VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Countries complaining about the U.S. Summit for Democracy need to double down on democracy themselves so maybe next time they'll get an invite too, Taiwan's digital minister said on Thursday, responding to China's opposition to her attendance.

Audrey Tang, along with Taipei's de facto ambassador in Washington Hsiao Bi-khim, will be representing Taiwan at next week's summit organised by the Biden administration.

China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has condemned the United States for its invitation, as it generally does for any interaction between the two governments, which do not have formal diplomatic relations.

Speaking as part of the Reuters Next conference, and asked about China's opposition to Taiwan's participation, Tang said she did not think this would be the last round of the democracy summit.

"There will be in the future more summit gatherings for democracy," said Tang, a transgender woman who joined the cabinet in 2016 aged 35 as the second-youngest appointee ever.

"So, for all the governments and peoples around the world who feel maybe slighted that they have not be invited as a participant, my suggestion is to double down on realising democracy so that maybe by the next round we will be sharing the same stage," she added.

China has stepped up its military and political pressure on Taiwan to accept its sovereignty claims.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen says only its democratically-elected government can speak for Taiwan's people and that she will defend their democracy and freedom.

Tang champions radical transparency and full participatory democracy that is an ongoing process rather than every four years, including petitions and getting ideas, like banning plastic straws, from people still too young to vote.

"All these ways are to increase the bandwidth of democracy so that the government can respond to people's needs in the here and now," she said.

"And also, more importantly, new innovations can thrive instead of having to wait for four years, so to shorten the iteration, to make democracy more rapid."

Tang has taken inspiration from the "live long and prosper" greeting of the Vulcan Star Trek character Spock for the idea of promoting sustainability and development, a phrase she likes to use in public settings such as interviews.

"I've found the entire world-building to be inspirational. I can't say that I identify with any particular character, but of course live long and prosper I first saw it from Spock." (Reuters)

Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the early frontrunner for the Philippines presidency, was hit by another formal complaint on Thursday, as longtime opponents of his powerful family pile pressure on authorities to disqualify him from elections next year.

The activists' petition is part of a flurry of complaints designed to sideline Marcos, a career politician and son and namesake of the notorious dictator who was driven from power by a 1986 people's uprising.

It was among at least six lodged with election authorities and is centred on his 1995 conviction for failing to pay income tax or file tax returns while in public office from 1982 to 1985, which carries a lifetime election ban.

"He was the son of the ruling dictator, the same dictator who imposed the penalty of perpetual disqualification," the 13-page petition said.

The group was referring to a 1985 amendment to the internal revenue code permanently barring a public officer convicted of a tax crime from voting and running in any election.

"Perhaps he thought he was an exception to his father's decrees," the petition said.

The Marcos family is arguably the most famous and divisive in the Philippines.

Despite its fall from grace, it has retained vast wealth and far-reaching and powerful connections, but its prominence has been a cause of anger to thousands who suffered during the harsh 1970s martial law under the elder Marcos.

Outside the poll body, more than a dozen people chanted "Disqualify, BBM! Disqualify! Disqualify!" while carrying posters bearing the same message.

BBM refers to "Bongbong" Marcos, his nickname. His media group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Since his conviction, Marcos, 64, has been elected governor, congressman and senator and ran unsuccessfully for the vice presidency.

"He may have been allowed to run in 2016 but we will not allow him to run again," said petitioner and Akbayan youth chairperson Rj Naguit. (Reuters)

 Global labour shortages and poor treatment of migrant workers exacerbated by the pandemic should be a wake up call for governments to treat their foreign workforce fairly instead of viewing them as "occupiers", activists said on Thursday.

In a panel at the Reuters Next conference, Asian labour activists said the coronavirus pandemic has displayed how many economies could not function effectively without workers imported from countries like Philippines and the Mekong region.

Yet at the same time, these workers numbering in the millions are discriminated against in their host countries - forced to live in cramped dormitories, separated from the general population, lacking social protection and access to COVID-19 information.

"The pandemic highlighted a lot of structural issues that have already existed for a long time," said Reiko Harima, Regional Coordinator of Mekong Migration Network.

In Singapore, it took border closures to trigger a severe labour crunch that changed the power imbalance between employers and migrant employees, said Alex Au, Vice President of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2).

"Once that phenomenon appeared... the problem (with recruitment fees) was solved by itself and there was upward pressure on salaries," Au said, referring to fees many migrant workers have to pay agents to get a job, which can leave them deep in debt.

Migrants workers have long been treated as an invisible workforce and are perceived by host countries as untrustworthy and a drain on the economy even though they are filling jobs unwanted by locals, the panellists said.

"There is no justification to treat migrant workers any less than the locals," said Ellene A. Sana, Executive Director of Centre for Migrant Advocacy.

"Foreigners who are coming now into the countries are not occupiers, they are not out there to conquer Singapore or Malaysia, they are out there to contribute to creating wealth of the countries," Sana said.

"We should treat them all with a sense of dignity and afford them the rights that they do deserve." (Reuters)

 Hong Kong authorities will launch a new "health code" mobile phone application next week that travellers to mainland China would be required to use as the city prepares for a partial reopening of the border with the rest of the country.

The app will be similar to one in China, storing a user's name, address and vaccination status, with a function to scan QR codes to enter restaurants and other venues. It also assigns infection risk to users based largely on their past check-ins.

Unlike China's app, Hong Kong's will not track a user's movement, the government said. Only Hong Kong residents who plan to cross the border are required to use the app, which will be available from Dec. 10.

"We will launch the app next week for the public to test and trial and facilitate the gradual reopening of the border," Alfred Sit, secretary for innovation and technology, said in a news conference.

The global financial hub has followed Beijing's lead and implemented some of the world's strictest travel restrictions, hoping China, its main source of economic growth, would allow some cross-border movement.

Delegations from the two governments met in tech hub Shenzhen last week and noted "good progress", but city authorities also said in a statement Hong Kong needed to launch the new app and prepare boundary control points.

Cross-border travel resumption will initially be subject to a limited quota, the government said.

The Omicron coronavirus variant that surfaced last week and raised anxiety around the world has been discovered in mandatory testing of inbound travellers, but has not spilled over from Hong Kong's quarantine hotels into the wider community.

Despite barely any local cases this year and an environment virtually free of COVID-19, Hong Kong has maintained its mandatory hotel quarantine of up to 21 days for arrivals from most countries at the travellers' cost. (reuters)