains to emphasise that the writing of this new constitution ‘has taken place in accordance with the “roadmap to democracy”. They insist that it’s been transparent, open to scrutiny in the public domain and that they have been willing to take on board criticism’.

In reality anyone who speaks out against the draft constitution risks imprisonment. Under Article 44 of the interim constitution General Prayuth wields absolute power, and abuse of lèse majesté laws has skyrocketed in the two years since the military takeover. In spite of these risks, the country’s two main political parties, the Democrats led by Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Puea Thai Party backed by the Shinawatras, have both publicly opposed the draft constitution in a rare moment of agreement between the two rival parties.

Rather than paving the way for a return to democracy, the draft constitution is widely seen as having been designed to ‘allow the military and their royalist backers to oversee Thai politics for the foreseeable future, whatever the outcome of elections’. Its contents, drafted by a palace old hand appointed by the military, will enable the judiciary to intervene in politics, weaken future civilian governments by removing their authority over bureaucratic and military elites, give independent organisations such as the unelected senate and the constitutional court power to stymie the elected government, and provide advantage to autonomous candidates weakening the major political parties. As Chachavalpongpun explains, ‘Future prime ministers will not have to be elected members of parliament, paving the way for old generals to claim the position legitimately’.

The culture of absolutist rule, a winner-takes-all approach to governance and the idea that it is the military’s job to intervene to stop corruption by democratically elected governments continues to haunt Thai politics today. Extrication from this political mess requires that Thailand’s competing networks of patronage retreat under structural democratic reform that enables fair and unfettered participation in national political life for the urban elite and rural farmers alike.


Sumber - East Asia Forum

Google Sparks Outrage by Abolishing Palestine on Maps

Google's decision to wipe Palestine from its map app and portray the occupied territories as Israel sparks online protest campaign.

Journalists and activists have excoriated Google for wiping Palestine completely off its map app, depicting the entire occupied Palestinian territories as part of the state of Israel.

The Palestinian Journalists’ Forum initiated an online campaign to pressure the internet giant to reconsider its stance. The organization accused Google of being “part of the Israeli scheme to establish its name as a legitimate state for generations to come and abolish Palestine once and for all.”

“The move is also designed to falsify history, and geography as well as the Palestinian people’s right to their homeland, and a failed attempt to tamper with the memory of Palestinians and Arabs as well as the world,” the statement continued.

In response, critics on Twitter have used the hashtag #BoycottGoogle to condemn the company. A petition on Change.org urging Google to put Palestine back on the map has garnered 147,402 signatures as of Monday, just shy of its 150,000 goal.

“The omission of Palestine is a grievous insult to the people of Palestine and undermines the efforts of the millions of people who are involved in the campaign to secure Palestinian independence and freedom from Israeli occupation and oppression,” reads the petition.

“Whether intentionally or otherwise, Google is making itself complicit in the Israeli government's ethnic cleansing of Palestine,” it continues.

In 2013, hackers replaced the homepage on Google’s local domain in Palestine with a message calling for the company to remove the name Israel from its map app and replace it with Palestine, arguing that the state of Israel is illegal.

Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, which forcibly displaced more than 750,000 Palestinians, Israel has further shrunk Palestinian territories by seizing vast swaths of land. Israel has expanded illegal settlements on tens of thousands of hectares since occupying the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.

The United Nations recognizes the state of Palestine with the status of a non-member observer state.


Sumber - teleSUR English

More than half of zakat recipients mired in debt

Khai Zem Mat Sani
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

MORE than half of zakat (tithe) recipients are mired in debt, said the acting secretary of Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB).

Hj Abdul Aziz Hj Akop said the majority of about 4,000 zakat recipients applied for financial assistance because they could not pay off their debts.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, he said many of the recipients had taken bank loans to purchase cars, houses and pay for wedding costs.

“Half of what the zakat recipients earn from their wages are used to pay off debts,” he added.

Hj Abdul Aziz said the number of people applying for zakat assistance under the poor and destitute category has been increasing over the years, with many of the applicants struggling to repay their loans.

“Loans have become necessary for many people in Brunei. But it will become a burden to people if they cannot afford to repay the loans,” he said.

The acting secretary added that many people who took large amounts of personal loans did not realise that the debts could affect their finances.

