1. Art and Diseño

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015
I N T E R N AT I O N A L
Philippine minister not told in advance of raid
MANILA: The Philippine interior minister said yesterday
he did not know in advance of plans for an anti-terror
raid that triggered a bloodbath in which 44 police commandos were killed. Manuel Roxas, who is in charge of
the national police, said he had no foreknowledge of
the January 25 operation. The huge losses shocked and
enraged the nation and imperiled a peace pact with the
main Muslim rebel group in the southern island of
Mindanao. “They did not tell me about this... I’m not saying I would have known better but I also can’t help feeling I was not given a chance to ensure there was better
coordination,” he told demoralized members of the
police Special Action Force (SAF) at their headquarters.
The SAF commandos were gunned down while on
a mission to capture or kill Malaysian bomb maker
Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, a leading member of the
Jemaah Islamiyah group which staged the 2002 Bali
bombings in Indonesia. While authorities say Marwan
was killed, the commandos were later ambushed by
Muslim armed groups-including fighters of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which signed a peace
agreement with the government last March.
The MILF said the raid should have been coordinated with them under the terms of the ceasefire. “Your job
is tough and dangerous. It is the duty of the state to
give you the full support, equipment and training and
not to send you into hopeless operations,” an apologetic
Roxas said in a dialogue at SAF headquarters. However
the minister, a close confidante of President Benigno
Aquino, told the commandos to await the result of an
investigation before jumping to conclusions.
Aquino had previously said he was informed by top
police of the operation. “We again appeal to everyone
to give peace a chance,” his spokesman Herminio
Coloma said in a radio address. “Let us unite under this
principle while seeking justice and accountability over
what happened... last week.” Coloma said a final peace
agreement would require the 12,000-strong MILF to disarm in exchange for control over an autonomous region
in Mindanao. But public anger threatens to derail efforts
to pass legislation needed to implement the peace
accord before Aquino steps down in 2016. The main
gate of national police headquarters in suburban
Manila has become an unofficial memorial bedecked
with flowers, candles and other tokens left by mourners.
About 200 military veterans and serving soldiers drove
up on motorcycles yesterday, offering prayers and lighting candles. — AFP
Japan mourns Kenji as a
courageous reporter
News of beheading sends nation into shock
TOKYO: Whether in tsunami-stricken
northeastern Japan or conflict-ridden
Sierra Leone, the stories of the vulnerable,
the children and the poor drove the work
of journalist Kenji Goto. The news of his
purported killing by Islamic State militants
sent Japan into shock and mourning yesterday morning, days after his plight as a
hostage in Syria united many people in
praying for his release.
“I want to cuddle with the people.
That’s the best way to express my
approach,” Goto, 47, said about his work.
TOKYO: Junko Ishido, mother of Japanese
journalist Kenji Goto, speaks during a
press conference at her home yesterday
after the release of an online video that
purported to show an Islamic State group
militant beheading her son. — AP
“By cuddling with them, I can talk with the
people. I can hear their views - their pain
and their hopes.” A pony-tailed man with a
friendly, carefree laugh, Goto was a veteran freelance reporter, working often with
other filmmakers and Japanese TV producers. His comments were sometimes
featured on Japanese mainstream media.
The 2005 book he wrote about the suffering of children in Sierra Leone was
titled “We Want Peace, Not Diamonds.” But
Goto had always stressed he was not a
war reporter. He had insisted he was
instead devoted to telling the story of regular people, one step removed from the
war zone. That took him to refugee camps
and orphanages. He told the stories of
children suffering violence, hunger and
nightmares.
In a testament to his charm and integri-
ty, people responded with an outpouring
of support to try to win his release. A
Facebook page, set up immediately after
the first video released by militants last
month, quickly drew tens of thousands of
“Likes” and photo postings that showed
people, from not just Japan but around the
world, holding up hand-written signs that
said: “I am Kenji.” “Kenji lives on - in all our
hearts. In our daily work and every time
you smile with those around you, you will
be sure to remember that big smile Kenji
always gave us,” wrote Taku Nishimae, a
filmmaker living in New York and the
page’s creator. An online petition demanding the government do more to save Goto
collected thousands of signatures. Crowds
have gathered outside the prime minister’s
office, holding up “Free Kenji” and “I am
Kenji” signs.
Those who knew Goto said he was a
gentle and honest man. On the streets of
Tokyo yesterday, many people were
clutching the Yomiuri newspaper extra
with the latest news, expressing disbelief
that his captors went as far as to kill a
reporter. US reporter James Foley and
American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff
were among several Westerns who had
been killed by the militants last year.
“Kenji has left us on a journey,” said Junko
Ishido, 78, Goto’s mother. “It is my only
hope that we can carry on with Kenji’s
mission to save the children from war and
poverty.”
Goto had been captured at least once
before by militants in the Middle East, but
had convinced them to let him go by
showing that he was a reporter. According
to Goto’s wife Rinko Jogo and others who
had spoken with him, Goto had gone to
Syria late last year to try to save the other
Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa, 42.
