AsiaNews Magzine, July 11-17,2014

July 11-17, 2014

COLOURS OF RAMADAN Sights, sounds and smell of Ramadan bazaars add to the festivity of the season

Contents July 11-17, 2014

❖ Lifestyle

❖ Weekly Briefing

❖ Life

Colours of Ramadan

News around the region

World Cup gamblers

COVER IMAGE: THE DAILY STAR

Contents July 11-17, 2014

❖ Life

❖ Culture

❖ Business

❖ Business

Picture perfect in Quetta

Wood carving, Kamoro style

Sowing the seeds of woes

From crop to cup

Contents July 11-17, 2014

❖ Lifestyle

❖ Travel

Datebook

Traditional diet does not mean healthy

Sarawak’s fields of gold

Happenings around Asia

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

July 11-17, 2014

AFP

Yuan Zai, the first giant panda cub born in Taiwan, celebrated her first birthday at the Taipei Zoo on July 6 with thousands of fans. The panda was presented with a birthday cake made of apples, pineapples, carrots and buns. Yuan Zai was born after four years of artificial insemination attempts using sperm from the only other two giant pandas at the zoo, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan. The pair of giant pandas was given to Taiwan four years ago by China to symbolise warming ties between the two sides.

Over half a million people displaced by the military operation in North Waziristan, Pakistan, have been registered so far. A report submitted to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif puts the number of registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) at 572,529.

At least 44,633 families have fled their homes in the restive tribal agency after the military launched Operation Zarb-i-Azb, targeting terrorist sanctuaries in the area, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

AFP

AFP

Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Abd Hir, involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, is believed to be still alive.

The US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation has put a US$5million price on his head and security agencies have stepped up their operations in the hunt for this dangerous fugitive, especially in view of events in Syria and Iraq.

North Korea will dispatch a squad of cheerleaders to the Asian Games in South Korea in a fresh conciliatory gesture following heightened military tension.

The 17th Asian Games will take place in Incheon from September 19 to October 4.

Its cheering brigade will be introduced to the outside world for the first time since the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships, also held in the South Korean port city.

More than 200 Filipinos are languishing in jails in China for drug-smuggling offences, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. PDEA said almost three-fourths of the number are women caught transporting illegal drugs there. Of the 220 Filipinos held in China jails as of May this year, 161 are women while 59 are men.

July 11-17, 2014

LIFE

He Na, Meng Jing and Cao Yin China Daily Beijing

F

or millions of viewers in China and across the globe, the World Cup is a month-long extravaganza of football and a chance to share the triumphs and losses with family and friends.

For a limited number, though, it is a descent into the despair of unpayable debts racked up by gambling.

Macau police detained 22 suspects involved in gambling on football matches on June 20 during the 2014 World Cup, with bets valued at $645 million.

China Daily

WORLD CUP GAMBLERS

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In one case, on June 27, a woman committed suicide at a hotel in Haikou, Hainan province, after losing more than 100,000 yuan (US$16,000) gambling on the World Cup. People.com.cn said the woman, surnamed Wang, 32, had previously placed bets on the outcome of matches and had lost tens of thousands of yuan before her husband settled most of her debts.

In an effort to recoup the losses, she borrowed more than 100,000 yuan to bet on other matches but lost this money also.

Wang locked herself in a hotel restroom and lit charcoal before succumbing to the fumes.

The police found a suicide note in which she expressed her remorse for the grief she knew her family would feel.

Wang was not alone in her despair. Several other suicides have been reported in China, and across the globe.

On June 10, a college student leaped to his death in Panyu,

Guangdong province, after losing more than $3,000. The plight of those driven to suicide means that a harsh spotlight is being shone on gambling, both legal and illegal, especially sites set up overseas that may appear legitimate but are, in actual fact, scams.

According to the National Sports Lottery Centre, the industry regulator, more than 150 million yuan in bets were placed on June 12 in China, the tournament's opening day, three times the amount for the previous World Cup. Statistics from the Beijing-based Caitong Consultancy, a lottery research institute, showed that bets hit 2.24 billion yuan within the first week of the World Cup, which roughly equals the total of 2.3 billion

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yuan during the whole 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

By midday on June 21, accumulated bets had soared to 4 billion yuan. Insiders predicted that bets placed during the World Cup would exceed 10 billion yuan.

Main platform

Huo Wei, in his late 20s, is a football fan who works in broadcasting in Beijing. He has bet 1,500 yuan since the event began, and while he has won some money back during the group phase, he has lost almost all of his winnings at the first stage of the knock-out phase.

"I have never bet on football before, but I found it really convenient. You don't even need to go out as you can place a bet on a computer or even on a mobile phone through a credit card or online payment apps," he said.

Huo said he often bet on JD.com Inc, China's secondlargest e-commerce company.

"If you win, the winnings will be transferred to your account. Even my friend who works abroad asked me to place a bet for her," he said.

"To place a bet makes watching the match more interesting. But there is a contradiction. For example, I like Argentina, but I might back their opponents as the odds for winning are greater.

In order to win more, I bet on Argentina losing," he said.

"I think the games, as long as big business is involved, may fall foul of backroom deals.

So I never dreamed of being rich through gambling, but it can be fun if you bet just a small amount," he added.

Bets have taken off with the World Cup, and China's Internet titans are battling for a slice of the huge market.

Gambling costs fans their lives Li Zichuan, an analyst with the Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys International, said that the World Cup is a major opportunity for companies to drive up sales.

"With the increasing Internet penetration in China—Internet, and the mobile Internet in particular—are more and more involved in people's daily lives and people are inclined to place bets online because it is more convenient," Li said.

Statistics from Caitong Consultancy showed that more than 70 per cent of bets made during the World Cup are made online. But Li said that online lotteries overall accounted for roughly 10 per cent of the total lottery sales market in China.

"Online lotteries usually account for more than 30 per cent of

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overall lottery sales in developed countries. So it is a market with great potential," he said.

A recent report from Analysys International said that more than 50 per cent of lottery buyers in China spent more than 10,000 yuan in 2013. Average spending on lotteries has been rising in the first quarter of 2014.

Many of China's Internet giants have been working hard to tap into this sector. Taobao. com, China's largest customer-tocustomer portal, has reorganised its Web page to make it easier for football fans to place their bets and offered those who spend more than 100 yuan a chance to win a 500 yuan bonus.

Sales for Taobao's lottery service soared since the event started, and more than 4 million bets were placed on the opening day. Within three days, the number of punters had

surged to 6 million, according to the press office of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the owner of the Taobao platform.

Leading online lottery agent 500.com has seen lottery sales rise markedly, roughly three to five times the daily average before the World Cup, according to Pan Zhengming, CFO of 500.com Ltd. Apart from Taobao and 500. com, a large number of China's online platforms and Internet firms, such as JD.com Inc and Tencent, also have tapped into online lotteries either by setting up lottery channels under their online marketplaces or selling lottery tickets through apps.

Underground banker

Despite the booming market, Li, of Analysys International, said that the online lottery market is still in its infancy in China as most of

the companies are not licensed to sell tickets directly online.

Only two companies, 500.com and sporttery.cn, have gained the licenses to carry out pilot projects to sell online lotteries from the Ministry of Finance.

