Journalists Need Entry Barrier

Journalism all over the world is now sliding dangerously and it is not good for the social fabric of any  country in the short and long run

 

by N.S.Venkataraman-10 Jun 2019

 

There are two professions all over the world that seem to have no entry barrier. Anyone can get in and get out at any time.

 

One is politics ( Yes, people from all sorts of background with or without formal education enter politics at various levels these days to get powerful positions and make money and are much different from the earlier days when people entered politics sacrificing their personal interests for the national good) and journalism ( Yes. Job seekers largely view journalism as profession and more as an earning opportunity and for getting known , rather than viewing it as an opportunity to set the wrong to become right and fight for larger national good).

 

Both politicians and journalists largely influence the mood of the people and except for a very few, they do not perceive and recognize the lofty ideals of these two professions, which should reflect on their desire for noble cause.

 

This scenario is much different from the scenario a few decades back when most politicians and journalists were viewed as role models for younger generation. No doubt, the world is suffering today heavily due to the fall in the standards of politicians and journalists , which is certainly not a flattering remark but very much close to the ground realities.

 

Frequently ,politicians and journalists are accused of heinous crimes like rape, corrupt practices. collusion with criminals etc.

 

While, by and large ,people seem to have reconciled themselves to the negative view that politicians cannot anymore reach the standards that were set up in the earlier days, there is still hope amongst the people that the journalists should and will play the role expected of them. While it is a fact that most of the journalists seem to behave like half politicians taking sides and having prejudiced views, there are still a few cases where journalists uphold the value systems as per the expectations of people. But, they are few and far between and do not get the attention , popularity and publicity that they deserve.

 

Today, it is very well known that several business houses , politicians, motivated activist groups and religious institutions own media houses in both print and visual media. They recruit only such journalists, who can bend their views to meet the needs and expectations of the promoters, most of whom have vested interests. The journalists who are not willing to compromise often find themselves out of jobs

 

It is even increasingly becoming difficult to get articles and investigative reports published in media ,unless it would meet the needs of the promoters in one way or the other.

 

While journalists and journalism have some code of conduct and several organisations for journalists exist, which are supposed to uphold the journalistic ethics, they do not serve the intended purpose, as they are controlled and managed by media representatives who belong to various media that are not independent in approach and viewpoint.

 

What is increasingly disturbing is the fact that several allegations appear in various newspapers and journals and television media about events and people, which are not substantiated by proof . Many times, it is said that the information has come from “ from reliable sources” and nobody knows as to which is the reliable source and what is the real source of information.

 

When the journalists are challenged to prove their source of information, they claim media freedom and say that they have a right to protect someone by not revea ling their identity who gave them the information and they have the liberty not to reveal the source of data and information. Is this not an unethical practice?This causes suspicion.

 

When the complaints are made about motivated campaign in the media, the association of journalists ,which are many in number, join together and conduct protest meetings condemning the government and those who make complaints. Again, such protest of the journalists are prominently published by the media,but not the point of view of those who lodge the complaints.

 

Under such circumstances, one gets an impression that media has become a profession that is free for all and concept of media freedom has gone to ridiculous level. Even the governments often hesitate to take action against erring journalists fearing media backlash.

 

While science and technologies are rapidly developing, and specialisations in every field have become a necessity to comment about the developments knowledgeably, many journalists seem to think that they can comment on any subject where they have no particular expertise. We often see TV debates conducted by the same anchor who comment on issues related to nuclear power on one day, irrigation problem on another day, farmers woes on third day and educational policies on the next day. They often invite politicians and activists to speak on such issues, who may not have particular expertise in the field.

 

Journalism all over the world is now sliding dangerously and it is not good for the social fabric of any  country in the short and long run.

 

Happily, there are still highly principled journalists in our midst and they need to assert themselves and stem the rot and concerned people should support such journalists of high standard. The cry that the journalists need entry barrier would become louder in the coming period.

Moldova’s Governments Go Head to Head

One of Europe’s poorest countries plunges into crisis.