“Bruneians need to be more cautious when using their money. People need to know how to differentiate between needs and wants,” Hj Abd Aziz added.

He went on to say that Bruneians must learn to avoid spending on things that are not important for their daily lives.

However, he said the conditions of poor and destitute people are not as serious as in other countries in this region as majority of the recipients can still afford to spend on their daily needs such as sustenance and shelter.

The acting secretary said many of the zakat applicants under the poor and destitute category were low-income earners and their children were unemployed.

He said more than 3,000 dependents rely on the zakat recipients for financial support.

The monthly zakat is given for a period of two years for every applicant.

After two years, the recipient would usually reapply for zakat if their income or finances have yet to improve, said Hj Abd Aziz.

He added that some families stopped receiving tithes as their children have found jobs.

Hj Abd Aziz said those who apply for zakat because of bank loans are not eligible for zakat under Al-Gharimin (individuals who are deep in debt for valid purposes) category.

“People who have loans with banks have made an agreement earlier, it proves that they have money to repay their loans.

“Those who receive zakat under Al-Gharimin are among individuals who borrow money to build mosques or other buildings that benefit the community,” he said.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

ASEAN and China at a crossroads after South China Sea ruling

Author: Sourabh Gupta, ICAS

Almost 30 years to the day that a young, Harvard-trained American lawyer won a famous judgment at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the United States, Paul S Reichler pulled off another momentous victory at The Hague. This time the judgment was against China for having breached its international treaty obligations in the South China Sea.

Washington refused to honour the 1986 award, citing Managua’s selective application of the law, the highly charged political nature of the case and the ICJ’s overreach in asserting jurisdiction. Later that year, it cast the sole veto against a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for full and immediate compliance with the judgment. China was one of 11 states on the Council to vote in favour.

Beijing now restates each of the accusations made by the defence that day. Yet one hopes that it will set a better example of compliance than Washington. It is also in its enlightened self-interest to do so.

China’s emerging policy approach is one of non-acceptance of the award while supporting escalation control on the ground. This is coupled with an offer to negotiate with the Philippines. The political cost–benefit calculus underlying this policy will gradually but decisively shift against China with each passing month — especially as Manila forces the issue in order to collect the benefits conferred by the award.

Hanoi too stands poised to force claims that it enjoys traditional fishing rights within the territorial sea of the Paracel Islands. It can also claim, pointing to the award, that none of the high-tide features there are fully entitled islands, and that, as a result, the features cannot generate their own exclusive economic zones (EEZs).

China’s favoured ‘dual-track’ approach holds that disputes should be resolved through talks between directly concerned parties, while China and ASEAN countries should jointly pursue stability in the South China Sea. In light of the ruling, China must discreetly implement an ‘early harvest’ set of compliant actions within this ‘dual-track’ framework. These could include allowing re-entry of Filipino traditional fishermen to the territorial sea of the Scarborough Shoal and China withdrawing its paramilitary presence from the Second Thomas Shoal area.

Beijing should also seize this opportunity to clarify the geographic limits of its ‘relevant waters’ claim in the South China Sea and the functional nature of the ‘historic right’ of access that it seeks in these waters.

ASEAN too must brace for the implications of the award, particularly on the security front. The decision to annul all extended maritime claims associated with China’s land features on the Philippines’ continental shelf is effectively an endorsement of a 2009 submission filed by Malaysia and Vietnam to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. That submission also implied that none of the features in the Spratlys group were capable of generating EEZs or continental shelf rights.

That filing took China by surprise and touched off a protest note featuring the nine-dash line. The Tribunal’s ruling will encounter a similar, if not greater show of resolve by Beijing, both on the table and at sea.

Sovereignty-linked issues of jurisdiction have always been tied to a larger political calculus of stability and good neighbourliness. China’s rulers have not been shy in calibrating their stance between a hardline and a flexible one to suit the strategic circumstances at hand. Should Philippine ‘armed forces’ or ‘public vessels’ provide escort to private efforts to restart oil and gas development on its continental shelf, the United States could be drawn into the line of fire. This would have cascading implications for peace and stability in the South China Sea.