"The other online platforms can only serve as sales agents.

And like any online transactions, there are risks that people's betting accounts can get hacked or they may possibly be cheated when buying online," he said.

Zhang Chao, 45, works in a state-run enterprise in Changchun, capital of Jilin province. He has lost about 10,000 yuan since the World Cup began.

"The reason that I am gambling is very simple.

Sometimes it is too tiring to watch matches after midnight but if you have put on a bet you won't feel sleepy," he said.

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He registered on a foreign lottery website and placed a bet. "We have a 'friend circle' on WeChat in which all of us bet illegally," he said.

He did not know who the banker was as a friend introduced him. He said he will bet more to win back his losses during the quarter finals and up to the final as the odds might be better.

The Internet security centre of Qihoo 360 Technology Co has monitored the amount of World Cup lottery phishing websites and they have tripled since the tournament began.

These lure unsuspecting customers to place bets in a designated fraudulent account.

Fighting back

The Ministry of Public Security released an emergency notice recently targeting gambling

gangs and syndicates, especially online, and are beefing up online monitoring.

"I haven't had a moment off since June, especially since the World Cup started," said Wang Qi, a police officer from Wudaokou, Haidian district in Beijing, one of the busiest entertainment areas in the capital.

"We were told to enhance supervision on bars and entertainment places, to help prevent crimes and disputes arising from the World Cup." He said many fans were gambling on the Internet while they were in bars. He was part of a designated team of about 40 police officers that carried out spot checks on bars and this will be a regular feature.

Police in Beijing did the groundwork even before the tournament started and 750

illegal gambling gangs have been smashed and 3,961 suspects arrested and detained.

More than 2.3 million yuan of illicit gambling funds have been retrieved.

"We are carrying out a 'zero tolerance' campaign to tackle gambling online including those that gamble through domestic and overseas casinos, lottery corporations overseas, representatives or bankers that set up gambling agents in the capital, founders of the gambling websites and underground illegal private banks," Beijing police said in a newsletter.

Police across China have also launched a crackdown on football gambling.

The police are also reminding citizens that the majority of gambling websites are registered overseas and are illegal. ÂŹ

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MOUNT EVEREST TO THE MOON: PICTURE PERFECT IN QUETTA Using a 3.3-megapixel digital camera, a little photo studio in Pakistan helps to make the dreams of many come true

Danial Shah Dawn Quetta

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R

ecently a friend visited Quetta city and talked about this fascinating photo studio in one of the most crowded bazaars of Quetta. “This photo studio allows you to recreate your dreams and aspirations in the form of photographs in just 30 minutes,� he said.

Taqi works on his computer with a customer.

As a photographer and a dreamer, it sounded rather intriguing to me and I planned a short visit to the market.

Meezan Chowk is in the centre of Quetta city, surrounded by shops selling vegetables, meat, tea, spices and everyday utilities.

In the corner stands a long and tall building known as Baldia Plaza where the photo studio is located on the first floor.

The Quetta that we know through the mainstream media is mostly negative. Despite all that, what we tend to ignore is that everyday life does exist in this town and people struggle in the same way as people do in anywhere else to earn their living or live their lives. Life goes on.

Taqi Hazara owns a small yet colourful photo studio. His regular customers come for passportsize photographs, as well as for a photo of what they aspire to be.

The walls inside the studio are full of framed colour photo

July 11-17, 2014

samples, which is a huge collection to choose from. There is a small blue curtain which the photographer uses as a background. A computer and a long bench are placed at a corner. Taqi is an expert in Photoshop and uses it to perform photo manipulation for his customers. His computer is full of soft copies of designs that are displayed on the wall. The customer sits with him and guides him on their desired style that they want to be The step-by-step procedure to create on their photographs. a 'dream photo' for a customer.

The photo samples placed on the wall are unique. A customer has a wide a warrior, a soldier, a sportsman, range of scenes and concepts a politician, you name it. The to choose from—snowcapped concept of a warrior is quite mountain, alongside a waterfall, a fascinating; holding an AK-47 in beach, a famous local landscape, one hand and a walkie-talkie in

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the other, an armoured vehicle behind and a helicopter in the sky.

Among all the photo samples, the most popular ones are those with famous personalities in the region like Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Maulana Fazal-urRehman, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi and Benazir Bhutto.

The process is simple. A customer chooses a sample they want to be in. Taqi takes their photograph against the vivid blue curtain; edits the photograph in Photoshop and replaces the faces on the chosen sample with the customer’s photo.

More touch-up is done for 10

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The 3.3-megapixel camera used by Taqi.

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The final result.

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to 15 minutes and the photo is ready for print at a nearby shop.

Customers fond of these photographs are from the surrounding areas of Quetta city as well as people from different parts of Pakistan who work in Quetta.

“People from the remote towns are more interested in getting themselves photographed with machines, cars, jeeps and helicopters,” says Taqi. “My job is to give them the photograph of their dreams,” he added.

Tariq Mughal, a customer, arrived with his friends for a photo session.

“I want to have a completely fresh, new look with more hair on my head, a well-built body and a cleanshaven face,” says Tariq who works as a waiter in a nearby restaurant.

He also wants a photo of himself dressed in traditional attire sitting in a garden, a favourite pastime of the local men of Balochistan.

There are many similar photo studios vying for customers in Quetta. A total of 18 photo

studios are found in Baldia Plaza and the ethnic Hazara community owns most of them, including Taqi, while the rest of the few are owned by local Pakhtuns.

Earlier, there were more than 35 shops in the market, but now most of the owners have left for Australia to seek asylum after the Hazara genocide.

In the late '90s, Taqi used to work with a film camera along with his father. “It was difficult back then.

They had to cut photographs and paste, and re-shoot the photos. It was expensive and time consuming.

Digital cameras have changed all the dynamics for us,” says Taqi.

The investment in equipment to start up a photo business like Taqi’s is not too expensive. A simple digital camera can be bought for 4,000 Pakistani rupees (US$40) from the Russian market in Quetta which is famous for its smuggled electronic goods from Japan via Afghanistan.

The rates are affordable for the customers too. Taqi charges 60 Pakistani rupees ($0.60) to 150 Pakistani rupees ($1.50) per print, depending on the size and amount of Photoshop work needed. On an average, he earns around 2,000 Pakistani rupees ($20) in winter and up to 5,000 Pakistani rupees ($51) in summer in a day.

Load-shedding is just one of the problems photo studios like this face, as well as interrupted power supply. Other than that, target killing has been a major issue for the photographers of photo studios in Baldia plaza since most of the owners are ethnic Hazara. They have been targeted in a number of terrorist attacks in the city, including the bomb blast at Meezan Chowk in late 2010. Despite all that, they work diligently everyday to make a living, and to give people a photograph of their dreams in just 30 minutes. ¬

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Wood carving, Kamoro style Without sketches or drawings, Kamoro carvers do their craft solely based on what they see around them

Markus Mardius The Jakarta Post Timika, Papua

T

heir wood carvings may not yet be as famous as those of the Asmat people from another tribal group in Papua, Indonesia, but the Kamoro carvings can rival the more popular ones in terms

of quality. What actually sets the Kamoro craft apart from the rest is this tribe's carving tradition.

