October 11-17, 2013
Real men don’t marry little girls Stopping child marriages in the world
| October 11-17, 2013
October 11-17, 2013
Contents We e k l y b r i e f i n g Society
What happened in Bali
Real men don’t marry little girls
Society
Death, destruction, fighting spirit
| October 11-17, 2013
October 11-17, 2013
Contents Economy
Reviving the land of the rising sun
Lifestyle
Passport to a new look
Arts
Cobonpue comes home
Culture
A thousand years of worship
October 11-17, 2013
Contents
>>DATEBOOK Entertainment
Making Korean hip-hop a culture
Entertainment
MTV returns
Happenings around Asia
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WEEKLY BRIEFING
What happened in Bali AFP
The show went on, including having leaders of Asia-Pacific countries parading around in “silly shirts”, even when US President Barack Obama was kept at home by a budget shutdown.
This year, with host Indonesia, the shirts were of silk-like Balinese fabric called endek. Though it followed Indonesian design, the fabric was made in China. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono livened up the start of the summit by taking out his guitar and leading a birthday tribute for Russian President Vladimir Putin. SBY, as he’s called in Indonesia, is credited for a series of albums with love songs. The endek is a tiedyed cloth usually used for Hindu rituals, made by hand on wooden
looms. By tradition, the ability to weave the cloth signifies a Balinese girl's coming of age. Speaking of traditional costumes, Robert S. Wang, a US senior official for Apec, was left red-faced when he showed up at a meeting wearing red batik only to realise that other senior ministers and officials in attendance—including Indonesian delegates— had opted against batik. “Perhaps I’m the only gentleman wearing batik here, I’m so embarrassed,” he said in his opening remarks, to which the officials in attendance responded with laughter.
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WEEKLY BRIEFING
The light-hearted mood continued with AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, who drew much laughter when he spoke as one of the panelists at Apec’s CEO Summit. AFP
Fernandes was given time to speak by moderator Pieter Gontha, the publisher of BeritaSatu Media Holdings, on the issue of connectivity in the Asia Pacific region, but the Malaysian-born entrepreneur was initially hesitant to present his answers because he knew that the man asking him questions rarely boarded his planes. “Just to let you all to know, Pieter Gontha uses my competitors, Garuda [Indonesia] and Citilink, so please discount 50 per cent of his questions,” Tony said, to which business executives in attendance
responded with laughter. The AirAsia CEO, who described himself as a “dangdut king” in the discussion, also made fun of Foxconn chairman Terry Gou and DHL chairman Frank Appel, who also were speakers. “Do you have iPad giveaways in Garuda?” Tony joked, referring to one of the products composed by Foxconn, which is the world’s largest electronic device manufacturer. “We are much cheaper than DHL, so use AirAsia Argo,” he said, with DHL’s Appel seen giggling upon hearing Tony’s jokes.
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WEEKLY BRIEFING
AFP
No one was laughing, however, when nine journalists from Hong Kong were kicked out over inappropriate behaviour.
Reporters from Now TV, Radio Television Hong Kong and Commercial Radio found themselves shut out of the summit coverage after they “ambushed” Philippine President Benigno Aquino III outside the venue. They wanted to know if Aquino would meet Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and apologise to families of the victims of a bungled hostage crisis that happened in Manila in 2010. “Will you apologise to Hong Kong people for the real tragedy?” a woman reporter asked, TV footage posted by the South China Morning Post showed. “Will you give an answer? It has been three years,” she said. “So you are ignoring Hong Kong people, right?” another reporter asked. Aquino did not reply to their questions. Now TV footage
showed an Apec staff member telling the reporters, “You ambushed one of our visitors.” The Now TV video showed another Apec staff member telling one of the reporters: “You know that the decency [includes] no screaming. You do understand that?” The reporter is heard answering, “I am asking, I’m not screaming, OK?” The staffer went on to tell him, “Now out!” “The behaviour of those reporters crossed the line from mere questioning to heckling and was construed by Indonesian security personnel assigned to the president as a potential physical threat to him so they took what they believed was the appropriate action,” Aquino’s Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang told reporters.
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WEEKLY BRIEFING
Apec guests, meanwhile, will go home with handmade statues that took artisans two weeks to finish each. THE JAKARTA POST
The process includes selecting a chunk of wood to carving it to a model statue. The artists created Garuda Wisnu Kencana statues that depict Wisnu, the Sustainer, mounting the mythical bird Garuda as his vehicle. “We have been asked to make 30 wood statues
packaged beautifully in wooden boxes covered with endek, traditional Balinese woven cloths,” said I Nyoman Sutapa, owner of the workshop that was commissioned for the souvenirs. Sutapa, a native of the area, is part of a new generation of woodcarvers bent on resurrecting the glory of the Angantaka village, in Badung as the centre of wood handicrafts. In the 1980s, Angantaka, and its two neighbouring villages of Sedang and Jagapati, were known as the home of Badung’s best woodcarvers. Shrinking demand in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombings saw a large number of
artisans abandon their workshops to seek fortune as farmers and construction workers.—Reports from The Jakarta Post and Philippine Daily Inquirer
SOCIETY
Death, destruction, fighting spirit Many families in Pakistan leave their hometowns in tribal areas to escape bomb explosions
A. MAJEED /AFP
A PAKISTANI MAN COMFORTS A SON OF AN ISLAMIST MILITANT COMMANDER KILLED IN A SUICIDE ATTACK ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF PESHAWAR IN JANUARY 2012.
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SOCIETY
AAMIR QURESHI /AFP
LOCAL RESIDENTS GATHER AT THE SITE OF A BLAST IN ISLAMABAD IN SEPTEMBER 2011.
AFP A PAKISTANI MAN LOOKS AT THE BODY OF A CHILD NEXT TO HIS MOTHER BODY FOLLOWING A SUICIDE BOMB ATTACKS OUTSIDE THE SHRINE OF 13TH CENTURY SUFI SAINT AHMED SULTAN, POPULARLY KNOWN AS SAKHI SARWAR, IN DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT IN APRIL 2011. THE ATTACKS KILLED 41 PEOPLE.
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SOCIETY SADIA QASIM SHAH Dawn Peshawar, Pakistan
T
he Qissa Khwani Bazaar bomb blast caused bodily harm to Arif but the second-year student turned out to be in high spirits as he explained how he managed to reach the hospital despite being seriously injured. “Darkness and heaviness overtook me as I held together my intestines in my hands and ran over burning bodies towards the hospital,” said Arif, who was hit by the blast shortly after he got down from a wagon in the famous ‘bazaar of storytellers’, which might now be remembered for its sad tales. In a situation where most of the people, after learning about bomb blasts and killing of the innocent people, get depressed or angry at undeserved plight, some like Arif becomes inspirational.
