8/14/2019 TheSun 2009-02-04 Page10 Myanmar Migrants Thais Cast Us Adrift

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newswithout borders10 theSun | WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 4 2009

Myanmar migrants: Thais cast us adrift

New Thai minister quits overrotten fish scandal

Shanghai officialgets life for corruptionSHANGHAI:A former leading official inShanghai’s Pudong skyscraper districthas been sentenced to life in prisonfor corruption, state media reported yesterday. A Shanghai court convictedKang Huijun, 52, of taking more than 5.9million yuan (RM2.95 million) in bribesand illegally acquiring 12.1 million yuan(RM6.1 million) through other means,the Xinhua news agency reported.

Kang was director of the district’seconomic and trade bureau and gen-eral manager of state-owned propertydeveloper Shanghai Lujiazui (Group) Co.Ltd, before becoming deputy districthead in 2004, the report said. – AFP

Sri Lanka takes Tigerchief’s bunker, airstrip

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s army saidyesterday it had captured an elabo-rate underground bunker complexbelieved to have been the home of the leader of the Tamil Tigers, as wellas the rebels’ last jungle airstrip.

The captured two-storey-deepbunker had sound-proof electric-ity generators, air conditioning andmedical supplies, and was hidden in acoconut grove in Mullaittivu district.

The defence ministry describedthe site as the “main hideout” of theTigers and “a major residential site” of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The whereabouts of Prabhakaran,54, are uncertain, but Sri Lanka’s mili-tary has said he may have alreadyfled the island by boat. – AFP

Gaza rocket lands inIsraeli city, no casualties

 JERUSALEM: A rocket fired from theHamas-ruled Gaza Strip landed in theIsraeli city of Ashkelon yesterday butcaused no casualties, Israeli officialssaid. There was no immediate claim ofresponsibility for the attack from Pales-tinian armed factions in Gaza.

There have been occasional rocketand mortar attacks since a Jan. 18ceasefire took hold and these havedrawn Israeli air strikes on Gaza. But Is-rael, which holds an election next week,has said it does not want to launch anew major offensive. – Reuters

Indonesia lawmakerdies after mob beatingMEDAN: An Indonesian provincialspeaker died after he was beaten bya mob yesterday which stormed thelocal parliament building carrying acoffin, officials and witnesses said.

The protesters blamed North Su-matra speaker Azis Angkat, from theGolkar party, for delays in the crea-tion of a new province as approvedrecently by five local districts.

When the mob broke in, Angkattried to flee but he was caught andseverely beaten. – AFP

BANGKOK: Thailand’s development

minister quit yesterday over a scandallinked to rotten fish delivered to floodsurvivors, the first casualty of newPrime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s six-week-old cabinet.

Witoon Nambutr, minister for socialdevelopment and human security,tendered his resignation to Abhisit butdenied any wrongdoing connected tothe food packages provided in Decem-ber to a flood-hit southern province.

“I resign from the ministerial posi-tion effective immediately,” he told atelevised press conference.

“I am hurt to announce my resigna-tion because I was not aware and hadnothing to do with the distribution ofthe aid packages in Phatthalung prov-ince. I didn’t know there was rottencanned fish in there.”

The scandal emerged in Decem-ber after villagers in Phatthalungcomplained that the tinned sardines

provided by the development ministrywere spoilt.

Some of the victims suffered diar-rhoea and vomiting after eating the rot-ten sardines, the health ministry said ina statement. The health ministry closeddown the factory producing the canned

fish last week and have filed criminal

charges against its owners, but theopposition are calling for a corruptioninvestigation.

“He resigned because of clearevidence,” said opposition Puea Thaiparty spokesman Pormpong Nopparit,adding that he thought the move wasdesigned to take the heat of otherruling Democrat Party MPs allegedlyinvolved in the affair.

Abhisit came to power in a parlia-mentary vote in mid-December aftera court dissolved the previous rulingparty. The new cabinet was sworn in onDec 22, but was almost immediatelybeset by criticism.

The most controversial selectionwas Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya – avocal supporter of a protest group thatblockaded Bangkok’s two airports inlate November and early December,battering the Thai economy.

Supporters of the previous govern-

ment, which was linked to ousted andexiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra, aredemanding Kasit resign or be sackedand have threatened more street pro-tests unless their demands are met.