Asmat and Kamoro are among the dozens of tribal groups in Papua. But unlike Asmat and the other groups that are deemed aggressive, the Kamoro people are more laid back. And this shows in their wood carvings.

While the Asmat people have the bisj, a totem-like pole that is made every time they kill an enemy, the Kamoro

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tribe has the mbitoro, a similar carving. However, the Kamoro’s version has nothing to do with enemies, as it is made to praise the tribe's ancestors.

What makes the Kamoro carvings unique is the way they are made. They are carved with only the carver's memory of what he sees around him.

Unlike other carvers, the Kamoro people do not use sketches or drawings when they work.

“We just observe the things around us, then channel them in the form of carving,” the 21-year-old says.

“Outside carvers usually make their carvings based on a sketch or a drawing.

We rely only on chisel and hammer,” Kamoro carver Herman Kiripi says.

“Each type of carving has its own navel,” Oktovianus Etapoka, 54, the former head of Kekwa village, says.

“This is far different from other tribal carvings."

Kamoro's 'savior'

The Kamoro carvings' popularity has been rising and the products have started fetching good prices. The tribe attributes this to 76-year-

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old Kal Muller, a Hungarian author who has long been relentlessly promoting the works of the Kamoro carvers in Kekwa village.

“To get actual Kamoro wood carvings, I have to visit the villages in the interior of Timika Pantai, including Kekwa village. It can be covered in a three-hour drive to

the south of Timika in a wooden longboat,” he says.

“The uniqueness and beauty of the Kamoro carvings made me interested in coming to Indonesia, especially Papua. However, it took a long time for me to be able to visit Papua and see the typical wood carvings of the Kamoro,” Muller, who has written more than 20 books on Indonesia, adds.

The Kamoro tribe has been grateful for his help, according to carver Yoseph Ukapuka. “[Muller] is our pioneer in introducing our carvings to the outside world. All the Kamoro people consider him the savior and father of Kamoro woodcarvings,” said the 60-year-old Yoseph, who has been carving since he was 17.

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Complexities

"In the Kamoro way, one type of product is carved by one person alone. The time it takes to carve depends very much on carving motifs and complexity, as well as the type of wood,” explains Oktovianus.

Ironwood and cork are favoured, Yoseph, says. “Cork wood is very light and easy to carve, unlike the ironwood, which needs extra power because of its strength. It needs patience, thoroughness and perseverance.

Ironwood can last for years.”

According to Herman, the paint used to make finished pieces is prepared with water mixed with lime made from burnt shells, green leaves and a kind of red rambutan fruit.

After painting, carvings are dried over a local type of wood-fired furnace called an utameyamuk.

Luluk Intarti, who has worked with Muller since 1998, says that Muller typically makes a down payment of 50,000 rupiah

(US$4.22 at $1:11,848.3 ) to 300,000 rupiah for pieces that he typically auctions for a range of 200,000 rupiah to 10 million rupiah, depending on the wood carving's size, intricacy and type of wood.

A single auction can reap up to 70 million rupiah, Luluk says. “Profits from the sale are given back to the carvers. Most of the buyers are expatriates and nationals who work for world mining giant Freeport Indonesia.”

Luluk says there are three typically Kamoro wood-carving exhibitions a year—in Bali, Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java.

Best sellers

The prices of a yamate shield standing one-and-a-half-metre high start at 1.2 million rupiah, while a 15-metre tall mbitoro totem, intended to invite a powerful spirit to a ritual to ask for its blessing, costs at least 10 million rupiah.

A wemawe representing the carver’s ancestors—familiar to outsiders from its elbows-on-knees position—can take three days to carve and cost more than 5 million rupiah, and a pekoro sago bowl adorned with geometric motifs and human and animal pictures can be sold for as little as 300,000 rupiah.

The best selling items, Luluk says, are iware fish carvings and eme drums covered in lizard skin, both ranging from 300,000 to 600,000 rupiah.

“We hope that the local tourism department of Timika will help promote Kamoro carvings to other cities,” Oktovianus said.

The Kamoro carvers also make tongkat (walking sticks) and mbiikao masks (large masks worn over the head and shoulders for ceremonies).

Works of the carvers from Kekwa are displayed at the Kamoro Art Gallery at No. 22, Kampung Nawaripi Baru in Timika. ¬

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EMPOWERING KAMORO WOMEN

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Markus Mardius The Jakarta Post Timika, Papua

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athea Mamoyau originally wanted to join the Women’s Army Corps, but ended up defending the rights of Kamoro women as an activist in Mimika regency.

Now, the 48-year-old Mathea, fondly called Thea, is set to join the provincial legislature as a representative, after winning a seat in the last election.

Thea has been working for PT Freeport Indonesia since 2006 as a “women’s relationship coordinator”, running empowerment programmes for the Kamoro that have been sponsored by the company and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Kamoro—one of the dozens of tribes in Papua—is

composed of about 18,000 people living in 59 villages around coastal Timika.

They work as hunters, food gatherer, wood carvers and spirit mask makers.

Thea, who stands 170 centimetres, says she has been frequently suspected of being a provocateur—an allegation she dismisses.

“I must explain to them that my activities are done to empower the Kamoro women in order to maintain and preserve the mangroves.

Some mangroves might be chopped down by irresponsible individuals to enrich themselves without any permits from the local residents as the owners,” Thea says.

Mangroves will flourish if Kamoro women understand how

to grow and maintain the forests, Thea adds.

She’s proud of her work in developing and promoting a government regulation banning the destruction of mangroves —something that has reduced social conflict in the province.

Dense mangrove forests—which cover more than 276,000 hectares along Mimika’s coastal wetlands—help protect the environment and provide habitats for crabs and shrimps.

The traditional crab cultivation business in Timika is one of the largest in eastern Indonesia.

“I don’t want them to be mere spectators in their own land if mangrove trees are chopped

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down for the sake of the business. Seeing this disadvantageous condition, legal assistance has been introduced so they will understand the rights of forest, land, and education,” Thea says.

Since Mimika was incorporated as a province in 2001, development has accelerated, changing the lives of local residents in dramatic ways. The population has increased, with more and more outsiders arriving to set up homes and businesses in Timika, according to Thea.

As a result, Thea has taken to the field to protect the rights of local residents in a regency where more than half the population is poor.

“I have routinely been visiting the villages in the hinterlands of Timika to promote and provide legal assistance to Kamoro women.

Quite often my team— Sister Yulita [a nun]— and I stay overnight at local houses because of the distance.”

It takes at least five hours by boat to visit the villages, she says.

Thea fears that the destruction of mangrove forests will lead to land seizures, dashing their hopes for their children and grandchildren to have a greener environment and better place to live.

“They will never see what mangroves look like, and will not have the land in the future."

She says she ask those women to always keep watch of their forests.

On land rights, Thea has inspired Kamoro women to conduct land mappings especially during the certification process.

She’s also worried about the increasing domestic violence cases in the area over the last 10 years.

“Often, financial issues and drinking habits mostly of men in the house cause conflicts in the family that result in domestic violence. Some of the couples are not open to each other in managing their finances."

Thea says, adding that at least four cases of domestic violence a month happen in the area.