The Tribunal’s award brings into question the call to expeditiously conclude a China–ASEAN ‘Code of Conduct’ (COC). The area of application of the COC’s rules was premised on the existence of unresolved maritime boundary areas of concerned parties in the South China Sea. Having produced a de facto delimitation of the China–Philippines maritime boundary (and furnished principles for the China–Vietnam one too), the Tribunal has effectively undercut the raison d’être that sustains the envisaged code.

Both ASEAN and China would be better off reframing their COC interactions to a trimmed-down dialogue on preventive mechanisms that set and stabilise the rules of engagement and communication for their paramilitaries. Such a code could be framed along the lines of the multinational Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea.

The scope for functional cooperation in the South China Sea has been set back in no uncertain terms. Had Itu Aba been ruled a fully entitled island, it could have facilitated a basis for oil and gas joint development in the overlapping water areas. With no geographic overlap to contend with, China’s principle of ‘shelving differences and seeking joint development’ has become a hollow slogan. There are no differences of entitled rights left to shelve.

The contours of functional cooperation will need to evolve from bilateral actions to subregional activities in cross-cutting areas. Such activities could include environmental protection, maritime search and rescue, and cooperation against piracy and transnational crime.

The arbitration has ripped apart the deliberate ambiguity that has at times helpfully spurred the search for win–win solutions to the region’s overlapping challenges at its peripheries. Yet another Asian frontier has now been transformed, to quote Lord Curzon, into a ‘razor’s edge on which hang suspended the modern issues of war or peace’. The tenuous quiet in the immediate wake of the award will not last.

As China and ASEAN gingerly mould a ‘new normal’ in the South China Sea, they stand at an important crossroads. They can either advocate for exclusivist answers to the challenges in their designated maritime zones — the littoral states’ preference. Or they can throw their weight behind comprehensive and overarching cooperative frameworks — China’s preference — that secure peace and stability. Whatever their chosen path, China and ASEAN must first form an important consensus on this point. Papering over this choice will be harder than papering over the language in their summit communiques. Muddling through is not an option.


Sumber - East Asia Forum

Over 400 children born ‘out of wedlock’

Khai Zem Mat Sani

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

FOUR hundred and five children in Brunei were registered as born out of wedlock from 2013 to 2015, based on records under the Syariah Affairs Department Tutong Branch.

Statistics from the department showed an increase of 40 to 50 cases annually or one case weekly during the same period.

In most cases, the child’s status was revealed to the authority when they applied for passport and identification card (IC), said Norlee Rohaini Md Daud, head of the religious enforcement unit in Tutong.

“There are some who came to us directly and some based on reports from members of the public,” she said. The religious enforcement unit will then conduct investigation to confirm the status of the child.

Brunei-Muara has the highest number of children borne out of wedlock with 217 cases, followed by Belait with 141, Tutong with 23 and Temburong with 24 cases.

Norlee Rohaini said children born out of wedlock happen mainly because of unmonitored socialising between the opposite sex.

She said parents play a crucial role in such cases as lack of supervision or monitoring of their children, letting them go out with anyone freely will result to such difficulty. “Socialisation like this is difficult to be tamed or prevented. Sometimes these children didn’t even go home to their parents until they get pregnant,” she said.

According to the department records, the number of khalwat (close proximity) cases remained high with 197 reported in 2013, 188 cases in 2014 and 168 cases in 2015.

Norlee Rohaini said the popular use of internet and social media like Facebook, WhatApp and Instagram also contributed to the problem as the interaction on these sites are unchecked by parents.

“Sometimes within a short time, they proceed from being strangers to illicit behaviour which can lead to pregnancy,” she said, adding that majority of them only get married after the child is born.

She said pregnancy out of marriage does not only happen among young and single individuals, but also to those who are married.

“There are cases where the wife would be carrying the child of another man other than her husband, and also cases where the husband got another woman pregnant. This happened when they are involved in extramarital affairs,” she said.

Sumber - The Brunei Times

Ekonomi berkembang 3.6 peratus

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 29 Julai – Walaupun secara keseluruhan ekonomi global mengalami ketidaktentuan dalam beberapa bulan pertama tahun 2016, pada suku pertama tahun ini, ekonomi negara meningkat sebanyak 3.6 peratus tahun-ke-tahun disebabkan peningkatan dalam sektor minyak dan gas sebanyak 7.6 peratus tahun-ke-tahun, manakala bagi sektor bukan minyak dan gas menurun 1.9 peratus tahun-ke-tahun.