Appointed Prime Minister Maia Sandu adress to the media at the Parliament headquarters in Chisinau city, Moldova, on June 10. DANIEL MIHALESCU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

BY AMY MACKINNON

| JUNE 10, 2019, 8:19 PM
Over the weekend, the former Soviet republic of Moldova was plunged into political crisis. By Monday, the country had emerged with two rival governments that held two separate cabinet meetings, all of it stemming from a February parliamentary election in which no party won a majority.

With no solution in sight, the crisis threatens to destabilize one of Europe’s poorest countries, but it has also yielded a number of surprises. On Saturday, the pro-European Union parliamentary bloc ACUM, meaning “NOW,” and the Russian-backed Socialist Party put their geopolitical differences aside to form a coalition government. Their goal: to fight corruption and keep the Democratic Party of Moldova, which is run by the influential oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, out of power.

Corruption is rife in Moldova, and last year the European Parliament expressed concern that the country’s state institutions had become captive to the interests of wealthy tycoons. Cristina Balan, the Moldovan ambassador to the United States, dismissed this as “groundless” and a “biased narrative.”

In another twist, the situation has prompted a show of unity between Russia and the West, a rarity in Eastern Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry and Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign-policy representative, have recognized the coalition government. The U.S. State Department stopped short of backing the new government but called for restraint and dialogue.

The origins of the crisis stem from parliamentary elections in February that did not result in a clear majority for any one party. The Moldovan Constitution mandates that a government must be formed within three months of newly elected members of parliament taking office, which occurred this year on March 9.

On Friday, Moldova’s Constitutional Court ruled that the three-month window had lapsed and that Parliament should be dissolved and new elections held, but the leaders of the new coalition have accused the court of misinterpreting the constitution and overturning the vote after 90 days and not the mandated three months.

The secretary-general of the Council of Europe called the decision “difficult to understand” and asked the Venice Commission, the council’s legal advisory body, to review the decision.

The Moldovan ambassador to the United States told Foreign Policy in an email: “Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova do not come up with any new rules or interpretations. All of them refer to previous jurisprudence established many years ago.”

On Saturday, in an extraordinary sitting of the Parliament, the Socialist Party, lead by Igor Dodon, and the ACUM bloc, led by Maia Sandu, struck a deal to form an alliance. Dodon, a Russian ally, was appointed president under the deal, while Sandu, a former education minister and World Bank advisor, was sworn in as prime minister.

In a country that is deeply divided over the question of whether to look west to the EU or east to Moscow, the unlikely coalition has been interpreted by experts as a bid to put their geopolitics aside to tackle pressing domestic issues.

“Moldovan citizens with different views on domestic and foreign policy can unite for the sake of a common goal: liberation of the Republic of Moldova from the criminal, dictatorial regime,” said Dodon in a statement.

Experts are skeptical that the coalition has a long-term future but said that they could in the short term address some of the most pressing issues facing the country.

Vladislav Kulminski, the executive director of the Chisinau-based Institute for Strategic Initiatives, said Moldova had taken on some of the characteristics of a failing state. Corruption is endemic, and it’s estimated that since 2014, as much as a third of the population has emigrated seeking opportunities abroad. In 2015 it was revealed that $1 billion—equivalent to an eighth of the country’s GDP—was laundered out of the country in what became known as the “theft of the century.”

“People are fed up of seeing corruption and bad governance shoved under the rug in the battle with Russia,” said Balazs Jarabik, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The crisis escalated on Sunday, when the Constitutional Court backed a challenge to the coalition government by the Democratic Party and appointed its outgoing prime minister, Pavel Filip, as acting president.

Filip then dissolved the Parliament and called for new elections. The Moldovan Parliament refused to recognize his order and claimed that the government institutions has been seized.

With the two sides locked in a standoff, fears persist that the situation could descend into violence.
Despite Europe and Russia backing the new coalition, Kulminski said it was unlikely that Plahotniuc, the chair of the Democratic Party, would back down, because if his party lost power, he could face prosecution over corruption allegations.

“To him this really a life and death battle, it’s no longer a political battle. It’s an existential battle for survival,” Kulminski said.