On education, Thea has been stressing the importance of literacy, encouraging Kamoro women to send their children to school.

“The local government has provided some schools for them for free.

However, I often find children in the village who do not want to return to school,” Thea says. “The reason is they want to help their parents in planting taro and cassava, fishing and hunting. I've been trying to rekindle their spirit to go back to school.”

She feels satisfied that her work to empower and educate Kamoro women has started paying off.

“They know their rights now,” she concludes. ¬

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SOWING THE SEEDS OF WOES Poverty, lack of education and technical know-how are just some of the problems that Thai farmers have to face The Nation Bangkok

T

he agricultural sector appears to be among those facing the most difficulties in Thailand.

Presently, average farm income remains far below average income of other professions. According to the Bank of Thailand’s Structure of the Thai Economic System in 2013, agriculture accounted

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for 8.3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

About 40 per cent of the country’s labour is employed in the agricultural sector with about 20-30 per cent of total households generating income mainly from agriculture. Agricultural GDP is not commensurate with the labour share, which has led to the question: Why do a large number of farmers generate such low income?

This is quite different from situations in developed countries where agricultural GDP figures

have been in line with the labour numbers. Their average farm income is on par with that of other professions.

That’s why, it has become important for all parties to pay attention to Thailand’s agricultural woes.

Farmers’ major problems Professor Krirkiat Pipatseritham enumerated at least four problems faced by Thai farmers: • Poverty arising from low income and debt; • Lack of production efficiency.

Incorrect cultivation or production processes lead to decadence and shortage of production resources.

• Inability to take advantage because of lack of knowledge and education. Furthermore, this

opens opportunity for some groups of capitalists in the agricultural sector to take advantage. Eventually, Thai farmers have become indebted.

• Shortage of financing and investment, including lack of administration and financial discipline.

These four problems are connected and so-called

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million rice-farming households earn the highest income in the country. On the other side of a coin, about 900,000 are the poorest households with problems of indebtedness, and with no savings after debt repayment.

Over 900,000 agricultural households face poverty due mainly to increasing costs from changing ways of production

cycle of difficulties that lead to persistent poverty.

Nipon Poapongsakorn, distinguished fellow at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said most Thai farmers have low income. A number of Thai farmers are in poverty.

For example, there are more than 3 million rice-farming households in Thailand. Of the total, 30 per cent or about 1

and impact factors on costs.

Farmers presently pay 40-50 per cent of total production costs for fertilisers, chemicals and fuel. Wages has become a big problem. The 300 baht minimum wage policy has prompted farmers to confront higher cost. Field rent and other expenses also jumped by 20 per cent.

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Such rising costs are in accordance with recent data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives’ Office of Agricultural Economics on the cost of staple crops. In the first quarter of 2014, production cost went up 3 per cent per rai from the previous year due to a 4-percent rise in wages and a 1-per-cent increase in cost of materials like fertiliser, chemicals and fuel.

Tawatchai Thanomlikit, chairman of the National Farmers Council at Pathum Thani, conceded that costs of agricultural production tend to rise consistently.

Despite suffering losses, farmers must continue growing rice, given their profession. In this period, a big problem farmers face is that they do not own their rice fields. They have to rent the rice fields from others.

If they do not grow rice, they will not earn money to pay rent.

“Farmers’ lives revolve around advertisements. Today, farmers buy fertilisers or seeds based on advertising and propaganda, with no other knowledge. No one tells them which one is good. No one suggests where to buy the rice seeds from. More often, we hear stories of farmers ending up with fake fertilisers and fake seeds,” said Songphol Pulsawat, chairman of the National Farmers Council at Pathum Thani.

Nipon said fertilisers and rice seeds that do not meet standards are big problems the government needs to adress urgently.

Recently, based on a survey of 500 samples of fertilisers by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, only 40 per cent were found to meet standard,

and only 8 per cent of organic fertilizer met standards. More than 90 per cent are only soil.

The survey suggested that farmers make their own fertilizers instead.

This method is popular in other countries as farmers are able to mix their own formula to suit production in each area and each kind of crops.

Permsak Makarapirom, former director for land reform, said if farmers reduce costs by 60 per cent of total cost, about 3,0004,000 baht will be saved.

The government should assist with fixed costs.

Nearly 20 per cent of total is from land rent.

Presently, farmers in the

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Central Area rent land for growing rice at 1,0001,500 baht per rai.

About 65-70 per cent of Central-Area farmers must rent land for rice growing.

Based on the OAE (2014) data on agricultural household debts in Thailand during 1999-2012, farmers tended to have more debts per household. Across the country, farmers’ debts rose 4.84 per cent from the production year 2008-09 to 2011-12. Such increased debts resulted from farmers’ higher agricultural investment for expansion of production and other activities.

Access to sources of financing like the village fund was also easier and

this was the major factor for them to make borrowings for investing in household activities. Thailand’s agricultural household debt-toGDP edged up from 0.71 per cent in

1999 to 1.10 per cent in 2012.

Agricultural household debts climbed 6.5 per cent a year to 76,697 baht per household in 2011-12 from 24,672 baht per household in 1995-96.

Such information raises awareness of debts as a deeply rooted problem of Thai farmers. One reason is that farmers carry high costs with controllable and uncontrollable factors, from fluctuating prices of agricultural products, populist policy, the state’s market intervention to political and the global economic situations. ¬

July 11-17, 2014

BUSINESS

July 11-17, 2014

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July 11-17, 2014

“The Dutch did such a good job in convincing us that the coffee that we grew was unsuitable for our consumption.

Decades after they left, we still believe what they said"

A cupping class is attended by farmers and ethusiasts.

Andreas D. Arditya/THE JAKARTA POST

FROM CROP TO CUP THE PASSION FOR COFFEE LIVES ON

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July 11-17, 2014

Andreas D. Arditya and Adisti Sukma Sawitri The Jakarta Post Jakarta

B

orn and raised in the middle of a coffee orchard in the Gayo A farmer dries green beans.

Highlands in Aceh, (Courtesy of Klasik Beans) it took coffee farmer Armiadi until adulthood before he realised there was Armiadi told The Jakarta Post. still a whole lot of things he According to the Specialty had to learn about coffee.

Coffee Association of Indonesia “I was only half knowledgeable (SCAI), coffee came to about coffee. I knew how to Gayo relatively recently. grow coffee plants, how to Prawoto Indarto’s "The Road nurture them and harvest the to Java Coffee" recorded that best of cherries for high quality Dutch East India Company green beans, but I didn’t know (VOC) was the first to plant the how to roast the beans and crop in Priangan (now West java) prepare a good cup of coffee,” in 1707 and exported for the

BUSINESS first time in 1711.

The seeds came to the North Sumatra highlands more than one-and-ahalf centuries later near Toba Lake in 1888, and to the Gayo highlands near Laut Tawar Lake only in 1924.

Until today, more than 90 per cent of Indonesia’s Arabica coffee is grown by smallholders mainly in the northern half of Sumatra.

The annual Indonesian Arabica production is about 75,000 tonnes and nearly all of it is exported.

