Revised anti-wildlife trafficking law in Indonesia brings bite to the rules, but enforcement is key

Indonesia is a key regional biodiversity hotspot and home to endangered species like Sumatran tigers.

 PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: UNSPLASH

Linda Yulisman
Indonesia Correspondent
Sep 15, 2024

JAKARTA – For decades, Indonesia’s protected wildlife such as songbirds and orang utans have been traded illegally and even smuggled out of the country, to the detriment of the species.

A revised law will aid biodiversity conservation and boost hopes of curbing illegal wildlife trading within Indonesia and across its borders, conservationists and experts say. But enforcement is key, they note, emphasising the value of thorough investigation and consistent follow-through in rooting out illegal wildlife trafficking.

The iIlegal wildlife trade is rampant in Indonesia, a key regional biodiversity hot spot and home to endangered species like Sumatran tigers, Asian elephants and komodo dragons (the world’s largest-living lizards). This impinges on its biodiversity and upsets the ecological balance.


The global illegal trade in fauna and flora has been estimated to be worth US$7 billion (S$9 billion) to US$23 billion annually. The value of the illegal trade in Indonesia alone is assessed at up to US$1 billion per year, in addition to enormous economic, environmental, and social losses, according to the United Nations Development

 Programme in Indonesia.

The revised “Law on Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and their Ecosystems”, which took effect in August, will ensure more legal protection for wildlife through harsher penalties and widening the scope for such traffickers to be charged.

Now, individuals can be fined as much as 5 billion rupiah (S$421,300) from a maximum of 100 million rupiah previously, and jailed up to 15 years or triple the duration set in the previous law.

In addition, corporations or corporate traffickers can now be charged under the revised law and if found guilty, be fined as much as 50 billion rupiah and imprisoned for up to 20 years.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s director-general of law enforcement Rasio Ridho Sani believes the move will help reduce illegal wildlife trafficking and strengthen enforcement of the law.

The authorities will also be able to tackle illegal wildlife-related activities and money laundering concurrently, he told The Straits Times. “This approach will be more effective as the charged punishment can be harsher and it enables (law enforcers) to break up criminal networks, including transnational ones, by following the suspects through the flows of the money,” Mr Rasio said.

Among the first cases to be charged under the revised law was the illegal attempted sales of eight rhino horns, five elephant-ivory tobacco pipes and three pipes made from dugong tusks seized on Aug 23 in Palembang, South Sumatra province.

The haul of rhino horns alone was estimated to be worth 245 billion rupiah, reported the daily Kompas. This was the largest bust for the rhino horn trade in 10 years, Mr Rasio was quoted as saying.

And neighbouring Singapore remains a key global transhipment hub for trafficked wildlife, including those from Indonesia.

In 2019, Indonesian police arrested traffickers who tried to smuggle 41 baby komodo dragons into Singapore.

In April this year, a pet shop owner in Singapore linked to a massive cross-border bird smuggling operation was sentenced to jail for 68 weeks.

The global bird trade is a multibillion-dollar business, and wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic’s data shows that at least 459,885 birds have been confiscated from illegal trade in South-east Asia in the past decade.

Singapore also recently upped the ante on the illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife trading and keeping protected species like flying foxes are considered serious offences in Singapore under the Organised Crime Act from Aug 30, and offenders risk jail sentences of up to 20 years.

Endangered orang utans, pangolins and cute gibbons are fair game for poachers, and the mothers are usually killed in the process of capturing their young. Reptiles and birds are popular with buyers and are more easily supplied and transported, say experts.

Between 2015 and 2023, over 82,000 wildlife of various species in Indonesia were sold online to over 7,300 buyers through Facebook, according to Garda Animalia, a local civic organisation committed to protecting wildlife.

While there is no national data on wildlife trafficking, the West Papua natural resources conservation agency has said that endemic species from the province are smuggled abroad most to the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

In a statement responding to ST’s query, Mr Nirwala Dwi Heriyanto, a spokesman at the customs and excise office, which monitors and deters wildlife cross-border smuggling attempts, hopes heavier punishments and fines will have a “deterrent effect” on the traffickers.

“Stronger punishments and bigger fines imposed on wildlife trafficking shows our commitment to eradicate crimes that often involve international networks,” he stated.

The revised law is a step forward in bringing those involved in the network of wildlife traffickers to justice, including the financial backers who play a crucial role in transnational illegal trading in wildlife and animal body parts, conservationists and experts say.

Environmental law expert Adrianus Eryan told ST: “We now expect that law enforcers will begin to target wildlife traffickers that often work in syndicates and across borders... Up to (the) present, only individuals have been arrested while collectors, big traffickers and backers of the syndicates have remained untouched.”

Conservationist and criminologist Dwi Nugroho Adhiasto also noted that under the revised law, protected wildlife outside Indonesia would automatically gain similar status upon entry into the country, which was not the case previously.

“For instance, someone can now be charged... for keeping a Bengal tiger, while previously he would not be,” he told ST.

Besides harsher penalties to deter wildlife trafficking, conservationists and experts say there is a need to consider the enormity of the impact of illegal wildlife trade on the species and the environment.

In order to nurture and reclaim the lost biodiversity, Mr Adrianus welcomes the additional sanctions on traffickers, for instance, to bear the costs of restoring wildlife habitats and conservation areas.

“If the approach is only to punish traffickers with jail sentences, the rehabilitation of the damaged conservation sites will become a burden for the government,” he said.

“Even the most severe punishment will be useless if law enforcement officers are not serious enough to investigate and prosecute criminals,” he added.

NATO IMPERIALISM INVADES THE PACIFIC

China accuses Germany of raising 'security risks' by sending military ships through Taiwan strait

China criticised Germany on Saturday for increasing security risks after two German naval vessels passed through the Taiwan Strait, a key waterway that Beijing claims as its territory. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius defended the move, stating that the ships were navigating international waters on the safest route, while Beijing responded by deploying forces to monitor the vessels.