Russia has long played spoiler in Moldova by providing military, political, and financial backing to the breakaway region of Transnistria. While Moscow may have sided with Europe in the current standoff, Denis Cenusa, a Moldovan researcher at the University of Giessen in Germany, said that this was likely to be motivated by self-interest, rather than concern for Moldova’s governance.

“Everything that is going on now is convenient for them, because they can destroy a local oligarch that they cannot control,” he said.

He said that some Moldovans who advocate for closer ties with Europe had also voiced skepticism that the coalition could strengthen pro-Russian forces in the country by including the Socialist Party in government.

As of yet, no clear path forward has emerged to put an end to the standoff. With the coalition government calling into question the decisions of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, it remains to be seen who could oversee an end to the crisis.

Filip called on Moldovans to remain calm. “No one can take power by force, no one can keep it with force. That is why we are going in early elections,” he said.

In a statement, Dodon said: “We have no choice but to appeal to the international community to mediate in the process of a peaceful transfer of power and/or to call on the people of Moldova for an unprecedented mobilisation and peaceful protests.”

World’s Press Calls on the United Kingdom to Address Press Freedom Concerns

(WAN IFRA, 2019)

Endorsed Content

June 4, 2019 by The Sting's Team

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting in Glasgow, Scotland on 3rd June, 2019 on the occasion of the 71st World News Media Congress, 26th World Editors Forum and 3rd Women in News Summit, has called on the government of the United Kingdom to address a number of critical press freedom challenges that threaten UK media and risk undermining recent international efforts to prioritise media freedom.

“We deplore the 18th April killing of journalist Lyra McKee,” said the WAN-IFRA Board in one of six Press Freedom Resolutions to be issued from its annual event. “We urge the Police Service of Northern Ireland to vigorously pursue its investigation until her killer is identified and brought to justice.” The Board encouraged Northern Ireland politicians to work through the current political impasse as a means of prioritising the safety of journalists and to “strongly deter the onset of a climate of impunity for those who attack or murder media professionals.”

The Board of WAN-IFRA expressed its deep concern at the 2018 arrest and questioning of journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey in connection to their work on the acclaimed documentary ‘No Stone Unturned’, an investigation into the murder of six men by suspected loyalist paramilitary gunmen in Northern Ireland in 1994. “The Board is hopeful that the recently opened judicial review will reaffirm legal protections for investigative journalists and their sources,” it said.

The WAN-IFRA Board also urged the UK government to make good on its commitment to repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. Introduced in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry, the Act would force any publisher not signed up to an approved press regulator to pay the claimant’s litigation costs as well as its own, even when the title’s journalism has been vindicated by the court. “We remain seriously concerned that the threat implied by this legislation encourages a climate of self-censorship and risks silencing investigative journalism,” said the Board.

The WAN-IFRA Board gave its support for an exemption for news media publishers from the new legal controls, codes of conduct and regulatory systems proposed by the Online Harms White Paper, which are intended to curb the influence and reach of technology companies. “The UK government must ensure that any extension of the criminal or civil law in respect to online harms, offensive communications, hate speech and harassment does not limit press freedom.”

The Board also called for reform of defamation laws in Northern Ireland and Scotland to bring them into line with the 2013 Defamation Act already applicable in England and Wales.

The full text of the WAN-IFRA Board UK Press Freedom Resolution can be viewed here.

Challenges in Brazil, Mexico, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Venezuela and Nicaragua

During its meeting in Glasgow, the Board of WAN-IFRA also passed Press Freedom Resolutions calling on global solidarity for media facing extreme challenges in Brazil, Mexico, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

• The Board called on the new leaders and their respective administrations in Brazil and Mexico to take urgent, resolute action to end the cycle of violence that continues to target journalism and make decisive steps in prioritising the safety and security of journalists
• In Mozambique, the Board condemned a spate of arbitrary arrests and attacks on independent media, notably a systematic campaign by the authorities to muzzle the press by limiting the ability of local and foreign journalists to report on the insurgency in the coastal province of Cabo Delgado.
• In Rwanda, the Board denounced the government’s stifling of critical voices through a combination of brazen and covert tactics of censorship.
• In Tanzania, the Board denounced a systematic campaign by the government to attack and intimidate the press as a means of preventing critical and opposition voices, as well as controlling information available to the Tanzanian public.
• In Venezuela and Nicaragua, the Board called for the authorities to end the cycle of censorship that targets journalism in both countries and commit to guaranteeing the free-flow of information to citizens.