He smiles and thanked Allah for getting life another time. “I thought my life had ended, but I survived,” said Arif while sharing his thoughts when he was injured in the car blast. Despite serious injuries, the boy had a smile on his face. He was thankful to the Almighty that he managed to reach the hospital despite severe injuries, and got treatment immediately. Arif, who belongs to Sardar Kalay of Mardan, lives in a Peshawar hostel. He was on the way to collect some study notes from a friend when the blast ripped through the bazaar. Instead of calling his family, he phoned his friends for help as he did not want to worry his family. His brother, Yasirullah,
a teacher at Mardan Model School, sitting at Arif ’s bedside in Lady Reading Hospital said his father was a watchman and the family had pinned high hopes in him and Arif. Unlike his younger brother, Yasir still could not forget the pain his little brother had gone through and had tears in his eyes. “I seized the senior minister [Sirajul Haq] by the collar when he came here, and asked him why the government wasn't resolving this issue [terrorism],” he said. Unlike Arif, others injured were mostly the youth working as vendors in Qissa Khwani Bazaar who were lying in the same ward either unconscious or unable to speak. The attendants, who were there, also had the same question written all over their faces.
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SOCIETY Mohiuddin, a vendor in Rawalpindi, was sitting with her brother, Sobidaar, who, too, was a vendor in Qissa Khwani Bazaar. “We don’t like Peshawar but what else can we do? We have to leave our hometown for livelihood,” said Mohiuddin, who hails from Bajaur, where conflict in the past years has affected the public life and property. Both brothers work as vendors to earn their livelihood. Mazajan, 40, from Bajaur and a father of five, who used to sell almonds in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar, was also injured in the Qissa Khwani Bazaar blast on September 29. His cousins sitting on his bedside were depressed as they had left Bajaur due to the fighting but even then, bombs did not spare them. Same was the feeling of Khan Said, whose teenage nephew Jawad was a victim of the explosion. Many families like that of
Maza Jan and Khan Said have left their hometowns in tribal areas to escape bomb explosions and earn their livelihoods peacefully but they could not escape what awaited them in Qissa Khwani Bazaar. Khan Syed said they had left the Mohmand agency due to fighting in 2007 and settled in Peshawar. "We did not know that we would be hit even here." In the female surgical ward, four women, who survived the bazaar bombing, were lying on beds as their other female relatives attended to them. The family from Charsadda (Matta Mughalkhel), which lost 18 members all sitting in a Suzuki van, was the worst affected in the September 29 blast. Nazia, a relative, said she had been searching until late night for the missing children and managed to find two children whose mothers have already died in the explosion.
“I saw Ihtisham, just one year old, who was smiling when he looked at me despite having burns,” said Nazia. She also found three-year-old Gulalai, also injured in the blast. Of the six children, just Ihtisham and Gulalai were found but both children have lost their mothers in the incident, said Nazia, who said they have not informed the four injured women about the death of the other family members. She, like her other relatives tending to these injured, were showing great strength to help them get well soon. While most people would curse and cry out loud at such a loss, the people who either got hit or lost loved ones in this unfortunate incident braved a smile. The attendants tended to the injured not showing their grief. Yet, there was a question in their eyes, “What is our fault to deserve such punishment?” ¬
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POLITICS
Reviving the land of the rising sun JONATHAN EYAL THE STRAITS TIMES London
“
AFP
Japan is back" amounts to more than just a marketing effort to rebrand a country. For Shinzo Abe, the current prime minister who popularised the phrase (tellingly, in English), it is becoming a rallying cry for the revival of a nation, for Japan's assumption of what it considers as its rightful place at the world's top table. Nowhere is Abe's determination clearer than in his push to boost the country's military power. Japan stands accused of seeking to revive its militaristic past over such high-profile efforts. But most of these fears are misplaced: far from moving ahead purposely, the Japanese are fumbling into a strategic competition they scarcely comprehend. The scale of Japan's rearmament ambitions is no longer in doubt. The country is already America's biggest and closest technological partner on missile defence, outstripping the contributions made by the Europeans in this field, an astonishing reversal of military alliance arrangements which would have been inconceivable even a few years ago.
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POLITICS Tokyo also decided last year to purchase the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as replacement for its obsolete F-4 and F-15 fighter jets, giving Japan a long-soughtafter ground attack capability by the end of this decade. And it recently launched the 19,500-tonne Izumo, a ship the Japanese prefer to classify as a "destroyer" despite the fact that it has a 250m-long flight deck which makes it look suspiciously like an aircraft carrier. Some of these moves were started years ago and are only now coming to fruition. But all were given an added impetus by Abe since his return to power last December—and much more is in prospect. For the first time in more than a decade, Japan's overall defence spending is growing. If current budget plans are implemented, defence expenditure will rise next year by 3 per cent, the highest such single yearly jump
since the 1990s, when the Japanese economy was booming.
MORE THAN HARDWARE
In sheer numbers, Japan's military remains puny in comparison to that of its immediate big neighbours: it only has 243,000 soldiers, half of South Korea's standing army and only a tenth of China's. Japan also has only 700 serviceable aircraft, less than a third of the Chinese air force's inventory. But the Japanese compensate for quantity with quality: despite all the sabre-rattling over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, military planners in Beijing know that their navy is still no match for Japan's, despite the fact that China has four times as many vessels. Besides, there is more to enhanced security than just hardware, as Abe has shown. He has presided over a whirlwind of diplomatic initiatives. By next
month, he would have visited every single Asean country, a feat no previous Japanese leader has accomplished in such a short time span. Abe also toured Europe and the US, delivering a substantial security policy speech in each capital. And the political tsunami continues. Last week in Tokyo, Abe devoted a whole afternoon to telling a senior British delegation of his desire to forge closer military links with Britain, and a further full day to the US-Japan strategic dialogue, attended by foreign and defence ministers from both nations. He successfully pushed for a visit of Japan's imperial couple to India next month, a rare event given the Japanese monarch's advanced age. Japan also lifted restrictions on the sale of military technology to other nations by offering the Indians its indigenously made US-2 amphibious aircraft.
