UN children’s fund calls for protection of child refugees

By Rédaction Africanews

2275 people were unaccounted for in the Mediterranean sea last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Many are thought to have died on the treacherous central Mediterranean route, mainly used by smugglers from Tunisia and Libya aiming to reach Italy.

Among those fleeing their countries are children. After the most recent shipwreck left around 20 people missing, the UN children’s fund is sounding the alarm.

“In 2024, 60,000 people arrived in Italy, including 8,000 unaccompanied foreign minors. Despite the drop in arrivals compared to the previous year, the vulnerabilities among people who arrive do not decrease. They are people who are often fleeing, as we know, from conflict, violence and extreme poverty. They are girls and boys who represent 20% of the people who arrive, that is, one in five,” Andrea Iacomini, UNICEF Italian spokesperson, explains.

The agency is urging governments to prioritise the protection of child refugees; it is pushing for access to asylum services, legal pathways for reunification and co ordinated search and rescue missions.

“It is intolerable for a child to have to see their mother die in front of their eyes. It is intolerable that a child could die in seawater. And yet we've seen too many of them and we can't think every time it's the last time. Because from 2014 to today the numbers speak for themselves,” Iacomini says.

Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy has clamped down on smuggling, and attempted to send migrants to detention centres in Albania while their asylum claims are processed.

According to Italy's interior ministry, in 2024, 66,317 migrants arrived in the country by sea, less than half as many as in 2023.

SINGAPORE

PacificLight Power to build $1b hydrogen-ready power plant on Jurong Island by 2029

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The plant will have a capacity of at least 600MW, which is enough to power about 864,000 four-room flats for a year.

PHOTO: ST FILE

Shabana Begum
UPDATED Jan 03, 2025


SINGAPORE – A hydrogen-compatible natural gas power plant built by local electricity generator PacificLight Power on Jurong Island will begin operations in 2029.

The company said the project – which will cost around $1 billion – will be the largest single and most efficient combined cycle gas turbine facility in Singapore.

It will have a capacity of at least 600MW, which is enough to power about 864,000 four-room flats for a year. When it begins operations, it can burn at least 30 per cent hydrogen – a cleaner fuel – with natural gas making up the rest, to generate electricity.


In the future, the plant will be able to burn 100 per cent hydrogen, as the power sector works towards net-zero carbon emissions.

Singapore plans to have at least nine hydrogen-ready power plants by 2030. PacificLight said its newly announced plant will be the largest of these.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) announced the awarding of the contract to PacificLight on Jan 3.


PacificLight’s plant will also be the first to be paired with a large-scale battery energy storage system, which stores electricity during periods of low demand.

The total cost of the project, including plant and machinery, construction, battery storage system and related infrastructure, is estimated to be around $1 billion. This will be incurred over the three-year construction period.

The site of the plant has not been developed yet. An environmental impact assessment is being prepared for the project.

The company added that its site on Jurong Island is “sufficiently sized” to accommodate, in the future, a second gas turbine unit, and also potentially integrate carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology.

“This underscores PacificLight Power’s commitment to adopting cutting-edge solutions that enhance system stability while reducing operational costs and environmental impact,” the company said in a statement on Jan 3.

Singapore currently relies on natural gas to generate most of its electricity but needs to turn to greener sources to meet its net-zero goals.

Hydrogen is considered a greener fuel than natural gas as it does not produce any planet-warming carbon dioxide when burned.

With electricity-guzzling industries, such as those in the digital economy, and electric transport fleets set to grow, EMA forecasts that Singapore’s peak electricity demand is expected to grow by at least 3.7 per cent over the next six years, reaching between 10.1GW and 11.8GW by 2030.

“Additional power generation capacity will be required in 2029 to meet the projected growth in electricity demand and ensure the power system’s reliability,” said EMA.

Since 2024, all new and repowered natural gas power plants must be at least 30 per cent hydrogen-compatible.