Saudi teenager could face execution for joining protests as child

Murtaja Qureiris, 18, is on trial for charges including ‘sowing sedition’, says Amnesty
Awamiya, a Shia-majority town in Saudi Arabia, where Qureiris’s brother allegedly threw a makeshift firebomb at a police station. Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

Associated Press in Dubai-Mon 10 Jun 2019 15.47 BST

A young Saudi man, arrested when he was 13, could face execution for taking part in Shia-led protests as a child, Amnesty International has said.

Murtaja Qureiris, now 18, is on trial for charges that include joining a “terror group” and “sowing sedition”, according to the rights group. He was detained in September 2014 and held in solitary confinement for part of the time since.

As is typical with cases involving national security, Saudi Arabia has not commented nor made public details of the case.

Concern, however, has grown after the kingdom as recently as April carried out a mass execution of 37 men, most of whom were Shia. Among those executed was a young Shia male arrested at the age of 16, according to Amnesty International. The rights group deemed the trial of some of those executed “grossly unfair”.

Qureiris is being charged with offences that involve taking part in protests when he was as young as 10. Another charge relates to his participation at the age of 11 in an anti-government rally that erupted at the funeral of his older brother, who was killed while protesting in 2011 during the height of Arab spring revolts that broke out in other parts of the Middle East.

Minority Shia protesters in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province launched protests that year to demand equal rights and a greater share of the kingdom’s oil wealth, which is concentrated in the east. They complained of poor government services, as well as discrimination from the country’s government-backed ultra-conservative Wahhabi clerics and their Sunni followers.

In recent years, as tensions with Shia-led Iran have intensified, the government under King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also intensified a crackdown on government critics, particularly Saudi Shias.

Since 2014, more than 100 Saudi Shias have been tried before Saudi Arabia’s anti-terrorism court on vague and wide-ranging charges arising from their opposition to the government, according to Amnesty International. In 2016, the kingdom’s highest-profile Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was executed, sparking protests from Pakistan to Iran and the ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Saudi-Iranian ties have not recovered and the embassy remains shuttered.

Details of Qureiris’s case emerged after CNN reported that Saudi prosecutors had sought capital punishment for him in 2018. Prosecutors argued that his “sowing of sedition” warranted the worst possible punishment, even though he had not been charged with loss of life.

He has, however, been charged with shooting at security forces and accompanying his brother on a motorcycle ride to a police station in the mostly Shia town of Awamiya, where the brother allegedly threw a makeshift firebomb at the station.

CNN said Qureiris, whose father and brother are detained, has denied the charges, and activists say his confessions were obtained under duress.

Hong Kong pushes bill allowing extraditions to China despite biggest protest since handover

James Pomfret, Farah Master-JUNE 10, 2019

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam vowed on Monday to push ahead with amendments to laws allowing suspects to be extradited to mainland China, a day after the city’s biggest protest since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Riot police ringed Hong Kong’s legislature and fought back a group of several hundred protesters who stayed behind early on Monday after Sunday’s peaceful march that organisers said drew more than a million people, or one in seven of the city’s people.

“I don’t think it is (an) appropriate decision for us now to pull out of this bill because of the very important objectives that this bill is intended to achieve,” a sombre Lam told reporters while flanked by security and justice chiefs.

“While we will continue to do the communication and explanation, there is very little merit to be gained to delay the bill. It will just cause more anxiety and divisiveness in society.”

The protests plunged Hong Kong into political crisis, just as months of pro-democracy “Occupy” demonstrations did in 2014, heaping pressure on Lam’s administration and her official backers in Beijing. Chants echoed through city streets on Sunday calling on her to quit. “Extradite yourself, Carrie!” one placard read.

The rendition bill has generated unusually broad opposition, from normally pro-establishment business people and lawyers to students, pro-democracy figures and religious groups fearing the further erosion of Hong Kong’s legal autonomy and the difficulty of ensuring even basic judicial protections in mainland China.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said on Monday that Washington was gravely concerned about the proposed amendments and warned that “continued erosion of the ‘one country, two systems’ framework puts at risk Hong Kong’s long-established special status in international affairs.”

