HONG KONG: A Hong Kong pro-democracy union of healthcare workers and several activists, including Joshua Wong, called on Sunday (Aug 30) for a boycott of the government's universal coronavirus testing plan, in which medical staff from mainland China are set to assist.
From Tuesday, a 60-strong mainland team is due to conduct tests in the first direct help from China's health officials for the city as it battles the pandemic.
But the effort comes at a sensitive time for the former British colony, as anxiety runs high over what many of its 7.5 million residents see as Beijing's efforts to rein in their freedoms, in particular a national security law imposed in June.
The government has also postponed September's legislative elections by a year, citing risks to public health and dealing a blow to the pro-democracy opposition camp, which had hoped for a historic majority win after overwhelming success in lower-level elections last year.
The Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, formed during last year's protests with 20,000 members, said universal testing was not an efficient use of resources and urged focused tests instead.
"It is clear to see that the government has one and only one goal ... to use the pandemic to achieve their own political aims," its leader Winnie Yu told a joint news conference with activists.
"They shall do whatever they can to please the central government of China, even if it means placing politics above all things else."
Wong said a full closure of the border would be a better measure than the government plan, adding, "It's like having a pregnancy test without having birth control."
The city's Beijing-backed chief executive, Carrie Lam, has hit back at critics of the initiative, dismissing their attempt to "smear the central government".
Chinese state media have denounced the critics as ungrateful, while China’s Hong Kong Liaison Office in the financial hub has said in a statement it was "shocking" that people could question the plan.
It comes at a time when new daily infections have fallen substantially, to figures in the single digits or low double digits, from three digits during a surge a few weeks ago. The tally rose to 4,801 with 15 more cases reported on Sunday.
Police also dispersed a protest by dozens of activists in a shopping mall roughly a year since some of the most violent clashes in a metro station in train carriages, citing a COVID-19 precaution limiting gatherings to two.
SINGAPORE - The blue mask is a common sight these days but on Thursday (Aug 27) morning, it was spotted on a Cargolux Airlines Boeing 747-8 at Changi Airport.
Flight CLX 7952 landed in Singapore "masked up", four months after mask-wearing was made compulsory for those here on April 14 to combat the spread of Covid-19.
The special livery covers the nose of the plane with straps highlighting a message appropriate to current times: "Not without my mask."
It is the first time a "masked" plane has landed in Changi, said Changi Airport Group.
The Luxembourg-based cargo airline had decided on a new paint job following a scheduled maintenance check in Taipei.
It made a stopover in Singapore at 4.20am on Aug 27 before heading to Luxembourg via Baku, Azerbaijan.
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Deputy Prime Minister François Bausch were onsite to greet the plane and its crew when it landed in Luxembourg Airport on Aug 27 afternoon local time.
In a statement, Cargolux said that the plane's livery is meant to show that the airline "embraces the Luxembourg government's campaign to promote the use of face masks in the current environment".
The plane returned to Singapore on Aug 28 at about 9pm.
NEW DELHI: India recorded the world's highest single-day rise of COVID-19 cases on Sunday (Aug 30) with 78,761 new infections.
The spike in new cases, the highest reported by any nation since the pandemic began, surpassed a Jul 17 figure of 77,638 in the United States according to an AFP tally.
India, home to 1.3 billion people, is already the world's third-most infected nation with more than 3.5 million cases, behind the US and Brazil.
A rickshaw puller wearing a protective face mask waits for customers on a street, amidst the spread of COVID-19 in the old quarters of Delhi, India. (Photo: Reuters/Adnan Abidi)
Indian authorities on Saturday further eased coronavirus lockdown restrictions on even as cases and deaths surged across the country.
The government faces pressure to free up the economy as millions have lost jobs since nationwide restrictions were first imposed in March.
The Home Affairs Ministry said that gatherings of up to 100 people would be allowed with face masks and social distancing at cultural, entertainment, sports and political events from next month.
Metro train services will also be allowed to resume "in a graded manner" in major cities.
