Vietnam law bans smoking in public

Vietnam has passed a law banning smoking in public places and all tobacco advertising, an official said Tuesday.

The law, passed by 440 out of 468 national assembly deputies on Monday, also makes it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under 18 years old, said the parliamentary official, who did not want to be named.

It will take effect from next May, state media said.

Smoking in public places -- including schools, hospitals, office buildings and on public transport -- was banned once already in 2010 by a government decree, which also raised tax on tobacco and restricted the sale of cigarettes.

But that order was widely ignored, with smoking in public places widespread and cigarettes available at small kiosks on nearly every street in the capital Hanoi.

The anti-smoking campaign group Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) welcomed the new law -- the full text of which has not yet been released -- saying it was a "historic and important milestone" for the country.

[source]

How to deter train surfers Indonesian-style!

Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from illegally riding the roofs of trains. The images below are common sights in our region... train surfing!

...and the creative solution?

OMG! You kidding meeh?

Now the authorities have an intimidating and possibly even deadly new tactic: Suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls to rake over the top of trains as they pull out of stations, or when they go through rail crossings.

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[source]

Mark Zuckerberg in Vietnam

Well, who doesn't admire the guy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can call me whatever you want but I really like him especially now he visited Southeast Asia for Christmas!

And the big kicker is -- Vietnam. Where Facebook is banned and him missing on 87 million Vietnamese.

Mark is seen here riding a water buffalo is Sapa, Lao Cai Province in Dec 26.

Wit his entourage (read as groupies) visiting a minority village nearby.

Whoops! There he is!

Mark and his girlfriend toured Halong Bay before these photos was taken.

[Photos by AP}

TALE OF THE TWO FASHION PRINCESSES

If you've heard about this well, who cares? I'm telling it again...


Two princesses walk into a fashion show. Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana of Thailand and Princess Beatrice of York were each seated in the front row of the Elie Saab show in Paris.

But when Princess Sirivannavari approached Princess Beatrice to say hello, she was rebuffed by Beatrice's guard, who told her, "She don't want to meet no princesses. She's sitting here, not getting up." Princess Sirivannavari replied, "Is that the sort of Princess you've got?" and went back to her seat.




[source]

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT DO THEY DO IN MACAU?

I’m sure you know at least one person, who is working in Macau at this very moment, don’t you?

If you are in the entertainment or modeling business chances are, you know quite a few of them.

I’m also quite sure you already asked what in the world are they doing there.

Let’s compare their answers; these are the ones I always get…

1. ramp modeling
2. commercial modeling
3. print ads modeling
4. in-house modeling
5. catalogue modelling

Sure. Whatever you say.

In the past decades, Southeast Asia has seen temporary/transitory migrations of our best looking citizens; Starlets, model-wannabes, what-have-you.

Japan in the 80s, Brunei in the 90s… 2000s? Go figure.

So, what do they really do there in Macau?

You wanna know the real score (as witnessed and documented) in Macau? Here is what they really do over there:

1. night club bikini dancers
2. escorts-for-pay (run by escort service companies)
3. massage-boys-with-extra-service
4. private club hostesses (and who knows what they do in there)
5. common sex traders


All of our countries are represented. No exceptions. As long as you look like a model (or a movie starlet)… you’re in!

Macau would also be a transient -- if they're lucky enough to get sponsors to China (a bigger sex trade/modeling market).


My take on this? Keep the dirty laundry within our own yard.

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A PREDICTION: 20 APRIL 2009

Ok, there... I'm done securing my personal investments and family ventures. Converted half of the funds to gold, a quarter goes to Doha and Dubai and the other quarter is secured to real estate.

I can now make my prediction.

Without scaring myself in the process.


Am I scaring you? Don't be... Or maybe, yes.

I'm just an ordinary guy with an excellent instinct for equity trading, with a solid 14-year personal investment experience, exposed to just about every major market in the world and made a killing [most of the time]... *not to mention education in economics* So, don't take my word for it.