She said the United States was concerned the amendments could damage Hong Kong’s business environment “and subject our citizens residing in or visiting Hong Kong to China’s capricious judicial system.”


A police officer uses a pepper spray during a protest to demand authorities scrap a proposed extradition bill with China, outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, China early June 10, 2019. REUTERS/James Pomfret

Any amendments “should be pursued with great care and in full consultation with a broad range of local and international stakeholders who may be affected,” she said.

A 1992 U.S. law recognises Hong Kong’s special status and allows the United States to engage with it as a non-sovereign entity distinct from China in matters of trade and economics. Areas of special treatment include visas, law enforcement, including extraditions, and investment.

A U.S. congressional commission said in a report last month that amending the extradition laws could provide grounds for Washington to re-examine elements of its relationship with Hong Kong outlined in the 1992 law.

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China under a “one-country, two-systems” formula, with guarantees that its autonomy and freedoms, including an independent justice system, would be protected.

But many accuse China of extensive meddling in many sectors, denying democratic reforms and squeezing freedoms, interfering with local elections and the disappearance of five Hong Kong-based booksellers, starting in 2015, who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders. All later appeared in detention in China, and some appeared in apparent forced confessions broadcast in Hong Kong.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing that Beijing would continue to support the extradition bill.

“We resolutely oppose wrong words and actions by any foreign forces to interfere in the legislative matters of the Hong Kong SAR,” he said, referring to the “special administrative region”.

An official newspaper in China, where the Communist Party holds sway over the courts, said: “Some Hong Kong residents have been hoodwinked by the opposition camp and their foreign allies into supporting the anti-extradition campaign”.

The proposed changes provide for case-by-case extraditions to jurisdictions, including mainland China, beyond the 20 states with which Hong Kong already has treaties.

It gives the chief executive power to approve an extradition after it has been cleared by Hong Kong’s courts and appeal system.

Slideshow (9 Images)

ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS

Lam said last month that after feedback from business and other groups, only suspects facing more serious crimes, or those normally dealt with by Hong Kong’s High Court, with a minimum punishment of at least seven years, rather than the three years, would be extradited.

She said that extradition requests from China could only come from its highest judicial body, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, rather than any provincial authorities.

Lam sought to soothe public concerns and said her administration was creating additional amendments to the bill, including safeguarding human rights.

“This bill is not about the mainland alone. This bill is not initiated by the central people’s government. I have not received any instruction or mandate from Beijing to do this bill,” she told reporters.

She said the bill would be put for debate on Wednesday as planned in the city’s 70-seat Legislative Council, which is now controlled by a pro-Beijing majority.

Lam and her officials stress the need for haste to prosecute a young Hong Kong man suspected of killing his girlfriend in Taiwan. But Taiwanese officials say they will not agree to any transfer if the bill goes ahead, citing rights concerns.

In Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province, President Tsai Ing-wen said on her Facebook page: “We support the people of Hong Kong’s search for freedom, democracy and human rights.”

Beijing officials have increasingly defended Lam’s plan, couching it as a sovereignty issue. A retired senior mainland security official said in March that Beijing already had a list of 300 mainland criminals it wanted back from Hong Kong.

Organisers put the size of Sunday’s crowd at more than a million, outstripping a demonstration in 2003 when 500,000 took to the streets to challenge government plans for tighter national security laws.

Police put the figure at 240,000 at the march’s peak.

Venezuela reopens border with Colombia after four months

Thousands of people enter Colombia to buy food and medicine after President Nicolas Maduro orders reopening of border.

8 Jun 2019

Thousands of people have crossed into Colombia to buy food and medicine after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reopened a border that had been shut down for the past four months.

Long lines of Venezuelans stood at two international bridges near the city of Cucuta on Saturday -  some carrying children on their shoulders - waiting to have their documents checked by Colombian officials.

Venezuelan border guards dressed in green uniforms helped control the crowd.

