November 2004 107th Issue

LOY KRATONG

One of the most beautiful festivals in Thailand , Loy Kratong is held on the night of the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai calendar every year - this year, November 26th.

The people of Thailand have had a close relationship with water since ancient times. As a farming people, the Thais always used to be build their homes and villages near rivers, for they depended on their waters for their crops as well as for a means to travel from one part of the country to the next. Generation after generation of Thais have been sustained by these waters, so water is held in deep respect. From this respect comes one of the most important festivals of the year. Taking place during the highest tide of the year, the festival is known as " Loy Kratong".

The festival is held to give thanks and to ask forgiveness for the use of water. The offerings are made to Mae Pra Khongkha, the Goddess of water, to help ward off bad luck and to ask for blessing through her water.

During the festival the rivers become full of floats, known as Krathong, which are of different shapes and sizes. They are beautifully decorated with both fresh and dry flowers. With candles lit, they become like stars drifting through the heavens made bright by the light of the full moon reflected on the surface of the waters. The beauty of this scene and the atmosphere of celebration have made the festival enjoyable for everyone who witnesses it.

The Loy krathong Festival is held at the same time throughout the country on the 15th day of the waxing moon of the 12th lunar month. Though the manner of celebration and the conduct of rituals varies in each part of Thailand , the underlying purpose of showing respect and gratitude towards water is the same.

For the people of Lanna, this festival is known as "Yi Peng", which means the full moon day of the second lunar month. The northern Thais begin the lunar year two months before people of the other parts of Thailand begin theirs. In Chiang Mai the festival lasts for 3 days, from the fourteenth day of the waxing moon to the first day of the waning moon. Though the float is considered the most important symbol of the Yi Peng festival, the phang prathip (small terra cotta lamp) and the Khom (lantern) are also important symbols.

The lanterns are a traditional handicraft of the Northern Thais. It is made of sliced bamboo bent into many different shapes and covered with coloured paper, which is decorated with paper cut into fine shapes and patterns. Terra cotta lamps are then placed in each lantern. The Northern Thais compare the lantern's light to the light of wisdom which sheds light onto the path in darkness. So they offer the lanterns to Buddhist monks in order to worship the Buddha. They believe that offering lanterns is auspicious and brings merit, and they will be born with the greater light of wisdom in their next incarnation.

During the festival, the doorways and gate of all the temples and houses are elaborately decorated with banana trees, coconut-palm leaf stalks, flowers, lanterns, electric lamps and other materials. This decorative doorway is called a pratu pa, or a "forest gate".

One of the most interesting objects is the colourful khom loy, or hot air balloon. Built in a variety of shapes and sizes, they are released into the sky during the day and night. Burning wicks are placed in those that are released at night. The lanterns in the sky and the lamps on the ground adorns the sky and the city with a myriad of lights, while all around firecrackers blaze and explode like thunder.

The festival is made even more lively by the activities of the municipality and private enterprise, which co-operate to put on dazzling shows. The first day of the celebration is known as Wan Da, the day of preparation. On this day, people prepare offerings for the temples, and make their own floats, lanterns and decorative items.

Khom hu Kratai -lanterns- are carried in the procession. They are made of sliced bamboo and covered with coloured paper. A candle is placed inside. After the procession, these lanterns are used to decorate buildings.

Khom loy - hot air balloons- are made of sheets of light coloured paper glued into a cylindrical or cubic shape and attached to a loop of sliced bamboo. During the daytime, Khom Loy are filled with hot smoke and released. It is believed that releasing a Khom Loy wards off bad luck. In former times, money or a letter asking those who find to get in touch with the owner for a reward was placed in the balloon. In ancient times, the balloons were used in battle by placing a pot of gunpowder together with a fuse of lit joss sticks. With accurate calculation, the Khom Loy reached enemy land at the same time as the joss sticks reached the ties and fuse to the gunpowder. The explosion destroyed enemy homes and property.

Khom Fai- hot air balloons-contain burning wicks and are released at night.

Khom Pat- Spinning lanterns- revolve using the heat generated by a candle. This type of lantern has a double cover, the inner cover being decorated and fitted with a needle like wood axle. When the lantern spins, the shadow of the design on the inner cover appears on the outer cover, like a shadow play of the South. This type of lantern is intricate and takes considerable skill to make.

Phang Prathip- a terra cotta lamp with wick in a wax mixed with coconut oil or sesame seed.

All of Hua Hin's major hotel's will host elaborate and exciting celebrations, well worth a look, particularly for the first time visitor to the country.

Hua Hin-Bangkok Shuttle Starts This Month!

It was reported in the Bangkok Post that an air shuttle service to and from Bangkok will start on November 1. The SGA Airlines operated service will provide an express transfer service for guests staying at Evason Hua Hin Resort. The service will provide a very convenient and luxurious alternative to the road transfer.

