All sorts of emergencies

Hello friends!

I’ll admit, I didn’t spend much of this month reading widely across the region. Today’s catch up is very brief and I guess I was busy at the pub and reading books more than I thought! 

I did also spend some time combing through the Good Films Only Substack which has a huge list of films from mostly Southeast Asia that are free to watch online. This is a good week to sign up because a load of them are free for 24 hours only starting now-ish! 

See you Thursday for a look ahead!Erin Cook

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One thing that always strikes me about Indonesia is how much news the country can shove into a relatively short period of time. More so than elsewhere in the region, January has been a particularly dramatic start to the year for the archipelago. Before we jump in though, Indonesia has cracked in with the vaccine drive but we’ll look at that on Thursday as part of our look ahead.

• The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has concluded the still-confusing killing of six Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) cadres back in December was unlawful. The six members were killed in two separate incidents along a toll road in the very early hours of December 7. “The shooting of four people at the same time without any attempts to avoid further fatalities indicates that an unlawful killing has taken place,” Muhammad Choirul Anam, the commission member leading the investigation, said as reported by the Jakarta Post.

• The FPI was deemed an illegal organisation as of January 1. This means police now have the power to act on any individual believed to be involved in FPI activities, supporting the organisation or displaying the logo etc. But don’t expect to see a mass of second-hand white shirts any time soon. “The name is changing to Front Persaudaraan Islam (Islamic Brotherhood Front), God willing,” says FPI legal representative Aziz Yanuar. That’s a handy initialism. 

• Leader Rizieq Shihab is back in the hot seat again and facing charges of violating COVID-19 protocol for his Soekarno-Hatta welcome party. Can’t find anything about Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who visited the cleric at his home during his quarantine period. 

• One in, one out? Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, linked to the 2002 Bali bombings, has been released from prison after serving much of his 15-year sentence. He had been tapped for early release a couple of years back by President Jokowi for reasons which remain unclear to me. So, is the FPI ban just window dressing? What’s the real message here, asks the always excellent Johannes Nugroho in the Interpreter. 

• Sriwijaya Air flight 182 tragically became the country’s third major air disaster in just over six years on January 9. The Jakarta to Pontianak flight disappeared into the Java Sea shortly after take-off killing all 62 onboard. There’s still a lot we don’t know about what exactly happened, but it appears likely it had something to do with the automatic throttle system of the Boeing 737-500 plane. 

• The aviation industry has been plagued with problems for years, including a brief ban by the European Union. This Reuters piece outlines those issues as well as notes Indonesia’s fast-pace growth of flight demand outstripping capacity for many of the relatively new airlines. It also notes that Sriwijaya, originally an arm of Garuda, had over half of its fleet grounded by the Transport Ministry in 2019 over safety concerns.

• All of that is cold comfort for the families of those who died. “I recalled my brother’s face as I threw the flowers. Tears kept streaming down, it was as though his face was reflected from the sea’s surface,” Heri Purnomo, whose brother Nurkholid Fatil Amin died in the disaster, told Reuters.

• The Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Agency says Indonesia has been hit by 185 natural disasters in the first three weeks of the year, reports Erwin Renaldi at ABC. It’s also been much deadlier than the same time period as last year with 161 deaths compared to 91 in 2020. When I posted the story to Twitter an Indonesian friend responded saying he didn’t even know it was so high — before noting another earthquake that very morning. And as I draft this Sunday afternoon, I’m whatsapping with a friend in North Jakarta who says the combination of the sealine and heavy flooding is causing a huge flood in his neighbourhood. 

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• Malaysia’s response to COVID-19 last year had been remarkably successful but has not been spared the cursed second and third waves many countries are dealing with. Malaysiakini has had a fantastic tracker page running (if you’re not already subscribed, do so!) which clearly shows the climb in cases towards the end of last year before a dramatic rise in January. 

• The sharp increase prompted the declaration of emergency by the middle of the month. As Max Walden for the ABC writes, it’s the first declaration in over 50 years and is expected to last until August 1. His piece tracks how Malaysia got from a world leader in the pandemic to here.

• So what, exactly, does this entail? The Vibes has a handy listicle to explain. The legislation behind the declaration is far-reaching and gives the monarch powers to seize land and property if deemed necessary. It can also compel healthcare workers to work and delay elections. 

• The declaration of ‘emergency’ historically weighs heavy on the country and, with such a complicated background of domestic politics, suspiciously. “This consent ... takes into account the personal safety of the people and the best interests of the country. It is also based on current Covid-19 statistics,” a palace statement on announcement read. Alarm bells rang immediately, prompting Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to clarify: “The emergency proclaimed by the [king] is not a military coup and curfew will not be enforced.” Well, if you have to drop the c-bomb you haven’t really won hearts and minds, no? 

• Forget about Muhyiddin and Mahathir and Anwar. The Malaysian Health Coalition has pleaded for more support of Malaysia’s healthcare workers who are afflicted with burn-out. “Mental and emotional recovery from the pandemic will take time, so this infrastructure must be in place to ensure healthcare providers get the needed support for years to come," a statement from the Coalition says. Part of that must be better job protections, it added. 

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Come Thursday we’ll take a look at a big development regarding activism at the University of the Philippines, as well as other campuses, which is setting this year up to be a tumultuous one. We’re also just under 18 months out from the next presidential election — in which the constitution forbids a second-run from President Rodrigo Duterte — so we’re going to be very Manila-heavy, I imagine! 

• The Philippines has, obviously, close links with the US. The darker side of this was on show in the US on January 6 when a Filipino man was spotted joining the hordes of insurrectionists. Friend of the letter, Jonathan de Santos did some sleuthing after photos of the masked man carrying a walis tambo (Philippine-made broom) went viral. Coconuts Manila has more.

• VICE has a longer piece looking beyond the Pinoy connection, including the seemingly ubiquitous South Vietnam flag.

• In December, a fresh tragedy put the spotlight on the Philippine National Police. Frank Gregario, 25-years-old, and his mother, Sonya, were shot and killed December 17 by an off-duty policeman in Tarlac to the north of Manila. The hideous incident has disturbed so greatly it has resulted in rare justice for victims — the charging of the police officer.