The award to PacificLight Power follows a 2024 call for proposal by EMA to have two more plants up and running by 2029 and 2030.

In October 2024, YTL PowerSeraya began construction on an $800 million power plant that is up to 50 per cent hydrogen-compatible, to be completed by 2027.

Sembcorp, Meranti Power and PacificLight Power have five other plants in the works. The four plants by Meranti and PacificLight are expected to be ready in 2025 – these are “fast start” ones that will augment electricity in the event of sudden shortfalls in supply. PacificLight’s two fast start facilities will have a capacity of 100MW each.

Keppel is also building a hydrogen-ready plant on Jurong Island – the Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant is expected to be completed by the first half of 2026.

It will be built on a largely brownfield site that was previously occupied by a chemical plant. In 2023, an environmental impact assessment report for the power plant’s development was criticised by the nature community here, who said the report lacked rigour and paid inadequate attention to the plant’s impact on land-based biodiversity.

Remembering the 1919 Faisal-Weizmann Agreement


January 3, 2025 

MEMO

The Faisal Weizmann Agreement 3 January 1919, signed by Emir Faisal (son of the King of Hejaz), and Chaim Weizmann (later President of Israel) as part of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 settling disputes stemming from World War I [Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images]

by Omar Ahmed
3umr27md

The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement was an early attempt to bring Arab and Zionist ambitions together in Palestine. Signed during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, it ended up having a lasting impact on the region, paving the way for Palestinian displacement and decades of conflict and occupation, which continues to this day.

What: The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement

When: 3 January 1919

Where: Paris, France

What happened?

When discussing the roots of the Palestinian issue, many people tend to focus on the 1948 Nakba (“Catastrophe”), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homeland. Others point to the infamous 1917 Balfour Declaration as a key moment, laying the groundwork for the establishment of a Zionist state on historic Palestine. However, a lesser-known yet highly significant event occurred just two years later: the signing of the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement in 1919, which aimed to reconcile Arab and Zionist ambitions that would have profound consequences for the region.

Signed on 3 January 1919 during the Paris Peace Conference, the agreement was a pact between Prince Faisal of the short-lived Kingdom of Hejaz — the son of Sharif Hussein of Makkah and a prominent leader in the Arab nationalist movement — and Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organisation. Faisal agreed to support the implementation of the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, provided Britain fulfilled its World War One promises of Arab independence from Ottoman rule.

The agreement outlined cooperation between Arabs and Jews, envisioning a peaceful coexistence in Palestine and broader economic collaboration in the region.

This was expressed by the signatories who stated that they were “mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their natural aspirations is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine.”

However, its underlying premise — that the aspirations of Arab nationalism and Zionism could coexist harmoniously — was fundamentally flawed. Arab leaders were largely unaware of the extent of Zionist territorial ambitions, while Zionist leaders saw the agreement as a strategic opportunity to secure a stronger foothold in Palestine, justified as a Biblical right.

This intent is evident in the agreement’s language: “All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlement and intensive cultivation of the soil.”

What happened next?

The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement proved to be a brief and fragile arrangement. Western colonial powers Britain and France reneged on their wartime promises to Arab leaders and, instead, carved up the Middle East under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Palestine came under a British League of Nations mandate, while Syria and Lebanon were placed under French control. Arab nationalist aspirations were crushed, and tensions between Arab and Jewish communities in Palestine escalated, with massacres and acts of terrorism against the indigenous population sowing the seeds for decades of conflict.

The implications of this agreement — and its failure — were, and remain, far-reaching. For Palestinians, it represented a bitter and early betrayal of their aspirations for statehood. A report by Haaretz describing it as one of many Arab betrayals of Palestinians notes the irony of what followed: “Faisal left the Paris conference with a dreadful sense of betrayal. He himself had betrayed his Ottoman masters to fight alongside the British, only to be betrayed by the British after the war. He then tried to make amends.”

