Weekly Times of India

Writing out the non-han

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:12:10 +0000

The conflict between the Philippines and China over the Scarborough Shoal may appear at first sight a minor dispute over an uninhabitable rock and surrounding shallow waters. But it is hugely important because it encapsulates China’s assumption that the histories of the non-Han peoples whose lands border two-thirds of the waters known in English as the South China Sea are irrelevant.
The Philippine case over Scarborough has been mostly presented as one of geography. The feature is 135 nautical miles from Luzon, the main Philippine island, and roughly 350 miles from the mainland of China and 300 miles from the tip of Taiwan. It is thus also well within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
China leapfrogs these incon- venient geographical truths to come up with justifications of its claims which can be applied to the whole South China Sea and thus justify the dotted line on map which vaguely defines them. This line has never been precisely delineated but comes well within the 200-mile limits of all the other countries, and close to Indonesia’s gas-rich Natuna islands.
In the case of the Scarborough Shoal, its historical justification is that this rock and surrounding shallow water is mentioned in a Chinese map of the 13th century when China itself was under alien – Mongol – rule. The fact that a vessel from China had visited the shoal and recorded its existence has thus become one basis for its claim. Very similar pieces of history are trotted out to justify claims to other islands visited by ships from China. Likewise, China’s assumption of hegemony is often based on the fact that foreign merchant ships had to pay taxes to trade with China.
History, however, shows that Chinese sailors were latecomers to the South China Sea, let alone to onward trade to the Indian Ocean. The seagoing history of the region, at least for the first millennium of the current era, was dominated by the ancestors of today’s Indonesians, Malays, Filipinos and (less directly) Vietnamese. Thus, as China’s own records reveal, when the 4th century Buddhist pilgrim Fa Hsien, went to Sri Lanka, he travelled from China to Sumatra and then on to Sri Lanka in Malay ships.
This was not the least surprising given that during this era of sea-going prowess, people from Indonesia were the first colonisers of the world’s third largest island, Madagascar, some 4,000 miles away. (The Madagascan language and 50% of its human gene pool are of Malay origin.) This was a thousand years before the much-vaunted voyages of Chinese admiral Zheng He in the 15th century.
Malay seagoing prowess was to be overtaken by south Indians and Arabs, but they remained the premier sea-farers in Southeast Asia until well into the era of European dominance of the region. Indeed, the Malay-speaking Hindu (like much of Southeast Asia at that time) mercantile state of central Vietnam dominated South China Sea trade until the 15th century. The 10th century Arab traveller and geographer al-Masudi made reference to the “Cham Sea”, and trade between Champa and Luzon was well established long before the Chinese drew their 13th century map. As Scarborough Shoal not only lies close to the Luzon coast but is on the direct route from Manila bay to the ancient Cham ports of Hoi An and Qui Nhon, it was known to the Malay sailors long ago.
All in all, the Chinese claim to have ‘been there first’ is like arguing that Europeans got to Australia before its aboriginal inhabitants. But given China’s reluctance to acknowledge that Taiwan was Malay terri-tory until the arrival of European conquerors, and then of a surge of settlers from the mainland, such refusal to acknowledge the rights of other peoples is not surprising.
At times, China itself seems to recognise the flimsy basis of some of its historical claims. In the case of the Scarborough Shoal, it backs up its position by reference to the Treaty of Paris 1898 concluding the Spanish-American war and yielding Spanish sovereignty over the Philippine archipelago to the US. This did not mention the shoal but described a series of straight lines drawn on the map which left the shoal a few miles outside the 116E longitude defined by the treaty.
Given that China rejects “unequal treaties” imposed by western colonialists, it is remarkable to find it relying on one between two foreign powers conducted without any reference to the inhabitants of the Philippines. Vietnam can equally well claim all the Spratly Islands as inheritor of French claims over them.
For sure, China has the power to impose its will. But its aggressive stance towards the Philippines, so often seen as an especially weak state, has alerted others, including Japan, Russia and India as well as the US, to its long-term goal which is not ownership of a few rocks but strategic control of the whole sea, a vital waterway between northeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Gulf and Europe. The Scarborough Shoal is not just a petty dispute over some rocks. It is a wake-up call for many countries.