So, what's with the date? C'mon!

20 April 2009.

Well, it's not one of those inter-planetary event involving a fly-by. I can assure you that. No armaggedon yet. No. So, relax.

April 20 will fall on a Monday. A very crucial day in the equity, commodity & futures market. If "the" federal decision is made the week before it... sell everything and stock up!

Prediction --

It will be the day the U.S economy will totally collapse.

20 April 2009. I hope I'm wrong.


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RECORD BREAKING STINGRAY CAPTURED IN THAILAND

A mega-stingray was caught in the Maeklong River here in Thailand!

This is part of a program to tag stingrays and check their population. Our hero this time is a Brit dude named Ian Welch -- a biologist and a champion angler. Thanks dude, for sharing your expertise. *wink wink*

The stingray weighs 771lbs and measures 7 feet by 7 feet plus its 10 foot long whip, I mean, tail. It took 13 men and 9 hours to finally land it. I so miss Steven Irwin right now *sigh*

And the kicker was...she is pregnant! You could just imagine how big her boyfriend is! Stingrays of her specie can weigh as much as 1,100lbs. The preggy mom was release a few hours later.

See full story here.

There are still a lot of hidden animals in our paradise. Ones that keeps on surprising us.

Speaking of which, have you heard of that news about a mega-mega-phyton striking fear among residents of a certain river in Borneo? The aerial photo (apparently discovered on Google Earth) is circulating the Internet. Uhm...but that's another story...

Get free website for your blog

WE'RE OK, GUYS!

I didn't plan BISEAN's first blog post for 2009 to be like this...

But for all those who sent emails, comments, SMS, Morse codes and smoke signals demanding we let them know we are alright...well, here. We are alright.

The BISEANers were actually pissing the night away at Clarke Quay last night. Yes, in Singapore.

Too bad what happened to Santika. More than 59 people died last night in a fire *sigh*. Our sincere condolences to the families of the victims.

Santika is just 3 mins walk from my flat in Bangkok (Santika at Ekkamai 9, I live on Ekkamai 10). If it just happened we were in town, the whole gang would be there for sure (But we'll definitely leave early for Q Bar).

Ok, this is just a short post. Just to let our demanding readers know.

--Pisanu in Singapore

The LARGE HADRON COLLIDER: What in the World!!!

The Large Hadron Collider has been activated an hour ago.

Uhm... what for?

Some kinda sumthin'??

WHAT IS IT???!

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of 7 TeV protons. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. The LHC was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and lies underneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. (source)

Uhm... COOL! Whatever...

I want one too.

*Photo from Getty Images

2008 RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARDEES

Today is the formal awarding ceremonies of Asia’s Magsaysay Award.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award has been around for the past 50 years. This is the Asian equivalent of Europe’s Nobel Prize in prestige, honour and absolute recognition.

It recognizes and honors individuals and organizations in Asia regardless of race, creed, sex, or nationality, who have achieved distinction in their respective fields and have helped others generously without anticipating public recognition. (source).

This year’s recipients are:


Grace Padaca of the Philippines for Government Service

She is being recognized for "empowering voters in the Philippines' Isabela province to reclaim their democratic right to elect leaders of their own choosing, and to contribute as full partners in their own development."


Dr. Therdchai Jivacate of Thailand for Public Service

He is being honored for "his dedicated efforts in Thailand to provide inexpensive, practical, and comfortable artificial limbs even to the poorest amputees."


Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) of the Philippines for Public Service

They are being honored for their "successful adaptation of microfinance in the Philippines, providing self-sustaining and comprehensive services for half a million poor women and their families."


Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte of India for Community Leadership

They are being recognized for "enhancing the capacity of the Madia Gonds to adapt positively in today's India, through healing and teaching and other compassionate interventions."