Kadar inflasi negara juga dijangka kekal rendah memandangkan harga makanan dan komoditi global yang rendah serta kadar pertukaran dolar Brunei yang stabil.

Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD), dalam kenyataan Dasar AMBD bagi separuh tahun pertama 2016 yang dikeluarkan hari ini menekankan perkara itu dan turut menyatakan beberapa perkembangan kewangan di negara ini termasuk pengenalan satu direktif kepada semua bank mengenai penggunaan Minimum Cash Balances (MCB) untuk pengurusan kecairan kewangan harian (intraday liquidity maintenance) di dalam sistem Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS); pemberian lesen perbankan kepada Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited untuk menubuhkan cawangan di Negara Brunei Darussalam; dan proses penutupan operasi Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, cawangan Negara Brunei Darussalam (HSBC Brunei) secara berfasa.

Manakala kredit menunjukkan perkembangan yang positif, di mana ia meningkat sebanyak 8.5 peratus tahun-ke-tahun. Sektor perbankan di negara ini kekal kukuh dengan Regulatory Capital Adequacy Ratio yang tinggi melebihi keperluan minimum. AMBD juga melaksanakan beberapa langkah-langkah di bawah inisiatif Ease of Doing Business, termasuk memeterai satu memorandum persefahaman berbilang hala (MMOU) mengenai perundingan dan kerjasama, dan pertukaran maklumat, yang telah diperkenalkan oleh International Organization of Securities Commissions. AMBD juga sedang melaksanakan audit syariah ke atas institusi-institusi kewangan Islam tempatan.

Antara lain perancangan perkembangan di masa hadapan, AMBD akan mempertingkatkan lagi usaha untuk menyokong reformasi struktur yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan financial intermediation dan pinjaman kepada sektor korporat. AMBD juga akan melaksanakan satu rangka kerja.

Kenyataan Dasar AMBD 1/2016 yang lengkap boleh didapati di laman web AMBD www.ambd.gov.bn.


Sumber - Media Permata

KDYMM: Pertanian mesti terus diperkasa

Titah Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan Dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam Sempena Hari Ulang Tahun Keputeraan Baginda Yang Ke-70 Tahun Bagi Tahun 2016 Bertempat Di Istana Nurul Iman.

Assalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem. Alhamdulillah  Rabbil 'Alameen, Wabihiee Nasta'eenu 'Alaa Umuuriddunya Wadden, Wassalaatu' Wassalaamu 'Ala Asyarafil Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammaddin, Wa'alaa Aalihee Wasahbihee Ajma'een, Waba'du.

Alhamdulillah, beta bersyukur ke hadrat Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala kerana dapat meraikan Hari Keputeraan beta pada tahun ini, dalam keadaan aman lagi selesa.

Istiadat berlangsung pada tahun ini, ketika mana kita baru saja sempurna melaksanakan ibadat puasa dan kini sedang meraikan Hari Raya Aidilfitri yang mubarak.

Beta sekali lagi mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri kepada semua yang meraikannya. Beta berharap kita di negara ini akan mengamalkan sifat berhemah dan sederhana dalam meraikan apa saja sambutan perayaan selaras dengan ajaran ugama kita yang suci.

Melalui istiadat ini, beta dengan ikhlas merakamkan ucapan terima kasih serta penghargaan kepada semua tetamu khas beta yang sudi hadir dan juga kepada semua pihak yang telah menyembahkan perutusan ucap selamat kepada beta serta keluarga bersempena dengan perayaan ini.

Beta mengajak semua rakyat di negara ini supaya sama-sama bersyukur kerana dapat secara berterusan menikmati keamanan dan kesejahteraan. Namun ini bukanlah tiket untuk kita melonggarkan sikap berhati-hati terhadap sebarang kemungkinan yang tidak diingini. Bahkan senario hari ini meminta kita untuk lebih berwaspada lagi.