Issued on: 14/09/2024 -

The Berlin-class replenishing ship A 1412 Frankfurt am Main of the German Navy (Bundesmarine) leaves its home port of Wilhelmshaven in northwestern Germany for the Indo-Pacific Deployment, May 7, 2024. © Focke Strangmann, AFP

China on Saturday accused Berlin of heightening security risks in the Taiwan Strait, a day after two German military vessels sailed through the sensitive waters.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius confirmed on Friday that the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the supply vessel Frankfurt am Main sailed through the strait.

"The German side's behaviour increases security risks and sends incorrect signals," Chinese military spokesperson Li Xi said in a statement.

US military ships as well as those operated by other countries have often sailed through the sensitive waterway.

But the Baden-Wuerttemberg's voyage was the first time in more than two decades that Berlin's navy had done so, according to German media reports.

Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

Germany and many other countries argue such voyages are usual, citing freedom of navigation.

China's Li said Saturday that the People's Liberation Army had sent sea and air forces to "monitor and warn off" the German vessels.

Beijing's troops in the area would "resolutely counter all threats and provocations", Li added.

The two vessels were headed from South Korea to the Philippines, German defence ministry officials said.

Pistorius said on Friday that the course charted by the vessels was "the shortest route".

"It is the safest route given the weather conditions. And these are international waters, so we are sailing through them."
Freedom of navigation

Though Taiwan has only a dozen diplomatic allies, it maintains strong partnerships with various Western democracies such as the United States, which is its biggest weapons supplier.

Read moreBlinken reiterates to China US concern over ‘provocative’ drills around Taiwan

Beijing has in recent years engaged in an escalating campaign of intimidation against Taiwan, including through large-scale military exercises around the island.


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The Chinese government warned this year that "Taiwan independence forces will be left with their heads broken and blood flowing".

Chinese state media reported in June that Beijing could impose the death penalty for "particularly serious" cases of what it views as separatism from Taiwan.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday when asked about the vessels that "there is not much to say... it's an international waterway".

Taiwan said earlier this week that it "welcomes and affirms Germany, along with the US, Canada and the Netherlands, for taking actions to demonstrate the legal status of the Taiwan Strait as international waters, while defending freedom of navigation and maintaining regional peace at the same time".

(AFP)

Tax the rich instead of taking money from 'struggling pensioners', says Lib Dem leader Ed Davey

Sir Ed Davey arrived at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski, keeping up his stunt entrances that helped him grab headlines during the election.

Alix Culbertson
Political reporter @alixculbertson

Sky News
Saturday 14 September 2024 

Ed Davey arrives at conference on jet ski


Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for a tax on the wealthiest instead of cutting support for "struggling pensioners".

Speaking after arriving at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski, Sir Ed said his party is the only one offering up a solution on how to "plug the awful financial mess the Conservatives left us with".

More than 10 million pensioners will lose winter fuel payments under government plans which have been heavily criticised by opposition MPs, some Labour MPs and charities.

Sir Ed told Sky News he would have levied a capital gains tax against the wealthiest instead.

Image:Sir Ed Davey arrived at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton on a jet ski. Pic: PA

"The Conservatives won't admit there's a problem, there is a problem, the financial deficit is large, the Conservatives ran the budget in a very bad way, there needs to be a solution to that," he said.



"But withdrawing winter fuel payments from struggling pensioners isn't the solution so we've put forward in the House of Commons our solution.

"We've said, look at the capital gains tax on the very, very wealthiest.

"So there are alternatives to this. The government doesn't have to do this.

"It has to clear up the Conservatives' mess. But there are other ways, much fairer ways to do that."

Sir Ed continued carrying out stunts as he arrived in Brighton

Sir Ed said his party would also reverse the tax cut the Conservatives gave banks "to deal with the deficit and avoid these painful policies".

He said it is possible to give the winter fuel payments to all but the wealthiest pensioners and this has been done before with child benefit.

"But that's not what the government are proposing," he added.

The Lib Dems have pledged to be a "constructive opposition", choosing to do politics differently from the attack method other parties have chosen to adopt.

"We're going to be the best opposition in parliament, far better than the Conservatives by being constructive, by putting forward alternatives," Sir Ed said.

"And I think we're the only group of people doing that, saying this is where you should get the money from to plug the awful financial mess left by the Conservatives.

"Don't take it from struggling pensioners."

On Saturday, Labour's biggest union backer joined calls for a U-turn on the winter fuel payments cut.

A motion to be submitted to Labour's conference by Unite says "workers and communities... voted for a better future, not just better management".

How will Unite's rebellion on winter fuel affect Starmer?

Rob Powell
Political correspondent@robpowellnews

Labour's first conference as a party of government in more than a decade was always going to be a carefully calibrated affair.

Too much celebration and jubilation a likely no-no, given the sombre picture Sir Keir Starmer has been painting since moving into Downing Street.

But the party probably hoped to avoid a full-on union showdown.

And yet, that looks to be on the horizon.

The motion being submitted by Unite is scathing – lashing out at the decision to cut winter fuel payments and squaring up to the current gloomy tone being adopted by the government.

Last week's Commons vote saw just a limited rebellion among MPs.

If this motion makes it to the conference floor, members may not be so loyal to their leader.

That's not to say any of this should – or will – bother Downing Street.

With a huge majority in parliament, Sir Keir Starmer can afford to rile a few allies now.

Providing he can get them back on side before 2029.

The union's motion calls the cuts "cruel" and goes on to say: "We need a vision where pensioners are not the first to face a new wave of cuts."

UK

‘NHS can’t wait any longer’: Ed Davey tells Labour not to delay investment

Michael Savage

 Policy Editor

THE GUARDIAN
Sat 14 September 2024 

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey in Brighton at the start of the party's autumn conference.

Jamie Lashmar/PA

Keir Starmer must abandon plans to delay investment in the NHS and instead use new taxes on banks and the wealthy to immediately plough almost £5bn a year into the ailing health service, the leader of the Lib Dems has warned.