The coronavirus has badly hit mega cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi, but is now surging in smaller cities and rural areas.
The new government guidelines ordered schools and colleges to remain closed but students can meet teachers on a voluntary basis on school premises if needed.
The government has resisted a mass campaign by students to postpone entrance exams for medical and engineering colleges due to be taken by about two million students next month.
A healthcare worker takes a swab from a police officer for a rapid antigen test at a special testing center for Gujarat Police, in Ahmedabad, India, Aug 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Amit Dave
Students say they fear catching the virus in exam halls across the country. Authorities say they are taking special measures for the exams.
The government also said individual states could not impose general lockdowns outside of areas that are considered 'containment zones' where clusters of cases have been reported. Several states have imposed tougher measures in recent weeks because of the rise in cases.
The main opposition Congress party has called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to set out a firm plan to stop the spread of the pandemic.
TOKYO: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga will join the race to succeed his boss Shinzo Abe as prime minister, local media reported on Sunday (Aug 30), as the competition heats up to succeed Japan's longest-serving leader.
Suga, a longtime lieutenant of Abe's in a key supporting role, has denied interest in the top job but attracted attention with a series of interviews, to Reuters and other news organisations, in the days before Abe's abrupt resignation for health reasons.
A Suga government would extend the fiscal and monetary stimulus that defined Abe's nearly eight years in office.
Abe's announcement on Friday, citing a worsening of a chronic illness, set the stage for a leadership election within his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The LDP president is virtually assured of being prime minister because of the party's majority in the lower house of parliament.
Suga decided to join the LDP race judging that he should play a leading role given expectations for his ability to manage crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Japan's deepest postwar economic dive, Kyodo news agency said, citing an unnamed source.
Calls to Suga's parliamentary office seeking comment on Sunday went unanswered.
Suga would join such candidates as former foreign minister Fumio Kishida and former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba.
A self-made politician in a country of political dynasties, Suga was chosen by Abe in 2012 for the pivotal role of Chief Cabinet Secretary, acting as top government spokesman, coordinating policies and riding herd on bureaucrats.
"I'm thinking of running in the LDP leadership race. I'd like you to support me," Suga told LDP secretary-general Toshihiro Nikai in a secret meeting on Saturday, TV Tokyo reported.
It quoted Nikai as replying, "Please do your best," which it said was a sign of his backing for Suga.
"Everyone wants to be on the winning side, so if Nikai is supporting Suga, they will jump on the bandwagon," said Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University.
LDP heavyweights aim to hold a slimmed-down leadership contest around Sep 13 to 15, public broadcaster NHK said on Sunday.
Nikai and parliamentary affairs chief Hiroshi Moriyama agreed late on Saturday to move quickly to avoid a "political vacuum", NHK said, without citing any sources for the information.
Usually, a leadership vote is held by LDP members of parliament along with grassroots party members in a month-long process. But in the event of a sudden resignation, an extraordinary vote can be called with participants narrowed to MPs and representatives of the LDP local chapters.
The scaled-down version may disadvantage Ishiba, a longtime Abe critic who promotes boosting regional economies in Japan's depopulating hinterlands. He is popular with the public but less so among party MPs.
LDP factions will play a dominant role in the election, Sophia's Nakano said. There might be media criticism that this is not a real contest, which might give Ishiba a bump up, but "not enough to change the momentum", he said.
That was the million-dollar question in Penajam Paser Utara and Kutai Kartanegara last year following President Joko Widodo's announcement that the country’s capital would move from megacity Jakarta to the underdeveloped districts in East Kalimantan province.
The plan to move the capital was deemed necessary as Jakarta, a crowded and polluted city of 10 million people, has for years been battling traffic congestion which costs US$7 billion in economic losses each year.
It is also one of the fastest-sinking cities on Earth with experts predicting that it could be submerged by 2050 if current rates continue.
Penajam Paser Utara and Kutai Kertanegara districts, on the other hand, are at minimal risk of natural disasters, the president said in his announcement and is geographically in the centre of the country where the government already owns about 180,000 hectares of land.
