1. Wulan Guritno
2. Aura Kasih
3. Acha Septriansyah
4. Anggun C. Sasmi
5. Ayu Azhari
6. Dinda Kanya Dewi
7. Krisdayanti
8. Nadia Ernestia
9. NAVY RIZKI TANAVIA
10. Syahrini
05 June 2013
04 June 2013
Japan's sex slave legacy remains open wound
More than 70 years ago, at age 14, Kim Bok-dong was ordered to work by Korea's Japanese occupiers. She was told she was going to a military uniform factory, but ended up at a Japanese military-run brothel in southern China.
She had to take an average of 15 soldiers per day during the week, and dozens over the weekend. At the end of the day she would be bleeding and could not even stand because of the pain. She and other girls were closely watched by guards and could not escape. It was a secret she carried for decades; the man she later married died without ever knowing.
Tens of thousands of women had similar stories to tell, or to hide, from Japan's occupation of much of Asia before and during World War II. Many are no longer living, and those who remain are still waiting for Japan to offer reparations and a more complete apology than it has so far delivered.
"I'm here today, not because I wanted to but because I had to," Kim, now 87, told a packed audience of mostly Japanese at a community center in Osaka over the weekend. "I came here to ask Japan to settle its past wrongdoing. I hope the Japanese government resolves the problem as soon as possible while we elderly women are still alive."
The issue of Japan's use of Korean, Chinese and Southeast Asian women and girls as sex slaves — euphemistically called "comfort women" — continues to alienate Tokyo from its neighbors nearly 70 years after the war's end. It is a wound that was made fresh this month when the co-head of an emerging nationalistic party, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, said "comfort women" had been necessary to maintain military discipline and give respite to battle-weary troops.
His comments drew outrage from South Korea and China, as well as from the U.S. State Department, which called them "outrageous and offensive."
Hashimoto provided no evidence but insisted that Tokyo has been unfairly singled out for its World War II behavior regarding women, saying some other armies at the time had military brothels. None of them, however, has been accused of the kind of widespread, organized sexual slavery that has been linked to Japan's military.
Historians say up to 200,000 women from across Asia, including China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as the Netherlands, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers.
To many people, even within Japan, Hashimoto's comments suggest that even after all these years, Japanese leaders don't want to fully acknowledge wartime wrongs and are out of touch with the sentiments not only of their neighbors and the international community, but also many of their own citizens.
"It's not a problem of the past. It's a continuing problem that involves people who are still alive," said Koichi Nakano, a Sophia University political science professor. "Japan is perceived as merely waiting for them to die while looking the other way and dragging its feet. That looks bad from a humanity point of view."
According to a survey conducted over the weekend by the conservative Sankei newspaper and FNN television, more than 75 percent of Japanese said Hashimoto's sex slave remarks were inappropriate, while support for his party slumped to 6.4 percent — nearly half what it was last month.
The comments come amid rising concerns in the region over the nationalistic shift in Japan's political leadership under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has suggested he wants to revise Japan's past apologies for its wartime aggression and change its pacifist constitution.
In 1993, Japan officially apologized to "comfort women" in a landmark statement by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono, acknowledging "immeasurable pain and incurable physical and psychological wounds."
But Kim and other women want a full apology approved by parliament and official compensation from the government. Tokyo has resisted that, saying war reparations with South Korea were dealt with in treaties restoring relations after the war. In 1995, Tokyo created a fund using private donations as a way for Japan to pay former sex slaves without providing official compensation.
The fund provided 2 million yen ($20,000) each to about 280 women in the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea, and funded nursing homes for Indonesian victims and medical assistance to about 80 former Dutch sex slaves.
In South Korea, 207 women formally came forward and were recognized as eligible recipients. But only a fraction actually accepted the money because of criticism of the private fund. Instead they receive support from the South Korean government and a support group.
In Japan, much of the debate still focuses on what role the government at the time played in organizing brothels, and if — or to what extent — the women were coerced. The Kono statement says the military was involved directly or indirectly in the establishment and management of front-line brothels and transfer of women, and that many women were in many cases "recruited against their own will through coaxing and coercion."
Nobuo Ishihara, who was then deputy Cabinet secretary, said in March 2006 that interviews with 16 South Korean women in Seoul led to the conclusion that there was systematic coercion by the government even though there were no official documents showing so.
