–UPDATE (9-20-2009) – DNA test results confirm Top’s death.
Indonesian authorities have officially declared Noordin Muhammed Top, suspected terror mastermind of the July Jakarta Hotel Bombings, dead. He was killed in last month’s Indonesian police raid of a house in the central Java town of Solo. The identification was based on fingerprints stored on the Indonesian police database. DNA tests are still pending. Top was also accused of aiding in the 2003 Jakarta Marriott bombing, the bombing at the the Australian Embassy in 2004, and the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings.
– East Timor’s Supreme Court has opened its own investigation into the release of accused war criminal, Maternus Bere (discussed previously). Specifically, prosecutors are investigating the involvement of several members of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao’s government. The issue as stated by the Supreme Court’s Chief Judge Claudio Ximenes is that, “Only a judge can order the freeing of a suspect from a detention center or prison”. In the case of Bere, there was no court approval for his release. This case is expected to test the young democracy’s governmental balance of power, especially the court’s independence. And what is the defense of the executive branch?
President Jose Ramos-Horta argues that reopening old wounds will not help the impoverished country build a stable democracy.
“The vast majority of the people here don’t care about what happened to the guy (Bere),” Ramos-Horta told The Associated Press. “The enemies of yesterday must apologize and forgive each other. The U.N. human rights bureaucracy is the one out of touch with the reality.”
Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry says it negotiated Bere’s release by phone with Ramos-Horta, Gusmao, Foreign Minister Zacharia da Costa and other officials on Aug. 30.
The International Court as well as many in the Timorese Parliament are not in agreement with President Ramos-Horta. During Indonesia’s 21 year occupation of East Timor, some analyst estimate that as many as 1/3 of the population of the nation was killed.
Currently, Bere is living at the Indonesian Embassy in Dili, pending deportation to Indonesia. It is not clear why Ramos-Horta is not also under investigation by the court as he helped negotiate the deal with Indonesia. However, the parliament has him on travel restriction until he explains himself.
–China has become Cambodia’s largest development partner, and is planning a new wave of infrastructure projects worth US$600 million. US$400 million will be allocated to 11 road-expansion projects and a further US$200 million will go toward several hydro-power projects.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen gushed with praise for China on Monday:
China has a special habit, he noted, which is that Chinese speak less but do a lot and it is good point, adding that “I could work with Chinese leaders. China always keeps quiet but they offered the assistance for us and do more for us, and their assistance is without conditions.”
He also highlighted that he has worked with three Chinese prime ministers including Li Peng and Zhu Rongji and has been continuing to work with Prime Miniter Wen Jinbao. Moreover, he said “Chinese leaders’ language are easy to understand because Chinese side has always said that assistance from them focus on the infrastructure projects on economic development effectively and helps poverty reduction in the country.”
“I also thanked Chinese side that they considered me as their old friend. We have confidence each other in cooperation between the two countries,” he said.
…and so it continues nearly ad infinitum. It is true that China has historically shown strong support for Cambodia, at least for genocidal communist insurgents like the Khmer Rouge. One could say, the modern form of assistance is quite a bit more beneficial to the Cambodian people.
– Thailand is considering a currency swap with China. Moving at a rapid pace, Since December, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has signed a total of 650 billion yuan worth of currency-swap agreements with Argentina, Belarus, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea.
These moves are part of a broader plan on the part of China. The PBOC has become more assertive in its international role in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008. Still, China has a long way to go before the RMB (Yuan) can truly be regarded as a global currency, despite the size of its economy and trade volume. The liquidity of its capital markets and the dependability and convertibility of its currency are also key.
Thailand wants to use the swap to increase trade:
“Due to the financial turmoil, bilateral trade this year might be around $40 billion, which is close to the trade volume of $36 billion last year. But looking ahead, we expect the trade volume to reach $50 billion in 2010,” said Sittheeamorn.
Thailand is hoping to attract greater tourism from China, a market the Filipino government is also competing for.
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