Faisal aligned himself with the Syrian National Congress in July of that year. The Congress rejected the French mandate over Syria, declared Palestine to be an inseparable part of Syria, and opposed Jewish immigration to Palestine.

“But it was too late. That year the French expelled Faisal by force from Syria, and three years later, Britain was given a [League of Nations] mandate to implement the Balfour Declaration in Palestine. As a compensation, the British installed Faisal as king of Iraq and his brother Abdulla as king of Jordan, while the Hejaz became part of Saudi Arabia.”

The failure of Arab nationalist ideals, compounded by British duplicity and Zionist settler-colonialism, contributed to a cycle of wars and uprisings, including the Arab-Israeli wars of the 20th century. Today, the ramifications extend to the occupation state’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and land-grabbing and expansionist policies, most recently in Syria after the toppling of the government by opposition forces. Moreover, the normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab states have done little to stem the tide of annexation, displacement and violence, and continued statelessness for the Palestinians.

Risk Management in Humanitarian International Organisations

Written by Sukru Kagan Surucu

 January 3, 2025

EJIL

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) held its 75th Executive Committee session from 14 October to 18 October 2024. Among many items on the agenda, the increasing commitment to risk management strategies adopted by the organisation was highlighted both in the opening statements by the High Commissioner and remarks by the Deputy High Commissioner for Protection. These references reiterated the ongoing commitment of the UNHCR to transforming its structure and conduct to have a stronger focus on region-specific, field-dominated concerns and managing risks on the ground more effectively. Reference to risk management by international organisations is not rare in the form of adoption of “enterprise risk management” strategies. Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a holistic risk management agenda that systematically analyses risks that could arise in the operations of international organisations, identifies potential damage and harms that might be faced by the organisation as a result, and creates a particular “risk appetite” which creates a space of operation whereby it is strategically advantageous or tolerable for the organisation to operate. While ERM is a holistic concept, encompassing multiple forms of risk, the international organisations’ literature mainly emphasises financial, operational, or political risks and demonstrates how the introduction of risk management strategies could potentially reshape organisational decision-making, where international organisations are moving away from operating with the clear boundaries set by the legal mandate of the organisation, to adopt more flexible, and potentially expansive operational spaces that are dynamically set by the potential risk appetite, and risk calculation for a particular domain. Hence, the proliferation of risk management strategies could potentially replace the delimitation of the international organisation’s functions by its legal mandate with risk calculations and make the organisation more prone to taking risks potentially engaging in conduct that is conventionally beyond its mandate.

However, the recent statements by the UNHCR demonstrate another facet of ERM beyond organisations being more proactive to engage in financial and operational risks. This aspect, which more strongly exists for humanitarian international organisations, could be identified as “security risk management” (SRM). SRM refers to the management of physical and security risks faced by especially humanitarian international organisations and the determination of the tolerable governance space for these organisations to operate in in the face of these risks and resulting harms. This blog will attempt to focus on this relatively under-researched aspect of ERM and to demonstrate how the dominance of security risk management in decision-making leads to the opposite result, whereby the organisation is more risk avoidant and restrictive, and the mandate is “contracted” in practice, as organisations would inherently operate within a more limited space of governance than that is set by their legal mandate, given the contrastingly limiting nature of SRM within ERM.

International Organisations and Risk Management

ERM has emerged as a significant mechanism in the determination of organisational conduct and decision-making in many international organisations such as WTO and ICANN,  or more comprehensively, with the increasing inclusion of ERM across the UN network since 2006. This raises significant questions for international institutional law scholarship. Most significantly, the centralised position of ERM frameworks in decision-making could potentially denote a move of international institutional law beyond the mainstream functionalism and constitutionalism oriented way of determining the legal order and functions of international organisation, instead underlying how risk management frameworks and relying upon these frameworks by internal actors could constitute an alternative form of lawmaking and lawyering.

