Pearls and Irritations

In Asia Media, Albanese wins enthusiastic coverage in Jakarta; new Indo-Pacific leaders work on US-China stance; Myanmar brings back hanging for dissidents; experts analyse Biden’s new economic grouping; Thailand legalises pot.

In the view of The Jakarta Post, Anthony Albanese offered two significant gifts on this week’s visit to Indonesia: his assurance he will attend the G20 Summit in Bali in November and his promise to make it easier for Indonesians to get Australian visas.
The Post said in an editorial the assurances would be the most attractive oleh-oleh (gifts) for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. “These goodwill gestures from the newly elected Prime Minister will help build a new phase in the two neighbors’ relationship,” the paper said.

“Albanese’s visa pledge comes as good news for many Indonesians… More importantly, the Australian premier’s confirmed G20 attendance is a diplomatic coup for Jokowi. Getting all G20 leaders to attend the summit is his top priority, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could kill this ambition.”

Australia when under a conservative regime and Indonesia had maintained good ties, despite elements of distrust, the paper said. It added: “Traditionally though, Indonesia feels more comfortable dealing with a Labor government.”

The Post reported at length on Jokowi’s “bamboo bike diplomacy” – a ride through the Bogor Palace in West Java on locally made bamboo bicycles and the gift of one to Albanese. “Australian officials have said the premier was ‘deeply touched’ by the President’s generosity,” the paper said. “But the stars of the show may have been the bamboo bicycles themselves.”

The paper rounded off its enthusiastic coverage of Albanese’s trip by publishing an article by Foreign Minister Penny Wong. “Australians understand we all depend on our region remaining peaceful, stable and prosperous,” Wong wrote. “That is why we seek a region where sovereignty and a country’s right to make its own decisions are respected.

“With ASEAN centrality at its core.”

The Jakarta Globe news site highlighted the business implications of the trip. It quoted Jokowi as saying his meeting with Albanese saw an emphasis on economic ties.

Jokowi mentioned the export to Australia, starting this year, of completely built-up Toyota Fortuner SUVs. “I hope the access for this kind of export will remain open,” he said. Both leaders talked about the importance of improving the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and Albanese promised there would be regular meetings between economic ministers of the two countries.

Footnote: Albanese’s earlier trip to Tokyo for the Quad meeting also attracted some belated media commentary. The Japan Times said in a cautious editorial that Albanese’s time in the Rudd government might have been worrying for his Quad partners, as that administration had left the Quad’s previous incarnation. “However, Albanese and his proxies insisted that the party’s position had changed,” the paper said.

Three new leaders face US-China balance issues

Australia is one of three Indo-Pacific countries – along with South Korea and the Philippines – to have elected new leaders. Kavi Chongkittavorn, the Bangkok Post’s regional affairs analyst, put them together in a commentary, viewing them through the  prism of China-US relations.

“Their policy shift, even nuances, could either moderate or harden the two powers’ strategic rivalries,” he said.

Australia under Anthony Albanese would not let go of the strong US alliance. “But there are a few tweaks he needs to make if Australia is to be a moderating force in the Indo-Pacific,” he said. “What Mr Albanese needs to do is renew dialogue with China in the coming days or weeks, focusing on easing people to people exchanges related to tourism and education and other less sensitive engagements.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yoel had said he would strengthen the US alliance to deter any external to his country, Kavi wrote. “Bilaterally it is not difficult to do so,” he said.

“However, the US strategic imperative in Northeast Asia requires South Korea to also improve ties with its other ally, Japan. At the moment, South-Korean-Japan ties are at their lowest ebb with both sides having yet to overcome an impasse over historical legacies.”

The new Philippines President, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos would bring a breath of fresh air to relations with both China and the US. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte had been rudderless in pursuing ties with the two superpowers. Marcos was likely to be more consistent in pursuing ties with China and the US. Balancing the two would be a preferred policy.

Junta sentences democracy activists to death
More than 5000 civilians have been killed since last year’s military coup in Myanmar. Now the junta is threatening to bring back executions, by hanging, of political dissidents. According to the Burma-exile news site, The Irrawaddy, they would be the first such executions in four decades.

The regime had approved the death sentences of Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and Kyam Min Yu, a veteran democracy activist. They join two other men, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, who were sentenced to death for killing a woman who was an alleged military informant.