Venezuela's government had ordered the borders with Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Brazil and Colombia closed in February as the opposition tried to deliver food and medical supplies into the country.

Most of the aid was provided by the United States, a key ally of opposition leader Juan Guaido who declared himself to be Venezuela's rightful interim president in January. But Maduro dismissed the aid as an infringement on Venezuela's sovereignty and prohibited it from entering.

In May, the government reopened borders with Aruba and Brazil, but the Simon Bolivar International Bridge and the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge with Colombia had remained closed.

Venezuela crisis: Border with Colombia reopened (1:50)

Announcing the frontier's reopening on Friday, Maduro said: "We are a people of peace that strongly defends our independence and self-determination."

READ MORE

As more Venezuelans flee, the crisis pushes deeper into Colombia

'Relief'

Al Jazeera's Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from the Colombian capital Bogota, said the reopening of the border came as "a relief for the tens of thousands of Venezuelans who rely on crossing into Colombia for food and medicine they cannot find back home".

The border closure had forced many Venezuelans to cross illegally to get basic necessities that were all but unattainable in Venezuela, he said, adding: "But that has become more difficult during the rainy seasons and these paths are also controlled by criminal groups."

Maduro's announcement caused worry in Colombia, Rampietti said, with "a number of mayors and governors of Colombian regions on the border called for a national security meeting, fearing an increase in the pace of the exodus of Venezuelans".

The border closure had caused economic problems for Venezuelans who rely on Colombian cities for basic goods [Carlos Eduardo Ramirez/Reuters]

More than a million Venezuelan refugees and migrants live in Colombia, where the government and aid agencies have scrambled to provide housing, food and healthcare to their ever-growing influx.

On Friday, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that 4 million Venezuelans, or almost 15 percent of the population, have left the country to escape its economic and political crises.

Venezuela's Jorge Arreaza: 'There is no perfect government'

The UN agency also said the number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants rose by a million after November, indicating a rapid escalation as conditions deteriorated and a conflict between the Maduro government and the opposition intensified this year.

Rampietti said Maduro's decision on Friday indicated his government "does not see the situation on the border as much of a threat as they did in the past months". That's because the "the opposition gave up on their plans to try and move US aid inside Venezuela," he said.

The once-wealthy oil nation is now facing severe shortages of basic goods and hyperinflation that is expected to surpass 10 million percent this year, according to a recent International Monetary Fund estimate.

The chaos has been further aggravated by US sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports and has forced an estimated 5,000 people to leave the country each day, according to the UNHCR.

Children at risk of statelessness

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, a special envoy for the UNHCR, on Saturday urged the international community to provide more support for Colombia, Peru and Ecuador - the three South American countries receiving the most migrants from Venezuela.

READ MORE

Venezuela exodus surpasses 4 million: UN

Speaking in Cartagena following a meeting with Colombia's President Ivan Duque, Jolie said more than 20,000 Venezuelan children were at risk of statelessness.

The parents of Venezuelan children born abroad often struggle to register their baby's birth, either because they do not have access to an ever-shrinking number of Venezuelan consulates or because they do not have migration papers.

Duque said he hoped Jolie's visit would alert the world to the seriousness of the migration crisis.

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia, who share a land border stretching 2,220 kilometres, have been broken since February 23 when Duque announced his support for Guaido.

Dozens of countries around the world recognise Guaido as interim president, saying Maduro rigged his 2018 re-election, but their support has not been enough to unseat Maduro, who still has the backing of the top military brass.

Maduro accuses his foes of plotting with Washington to bring about a coup.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

The challenges of Singapore’s industrial water demand

This photograph taken on March 9, 2018 shows the Merlion statue lit up in front of the city skyline in Singapore. Source: AFP

10 Jun 2019

WORLD Environment Day has been celebrated every year on 5 June since 1974. Its objectives are to encourage environmental awareness and promote action for environmental protection.

This year in Singapore, 180 leading water professionals from all over the world have been invited by Singapore International Water Week to discuss how industrial demands for water can be reduced.

Worldwide, industry accounts for about 20 percent of total water usage, of which agriculture and domestic sectors use the most – 70 and 10 percent respectively. However, in recent years, global water usage for agriculture has been decreasing while that of industry has been increasing.

