China’s move to clamp down on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong dominated events in Asia. This week’s Podcast includes a subdued celebration of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, clashes in Mindanao, migrant workers’ struggles, cyclone recovery in India and Bangladesh, and the India-China stand-off.
Listen to news from and about the Church in Asia in a capsule under 10 minutes.
China’s move to clamp down on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong dominated events in Asia. This week’s Podcast includes a subdued celebration of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, clashes in Mindanao, migrant workers’ struggles, cyclone recovery in India and Bangladesh, and the India-China stand-off.
Presented by John Laurenson, background score by Andre Louis and produced by Binu Alex.
For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
Muslims across Asia joined their brethren in other parts of the globe to celebrate Eid this week, ending their holy fasting month of Ramadan on May 23. However, the festive season came amid reports of violence, disasters and aggressive communist moves in different parts of Asia.
The week's biggest story was China’s move to draft new legislation designed to clamp down on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. China's parliament approved a resolution to frame the national security law on May 28.
The law reportedly aims to criminalize sedition, secession, foreign influence, and vague terrorist acts. Rights groups say it will target the pro-democracy street protests that Hong Kong has witnessed in the past 12 months.
The law is expected to be drafted in the coming months and can be promulgated by the Chinese government any time its wants, according to state media.
The move bypassed the legislature in Hong Kong, calling into question the one country, two systems framework that has governed the territory since 1997.
Human rights groups, diplomats, foreign businesses, and the media projected the move as the beginning of the end of freedom and democracy in the former British colony.
As China tightened its grip on Hong Kong, the US Senate has passed a bill aiming to protect Uyghur Muslims from violations by the Chinese government.
The legislation, passed by the US Senate on May 27 and believed to be the first of its type by any government, targets China for its detention and violence against the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 condemns the ruling Chinese Communist Party for the three-year-old internment camps where up to two million ethnic Muslims have been forcibly detained. The law requires regular monitoring of the situation by US government bodies.
The bill includes travel bans and financial sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for atrocities against Uyghur Muslims.
Meanwhile, clashes erupted in Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr. More than 6,000 people fled their homes when armed militants launched concerted attacks on army units since May 21, hitting three villages with mortar fire.
Authorities believe the attack was launched by a radical group fighting for an independent state of Mindanao, which is home to 93 percent of the country's Muslim population.
The region has witnessed a decades-old insurgency waged by various groups before most agreed to a 2014 deal that paved the way for a new autonomous region. But the radical group rejected the deal, saying it did not go far enough. Church people are sheltering people who fled the violence.
In a show of inter-religious amity in Indonesia, three nuns have earned widespread praise from Muslims for singing an Eid ul-Fitr song that went viral on social media.
The three Daughters of the Mother of the Sacred Heart nuns singing "Selamat Lebaran" or Happy Eid ul-Fitr at their convent in Jakarta was widely circulated on the internet and broadcast on television on May 24.
Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said the nuns had "angelic voices" and uploaded the video on his Instagram account, which attracted over 650,000 hits.
Sister Maria Vinsencia, one of the nuns in the video, said the initial goal was to greet their Muslim employees and neighbors, whom they usually visit during Eid celebrations.
In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, the archdiocese has extended its Covid-19 emergency period for a second time as the Indonesian government prepares to introduce the so-called "new normal."
The archdiocese of Jakarta extended the emergency from June 1 and for an indefinite period following Jakarta authorities' decision to extend the period. Partial lockdowns in the capital will now continue until June 4 to curb Covid-19 cases that continue to rise.
Jakarta Archdiocese introduced emergency measures in early April after the government called on people to worship from home.
As of May 27, Jakarta had recorded 6,895 out of 23,851 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Indonesia and 509 out of 1,475 deaths in the country.
The Eid season was, however, misery for millions in Bangladesh and on the eastern coast of India because of the powerful Amphan cyclone.
The cyclone, formed in the Bay of Bengal on May 16, was as powerful as a category 5 hurricane. It swept through the eastern Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal and the southern part of Bangladesh.
It killed 110 people, mostly in West Bengal state, and impoverished the lives of some 13 million people.
The cyclone has affected 26 coastal districts of Bangladesh and caused damage costing some US $130 million.
Catholics in Bangladesh also mourned a former provincial of the Holy Cross Brothers, Brother Harold Bijoy Rodrigues, who made outstanding contributions to education, religious formation and human development.
The 62 year old died in Dhaka after losing a fight with pancreatic cancer. His funeral was attended by only a few people due to government Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Brother Rodrigues was provincial of the Congregation of Holy Cross Brothers, one of the three branches of the Holy Cross Congregation in Bangladesh, for two terms covering 12 years.
Amid increasing Covid-19 infections, some eastern Indian states are also facing unseasonal floods.
In Assam, incessant rain and floods have forced hundreds of thousands of people to move to relief camps as the state continues to witness heavy rain since Cyclone Amphan made landfall on the eastern coast of India on May 20.
Catholic bishops in the region said some parish churches and homes of Catholics are flooded and have created a problematic situation.
Floods came when church people were arranging quarantine facilities and other basic requirements for returning migrant workers.
The sad plight of migrant workers across Asia continues unabated. Migrants from Sri Lanka in Persian Gulf countries are one such example.
Over 50,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers, mainly in the Gulf countries, are anxiously waiting to return home amid job losses, coronavirus risks, and pay cuts due to the pandemic.
About 1.7 million Sri Lankans work overseas. The majority are women employed as domestic workers and caregivers. Over 200,000 workers leave Sri Lanka for employment every year.
Some 157 Sri Lankans who returned from overseas have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 90 returnees from Kuwait, 20 from Dubai and a few from Indonesia.
A repatriation flight from Qatar was to arrive on May 25, but the government stopped it after 70 of the 466 migrants who arrived from Kuwait on May 19 were found to be infected with Covid-19. That means thousands of Sri Lankan migrants remain stranded in their host countries.
Meanwhile, the Catholic diocese of Idukki in southern India suspended Father James Mangalasseril, one of its senior priests, after parishioners accused him of having sexual relations with a woman in their parish.
The accused priest is a former vicar general of the diocese and was rector of its minor diocesan seminary. The diocese has appointed a three-member team to probe the charges.
Thousands of migrant workers returning home on foot in India got some reprieve after trains were arranged for their transportation. But widespread anger over these trains taking 72 to 90 hours instead of 36 hours to reach their destinations has embarrassed the railway ministry.
The ministry said that the trains were rerouted and had not lost their way. But the passengers – who were travelling without water and food – were not satisfied. More than 10 were found dead on arrival due to severe heat conditions across India.
On the diplomatic front, a fresh India-China standoff on a disputed border threatens to kill peace in the region, causing protracted geopolitical repercussions affecting millions of ordinary people.
Indian and Chinese soldiers have tried to stop each other’s movements since May 5 in the disputed border area, particularly in Ladakh, a Buddhist-majority area at high altitude on the foothills of the Himalayas.
The troop build-up escalated in recent weeks when the Chinese army reportedly brought in trucks with arms and ammunition and intruded on the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between the countries. Indian troops responded with similar mobilization
The standoff hit international headlines as Asia's most massive armies stood eyeball to eyeball. It forced US President Donald Trump on May 27 to offer to negotiate.