This Article from China Post mentioned my Rohinyas Muslim had worst year in Asia 2014--Do you believe? -------------------------------------------------------------- Who had worst year in Asia in 14? -------------------------- By Curtis S. Chin and Jose B. Collazo January 2, 2015, 12:00 am TWNAs 2015 unfolds, its time for one last look at the year we left behind. A year ago, taking a page from Washington Post political columnist Chris Cillizzas awarding U.S. President Barack Obama the dubious distinction of “Worst year in Washington,” we took to the digital pages of Fortune Magazine. The challenge — naming who had the “Worst year in Asia” — and the “winner” then of that least desired of 2013 prizes: Obama also, for what proved to be his lost year in Asia, marked by cancelled trips and persistent questions of wheres the substance to a much ballyhooed pivot toAsia amid Chinas rise and seemingly never-ending talks toward a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.This past December, Cillizza returned to Obama, and not in a good way. Last year may well have offered numerous contenders, but the prize of “Worst year in Washington” went again to the U.S. president — this time “for losses at home and crises abroad” as midterm elections sawthe presidents political party lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives. “His sixthyear in office was, inarguably,” Cillizza wrote,“his worst, when the problems that had been building throughout his second term all came crashing down around him.”When it comes to Asia though, lets not count Obama out. He fails to make an appearance on our “Worst year in Asia 2014 edition” and the year ahead awaits. Read who took the “honor” — along with our take on the people who had a really bad year, a bad year, a not-so-good-or-bad year, a good year and the best year in Asia. Congrats, of sorts, to all. Worst Year in Asia The Rohingya people — Stateless. Marginalized. Persecuted. These are the words used to describe the plight of Myanmars Muslim minority the Rohingya —a people whose very identity Myanmars leaders and would-be leaders including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi decline to recognize. Sectarian riots have killed hundreds. Thousands have fled, easy targets for human traffickers, and at least dozens have drowned, fleeing on rickety boats to Malaysia or Indonesia. Those that stay in Myanmar face restrictions on movement, marriage and education. This year is unlikely to bring any respite as the nations primarily Buddhist and majority Bamar (or Burman) ethnicity electorate and all too many foreign investors, enamored of a new Burma, look the other way. Really Bad Year The once anonymous Asian business executive — Can it get it much worse for Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya or Sony CEO Kaz Hirai? In a region all too often stereotyped as the realm of crony capitalism and secretive CEOs — shareholder accountability, whats that? — 2014 saw tragedy and a cyber attack bring to Asian executives the sort of scrutiny that Western business executives have grown accustomed to in a world dominated by social media and a 24-hour news cycle. In Kuala Lumpur, CEO Yahya continues for no was head of an airlines still struggling in the wake of one missing airliner and another shot down over the Ukraine. In Tokyo, CEO Hirai has had a lot of explaining to do, first over the struggling conglomerates billions of dollars in losses in five of the last six years. Now comes the “mother of all email leaks,” deriving from a cyberattack suspected to be of North Korean origin and detailing tension between Hirai and its Hollywood subsidiary Sony Pictures Entertainment — one of its few, if not only profitable units. Not everyone can be a Jack Ma, the founder of China e-commerce pioneer Alibaba who saw a 2014 IPO turn him into Chinas richest man, or Air Asia CEOTony Fernandes whose performance so far in the midst of the latest air tragedy to strikeAsia has so far been hitting the right notes.Bad Year Cho Hyun-ah — And then theres Cho Hyun-ah, also known as Heather Cho, the one-time Korean Air vice president. We know that air travel has become a drag. Just ask Cho, whose father Cho Yang-ho runs the airline, and who took it upon herself to order a plane back to gate in order to remove a steward who failed to ensure that her macadamia nuts were served to her on a plate, not in a bag. The incident of “nut rage” went viral, and has brought unwanted attention to South Koreas conglomerates, the families who run them, and the power they wield. The only winner: sellers of macadamia nuts who saw sales jump after the incident became public. Not-so-good Year Umbrella Man — In late September, thousands took to Hong Kongs central business district demanding fully free elections only to be met by police using pepper spray and tear gas to disperse them.Thus was born the “Umbrella Revolution,” and an image of “Umbrella Man” — that of a defiant protestor clutching an umbrella amidst tear gas — was beamed across the globe to became the symbol of the movement. Much more than a symbol of Hong Kongs struggle to find a way forward under Beijings heavy hand, the Umbrella Man though speaks to the plight of democracy in the region. The parallels to images of a lone man staring down tanks near Tienanmen Square in June 1989 were obvious. Whether the jailing of pro-democracy bloggers in Vietnam and anti-coup activists in Thailand, or stalled reforms in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, 2014 was clearly a not so good year for democracy in Asia. Not-so-bad Year Kim Jong Un — They say theres no such thing as” bad press,” and perhaps this wholeblow-up behind Sony Films political comedy“The Interview,” which depicts the assassination of North Koreas supreme leader Kim Jong Un by a newsman and producer played by actors James Franco andSeth Rogen, may have been exactly what Kim wanted to announce his return, and relevance, after disappearing from public view earlier this year. Joining the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the pages of popular magazines that normally dont cover diplomatic news, Kim is now a household name to people who had no ideawho he is or whats going on in the Korean peninsula. His nations economy may be falling fast, and his conventional arms rusting away, but theres no questioning that Kim had made headlines from Hollywood to Washington to Tokyo at years end. Good Year Indias Space Program — Many Asian nations talk about moving up the knowledge and value chains, but no one did it in such a dramatic fashion as India with itsfirst interplanetary mission, officially called M-O-M, for Mars Orbiter Mission. Launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, in November 2013, its Mars craft or “Manglyaan” in Sanskrit, after a 298-day journey, successfully entered Marss orbit onSept. 24. In doing so, India became the worlds fourth nation to embark successfully on an interplanetary journey, and did so in its first attempt — something, the U.S. and other space powers cant claim — and in a triumph of low-cost engineering, at a US$74 million price tag. Thats less than the cost of the Hollywood movie Gravity. Meanwhile, Chinas Chang-e moon lander and Yutu rover faded from the headlines due in part to technical difficulties with the crafts after their 2013 soft landing on the lunar surface. Best Year Asias New Management — Jokowi, Modi, and even Xi and Abe. Best year in Asia goes to leaders of countries representing the vastmajority of Asias populace. “Under New Management,” a sign often signaling changes to come, would also be appropriateacross a map of Asia as China, India, and Indonesia, home to a third of the planets population, have undergone a change in leadership these past two years. Indias Narendra Modi, and Indonesias Joko “Jokowi” Widodo are seen as pro-business and reform minded and whose agenda havethe potential to kick into high gear their respective countries economies. They will face a tough, uphill battle to root out corruption and improve each countrys business environment, as will Xi Jinping in China and Japans Shinzo Abe, but if successful, together will assure the regions critical role in growing the global economy, and accelerate the rise of the “Asian Century.”Curtis S. Chin, a former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of advisory firm RiverPeak Group, LLC. Jose B. Collazo is a Southeast Asia analyst and an associate at RiverPeak Group.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 18:35:45 +0000
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