This impact was most clearly demonstrated by Van Den Meerssche in the context of the World Bank and the emergence of the risk framework, under the reforms initiated by General Counsel Leroy. There, the ERM framework and the overall adoption of the risk language were used as a means to make the organisation more agile, flexible, and less reliant on rigid legal mandates, creating, justifying and sustaining the legal order and governance space of the World Bank through this more operationally driven risk framework and not on the basis of the legal mandate of the organisation. Van Den Meerssche demonstrates how this paved the way for the World Bank to act in a more expansionist way, making its legal mandate and its limits secondary, as projects were assessed, authorised, legitimised and implemented through the risk framework and the organisation was prone to take more risks, and hence expand its area of operation. It could be suggested that a similar narrative might exist for other international organisations; risk frameworks, dominated by financial and operational risk appetites, could encourage international organisations to take more risks and act more expansively. This could then weaken the primacy of legal mandates, organisational conduct, and legal order as sustained and demarcated by the mandate.

However, beyond the financial and operational risk framework, the security risk management aspect of ERM, which is particularly relevant for humanitarian international organisations, could produce the opposite effect of inherently constraining and limiting the functions and governance space of the organisation. In the remainder of this blog entry, I aim to compare the emergence and primacy of security risk management and other aspects of ERM, and how it could potentially lead to “mandate contraction” as opposed to “mandate expansion.”

Security Risk Management and Discourse of Risk in Humanitarian International Organisations

Humanitarian international organisations often refer to themselves as facing extensive risks as they operate in challenging environments with precarious domestic and regional political situations. Personnel from organisations such as the UNHCR, IOM and ICRC have often referred to working in field operations where they have to balance risks; for example, risk of harm to the staff members of the organisations during operations, risks due to operating in conflict-like situations, risk of political backlash from host countries in the context of operations, and risks faced in the frontlines working with specifically vulnerable communities. This paved the way for the ERM frameworks in such humanitarian organisations to focus more strongly on “security risk management”. This is apparent, for example, in the ERM framework of the UNHCR, where security risk management plays a great role in the categories of risk the organisation will manage. It was also practically visible in the 2020 risk review of the UNHCR, where security-related risks made up the majority of risk categories reported by the organisation. An overview of activities of humanitarian international organisations by Humanitarian Outcomes and the Global Interagency Security Forum (GISF) demonstrates that SRM frameworks in humanitarian organisations are highly prolific, systematised and dominant in the decision-making process. Organisations employ senior risk management directors and personnel and release various guidelines, policies, and handbooks for staff to follow and reshape their conduct. Especially in the UN agencies, such policies have become highly entrenched, with the systematisation of security risk management for humanitarian international organisations under the UN framework in 2003.

It could, therefore, be argued that, as the increased salience of financial and operational risk has been seen to prompt the World Bank to take action beyond its legal mandate, the developing centrality of SRM (and the proliferation of SRM-related tools and actors as detailed above) may also weaken the primacy of humanitarian organisations’ legal mandates in determining their functions and legal order. This could be seen in practice, such as in the UNHCR. One of the main categories of risk that is determined by the UNHCR in its ERM framework is “government relations”. Managing this risk has become a central point in the organisational decision-making, which could be observed in UNHCR’s operation in Egypt, where staff members were only able to process asylum seekers with guarantees to prevent deportation and detention if they had identity cards due to the necessity to balance risks of damaging their relations with the Egyptian government. Similarly, in Mauritania, the UNHCR office excluded certain asylum seekers from the national protection procedure to protect the relationship of the regional bureau with Mauritanian authorities, guided by the necessity of balancing the risk regarding government relations.