In an interview with the Observer as the Lib Dem conference takes place in Brighton, Ed Davey said that the forthcoming budget must be squarely a “budget for the NHS”. He warned that waiting to begin the work needed to repair ageing hospitals and increase GP numbers was a serious mistake.

“We’ve got crumbling hospitals,” he said. “We don’t have enough GPs and dentists. Social care is in a mess. Carers aren’t getting support. We need that budget for the NHS. Yes, we agree there needs to be reform, but you can’t do reform without more investment upfront. We will spend a lot of time talking about the NHS. The budget should be a budget for the NHS, above all.”

It comes after Starmer warned last week that the NHS had to “reform or die”, following the publication of a damning report into the health service’s condition in England by the cancer surgeon and former minister Ara Darzi. The prime minister suggested there would be “no more money without reform”.

He conceded that the service was now in a critical condition and that he was willing to face down “loud opposition” to major reforms. However, Davey said that while he was attempting to be constructive with the new government, waiting to invest was a major error.

“That’s the key thing where I think we do differ from what the government’s been saying,” he said. “We’ve been advocating reform, particularly around care. But the government seems to be saying: ‘You do reform first and then you invest.’ I just don’t think that’s possible. You’ve got to invest now, otherwise we won’t have an NHS.

“The NHS can’t wait any longer. Take day-to-day spending. That means you’re going to need more GPs. You’re going to need spending on care, dentists and the like. On capital spend, the backlog of repairs and maintenance in NHS England has nearly doubled since 2015. It’s a crisis.”

He claimed that last year 13.5 million people were admitted to NHS trusts that had sites where buildings were crumbling or were deemed to be high risk from maintenance issues.

“Let’s see what they do in the budget. I’m willing to wait until 30 October, but we are putting down a marker,” he said. “The budget needs to be a budget for the NHS and care.”

The Lib Dems are standing by a pre-election demand for an extra £3.7bn a year in day-to-day NHS spending by the end of the parliament, as well as an extra £1.1bn a year of capital investment in hospitals for 10 years. Davey said it should be paid for by adjusting the rates of capital gains tax, raising £5.2bn a year, and restoring the bank surcharge and bank levy revenues to 2016 levels in real terms. This is forecast to raise £4.3bn.

He warned that the sombre tone struck by Starmer since taking office was unnecessarily negative and said his party would attempt to inject a more positive vision for the country, adding: “There’s a danger that they’re all doom and gloom, and it can’t be done, and you’ve got to wait, and it’s all too difficult. We’ve got to make these cuts.

“Well, I actually think one could be much more optimistic and hopeful about the future. There’s a real return from investing now – an invest-to-save notion where you get people back to work, you boost the economy.

Related: Lib Dems launch election manifesto with pledge to ‘save the NHS’

“We’ve talked about capital gains tax. We had very detailed reform proposals to raise significant amounts from the very wealthy, the billionaires, as well as the banks, the social media giants and some of the oil and gas companies. So I think it’s fair to say we’ve set out quite a big agenda.”

He said that despite a strong election result that saw the Lib Dems return 72 MPs, many in traditionally Tory seats, he wanted to “finish the job” and take even more Conservative areas next time.

“If we can show that there’s hope and optimism about our approach, that will show that, essentially, we’re a better opposition than the Conservatives,” he said.

“If we do that, we’ll not only hold on to our 72 seats that we’ve now got but also I think we can finish the job. We took down a lot of the blue wall. I want to take the whole of it down. I think we can win more Conservative seats at the next election.”

UK

Homelessness charity on 'funding cliff edge'

Daniel Holland
BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service

BBC
Changing Lives warns its rough sleeper outreach programme is at risk

A homelessness charity fears it could have to scrap some services because of a lack of money.

Changing Lives said it was on a "perilous funding cliff edge" that could stop it being able to run services for rough sleepers in Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Changing Lives said it needed the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) to extend the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) fund, which is due to run out next March.

The MHCLG has indicated decisions on the fund's future would be made as part of the government's upcoming spending review.


'Moral obligation'


The Local Democracy Reporting Service reports that North East councils received just over £10m of RSI money to use between 2022 and 2025, some of which is passed on to Changing Lives via grants.

Jacquiline Cox, from the charity, said: "Our Rough Sleeper Outreach services [across North Tyneside and Northumberland] are solely reliant on RSI funding.

"These services provide essential, life-saving support to some of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised people in our community.

"Without this funding, those who are experiencing rough sleeping will have even fewer places to turn.

"Continuing to invest in homelessness services is not just a financial necessity but a moral obligation."

An MHCLG spokesperson said: “Far too many people are experiencing homelessness, and we want to make it easier for them to find a secure home.

“The government is taking urgent action by working with local leaders on a long-term strategy, and will prevent homelessness before it occurs by banning Section 21 evictions and delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.”

Major business leader says Scotland's resources are 'golden ticket for UK growth'

Lucy Garcia
Sun 15 September 2024


Scotland's renewable resources were described as the "golden ticket for UK growth" by the chief executive of the CBI

SCOTLAND’S natural resources are the envy of the world, according to the head of a major business organisation.

The chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Rain Newton-Smith, described Scotland’s resources as the “golden ticket for UK growth”

While highlighting that Scotland “has the tools at its fingertips to be a global clean energy superpower”, she expressed concern that the opportunity could be squandered if ministers failed to address the anxieties of potential investors.

During the CBI’s annual dinner in Glasgow earlier this week, Newton-Smith said: “Though Scotland has made huge progress in pioneering the concept of a just transition and setting one of the most ambitious net zero targets in the world, the truth is, on green growth, as on long-term growth across the UK, we’re not where we need to be.

READ MORE: Grangemouth: Community reacts to cruel fate of oil refinery

“Scotland, the UK – we’ve started to stall on the green investment we need. Since 2020 we’ve fallen down the league tables, behind France and Germany. We’ve lost our first-mover advantage in green growth markets to vast economic stimulus packages from the US and China.”

Newton-Smith added that the Labour government’s plans to increase the windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas companies could spell bad news for Scotland’s industry.