For a land and water scarce city-state like Singapore, also with limited agricultural production, industry accounts for the lion’s share of water use. Currently, it’s estimated that, by 2060, total water requirements will almost doublecurrent rates. Industry will account for 70 percent of total water use.

SEE ALSO: Crawling to extinction: Singapore turtle haven fights for life

Water imports from Malaysia, which provides around 50 percent of Singapore’s current needs, will come to an end in 2061. While all countries must manage industrial water demands in the future, for Singapore, rethinking water security policy is a matter of urgency.

This World Environment Day, it is appropriate to review how major multinational companies (MNCs) manage water needs for their production processes and the usage of their products.

MNCs like Unilever and Nestlé have successfully made environmental conservation a Board-level issue and have integrated it into their business plans. This involves steadily reducing energy and water consumption, carbon footprints, packaging, and solid waste, amongst many other things. Both now practice the ‘3R’ philosophy of circular economies: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Unilever, under former CEO Paul Polman, pledged to reduce its environmental footprint by half of its 2008 levels by 2020 while also doubling sales. So far, it’s made spectacular progress. By the end of 2018, the company achieved its 2020 water targets by reducing total water abstraction and intensity involved in production processes. This saves 22 billion litres of water per year compared to 2008.

A man jogs along the Marina Bay Sands Park in Singapore. Source: Shutterstock

Using less water also means significant savings in energy and reduced wastewater that needs to be treated. Investments in water efficiency had an average payback time of just over two years.

A visit to Unilever’s factories in Thailand showed us that employees at all levels were committed to environmental conservation. It’s even become part of the company’s annual KPIs.

Nestlé, under the leadership of Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, implemented its new Creating Shared Value (CSV) scheme, aiming to create value not only for its shareholders but also for communities all over the world. Paul Bulcke, former CEO and current Chairman of Nestlé’s Board of Directors, has continued to further decrease the company’s water footprint.

CSV has four specific water goals. Firstly, to continually improve water efficiency and sustainability; secondly, to advocate effective water policies and stewardship; thirdly, to engage with its agricultural suppliers to improve their water management practices; and finally, to raise awareness on water conservation across its entire water chain.

SEE ALSO: Singapore to invest over $6 billion in booming tourism industry

Nestlé made a commitment to reduce direct water withdrawals per tonne of product to achieve a 35 percent reduction between 2010 and 2020. By 2018, it reduced water withdrawals by 29.6 percent. In some product categories like confectionary and powdered liquid beverages, it reduced water requirements by 55 percent during this period.

The company’s most innovative idea is its zero water factories. In 2014, it installed condensate recovery units from milk to replace external water abstraction processes in its new milk plant in Lagos de Moreno. As a result, this plant is saving 1.6 million litres of water per day, about 15 percent of its entire water requirements in Mexico.

The most challenging aspect of such transitions, however, lies in changing public perception and behaviour.

Pipes carrying water from Malaysia to Singapore run alongside the causeway towards the Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore July 20, 2018. Source: Reuters/Edgar Su

For example, in 2007, Unilever launched its Comfort One Rinse fabric conditioner, promising to reduce water use by two-thirds when doing laundry by hand. If used by all potential users in South Africa and in Asian developing countries, the product could reduce annual water use by over 500 billion litres. Unfortunately, due to public scepticism, users tend to rinse their clothes several times.

Another MNC, Proctor and Gamble, also started a new line of laundry detergents, soaps, and shampoos that require very little water to manufacture this year. These cleaning products come in small fabric-like swatches that dissolve and foam in contact with water.

For them, and many others, the question remains: what must be done to convince consumers that this new generation of cleaners are as effective as existing products? Amidst constant technological advancement, behavioural challenges will require greater attention.

Though major MNCs like Unilever and Nestlé are heading in the right direction, the economy of Singapore consists mostly of small and medium-sized companies, for whom water very rarely accounts for more than 2 percent of production costs. The country must thus find a way to convince these businesses to consistently reduce their water usage.