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POLITICS And if this is not enough, Abe has pledged to amend his country's pacifist Constitution, thereby removing any restriction on the deployment of Japanese forces overseas. The Japanese premier seems determined to smash all previous political taboos, and all at once. Seen from the outside, Abe's campaign to reassert Japan's global footprint, not only in economics but also in security terms, seems both imaginative and coherent. Sadly, however, much of this is taking place in an intellectual vacuum. The military changes Japan is undergoing are real, but they remain incoherent and are years if not decades away from giving the country a true long-range military capability. Nothing illustrates the distinction between vision and reality better than the dispute over the amending of Japan's Constitution. Much of this debate is irrelevant, because the
explicit restrictions which the Constitution places on Japan's military have already been ignored, while those which are implicit can be readily changed without laborious amendments. Japan's Constitution, for instance, decrees that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained", but the country has had all three for decades. Yet at the same time, the Constitution does not explicitly say that Japanese defence budgets should stay below 1 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product, or that Japan cannot sell weapons to others.
HOLLOW CONSENSUS
All these are restrictions imposed by politicians, and amenable to being cancelled by politicians. So the claim that Japan now requires years of heated legal debates plus a referendum on constitutional
changes before it becomes a "normal military power"— as Abe likes to put it—is just a smokescreen intended to cover the fact that no domestic political consensus exists on where Japan needs to be. Such a consensus cannot emerge as long as Japan continues to lack the strategic culture required to transform the creed of national revival into deed. Officially, Japan has no intelligence service; in practice, it operates plenty of electronic listening devices and a network of overseas agents. But Tokyo has no centralised system of digesting the collected information and transforming it into an analytical assessment to help politicians make informed security choices. Abe would dearly like to create a national security council akin to that operating in the US. But Japan has a parliamentary system similar to that of Britain
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POLITICS or Singapore, rather than the American presidential political system. Abe has therefore sent his advisers to London to see whether the British model of intelligence assessment, which is concentrated around the Cabinet Office, can work better. But no decisions have been taken.
STRATEGIC DRIFT
Meanwhile, Japan has no official secrets Act, so civil servants who leak government documents are never prosecuted; at worst, they lose their jobs. It was only recently that Japanese media correspondents were banned from milling around the same floor in the government building where the country's Cabinet meetings take place. The confidentiality of strategic decision-making is still decades behind that of other countries. And the poverty of strategic thought extends much further. Abe's preference for creating
a web of regional friendships is shrewd. Nobody in Tokyo believes that this web can or should contain China, even if this was possible. The hope is that the network of potential allies which Japan currently nurtures will at least persuade the Chinese that they cannot push Japan around too much, or that Beijing will have to pay a great price if it continues doing so. But the Japanese don't seem to grasp that the more they expect their network of regional allies to counter-balance China, the more these allies will shy away from such a task. What Japan needs is to create a regional system of cooperation which is more than an illdisguised anti-Chinese club. The biggest and most important step in this regard must be a Japanese-South Korean reconciliation. This will transform the strategic map of Asia, and have a profound
impact on Chinese military behaviour, which currently assumes that the Japanese and Koreans will always remain at loggerheads. For the moment at least, the Abe administration has preferred to bypass the issue. Nor has anything been done to tackle emotional historic disputes. The outcome, therefore, is not a Japan which is "back" but a country which is tiptoeing towards a new starting line without knowing if it should then sprint, or just halt there. The danger for global security is not so much a revival of militarism in Japan but of a nation which is still one of the world's economic workhorses, frustrated by its strategic marginalisation and incapable of escaping it. In short, while Abe may have broken Japan's economic paralysis, he has yet to break the country's strategic drift. ÂŹ
SOCIETY
| October 11-17, 2013
Real men don’t marry little girls Fathers and other men can help put a stop to child marriages in the world
AFP
IN MALAYSIA AND IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD, GIRLS UNDER THE AGE OF 16 CANNOT LEGALLY DRIVE OR BUY CIGARETTES. THEY CAN’T EVEN WATCH CERTAIN MOVIES OR GO CLUBBING. BUT THEY CAN MARRY—LAWFULLY AT THAT.
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SOCIETY
BY HARIATI AZIZAN The Star Petaling Jaya
M
uhammad Shahzad Khan was a child himself when he fought against the marriage of his 12-year-old sister. “My eldest sister was going to be married off to our 50-yearold landlord. So I went on a hunger strike,” tells Shahzad who is now in his 30s. His protest managed to get his sister out of the betrothal and she went on to university to pursue her studies. But Shahzad and family were forced to leave their village in Pakistan. “It is the tradition and custom we have,” he says with dry resignation.
THIS PICTURE TAKEN ON JAN 17, 2013 SHOWS XIAO DAN, A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL LOOKING CONFUSED WHEN SHE MET HER MOTHER AFTER BEING "MARRIED" TO A 28-YEAR-OLD MAN SURNAMED WANG IN A VILLAGE IN LIUZHI, SOUTHWEST CHINA'S GUIZHOU PROVINCE.
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SOCIETY Yet, Shahzad insists that he will not do it any other way. “My other sisters are also going to university now; all my sisters have the same choices in life as I have.” Shahzad, founding director of youth development organisation Chanan Development Association in Lahore, is one of a growing— albeit still slowly—brigade of men who are standing up against child marriages in the world. “We need to engage young men to support this campaign against child marriages. They need to make a stand. Only then can we end this,” he rails against the archaic practice. Closer to home, a pediatric neurologist from Ipoh, Perak, Dr Alex Khoo, shares how his grandmother’s own experience has shaped his stand on child marriages. His grandmother was married off when she was still in her teens, and had her
first child at the age of 14. “There was blatant transfer of parental responsibilities by my grandmother’s parents and there was no family honour nor reputation to uphold in her case. Gender inequality dictated that she be married off and it was done. They celebrated and there was a dowry. All she was told then was that the marriage was in her best interest,” he says. She has no recollection of ever enjoying parenthood, he says, “Duty and servitude were her mantra in life and she went on to have more than a dozen children.” As a result of her early marriage, he adds, his grandmother’s personal development was stunted and she was rendered uneducated and unskilled. “She was completely dependent on her in-laws and husband to survive. She had no negotiation skills and thus, no decision making power in her new household,” he laments.
“Now in her 90s, her negative experience still affects her, so much so that she will not fail to tell her grandchildren this every time they visit her: “Protect your children, don’t let them cry.” It has made Khoo determined to highlight the seriousness of this life-threatening situation and to appeal to all to take renewed actions to stop child marriage.