The government has said Kasit willremain in his post. – AFP

HONGKONG: Experts were carrying out tests yesterday on dead birds washed up onHongkong beaches amid fears of a huge un-reported avian-flu outbreak in neighbouringmainland China.

The discovery of the dead birds – whichwere being tested for H5N1, the bird-flustrain that can be deadly in humans– brought a warning from one of the ter-ritory’s top bird-flu experts that “something

 very terrible” could be happening in China.Three of 12 birds found on the island of Lantau in the past five days have testedpositive for H5N1.

Villagers on the island said dead birds

have been washing ashore in recent daysand they believe they come from China’sPearl River Delta, which flows out into theSouth China Sea surrounding Hongkong.

On Monday alone, the carcasses of onegoose, five chickens, a duck and two birdswere found, bringing to 12 the number of dead birds found on Lantau since Thursday.China has in the past hushed up outbreaksof bird flu and SARS, or severe acute res-piratory syndrome, which was rampant insouthern China before it spread to Hong-kong and other countries around the worldin 2003, killing hundreds of people.

Eight people in China were reported tohave died of bird flu in January but, speak-ing on the government-run radio stationRTHK yesterday, infectious diseases expert Lo Wing-Lok warned the outbreak in Chinacould be far bigger than officials admit.

“This is suddenly something very seri-ous,” said Lo, a legislator and chairman of the Hongkong Medical Association. “Wehave to confirm the source of these deadbirds”.

“If they are from the mainland, something very terrible could be happening across theborder.”

Lo said there were already indica-tions that “something extraordinary” washappening in China because of the largenumber of bird-flu cases reported in a short period of time.

“In January, there were eight humancases reported to have come down withH5N1 infection,” Lo said.

“Poultry infection may be widespread inthe mainland and because of that, infectedbirds may find their way across the borderthrough the water currents, through fishingboats and from visitors bringing a few birdsat a time.” – dpa

BANDA ACEH: About 200 Myanmar

migrants found adrift off Sumatra toldrescuers they had been towed out tosea and abandoned to their fate byThai security forces, an Indonesiannavy officer said yesterday.

They said 20 others had perishedas they drifted at sea for three weeksin a wooden boat with no engine.

Fishermen found them huddledin the boat off Sumatra on Mondayafternoon, said navy officer TediSutardi.

The migrants, from Myanmar’s

minority Muslim Rohingya commu-

nity, said they had been cast adrift byThai security forces as they tried toflee persecution in Myanmar.

They showed scars from beatingsthey said they had received at thehands of the Thais, matching simi-lar allegations from another groupof 174 Rohingya who were found off Sumatra on Jan 7.

“Fishermen found a wooden boat without an engine drifting in the seawith 198 Myanmar migrants. Theysaid Thai authorities towed them out 

to sea and set them adrift,” Sutardi

said.“Their boat was small. It’s only

12m long and 3m wide and was heldtogether with ropes.

“They were drifting for about 21days. Most of them are in criticalcondition and are receiving treat-ment at a hospital in Aceh.”

Using limited Malay, the Bengali-speaking migrants said they had left their homes in Myanmar’s westernArakan state because they were be-ing forced to embrace Buddhism.

They said the military authori-

ties in the mainly Buddhist countrychopped their fingers off if they triedto pray.

Myanmar’s military rulers ef-fectively deny citizenship rights tothe Rohingya, leading to abuse andcontributing to a regional humani-tarian crisis as hundreds try to fleethe country by boat every year.

Reports and a local human rightsgroup have said nearly 1,000 of theRohingya landed on Thai shoreslate last year, before being towed

out to sea and left with few supplies

in separate groups in mid and lateDecember. Sutardi said the migrantsfound on Monday had confirmedthose reports, putting their numberat 1,200.

Until Monday only about 650 hadbeen found in Indonesian and Indianwaters, all telling the same stories of abuse by the Myanmar and Thaiauthorities.

Bangkok denies the allegations of abuse, saying that all the migrantswere processed humanely. – AFP

Expert warnsof big bird-flu

outbreak inChina

Chickens at apoultry farmin China. It isfeared thata massiveoutbreak of birf flu hadbroken out inChina.