Yukawa was shown as killed in an earlier
video purportedly released by the militants. Yukawa’s father, Shoichi Yukawa,
could not hold back his tears at the news
of Goto’s killing. “He was kind. And he was
brave,” he told reporters. Goto went to
Syria just three weeks after his youngest
daughter was born. Before his last trip, he
made a video recording. “No matter what
happens to me, I will always love the people of Syria,” he said calmly, looking
straight into the camera. — AP
N Korea: US rejected
invite to Pyongyang
SEOUL: North Korea said yesterday the
United States had rejected an invitation to send one of its top diplomats to
Pyongyang, accusing Washington of
trying to shift the blame for the deadlock in de-nuclearisation talks on the
North. Sung Kim has been meeting
with officials of the countries that had
been part of the so-called six-party
talks in the past week in Tokyo and
Beijing, where he said it was up to the
North to show it was serious about
ending its nuclear program.
“( We) invited Kim Sung to visit
Pyongyang as he expressed his willingness to meet with his counterpart of
the (North) during his visit to Asia this
time,” the North’s KCNA news agency
quoted an unnamed foreign ministry
spokesman as saying. “However, the
US, in disregard of this, is working hard
to shift the blame onto the (North),
misleading public opinion by creating
impression that dialogue and contacts
are not realized due to the latter’s
insincere attitude.”
Kim said in Beijing on Friday that
Washington was “open to engagement,
substantive dialogue with North Korea
about the issue of de-nuclearisation”.
He did not mention a possible trip to
Pyongyang or an invitation by North
Korea to visit for talks. The US embassy
in Seoul did not immediately have
comment.
In Washington, the State Department
denied the United States and North
Korea had planned for a meeting. In
2005, North Korea reached an agreement with the United States, South
Korea, China, Japan and Russia to suspend its nuclear program in return for
diplomatic rewards and energy assistance. Negotiations collapsed after the
last round of talks in 2008. North Korea
declared the agreement void after refusing inspections to verify compliance
with the deal. North Korea has called for
the resumption of the talks, but the
United States and South Korea have said
Pyongyang must first show it was serious about ending its nuclear program.
Pyongyang has said it was willing to suspend nuclear testing if the United States
halted annual joint military drills with
South Korea. Washington and Seoul
rejected the proposal saying the drills
were for defensive purposes. —AP
HONG KONG: Demonstrators distribute leaflets before a march for Democracy. — AFP
Thousands march again
for democracy in HK
HONG KONG: Thousands of pro-democracy
protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong yesterday for the first time since mass demonstrations shut down parts of the city for more than
two months. A sea of yellow umbrellas-the symbol of the campaign-moved slowly through central Hong Kong with crowds shouting for “true
universal suffrage”.
But numbers were well below expectations
with 13,000 attending according to organizersjust over a quarter of the 50,000 they had hoped
for. “Today’s protest wasn’t a small one. It was
smaller than we expected, but it’s wrong to say
Hong Kongers have given in to fake democracy,”
said organizer Daisy Chan.
Demands and tensions
Police said up to 8,800 people had joined the
march, a fraction of the tens of thousands who
gathered at the peak of the protests. Authorities
have made no concessions to activists’ demands
and tensions remain high in the semiautonomous Chinese territory. Police warned
ahead of the rally that demonstrators were likely
to once again try to occupy some of Hong
Kong’s main roads, which were cleared of tented
camps in December.
But by late afternoon the march remained
peaceful, with no sign that the crowds-including
many people carrying yellow balloons-planned
to take back the streets. “We don’t have a plan
(to reoccupy). If others want to do it, they will
have to do it themselves,” student leader Alex
Chow said.
Despite the disappointing turnout, there was
a sense of determination among demonstrators.
“We just want to express our frustration with the
government in Hong Kong,” said protester
Ronnie Chan, who is in his 40s and works in sales
and marketing. “We understand there is very little we can do, but if we don’t speak out nothing
will change.” The pro-democracy rallies drew
around 100,000 at their height and saw intermittent violent clashes with police, but public support faded as the weeks dragged by.
‘Tired of politics’
China has promised Hong Kongers the right
for the first time to vote for their next chief executive in 2017. But it ruled that nominees must be
vetted by a pro-Beijing committee, a proposal
which has been heavily criticized by activists. The
founders of the pro-democracy movement
including Benny Tai, along with teenage activist
Joshua Wong and other student leaders, urged
residents to keep fighting as they joined yesterday’s rally. “If we don’t dream, we don’t have
hope. We should persist then we will succeed,”
said Tai. Wong warned against accepting universal suffrage within the restrictions of Beijing’s
framework. “I hope people understand that if we
take that now, it will be forever,” he said. But political analyst Sonny Lo said residents were
exhausted from protests over political reform. “At
this moment, members of the public are tired of
politics. The democrats have to strategize very
carefully,” said Lo, head of the social sciences
department at the Hong Kong Institute of
Education. Hong Kong’s government is urging
the public to support Beijing’s electoral plan,
which needs the backing of two-thirds of the
city’s legislature to be passed. Lam Woon-kwong,
convener of the Executive Council or cabinet,
warned campaigners to accept Beijing’s offer.
