Over the past two years, Zoology, Veterinary and Giant Panda Conservation Centre director Dr Mat Naim Ramli has been taking special care of his “daughter”, even sleeping beside her in rather uncomfortable circumstances just so she won’t be restless.

His “daughter” is Malaysia-born panda cub Nuan Nuan.

Soon, Dr Mat Naim will be missing his child. The panda cub will be flown to the Duijangyang panda base in Sichuan province in China on Nov 14 to be freed into her natural habitat.

“I’m very attached to Nuan Nuan as she needs to be cuddled until she falls asleep. Solitary animals like pandas are particularly sensitive in character and very sensitive to their surroundings,” Dr Mat Naim told reporters at the farewell ceremony for Nuan Nuan at the Giant Panda Conservation Centre in Zoo Negara yesterday.

“After her mother was separated from her, I took care of her at night. I am sure this won’t be the last time I see her. I will visit her in China,” he said.

Nuan Nuan, which weighs 82kg, is the fastest naturally conceived panda baby in captivity, born within 15 months of her parents’ arrival.

Nuan Nuan’s parents, Xing Xing and Liang Liang, arrived here in May 2014 to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China. The last day for the public to visit Nuan Nuan will be on Nov 12.

The next day she bolted from the country, joining half of the kingdom’s opposition lawmakers in self-exile.

They have fled since September 3 when their party chief was arrested in the middle of the night by hundreds of officers, a dramatic escalation of a purge of rivals to Cambodia’s strongman premier Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest serving leaders.

“I don’t intend to be captured,” Mu Sochua told AFP from Bangkok, where she arrived on Tuesday and will stay before heading to Europe.

“I don’t intend to sit and wait for a kangaroo court to give us a trial that is a total joke.”

Her anxiety is well founded.

Through a mix of threats, harassment and legal entanglements, Hun Sen’s government has been clearing out critics ahead of key elections that will test the premier’s 32-year run.

And the odds are looking good for the 65-year-old, a master of manipulating the country’s malleable democratic institutions in his favour.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP)is in tatters, with more than 20 MPs skipping abroad in the past month after their stand-in leader Kem Sokha was locked up in a remote prison on dubious treason charges.

His arrest comes months after a series of legal convictions and new laws forced the party’s long-time frontman Sam Rainsy to step down.

Many civil society groups railing against corruption and repression have also been shut down or sidelined by court cases.

Outspoken media — including the respected and recently shuttered Cambodia Daily — have found the cost of criticism is a crippling tax bill.

– Repression the ‘new normal’ –

================================

Deputy party leader Mu Sochua is no stranger to intimidation.

The 63-year-old is a veteran of an opposition movement that has spent most of its time dodging Hun Sen’s machinations.

But the latest crackdown, she says, feels different.

“For the first time I felt unsafe. And politically speaking, this is the first time I felt we no longer have the possibility of a dialogue,” Mu Sochua told AFP, adding that police have been following the movements of her party’s members around the country.

“I didn’t want another leader caught, another voice being silenced. That left me with one choice only, which is to leave.”

Despite the roadblocks set up against it, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) faired well in recent elections, buoyed by growing frustration over graft and inequality.

But the recent exodus of MPs abroad is unprecedented and severely cramps the party’s ability to mount an effective campaign in next year’s poll.

At this rate, a boycott of next summer’s national vote is on the table if Kem Sokha remains in jail and repression of the media and civil society continues, said Mu Sochua.

She and others in exile will now travel the West to whip up global pressure on Hun Sen and his cronies from abroad.

But whether Western democracies — once a source of vital aid for the impoverished country — can still wield influence over the premier is in question.

China has steadily pulled Hun Sen into its orbit in recent years by lavishing the leader with aid and investment free of pressure to safeguard human rights.

That has relieved the autocrat from needing to at least maintain the semblance of a functioning democracy and free press.

In the past, his crackdowns were often followed by spells of relative freedom to keep democratic donors on board.

But with Chinese cash flowing into the coffers, that let-up might never come.

“What’s new in all this is the feeling of permanence,” said Sebastian Strangio, an expert on Cambodian politics.

“It looks like the current repression is becoming Cambodia’s new normal.”

    The 62-year-old, “in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world,” the Academy wrote in its citation.

Born in Nagasaki, he moved to Britain with his family when he was five years old, only returning to visit Japan as an adult.

Both his first novel “A Pale View of Hills” from 1982 and the subsequent one, “An Artist of the Floating World” from 1986, take place in Nagasaki a few years after World War II.

“The themes Ishiguro is most associated with are already present here: memory, time, and self-delusion,” the Academy said.

“This is particularly notable in his most renowned novel, ‘The Remains of the Day’,” which was turned into a film with Anthony Hopkins acting as the duty-obsessed butler Stevens.