“Energy companies whose current revenues come from oil and gas activities: right now, they represent over 10 per cent of Scotland’s GDP and they can also be a huge part of the transition to net zero,” she said.

She added that since the windfall tax was introduced in 2022 firms had been dealing with a series of changes to how the tax functioned.

Rain Newton-Smith is the chief executive of the CBI (Image: CBI)

“That’s not fiscal certainty and it’s not a spur to invest – exactly when that investment is most important for transitioning the sector.”

While she welcomed the UK Government’s announcement of the National Wealth Fund and GB Energy, she said clarity was still needed around how they would operate.

Indeed, she urged ministers in both the UK and Scottish Governments to focus on removing practical obstacles to growth such as failures in the planning system which result in wind farm developments being delayed.

"We’ve got vision but not detail,” she said.

“We’ve got direction but not certainty.

“Firms will however want to see more in terms of how this aligns with other key net zero plans and strategies, both within Scotland and across the UK – like the yet to be published Energy and Just Transition Plan.”

Key flood defences in disrepair across England as wet autumn looms, data reveals

Toby Helm Political editor
Sun 15 September 2024 

Flooding caused by Storm Ciaran in West Sussex last year.

Photograph: Joe Sene/PA


Thousands of flood defences in England that are supposed to protect properties from serious damage are in a state of disrepair, according to official figures leaked to the Observer before what is expected to be a wetter than usual autumn.

Data from inside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency about the so-called “asset condition” of key flood defences shows the proportion of those regarded as being in adequate condition now stands at just 92.6%, compared with 97.9% in 2018-19. This is the proportion of defences judged to be fit for purpose after rigorous inspection by experts.

Government sources said this was “significantly below” the optimal level of 98%. The Environment Agency has said that approximately 5.7m properties in England are at risk of flooding, a figure that increased by about 500,000 between 2021-22 and 2022-23 alone. According to officials, a 1% decrease in the overall proportion of flood defences found to be in adequate condition across the country puts an additional 10,000 properties at risk.


The figures have raised serious concerns in Whitehall amid forecasts from the Met Office which show an increased likelihood of a wetter than average autumn in 2024.

Last week, ministers in the Labour government convened the first meeting of their new floods resilience taskforce, chaired by the environment secretary, Steve Reed, to bolster the development of flood defences and improve the nation’s resilience to extreme weather. The group discussed plans to speed up and coordinate flooding preparation and resilience between central government, local authorities and community responders, and emergency services.

Reed and the floods minister, Emma Hardy, met representatives from the environment and housing departments, the Home Office, the Cabinet Office, the Environment Agency, the Met Office, local resilience forums, mayoral offices, emergency responders and the National Farmers’ Union, among others, to discuss their plans.

During the meeting, the Met Office confirmed that there was an increased probability of a wetter than average winter floods season. The ground will be waterlogged and rivers swollen after a wet September. At this point in the month, many areas have already received 100% of their average September rainfall, and October is forecast to be similarly wet.

Last year and early this year, floods struck large swathes of the country, and farming was particularly badly affected. As climate breakdown worsens, experts have said that extreme weather, including heavy rainfall and floods, will become more likely in the UK. Cuts to public spending have also left the UK vulnerable, with many flood defences in disrepair. The government has not said whether it will increase the flood resilience budget.

Reed told the meeting: “I’ve made clear that protecting communities from flooding is one of my top five priorities – with preparedness and resilience for this autumn and winter the clear focus for today’s meeting.”

Labour is blaming the Tory government for failing to act to bolster the defences over 14 years. Reed said: “Flooding devastates communities and businesses across the country.The previous Conservative government was too chaotic and distracted to learn the lessons of the past and protect communities before disaster strikes.

“Labour is acting now to speed up the building of flood defences and bolster our emergency response. Unlike the Conservatives, we won’t let communities down.”

The Environment Agency told last week’s meeting it had conducted 170,000 checks on the state of assets in the past year – up from 100,000 in an average year. It has also increased its spending on asset maintenance and repair to £236m, up from £200m.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said:

“We maintain around 75,000 flood defence assets across England. Our defences protected over 282,000 properties during last winter’s storms – and we prioritise maintenance where there is a significant threat to lives and livelihoods.

“This year, we increased our inspections of defences, with 216,000 checks conducted to take into account any impacts caused by the unprecedented storms we faced last winter.

“If the performance of an asset is reduced, we will take action to ensure that flood risk is effectively managed until the asset is fully repaired or replaced.”

HINDUTVA IMPERIALISM

India’s Modi campaigns in Kashmir assembly elections after soldiers killed

Modi says ‘terrorism is on its last legs’ in the disputed territory, a day after two soldiers were killed in a gunfight with suspected rebels.

KASHMIR IS INDIA'S GAZA

Modi addresses a rally at the Moulana Azad Stadium in Indian-administered Kashmir's Jammu area [File: Channi Anand/AP]

Published On 14 Sep 202414 Sep 2024

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says “terrorism is on its last legs” in Indian-administered Kashmir while campaigning in the disputed territory, a day after two soldiers were killed in a gunfight with suspected rebels.

Indian-administered Kashmir has seen a rise in fighting between rebels and security forces before the region’s first local assembly polls in a decade. Voting begins next week.

Keep reading

India-administered Kashmir to hold first local elections in a decade

‘New wave’: Why suspected rebel attacks are rising in Kashmir’s Jammu area

Will India’s Modi break the ice with Pakistan in his third term?

‘Vote against jail’: How two Modi critics won India election from prison

The Himalayan region in India has been without an elected local government since 2019 when Modi’s Hindu nationalist government cancelled the region’s semiautonomy.

“The changes in the region in the last decade are nothing short of a dream,” Modi told thousands of supporters at a rally on Saturday in Doda, a town in the Hindu-majority southern area of Jammu.

“The stones that were picked up earlier to attack the police and the army are now being used to construct a new Jammu and Kashmir. This is a new era of progress. Terrorism is on its last leg here,” he said, referring to the region’s official name in India.