Turut lebih kita beratkan ialah membangun ekonomi. Brunei tidak boleh leka dalam keadaan ekonomi global dilihat sedang bermasalah. Brunei perlu mempelbagaikan ekonominya sambil terus meningkatkan hasil Keluaran Dalam Negara Kasar (KDNK). Kita perlu lebih aktif serta mempunyai agenda lebih terancang bagi mencapai sasaran ini.

Usaha-usaha peningkatan perlulah  menyeluruh terutama bagi bidang yang dianggap utama, seperti pertanian makanan asasi. Bidang ini mestilah terus diperkasa sehingga mampu untuk kita memenuhi sara diri. Kita tidak boleh selama-lamanya bergantung kepada pihak luar sahaja. Sayugia perkara ini dapat diambil perhatian serius oleh pihak berkenaan dalam kerajaan.

Sudah tiba masanya untuk Brunei mengaktifkan segala usaha tanpa berlengah-lengah lagi. Salah satu contoh ke arah itu, kita sekarang sedang merancang untuk  menggerakkan ekonomi negara, dengan kerajaan mengungkayahkan satu projek  membina sistem pengangkutan yang selamat dan cekap.  Projek ini ialah untuk memanjangkan Dermaga Pelabuhan Muara dan membesarkan terminal kontena Muara. Ia akan menjadi pemudahcara bagi kemasukan dan penarikan pelabur luar asing ke negara ini.

Di samping itu, secara umum kita juga menggalakkan sifat kreatif dan inovatif dalam melaksanakan semua projek pembangunan melalui kaedah Kerjasama Awam Swasta atau Public Private Partnership. Kaedah ini bertujuan sebagai pendorong ke arah  perkongsian di antara sektor awam dan swasta dalam melaksanakan projek-projek kerajaan.

Menyebut lagi permasalahan ekonomi, baru-baru ini, rakyat Britain telah memutuskan untuk keluar dari Kesatuan Eropah atau Brexit. Keputusan ini menimbulkan sedikit gusar di kalangan para pelabur kerana ia dilihat sebagai mampu untuk menjejaskan nilai pelaburan di bursa-bursa saham antarabangsa dan malah juga turut berisiko ke atas nilai mata wang negara berkenaan sendiri. Brunei sebagai negara yang juga terlibat dalam perdagangan antarabangsa tidaklah terkecuali dari turut merasakan kesan keputusan tersebut.

Namun Alhamdulillah, dengan adanya dasar kerajaan melaksanakan pelaburan seimbang, maka risiko tersebut dapat kita tangani secara terurus.

Beta penuh yakin, Kerajaan Britain dan antarabangsa adalah mampu untuk menangani pelbagai isu berpunca dari Brexit tersebut, berdasarkan pengalaman yang luas semua pihak dalam mengatasi semua permasalahan yang ada.

Brunei sendiri akan terus menghargai hubungan dengan United Kingdom, khasnya hubungan perdagangan yang telah berjalan sekian lama itu.  Kita akan tetap mengukuhkan hubungan ini untuk kebaikan bersama  kedua-dua buah negara.

Ke arah peningkatan ekonomi, kerajaan beta juga terus memacu perkembangan pendidikan. Kerana pendidikan juga adalah aset, malah 'kuasa' untuk menentukan kelangsungan bangsa.

Sebab itu kualiti pendidikan, tidaklah ia dapat dikompromi melainkan mesti terus diperkaya dan ditingkatkan. Ini adalah harapan kita kepada Kementerian-Kementerian  Pendidikan dan Hal Ehwal Ugama supaya sama-sama dapat berbincang dan bekerjasama dengan Unit PENGGERAK di Jabatan Perdana Menteri untuk mencari jalan, bagaimana prestasi Pendidikan Rendah dan Menengah khasnya, dapat ditingkatkan. Kerana dalam era mutakhir ini, beta sendiri mendapati masih ada perkara yang perlu diperbaiki.

Selaku tonggak utama Wawasan Brunei 2035, pendidikan tidak boleh berada di bawah, melainkan tempatnya ialah di atas untuk benar-benar diambil berat. Kerana pendidikan adalah pelaburan sepanjang hayat untuk menentukan maju mundurnya sesuatu bangsa.  Jika pendidikan lemah, maka tidak siapapun yang akan memandang tinggi kepada kita.