“The Dutch did such a good job in convincing us that the coffee that we grew was unsuitable for consumption here. Decades after they left, we still believed what they said,” said Armiadi, who is a member of the Koperasi Baitul Qiradh Baburrayyan

BUSINESS

July 11-17, 2014

Courtesy of Klasik Beans

Ripe coffee cherries await processing in Gunung Puntang, Bandung regency.

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July 11-17, 2014

(KBQB) coffee cooperative with hundreds of other farmers.

A recently released documentary on coffee, Aroma of Heaven, recollects the story of Gayo and the Manggarai people, who have mystified coffee since the Dutch colonial period as the black gold that they nurtured but were never allowed to taste the best part of.

As most of the crops were exported, people consumed leftover bad seeds, mixing them with corn—or newly bought low-grade ground coffee from other countries.

Enlightenment

The condition slowly changed over centuries.

The 38-year-old Armiadi said the moment of enlightenment for his village came following numerous visits by foreigners, most of them

researchers, to the plantations during the last decade.

“During the visits, they asked for a taste of the coffee.

We, of course, couldn’t fulfil their request, because we didn’t know how to properly prepare Arabica. I then realised there was something missing in our knowledge about coffee,” Armiadi said.

Armiadi has since taken roasting and brewing classes.

He enrolled in a Q-grader programme at the SCAI and is now a certified Q-grader. Last month, he and fellow farmer Iwanitosa Putra took a roasting course under Manuel Diaz, a master roaster from the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) in Jakarta.

Armiadi’s passion for learning was fuelled by the sudden increase in interest in specialty coffee among Indonesian consumers in the past three years. In 2010, he began selling

specialty coffee to a buyer in Jakarta. Starting with monthly 10 kilogram packages, he delivered around 150 kg of specialty coffee each month to a roaster in the capital.

Armiadi said there was a huge gap between what the consumers demanded in Jakarta and what the farmers could provide.

“I can deliver any amount and any grade of quality of Gayo green beans, but I’m not yet able to produce high quality and consistent roasted beans. It’s not easy or cheap to learn the skills and have the knowledge, but it needs to be done,” Armiadi said.

Iwan said a number of fellow farmers in Aceh had started expanding their coffee knowledge.

“In the small city of Takengon, modern cafes are growing. Properly brewed coffee is in demand there.

It’s a good sign,” he said.

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July 11-17, 2014

Mindset

Iwan said it might take some time to change the deeply rooted traditions of Aceh farmers, but he was optimistic.

“Producing specialty coffee is costly and attaining roasting skills is even harder. Not all farmers have the financial and mental capacity to do so,” the 34-year-old said.

A large coffee-producing country for decades, farmers in Indonesia are used to the mass production method that requires washing and wet hulling—where the beans are soaked in water to remove the outer pulp and only half-dried when hulled. This results in a large volume of beans that are clean cut with a heavy body.

The method is also commonly used to achieve higher acidity.

Most farmers grow Robusta since it is more flexible. It can be planted in areas 500 metres

above sea level and higher while Arabica can only grow in areas from 1,200 to 1,600 metres in height. Arabica is also considered richer in flavour.

“The best way to improve the quality of the beans is to return to the natural process [the beans remain in the cherry for drying]. This goes for both Arabica and Robusta,” said Uji Sapitu, a roaster from Village Coffee and an owner of Rumah Kopi Ranin, although he admitted that it was hard to apply it in large plantations and was climatically-challenged in the regions that experienced vigorous rainfall, the conditions that could slow harvesting.

The commercialised method, he said, had also resulted in the low price of Robusta and farmers opted Arabica for better value.

A certified R-grader himself, he said Robusta had a lot of room for improvement as people would

always look for its strong body, gentle feel and better aroma.

Reviving coffee on West Java soil, where the Dutch planted their first crops, Eko Purnomowidi, a co-founder and senior advisor of Klasik Beans cooperatives, has worked with a group of local residents in the Panawuan and Gunung Puntang areas in Bandung regency to produce Arabica.

The cooperatives pioneered the return of Arabica Sunda Hejo, a local coffee variety in the region.

Working with 250 farmers on 600 hectares of land using a dry hulling method, it produces an average of 400 tonnes of green beans a year.

In 2014, 60 per cent of the production was exported to Europe, while the remainder went to the US (25 per cent), Australia (10 per cent) and local market (5 per cent).

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July 11-17, 2014

Training, research

Gaining experience from working for an exporter company in Medan, North Sumatra, Eko gathered a group of search and rescue (SAR) volunteers from Persaudaraan Gunung Puntang Indonesia (PGPI) in 2008 to research the best bean variety in the area and help train locals to grow fine Arabica.

The Panawuan people had forgotten about their old knowledge on coffee when the group arrived. Living near the forests that belonged to Perhutani, local residents had been permitted by former President Abdurrahman Wahid to open the forest to the planting of vegetables, which posed the risk of mountain erosions. Some had also started planting Sumatran coffee but treated it without care, resulting

in low grade beans that commanded very low prices.

“We started with the forest conservation principle. We tried to convince locals to convert from planting vegetables to coffee. I cultivated the soil with them and did everything else together so we had a smooth transfer of knowledge,” he said.

Eko said he consistently used dry hulling to extract sweetness from the beans.

The cooperatives also used dry hulling to produce washed Robusta in two regions in Garut, West Java, with the average production of 20 tonnes per year, all of which has been exported to the US in 2014.

“In healthy houses live healthy residents. The same thing goes with coffee. I attribute 25 per cent of coffee

quality to the ecosystem, while another 55 per cent depends on the picking and post-harvesting processes that result in green beans.

All of these processes are done in regard to Klasik Beans,” he said. He added that roasting accounted for 15 per cent of the quality while another 5 per cent was attributable to brewing.

“Baristas at cafes can’t do anything with bad beans,” he went on.

Eko said working on coffee demanded patience for detailed work with low income. He said farmers usually should have other daily sources of income as coffee was harvested annually.

“Look for someone who has a sense of art and also commitment and sincerity.

These characters are good for growing coffee.” ¬

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July 11-17, 2014

COFFEE

ENLIGHTENMENT Adisti Sukma Sawitri The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Craftmanship: A filter bar at One-Fifteenth Coffee that features various equipment for hand-brewed java.

BUSINESS

July 11-17, 2014

W

hen Starbucks ventured into Jakarta in 2002, it was hardly considered a pioneer in the Indonesian coffee culture.

Almost every region has its own tradition of java. In Aceh and other Chinese and Malayinfluenced regions, kopi tiam coffee with condensed milk is the norm in public hangouts.

In the higher terrains of West Sumatra, such as Bukittinggi and Padang Panjang, farmers, who had ceded their crops to the Dutch, developed kopi kawa, a tea-like beverage made with coffee leaves.

In Yogyakarta, the city’s street-side stalls have developed kopi joss or kopi arang, which is a regular sweet coffee with a piece of burning charcoal in it, giving it a strong burned aroma.

Excelso, a chain developed

by PT Santos Jaya Abadi,

a large producer known for its Kapal Api brand, started opening Western-style coffee shops in the early 1990s.

What the American corporation brought here is the style in serving coffee, where cup sizes and menus have their own vocabulary (what were grande and venti, again, before Starbucks?).

Known for the Italian principle of making espresso-based drinks, it values its aproned baristas that master the coffee machines and milk measurements to craft the drinks.