Indian army officers pay tribute to colleagues killed in Indian-administered Kashmir [Channi Anand/AP]

Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) say the government’s changes to the territory’s governance have brought a new era of peace and rapid economic growth.


Kashmir politician released from jail: Provincial elections for first time in a decade

Modi pledged at Saturday’s rally that his party would “build a secure and prosperous” Indian-administered Kashmir “that is free of terrorism and a haven for tourists”.

But this year’s local polls, which begin on Wednesday before results are announced next month, follow a spike in gunfights between security forces and rebels.

In the past two years, more than 50 soldiers have been killed in clashes with rebels, mostly in the Jammu area.

The Indian army said another two soldiers died on Friday during a firefight in the Kishtwar region as it paid tribute to the “supreme sacrifice of the bravehearts” in a post on the social media platform X.



Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947 and is claimed in full by both countries. Rebels have fought Indian forces for decades, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.

About 500,000 Indian soldiers are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year rebellion that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels since 1989.

India accuses Pakistan of backing the region’s rebels and cross-border attacks inside its territory, claims Islamabad denies.

The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought several conflicts for control of the region since 1947.

Election in Jammu and Kashmir, the first in nearly a decade, marks new chapter for region

The Lal Chowk square in Srinagar, capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

 ST PHOTO: NIRMALA GANAPATHY

Nirmala Ganapathy
India Bureau Chief
Updated
Sep 15, 2024

ANANTNAG/SRINAGAR/PULWAMA – With the picturesque Pir Panjal mountain range in northern India’s Kashmir forming the background, a young man with a mop of curly hair wiped sweat off his face as he stood on top of a mini-truck, addressing a crowd in an election rally in a town called Dooru Shahabad.

“Engineer Rashid is not an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is an agent for Kashmir. Only he understands the pain of Kashmiris,” said Mr Abrar Rashid, 23, as he asked for votes for his father, Mr Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid.

The 57-year-old engineer-turned-politician is the leader of the Awami Ittehad Party.


The party came to national prominence after Mr Rashid, who contested the 2024 General Election while in jail, pipped former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) chief Omar Abdullah, to become MP in his maiden attempt.

Mr Rashid and his son have often referenced the BJP in their speeches to deny criticism from the two main Kashmir parties – NC and the People’s Democratic Party – that their party is a proxy for the BJP and would either divide votes or strike a post-election alliance with the BJP.

Engineer Rashid, who has been in jail for 5½ years on terror financing charges, is also on the campaign trail after getting interim bail for 22 days from Sept 11.

Their followers chanted: “Pressure cooker, pressure cooker” – the party’s election symbol – at the rally on Sept 12, ahead of the first state election in nearly a decade.

Awami Ittehad Party leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has been in jail on terror financing charges and is on the campaign trail after getting interim bail. PHOTO: EPA-EFE


Jammu and Kashmir is holding its three-phase election on Sept 18, Sept 25 and Oct 1, with the counting scheduled for Oct 8.

This will be the first assembly election there since the repeal of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in 2019.

The article gave special status to the territory, allowing it to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications.


The state was also bifurcated in 2019, with a separate union territory of Ladakh carved out of Jammu and Kashmir, and downgraded to a union territory, which has less autonomy than a state.

In the 90-seat assembly, Muslim-majority Kashmir has 47 seats and Hindu-majority Jammu has 43.

The election is a key inflection point for the Muslim-majority region, which is seeing new trends like the entry of separatists, who for decades boycotted the polls, and voters who have found their political voice and are keen to vote.

Many independents and smaller regional parties are contesting, giving voters multiple choices but potentially dividing votes that would have otherwise gone to the two main parties.

At the heart of the political discourse is the BJP, because of its decision in 2019 to strip the region of its autonomy.

The key battle is seen to be between the BJP – which is hoping to pick up seats in Hindu-majority Jammu and expected to tie up with smaller regional parties and independents in Kashmir – and NC, which is in alliance with the main national opposition party Congress.

A participant holds a balloon with a message during a Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation campaign on Sept 13. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

The BJP kicked off its campaigning in Kashmir on Sept 14 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said “terrorism is on its last legs” in the state, while addressing a rally in Doda in the eastern part of Jammu.

He pledged that the BJP would “build a secure and prosperous” Kashmir “that is free of terrorism and a haven for tourists”.

During the state election in 2014, the BJP won 25 seats, the Congress 12, and major regional parties People’s Development Party 28 and the NC 15, apart from other smaller parties and independents.

In the 2024 parliamentary election, BJP won the two seats in Jammu while the NC won two of the three seats in Kashmir, with Engineer Rashid winning the remaining seat.

More On This Topic
Election may pave way to restored statehood, says ex-Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah

Opposition leaders in India's Kashmir accuse government of sabotaging their campaigns

Loss of special status

Nearly nine million people are registered to vote for the current election.

While voters believe the special status cannot be reinstated, many still harbour anger and disappointment over the move, posing a challenge for the BJP, which seeks to increase its footprint in Kashmir.

“I will vote so that only those who represent the true interest of Kashmiris come to power. They took away our special status, how can we forgive them? Yes, Article 370 is an issue for me in these elections,” said a shopkeeper in Srinagar, the largest city and summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, who did not want to give his name.

In the four years since the abrogation of Article 370, critics have also accused the federal government of human rights violations as dozens of Kashmiris, including separatist leaders, were jailed and a crackdown on dissent led to an uneasy calm.

But the BJP has dismissed these allegations, instead highlighting that peace has been restored in Kashmir in the last four years, claiming that anti-India sentiment has decreased and tourism has made a strong comeback.

Since gaining independence from the British, India and Pakistan have clashed over control of Kashmir for decades, with three wars fought over the region.

“Our focus is on peace first. BJP has maintained peace here (since the abrogation of Article 370),” said Mr Mohammad Rafiq Wani, a BJP candidate from Anantnag West, one of 17 candidates the party has fielded in Kashmir. “It is not true that the BJP is unpopular.”