Di peringkat antarabangsa, negara kita akan terus bekerjasama dengan rakan-rakan  serantau dan antarabangsa dalam menjana pertumbuhan ekonomi dan lain-lain kepentingan melalui rangkaian-rangkaian pemangkin serantau dan antarabangsa.

Demikian juga kita akan sentiasa bersama-sama memainkan peranan dalam hal ehwal keselamatan serantau mahupun antarabangsa, di samping menghulurkan bantuan-bantuan kemanusiaan kepada pihak-pihak yang memerlukan, selaras dengan kemampuan kita.

Akhirnya, beta dengan tulus ikhlas  merakamkan setinggi-tinggi penghargaan dan ucapan terima kasih kepada seluruh lapisan rakyat dan penduduk, warga Perkhidmatan Awam, Pasukan-Pasukan Keselamatan serta mereka yang berkhidmat di sektor swasta termasuk mereka yang bertugas di luar negara di atas sumbangan dan sokongan mereka kepada kerajaan beta.

Penghargaan yang setinggi-tingginya juga disampaikan kepada seluruh Ahli  Jawatankuasa Perayaan peringkat kebangsaan dan daerah, atas segala khidmat usaha yang disumbangkan untuk menjayakan perayaan ini.

Beta berdoa semoga kita semua serta Negara Brunei Darussalam akan sentiasa kekal aman dan makmur, dikurniakan dengan limpah rahmat dan perlindungan oleh Allah  Subhanahu Wata'ala. Amin.

Sekian, Wabillahit Taufeq Walhidayah,  Wassalamu 'Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

US Navy to China: We'll continue operations in South China Sea

By Jim Sciutto

Washington (CNN)The U.S. will continue freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, a senior Navy officer says, as the region continues to react to a landmark Hague ruling on territorial claims in the disputed waters.

The Obama administration has made it "absolutely clear" to China that the U.S. will continue engaging in flights and naval activities in the disputed waters despite objections from Beijing, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mark Richardson said Tuesday.

This month, an international tribunal in the Hague deemed the bulk of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea to have no legal basis under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The case was brought by a fellow South China Sea claimant, the Philippines. China immediately dismissed the court decision as "null and void" and said it would not affect its claims.

U.S. 'does not take a position'

Speaking in Vientiane, Laos, following the ASEAN Regional Forum, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea is "absolutely critical."

The U.S. "does not take a position on the side of one claimant or another claimant," Kerry added.

"What we are pushing for is absolute support for rule of law, for the legal process, and for diplomacy to work out the differences that people have."

Kerry said he had a "constructive meeting" on how the U.S. and China would proceed on this issue with Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Forum.

Relationship 'progressing'

Richardson, who just returned from a visit to China, said that he also made clear to his Chinese counterpart that any attempt by China to declare an air identification zone, or ADIZ, over the South China Sea, or efforts to build artificial islands in the Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters closer to the Philippines, were "clearly identified as concerns" for the US.

Richardson said that as close calls between US and Chinese warships grow more frequent, US and Chinese protocols for such encounters have been effective at avoiding escalation or misunderstanding.

Altogether, he said, "I see the relationship as progressing rather than at an impasse."


Sumber - CNN

ASEAN deadlocked on South China Sea, Cambodia blocks statement

BY MANUEL MOGATO, MICHAEL MARTINA AND BEN BLANCHARD

Southeast Asian nations failed to agree on maritime disputes in the South China Sea on Sunday after Cambodia blocked any mention to an international court ruling against Beijing in their statement, diplomats said.

Foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met for the first time since the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed an emphatic legal victory to the Philippines in the dispute this month.

The ruling by the court in The Hague denied China's sweeping claims in the strategic seaway, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year.

China claims most of the sea, but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims. Beijing says the ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea, and described the case as a farce.

The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the communique issued by ASEAN foreign ministers after their meeting to refer to the ruling and the need to respect international law, ASEAN diplomats said. Their foreign ministers both discussed the ruling with ASEAN counterparts in the Laotian capital.

But before the meeting, China's closest ASEAN ally Cambodia opposed the proposed wording, throwing the group into disarray. Phnom Penh supports Beijing's opposition to any ASEAN stand on the South China Sea, and its preference for dealing with the disputed claims on a bilateral basis.