"After interviewing the 16 comfort women, we came to believe that what they were saying could not be fabrication. We thought there was no doubt they were forced to become comfort women against their will," Ishihara said. "Based on the investigation team's report, we concluded that there was systematic coercion by the government."
Hashimoto, 43, sought to calm the uproar Monday, telling a packed news conference that he personally didn't condone using "comfort women," which he labeled a violation of human rights.
But he repeatedly insisted that Japan's wartime government did not systematically force girls and women into prostitution, although he acknowledged that some may have been deceived and coerced. He said the historical record isn't clear, which is similar to Abe's view that there is no proof the women were coerced as a result of a state order. He said historians from both Japan and South Korea should settle the matter.
Hashimoto acknowledged that this murkiness probably is the key stumbling block in Japan's ties with South Korea.
Chuo University historian Yoshiaki Yoshimi, one of Japan's most respected experts on "comfort women," criticized the Japanese government for taking an extremely narrow interpretation of what constitutes coercion.
He said documents show "comfort women" recruited in Japan were mostly adult professionals, although many had been sold into the sex industry by their poor families. However, in Asian countries invaded by Japan, there was no consideration of the rights of minors or the right to quit, which he said should constitute coercion by international standards.
"Neither Prime Minister Abe nor Mayor Hashimoto has tried to look at how those girls and young women were abused. Their view is worlds apart from the international view," he said.
Kim was dragged across Asia, from Hong Kong to Singapore and Indonesia, until the end of the war in 1945. She was freed in Singapore and returned home in 1946. She later was married but — like most former sex slaves — was never able to reveal her past to anyone but her mother — until decades later.
"Even as I returned to my homeland, it never was a true liberation for me," she told listeners at the community center. "How could I tell anyone what had happened to me during the war? It was living with a big lump in my chest."
She finally broke her silence several years after her husband died in 1981. Later she joined a group of women seeking official recognition as victims of Japan's sex slavery.
Kim has since traveled around the world to tell her story and participates in weekly protests in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Kim and another former sex slave, 84-year-old Kil Won-ok, had been seeking a meeting with Hashimoto for some time when he made his comments this month. He then offered to meet with them, but they canceled, saying they didn't perceive that he was remorseful and didn't want to be used by him to rehabilitate his image. Instead, they spoke to the public in Osaka.
"We won't be around much longer," Kil said. "But we have to tell you our stories because we don't want the same mistake repeated again."
03 June 2013
Vietnam Interested in CN-295 aircraft Made in Indonesia
Vietnam has expressed interest in purchasing CN-295 military transport aircraft manufactured by Indonesia’s state-owned airplane company PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) and Spain’s Airbus Military.
Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh also plans to send a delegation to study Indonesia’s aviation industry, Antara news agency reported on Monday.
Thanh recently met with Indonesian Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Hanoi.
Sjamsoeddin and other officials from the ministry and PT DI flew to Vietnam for a three-day visit as part of a six ASEAN country road show to promote CN-295 aircraft.
The delegation will also visit the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia from May 22-31.
02 June 2013
Apple 1 from 1976 signed by Wozniak sells for $650,000
The Apple 1 was one of the first 50 built by Apple co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Jobs' parents' garage.
The computer - consisting only of a motherboard, signed by Mr Wozniak - went to an anonymous buyer from Asia.
Last year, an Apple 1 sold for 490,000 euros (£418,000; $633,000).
Only about 200 Apple 1s were ever made. About 46 remain in existence, but only six of those are still in working order.
Bob Luther, author of The First Apple, called the Apple 1 the "holy grail of collectable technology".
The one sold at auction in the German city of Cologne on Saturday was purchased together with an original monitor, tape-player and keyboard. The documentation was signed by Steve Jobs.
01 June 2013
Picking winners: Why so many new firms love awards
But this is actually a real-life version of TV show Dragon's Den (or Shark Tank as it is known in the US), and the four nervous finalists are waiting to find out which of them will be walking away with £3,000 of investment and - most importantly - the ability to say they are the 2013 winners of a competition called Pitch to Rich.
Trying to become a successful entrepreneur has never been more fashionable and thousands of new business competition schemes like this have sprung up around the world.
For while business start-ups of the past went to work to try to make lots of money, today they seemingly all want to also be award-winning.
And there are plenty of opportunities - Harvard University in the US has the New Venture Competition, South African Breweries has its KickStart scheme, and in the UK there is the Growing Business Awards. The list is almost endless.
But why are would-be entrepreneurs so keen to enter such competitions, and how do the organisers benefit?