The aircraft will be Cessna 208B Caravan, which has a capacity for 12 passengers. The planes are very plush with leather seats, making the 30 minute flight as comfortable as possible. On arrival at Hua Hin the guests will be transported to the Evason via complimentary transfer. The flight times are aimed to accommodate international arrivals from Europe .

Air fares are expected to be around 5,200 Baht roundtrip inclusive of VAT. Discounts for children at 50% up to 11 years old and free flights for under 2 year olds who do not occupy a seat.

Reaction has been good, and the possibility of night flights to service guests from Japan Korea and Australia is being considered.

For reservations and equires contact: reservations-huahin@evasonhideaways.com

or tel: 032 618 200, or 032 632 111.

A BARKING GOOD CHRISTMAS TO OUR FOUR LEGGED FRIENDS

The folks at the Hua Hin Dog Rescue Centre, are aiming to give some of Hua Hin's dogs a Happy Christmas.

They hope that during the months of November and December, people will bring in non-perishable goods, such as tinned dog food, dry food, rice or dog treats.

The plan then is to distribute the goodies to the dogs in their care, some of the temple dogs, and to the pets of needy owners.

The Christmas Box will be placed in their charity shop on the third floor of the Hua Hin Shopping Mall. For further details call 01-981 4406.

Asian news and current affairs

War or no war, drug trade flourishes

By Sudha Ramachandra

CHENNAI - If armed conflict fuels and is fueled by the narcotics trade, it is logical then to expect that peace would impede production and trade in narcotics. But this is not necessarily the case, as ceasefires often provide drug mafias with ideal conditions in which to operate. The ceasefire in Sri Lanka , for instance, is said to have spurred drug trafficking from India to the northern coast of the island.

A Colombo-datelined report by P K Balachchandran in the Hindustan Times draws attention to the "alarming increase in the smuggling of heroin and other dangerous drugs from India into Sri Lanka since 1998". Citing statistics provided by the director of Sri Lanka 's Police Narcotics Bureau, the report points out that India , which accounted for just 28% of the narcotics seized in Sri Lanka in 1997, accounted for 97% of the seizures in 2002.

In February 2002, the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam signed a ceasefire agreement. While negotiations between the two sides have been deadlocked for more than a year now, the ceasefire continues to hold, although both parties have been found to be guilty of several serious truce violations.

Since the ceasefire came into effect, naval surveillance along Sri Lanka 's northern coast is said to have been decreased to some extent. Apparently, narcotics smugglers are taking advantage of this reduced vigilance along the northern coast and have stepped up their activities here. Balachchandran reports that in the 1990s, the landing points for drug traffickers from India lay along the mid-western and southwestern coastline, not far from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo .

But since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in February 2002, the landing points for drug traffickers appears to have shifted to the Mannar coast in the northwestern part of the island facing Palk Strait. Not only has the reduced surveillance by the Sri Lankan navy in this area encouraged traffickers to operate here but also "there has been some confusion as to who is in charge in the Jaffna Peninsula , including Mannar".

The easing of vigilance in the Mannar area in Sri Lanka after the ceasefire "has been a boon for smugglers from India because the Mannar coastline is easier to reach than any other point further down south [on the island]. Talaimannar, for example, is barely 20 kilometers from Rameswaram or Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu. Thus one of the unintended consequences of the Sri Lankan peace process has been a tremendous increase in smuggling and drug trafficking from India into Sri Lanka , and that through the Mannar coast."

Increases in Myanmar too

In Myanmar , too, ceasefires have aided the narcotics network, albeit in a different way. As part of its strategy to consolidate control over areas where ethnic wars are raging, Myanmar 's military junta negotiated ceasefire agreements with several ethnic armies that are deeply into heroin production. The truce agreements allowed these outfits to continue their narcotics business unhampered and even supported by sections in the military government.

This was the case with the ceasefire agreement reached with the United Wa State Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army of Kokang, for instance. These ceasefire agreements have in fact resulted in a sharp rise in opium cultivation - used to produce heroin - in the areas where the insurgent groups exercise control. Besides, the warlords/drug traffickers are allowed to invest in Myanmar 's economy, which means that their money earned from illicit trade gets laundered. Khun Sa, a Shan opposition leader and long-time heroin trafficker, "surrendered" to the junta in January 1996. He is today a free man, openly enjoying the profits from his narcotics trafficking. And despite Khun Sa's surrender, there has been no reduction in heroin production in the southern Shan State - now mostly controlled by the Myanmar army.

In its 2000 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the US State Department observed that "many of the ceasefire agreements have permitted former insurgents to continue their involvement in narcotics cultivation and trafficking activities. The ceasefire agreements have also had the practical effect of condoning money-laundering."