“You can’t threaten the central authorities,”
he told a radio program yesterday. “If we can
have consensus to have universal suffrage in
2017 first and democratize further later, it would
be a more pragmatic approach.” But for some
protesters, backing down is not an option. “I’m
just doing my bit. Some people may have compromised, but I definitely will not,” said one
father of two who gave his name as Alvin.
Protests in Hong Kong pre-date the Occupy
movement-last July hundreds of thousands
demonstrated a month before Beijing ruled on
political reform. — AFP
Indonesia resumes search
for Airasia crash victims
JAKARTA: Indonesian rescuers yesterday resumed
their search for 86 victims still missing from the
AirAsia plane that crashed on December 28 with 162
people on board, an official said. National search
and rescue agency Chief Bambang Soelistyo last
week said search and rescue teams were being given two days’ break after weeks searching in inhospitable conditions.
Sixty-eight divers from the national search and
rescue agency as well as others from companies and
clubs would focus on scouring the fuselage of Flight
QZ8501 and the seabed for remaining bodies, he
said. So far, 76 bodies have been recovered after the
plane went down in the Java Sea in stormy weather
during what was supposed to be a short trip from
the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
“Search operations have resumed. Our focus today is
to find bodies that could be trapped in the fuselage,
or buried in mud,” SB Supriyadi, a search and rescue
agency official who has been coordinating the hunt,
said. “The weather is good, and the waves were only
a meter high,” he said, adding that six boats were in
the search area. The search mission has been
expanded to the island of Sulawesi after fishermen
found bodies with identity documents matching the
passengers on the ill-fated flight. The Indonesian
military, which has provided the bulk of personnel
and equipment for the operation, withdrew from
the search Tuesday. But Supriyadi said the current
group also comprised of competent divers. “Skills-
wise, they are as good as those from the military as
they have experience helping to evacuate sunken
boats before,” he added. “We hope we can still find
the remaining bodies,” he said. — AFP
MAKASSAR: Members of an Indonesian rescue team point a finger at the location where they
found a victim and debris of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 accident. — AFP
Election rout piles pressure, concern for Australian govt
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday his government had “lessons to learn” from a state
election rout in Queensland, amid growing leadership
questions after his unpopular move to knight Britain’s
Prince Philip. Rumors of challenges to Abbott’s position as
prime minister have emerged over the past week after the
knighthood decision. But the demise of the LiberalNational coalition (LNP) in Queensland elections held
Saturday has piled further pressure on him.
The LNP, which is also the ruling coalition nationally,
swept to victory in Queensland three years ago to record
the state’s biggest ever parliamentary triumph when it
took 78 of 89 seats. But in one of the most startling turnarounds in the nation’s political history, the opposition
Labor party-written off after the last election-appeared
close to returning to power in the northeastern state as
vote-counting continued.
“There are obviously lessons in the election result last
night and we’re determined to learn them in Canberra,”
Abbott told reporters, adding that he regretted the “distraction” of the knighthood debate. “I accept that we’ve
had some difficulties. I accept that we need to learn from
the difficulties that we’ve had, but in the end, government
is not a popularity contest, it is a competence contest.”
Abbott’s government has seen its support plunge in opinion polls over the past year, coming under fire for its
attempts to push through widespread spending cuts to
rein in a growing budget deficit.
The latest poll published by The Sunday Telegraph yesterday showed the government would be heading for
defeat if it called an election now. Support has dropped to
43 percent from 53.5 percent when they won the 2013
election, compared to Labor’s 57 percent. Support for
Abbott slipped to 27 percent compared to 44 percent for
Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten, the poll found.
Knight move slammed
Abbott, an enthusiastic royalist, reintroduced the titles
of dame and knight in Australia last year but the move was
criticized as being out of step with the public. His decision
to knight Queen Elizabeth II’s husband Philip attracted
widespread ridicule, with even unnamed politicians within
Abbott’s own LNP reportedly describing the move as “stupid”. Reports that a leadership challenge could be on the
cards have revived memories of the political turmoil when
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was ousted by his deputy Julia
Gillard in 2010. Rudd returned to power in 2013 in the
three months before his Labor party lost the election to
Abbott’s coalition, which had campaigned against what it
called governmental chaos and dysfunction.
Attorney-General George Brandis said yesterday his par-
ty would be “crazy” to attempt a similar leadership change.
“We would be crazy to repeat the experience of the last
Labor government, which failed because it tore down an
elected leader, and the Liberal Party won’t be doing that,”
he told Sky News. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have been
mooted as possible contenders for the prime minister’s job,
although both have publicly declared their support for
Abbott.
Speaking from the United States, Turnbull-who once
lost a tussle for leadership of the Liberal Party to Abbott by
one vote-told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
“The prime minister has my support. I’m a member of the
government; (he) has the support of the government.”
Bishop, in Sydney yesterday, would only repeat in response
to questions from reporters: “The prime minister has my
support.” —AFP