Austerity can pay

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:10:41 +0000

The finance minister’s statement that he would push through austerity measures to improve government finances and to spur growth is welcome. With high oil prices and rising food stocks pushing up the subsidy burden, the time is most opportune to ensure that the government’s finances remain within budgeted targets. However, any significant move to improve the financial position should ensure that the measures implemented are far-reaching and more extensive than those enforced in the earlier programmes rolled out in 2004 and 2008. While the first one was balanced both on raising resources, by improving dividend payout of public sector units, and cutting spending, the second was tied to reduction in non-plan spending through cuts in allowances, domestic and foreign travel, advertising, office costs and other minor expenditures.
Such routine steps don’t really amount to much. Today’s depressed economic scenario requires the government to go further, sending a signal that it really means business. The finance minister can send such a signal by measures such as full decontrol of the oil market and direct transfer of fertiliser subsidies to the targeted farmers. The food security Act will lead to an immensely wasteful ratcheting up of food subsidies without any concomitant gains in food distribution. Its implementation must be held up for now till more efficient systems of food storage and distribution can be put in place. The government can also mobilise funds with a bold strategy for sale of all loss-making public sector units including Air India. It has only a narrow window of opportunity for pushing through reforms before the Lok Sabha elections. It must grab this opportunity now, so that it can face the electorate with some real gains in the economy to show.

Promises to keep

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:09:26 +0000

Having come to power on the promise of clean governance, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s drive against cases of corruption under the Mayawati regime is welcome. A plethora of scams plagued the previous BSP dispensation. The most glaring among them is the National Rural Health Mission scam worth Rs 5,700 crore that saw two chief medical officers murdered, apparently in an attempt to cover up the large-scale embezzlement of funds. A CBI investigation is already probing the involvement of several former lawmakers, including Babu Singh Kushwaha, in the multi-crore scam. On top of this, financial irregularities have now been found in the making and installation of elephant statues at dalit memorials in Lucknow and Noida. Projected as symbols of dalit pride, documents recovered from the office and godowns of the state Rajkiya Nirman Nigam – a public sector construction unit – show large anomalies in the tendering and supply of the statues.
From forcible acquisition of farmers’ land for private real estate projects to the sale of sugar mills and construction of canals, the erstwhile Mayawati government formalised a system of patronage that resulted in widespread misappropriation of taxpayers’ money. In the guise of empowering the most downtrodden sections of society, it blessed an unholy nexus of private contractors, babus and politicos that was streamlined for the personal aggrandisement of those in power.
The huge mandate for Akhilesh and the SP in recent UP polls bears testimony to the widespread resentment against this culture of corruption. The SP scion held out hope of a new political discourse that would free the state from the shackles of narrow identity politics and usher in an era of reforms. However, the SP has its own demons. Despite law and order being a crucial plank of the SP’s electoral campaign, several cases of violence involving SP workers have marred the tenure of the new government. From unruly scenes at Akhilesh’s swearing-in ceremony to attacks on dalits and law enforcement authorities, SP workers have hardly given up their old ways.
It’s clear that much more needs to be done to not only change the political culture of UP but also the image of the SP. But as the induction of Raja Bhaiyya into the state government shows, the young chief minister has his task cut out. He needs to prioritise law and order as well as clean governance. Akhilesh and the SP have an historic opportunity to build a new UP. They must not squander this opportunity.