Ahmad Syafii Maarif of Indonesia for Peace and International Understanding

He is being honored for "guiding Muslims to embrace tolerance and pluralism as the basis for justice and harmony in Indonesia and in the world at large."



Akio Ishii of Japan for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts.

He is being recognized for "his principled career as a publisher, placing discrimination, human rights, and other difficult subjects squarely in Japan's public discourse."


Ananda Galappatti of Sri Lanka for Emergent Leadership

He is being recognized for "his spirited personal commitment to bring appropriate and effective psychosocial services to survivors of war and natural disasters in Sri Lanka."



You are all a wonderful inspiration to us youths of Asia.

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** Thanks to RMAF Website.

LEAVE IT TO THE POLITICIANS...

I got exactly 21 emails of the same subject. And I don't know what to do with it. One reader sent me the same email 4 times "demanding" I should react on the matter and post it on my blog.

What is it about?

It's about that ancient Hindu temple on top of a hill sitting between the Thai and Cambodian border.

Honestly, I never heard of that temple until a week ago. If not because of the high media coverage -- over reacting, as usual.

They reported the incidence as a "war sign". It wasn't as bad as the world media were trying to project. Trust me.

As if the world needs another war. Shame on those "sensationalizing" media.

Anyways, I won't react on the incidence. When things happen like these, it's the job of the politicians and diplomats. What are we paying them for?

One thing I can assure you...

THAIS and KHMERS ARE PEACE-LOVING PEOPLE.

And no overeacting media people, trigger-happy political cartoonists, nor non-Thai or non-Khmer "nosy arbitrators" can make us give in to what they wanted to see.

WOULD YA OR WOULDN’T YA?

If you’re in an event and representing your country by proudly wearing a sash across your torso for the world to see –

-- And it’s MISSPELLED…would you wear it or not?

Jennifer of the Philippines must be such a nice girl not to refuse or at least complain that her country name was misspelled. Or maybe she did complain nicely…but…

…judging on the number functions she attended with the erred sash… how long did it take her to notice?


I’m sure correcting the mistake by printing another sash would only take a few minutes. *sigh* And how can an event as big as this ever make a mistake like that?

See what I mean in our previous post:
“Of the World’s Most Insulted Countries”?

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WHERE THE WORLD'S BEST PILOTS SHOW OFF!

My friends and I were talking about our travels earlier over at breakfast *yes, we eat breakfast. Thank you very much* and how much time we spend on board a plane in a year.

The average flying time within the villages of Southeast Asia is around 2.5 hours and we fly 4 times a week to party… hmm…that’s 10 hours a week or 40 hours a month! F*ucken out! That’s a whopping 480 hours onboard a f*ucken plane last year! Woohoo! 20 days of our lives wasted! Dang!

What makes me care about all these, anyway? Ha! Because earlier, I found this interesting article – the Top 10 Most Dangerous Aircraft Landings in the World. It is obviously about of the most notoriously hard-to-land runways around the planet AND the airports that make sure all passengers are awake before landing *that includes the dang pilots, of course!*

To be quite honest, I wanted the list to be full of Southeast Asian airports. LOL! So it would be more intriguing to BISEAN readers. But fortunately, for the faint-hearted -- none of the prayer-inducing-masochistic-thrill-ride airstrips are in Southeast Asia.

I would agree with this ProTraveller list about Hong Kong's Kai Tak definitely IS No.1! BUT -- Isn't Kai Tak closed already? *smirk* I think they’ve missed the Male Airport in Maldives? Or the Lukla Airport in Nepal! Interesting read though. Cool!


Here is where the world's best pilots play.

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SOUTHEAST ASIA'S MOST CORRUPT COUNTRIES OF 2007

The 2007 Edition of the Corruption Perception Index was released by Transparency International last Thursday (06 Dec). Based on our blog post here of the 2006 Edition; do you think your country’s corruption problems improved?