Violation of rights
“There is always something that can be done, if you care enough. These children are gullible children, who had put their trust in their parents and their elders only to be betrayed. To marry off your child to somebody twice their age or in the recent case, triple the age of their child is unforgivable. It is a violation of their child’s right.” He opines that as far as children and their safety goes, we as adults have so much wrong to undo. “If we remain silent and indifferent, then many more children would be
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SOCIETY crying exactly as my grandmother did and we would all drown one day in their tsunami of sorrow.” Khoo will definitely take comfort in South African social rights activist and retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu’s views on child marriage reiterated for the International Day of the Girl Child this Friday: “It is by standing up for the rights of girls and women that we truly measure up as men.” The chair of The Elders (a group of high-profile world leaders)— which is behind the global advocacy coalition against child marriages, Girls Not Brides— Tutu has tirelessly written and spoken about how the problem is aided and abetted by men. “Child marriage occurs because we men allow it. Fathers, village leaders, chiefs, religious leaders, decision-makers—most are male. In order for this harmful practice to end, we need to enlist the support of all the men who know this is wrong, and to
work together to persuade all those who won’t,” Tutu had said, urging men and boys everywhere to take a stand against the mistreatment of girls and women. Child marriage—defined as marriage before the age of 18— occurs to both minor boys and girls, but the practice is far more common among young girls. And it cannot be denied that child marriage cuts across countries, culture, religions and ethnicity, notes Girls Not Brides global coordinator Lakshmi Sundaram. While a multi-prong approach is needed to eradicate it, educating society, especially the boys and men, remains the most critical measure. “The global community must take child marriage seriously. If we don’t, 142 million girls will marry as children by 2020, out of which 50 million would be under the age of 15,” she says, quoting the United Nations Population
Fund (UNFPA), which estimated that some 39,000 young girls under the age of 18 around the world are married off daily. This makes it 14 million girls married before turning 18 every year—one every three seconds. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) statistics indicate that the rates are highest in South Asia, where 46 per cent of girls marry before they reach 18.
Grave risks
Malaysia is not exempted from this global phenomenon, although the actual data is fuzzier, with the latest figure available being from the 2000 Population and Housing Census which showed that some 6,800 girls under the age of 15 were married while 235 between the ages of 10 and 14 were widowed and 77 permanently divorced or permanently separated. According to statistics from the Malaysian Syariah Judiciary
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SOCIETY Department, there were around 1,165 applications for marriage in 2012. The Syariah Courts approved 1,022 of them. This is an increase from the 2011 record, when some 900 marriages involving at least one Muslim minor were approved. Dr Venkatraman ChandraMouli of World Health Organisation’s adolescent sexual and reproductive health department also believes that child marriages are common everywhere in different pockets of the community, not just in “poor countries”. The bottom line to remember, he says, is that the practice is harmful not only to the child brides, but also their children, children’s children and so on. “Most of these children have no say in the marriage, so their children will also have no access to education or will be married off at an early age, propagating a vicious cycle of poverty and violence for their future generations,”
explains Dr Chandra-Mouli, stressing that educating society, especially the men, about the negative impacts of child marriage can free them from that fate. He points out that young girls who marry before the age of 18 also have a greater risk of becoming victims of intimate partner violence. “A young bride will have a low status in the family she is married into, less respect and low equality. She will only be seen as a sexual partner. “This is especially true when the age gap between the child bride and spouse is large,” he notes. A challenge, says Sundaram, is the perception that somehow, marriage protects girls. “But that is not the case. It simply means that child brides fall off our radar and that the sexual, emotional and physical burdens they face are ignored.” Girls who marry as children face a higher risk of health
problems as they are initiated into sexual activity at an age when their body is still developing. “Many child brides have also described their first sexual experience as forced. They are also more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.” Complications in pregnancy and childbirth are also the leading causes of death for girls aged 15 to 19 in the developing world. “Child brides are constantly under intense social pressure to prove their fertility, making them more likely to experience early and frequent pregnancies.” It is crucial that young men are educated that girls who marry before they turn 18 will face a high health risk and be advised against child marriage. She stresses, “Young boys should be educated that real men do not marry young girls.” Otherwise, some will have to learn it the hard way. ¬
LIFESTYLE
| October 11-17, 2013 AFP
Passport to a new look Some people travel, not to see new places, but to come back with new faces
LIFESTYLE
| October 11-17, 2013
ED JONES/ AFP PHOTO A PATIENT (TOP C) FROM BEIJING ATTENDS A CONSULTATION AT A PLASTIC SURGERY HOSPITAL IN SEOUL. SKILLED PLASTIC SURGEONS IN LOOKS-OBSESSED SOUTH KOREA ARE ENJOYING AN UNEXPECTED BOOM AS AN INCREASING NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS FLOCK TO WHAT IS FAST BECOMING THE COSMETIC PROCEDURE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.
JUNG YEON-JE/ AFP A BILLBOARD ADVERTISING DOUBLE-JAW SURGERY AT A SUBWAY STATION IN SEOUL. SOUTH KOREA'S OBSESSION WITH PLASTIC SURGERY IS MOVING ON FROM STANDARD EYE AND NOSE JOBS TO EMBRACE A RADICAL SURGICAL PROCEDURE THAT REQUIRES MONTHS OF OFTEN PAINFUL RECOVERY.
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LIFESTYLE
Ed Jones/ AFP A A VIETNAMESE-AMERICAN PATIENT CHECKS HER APPEARANCE FOUR DAYS AFTER UNDERGOING A COSMETIC RHINOPLASTY AND EYE PROCEDURES AT A PLASTIC SURGERY HOSPITAL IN SEOUL. ALMOST A HALF OF ALL FOREIGNERS SEEKING A NOSE JOB, A FACELIFT, A JAWBONE REDUCTION OR A TUMMY TUCK WERE FROM CHINA.
HE NA China Daily Beijing
I
n the eyes of Sun Shuang's friends and colleagues, she is an attractive woman with virtually all the attributes needed to live a happy life. The 30-year-old, who uses an alias, lives and works in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, is tall, slim and the mother of a two-year-old boy. Her husband loves his family. They both have decent jobs with good salaries and own a large, well-decorated apartment and a car bought by their parents when the couple married.
LIFESTYLE
Before giving birth, Sun was highly confident and extroverted, but afterwards became a little depressed and didn't like talking or even going shopping with her friends, an activity she used to enjoy. When she went out, she walked with her head down. Sun did not explain the reason for the change in her behaviour to anyone, apart from her husband. It turned out that Sun's breasts—a little small before she gave birth—became much smaller after she breastfed her son. Her husband said he didn't mind and loved her more than ever. But Sun said she wanted to undergo breast surgery in South Korea. Afraid that her symptoms may develop into deep depression, her husband gave his approval. With the help of a Shanghai-based website that organises plastic surgery and sightseeing for Chinese in South Korea, the operation was a success. "The shape and feel of my breasts is pretty much the same as real ones. Even my husband says that I look better and I am more confident than before," she said.