“Ishiguro’s writings are marked by a carefully restrained mode of expression, independent of whatever events are taking place,” it said.

Apart from his eight books, Ishiguro has also written scripts for film and television.//AFP

Thai embassies in Myanmar and Bangladesh have sent through the International Committee of the Red Cross Bt5 million to each country to help Rohingya who fled to the Bangladesh border or remained in Rakhine state after the violence broke out on August 25, said ministry spokesperson Busadee Santipitaks.

More than 500,000 Muslim Rohingya fled from Rakhine state to Bangladesh over the past month after the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched a series of attacks against government security outposts, prompting a heavy-handed military response termed a “clearance operation”, which has killed more than 100 people.

The international community has raised concerns and criticised de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for poorly handling the situation and backing the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar military is known, which is forcing the exodus of Rohingya. The minority ethnic group has historically been treated badly in the predominantly Buddhist state, which has refused them citizenship rights.

While the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has labelled the violence in Rakhine state “ethnic cleansing”, Asean, which includes Myanmar as a member, has supported Myanmar’s government and refrained from addressing the so-called clearance policy.

A scene of diplomatic disarray took place during an informal meeting of Asean foreign ministers late last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Asean issued a chairman’s statement on September 23 to express concern over the Rohingya crisis and support the Myanmar authorities’ efforts to end the violence, Malaysia’s foreign minister responded with a counter-statement to dissociate the country from the group’s statement, saying the Asean chair had misinterpreted the situation.

“While Malaysia condemns the attacks against Myanmar security forces on 25 August launched by ARSA, the subsequent ‘clearance operations’ efforts by Myanmar authorities was disproportionate in that it [sic] led to deaths of many innocent civilians and caused Rohingyas to be displaced,” Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in his statement.

Malaysia has sheltered a significant number of Rohingya migrants for years, while the Philippines is now holding rotation chairmanship of Asean.

Thailand supported the chairman’s statement and joined the group to urge Myanmar authorities to implement recommendations in the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, led by former UN chief Kofi Annan, Busadee said.

She added that Bangkok had also encouraged Myanmar and Bangladesh to join efforts to tackle refugee issues.

In collaboration with Japan, Thailand will also provide mid and long-term assistance to ensure that a sustainable solution can be achieved to resolve the issue at the root cause, she said.

Tens of thousands of well-wishers waving the country’s flag lined the streets and cheered as Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the world’s second-longest reigning monarch, passed by in a chariot pulled by dozens of his subjects.

Marching bands took part in the colourful procession as it made its way through the streets, the highlight of about two weeks of celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of one of the world’s richest men.

An absolute monarchy with strict Islamic laws, Brunei is one of the world’s wealthiest nations thanks to abundant oil and gas reserves, although analysts warn it faces serious challenges to diversify the economy as oil prices fall and its reserves dwindle.

Among the crowds was Melissa Ibrahim, an airline employee, who sang Hassanal’s praises.

“His majesty cares about the people, their welfare, education and heath,” she told AFP. “Everything is subsidised by the government, so for that we are very, very thankful.”

Celebrations got under way earlier at the sultan’s sprawling palace, where an honour guard performed a 21-gun salute and the ruler and his wife sat on golden thrones for a royal audience.

The 71-year-old ascended to the throne of the Muslim country perched on the north of tropical Borneo island in October 1967, and comes from a royal family that has ruled the country for over 600 years.

His decades ruling Brunei have seen the country gain full independence from Britain and living standards soar to among the highest in the world.

Islamic law, high-priced harem

But his reign of Brunei, which has a population of about 400,000, has also been marked by controversies.

These include the introduction of tough Islamic laws in 2014, which will eventually include penalties such as severing of limbs and death by stoning, a move that sparked rare domestic criticism as well as international condemnation.

The royal family was also deeply embarrassed by a sensational feud between Hassanal and his younger brother Prince Jefri Bolkiah over the latter’s alleged embezzlement of $15 billion during his tenure as finance minister in the 1990s.

During the scandal, salacious details emerged of the prince’s jet-set, un-Islamic lifestyle, including allegations of a high-priced harem and a luxury yacht he owned called “Tits”.

There are also challenges for the younger generation, who fear their futures may not be secure as the oil-dependent country struggles to find new revenue sources.

“They still have not really made any significant headway moving beyond this major sector (oil and gas),” said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert from John Cabot University.

Still, the jubilee stood out as a rare source of excitement in the sleepy sultanate, which is known for its slow pace of life and lack of nightlife — alcohol is largely banned under Islamic practice.

Thursday’s festivities began with Hassanal, dressed in yellow and gold royal finery and accompanied by his wife Anak Hajah Saleha, inspecting a guard of honour in the grounds of his palace, before the gun salute.