FIRST DEADLOCK SINCE 2012

"We are still working on it," Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told Reuters after the meeting on Sunday, adding that she hoped the ASEAN members would reach an agreement.

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon declined to comment on his country's position on Sunday.

Even after a late-night meeting of foreign ministers called to thrash out the issue late on Saturday, the region's top diplomats were unable to find a compromise.

The group has given itself until Tuesday to come to issue a statement, said one ASEAN diplomat.

ASEAN is facing the prospect of being unable to issue a statement after a meeting for only the second time in its 49-year history. The first time, in 2012, was also due to Cambodia's resistance to language about the South China Sea.

"We have been here before and I hope they can solve it," said one official from the ASEAN Secretariat in Indonesia. "It is the same story again, a repeat of the meeting in 2012."

Over the next two days, Southeast Asian nations will meet with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry and Wang are also expected to meet and discuss the maritime issues.

Wang, who started bilateral meetings with ASEAN members on Sunday, said he thought the media focus on the South China Sea issue was "very strange".

It was "not a China-ASEAN issue," he said, adding that disputes should be resolved among the parties involved.

Japan's Foreign Minister Fumiko Kishida will also be in Laos for the ASEAN regional forum meeting. It is unclear if he will meet Wang, but China reacted angrily to Kishida saying he would discuss the sea issue if they do meet.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, in a statement posted on the ministry's website, said the sea is not Japan's concern.

"We urge Japan not to hype up and meddle in the South China Sea issue," he said. "Japan is not a concerned party in the South China Sea, and because of its disgraceful history is in no place to make irresponsible comments about China."

U.S. ROLE

The United States, allied with the Philippines and cultivating closer relations with Vietnam, has called on China to respect the court's ruling.

It has criticized China's building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to the disputed territory to assert freedom of navigation rights.

But Kerry will urge ASEAN nations to explore diplomatic ways to ease tension over Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint, a senior U.S. official said ahead of his trip.

Chinese state media called for "damage control" at the meetings. A commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday said the court ruling was a "blow to peace and stability in the region ... and only serves to increase the likelihood of confrontation and turbulence."

Barack Obama is set in September to become the first U.S. president to visit Laos, attending an annual summit hosted by the country that holds the ASEAN chairmanship.

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is also in Laos, making her debut at ASEAN meetings as the foreign minister for Myanmar.


Sumber - Reuters

Philippines wins South China Sea case against China

International tribunal’s ruling will increase pressure on China to scale back military expansion in disputed region

China has lost a key international legal case over strategic reefs and atolls that it claims would give it control over disputed waters of the South China Sea.

The judgment by an international tribunal in The Hague is overwhelmingly in favour of claims by the Philippines and will increase global diplomatic pressure on Beijing to scale back military expansion in the sensitive area. By depriving certain outcrops of territorial-generating status, the ruling effectively punches holes in China’s all-encompassing “nine-dash” line that stretches deep into the South China Sea.

China reacted angrily to the verdict, which declares large areas of the sea to be neutral international waters or the exclusive economic zones of other countries. Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, hit out at what it described as an “ill-founded” ruling that was “naturally null and void”. The Communist party mouthpiece newspaper the People’s Daily said in an editorial that the tribunal had ignored “basic truths” and “tramped” on international laws and norms. “The Chinese government and the Chinese people firmly oppose [the ruling] and will neither acknowledge it nor accept it,” it added.

Speaking to reporters Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said: “Chinese people will not accept the result and all people around the world who uphold justice will not accept the result.”

“Now the farce is over it is time to get back to the right track,” Wang added, hinting that Beijing would now be willing to enter into negotiations with the Philippines “over the South China Sea issue”.

The Philippine foreign affairs secretary, Perfecto Yasay Jr, said the country welcomed the ruling and called for “restraint and sobriety.”

The ruling will make grim reading for Beijing and contains a series of criticisms of China’s actions and claims. The tribunal declared that “although Chinese navigators and fishermen, as well as those of other states, had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources.

“The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’.”