Both examples demonstrate that the UNHCR actors were guided by the framework of risk management while exercising their functions, and acting restrictively, even though UNHCR’s mandate offers a broader scope of activities. While the problem of humanitarian organisations limiting their conduct to balance difficult situations on the ground is not new, the systematisation of these approaches under SRM  demonstrates that it could entrench its own organisational culture, similar to the risk management framework in the World Bank. However, these prior examples suggest that this emerging culture would instead revolve around risk aversion, ultimately construing, understanding and implementing the mandate and functions of the organisation more restrictively. While this post does not adopt a particular normative stance towards this, it aims to highlight the necessity for a detailed socio-legal research into humanitarian international organisations with a focus on security risk management frameworks. This could deepen our understanding of potential new modes of constituting the legal order and lawmaking structures of humanitarian international organisations beyond insights provided by mainstream constitutionalist and functionalist approaches.

Pet dog to be rehomed after waiting fruitlessly for return of family on board doomed Jeju Air flight

A pet dog named Pudding was seen wandering the village streets, seemingly searching for its owner and family.
PHOTO: Instagram/Care_korea_official

January 03, 2025

By Candice Cai

ASIA ONE

It had waited patiently for its owner and other family members to arrive home — but they never did.

What the pet dog named Pudding didn't know, was that the nine family members, including a 79-year-old man and his six-year-old granddaughter, had perished on board Jeju Air flight 2216.

The plane was carrying 181 passengers from Thailand to South Korea on Sunday (Dec 29) when it landed at Muan International Airport and hit a barrier before bursting into flames. Only two crew members survived.


Among the passengers was the elderly man — the oldest passenger on the flight — as well as his wife, two daughters, a son-in-law, his granddaughter and three grandsons.

Another son-in-law who did not join the three-generational family on the trip is now left to deal with the unimaginable loss.

Pudding was reportedly living with the elderly man and his family in a village located in Yeonggwang county, South Jeolla province, according to media outlets.

Two days after the tragedy, Pudding was seen roaming the streets between the home and village streets, seemingly trying to locate his family.

According to The Korea Times, villagers said they saw the dog lingering near the empty family home and watching passing cars.



It was later rescued by animal rights organisation Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (Care) and admitted to a veterinary hospital in Seoul.

The group had described their encounter with the dog: "We found Pudding sitting quietly outside the village hall. When we approached, it ran toward us with excitement, as if still waiting for its family."

Pudding's health is being monitored as its vomit contained "harmful food" such as onions and chicken bones, a representative from Care was quoted by The Korea Times as saying.

Care has stated it will be looking after Pudding until a suitable guardian is found.


It stated on its official Instagram page: "We determined that it was unsafe for Pudding to roam the village without a caretaker.

"After contacting the grieving family at the funeral, we decided to protect Pudding until a suitable guardian can be found."

China gives government workers first big pay bump in a decade to boost economy

Shoppers walk past small shops at an underground mall in Zhuhai, neighbouring Macau 
PHOTO: Reuters file

January 03, 2025 

BEIJING — Millions of government workers across China were given surprise wage increases this week, people affected by the move said, as Beijing looks to boost spending to support the slowing economy.

On a combined basis, the immediate payout would amount to a one-time shot to the economy of between about US$12 billion (S$16 billion) and around US$20 billion if all 48 million people counted as public-sector workers collected on the terms described to Reuters.

The last time China publicly announced a nationwide increase in pay for civil servants was in 2015, when the government raised pay for local officials by more than 30 per cent as part of an effort to combat corruption and lift consumers' spending power.

The State Council Information Office, which speaks for China's government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This time, monthly wages for government employees were increased by an average of about 500 yuan (S$93.70), according to people contacted by Reuters or who had posted on social media. Some junior government workers reported monthly increases of near 300 yuan.

In many cases, the salary increase for officials and public-sector workers was backdated to July and delivered in a single, bonus-like payment, people with knowledge of the matter said.

"Beijing's strategy seems to be encouraging consumption by people who are more willing to spend," said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"So far we've seen cash handouts to poor populations and the pay rise in the public sector. Low-income groups tend to spend a higher share of their income, while civil servants are presumably more likely to spend than private business employees due to their higher levels of social security benefits."

The widespread pay increases, which affected teachers, police and civil servants working across China, were first reported by Bloomberg.

