Asia in 3 minutes: a ‘shemozzle’ over Queensland cattle, a flap about Singapore chickens and a Laos drug lord’s ‘celebrity links’
A round-up of the biggest stories in Asia this week
Beef over Australian army land grab prompts new site search
Malcolm Turnbull has ordered the Department of Defence to find alternative sites for foreign military training in Queensland after outrage over plans to take over as many as 60 grazing properties in prime cattle country – part of a US$2.2 billion deal with Singapore. The state agriculture minister Bill Byrne, a former military commander at one of the areas in question, Shoalwater Bay, said: “This has been a shemozzle from the beginning and there are still big questions to be answered.”
Australian PM orders Department of Defence to look elsewhere after backlash against foreign military training plan
What next? The Liberal National Party joined state and federal Labor, Katter’s Australian party and One Nation in publicly criticising the process for the land expansion, after the federal government signed the deal with Singapore in May last year to train 14,000 of its troops. The parties all warned the loss of drought-resistant grazing land in areas that contain up to 100,000 head of cattle would have a dramatic and harmful impact on the beef industry. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said farmers and the public were duped by Turnbull, who touted the deal before last year’s election. “Not only were locals not consulted, they were completely left in the dark about the potential impacts of this acquisition before the election.”
Culling of 24 free-ranging chickens in Singapore ruffles feathers
The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) revealed that it put down 24 chickens that were wandering around the Thomson View block of flats in Sin Ming Avenue, after getting 20 complaints last year from residents there – mainly about noise. “Free-ranging chickens can pose a potential threat to public health, especially if their population is left unchecked. There is a likelihood of an incursion of bird flu,” the AVA said.
Culling of 24 free-ranging chickens in Singapore ruffles feathers
What next? The news of the culling in Sin Ming sparked an outcry. Louis Ng, founder of Animal Concerns Research & Education Society, echoed the views of many online users to say that the killing was the “worst solution”. He warned against such a “knee-jerk” response and added that other measures could have been taken, such as getting people to adopt the chickens. However, Assistant Professor Frank Rheindt, from the National University of Singapore, said the authorities did the right thing. “Every day in Singapore and across the world, hundreds of thousands of chickens are killed for human consumption, so I do not believe there is a valid ‘animal rights’ argument against the culling.”
Communist rebels end ceasefire over Duterte government’s ‘rights abuses’
Philippine Maoist rebels said they would end a five-month ceasefire, accusing President Rodrigo Duterte’s government of treachery and human rights abuses. The move comes after a third round of peace talks aimed at ending decades of bloodshed wrapped up in Italy last week with no deal on a permanent cessation of fighting. The Communist Party of the Philippines said it would continue to support the peace negotiations, but ordered its 4,000 fighters to resume “military campaigns and tactical offensives” against government forces from February 11. Soldiers and police had used the truce as a licence to “engage in hostile actions” including “human rights violations” in rebel-influenced rural villages, it said.
Philippine communist rebels end ceasefire, accuses Duterte’s government of human rights abuses
What next? The Duterte government was “dismayed” by the announcement, Jesus Dureza, the presidential adviser to the peace talks, said in a statement. But Dureza said he would urge Duterte to abide by the government’s own ceasefire. A presidential spokesman said the peace talks, which are due to resume in Oslo on April 2, would go ahead.