None of the fiercely disputed Spratly Islands, the UN body found, were “capable of generating extended maritime zones … [and] having found that none of the features claimed by China was capable of generating an exclusive economic zone, the tribunal found that it could — without delimiting a boundary — declare that certain sea areas are within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, because those areas are not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China.”

The tribunal “found that China had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone by (a) interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration, (b) constructing artificial islands and (c) failing to prevent Chinese fishermen from fishing in the zone. The tribunal also held that fishermen from the Philippines (like those from China) had traditional fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal and that China had interfered with these rights in restricting access. The tribunal further held that Chinese law enforcement vessels had unlawfully created a serious risk of collision when they physically obstructed Philippine vessels.”

It also condemned China’s land reclamation projects and its construction of artificial islands at seven features in the Spratly Islands, concluding that it had caused “severe harm to the coral reef environment and violated its obligation to preserve and protect fragile ecosystems and the habitat of depleted, threatened, or endangered species”.

China’s land reclamation “was incompatible with the obligations on a state during dispute resolution proceedings”, it added, since it involved causing “irreparable harm to the marine environment”, building a “large artificial island in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone”, and destroying “evidence of the natural condition of features in the South China Sea that formed part of the parties’ dispute”.

Paul Reichler, of the law firm Foley Hoag LLP, who who coordinated the Philippines’ legal team, said: “The tribunal’s ruling not only benefits the Philippines, it also benefits other states bordering the South China Sea like Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. If China’s nine-dash line is invalid as to the Philippines, it is equally invalid to those states and, indeed, the rest of the international community.”

Beijing claims 90% of the South China Sea, a maritime region believed to hold a wealth of untapped oil and gas reserves and through which roughly $4.5tn of ship-borne trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also contest China’s claims to islands and reef systems closer to their territory than Beijing’s.

China says it follows a historical precedent set by the “nine-dash line” that Beijing drew in 1947 following the surrender of Japan. The line has been included in subsequent maps issued under Communist rule.

Sporadic violence between Chinese vessels and those of south-east Asia militaries have broken out in recent decades and the verdict, the first international legal decision on the issue, could have unpredictable consequences.

Ashley Townshend, a scholar at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre, said the tribunal’s decision to disqualify China’s “nine-dash” claim on the basis of historic rights was “a huge setback for Beijing”. China had stirred up so much nationalism over the South China Sea issue that it would now have to respond in some way.

“In terms of China’s domestic politics [the ruling] is unacceptable to the regime and unfortunately the regime will perceive that the Chinese people view that as unacceptable,” Townshend predicted.

“So there will be huge pressures on Beijing to respond, to save face, to demonstrate with more than just words that it doesn’t abide by and doesn’t credit the ruling with any legal validity and will not adhere to it and will defend its ‘sovereign space’ in the South China Sea.”

Townshend said he did not expect Beijing to lash out militarily but believed further military drills in the South China Sea were possible as well as the establishment of an air defence identification zone somewhere over the region.

Xu Liping, a pro-Beijing scholar from China’s National Institute of International Strategy, told the Guardian he believed the ruling was “biased and unfair”, “absolutely terrible” and “a joke”.

The case at the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague, the UN-appointed tribunal that adjudicates in international disputes over maritime territory, has been running since 2013.

The judgment does not allocate any of the outcrops or islands to rival countries but instead indicates which maritime features are capable under international law of generating territorial rights over surrounding seas.

Last year, US officials claimed the Chinese had built up an extra 800 hectares (2,000 acres) on their occupied outposts across the South China Sea over the previous 18 months. The main focus of activity has been on Mischief Reef, where satellite images reveal the island is growing bigger, and is surrounded by fleets of dredgers and tankers.

China has previously stated that it “will neither accept nor participate in the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines”. The tribunal ruled, however, that China’s refusal to participate did not deprive the court of jurisdiction.

Beijing has the support of Russia and Saudi Arabia but has also garnered backing from dozens of smaller nations far from and not greatly affected by the hearing, including landlocked African countries Niger and Lesotho, as well as Palestine, Afghanistan and Togo. Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation of fewer than 300,000 citizens, also supports Beijing.

The Philippines has been backed by the US, UK, France, Japan and others.

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, is widely considered unpredictable and his moves in the next days and weeks will determine what could happen next.


Sumber - The Guardian