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In recent years increasing numbers of Chinese have opted for plastic surgery in South Korea to improve their appearance, significantly stimulating development of the country's plastic surgery tourism industry, a high-revenue earner each year. Data from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute show the number of customers travelling to the country for medicalcare tourism has risen steadily in recent years. The number of short-term customers (less than 15 days) rose to 150,000 in 2012, some 30,000 more than the year before. Customers from China led the way, followed by those from the United States, Japan, Russia and Mongolia. "Medical-care tourism, which combines medical treatment such as plastic surgery and physical check-ups with sightseeing, has injected new blood into the two industries, not only creating more jobs that stimulate our economy, but also cultivating more professionals and driving the development of related educational industries," said Kim Se-mann, executive director of the medical tourism department of the Korea Tourism Organisation.
LIFESTYLE
. Why go to Korea?
Kim said about 31,000 Chinese entered South Korea on medical-care tourism visas in 2012, of which 62.9 per cent were travelling for plastic surgery. This compares with only 4,700 in 2009. Liu Ming, 28, who works for a real estate company in Sanming, a city in Fujian province, underwent a double eyelid operation in South Korea in June. "Although it's much more expensive than the price I was quoted by large plastic surgery institutes in China, I still thought the money was well spent," she said. "The surgery was perfect and after two months' recovery my new, large eyes look natural, pretty and bright, totally changing the impression I had on others before, when friends often joked that even if I opened my eyes to their widest they still thought I was sleepy." China's plastic surgery industry has developed quickly in recent years and the country has a considerable number of plastic surgery institutes that customers can choose from. However, many people still prefer to travel to South Korea.
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Jason Liu, manager of the South Korean department of www.6mchina.com, who travels between China and South Korea almost every month, said the reasons for this are proven technology, better service, South Korea's position in world fashion circles and the fact that it is near China. Liu also said the increasing influence of Korean popular culture, such as the TV series Dae Jang Geum, popular songs like "Gangnam Style" and a batch of well-known singers, actors and actresses are other factors attracting increasing numbers of Chinese. In some plastic surgery hospitals in Seoul, the South Korean capital, more than 80 per cent of the customers are Chinese. Liu said prices for plastic surgery in South Korea are a little higher than those in China. But with Chinese consumers' increasing wealth, this is not a problem, as people care more about the results of the surgery, and safety. There are many plastic surgery institutes in China, but the industry started relatively late and is still in the initial stage, with a long way to go.
LIFESTYLE
. Better changes
"Negative reports on some failed plastic surgery in recent years also scared away some customers and reduced people's confidence in the industry in China. People would rather spend more to undergo the surgery in South Korea," Liu said. "Currently, we have a batch of middleaged customers who underwent plastic surgery operations several years ago in China who plan to come to South Korea for recovery operations," he added. "Our website was established in 2009 and our customer numbers have steadily increased during the past four years, with an annual increase of between 70 and 80 per cent. "So far, a considerable number of our customers look very pretty to me, but still hope to have small
| October 11-17, 2013
operations to make them look better and become more confident," he said. "Besides, seeking beauty is not the sole preserve of young people. We have customers of different age groups with different plastic-surgery demands," Liu added. He said college students, especially those at art schools, will mainly have nose and eye surgery, while white-collar workers opt for facial improvement, such as changing the shape of the face. Customers who are more than 40 years old choose surgery to make them appear younger. Two years ago, March and April saw a slump in the number of customers. However, with improved technology and operating skills, and with the recovery period greatly reduced, this decline has disappeared, he added.
LIFESTYLE
. More things to learn
To attract more customers, the Korea Tourism Organisation set up 30 offices in 19 major countries to supervise promotional activities, including conferences and inviting inspection teams to South Korea to establish medical-care cooperation. Kim said: "Take Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea, for example. We will hand out pamphlets to visitors in different languages with a detailed introduction to local medical institutes and tourist resorts." He said that for foreign customers' convenience, the tourism organisation website has versions in different languages. Visitors to the site can click on their own language to search for detailed information about hospitals and representative agencies. Customers can choose suitable hospitals and agencies to handle other issues such as visas, travel and accommodation. They can also have a video chat with doctors to obtain more advice, he said. Woo Take-ki, director of the strategic planning department at Seoul National University Hospital Healthcare System's
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Gangnam Centre, said: "The number of overseas customers in our hospital has increased a lot in the past four years, with Chinese accounting for the most. "Plastic surgery with prices between US$2,500 and $3,000 is the most popular for Chinese. We will design an individual plan for patients before, during and after surgery and have translators to accompany foreign patients throughout the process," he said. Many people still consider plastic surgery to be highly confidential, and several domestic websites that organise plastic surgery for Chinese in South Korea also provide one-stop services so these customers don't need to worry about anything. Liu said: "We will design a guaranteed pleasant trip for customers—from applying for a visa to ordering air tickets, airport transfer, hospital and doctor selection to the surgery, care after the operation and the trip back to China. We also handle meals, accommodation and sightseeing in South Korea. Hospitals will also provide surgery certificates in case customers encounter trouble with the immigration department."
LIFESTYLE
. Good prospects for China
As a sunrise industry with high connectivity and high integration, Liu believes that within a few years China will surpass South Korea both in technology and influence on the plastic surgery tourism industry. It is just a matter of time, he says. "China didn't have plastic surgeons many years ago. However, significant progress has been made and some universities have plastic surgery as a subject," he said. "China also has abundant medical and tourism resources, so a promising future is in store for the two industries, he said. More important, compared with people born in the 1960s and '70s, who are still very conservative toward accepting plastic surgery, those born in the 1980s, and especially those born in the 1990s and later, are more open to the changes. "Some of them even volunteered to send us photos of themselves before and after the surgery and hope we can put them on our website to share with others," Liu said. —With Han Junhong and Yang Wanli 
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DESIGN
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Designed in the Philippines comes home
DESIGN
| October 11-17, 2013
THE BRIGHT YELLOW AND BONE WHITE “OUTDOOR” AREA FEATURES A DAY BED, TWO GARDEN CHAIRS AND A BLOOM CHAIR.
COBONPUE'S PAPILLION CHAIR HAS SIDES THAT MIMIC A BUTTERFLY’S WINGS.