The move was not announced or detailed by Beijing. It was not immediately clear how the increase would be funded, what the total cost would be or the percentage increase in salaries.

A teacher and a civil servant both in southern China said they had received an increase of around 10 per cent. The amount of the pay rise also varied depending on the economic and fiscal situation for provincial governments, another person familiar with the payouts said.

Chinese leaders agreed last month to run a higher budget deficit equivalent to four per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, Reuters has reported.

That would support efforts to hit an economic growth target of around five per cent for 2025 despite the drag from a protracted property crisis, falling prices and the prospect of higher tariffs on exports to the United States.

Government workers began posting on social media about the pay increase on either side of the New Year's Day holiday.

"It's a good thing for everyone if we can walk out of deflation," one person posted on Weibo from Jiangsu.

Others were critical. "How come you stimulate consumption by targeting a small group of civil servants?" a Hubei-based Weibo user said.

A record 3.4 million young Chinese took the civil service exam last year, lured by job security at a time when the private sector is under pressure.

The number of civil service applicants has tripled since 2014 even though some local governments have struggled to pay wages, cutting compensation and in some cases eliminating jobs.

A group of Beijing city workers were told on Thursday they would get a pay bump of at least 500 yuan per month without further detail, one of the workers, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

The good news spurred the team to head out to a restaurant to celebrate, the person told Reuters. "This should be helpful to boost consumption," she said.

Staff at Taiwan shipping giant Evergreen to get 20 months' pay in year-end bonus

Workers will also receive an additional three-month bonus.

The Straits Times
January 03, 2025 

By Angelica Ang

A Taiwanese company that is known for giving employees big bonuses has done it yet again.

Shipping giant Evergreen announced on Dec 31 that its employees would get an end-year bonus averaging 20 months of their salary, according to Taiwanese media outlets.

Workers will also receive an additional three-month bonus, reported Taiwan News.

In 2023, local media outlets put the average salary at the company at around NT$60,000 (S$2,500). The Straits Times previously reported that wages in Taiwan have remained practically frozen for years.

Based on that average salary, this means that employees would get about S$50,000 for their year-end bonus.

Aside from being one of the world's biggest ocean carriers, Evergreen has come to be known for its generous bonuses.

The company gave up to 40 months' pay in year-end bonus in 2021, and surpassed that the following year, with workers getting a bonus of up to 52 months of salary.

For the first three quarters of 2024, the company reported a net profit after tax of NT$108.754 billion — a 239.4 per cent increase from 2023, reported news outlets Taiwan News and NOWNews.

Evergreen's profits are set to continue rising in 2025, driven by global factors such as the Red Sea crisis, which began in October 2023, when the Yemen-based Houthi militant group started launching missiles at commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea to protest against the Israel-Gaza war.

This has prompted companies to ditch shipping routes in the Red Sea — the fastest maritime path between Asia and Europe -—and instead take longer but safer routes. Lengthier journeys have caused supply chain disruptions, which bump up existing freight rates.

SAVE ORANGUTAN'S BOYCOTT PALM OIL

PM Prabowo’s call to expand oil palm plantations in Indonesia is ‘dangerous’: Green groups

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto described oil palm as a national asset that has become a “strategic material” eyed by many foreign countries.

PHOTO: ST FILE

Linda Yulisman
UPDATED Jan 03, 2025, 04:40 PM


JAKARTA – A call by the Indonesian President to expand oil palm plantations has drawn backlash from environmental and farmers’ groups, which warn that his comments may set back efforts to curb deforestation in the country.

In a development planning meeting on Dec 30, Mr Prabowo Subianto described oil palm as a national asset that has become a “strategic material” eyed by many foreign countries. He urged Indonesia’s local and law enforcement officials to protect these plantations.

“I think we must expand oil palm cultivation. There’s no need to fear deforestation,” he said. “Oil palm is a tree with leaves. It absorbs carbon dioxide.”