'Make people listen'
Sir Richard Branson, perhaps the UK's best-known entrepreneur, didn't enter any competitions for start-up businesses as a young man - such award schemes barely existed back in the 1970s - but he now runs his own, Pitch to Rich.
Organised by Virgin Media Pioneers, the initiative was set up by telecommunications business Virgin Media to support would-be entrepreneurs. In addition to the £3,000 of investment, the annual winner also gets mentoring, as well as legal, branding and marketing advice.
The four 2013 finalists - whittled down from hundreds of entrants who each submitted a one-minute video pitch - are:
- a woman who wants support for her houses made from straw
- two brothers who have launched theft-resistant rucksacks
- a gourmet sweets start-up
- a man who has invented a new type of engine.
Each had four minutes in which to pitch to Sir Richard and four other judges - including Thea Green, founder and owner of beauty business Nails Inc.
After four impressive pitches, the winner is High Spirit, a business that makes theft-resistant leather rucksacks.
It is run by London-based brothers Joshua, 25, and 23-year-old John Okungbaiye. John is very clear on why they entered.
"The prize money and advice will be very useful, but you can't put a price on the publicity we should get," he says.
"Winning the competition will help publicise the brand, help convey the message, and make people listen."
'Very competitive'
A few days later, across in the City of London, another group of would-be entrepreneurs were pitching before a panel of potential investors in a real-world version of TV's The Apprentice.
This time it was young people, typically graduates, who had succeeded in gaining a place on a year-long intensive start-up support programme run by a charity called New Entrepreneurs Foundation (NEF).
Now in its second year, more than 600 applicants had initially applied online for one of the 26 places. Some 350 were then picked for phone interviews, before the final 26 were chosen following 250 face-to-face interviews.
The year-long NEF programme comprises four parts - a paid work placement with a successful entrepreneur for each finalist, regular business-skills workshops, monthly speaker and networking events, and one-to-one mentors.
The entrants then compete for investment by pitching their business ideas to potential backers, such as angel investor Ed Wray, co-founder of gambling website Betfair.
Amelia Boadle, 25, who is on this year's NEF programme, says: "It certainly was very competitive to get on, that was tough.
"During the year itself, it has still been competitive, but not cut-throat," adds Ms Boadle, who is pitching for backing for her helmet-mounted cycle light Cycle.in.sight.
Chris Sheldrick, 24, who is pitching to secure backing for his luxury sugar company, Sheldrick's of London, says he has benefited from the networking opportunities that NEF provides.
"I was always destined to run my own company, NEF has accelerated it, you can do in a year on the scheme what would otherwise take many [years]."
NEF's chairman, Oliver Pawle, says NEF's core aim is simply to create the entrepreneurs of the future to boost the UK's economy.
"We are unashamedly looking for the brightest and the best," he says.
'Advertising courses'
But why do so many large companies and universities now run competition schemes for would-be entrepreneurs?
Brian Morgan, professor of entrepreneurship at Cardiff Metropolitan University, takes a rather cynical view.
"Corporates run such competitions because they can log it as part of their CSR [corporate and social responsibility] strategy, and it helps market them to the younger customer." he says.
"Universities largely do it because they are tasked with engaging with the local economy. At the same time, they can use the award scheme to advertise their courses to potential students."
With so many business start-up and entrepreneurship competitions now in existence, Prof Morgan says "there are beginning to be too many of them".
"You do have to worry that the sheer number of competitions and other schemes, and whether they devalue a young entrepreneur saying he or she won this or that," he says.
"But then at the same time, they are raising awareness of entrepreneurship, so at the end of the day the net impact is good."
Back at the Pitch to the Rich final in central London, how does Sir Richard think his young self would have fared in such a competition?
He says it reminds him of when, as a teenager, he met executives of a newspaper group to see if it would back his then student magazine.
"They were quite interested in getting involved in the magazine, and [then] I started talking about student hotels, student airlines, student this, student that," says Sir Richard.
"After a while they showed me to the door, they thought I was completely off my head.
"Anyway, I was talking ahead of myself in those days, so I suspect I would have lost by talking ahead of myself - which I often do and did."
31 May 2013
Fast & Furious 6 races to top of US box office
The action sequel made $122.2m (£80.7m) over the four-day Memorial weekend. The Hangover Part III took $52m (£34.3m).
With the continued strength of Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Great Gatsby and Iron Man, early estimates suggest it could be a record-breaking weekend.