DRAGNET LOUNGE CHAIR
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DESIGN
The renowned Filipino designer considered opening a showroom in Barcelona or Miami, but decided it had to be Manila first RAOUL J. CHEE KEE Philippine Daily Inquirer Manila
I THE DESIGNER SITS ON A RED YODA CHAIR. HANGING ABOVE AND AROUND HIM ARE HIS MONOCHROMATIC ZAZA CHAIRS WITH THEIR BACKRESTS SHAPED LIKE PALM FRONDS.
t may be more compact than their sprawling space in Mactan, Cebu, central Philippines, but the newest showroom of Kenneth Cobonpue in Makati, in the Philippines' financial district, is much larger than other furniture stores. The space, located on the ground floor of The Residences at Greenbelt in Makati City—the Philippines' financial capital— carries many of the industrial designer’s popular pieces. Two Bloom chairs are positioned by the plate glass windows. Beside it is a bicycle with a luxurious sidecar and circular "windows” that offer lucky passengers a 180-degree view. In the showroom are more of the designer’s iconic chairs: There’s a red Yoda with its “unfinished” backrest; the deceptively simple Tilt armchair; the Dragnet chair with its net-like detail; and the Papillion armchair with towering wings that mimic that of a butterfly. Scattered around are several Chiquita stools that are
DESIGN
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actually comfortable to sit on. One wall is festooned with Zaza chairs, their carefully formed backrests in shades of green calling to mind tropical fronds. “We weren’t able to display all the designs at once, which is good because we can always have new things when we change the displays every three or four months,” Cobonpue told Inquirer Lifestyle in this exclusive interview. “All the classics are here. We created vignettes including an ‘outdoor’ space, living areas, an office, dining and entertainment areas. On the second floor is a bedroom and another living space.” Cobonpue said they were the first tenants at The Residences at Greenbelt last year, but that they didn’t rush to open because “I wanted it to be perfect”. He wasn’t kidding. On the day of the interview, we spotted him personally arranging the bright yellow-themed outdoor vignette. Later, he folded a fabric throw whose fringed hem was touching the floor. For several years now, Cobonpue had his showroom in Mactan to showcase his pieces, as well as the different boutiques and furniture shops worldwide that carried and promoted his creations. The opening of the Makati showroom came about because he felt he had enough designs to fill the space.
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DESIGN Industrial chic
Coming home
“It took me 15 years before I could finally say I could open my own standalone showroom. I considered opening in Barcelona or Miami, but in the end I said it had to be in Manila because I’m a Filipino and this is where I belong. After going around the world for 15 years, it was time to come home,” he said. Now, local clients can order his works and expect to receive them in three to four days. “We will have stocks of the best-selling pieces in Cebu. Other designs might take longer to deliver especially if the client wants the piece or pieces in a certain colour or finish. “That’s the good thing about manufacturing here. We can custom-finish down to the exact shade; it’s like a Birkin bag,” he said, referring to the luxury bag from Hérmes. Cobonpue admitted, however, that to open a store requires hard work. In time, he said he might consider replicating this boutique in other cities in the world.
He said the new space is a collaborative effort between his friends—designer Budji Layug and architect Royal Pineda who designed the place, and J. Anton Mendoza who took charge of the styling. But Cobonpue knew the look he wanted: very industrial with poured concrete floors and unfinished walls. “My furniture has always been warm, organic and natural, so the concrete, the coldness, and the mirrors bring out their warmth. I wanted this industrial look, but one that was very refined, hence the addition of well-placed lights.” Aside from his chairs, sofas and nesting tables, the designer’s lamps and lighting fixtures are a sight to behold. Using different, locally sourced materials, he has come up with designs that mimic fluffy clouds, a floating village, traditional oil lamps, and armadillos. “When we change the collection after three or four months, we might have to close the store for several days. I don’t think I can do it in one day because it takes time. We’ll have to clean everything here and redesign the space. The lamps will change, that’s what’s going to take a long time— the placement of the lamps,” Cobonpue said. Redesigning the showroom may be tiring, but somehow it’s something he’s already looking forward to. ¬
CULTURE
A thousand years of worship TRISHA SERTORI The Jakarta Post Gianyar
A
thousand years ago, hands carved massive rock to make temples linked by holy springs along the Pakerisan River in Gianyar regency. Over a millennium later, other hands continue to tend these temples with a fecund constancy of worship offered to the gods. The ancient structures are not relics of the past; they stand witness to an unbroken thread running across 100 generations of Balinese Hindus. Along a stretch of the Pakerisan River are the temples of Tirta Empul, Candi Mangening, Gunung Kawi, Candi Pangukur-ukur, Candi Tegal Linggah and Gua Garba.
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CULTURE The life blood of the temples is holy water that bubbles up from the earth at Tirta Empul. Capillaries from this source rise in sacred springs within the temples. However, few apart from scholars know much about the temples. A volunteer at Tirta Empul, 50-year-old Wayan Rajag, says he does not know the story of the temple that he serves. “It’s history. I don’t know.” Fifty-five-year-old Nyoman Sampua can tell a little more as he rests at the entrance to Candi Mangening, with its winding, Escher-like stairs. “Before we had Besakih, we already had this temple, Mangening. It is the oldest temple here,” Sampua says, as water can be heard running downhill to bathing pools below. “I don’t know what century that was, but I know we had a temple between two
rivers at Tukad Pakerisan.” “These days the river has joined,” he continues, “that was the source of the holy springs, the Tukad.” It is understandable that historical temple tales are unimportant to the people of this area. Here history is not formed from disused relics observed as evidence of past reality. These people live within the ongoing story of this string of river temples. At Gunug Kawi is Ibu Ketut. Every day, Ketut, now in her 60s, traverses the 300 steps down to the monolithic temples carved from rock. Over the years she has developed a perfect rhythm, resting briefly after she climbs each stair. “By going slowly you can win and reach the top. I have been going up and down these steps every day for the past 20 days for the temple’s birthday.” The temples follow the gentle
fall of the local topography. At the lowest point is the cave used for meditation by royal advisor Kebo Iwa in the 11th century. It is known as Gua Garba, the cave within. This intimate
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CULTURE series of caves carved into a hill sits at the foot of Candi Pangukur-ukur, once the home of King Jaya Pangus. Watching over this peaceful temple in the forest is 75-yearold Dewa Gede Badung. For decades, he and his wife, Dewa Ayu Swasti, have been the ‘key’ to this out-of-the-way temple. Dewa, who tends to the weeds on the temple’s rock walls and removes moss from a narrow aqueduct, said that he found his salvation at the temple. “My parents sold cotton thread—that was in the colonial era,” Dewa recalls. “They were captured by the Dutch and jailed for selling thread that helped people make clothes. They were caught because the Dutch were bosses and could do whatever they wanted to the people.” He said that he followed his parents into prison. “I would have been five years old then. The Japanese came and the
English bombed our prison. Pak Sukarno was not yet president. Independence had been declared, but this was 1948, and in the mountains and rural villages, we had not heard of independence.” “I was very depressed and I would go to graveyards and pray to be taken to god to join my father. Then I came here to Gua Garba and I felt at peace. I feel I can meditate and I see god in a pure flame.” An overhang above Kebo Iwa protects its delicate carvings from the ever-falling spring water erupting within the roots of a banyan tree. Shaped like a Javanese limasan house, the cave has a priest’s bell and Sanskrit lettering in relief still clearly visible after a thousand years. It is this unbroken thread winding through history, protected and nurtured across intervening generations, that is so moving.
