02/09/2025

TUESDAY | SEP 2, 2025

7

Thousands protest in Indonesia as military deployed in Jakarta JAKARTA: Thousands rallied across Indonesia yesterday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in protests sparked by anger over perks for lawmakers. At least 500 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta yesterday afternoon as dozens of police officers watched on. Soldiers were present earlier but left after several hours. Thousands more rallied in Palembang in Sumatra and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin in Kalimantan, Yogyakarta in Java and Makassar in Sulawesi. “Our main goal is to reform the parliament. We hope the parliament will come out and meet us. We want to talk to them directly, they are our representatives,” said university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia. The deadly protests, which began last week over MP housing allowances

footage showed one of its teams running over a gig driver on Thursday. Prabowo yesterday paid a visit to injured police at a hospital. “The law states that if you want to demonstrate, you must ask for permission ... and it must end at 6pm,” he said. – AFP

nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta, have forced President Prabowo Subianto and parliament leaders to make a U-turn over the measures. Demonstrations began peacefully, but turned violent against the nation’s elite paramilitary police unit after

Thai People’s Party poised to be kingmaker BANGKOK: Thailand’s largest opposition party, People’s Party, met yesterday to decide who to back as the nation’s next prime minister, after the incumbent was ousted by court order. Paetongtarn Shinawatra was on Friday sacked as prime minister by Thailand’s Constitutional Court after it found she had breached ethical standards during a border row with Cambodia. The ruling has left Thailand with only an acting prime minister and a caretaker Cabinet as minority factions jostle to secure backing to form a new government as soon as Wednesday. Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai Party and the conservative Bhumjaithai Party, which abandoned her coalition over the border row, are both courting the People’s Party’s crucial 143 parliamentary seats. But the People’s Party has said its backing will be conditional on parliament being dissolved for fresh elections within four months, paving the way for yet more political turmoil. Under Thailand’s constitution, only candidates nominated for prime minister at the time of the last general election in 2023 are eligible. Pheu Thai have only one possible candidate left in their list of nominees, former state prosecutor Chaikasem Nitisiri, while Bhumjaithai are putting forward their leader Anutin Charnvirakul. “We will not be voting for the best prime minister to serve the people,” People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said. “We are voting for a prime minister who will dissolve the house,” he said, pledging his members would not serve in any new Cabinet they give their backing to. – AFP

Afghanistan quake kills more than 800

showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped security forces and medics carry the wounded to ambulances in an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods. Military rescue teams fanned out across the region, the Defence Ministry said in a statement, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead. The quake razed three villages in Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar with 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added. Humanitarian agencies say they are fighting a forgotten crisis in Afghanistan, where the United Nations estimates more than half the population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid. China was ready to provide disaster relief assistance “according to Afghanistan’s needs and within its capacity”, a spokesperson of its Foreign Ministry said. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing to help those in areas devastated by the quake. Humanitarian officials and locals say almost two years after a powerful tremor hit the western city of Herat, many villages are still recovering and living in temporary structures. Afghanistan is prone to deadly quakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush, where Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. – Reuters

The quake killed 812 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, said administration spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Rescuers were battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border, where mudbrick homes dotting the slopes collapsed. “All our teams have been mobilised,” said Health Ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee. Reuters Television images

stretch the resources of the war-torn nation’s administration, already grappling with humanitarian crises, from a sharp drop in aid to the pushback of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries. Health Ministry spokesperson Sharafat Zaman called for international aid to tackle the devastation from the magnitude 6 quake that struck around midnight, at a depth of 10km.

o Helicopters ferry injured to hospital

KABUL: An earthquake killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities said yesterday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from the rubble of homes. The disaster is set to further

Injured victims receive treatment at a hospital in Jalalabad. – AFPPIC

Hong Kong community bonding takes a beating HONG KONG: Eyes glowing red, the towering “ghost king” presided over the atrium of a Hong Kong housing block on Sunday as residents performed rituals – a scene that may become history as redevelopment looms. “It’s also a time for those people living in this universe to consolidate their community.” But the old haunts will soon be gone as the estate is set to begin its demolition and redevelopment as soon as next year.

resident for more than 20 years. As night fell on Sunday, dozens watched ceremonial masters perform rituals such as “crossing the bridge” and “breaking hell’s gate” in the well shaped atrium, a feature of the building’s 1960s architectural design. Resident Janne Tsui, 25, had earlier helped fold delicate paper offerings after learning the technique in a workshop. “Personally I’m worried that this sort of culture will be lost because of Wah Fu Estate’s demolition,” she said. Tsui said her family are among those moving away next year as part of the redevelopment plans. Taking part as a volunteer was a way to “make more memories”, she said. “I used to find (Hungry Ghost Festival) very scary, but now I feel emotional about the changing times.” – AFP

Yiu Siu-fung, 73, recalled a time when Wah Fu blocks each held celebrations, driven in part by a strong sense of community. Those events were halted in 2020 due to strict pandemic-era social distancing rules. Organisers were dealt a further blow in 2022 when Hong Kong authorities disbanded resident-led “mutual aid committees” in all public housing estates. Festivities at Wah Fu restarted this year on a smaller scale, with the help of a government-funded project. “For the young people, very few of them take part in Yu Lan,” said Yiu, a

The Hungry Ghost, or Yu Lan, Festival has its roots in Chinese folk religion and marks the time during the seventh month of the lunar calendar when hell’s gate opens and ghosts roam the Earth. Wah Fu Estate, a cluster of ageing public housing blocks with expansive sea views, is known for holding some of the most elaborate rituals in Hong Kong, including the“ghost king”paper statue and folded decorations made by residents. “It’s a time for ghosts to come to this universe,” said sociologist Gary Wong, who helped organise this year’s event.

A Taoist priest performing a ritual at the Wah Fu Estate in Hong Kong. – AFPPIC