To keep water demand from doubling by 2060 and to limit it to a 20-25 percent increase from current rates, Singapore must implement aggressive policies to reduce industrial and domestic demands. This will be challenging, but is no doubt doable.

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This piece was first published at Policy Forum, Asia and the Pacific’s platform for public policy analysis and opinion. 

Prostate cancer screening scan hope

10 June 2019

Hundreds of UK men are trying out a new screening test for prostate cancer to see if it should eventually be offered routinely on the NHS.

The test is a non-invasive MRI scan that takes images of the inside of the body to check for any abnormal growths.

Scientists running the trial say it will take a few years to know if MRI will be better than available blood tests and biopsies at spotting cancers.

NHS England said it would review this "potentially exciting" development.

Why don't we already screen for prostate cancer?

The UK currently doesn't offer routine screening because there is no reliable test.

A blood test, called PSA, can check for high levels of a protein that can sometimes indicate that the person might have prostate cancer, but it is not always accurate.

About three in four men with a raised PSA level will not have cancer and the test can also miss more than one in 10 cancers.

Men with a raised PSA may need more checks, such as a biopsy. This involves taking small samples of tissue from the prostate gland, using a needle, so that they can be examined under the microscope.

In some cases, this can miss a cancer that is there, fail to spot whether it is aggressive, and cause side-effects, including bleeding, serious infections and erectile dysfunction.

What is the new test?

MRI is non-invasive. It might be a way to make prostate cancer testing more reliable and maybe even do away with the need for biopsies altogether, researchers hope.

A recent UK trial in men with high PSA levels showed more than a quarter could be spared invasive biopsies.

The experts from University College London who are running the screening trial hope MRI will detect serious cancers earlier while reassuring the majority of men that they don't have cancer.

Prof Mark Emberton and colleagues say MRI is a good tool because it is relatively cheap, widely available and reliable.

Men found to have possible signs of cancer on the scan would be sent for more tests.

What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer kills about 11,800 men each year in the UK.

It usually develops slowly so there may be no signs or symptoms for many years.

The prostate is a small gland that sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra - the tube men urinate through.

The chances of developing prostate cancer increase with age. Most cases develop in men aged 50 or older.

Men whose father or brother was affected by prostate cancer are at slightly increased risk themselves.

For many men with prostate cancer, treatment is not immediately necessary - doctors may suggest watchful waiting or surveillance.

More aggressive prostate cancer will need immediate treatment, which includes surgery and radiotherapy.

What do experts think?

Co-researcher Prof Caroline Moore said: "We know that at the moment around 6,000 men a year are diagnosed with late-stage cancer, where it is not curable.

"And we know that if we could detect those men at an earlier stage, where it would be curable, we would be in a much better position.

"The finer details are why we need this first study to work things out."

An NHS England official said: "NHS England is already rolling out some of the latest developments in MRI scanning for prostate cancer diagnosis and care.

"This new test is potentially an exciting development that the NHS will look at as more evidence becomes available."

Karen Stalbow, from Prostate Cancer UK, said: "This trial could provide an exciting step towards our ambition for a national screening programme that enables men to get the early prostate cancer diagnosis that can save more lives.

"If the results are positive, then MRI scanning could offer a non-invasive first stage of prostate cancer diagnosis in the future.

"Anything that offers men an easy and more effective way to be checked for prostate cancer is a good thing and we await the results with interest."

Families of disappeared protest Sri Lanka president's Mullaitivu visit

190608 Mullaitivu FoD Sirisena protest NG 2 3.JPG

Tamil families of the disappeared protested the Sri Lankan president’s visit to Mullaitivu on Saturday.

 09 June 2019

The families, who have been protesting for over two years for answers on their forcibly disappeared relatives, criticised President Sirisena for failing to fulfil any of his promises made during his meetings with them.

While Sirisena was touring the district to launch his project under the theme of ‘unifying for the country’, there would be no unity until there was justice for their disappeared loved ones, the protestors said.

The protestors also highlighted the president’s eagerness to pardon and secure the release of extremist Sinhala Buddhist monk Gnanasara but his neglect of their two year long campaign.

The protest was heavily policed and monitored by additional Special Task Force (STF) troops and intelligence personnel.

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