The increase in drug trafficking through the Mannar coast is an unintended consequence of the Sri Lankan ceasefire agreement. In Myanmar , however, protection of narcotics traffickers' rights has been carefully crafted as part of the truce agreement.

But in light of the well-known arms-drugs nexus, narcotics trafficking under ceasefire conditions may be the lesser of two evils. Money from the drug trade is frequently used to finance and fuel wars. Many insurgent groups are heavily into the drug trade and use the money from it to purchase weapons. Often it is in areas under the control of insurgents, where access to these areas and monitoring by government agencies is difficult, that the cultivation of poppies or manufacturing of heroin is rampant.

Nepal's contribution of narcotics to the world market might be negligible in comparison to that of other countries in the neighborhood, such as Afghanistan, which accounts for two-thirds of the world's poppy cultivation, or Myanmar, which is the second-largest producer of opium in the world. But cultivation of cannabis, the plant from which marijuana and hashish are produced, in areas that are beyond the control of the government is an issue that worries officials engaged in cracking down on the narcotics trade worldwide.

Most of the cannabis cultivated in Nepal comes from the five western districts of Rukum, Rolpa, Dolpa, Salyan and Pyuthun. These five districts are under the control of Maoist insurgents.

Whether the Maoists are engaged in the cultivation of cannabis or using the money from its trade to purchase arms is not clear. But the silence of their leaders on the issue of cannabis cultivation indicates that they might be condoning it. It is believed that they are reluctant to crack down on cannabis cultivation as that could undermine their support base among the poor farmers who cultivate it. Apparently, the Maoists also allow the cultivation of poppies and extract protection money from the farmers.

What is worrying about the cultivation of cannabis in Nepal is that it is happening in areas that are inaccessible to government officials as these areas are under the complete control of the Maoists.

Unlike the Maoists in Nepal , many insurgent groups in India 's strife-torn northeastern states not only engage and encourage the production of narcotics but also they use the money from it to make their weapons purchases. What makes the Indian northeastern states particularly vulnerable to the narcotics trade is the fact that insurgencies and ethnic wars have raged here for decades and unemployment is widespread.

Besides, the region borders Myanmar , a major narcotics producer. The Golden Triangle, where the borders of Myanmar , Laos and Thailand meet along the Mekong River , has been an important heroin-producing area for many decades. Poppies are grown here. Several of the ethnic groups fighting Myanmar 's government are said to be deeply into heroin production.

It is not just insurgents in conflict zones that are into the narcotics trade. The armed forces battling them are also key links in the network. Indian intelligence officials say that while India 's porous border with Myanmar facilitates the transport of drugs between the two countries, they admit that personnel of India 's Border Security sometimes permit narcotics couriers to cross over easily. Top leaders of Myanmar 's military junta, too, are vital links, even key nodal points in the narcotics network.

Sudha Ramachandran is an independent researcher/writer based in Bangalore , India . She has a doctoral degree from the School of International Studies , Jawaharlal Nehru University , in New Delhi . Her areas of interest include terrorism, conflict zones and gender and conflict. Formerly an assistant editor at the Deccan Herald ( Bangalore ), she now teaches at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

Time the best healer, except in North Asia

By David Aldridge

TOKYO - Consider this: the last time a Chinese president visited Japan was back in 1998 and the last time a Japanese prime minister made it over to China was in 2001, before Junichiro Koizumi came to office. In case you hadn't heard, relations between the two countries have been a bit strained of late.

Of course, that neither country's political leader has made an official state visit to the other's country for some time doesn't mean that Prime Minister Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao have never met. And Koizumi was supposed to get a chance to rub shoulders with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Hanoi this Thursday at the fifth summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

In principle, but not in practice. Politics apparently intervened to thwart any chance of a meeting.

A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official has said that Japan and China are unlikely to hold a summit on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Hanoi . Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi said, "It seems difficult to hold Japan-China summit talks due to schedule constraints." He did not elaborate.

The two countries failed to arrange talks between Koizumi and Wen - possibly as a result of soured political relations over Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, a memorial to some war criminals. Foreign Ministry sources had stated earlier that the two countries were trying to arrange talks on the sidelines of the three-day summit.

But then if anything is a good benchmark of the wariness with which the countries of North Asia - China, Japan, the Koreas and Taiwan - view each other is that the main times these countries' leaders really get a chance to sit down and talk to each other is at other folks' meetings - ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forums (ARF), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summits, Asia-Europe Meetings, and so on.

The root of these cool relationships is a country that has not done as much as it could to show regret and neighbors who simply refuse to forget. It's that perennial problem of North Asian relations: history, and contrary to the old adage "time is the best healer", Japan 's World War II legacy is becoming more controversial with the passage of time, not less. This has done much to fan the flames of nationalism in Japan , the Koreas , and China .