“I was working in a Starbucksinfluenced chain in Yogyakarta, this was the second generation of coffee that focused on espresso,” said Morph Coffee roaster and national champion barista Doddy Samsura.

When he was asked to join a new cafe in Jakarta—later named One-Fifteenth Coffee—

he said it was a completely new experience. There, he said, the espresso was only a part of the craft.

“The third wave means we put forward quality, a departure from mass production orientation,” he said.

American roaster and barista Trish Rothgeb, one of the first to popularise the term “third wave” in the coffee industry, wrote in The Flamekeeper newsletter in 2003 that artisanal coffee that put attention on bean origin and roasting style was still part of the second wave.

She described the third wave as “every outlet that opens with a semiautomatic espresso system [where a barista] working overtime, staining her hands brown with coffee as she handcrafts the perfect shot."

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July 11-17, 2014

“[It] is a reaction to those who want to automate and homogenise specialty coffee.”

The first wave of coffee is often associated with canned coffee and the acknowledgement of countries of origin. This is more like Colombia’s Juan Valdez coffee campaign, in which a fictional farmer character was used to represent its local coffee.

The wave was a correction of the war-time type of coffee serving where lowgrade beans from everywhere were blended in the absence of good quality produce.

According to James Freeman’s The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, espresso came into fashion in Italy during the postwar years when most coffee available was low-grade Brazilian coffee and rubbery-tasting Robusta from North Africa.

The drive to craft the best shots of coffee has seen handmade brews using plungers and drippers flourishing in the past decade, while the best-grown beans are still hunted worldwide.

Doddy said that at OneFifteenth and Morph Coffee, baristas were trained to look for sweet and pleasant fruity acid flavours in their servings.

Limiting their art to local and foreign Arabica, he said salty taste was considered a defect while bitterness had to be avoided when roasting.

The coffee house now sticks to beans from two regions —Dolok Sanggul in North Sumatra and Ciwidey in West Java—for its regular blend.

But as consistent local crops at a good price are hard to come by, the house is open to varieties from

Rwanda, Brazil and Ethiopia, which it purchases from a Singaporean trading company.

Aston Utan, an owner and barista at Pandava Coffee and Common Grounds, considers his coffee houses more American as they look for brightness in Arabica, as favoured by many cafes in the US’ West Coast.

“We love Indonesian coffee, but we don’t want to limit ourselves to it. We really want different kinds of coffee that people can really enjoy,” he said.

Aston said the current house blend consisted of a mix of Aceh, Toraja and Ethiopian Yiragacheffe, which, he said, worked well in espresso and in milk.

He said getting quality beans was not a problem, since the family of the co-

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July 11-17, 2014

owner, Daryanto Witarsa, owned a coffee exporting company with a wide network in the global coffee trade.

Despite the domination of Arabica in coffee houses, Rumah Kopi Ranin tries to highlight local Arabica and Robusta on its premise in Bogor.

Tejo Pramono and roaster Uji Sapitu, who co-own the cafe, are convinced that the specialty coffee movement should benefit farmers and consumers as it shifts farmers away from the low-producing techniques and low-grade coffee.

“Many Indonesian farmers don’t realise the quality of their coffee simply because a few Indonesian coffee drinkers appreciate good coffee,” said Tejo, who is also an activist with La Via Campesina, an international peasant movement.

Keeping his good connection with farmers, he often holds cupping events for farmers from various places at the coffee house.

Currently the coffee house— although relatively modest in style compared to most Jakarta coffee houses—features noted Indonesian Arabica such as Aceh and the mostcoveted Papuan coffee from Wamena, which is not always available in other cafes.

It also features several fine Robusta from Manoreh (Yogyakarta) and Toraja Mamasa (South Sulawesi).

The owner of Philocoffee Project that sells coffee equipment and also a coffee blogger, Hardiansyah Suteja, said the sales of hand-made coffee equipment had been enjoying a boom since last year.

“More people are interested in making better coffee at home, although the trend started at cafes,” he said.

Hardiansyah said the handbrewing equipment especially interested people from Kalimantan and Sumatra, as they often experienced electricity problems.

“The hand-brewing equipment is cheaper than coffee machines,” he said.

Hardiansyah said that as the coffee community had developed over the years, the government as well as coffee houses should help farmers get good prices for their beans.

“People here often try to get direct access to farmers to get lower prices, but they don’t buy in large quantities. It would be more profitable for them to export,” he said. ¬

LIFESTYLE

July 11-17, 2014

Lee Sun-young The Korea Herald Seoul

A

t a glance, the Korean traditional diet may look ideal.

It contains a lot of vegetables, beans, fermented foods and not too much meat or sweets.

Koreans do not seem to eat large portions, either.

Many people seem to be sticking to the traditional daily diet of a bowl of

AFP

TRADITIONAL DIET DOES NOT MEAN HEALTHY

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July 11-17, 2014

its own set of issues.

So, which foods are good to eat and which foods are not?

Health-conscious consumers who are trying to figure out the answer to this question often feel overwhelmed by the flood of nutritional and dietary advice that is fed to the public. Some advice is conflicting.

While one may argue that a food is good, there is almost always another who warns against it.

“In the past, people paying attention to what they eat would typically look for the five major nutrients in their foods or count their calories,” said Suh Jung-eun, a public health nutritionist.

The Korea Herald

rice, soup and a few side dishes which are mostly vegetables. And there is, of course, kimchi, the super-healthy fermented cabbage dish served at just about every meal.

A further look into Koreans’ eating patterns, however, reveals a sobering and troubling reality. With the traditional diet, Koreans consume far more sodium than is healthy, a habit linked to the high occurrence of stomach cancer among Koreans.

Their growing preference of breads and noodles to rice is adding more carbohydrates to their already highcarb diets. They are fast developing a taste for meat, sweets and fast food, which presents

Ramen and kimchi, favourite STAPLES OF Koreans, are BOTH high in sodium.

July 11-17, 2014

LIFESTYLE

AFP

Traditional Korean food prepared in a temple.

July 11-17, 2014

LIFESTYLE

“But now, things have become a lot more complicated. There are so many issues that people care about these days, including sodium, trans fat, carcinogens and so on,� she said.

In this era of information overload, it helps if one has some clear principles.

Suh and other experts suggest abiding by the following guidelines: 1 Always choose fresh over processed foods.

2 Remember that your body needs a balance of carbs, protein, fat, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

3 Eat less and move more.

And lastly, start slow and take small steps towards a healthier diet.

Kicking poor eating habits takes time.

Whether you are trying to lose weight, stave off the risk of certain diseases or just feel great, food should be a friend, not an enemy.

Because, after all, as the famous saying goes, you are what you eat.

CUTTING BACK ON SALT

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July 11-17, 2014

W

ant a healthier diet now?

Then start with salt.

How much sodium do you think is in a bowl of instant ramen? And what would be the total if you had it with kimchi?

Chances are it is more than your body needs for the whole day.

Ramen and kimchi are a bad combination, as far as sodium is concerned.

The World Health Organisation recommends that adults limit their daily sodium intake to 2,000 milligrams a day, which equals about a teaspoon of table salt.

Now back to ramen.