The BJP did not field any candidates in the parliamentary election in Kashmir in June but won two seats from Jammu.

Mr Abdullah noted that the BJP strategy appeared to be to pick up as many allies as possible in Kashmir.

“Most of the regional parties and independents are clearly available to the BJP, which would suggest the BJP’s interest is in getting more of them elected and fewer of us,” he said.

Mr Mohammad Rafiq Wani from Anantnag West is one of 17 candidates that the Bharatiya Janata Partyhas fielded in Kashmir. ST PHOTO: NIRMALA GANAPATHY

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Desire to vote

Moving away from polls boycott, which used to be the norm in Kashmir, many youngsters in particular said it was crucial to have local representation to get local issues an airing.

“We don’t have anyone to go to right now with complaints or requests (on any issue) because we don’t have a state government,” said Mr Wahid Ahmed Bhatt, whose family cultivates saffron, a spice that Kashmir is famous for, in Pulwama district.

He said that saffron farming, for instance, requires aid from the government to improve irrigation facilities.

The 2024 parliamentary election saw a 58.46 per cent voter turnout, as opposed to 19.16 per cent in the 2019 edition, which was held amid a polls boycott.

Even a key separatist organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami, which boycotted elections for the last four decades, has now entered the fray, gauging the changing public mood.

Jamaat is a banned socio-religious-political group, often described as the ideological fountainhead of the terror outfit Hizb-ul Mujahideen.

Dr Talat Majeed is contesting the Pulwama Assembly constituency as an independent for the Jamaat-e-Islami, a banned party. 

ST PHOTO: NIRMALA GANAPATHY

Dr Talat Majeed, who is contesting the Pulwama assembly constituency as an independent for the Jamaat-e-Islami, said: “The 2024 Parliament elections have proved that India really is the mother of democracy. As assembly elections are being held in the same way as the parliamentary elections, there is no reason (for us) to be away from elections.

“The Majlis-e-shura (the highest decision-making body in the Jamaat) decided to participate in elections but not in the name of the Jamaat because we are under a ban, and they have decided to field independent candidates.”

Other issues

Still, Kashmir is facing multiple issues such as unemployment and drug use among youth.

According to the 2022-2023 Annual Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report, the unemployment rate in India stood at 3.2 per cent, while it was 4.4 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.

Then there is the economy, which is for now dependent on tourism, with negligible manufacturing activity or services sector activity restricted to restaurants, hotels and shops.

The People’s Democratic Party, which was last in power in a tie-up with the BJP, claimed in its manifesto that it will restore Jammu and Kashmir to its original status, and protect land and employment rights, with locals getting first right over all government tenders including mining contracts.

Supporters of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party head to a rally in Pulwama in Kashmir. 

ST PHOTO: NIRMALA GANAPATHY


The Jamaat has promised a cancer hospital in south Kashmir, while the BJP has promised to create 500,000 jobs and give 3,000 rupees (S$46) to college students.

The election comes at a time when ties between India and Pakistan remain tense. India blames Pakistan for fuelling decades-long militancy in Kashmir.

While India has ruled out any talks with Pakistan, local parties have maintained that talks with Pakistan have to take place to find a lasting solution to peace and this has also been a part of their polls campaign.

Political analysts said Kashmir is going through a new phase where disillusionment and existential questions are now mixed with a sense of hope and a focus on livelihood issues from jobs to economic development.

“In this election, people are participating with a certain degree of enthusiasm. Possibly, they have a point to make,” said Dr Noor Ahmad Baba, a Kashmir-based political analyst and professor of political science.

“This election gives an opportunity for people to express whether they approve of reshaping of the state or not.

“Lots of new parties and independents have emerged, creating uncertainty about the final outcome. We need to watch what happens in the election. I anticipate a good number of people to come out to vote.”

A stolen skull, a severed statue and an Australian city divided

Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News
Reporting fromHobart

ABC News/Luke Bowden
William Crowther's statue has divided the city of Hobart

For months, an unusual monument sat in an oak-lined square at the heart of Tasmania's capital: a pair of severed bronze feet.

A statue of renowned surgeon-turned-premier William Crowther had loomed over the park in Hobart for more than a century. But one evening in May, it was chopped down at the ankles and the words "what goes around" graffitied on its sandstone base.

It was a throwback to another night more than 150 years ago, when Crowther allegedly broke into a morgue, sliced open an Aboriginal leader’s head and stole his skull - triggering a grim tussle over the remaining body parts.

Tasmania had become the centre of coloniser efforts to eradicate Aboriginal people in Australia. And the sailor on the slab - William Lanne - was touted as the last man on the island, making his remains a twisted trophy for white physicians.

Some see Crowther as an unfairly maligned man of his time, and his effigy as an important part of the state’s history, warts and all.

But for Lanne’s descendants, it represents colonial brutality, the dehumanising myth that Tasmanian Aboriginal people are extinct, and the whitewashing of the island's past.

"You walk around the city anywhere and you'd never know Aborigines were here," Aboriginal activist Nala Mansell says.

Now the dismembered statue has become a symbol of a city - and a nation - struggling to reckon with its darkest chapters.


The extinction lie


Few places encapsulate the issue quite like Risdon Cove – called piyura kitina by the Palawa Aboriginal people.

Tucked beside a creek, a monument proudly marks it as the first British settlement on what was then called Van Diemen’s Land.

BBC/Andrew Wilson
Nala says piyura kitina evokes complicated feelings for the Palawa


For Tasmanian Aboriginal people, though, this hillside on the outskirts of Hobart is "ground zero for invasion".

"It's the first landing and not coincidentally the first massacre [of our people]," Nunami Sculthorpe-Green tells the BBC one overcast afternoon.

Startled from their reverie, flurries of native hens - which piyura kitina is named after - scatter over the mossy grass as we arrive.

A wallaby hastily bounds towards sparse gum trees. It’s from that direction that Mumirimina men, women and children would have come down the slope on 3 May 1804, singing as they hunted kangaroos.