The government's announcement last August led to a spike in demand for land parcels in the new capital site. But with the COVID-19 pandemic and delays in development, the demand appears to have cooled for now.
This being said, those interviewed by CNA noted that land around the capital site remains sought after and are seen as a sound investment for the future.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the government shifting its priorities, delaying the development of the 466 trillion rupiah (US$32 billion) project.
Now, one year on, the new capital remains a plan on hold with the government asserting several times that it will still be developed when the time is right.
In this regard, land selling is not the talk of the town anymore.
“Nobody is talking about land anymore, unlike last year when many people from out of town dined in my restaurant talking about it,” said Mr Eko, a restaurant owner in Penajam Paser Utara who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
When CNA met Mr Eko at his diner last year, he said that all his customers talked about every day was land prices.
A sign welcoming visitors to the new capital of Indonesia has been put up at Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan, in this photo taken in September 2019. (Photo: Kiki Siregar)
Mr Debi, a resident of oil city Balikapan about 80km east of Penajam Paser Utara, concurred.
He too witnessed a surge in the demand for land in his city last year, but said that the enthusiasm has abated for now.
INVESTORS REMAIN SANGUINE: MINISTER
Although there is currently no construction work in progress, Mr Suharso Monoarfa, the minister overseeing the new capital explained that the master plan is still being worked on.
A highway has been constructed to connect Balikpapan with East Kalimantan provincial capital Samarinda.
The National Development Planning Minister also revealed that investors are still keen in the new capital.
"There are still some investors, including domestic ones, who are still interested. And indeed they keep asking when it can start.
"I think this is also important because, after COVID-19, the economic recovery will (focus on) investment destinations that promise high and fast capitalisation, one of them in Indonesia is the capital city project."
Mr Monoarfa welcomed other countries to invest, especially fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"In my opinion, because later it (the new capital) will also be a symbol of friendship in ASEAN, why should there be no legacy from ASEAN countries contributing to this capital city?"
Mr Monoarfa is hopeful that the new capital project can resume next year, once COVID-19 has been contained.
STRATEGIC ISLANDS NEAR EAST KALIMANTAN SOUGHT AFTER
A recent case of alleged illegal land sale involving the Malamber islands near the East Kalimantan province, which was reported by local media, suggests that there are still people who are eyeing land in the region despite the uncertainties in the relocation timeline.
The Malamber islands case caught the attention of the authorities after it was reported in June that a man allegedly sold the 6.4 ha island for 2 million rupiah to the regent of Penajam Paser Utara, who is also a businessman.
Inhabited by about five families, Malamber is part of the Balabalakang island chain which technically is in West Sulawesi province, but closer to Balikpapan Bay and the coast of East Kalimantan.
Malamber consists of Big Malamber island and Small Malamber island. (Photo courtesy of Ridwan Alimuddin)
According to the Constitution, island sales and purchases are illegal in Indonesia as they belong to the state.
While the alleged seller has since clarified that he had sold the land on the island and not the island itself, the local police in West Sulawesi are still investigating the case.
The lawyer of Penajam Paser Utara’s regent dismissed claims about his client's involvement and told CNA the regent does not know the alleged seller.
Environmentalists are concerned that the capital's relocation to East Kalimantan will harm the Balikpapan Bay and its coastal communities. (Photo: Kiki Siregar)
Meanwhile, East Kalimantan coordinator of Mining Advocacy Network JATAM Pradarma Rupang, who has studied land ownership in large parts of East Kalimantan believed the Balabalakang island chain would be strategic if the new capital is developed.
“Its location which is near to the new capital makes it an important route, especially for logistics in central and eastern Indonesia, and it would make it also a transit place," Mr Rupang said.
The environmentalist claimed that the practice of buying and selling land, in general, is still prevalent in the area.
“It (the pandemic) did not stop a number of businessmen from outside East Kalimantan to conduct land surveys in a number of villages in the district of Penajam Paser Utara and Balikpapan city,” Mr Rupang said.