Here's the ranking of the most corrupt countries in Southeast Asia 0f 2007 from top (the least corrupt) to bottom (the most corrupt);

SE Asian Rank / Country / CPI Score

10. Singapore 9.3
-- The Lion City is again (and of course) the least corrupt of all the nations in our region. Although their score went down 0.1 point, their world ranking went up from 5th to 4th and shares the league with Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Sweden. *Majulah Singapura!*

9. Malaysia 5.1
-- The nation of the rainforest showed us how to do it. Raise the government employee’s pay to avoid temptations. Malaysia ranked No.43 in the world together with South Korea.

8. Thailand 3.3
-- Our score went down 0.3 but our world ranking improved from 108th to 84th. I really don’t know where the statistics are coming from. It certainly didn’t come from our police. Our Police force is one of the strictest and rigorously checked in the region and I am very proud of them. The corruption must be coming from somewhere else.

7. Vietnam and East Timor 2.6
-- No changes in the scores and ranking for Vietnam and East Timor this year. But Laos dropped out!

5. The Philippines 2.5
--No change in score at 2.5 and their world ranking went down to 131st. The current president’s popularity is the lowest since Marcos. Why do they ask each and every elected leader to step down – instead of working together? Too much precious time is wasted. The Philippines shares the spot with Libya, Yemen and Iran.

4. Indonesia 2.3
--As usual, corruption surveys like these are never kind to Indonesia. The score went down 0.1 points and they ranked 143rd in the world. What does Southeast Asia’s biggest economy doing wrong?

3. Cambodia 2.0
-- I took a little pause when I was preparing this list feeling a little hopeless. But no – we shouldn’t give up on Cambodia. One of these days, they’re gonna change for the better so fast…we wouldn’t know what hit us.

2. Laos 1.9
-- What happened? Laos went down from 6th to 2nd in SE Asia. Their score went down with a whopping 0.7 points! Foreign assistance from Vietnam, Thailand and Japan is going to somebody's pocket. Ha!

1. Burma 1.4
-- Burma, whew! What can I say?...They are on the bottom list in the world with Iraq and Somalia (the 2 collapsed states). Is it really that bad in Burma?*sigh*

What’s your view? Since CPI scores are based mainly on citizen’s perceptions, do you think these ranking reflects your own opinion?

If it does, where does corruption occur in your country?

Share it.

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**Again, Brunei is not on the index again. Brunei is Brunei. They belong to another category. Long live the Sultan!

GET YOUR UPDATED 24TH SEA GAMES MEDAL TALLY HERE!

BISEAN will post updated medals tally of the ongoing SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. It's posted on the right-hand side of the screen.

Here's tally of the first day of the games as of 9:46pm today.

Check it everyday and see how your village fare with the medals at stake!

Goodluck to our athletes.

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I TOLD YOU CHINA WOULD WIN!

Call it a bettor’s instinct. I watch pageants only because I had my money on some of the candidates. I placed US$2,000 bet on China, $1,500 on Angola, $700 on Russia (which was a bugger) and $500 on Malaysia.

All in all, I won $XX,XXX on online betting!!! *I won’t post the total money, mom is reading* Thanks to the guys of betway.com!

Finally, an oriental made it and she deserved the title *those who would disagree can go to…y’know where*. And an African (Micaela Reis) was 2nd place! If I have time, I would marry her! Seriously.

People calling Miss World "racist" can eat my shorts! Ha!

Deborah, our only chance from Malaysia, made it to the semis -- which was a good run. I browsed the photos of the girls and this year was a good batch. But the moment I saw Miss China a month ago…I knew I had to place my money on her and Angola, of course, my future wife.


*Sofia lost $2,000 chosing Russia. Morgan won $400 chosing Malaysia. Ha! Bunch of amateurs.

Related post: Our Girls in the Miss World ‘07

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MALAYSIA'S FIRST COSMONAUT, NOT ASTRONAUT!