They were met with muskets and cannons.

The events of that day - and the death toll - are disputed. What is not contested is that this marked the start of a determined effort by British settlers to get rid of the original Tasmanians, nine nations of up to 15,000 people.

War broke out and Aboriginal people were hunted across the island, the survivors rounded up and sent to what have been described as death camps.

"If that happened anywhere in the world today, it would be referred to as ethnic cleansing," says Greg Lehman, a Palawa professor of history.

Warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: this article contains images of someone who has died.

Ripped from his homelands as a child, Lanne survived two of those camps before living out his final years as a shipmate and beloved advocate for his people.

Even before he died of disease in 1869, aged only 34, letters show that powerful men in Hobart had begun scheming.

"There's no way that that young man was going to be allowed to lie in a grave. No way," historian Cassandra Pybus tells the BBC.

The theft of Aboriginal remains had long been normalised, she says, but reached a fever pitch in Tasmania as the number of its original inhabitants dwindled.

Lanne’s skull was sought to prove since-discredited theories about Tasmanian Aboriginal people - that they were the missing link between humans and Neanderthals, a distinct race so primitive they didn’t even know how to make fire.

Before he was buried, his hands and feet would also be cut off and pocketed by physicians. Some historians say his grave was robbed as well, and every bone in his body taken.

Crowther always denied any involvement in stealing Lanne’s remains - his backers called the allegations a witch hunt - but the town was horrified, and he was suspended from his honorary position at the hospital.

For First Nations people, who believe their spirits can only rest once returned to their land, what happened was especially distressing.

But within two weeks, Crowther was elected to state parliament, and he'd soon rise to be Tasmania’s premier for an unremarkable six months.

By contrast, Lanne's skull appears to have wound up on the other side of the globe at a UK university, and his people were soon declared extinct.

National Library of Australia/J. W. Beattie
William Lanne was photographed by Scot JW Beattie before his death


Except they were not.

Today’s Palawa people trace their ancestry to a dozen women who survived, while other groups - which some do not recognise as Aboriginal - also say they descend from a handful of people who managed to evade capture in the 1800s.

Yet, for the past 150 years, Tasmanian Aboriginal people say they have been fighting to be visible, in the history pages and in everyday life.

The lie that they were extinct is largely blamed on outdated views about ethnic identity. But others say it was also a strategic decision - to deny Tasmanian Aboriginal people rights, and to snuff out their culture.

The impact has been devastating. Many Palawa people speak of being persecuted for their Indigenous blood in one breath and denied their identity because of their white ancestry in the next.

Even now, many feel there are huge swathes of their history missing - or wilfully ignored.

Nala points out all she was taught about Tasmanian Aboriginal culture and history at her Hobart school was a brief lesson on boomerangs and didgeridoos - although her people used neither.

And aside from a walking track named after Truganini - Lanne’s wife and a leader in her own right - there are no sites celebrating Aboriginal people around the city.

"The way they tell stories about Aboriginal people… they want you to think that it's somewhere really far away from where you are, and that it's something that happened a really long time ago," Nunami says.

Unimpressed, the 30-year-old history graduate started Black Led Tours to fill the gap.

Black Led Tours Tasmania/Jillian Mundy
Nunami has walked thousands of people through the city's black history


"I realised that I was walking to work the exact same way Truganini used to walk her dogs. And I realised that my parents met at the pub where William Lanne died. I also realised that the Crowther statue was right next to my bus stop.

"And I thought: does everybody know that this is right here, where we live and where we work?"


A disputed legacy


When unveiling the effigy in 1889, the then-premier said Crowther was not "a perfect man", but one who spent his time doing good.

His scandal overlooked, until recently he was remembered for offering free health care to the poor.

That rankles Tasmanian Aboriginal people like Nala: "It's just a kick in the guts."

As spokeswoman for the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, she led a renewed campaign to take down the memorial.

"To us, it would be no different to having a statue of Martin Bryant," she says, referring to the gunman who massacred 35 people at nearby Port Arthur in 1996.

But some, like Jeff Briscoe - who lost the legal case to prevent the statue’s removal - believe the sculpture has priceless heritage value as the only memorial in the state "funded totally by the public".

"At the time, it was a significant memorial and everyone was proud of it. In 2024, should the perceptions of a few people override all that?

"It's not as if he was going around shooting people… he maybe had been involved in the mutilation of a body, but they all were.

"They’re bringing the bar down so low that no memorial from colonial times will be safe in Australia."

BBC/Andrew Wilson
Jeff Briscoe standing in front of the now-boxed-up statue plinth

Cassandra Pybus says there is no doubt that Crowther did mutilate Lanne, citing letters he wrote. However, she had argued, like Mr Briscoe, that taking down the statue would set a dangerous precedent, because "everybody was racist".

She had wanted it to remain so the site could be used to educate people about how the first Tasmanians were treated.

The statue’s fate divided even Crowther’s living descendants, with some publicly supporting the calls for removal, and others distressed by them.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds says the council voted to remove the statue in 2022 "as a commitment to telling the truth of our city's history, and as an act of reconciliation with the Aboriginal community" - the first decision of its kind in Australia.

They did it after a rigorous consultation and with the support of the "silent majority", she adds.

Ultimately, she says, the statue is a sign of how desperate Crowther was to repair his reputation, not his significance to the state: "[He’s] not that important."

But while the council worked through red tape, some grew impatient and took it down themselves.

ABC News/Luke Bowden
The vandals filmed themselves taking a power tool to the statue's legs

For Lanne’s descendants, their relief at the long-awaited fall of the statue is tinged with pain. They feel Lanne has been reduced to his death.

"He had a whole life... and just as he advocated for our people's rights, we will advocate for his story to be remembered and him to be respected for who he was," Nunami says.

Time for 'truth-telling'?


The Crowther statue is not unique. Countless similar landmarks or monuments - which joke about massacres, include racial slurs or celebrate alleged killers - are still standing across Australia.

