Today Around Southeast Asia
PHUKETWAN recognises the importance of Asean with the Economic Community approaching and marks what's happening around the region with a new column, Asean Today.
Thailand
reuters Thailand confirmed its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Thursday, becoming the fourth Asian country to register the deadly virus this year.
Malaysia
channelnewsasia.com A Malaysian-registered tanker that disappeared a week ago in a suspected hijacking has been detected in Cambodian waters with a new name and fresh coat of paint, Malaysia's navy chief was quoted saying. Abdul Aziz Jaafar said Malaysian and Australian aircraft were shadowing the MT Orkim Harmony, which vanished last Thursday off the southeastern Malaysian state of Johor along with its crew of 22.
straitstimes.com At least eight perpetrators are on board the hijacked MT Orkim Harmony, detected in Cambodian waters, and they are armed with pistols and 'parangs', The MT Orkim Harmony was said to be carrying 6000 tonnes of petrol valued at US$5.6 million.
Vietnam
AP The ship was detected in waters off southern Vietnam late Wednesday. Officials said it had been repainted black from blue. Abdul Aziz tweeted pictures of the tanker, showing some letters of the name of the ship painted over to give it a new name, ''Kim Harmon.''
Cambodia
kyodo news Cambodia has imported 15 rats from Africa for the purpose of locating landmines and unexploded ordnance in the country, a senior landmine official told Kyodo News. Belgian non-governmental organisation APOPO trains rats to sniff out land mines and detect tuberculosis. They are less expensive than dogs.
Philippines
philstar.com The Philippines is to hold simultaneous naval drills next week with key allies the United States and Japan, the military said, as Chinese buildup continues on the disputed South China Sea reefs.
Indonesia
wsj.com Australians' feelings toward Indonesia have fallen to their lowest point in a decade, with Australian opinions of President Joko Widodo ranking among the lowest of 10 world leaders, a new survey showed.
Burma
blogs.channel4.com Aung San Suu Kyi repeatedly returns to the rule of law - in fact it is something of mantra. She believes it is the ''only way'' to ''promote peace and harmony within society''. But as a tool to protect minorities like the Rohingya from extremists, it seems grossly insufficient.
Singapore
channelnewsasia.com Durian aficionados have reason to rejoice, as several durian vendors are seeing a drop in prices with the start of the harvesting season in Malaysia.
Having highly trained rats sniffing out landmines seems very novel and cute.
The rats might be cheaper than dogs but it is certainly not cheap to train an APOPO rat either. Readers can view video clips on the training of these rats on Youtube.
My view is that most of the Landmine detection will continue to be done by humans holding metal detectors and clippers to clear away the jungle undergrowth. It is very hot and tedious work especially when wearing the heavy protective clothing and helmets, which is mandatory in Cambodia.
If the APOPO rats work well in Cambodia that will be great. We shall have to wait and see. The dogs tend to be unable to work for long periods of time in the heat.
APOPO has already done important work in Cambodia in mapping minefields.
The female readers might be interested to know that in this male dominated society the female deminers are widely considered by the relevant NGOs to be consistently superior to their male counterparts.
The women just concentrate harder and work harder than the men. I am not exactly a feminist but I give credit where it is due.
One of the most important members of the team working at Cambodian Self Help Demining is a young lady, Sophin Sophary. She is the Operations Manager, has a university degree and is computer literate and fluent in English.
Sophary also had to overcome tremendous social pressure when she decided to get an education and then go into a male dominated field of Demining.
Her university education was sponsored by the US NGO called Journeys Within Our Community. Sophary invariably beats all the most senior army officers in advanced training classes in Demining. She is only about 30 years of age.
Other ladies working at Cambodian Self Help Demining are Yary, Veasna, Sreynich and Dany.
Later today, I shall add links to some clips of the APOPO rats and to a trailer for the documentary "Remnants of War" being produced by Acting Inspector Tony Langer of the Western Australian Police Force who has been knighted by the Cambodian Government for his contribution to the clearing of landmines and the clearing of old bombs in the river systems.
Ian Yarwood
Solicitor - Perth, Western Australia
Director, Imprint Solutions Ltd
Posted by Ian Yarwood on June 19, 2015 09:10