But 114 prisoners, including students and anti-coup activists, have been condemned to death since the coup, the website reported. “The condemned prisoners were subjected to unfair trials and denied their legal rights to counsel and to defend themselves for their roles in the revolutionary movement against the junta,” it said.

It published an opinion piece by political commentator Naing Khit. He said hanging the two activists would stir up even more popular resistancecrisis in Myanmar against the junta and bring about all-out war.

Some people believed the junta was bluffing. But the person who rejected their appeals was junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. “He was the one who gave the final order to carry out the executions,” Naing Khit said.

“Min Aung Hlaing and his regime have already committed many unforgivable mistakes against the whole of Myanmar’s society. The execution would be another unforgivable mistake.”

Benedict Rogers, a columnist for ucanews.com, the pan-Asian Catholic news site, wrote that while the world’s eyes were rightly focused on Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the crisis in Myanmar was just as deadly but was too often ignored.
The planned executions were horrific, Rogers said.

“I have never known of anyone sentenced to death by a court in Myanmar for supporting democracy,” he wrote. “If the regime goes through with this, it marks a new low for this already brutal, barbaric, inhumane and criminal junta.”

Three ways of looking at Biden’s economic framework
Analysts continue to study the innards of US President Joe Biden’s new grouping, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, unveiled during his recent Asian trip.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post over the past several days published two different views – one said it was an anti-China ploy; the other suggested that while it might annoy China, it might not be a bad idea.

One piece, written by private investor Winston Mok, said the new grouping might herald a turn away from globalisation.

The US had turned its back on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and now the IPEF might be seen as a feeble attempt to undermine the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. But it would be hard for the US to orchestrate deglobalisation in Asia.

“The US is a far less dominant economic force today,” Mok wrote. “China is the leading trading partner for most Asian countries. Southeast Asian countries trade with China at 2.5 times their level with the US.”

The second piece is by Kai He, professor of international relations at Griffith University. “The IPEF sends a clear message to the region that the US is back in business,” He said.

“It is clear that China is not only excluded but targeted…The IPEF is also an economic branch of the US Indo-Pacific strategy against China…“The IPEF is the beginning of institutional competition between the US and China…Competition is not always destructive to regional peace if it is confined within the institutional domain.”

But another view was also published this week, in India’s The Hindu newspaper. It was written by senior journalist Sridhar Krishnaswami. The word Biden wanted to emphasise was China, he said. Almost all countries in the region recognised Beijing’s assertiveness and aggressiveness, wanting to be at the centre of things but on its own terms. Yet few could come up with a strategy to deal with China. Biden tried to get around this problem by setting up IPEF, based on four pillars: digital trade, supply chains, green energy and fair trade.

But there was discontent as the framework did not deal with trade and tariffs. Biden would not want to touch this with a barge pole, Krishnaswami wrote.

Another factor Washington must pay attention to were that most of China’s neighbours wanted to balance relations between Beijing and Washington. “Every country has its own unique relationship with Beijing,” he wrote. “South Korea and Japan are part of a strong American security/strategic partnership but will be keen on maintaining their economic status with China.

“This is also true for the Association of Southeast Asian nations.

“India might be part of the Quad but it is quite mindful that it is the only country in the group that shares a land border with China which is laced with disputes.”

Thailand: first Asian country to legalise pot
Is the hippie trail of decades ago about to be reborn as the old folks’ medical cannabis trail? This week, Thailand became the first country in Asia to legalise cannabis. Bangkok Post reports that cannabis will no longer be considered an illicit drug.
“The production, import, export, distribution, consumption and possession of cannabis [has been] formally legalised,” the paper says.

The step has been taken a little nervously, with the Ministry of Public Health warning that improper use of cannabis could lead to an increase in drug users. The ministry will set up a system to monitor those who might have mental problems caused by the wrong use of cannabis.

The paper says in an editorial cannabis and hemp in the past were used in Thai traditional medicine and in preparation of food.

Promoting the medical use of cannabis was a flagship policy of the Bhumjaithai Party, a government coalition partner.

And right on cue, a Bangkok hospital said it had set up a medical cannabis and traditional Thai medical clinic, under the name of Dr Gan.

“We are certain that the centre will have a significant impact on the treatment of patients, as cannabis possesses numerous therapeutic characteristics,” said Dr Wichares Bunjitpimol, vice president of Navamin Hospital Group.

And if the clinic works for Navamin, other Thai hospitals, known for their entrepreneurial streak, will be very close behind.