Workers won’t be forced to take unsuitable jobs: Finley

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:17:18 +0000

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley said unemployed workers who are receiving employment insurance benefits will not be forced to take jobs that don’t match their skills or be forced to relocate for a job. Finley made the statement a day after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty suggested the government would force Canadians to take any job that was available to them, including work that does not match their education or skill set or would require them to move.
“There is no bad job, the only bad job is not having a job,” Flaherty said. The finance minister said that at different times in his life, he drove a taxi and refereed hockey. “You do what you have to do to make a living,” he said. The opposition hammered Finley about what prompted Flaherty’s comments: the proposed EI changes contained in the government’s massive budget bill.
Finley defended the changes, saying they are designed to help unemployed workers find jobs more quickly, and also help ease a labour shortage the government warns poses an imminent threat to the Canadian economy.
“We’re saying that if there’s a job locally, that’s appropriate to your qualifications, then yes. And if it’s within a reasonable pay range, then yes of course, we need you at work, we want you at work and we’re going to remove the barriers that are artificially keeping you from doing that.” When asked about the definition of the kinds of jobs deemed appropriate to an EI recipient’s qualifications, Finley the government would unveil those details in “the near future.”
A full detailing of what the government has in store for EI still remains a mystery, with other changes set to be unveiled in the coming months. However, Finley said there will also be changes to the amount of money paid out on an EI claim. “We are changing that as well so that it will always pay to work,” Finley said.
Matthew Mendelsohn of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Policy Innovation said the government appears to be trying to stop repeat EI users, like seasonal workers who work for part of the year. “The government appears to be trying to get at the fact that there are chronic users of EI in ways that the system isn’t designed for,” Mendelsohn told Power Play.
“The system is designed for people who lose their job through no fault of their own and then are out there looking for work. Right now, there are many people who don’t fall into that category, who are cyclical, chronic, seasonal users who are going back to the same job in six months.” In his comments, Flaherty had also suggested that the current system contains “disincentives” that keep some Canadians away from paid work.
“We are going to have significant labour shortages in this country,” Flaherty said. “That means we are going to have to encourage more persons with disabilities to work, more seniors to work, more aboriginal people to work, including young people. We need to get rid of disincentives in the employment insurance system to people joining the work force.”

Que. seeks to widen powers of construction inquiry

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:16:20 +0000

QUEBEC — The Quebec government has tabled a bill to expand the powers of the inquiry into organized crime influence in the province’s construction industry. The legislation follows a request by inquiry chairwoman France Charbonneau for more independence in the gathering of evidence. The bill would allow the commission to obtain documents without needing a subpoena and give it increased power to inspect documents. “We have given commissioner Charbonneau an important mandate and we have complete confidence in her,” Fournier said.
“We believe these additional tools will allow the commission to conduct its inquiry as best it can, which can only contribute to the rigour and thoroughness of its recommendations.” Charbonneau, a Quebec Superior Court justice and a former prosecutor known for convicting Hells Angels kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher, is to give the opening remarks on May 22.
Witnesses will be heard later in the year, Premier Jean Charest called the inquiry in February after tremendous public pressure. Charest spent two years resisting demands for an inquiry despite mounting evidence that criminal collusion involving organized crime groups like the Mafia drove up the cost of public-works contracts in Quebec.
There have also been allegations of corrupt money switching from the same criminals to the coffers of political parties.

Veterans demand explanation for U.K. junkets

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:15:11 +0000

OTTAWA — Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney has ordered a ban on international travel for members of an arm’s-length agency that reviews the claims of veterans. The order follows growing controversy over expense claims from John Larlee, chairman of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board since 2009. A group representing Canada’s veterans, the Canadian Veterans Advocacy, says the trips are suspect and wants Larlee called to account before a House of Commons committee. New Democrats went further and demanded he be fired. The minister turned aside those demands, saying the board is an arm’s-length agency that is accountable for its own actions.
“We will stand by the tribunal and expect all board members to be responsible and show respect for taxpayer dollars at all times,” he told the Commons. “I am confident this board will keep on providing good services for our veterans.” Canada veteran’s ombudsman tore a strip off the agency last week, saying it failed more often than not to give former soldiers the benefit of the doubt as they appealed benefits claims and didn’t give reasons for denying claims.
NDP veterans critic Peter Stoffer reminded Blaney that he signed off for the chairman’s last trip. A spokeswoman for the minister, Codi Taylor, confirmed the travel ban, but could not say whether any other action was pending. Larlee attended the Cambridge Lecture series in 2007 at his own expense. But after he was appointed chairman, he billed the federal government for his visits in 2009 and 2011, at a total cost of $7,285.97.
“That kind of money would help a lot of disabled veterans,” Stoffer said. “How does this minister allow that kind of abuse?” Department sources say Blaney was unaware that Larlee’s wife was attending the Cambridge lecture series when he approved the travel request. The series, attended by the elite of Canadian and British political and legal communities, focuses on high-level international policy, with topics such as Afghanistan and the impact of the market collapse. Larlee’s wife, Justice Margaret Larlee of the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, took part in the 2007, 2009 and 2011 events.
The chairman refused an interview request, but a spokeswoman for the board said the trips received the necessary approvals and were paid for in accordance with Treasury Board guidelines. Danielle Gauthier said the conferences helped Larlee to guide the board through tribunal administration and fell within the category of professional development. Board records show Larlee attended five other training conferences in Canada — at a total cost of $6,757.67 — since he was appointed in 2009.