LAND OWNERS CONTINUE TO BE APPROACHED
Mr Sikbukdin, head of local tribe Paser Balik in Penajam Pasar Utara concurred.
He said that he still receives calls from people who are interested in buying his land.
“Yes, there are still a lot of people but it is unclear who they are. They (claim to be) speaking on behalf of the National Development Planning Agency,” Mr Sibukdin said.
“I replied saying the new capital is still unclear, it is impossible the National Development Planning Agency is looking for land on its own,” said the 57-year-old who does not want to sell his land.
The exact location of the new capital has yet to be revealed but many are betting on the sub-districts of Sepaku and Samboja, which are at the border of Penajam Paser Utara and Kutai Kartanegara.
The 57-year-old tribe head owns land in Sepaku, Penajam Paser Utara.
The neighbourhood of indigenous Paser Balik tribe in Penajam Paser Utara. (Photo: Kiki Siregar)
Similarly, another Penajam Paser Utara resident also revealed that he still receives many requests from interested land buyers.
Farmer Hamzah, who regularly acts as a middleman between land seller and buyer noted that land price has not decreased despite the pandemic especially in sub-district Sepaku as land availability is scarce.
“People just positively think that the new capital project will start next year,” he added.
Originally, the government planned to begin the construction of the new capital this year on an initial 40,000 ha plot of land and transfer the central administration functions to the new capital site by 2024.
PROPERTY STILL A SOUND INVESTMENT
Over in oil city Balikpapan, Mr Yoga Gunawan, the general manager of superblock Borneo Bay City, which comprises malls, offices, a hotel and apartments, said sales are relatively stable.
When the president announced the relocation of the capital at the end of August last year, Borneo Bay City acted quickly and immediately published a full-page advertisement of its property in a national newspaper the following day.
Property developer Agung Podomoro Land's Borneo Bay City superblock in Balikpapan. (Photo: Kiki Siregar)
Even though there has reportedly been a decrease of 15 per cent in property sales in Balikpapan for the second quarter of 2020, Mr Gunawan is optimistic that the property remains a sound investment.
“According to the latest information, the new capital will still be developed … The people of Balikpapan are still optimistic about the relocation of the new capital,” he told CNA.
Mr Ali Tranghanda, CEO of property consultant and advisor Indonesia Property Watch, added that demand for land and property in the area where the new capital is thought to be has slowed down, but the potential is still there.
“The price of land is still stable with an overall correction of about 1 per cent to 3 per cent,” he told CNA.
TANJUNG MALIM, Perak: Barisan Nasional (BN) has retained the Slim state seat in Perak with a landslide victory in the by-election on Saturday (Aug 29).
BN’s candidate Mohd Zaidi Aziz won 13,060 votes to beat two independent candidates. Lawyer Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi garnered 2,115 votes, while former teacher S Santharasekaran got only 276 votes.
This means Zaidi won with a 10,945-vote majority.
Santharasekaran lost his deposit for failing to secure at least one-eighth of the total votes received by the candidates.
According to the returning officer, voter turnout was 68.4 per cent. There were 327 spoilt votes.
A total of 22,749 regular voters were eligible to vote in the by-election.
The Slim seat fell vacant after its four-term assemblyman, BN’s Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib, died from a heart attack on Jul 15.
In Malaysia's 14th general election, Mohd Khusairi won the seat with a 2,183-vote majority, defeating Bersatu's Mohd Amran Ibrahim who was contesting on a PKR ticket, and PAS' Muhammad Zulfadli Zainal.
"It's all thanks to the support and hard work of those involved. This shows the voters have missed us," said UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as quoted by the Star. UMNO is the biggest component party of BN.
"This (result) will be further interpreted if the Sabah state elections or GE15 are held. We continue to gain back the support from the people," he added.
Saturday’s poll is the 12th by-election held after GE14 and the second conducted under amid the COVID-19 pandemic, after the Chini state by-election on Jul 4.