A bowl of ramen contains 1,700-2,000 milligrams of sodium.

If you had it with 100 grams of kimchi (about 10 pieces) that adds another 1,000 milligrams to your sodium intake. So with this one meal, which is loved by many Koreans for being cheap, convenient and tasty, you surpassed the daily sodium limit.

According to 2010 statistics, an average Korean eats 4,878 milligrams of sodium a day, more than twice the daily recommended amount.

Excessive sodium intake is not confined to the Korean diet.

Many countries around the world, including the US, are waging a war against salt, the most common source of sodium, proclaiming it a major public health issue.

In fact, excess salt is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and increases the risk of stomach cancer, the most common cancer in Korea, killing about 10,000 people every year.

Recognising the socioeconomic costs of Koreans’ highsodium diet, the government launched in 2012 a national campaign against salt.

It set up the Korea Centre for Less Sodium Campaign under the auspices of the state-run Korea Food and Drug Administration.

Aiming for a 20 per cent reduction by 2020, the centre is carrying out various programmes targeting individual consumers, as well as teachers, chefs and food industry officials. ¬

Tips on cutting back on salt: • Use a smaller bowl for soup.

If you reduce the amount of soup you have each meal by just one cup (200 millilitres), your daily intake of sodium is halved.

• When cooking, add salt at the last minute.

A tiny amount of salt on the surface of food can make it taste salty enough.

• Have enough fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts.

They are high in potassium and help flush excess sodium out of your body.

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July 11-17, 2014

RAMADAN'S SIGHTS & SOUNDS Rising prices of vegetables and other food commodities aside, nothing beats the joy of shopping for fresh ingredients at the authentic wet markets in Dhaka during the fasting month M H Haider The Daily Star Dhaka

LIFESTYLE

July 11-17, 2014

I

t's a 'dirty' pleasure handed down across generations, with the art of haggling, the smartness for evading numerous deceptions and an eye for recognising fresh or good quality food being of paramount importance.

These are skills that I have apparently not gained. But there I was, with one hand inside my pocket, crumpling the grocery list, thinking nervously on how to pull off doing grocery for Ramadan.

Many of us finish off grocery shopping for an entire month in one go, and this pattern is even more evident in Ramadan.

“I go to the groceries every week; but in Ramadan, I do not feel like going through this strenuous and timeconsuming activity often,”

Fish are kept dipped in buckets of melting ice.

Nilufar Parveen, a housewife and mother of two, said.

“Hence, especially for Ramadan, I will always do most of the grocery shopping in one go.”

And she is not the only one.

Therefore, from about the time of Shab-e-Barat (15th day of the holy month), the kitchen

markets bustle with people.

Sellers spend a busy time to get their share of the hype. Buyers haggle around in the aim of not going home without a good deal.

Vegetables are splashed with water every now and then; fish are kept dipped in buckets of melting ice; chickens are set aside

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July 11-17, 2014

A peddler woman selling bananas on the street of Dhaka.

cooped together in staggering numbers. And then there is the 'daripalla' (beam balance).

Among all that there are the buyers trying to get your attention. “Ei je bhaiya edike (brother, this way),” one called

out. “Ashen boss ki lagbe (Sir, come, what do you need?),” said another.

These sights and sounds are quite common all throughout the year. But pre-Ramadan and during Ramadan, the activities increase manifold.

Chicken, green chillies, cucumber, eggplants are some of the many commodities that usually see a price hike during Ramadan.

“Inflation and Ramadan go hand in hand,” Mohsin Emdad, a buyer hailing from Rampura opined.

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July 11-17, 2014

The myriad of fresh ingredients sold at the Ramadan bazaars is a feast for the eyes.

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July 11-17, 2014

Price stability has a tendency to go out the window just before and during this month. 'Bazaar e Agun', a common newspaper line we have read many times, translates to 'market on fire', metaphorically referring to the rise in prices of commodities in the kitchen markets.

So, how much fire did the market catch this time? “Prices of many items that are heavily used for iftar (breaking fast), have gone up,” informed Sattar Reajat, a service holder.

“However, the rise in prices is relatively less compared to that of some years gone by. We have seen worse,” he said with a grin.

Prices of vegetables had gone up because of inadequate supply due to rainfall, many traders have argued.

The government has been breaking sweat trying to keep prices low. Export of some vegetables have been banned.

It remains to be seen if modern supermarkets can overtake wet markets for shoppers.

Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has assured supply of essential commodities to keep prices affordable for the common people.

The sundry shop is the best place to shop for dry ingredients.

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July 11-17, 2014

The economics of Ramadan is an interesting one. It can be debated that the very fear of inflation itself can cause inflation. Around a month before Ramadan, many people start to buy grocery items beforehand and in bulk, so that they do not have to face the price hike.

But this activity itself provides a hike in the overall demand, resulting in increasing prices.

But when you are talking about Ramadan, it is obvious that sooner or later the demand for many food items will surge.

The capitalist in me tries to perceive it casually. Leave it to the 'invisible hand' (the natural force that guides a free market through competition for scarce resources), the demand-supply dynamics and the self-interest of different parties trying to maximise their own benefit.

However, we must also think of the common people and whether they are able to afford. Hence the government intervenes. Without

government intervention, things might have been worse.

What do you say about the unscrupulous businessmen, who apply formalin and other harmful chemicals to fish, fruits, etc?

This is a Ramadan that has overlapped with the season of some of the favourite fruits, such as mango. But illegal usage of preservatives has made many people avoid these foods to a certain extent.

Syed Mamun, another service holder said, “Like many in our country, mango is my favourite fruit. Due to the malpractices of adding formalin, I have decided to forego eating mangoes in iftar, a meal which otherwise would have seen a lot of dishes featuring mangoes, given its refreshing taste.”

A wet market is a tricky and a confusing place. It is one where you have to actively be aware of not getting deceived in terms of prices, hygiene and

health. It is also a place where you feel happy and excited, with all the good, natural and delicious things you can pick.

Supermarkets on the other hand, provide another set of benefits. Nusrat Jahan, a medical student, always prefers a superstore over traditional kitchen markets. “I do not have time for haggling, and the dirty pathways and the lack of trust toward the sellers are big turn-offs,” she said.

Nowadays, you pull carts through neat passages and check things off your grocery list in the comfort of air conditioner and background music.

Not me; I like to 'get my hands dirty'. The charm of traditional wet markets especially during Ramadan when the market becomes much glorified is unparalleled.

After a few hours of intense grocery shopping, I finally drag my heavy grocery bags out of the bazaar, happy and contented. ¬

July 11-17, 2014

TRAVEL

SARAWAK’S FIELDS OF GOLD Rice farming in Ba Kelalan is still done the traditional, back-breaking way

TRAVEL

July 11-17, 2014

Carolyn Hong The Straits Times Ba Kelalan

bird’s-eye view OF Ba Kelalan’s paddy field.

I

t was almost like waiting for the new Pope to be chosen as we stood watching for the smoke. A cloud of white drifted from the faded green hut at the far end of the pasture, rising to meet the clouds above.

They were there: the women who make salt.

We crossed the pasture ringed by forested mountains and over a covered wooden bridge to get to the hut where two women were feeding hefty logs into a roaring fire.