Many, like Greg, believe removing or renaming them could be a natural starting point for the "truth-telling" the country needs, to reconcile with its First Peoples, the oldest living culture on the planet.

"You’d think that it was just a bunch of happy free settlers and not-so-happy convicts who jumped off the First Fleet... and bingo, there you've got modern Australia," he says.

"For Australia to have an honest and powerful relationship with itself, it must have an honest relationship with the past."

But after a proposal for an Indigenous political advisory body was defeated at a referendum last year, any movement towards a national truth-telling inquiry has stalled - though many states are setting up their own

There are still many, like Jeff Briscoe, who believe a "truth-telling" process would be a divisive and unnecessary rehashing of the past – views echoed by a bloc of conservative politicians who also oppose a treaty.

"Nowadays people want Aborigines to stand in front of them and say welcome to our country. They want us to dance for them. They want us to teach them our language. They don't mind if we put some of our paintings in the mall," Nala says.

"But if you talk about… any type of benefit for the Aboriginal community, or taking back anything that was stolen from us, it's a completely different ballgame."

However she is among those who feel like the tide is slowly turning.

"The Crowther statue… is the first time I've ever thought, ‘Wow, white people - they're starting to get it'," Nala says.

Blak Led Tours Tasmania/Jillian Mundy
Nunami hopes the Crowther debate prompts more conversations about other Hobart landmarks


The council was still deciding what should replace the sculpture when it met its unexpected end.

But many wanted the severed feet to remain in the square - as is - arguing they made a wryly "funny" and "profound" statement.

However earlier this week, the council plucked the ankles from their perch, to reunite them with the rest of the effigy, citing heritage law requirements.

But Nunami says even the now empty plinth illustrates the story of Crowther and Lanne far better than the statue ever did.

"We get to say we, as the public, learnt, we grew, and we changed the narrative of this place… Look here, we cut that down."

Vietnam typhoon death toll rises to 233 as more bodies found in areas hit by landslides, flooding

103 people across Vietnam remain missing, over 800 have been injured

Associated Press
Published September 14, 2024 

The death toll in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam climbed to 233 on Friday as rescue workers recovered more bodies from areas hit by landslides and flash floods, state media reported.

Flood waters from the swollen Red River in the capital of Hanoi were beginning to recede, but many neighborhoods remained inundated and farther north, experts were predicting it could still be days before any relief is in sight.

HANOI FLOODED BY SWOLLEN RIVER AS TYPHOON YAGI LEAVES 179 DEAD


Typhoon Yagi made landfall Saturday, setting off heavy rains that have triggered flash floods and landslides, particularly in Vietnam's mountainous north. Across the country, 103 people are still missing and more than 800 have been injured.

In a village on the outskirts of Hanoi, Nguyen Thi Loan returned to the home that she'd hastily fled on Monday as the floodwaters rose. Much of A Lac village was still underwater, and as she surveyed the damage, she wondered how she and others would manage.

"The flood has made our lives so difficult," she said. "Our rice crop has been destroyed and at home the electrical appliances like the washing machine, TV and fridge are underwater."



A man paddles a boat in the flood in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in An Lac village, Hanoi, Vietnam, Friday. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

Most fatalities have come in the province of Lao Cai, where a flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu on Tuesday. Eight villagers turned up safe on Friday morning, telling others that they had left before the deluge, state-run VNExpress newspaper said. However, 48 others from Lang Nu have been found dead, and another 39 remain missing.

Roads to Lang Nu have been badly damaged, making it impossible to bring in heavy equipment to aid in the rescue effort.

Some 500 personnel with sniffer dogs are on hand, and on a visit to the scene on Thursday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh promised they would not relent in their search for those still missing.

"Their families are in agony," Chinh said.


Coffins were stacked near the disaster site in preparation for the worst, and villager Tran Thi Ngan mourned at a makeshift altar for family members she had lost.

"It's a disaster," she told VTV news. "That's the fate we have to accept."

In Cao Bang, another northern province bordering China, 21 bodies had been recovered by Friday, four days after a landslide pushed a bus, a car and several motorcycles into a small river, swollen with floodwaters. Ten more people remain missing.

A woman wades in flood in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi in An Lac village, Hanoi, Vietnam, Friday. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)

Experts say storms like Typhoon Yagi are getting stronger due to climate change, as warmer ocean waters provide more energy to fuel them, leading to higher winds and heavier rainfall.

The effects of the typhoon, the strongest to hit Vietnam in decades, were also being felt across the region, with flooding and landslides in northern Thailand, Laos and northeastern Myanmar.

In Thailand, 10 deaths have been reported due to flooding or landslides, and Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra flew to the north on Friday to visit the border town of Mae Sai. Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation warned of a continuing risk of flash floods in multiple areas through next Wednesday, as new rain was expected to increase the Mekong River's levels further.

In Myanmar, the army said Friday that at least 33 people have died across the country since Wednesday. It said 187 relief camps have been established for nearly 240,000 flood victims from 34 townships.


There are fears the death toll may rise sharply as local news outlets reported dozens missing in floods and landslides in the central regions of Mandalay and Bago, as well as eastern Shan State and the country's capital, Naypyitaw.

International aid has been flowing into Vietnam in the aftermath of Yagi, with Australia already delivering humanitarian supplies as part of $2 million in assistance.

South Korea has also pledged $2 million in aid, and the U.S. Embassy said Friday it would provide $1 million in support through the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

"With more heavy rain forecast in the coming days, USAID’s disaster experts continue to monitor humanitarian needs in close coordination with local emergency authorities and partners on the ground," the embassy said in a statement. "USAID humanitarian experts on the ground are participating in ongoing assessments to ensure U.S. assistance rapidly reaches populations in need."

The typhoon and ensuing heavy rains have damaged factories in northern provinces like Haiphong, home to electric car company VinFast, Apple parts suppliers and other electronic manufacturers, which could affect international supply chains, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a research note.

The center said 95% of businesses in Haiphong were to resume some activity on Sept. 10 but that "repair efforts will likely lower output for the next weeks and months."