These river temples, carved with devotion, have been maintained with devotion across the centuries. Trisha Sertori is a contributor to The Jakarta Post. ¬
CULTURE
| October 11-17, 2013
ENTERTAINMENT
| October 11-17, 2013
Making Korean hip-hop a culture
KOREAN RAPPER P-TYPE
ENTERTAINMENT
| October 11-17, 2013
EMMA KALKA The Korea Herald Seoul
F
or rapper P-Type, a first-generation hip-hop artist in Korea, hip-hop is more than just a music genre: It’s a culture and attitude. And he hopes for the day when hip-hop becomes more than a trend here. “My dream is to make hip-hop grow its roots and become a culture in Korea so that future hip-hop artists can start a little bit easier than before,” P-Type said in an interview with The Korea Herald. “And that people don’t look at hip-hop as just another trend, but as part of our culture. As a pioneer, I feel that if that doesn’t happen, then I’ve failed.” P-Type started performing in 1998 and released his debut album in 2004. He was a member of Show N Prove, one of the first crews in Korean hip-hop, with artists Verbal Jint and Wheesung. But P-Type got started in hip-hop much earlier, doing music in high school for his friends who were b-boys. His friends thought it was cool, but at the time he never dreamed he would become a musician. One of the big differences between the hip-hop scene when he started and now, he said, was the lack of foundation. None of the artists thought it was something they could actually do for a living–the goal was unclear. They mostly just did it for fun. “Because it is black Western music and there was no black hip-hop artist in Korea teaching, ‘Oh, hip-hop should be this way,’” he said. “So there was constant researching and experimenting with new stuff. We were trying to figure out what was the proper way of doing things.”
Yo,yo,
K-poppers,
check this out!
| October 11-17, 2013
ENTERTAINMENT
In the absence of any guidance, the musicians often analysed their performance afterward, discussing what should be changed, what worked and what didn’t. These days, young hip-hop artists have it slightly easier in that there is that foundation and a place for them to start from. P-Type’s own career has been a constant struggle, so much so that he took a break from music in 2008. Despite the acclaim for his first two albums, neither generated much income, and he felt they were only half-successes. After the release of his first album, his agency went bankrupt. After his second album, P-Type left the music scene and worked at a company, being almost 30 and needing to make some sort of income. Not quite satisfied with working at a 9-to-5 job, P-Type returned to music a couple years later when
the members of the Bulhandang crew asked him to come back. “The constant challenge occurs because Korean society does not look at hip-hop as a culture but as a trend. In America, it’s a culture. But until it is seen that way, its one of the real challenges for me,” he said. P-Type feels that his challenge is to see how long hip-hop is going to last, but there is no way of knowing when it might become a culture. For now, he is working on releasing a digital single and trying to write new music before winter. He said hiphop trends have changed since he left and he was trying to catch up. Now that everything is released in digital format, he said there is less pressure to put out albums and CDs. Like many, he now gets his inspiration from daily life. With
his previous albums, he wanted to show true hip-hop, but on his third album—the first since his comeback—he took daily conversations he had and turned them into music. And he is willing to try different styles, though he doesn’t want to stray too far from original, classic hip-hop. P-Type hopes that younger crews in hip-hop can look to Bulhandang and other older crews as examples of what it means to be in a crew and to keep hip-hop healthy. Younger crews start for various reasons, be it financial or otherwise, and that creates issues and arguments. P-Type said there are many behind-the-scenes stories that the public is unaware of. But with Bulhandang, he said, it’s a bunch of fun guys coming together and doing what they do best. —Translator Jee Hsieng contributed to this article. ¬
ENTERTAINMENT
| October 11-17, 2013
MTV
RETURNS
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As the channel returns to Thailand, it’s no longer just ‘money for nothin’ and chicks for free’ KITCHANA LERSAKVANITCHAKUL The Nation
C Bangkok
omplaints flooded the social networks a couple of years ago when cable TV service provider TrueVisions announced that due to the expiry of its contract with MTV , the American basic cable and satellite television channel would no longer be broadcast. Now it's coming back, complete with new marketing platforms, although the social networks will probably hum once again, as MTV is taking over the slot of Channel [V], another music
channel with an expired contract. "Viacom International Media Networks, which is the parent company of MTV, took a close look at Thailand's big entertainment market and decided to cut a deal," says Amarit 'Mark' Sukhavanij, managing director of MTV Thailand. "The MTV of today is much more striking than in the past, offering sitcoms, series, movies and reality shows in addition to music." Mark, who headed off to university in the States a year before MTV's 1981 launch, remembers the early days. The original purpose of the channel, he says, was to play music videos,
guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys", or VJs. In its early years, MTV’s main target demographic were young adults, but today, MTV’s programming is primarily targeted at adolescents in addition to young adults. "Most young people at that time watched MTV, as it was the only place to see music videos. The slogan back then was 'I Want My MTV'," says the executive, who has also held senior marketing positions the Total Access Communications(Dtac) and Telenor. "MTV has adjusted its programming constantly over the
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last 30 years. And that's helped it remain an influential and seductive channel for several generations of young people. It's also recognised the need to adapt to consumer behaviour and for the last few years, viewers have wanted not just music videos but also shows. Its marketing strategy is excellent." While music still plays an important role channel, taking up 60 per cent of airplay, Thai viewers will be able to enjoy a far greater variety of programmes. Mark says 70 per cent of these are taken from the international feed while 30 per cent of the shows are local. The international menu features Awkward, an American teen comedy about an unpopular 15year-old who gains immediate, yet unwanted, popularity at her high school when the student body mistakes an accident she has for a suicide attempt, along with Teen Mom, an American reality TV series that focuses on the themes of changing relationships between family, friends, and boys, while highlighting the struggles
teenage mothers have to go through to raise their children, Ridiculousness is a video clip show that shows various viral videos from the Internet and viewers can also look forward to Catfish the TV Show, I Used to Be Fat, and Disaster Date. Local content includes MTV Journey, MTV Fanatic, MTV at the Movies, MTV Adrenaline, which focuses on sports, and MTV Fash, a semi-reality programme hosted by hip-hop fashion leader Bobby and makeup and theatrical artist Pearypie. "Pearypie is very popular online so she was an obvious choice for the show. Fash follows her throughout a day as she dresses up and goes to boutiques. We've made every effort to produce new programmes that match the MTV character and we're lucky in that the cable and satellite market is well-staffed by talented professionals who are able to produce interesting contents for young viewers who don't want to see the same music videos that they can find on YouTube," says Mark.