The couple then held the royal audience in the throne room of the palace, a vast complex of resplendent white buildings with golden domes and almost 1,800 rooms, before heading to take part in the procession.

The festivities will continue Friday when Southeast Asian leaders, from countries including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and Middle Eastern royalty attend a banquet to mark the jubilee.

The sultan only comes behind one sovereign in terms of having the longest reign — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended to the throne in 1952.

She became the world’s longest serving monarch a year ago following the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose reign spanned seven decades.//AF{

Irene the koala was discovered missing from her holding yard at the Australian Reptile Park outside Sydney early Thursday, park officials said.

The two-year-old was eventually found stuck in a nearby tree after a “Houdini-style” escape through an opening in her pen, they said.

General manager Tim Faulkner said Irene had only recently reached sexual maturity and this week marked the start of the annual koala mating season.

“It’s not the first time we’ve had a young female koala keen on finding a mate, and it’s no coincidence she made her way out of her yard to find a mate’s yard,” he said.

Park officials insisted Irene’s desires would be satisfied, but more prosaically.

She “will be introduced to the correct male after ‘selective pairings are made’ managed by a stud book,” the park said.//AFP

His testimony is the first evidence directly linking the women to the poison VX which was used to kill Kim Jong-Nam as he waited at a crowded airport in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are accused of smearing VX on Kim’s face in February in a Cold War-style hit that stunned the world.

Kim died an agonising death within 20 minutes of being attacked with a chemical so deadly it is listed as a weapon of mass destruction.

The women, who were arrested a few days after the killing and face death by hanging if convicted, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-Un as he waited to board a flight to Macau.

The defendants, both in their 20s, say they were duped into believing they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show and their lawyers blame North Korean agents.

The murder sparked a fierce row between Malaysia and North Korea, which is suspected of ordering the hit. Pyongyang denies the allegation.

Giving evidence Thursday, government chemist Raja Subramaniam said that he found traces of VX on the clothes of Aisyah, 25, and Huong, 29.

“We found a degradation product of VX on a sleeveless shirt of Siti Aisyah,” he told Shah Alam High Court, outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Subramaniam said he found pure VX, a degraded form of the poison and a base substance used to make the poison on a t-shirt that Huong wore at the time of the attack.

The t-shirt had “LOL”, an acronym for “laughing out loud”, emblazoned on it.

Traces of the poison were also found on clippings of Huong’s fingernails, he said.

CCTV footage of the attack shows the women coming up behind Kim and swiping his face with a substance before running away, and a post-mortem report showed his death was caused by VX.

But experts have been confounded by how the women allegedly carried out the hit using the chemical without causing any harm to themselves.//AFP

The ceremony marked the beginning of the historic Golden Jubilee Celebration of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s Accession to the Throne.

The Istiadat Gendang Jaga-Jaga ceremony showcased the Sultanate’s rich centuries-old royal traditions and customs, denoting the beginning of a period of royal ceremonies (also known as the Musim Istiadat Diraja) which ends when the Istiadat Gendang Jaga-Jaga is ‘closed’. The tradition of Istiadat Gendang Jaga-Jaga is the playing of traditional musical instruments by royal court musicians for the purpose of keeping vigil.

Attending the ceremony was His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office. Upon arrival, His Royal Highness was greeted at the Lapau by the Chief of Adat Istiadat Negara, Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Lela Cheteria Sahibun Najabah Pengiran Anak Haji Abdul Aziz bin Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik and His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen.

His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office; His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik; and His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen during the opening of the Istiadat Gendang Jaga-Jaga ceremony at Lapau yesterday

His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office; His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik; and His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen arriving at the Lapau for the opening of the Istiadat Gendang Jaga-Jaga ceremony

Chief of Adat Istiadat Negara, Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Lela Cheteria Sahibun Najabah Pengiran Anak Haji Abdul Aziz bin Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar

Ketua Juru Laki Haji Johan Areffen carrying the Nakara (drum) as part of the royal orchestra performance Nobat Diraja

The ceremony, upon being given approval to begin by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah in his sabda, proceeded with the Gendang Jaga-Jaga, which saw a high-ranking male court official (Ketua Juru Laki), Haji Johan Areffen, entering the ceremonial hall and heading towards the Patarana to beat the Nakara (drum) – one of the traditional instruments played by the royal court musicians during the occasion.

The Nobat Diraja performing with the Ketua Juru Laki

Distinguished guests at the ceremony

Members of the Diplomatic Corps at the ceremony. – PHOTOS: AZROL AZMI

This was followed by the royal orchestra performance – or Nobat Diraja – by the royal court musicians. The performance involved the beating of the Nakara, complimented with melodies created from the Serunai – a type of wind instrument – and the beating of the Labik – a cylindrical drum – as well as the gongs and Chanang.