Court hears McNamee turned on Clemens over son’s illness

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:14:13 +0000

WASHINGTON — Brian McNamee testified that Roger Clemens’ lawyers pushed him from reluctant turncoat to angry accuser when they allowed details of McNamee’s oldest son’s illness to be revealed during a nationally. “I was furious,” McNamee told the jury in Clemens’ perjury trial. As soon as he could, McNamee said, he went to his house and retrieved the medical waste he had collected from injecting Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs. McNamee turned the materials over to his lawyers, who in turn gave the materials to federal law enforcement officials. It’s now the physical evidence prosecutors are using to try to prove Clemens lied to Congress in 2008 when he denied using steroids and human growth hormone. The prosecution is expected to show that the evidence contains Clemens’ DNA. The defence has called the evidence “garbage” and is expected to claim it is tainted.
McNamee claimed that he kept the evidence a secret — even when he was telling investigators about injections he gave to Clemens — in an attempt to minimize the impact on the seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher. “I didn’t want to hurt the guy,” McNamee said. “I knew that would hurt Roger even more.”
But in a televised 2008 news conference, when Clemens’ lawyers played a taped phone call between the two men that contained references to medical details about McNamee’s oldest son, who was suffering from diabetes, McNamee turned against his friend and client. “My son was 11 years old at the time,” he said, as Clemens stared from across the room. “It’s beyond inhuman to do that to a kid.” McNamee said he turned over the evidence against Clemens “because of what he did to my son.”
McNamee, Clemens’ longtime strength coach, testified for a second day, pushing his running total to roughly 10 hours on the stand, including the first few moments of what portends to be a grueling cross-examination that will continue. The broad outline was familiar from McNamee’s previous statements: He said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone in 2000 and with steroids in 2001, and he gave Debbie Clemens a shot of HGH in 2003. That was in addition to the testimony he gave, when he spoke of a series of steroids injections he said he gave Clemens in 1998, when he was pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He went on to describe his marital problems, money problems and the legal mess that came about when he got entangled in the federal drugs-in-sports investigation that led him to become a reluctant but co-operating witness against one of the most successful baseball players of all time. “It destroyed me. It killed me. … I put myself in a situation where I had to do this,” McNamee said. “I had to tell the truth.”
Some details were new and fascinating, especially hearing them spoken out loud in a courtroom with Clemens sitting a few feet away. At one dramatic point, the adversaries were actually both standing, when McNamee rose from the witness stand and identified Clemens with an outstretched left arm: “He’s right there with the brown tie.” Clemens looked straight at McNamee, stone-faced and silent.

Ontario police watchdog to release G20 summit report

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:13:23 +0000

TORONTO — Ontario’s police watchdog releases its on policing during the G20 summit in Toronto two years ago. The report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director is expected to be critical of the poor communication among the various police agencies handling summit security. Among other things, it’s also expected to take aim at the makeshift prison in which Toronto police kept hundreds of people after their arrests. The findings follow on the heels of a similar report this week by the RCMP complaints commissioner.
That report found the Mounties had by and large acted reasonably but also faulted poor co-ordination among police. The June 2010 summit was marred by vandals who smashed windows and set police cruisers on fire as well as by mass arrests, including of innocent bystanders. The Office of the Independent Police Review Director, under Gerry McNeilly, is an arms-length civilian agency of Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General. Its function is to process and oversee the investigation of public complaints against police in the province or, in some cases, investigate a public complaint itself.
McNeilly decided it was in the public interest to combine 275 complaints related to the G20 and do a systemic review of municipal, regional and Ontario Provincial Police involvement. Among the issues looked at were allegations of unlawful searches and arrests, improper detention, and issues related to the temporary holding facility set up to house detainees.
The report also will make recommendations aimed at policing large protests and the maintenance of public order in an effort to enhance public confidence and trust in police and policing. Numerous individuals and groups, including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, have lambasted police for riding roughshod over people’s rights.
Several civil suits alleging police brutality and violations of rights have also been launched against Toronto police and other agencies involved in the summit. Earlier this year, McNeilly recommended charges against five police officers for the beating of G20 protester Adam Nobody.