The rightward drift of Japanese politics over the past decade, which has accelerated under Koizumi, has resulted in a readiness to question Japan 's "peace constitution" and the country's role in the world. To be fair to Japan and the more right-wing elements of its ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), constitutional revision is probably long overdue. And as much as a cliche it has become to say that "the world changed after September 11", Japan more than ever needs to question the false assumption that pacifism and security are one and the same.

However, China and the Koreas remain wary of Japan 's intentions given the harsh treatment they suffered under Japanese imperial rule, and the insufficiency of Japan 's elliptical apologies, especially when compared with Germany 's forthright acknowledgment of its war crimes and its efforts to make restitution. Indeed, history remains probably the major irritant in China 's and Korea 's relationship with Japan . Japanese textbooks that gloss over World War II atrocities and Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which houses the remains of convicted World War II war criminals, including Class A criminals, continue unsurprisingly to attract howls of protest from Seoul and Beijing .

Yet while Japan is not blameless for its haphazard approach to fully confronting its World War II crimes and aggression and while mainstream Japanese politicians flirting with right-wing ideology do not endear Tokyo to its neighbors, both Korea and China have used Japan as a convenient scapegoat.

China has been particularly prone to playing the history card. With precious few outlets for dissent in China, Japan-bashing is an easy outlet for venting anger, as the recent debacle in August at the soccer Asia Cup final showed, when Chinese fans rioted (albeit mildly compared with European soccer riots) after Japan's victory. The lack of Japanese contrition, the Nanjing massacre, and its sea of slave laborers are frequently bandied about on the mainland. But as in Japan , awkward facts, such as Chinese collaboration with the Japanese Imperial Army, are glossed over.

Beijing has long taken a hard line on Japan and Taiwan , so it is not surprising that the most frequent displays of nationalist fervor are directed toward the two. It should not be much of a shock, then, that diplomatically isolated Taiwan , a colony of Japan 's for half a century, is the most sympathetic to Japan 's viewpoint.

Contrast the displeasure in Beijing and Seoul at the Tokyo Board of Education's adoption in August of a revisionist textbook - which will be used in a handful of schools - to Taipei 's silence. In part, this is due to Taiwan 's need for regional allies but also because the island in many ways benefited from its period under Japanese rule, which modernized much of its infrastructure.

But nationalism is not just limited to the two big North Asian giants of Japan and China . South Korea has had more than its own fair share of nationalist spats of late. While Koreans have long been suspicious of Japan, anti-Americanism has been on the rise in South Korea's younger generations and the recent spat with China over the ethnic origins of the ancient Koguryo Kingdom, which comprised much of what is now South Korea, all of what is now North Korea, and a slice of northeastern China from 37 BC to AD 668.

China 's decision to re-label Koguryo as part of China (though it has not made any territorial claims) caused the kind of howls of indignation in Seoul normally reserved for Japan . Despite a hasty patch-up over the issue, which threatened to sour the normally cordial relationship between Beijing and Seoul , more historical headaches lie further down the line for the Koreas and China . The Gando region in China , which previously belonged to Korea , could become another explosive national issue in time.

The lesson to be drawn from all the nationalist posturing and historical revisionism in which all the countries of North Asia engage is that history is a double-edged sword. Soccer riots in China tar its international image, as does Japan's reluctance to consider the sensitivities of its neighbors, especially Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which have been a major bone of contention with China .

But where history divides, at least economics, trade and money unite. As President Hu Jintao pointed out to Japanese Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono during the latter's visit to China at the end of September, relations between the two are "cold in politics, but hot in economics".

Nationalism may color and shape relations in North Asia , but as long as the money keeps flowing it is unlikely to destroy them. When it comes to the cool relationships of North Asia, Brad Glosserman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think-tank, caustically observes that "as in a boxing match, it's harder to punch while in a clinch".

Still, there are signs that Korea , China and Japan understand that more cooperative and warmer relations are essential to regional stability. Beijing has made it clear that it wants to put its rocky relationship with Japan on a more even keel. Zhao Qizhen, head of China 's State Council Information Office, told Japanese reporters recently that Beijing would no longer tolerate "anti-Japan reporting by major [Chinese] news organizations". And Beijing has dispatched Wang Yi, a talented young Chinese diplomat, to Tokyo as it new ambassador to oversee the complex relationship between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Japanese lawmakers have been visiting China in droves. And although Koizumi will continue his trips to Yasukuni, the new Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, a noted foreign-policy hawk, has said he won't visit the shrine while in office.

So will North Asia continue to be characterized by nations economically and geographically close but culturally distant? Well, it's not mission impossible, but as a Chinese academic recently put it, "History is like a servant. It puts on whatever appearance its master fancies."

(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.)

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