This is where the people of Ba Kelalan make salt from the salt springs that dot the mountains of north Sarawak, the only place in Borneo where salt water bubbles up from the ground.

It is hard work. I sat on a low bench to watch the women draw salt water from the well and pour them into drums balanced over the roaring fire. The water must be kept boiling for at least 24 hours to crystallise it into powdery white salt rich in iodine.

I dipped a finger into the salt and tasted it: less salty than store-bought salt.

"The Ba Kelalan salt is special because it is tasty and healthier," said Agustin Dawat, around 45, who has been making salt since she was a girl. The

TRAVEL

July 11-17, 2014

The salt-making process requires the water from the salt springs to be kept boiling for at least 24 hours to crystallise it into a powdery substance. Villagers can also harvest fish from the springs.

salt springs can be used by any villager willing to chop and cart firewood there.

"Want to try making salt?" my guide Paulus Padan asked.

Why not, I thought.

I filled a bucket to top

up the boiling water and immediately got splashed as the weight of the pail caught me by surprise, to the amusement of the women who think nothing of hauling

heavy buckets that weigh around 10 to 15kg. It was heavy work. I decided to help Paulus pack the salt instead.

The salt springs were discovered generations

ago by hunters who found that their prey tasted better when it fell into these salty pools.

The people soon began using the tasty water for cooking and later learnt how to make salt, and

July 11-17, 2014

TRAVEL

The surroundings of Ba Kelalan are so peaceful, children as young as five or six can walk around on their own and often make their own way home from school

July 11-17, 2014

TRAVEL

the water from the salt spring has to be kept boiling for at least 24 hours to facilitate the crystalisation process.

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July 11-17, 2014

still do so up to today in Ba Kelalan. They use the salt for themselves, sell it to other villagers and to the town as well.

Ba Kelalan is the collective name for the nine villages nestled in the Tamabo mountain range that divides Borneo into Malaysia and Indonesia. The international boundary is just 4km away while the nearest Sarawak town of Lawas is 150km by road.

Hidden in the remote Heart of Borneo conservation area, Ba Kelalan is surrounded by dense rainforests for hundreds of kilometres all around. At 1,000m above sea level, its days are fresh and nights cool with temperatures often dipping below 200C.

Like most visitors, I stayed in the biggest village of Buduk Nur, a remarkably scenic village ringed by lush rice fields and forested mountains shrouded in wispy mist. Home to around 100 people, it has "roads" which are cement walkways which villagers share with dogs, cats, chickens and buffaloes, and the occasional motorcycle.

The village lives off the grid, with electricity coming from generators for a few hours at night or solar panels, and water directly from the rivers.

Right in its centre is a huge church which can seat 1,000 (the main religion here is Christianity from the Borneo Evangelical

Mission denomination) and a large field for football and other games.

Its tiny "commercial hub" comprises a couple of general stores crammed with sundry goods, vehicle spare parts, and agriculture needs such as wheelbarrows and barbed wire.

And what would life be without cafes to linger at with coffee?

There are few of these too. The cafes are pretty rustic and basic, some with homemade tables and plastic chairs. They serve either local coffee or instant coffee.

It takes just 10 minutes to see the village on foot but it is much better to see it as a bird does. And so we did, by taking a

short trek up a hill for breathtaking views over the valley and beyond.

There are two viewpoints and I visited both as each trail is just half an hour long.

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the start of either trail and then it is a steady climb through the forest, but not killer-steep.

Both are easy even for first-timers, albeit with some huffing and puffing, and rewarded us with vast views over the village and paddy fields.

Standing high above the land, it is immediately apparent how important wet rice farming is to this Lun Bawang hill tribe whose forefathers

TRAVEL

July 11-17, 2014

had carved out the fields a long time ago.

The village is surrounded by a vast jigsaw of interlocking green and gold rice paddies, mesmerising in their beauty.

Rice farming is still carried out here the old way—by hand, without machines, and without fertilisers or pesticides.

Mountain streams water the fields and buffaloes fertilise and plough them.

Ba Kelalan's school teacher Sang Sigar—and my host—said the people do not use machinery, fertilisers or pesticides because the old ways work best with the fragile environment. "It is sustainable and works best with our environment," he said in English.

During planting season in August and September, the fields are filled with men and women bent over to plant each and every seedling by hand.

It does not look that hard but I can confirm that rice planting is very hard work because I tried my hand at it...

Oh, my aching back.

It takes much patience to bend over for hours to push each flimsy stalk of padi into the mud, one after the other. After planting about a million seedlings, I stood up and looked in dismay at the very tiny corner that I had covered. And I also seemed to have planted myself into a corner.

Visitors are welcome to help with paddy

planting, harvesting or winnowing but they do not have to, of course.

Being part of this mountain village life, or just watching life go by, is the charm of Ba Kelalan which entices visitors to find their way here on the tiny Twin Otter plane operated by Malaysia Airlines' rural air service.

These 18-seater planes are an adventure in themselves for those unused to small aircraft.

For those seeking even more adventure, Ba Kelalan is also known for its tough mountain trails.

Sarawak's highest mountain, Mount Murud, is a two-day walk from Buduk Nur. Or they may try the three-day challenging trail to the neighbouring

settlement of Bario. Both these trails are meant for experienced hikers.

Ba Kelalan is best experienced, though, by slowing down to breathe the fresh mountain air or walking under a blanket of stars on a clear night.

With hardly any artificial lighting in the village, the glittering stars have the entire velvet sky as their playground.

Their silvery light was bright enough to light our walk along the padi fields one clear night.

Do watch out for slumbering buffaloes, though.

"Once people come here, they always want to come again," said Ukab Labo, a young man who grew up in the village.

I would agree. ¬

DATEBOOK

July 11-17, 2014

¬ Manila

¬ Taipei

Finch Live in Manila

EXO: The Lost Planet Concert American post-hardcore rock band Finch is coming to Manila for the Bazooka Rocks Pre-Show in August. The band, which is from Temecula, California, is known for its EP "Falling into Place" and two full-length albums "What it is to Burn and Say Hello to Sunshine".

When: August 7; 8pm Where: Skydome,

SM City North Edsa

Quezon City

South Korean-Chinese boyband EXO will be in Taipei this month as part of its "The Lost Planet Tour", the debut concert tour of the boy band, which started in Seoul in May.

When: July 17 Where: Taipei Arena

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DATEBOOK

July 11-17, 2014

¬ New Delhi

¬ Okinawa, Japan

Folk arts exhibition

32nd Peaceful Love Rock Festival 2014

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An expansive collection of folk art from across India are on exhibit including sculptures and painted pieces, including an especially commissioned collection that features provocative renderings of contemporary issues in traditional styles.

When: July 28; 8pm Where: Museum of Folk Art,

Academy of Fine

Arts & Literature

The Peaceful Love Rock Festival, the oldest annual rock festival in Japan, has been held every summer since its inception in 1983. Young underground bands to rock legends perform for two days running. The playing bands include Murasaki and the Kacchan, famous Okinawan bands that had a great impact on Japanese rock history.

When: July 12-13; starts at 1pm Where: Okinawa City Outdoor Stage Okinawa City

July 11-17, 2014

DATEBOOK

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