Green groups have criticised Mr Prabowo’s statement as “dangerous”, adding that it could be taken by government officials as a directive to enlarge oil palm plantations.

“The statement conveyed by Mr Prabowo as the president was dangerous because it would be interpreted by government officials as an instruction to continue land expansion (for plantations) and the clearing of natural forests, which would be devastating,” Mr Andi Muttaqien, executive director of green group Satya Bumi, told The Straits Times.

“As deforestation was not seen as a problem, this will legitimise expansion. This is dangerous.”


This could lead to a rise in social conflicts as well as disputes over land ownership, said conservation groups.


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Added Mr Andi: “If the growth of the palm oil industry is left unchecked, there will be potential big losses in the long term both economically and ecologically.”

Based on research by a coalition of civil society organisations, including Satya Bumi, he added, Indonesia can accommodate only up to 18.15 million ha of oil palm plantations.


If this is exceeded, the country’s ability to support living creatures in the long term will be affected.

Palm oil is used in cooking, cosmetics and jet fuel, and as at 2024, Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of this commodity.

The archipelago already has 17.3 million ha of oil palm plantations, equal to 1.5 times the size of Java island, according to Indonesia’s Geospatial Information Agency.

Millions of hectares of the country’s forests have been cleared for agriculture in recent decades. Sumatra has lost 80 per cent of its forest cover and Kalimantan about 50 per cent.

One environmental group has voiced concern about the potential for increased conflicts.

Ms Uli Arta Siagian, Walhi forest and plantation campaign manager, told ST that for a long time, the police and military in Indonesia had tended to side with palm oil companies embroiled in conflict with the local communities, and often used intimidation and violence against them.

“The instruction (from Mr Prabowo) will legitimise the adoption of a security approach in the operation of palm oil companies by security personnel, which may increase cases where the local communities are intimidated, face violence or are criminalised,” she said.
More on this Topic
South-east Asia’s farmers are under threat from new EU rules on palm oilIndonesia, Malaysia applaud EU’s proposal to delay anti-deforestation law by a year

Mr Prabowo’s comments came as Indonesia, a major palm oil exporter, makes preparations to comply with the EU’s Deforestation Regulation, which will kick in on Dec 30, 2025, after it was pushed back by a year.

The law requires exporters of seven agricultural commodities, including palm oil, rubber and cocoa, to prove their produce and derivatives are not produced on deforested land.

A farmers’ group urged the Indonesian authorities to explore other ways to boost productivity in palm oil production.

Mr Mansuetus Darto, head of the national council of the Indonesian Oil Palm Smallholders Association, said Mr Prabowo’s comments might undermine the government’s commitment to make Indonesia’s palm oil industry more competitive by promoting the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil scheme.

This is seen by the country’s palm oil industry as a tool to allow it to access overseas markets with stringent requirements.

The government should push for enhancing productivity at existing plantations by speeding up revitalisation instead of encouraging plantation expansion, he added.

“If the proposal is executed, it can raise productivity by 20 per cent by 2029,” he told ST, adding that the measure would reduce the risk of deforestation.Linda Yulisman is Indonesia correspondent at The Straits Times. She covers business, politics, social affairs and the environment.

Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra declares millions in watches and bags among $400m assets

Assets include 200+ designer bags worth $2m and 75 luxury watches valued at $5m

WHAT ABOUT HER SHOE COLLECTION?!

Last updated: January 03, 2025 | 
AFP


Thailand's new Prime Minister Paetongtarn ShinawatraAFP

BANGKOK: Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra declared more than $400 million in assets on Friday, her party said, including more than 200 designer handbags worth over $2 million and at least 75 luxury watches, valued at almost $5 million.

The youngest daughter of telecom billionaire and ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn took office in September as the fourth member of the clan to lead a Thai government in 20 years.

She was obliged to declare her assets and liabilities to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

She identified 13.8 billion baht ($400 million) in assets, a document posted on media websites showed.