The royal orchestra performance was accompanied by a 21-gun cannon blast salute that echoed through the Lapau building, performed by the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) led by Commanding Officer of the Military Police of RBAF, 553 Left Colonel Mardini bin Abdul Rahman.

To bless the ceremony, a Doa Selamat was recited by State Mufti Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned.

Chief of Adat Istiadat Negara, Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Lela Cheteria Sahibun Najabah Pengiran Anak Haji Abdul Aziz bin Pengiran Jaya Negara Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar at the nightly vigil at the Istana Nurul Iman. – SYAHMI HASSAN

The end of the Istiadat Gendang Jaga-Jaga opening ceremony marks the beginning of nightly vigils which began last night until October 7, at the Istana Nurul Iman.

The Golden Jubilee Celebration was then given blessings with various religious ceremonies including Doa Kesyukuran, mass Maghrib and Isyak prayers, and the recitation of Surah Al-Waqi’ah, Surah Al-Mulk, and Tahlil.

In her first public comments over the shooting at a country music concert that left 58 dead and more than 500 injured, Marilou Danley said she had hoped for a quiet future with Stephen Paddock.

In Las Vegas, Trump visited with survivors and first responders, eulogizing parents and spouses who “used their own bodies to protect their loved ones” from the onslaught that eliminated any future for many.

He toured the Las Vegas Police Department Command Center and the city’s University Medical Center, where he met, among others, officer Tyler Peterson who was injured while responding to the shooting.

“In the months ahead, we will all have to wrestle with the horror that unfolded this week, but we will struggle through it together,” the president said.

Air Force One touched down at McCarran International Airport as the FBI was questioning Danley for clues to what drove Paddock to mass murder.

The 62-year-old returned to the United States from her native Philippines late Tuesday and was met by FBI agents.

‘I loved him’

In a statement read by her attorney Matthew Lombard, she said she had no hint of what was to come: “I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man.”

“I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him,” she said.

“He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.”

Danley added that two weeks ago, Paddock had told her he found a cheap plane ticket for her to visit family in the Philippines and had wired her money to purchase a house while she was there.

She said she became concerned at that point, thinking he wanted to break up with her.

“It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone,” said Danley, an Australian citizen who moved to the United States 20 years ago to work on the casino strip.

US authorities have been at a loss as to how a 64-year-old gambler and retired accountant hauled a vast arsenal of weapons to his hotel room and launched his assault.

Investigators say the shooting appeared to be extensively planned: Paddock set up one camera in the peephole of his hotel room door and two in the hallway.

Calls for gun control

Meanwhile, as the victims’ harrowing stories emerged in the media, America once again grappled with calls for reforms to its permissive firearm control laws.

Trump largely stuck to a talking point repeated by dozens upon dozens of Republican officials: “Well, we’re not going to talk about that today. We won’t talk about that.”

US officials have reacted cautiously to a claim by the Islamic State jihadist group that the shooter had carried out Sunday night’s massacre on its behalf.

Authorities said Paddock, who had no criminal record, smashed windows in his hotel room shortly after 10 pm on Sunday and rained fire on a crowd of some 22,000 attending the country music concert below.

When a SWAT team stormed the room where Paddock had been staying since September 28, they found he had killed himself.

Authorities have seized 47 firearms from three locations.

So far, investigators have found nothing to explain Paddock’s actions, but were continuing to hunt and trace every possible clue about a gunman they described as a “psychopath.”

Trump confirmed that no motive had yet been found. “I can tell you, it’s a very sick man. He was a very demented person,” he said.

Ordinary heroes

Details have gradually emerged about some of the victims — a kindergarten teacher from California who had married her childhood sweetheart, a Tennessee nurse, a high-school secretary from New Mexico.

Stories of heroism also surfaced. Bruce Ure, deputy police chief of the small Texas city of Seguin, was in the concert’s VIP section when the gunfire broke out.

He sheltered from the bullets between two buses, then tended to three strangers who had been shot, loading them into a passing car and riding with them to hospital.

“They were all crying, and I was too,” he told AFP. “They were saying that ‘We’re going to die, we’re going to die,’ and I still remember telling them: ‘Not tonight, not tonight. Tonight’s not your night. You’re going to be ok.’ Because I truly believed it.”

While the White House has rebuffed calls to reopen the fraught US debate on gun control, Congress did shelve a controversial plan to make it easier to purchase gun silencers and make it more difficult to classify certain ammunition as “armor piercing.”

According to his brother, Paddock was a high-stakes gambler and their bank-robber father was once on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.

But Eric Paddock said his brother had led an otherwise normal life.

The Las Vegas attack is the deadliest shooting in recent US history, surpassing the toll of 49 dead in an attack on a Florida nightclub in June 2016.