Montreal bylaw could offer preview of federal mask ban

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:12:24 +0000

MONTREAL — A federal move to regulate mask-wearing at large gatherings could face a litmus test as early as this week, as events in Montreal help foreshadow whether such a plan will do more good or harm. A local bylaw under discussion might offer an early demonstration of whether such a ban actually cuts down on violent protest — or helps inflame it, while creating additional headaches for police and backlogs in the justice system. The bylaw will be studied by the city’s public-safety committee and could be adopted by the end of the week. If that happens, the protest-charged city will become something of a laboratory for a coast-to-coast crime-fighting experiment.
Elsewhere in the country, a private-member’s bill, C-309, is progressing through the House of Commons after easily passing second reading, and it could become Canadian law within months. The move by Montreal’s mayor, Gerald Tremblay, is a response to the near-daily demonstrations that have cost the city millions in lost productivity, along with some smashed windows, clashes with police, and numerous injuries. The proposed rules would give police the power to fine those wearing masks, with penalties ranging from $500 to $3,000.
Such a prospect creates a chill among civil libertarians. “The concern is that both Bill C-309 and Montreal’s bylaw will give police free reign to arrest anyone wearing a mask,” said Andrew Lokan, a lawyer and external council to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Tremblay’s decision to rush the bylaw out quickly — it was originally scheduled for adoption next month — means it would come into effect before the city’s Formula One race in June, one of the biggest draws of the tourist season. Montreal has already backed away from a previous attempt at such a bylaw. In 2009, Claude Dauphin, then head of public security for the city, cited a lack of research as the main reason behind the policy’s indefinite postponement.
Now there are hints of trouble again, with groups of protesters in colourful masks having gathered for raucous rallies around Montreal’s city hall this week. There have been whispers online that any mask ban will simply encourage more people, in more crowds, to wear more masks. A few protesters were allowed into city hall to attend a council meeting, while others who tried to force their way in were pepper-sprayed by police.
Tremblay has said the new legislation strikes a balance between free expression and public safety. Only protesters “who threaten peace and public order will be targeted,” he said. The head of Montreal’s police union, Yves Francoeur, has blamed the Criminal Code for his officers’ lack of power to intervene, because it forces officers to prove criminal intent before making an arrest.
The new bylaw and federal legislation would change that. Francoeur wants to reassure skeptics who fear the police will abuse any additional power they’re given. “The police use their discretion on a daily basis,” he said. “They will not issue a speeding ticket to a couple racing to the hospital to give birth, for example.
“The objective for us is to catch these trouble-makers before the situation spirals out of control, so that others, including families with children, can protest in peace and security.” The impending bylaw would also give police the power to declare any demonstration illegal if it lacks a pre-planned route, approved by the city.
That could force an end to the nightly protest marches weaving through downtown streets, seemingly at random and sometimes against traffic. In Ottawa, the bill tabled by a Conservative backbencher would make it a crime for protesters to wear a mask or disguise while participating in a riot or unlawful assembly. The maximum penalty for wearing one in an unlawful assembly would be five years in prison, and 10 years for wearing one during a riot.
Blake Richards, the Conservative MP who proposed the new legislation, has said he had the unrest in Quebec in mind when designing the bill. He also cited last summer’s Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver and the G20 protests in Toronto.

600 arms supplied by Bulgarian, Italian arms found to be defective

WTOI — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:11:21 +0000

NEW DELHI: Over 600 sophisticated weapons procured by the government for paramilitary forces have been found to be defective, the government said. All these weapons had been supplied by two companies based in Bulgaria and Italy. Between 2010 and 2012, M/s Arsenal JSCo, Bulgaria, supplied 67,500 AK 47 rifles out of which 49 were found to be defective during joint receipt inspection conducted by the Board of Officers. During the same period, M/s Fabbrica D’Armi Pierto Beretta S.p.A, Italy, supplied 17,000 carbine machine guns 9 mm (MX4 Storm) out of which 582 were found to have defects in their barrel. BSF had placed an order of 34,377 carbine machine guns along with tools, gauges and spares. The defective consignment was the first supply.
Government said that the total value of defective AK-47s was Rs 11.66 lakh, and the sum had been deducted from the total cost of the supply order to the Bulgarian firm. In case of the carbine supplier, the government has asked the firm to replace the weapons, valued at around Rs 2 crore, at the earliest.
Minister of state for home affairs M Ramachandran said in a written reply in Lok Sabha that both pre-delivery inspections and joint receipt inspections were carried out on all the weapons. He also said that the percentage of defective carbines and AK-47s were 2.44 and 0.07, respectively.