Box-office tracker Hollywood.com estimates takings will hit $323m.
This would make it the biggest Memorial weekend box office on record.
Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for Hollywood.com, estimated that four-day revenues this year would be about 15% above Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when The Hangover Part II fetched $103.4m on its debut.
Fox's animated film Epic was another new entry at number four with $34.2m (£22.5m)
Fast & Furious 6 knocked Star Trek: Into Darkness off the top spot.
JJ Abrams's second Star Trek movie was widely expected to make $100m (£66m) on its debut last weekend but the film took $84m (£55.5m).
The sixth Fast & Furious movie stars Vin Diesel as a gang leader who is ordered by a US agent - played by Dwayne Johnson - to stop a team of mercenary drivers causing havoc across 12 countries.
What award winning President SBY should say
But on May 30, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in New York City will honor Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with its World Statesman Award, given annually to an individual who supports “religious freedom and human rights throughout the world” and “promotes peace, tolerance and ethnic conflict resolution”.
In light of the deteriorating situation facing religious minorities in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, news of the award came as a surprise. But in accepting the accolades, President Yudhoyono has an opportunity to transform an event likely to cast a harsh spotlight on Indonesia into a genuinely positive occasion.
To do that, here is the award speech Yudhoyono should give:
“Members of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, distinguished guests, citizens of Indonesia and citizens of the world:
“Thank you for this award. Indonesia has come a considerable way since the end of the repressive New Order policies of the late President Soeharto. Over the past 14 years the country has made great strides in becoming a stable democracy with a strong civil society and an independent media.
“But I wish to focus my remarks this evening on the issues of promoting religious freedom and tolerance and ending ethnic conflict.
“Awards such as this can serve two purposes. They can honor an individual for their past accomplishments. And they can publicly exhort, cajole and inspire an individual to future actions.
“US President Barack Obama acknowledged this when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just months after taking office. ‘I would be remiss,’ he told the Nobel committee, ‘if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.’
“I would be similarly remiss if I did not recognize the controversy that surrounds my receiving this award. Efforts to promote the equality of all religious beliefs in Indonesia, and to stop the discrimination and violence against minority religions, cannot even be said to have begun, let alone reached an end.
“This evening I will briefly share with you the threats to religious freedom that persist today in Indonesia and, more importantly, my concrete plans to address them. In this way, I hope not only to give meaning to this award, but also set the stage to improve the lives of all Indonesians.
“In recent years, Islamist militant groups in Indonesia have committed increasingly aggressive harassment and assaults against members and houses of worship of religious minorities, including Ahmadiyah, Christians and Shia Muslims. Many people have been killed or injured just for practicing their faith. Local authorities and police often respond slowly or not at all to this violence. And few perpetrators have been adequately punished by the courts.
“Tonight I wish to announce my government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy regarding attacks on religious minorities. I pledge that every attack on a religious community will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“Second, government officials, instead of being part of the solution to sectarian violence, have all too often been part of the problem. Local authorities have responded to acts of arson and other crimes by blaming the victims. While some national officials have spoken out in defense of religious minorities, others have made discriminatory and disparaging statements. I must admit that I stood silent as my own minister of religious affairs has called for the banning of the Ahmadiyah religious community.
“I pledge to take immediate disciplinary or legal action against all government officials, no matter how senior, who make statements or engage in actions that promote religious discrimination or condone violence against religious minorities.
“Lastly, Indonesian authorities enforce discriminatory laws and regulations against religious minorities, including a blasphemy law that officially recognizes only six religions. These laws have facilitated harassment and intimidation of religious minorities by officials who refuse to issue building permits for minority houses of worship and who pressure their congregations to relocate. In two cases, local officials even refused to implement Supreme Court decisions granting minority groups the right to build houses of worship.
“My government will undertake a review of existing laws, regulations, and decrees on religion to identify provisions at odds with the rights to freedom of religion and conscience. I will then work closely with parliament to revise or repeal those provisions that are contrary to the constitution or Indonesia’s international legal obligations.
“As soon as I return to Indonesia I will establish an independent national taskforce on protecting the rights of religious minorities composed of experts and influential individuals who are committed to religious freedom. And I will begin a public education campaign to promote tolerance of all religious beliefs.
“Ending harassment and violence against religious minorities in Indonesia is an important prize still to be won. Tonight I believe we are making a start. Thank you.”
The writer is legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch.
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