Despite his reference to the video-sharing website, Mark doesn't regard YouTube as a direct rival to MTV though he admits the availability of user-generated video content has affected the channel. "It's one of the reasons why the music segment in each of programmes is just half an hour. Studies conducted in the US has shown that many youngsters are connected to the social media while watching TV. For example, we know that kids watching Awkward are simultaneously chatting with their friends about the series." The recent event at Parc Paragon to relaunch MTV Thailand at Parc Paragon also saw the start of the "MTV VJ Hunt 2013", which runs through November. And Mark is already busy planning the schedule for next year. "I'd like to put on a show similar to the MTV Asia Awards in Singapore or MTV World Stage in Malaysia. Our challenge is to make a difference and to please our viewers," he says. ÂŹ
ENTERTAINMENT
| October 11-17, 2013
GROWING UP WITH MTV SETHAPONG 'FIRST' DURONGJIRAKAN, FRONT MAN OF SLOT MACHINE
"I used to tune into MTV to find out about the artists, watch their music videos and find out more information before deciding to buy a CD. I'm pleased it's coming back, especially as the channel is never out-of-date. No matter what you see on YouTube or other social media, the original is always better on MTV. Sometimes, you just want to watch and MTV lets you do that."
SUPAGIT 'GOLF' PUNTAJACK, AKA F—KING HERO
"I always watched MTV to see the latest music videos and it's from the channel that I found out about artists like Bjork. I think MTV has influenced young people since the beginning and that can only help the fashion and music industries. Personally, I'd rather watch music videos on MTV than YouTube."
TACHAYA 'KENG' PRATHUMWAN, AKA KENG THE VOICE "I watch more music videos on MTV than YouTube and I don't find the channel oldfashioned. It's a good way of keeping up with trends and I'm looking forward to enjoying a wider range of interesting programmes."
RATCHAKORN 'CHAMP' UDOMTANAWAT, SINGER AND SONGWRITER OF TABASCO
"I used to watch MTV to catch the new music videos of artists like Nirvana and Green Day. Before MTV came to Thailand, I looked for pirated videos of the shows and scored guitar scales from them. These days, I can find everything I need on the social networks like YouTube.
KORBPOB 'TOEY' BAIYAM, FORMER DRUMMER OF SILLY FOOLS
"I loved MTV's rock programme Headbangers Ball and also tuned in for music videos. It allowed me to keep up-to-date not just about music trends but also about fashion. The new look MTV Thailand is contemporary with lots more content."
DATEBOOK
| October 11-17, 2013
MALAYSIA
YEAR-END SALE
PHUKET
BEIJING
BEACH VOLLEYBALL COMPETITION
RED LEAF FESTIVAL
This will be the 8th successive year that Thailand stages an open series women's volleyball event. As one of the biggest annual sporting events in Southeast Asia, tourists will be able to watch over 50 of the world's top women beach volleyball competition
During the grand event, many local and foreign visitors gather there to enjoy the beauty of the flowers. It is the best season for tourists to enjoy visiting and travelling around the area.
The sale season is eagerly awaited by Malaysians and foreign visitors who want to experience the unbelievable discounts, bargains and promotions.
When: October 15-November 3 Where: Fragrant Hill
When: November 16-January 5
When: October 29-November 30 Where: Karon Beach
DATEBOOK
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SAGA, JAPAN
KARATSU KUNCHI FESTIVAL
The festival features parades of massive floats in the form of samurai helmets, sea bream, dragons, and other fantastical creatures, all constructed from wood, lacquer, and other materials. It is the major event of the Karatsu calendar, regularly drawing crowds of about 150,000 to 500,000 people from the surrounding area over the course of the three days holiday. When: November 2-4
SEOUL
NEW DELHI
MIDDAY KOREAN DANCE
PHOOLWALON KI SAIR
A tourist attraction, Midday Korean Dance presents various styles of Korean dance, from completely traditional dances like Jin-do Drum dance and Small Drum Dance, to contemporary creative dances like the love duet in Chum, Chunhyang.
The festival is an annual celebration by the flowers sellers of Delhi. During the festival, a parade of flowers, displayed in a number of prominent temples, live music and countless flower stalls are organised to mark the event.
When: November 21-22 Where: KB Haneul Youth Theatre/ National Theatre of Korea
When: October-November
DATEBOOK
| October 11-17, 2013
BEIJING
MANILA
2013 BEIJING 798 ART FESTIVAL
MANILART FAIR 2013
The 2013 Beijing 798 Art Festival kicked off at the 798 Art Zone in Beijing on September 21. With the theme "Imagination and Coexistence", the festival features nearly 100 events, including theme exhibition series, union exhibition series and an outdoor sculpture invitational exhibition. Highlighting the crossover of different art forms such as painting, sculpture, dancing and music, the festival is expected to offer a spectacular visual experience for art fans. Home to more than 400 galleries, studios, restaurants and bars, the art zone has developed into a cultural and innovative industry centre.
Multimedia artist José Tence Ruiz wrote that “Hibla” was Jane Arrieta Ebarle’s “fusion of hill-tribe patterns and urbane calligraphy, which previously were content to occupy opposite poles of the formal lexicon”. ManilArt is bridging the gap between art and the people, and technically making art accessible to everyone. Ebarle and over 500 artists will have their works on exhibit in the ManilArt Fair
When: Until October 20 Where: 798 Art Zone, Beijing
When: October 9-13 Where: SMX Aura Convention Centre, Taguig City, Metro Manila
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