Her investments were worth 11 billion baht and she had another billion baht in deposits and cash, her declaration said.

Her other assets included 75 watches valued at 162 million baht and 39 more timepieces, plus 217 handbags worth 76 million baht, as well as property in London and Japan, among other holdings.

She also declared liabilities of nearly five billion baht, according to the NACC document posted by local media, giving her a net worth of 8.9 billion baht ($258 million).

A representative from the Pheu Thai Party confirmed to AFP that the figures reported by local media were accurate.

The prime minister's father and predecessor Thaksin - who once owned Manchester City football club - has a net worth of $2.1 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 10th richest person in Thailand.

Thaksin used the wealth generated by his Shin Corp telecommunications empire to propel him into politics, and his family has remained influential even during his years in exile following his ousting in a coup.

London properties, luxury bags in Thai PM Paetongtarn’s $550m assets

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra disclosed her wealth to the National Anti-Corruption Commission as part of the requirements for Thai holders of public offices.

PHOTO: AFP

UPDATED Jan 03, 2025

BANGKOK – Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has declared assets worth US$400 million (S$549 million), including two properties in London, investments in several firms and a collection of luxury watches and handbags.

The 38-year-old scion of the wealthy Shinawatra clan also listed 1.09 billion baht (S$43.4 million) of cash and deposits in more than two dozen bank accounts among her 13.85 billion baht worth of assets.

She disclosed her wealth to the National Anti-Corruption Commission as part of the requirements for Thai holders of public offices, and the agency made the record public on Jan 3.

Ms Paetongtarn – the youngest daughter of billionaire politician Thaksin Shinawatra – became the third member of the Shinawatra family to lead Thailand in August 2024 after her predecessor Srettha Thavisin was ousted by the Constitutional Court in an ethics violation case.

The Shinawatras are among the country’s wealthiest families, with Mr Thaksin striking it rich in the technology boom of the 1980s and 1990s by setting up companies that offered mobile phone services, data networks and satellites.

The Prime Minister transferred her 24 per cent stake in the family-controlled property developer SC Asset in November to a fund manager.

Ms Paetongtarn has about 11 billion baht of investment in companies, and she reported an income of more than 265 million baht in 2024, the document showed.

Among her other assets are 217 handbags, 108 rings, 205 pairs of earrings and nine designer art toys, called Bearbrick.

The London properties include an apartment in Montpelier Street that is on a 992-year lease, the declaration showed.

She owns nine properties and a dozen plots of land across Thailand. She also co-owns a parcel of land in Hokkaido, Japan, along with her husband.

Mr Pidok Sooksawas, Ms Paetongtarn’s spouse and a former commercial pilot, reported assets worth 147 million baht and an income of 5.13 million baht in 2024 that included gains from cryptocurrency trading.

He is co-chief executive at Rende Development, part of the Shinawatra family’s business empire that spans real estate, hospitality and telecommunications.

Ms Paetongtarn’s coalition government has pledged to boost Thailand’s US$500 billion economy, which has been lagging behind South-east Asian peers over the past decade, and slash the cost of living for its 66 million people.

The government has relied on a mix of cash handouts, ramped-up state spending and attracting fresh foreign investments in areas such as data centres and electric vehicles manufacturing to prop up growth.

While Thailand has made rapid progress in poverty reduction over the past two decades, it has the highest level of income-based inequality in East Asia and the Pacific with a Gini coefficient of 43.3 per cent in 2021, according to the World Bank. 

BLOOMBERG

1,000 Crimean's Killed Fighting For Russia,

RFE/RL Investigation Reveals


January 03, 2025 
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and RFE/RL's Crimea.Realities


At least 1,000 residents of Crimea have died fighting for Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to an investigation by RFE/RL. Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014, and media is restricted there while information about military casualties is suppressed. But a team at RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has compiled a database of Crimea's war dead https://ru.krymr.com/a/gruz-200-krym/33244443.html by scouring statements from local officials and social media posts by relatives of the deceased.