A few hours from now (9.22pm ACT), a Malaysian doctor will be launched to orbit making him the first Malaysian in space. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was chosen from 11,275 Malaysians from all walks of life who had applied for the program in 2003.

He is an Orthopaedic Surgeon, a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and *hold your breath* a part time model. I think Malaysia made sure that their first spaceman is a pretty face! When I first saw this news last June with the Final 4, I was pretty sure who will they pick. *the first Malaysian spaceman HAS to be handsome lor*

The hunky, tall and extremely photogenic Shukor will board the Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Kazakhstan straight to the International Space Station and will stay in orbit for a couple of days. As the Russians are the ones who sent him up there, Shukor will be recognized as a “cosmonaut” NOT an “astronaut”, capice? (the Americans do the Astronaut thingy)

Who was the very first Southeast Asian in space? -- The first Southeast Asian AND the very first ASIAN in space is Phạm Tuân of Vietnam. He was launched to orbit on 23 July 1980 and stayed there for 7 days 20 hrs 42 mins and completed 142 orbits.

Our spacemen – Our pride!Congratulations, Malaysia!


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**One of our silent link, who got impressive taste and artsy élan, suggested we should feature Shukor in our Perfect Specimen series. Although he is indeed a hottie, he’s not biracial. =) Supercow, we utterly love you.
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LEE KUAN-YEW’S VISION OF EAST ASIA

Mr. Lee was the Prime Minister (1959-1990) and regarded as the Father of modern Singapore. He was the leader of Southeast Asia’s most celebrated success story – the Republic of Singapore. I personally regard him as one of Southeast Asia's greatest leaders.

Here’s an excerpt from Kyodo News interview with the great Lee Kuan Yew in 12 Dec 2005 about his vision of our region; great things we learn from one of the world's greatest minds...


"China, India and Southeast Asia will grow faster than NAFTA or the EU, in the next 50 years."

"The gap between Asia versus Europe and America will close. By 2050, the center of gravity will be in Asia, maybe sooner. It will be the biggest single economic region in the world."

"Such an economic bloc would be so compelling that Japan and China should be willing to put aside their deep-seated antagonism over the interpretation of Japan's military aggression in China before and during World War II and jump onto the bandwagon. In the end it does not depend upon whether China and Japan agree or do not agree -- it depends upon the economic advantage of an East Asian trading community. Once it is formed, does China want to stay out? Does Japan want to be left out?"

"I believe this process is driven not by the political considerations alone, but more by economic imperatives. It's driven by globalization that results from technological advances, therefore, it makes sense for the ASEAN region to come together."

"So I see a growing network of FTAs -- bilateral, multilateral. Eventually they will link up East and South Asia through their ties with Southeast Asia."

"I believe the key countries in Asia will come together economically, though not politically. It is not easy to have an East Asia Community like the European Community. It would take many decades because all the countries are at different levels of growth."

He said that China and India together are expected to account for 40 percent of the world's economy in 40 years, regaining their former economic glory of two centuries ago when they also dominated the world economy because of their large populations. In particular, China will dwarf Japan economically and emerge as the political leader in Asia by 2030.


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ONE POST FOR BURMA: Look into their eyes...

Today is the International Bloggers' Day for Burma.

These are the children of Burma... do they need to learn the word "help" in your language for you to do something?...

Just look into the eyes...







Free Burma! And free the Lady!



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OUR LINK TO BURMA

In the recent situation of our neighbors in Burma, we get news from networks a day late. Journalists has to risk their lives smuggling footage or information and most of the time, the reports are censored by the repressive Burmese military government before being aired.

If you would like to know and be updated with what’s really happening over there, you can visit BISEAN’s link to Burma here.

The blog is authored by Dawn. A socially conscious civilian in Yangon and courageously blogs what she see. Dawn is actually risking her life doing this. Thanks very much Dawn, for this unselfish act. Peace to Burma.

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