Bangladesh to lift Rohingya internet ban 'very soon'

Yahoo – AFP, Munir Uz zaman, August 24, 2020

A Rohingya worker walks across a bamboo bridge in Kutupalong refugee
camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh

Bangladesh will restore internet access to nearly a million Rohingya stuck in refugee camps "very soon", the government said Monday, on the eve of the third anniversary of their escape from Myanmar.

Authorities in Bangladesh cut mobile internet access to the sprawling, teeming camps in the country's southeast a year ago, citing security concerns, sparking international condemnation.

Foreign Secretary Masud bin Momen said Monday that the spread of "baseless rumours and misinformation" could create panic and destabilise the camps, where a few Rohingya have been killed in internal clashes in recent years.

"However, responding to the requests from our friends and also for the need of imparting education and COVID-19 response, for greater internet connectivity, we have taken a decision on lifting the restrictions on 3G and 4G mobile networks, which will be effective very soon," Momen said.

The internet clampdown disrupted communications between different camps, as well as with Rohingya still in Myanmar and elsewhere. It also complicated wire transfers of money from the Rohingya diaspora.

A young Rohingya flies a kite in Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh

Rights groups said the lack of internet access meant misinformation and rumours, particularly about the coronavirus, could spread unverified.

The first infection in the camps was detected in May but fears that the virus could spread quickly have so far not been realised.

Khin Maung, head of the Rohingya Youth Association, said the restoration of internet access was "very good news".

"We can now get regular updates on COVID-19. And we can mobilise people against the activities of the human traffickers," he said.

"With internet connections, we can also communicate with family members who live in Myanmar or other countries."

Some 750,000 Rohingya flooded across the border as they fled a military crackdown in Rakhine state in Myanmar in August 2017 that the UN has likened to ethnic cleansing, joining some 200,000 already in Bangladesh.

With protests banned by Bangladesh -- the government citing coronavirus restrictions -- the refugees were due to mark what they call "Genocide Remembrance Day" with a day of "silent protest" that organisers say will turn the camps into ghost towns.

Race to prevent coronavirus 'nightmare' in Rohingya camps

Yahoo – AFP, May 15, 2020

There have long been warnings the coronavirus could race like wildfire through the
sprawling city of shacks housing nearly a million Rohingya in southeast Bangladesh
(AFP Photo/Suzauddin RUBEL)

Emergency teams raced Friday to prevent a coronavirus "nightmare" in the world's largest refugee settlement after the first confirmed cases in a sprawling city of shacks housing nearly a million Rohingya.

There have long been warnings the virus could race like wildfire through the cramped, sometimes sewage-soaked alleys of the network of 34 camps in southeast Bangladesh.

Most of the refugees have been there since around 750,000 of the Muslim minority fled a 2017 military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar for which its government faces genocide charges at the UN's top court.

Local health coordinator Abu Toha Bhuiyan initially said on Thursday two refugees had tested positive. The World Health Organization (WHO) later said one case was a local man.

On Friday, another senior health official said two more Rohingya had tested positive -- a 42-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man.

It was unclear if they had been in contact with the first two cases.

Mahbubur Rahman, the chief health official in the local Cox's Bazar district, said news of the infections had sparked "panic" in the camps.

The 35-year-old Rohingya man, whose positive result was announced Thursday, lives in Kutupalong, the largest of the camps. He sparked a manhunt at one point after he fled before police found him around four hours later.

"We are worried. He can spread the disease in the camps," community leader Abdur Rahim told AFP.

Rahim said the man is believed to have been infected in a hospital in a nearby town where he took his injured brother for treatment.

Major Rohingya refugee camp populations in Bangladesh, as of April 30, 2020. A 

Rohingya man has become the first person to test positive for COVID-19 in one 

of the camps. (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

WHO spokesman Catalin Bercaru told AFP that "rapid investigation teams" were being deployed.

Rahman, the health official, said an entire block in one camp, housing around 5,000 people, was shut off, and that all contacts of the men were being traced and would be brought to isolation centres.

"We have locked down the block, barring anyone from entering or leaving their homes," he said.

Rahman said they would ramp up coronavirus testing to "at least" 100 per day from just five to 10 at present.

Bercaru said that since February, the entire health sector had been "working round the clock" to increase capacity for testing, isolation and treatment, as well as to train health workers and talk to communities.

The UN refugee agency said that 12 severe respiratory infection treatment centres were being established locally, and that up to 1,900 intensive care beds, five quarantine centres, and 20 isolation facilities were planned.

Humanitarian groups would also help with visits by health workers to people inside the camps plus home deliveries of food and fuel.

"We call on additional international solidarity and support to ensure an adequate response for this particularly vulnerable population," a UNHCR statement said.

'Thousands may die'

In early April authorities had locked down Cox's Bazar -- home to 3.4 million people including the refugees -- after a number of COVID-19 cases.

Security personnel use a loudspeaker to raise awareness about the coronavirus in a 

Rohingya refugee camp in southeast Bangladesh (AFP Photo/Suzauddin RUBEL)

Bangladesh restricted traffic in and out of the camps and forced aid organisations to slash manpower by 80 percent.

The country of 168 million people is under lockdown and has seen a rapid rise in coronavirus cases in recent days, with almost 19,000 and 300 deaths as of Thursday.

Senior US official Sam Brownback, who has visited the refugees said it was inevitable the virus would reach the "incredibly crowded" camps and spread "very rapidly".

Daniel Sullivan from Refugees International called it the "realisation of a nightmare scenario".

Shamim Jahan at Save the Children said there was the "very real prospect that thousands of people may die", with "no intensive care beds" in the camps.

No internet, many rumours

Bangladesh has also been criticised for cutting the internet in the camps, which has restricted access to reliable information and spread false rumours.

"I have been calling on the Bangladeshi government to give internet access. It just seems to me ludicrous that they're not," Brownback told reporters in Washington.

With little prospect of being able to return to Myanmar -- where army operations persist in Rakhine state -- many of the refugees have in desperation tried to escape in rickety vessels.

Last month around 60 died in a boat stranded at sea for two months after being denied entry by Malaysia and Thailand because of coronavirus restrictions, survivors said.

Canada 'seriously concerned' after Saudis order ambassador's expulsion

Yahoo - AFP, August 6, 2018

Saudi activist Samar Badawi (C) with Hillary Clinton (R), then US Secretary of State,
and Michelle Obama in Washington, DC on March 8, 2012 (AFP Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canada said Monday it is "seriously concerned" after Saudi Arabia announced it is expelling Ottawa's ambassador and recalling its own envoy in protest over "interference" in its internal affairs.

The shock Saudi move, announced by the foreign ministry on Twitter, came in response to Ottawa's vigorous demands that jailed human rights activists be released.

"We are seriously concerned by these media reports and are seeking greater clarity on the recent statement from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," said Marie-Pier Baril, a Canadian foreign ministry spokeswoman.

"Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, very much including women's rights, and freedom of expression around the world. Our government will never hesitate to promote these values and believes that this dialogue is critical to international diplomacy."

The kingdom earlier said it had declared Canadian Ambassador Denis Horak persona non grata and given him 24 hours to leave the country, and that it was recalling its ambassador from Ottawa for consultations.

The ministry also announced "the freezing of all new trade and investment transactions with Canada while retaining its right to take further action."

"The Canadian position is an overt and blatant interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the Saudi foreign ministry tweeted.

Canada last week said it was "gravely concerned" over a new wave of arrests of women and human rights campaigners in the kingdom, including award-winning gender rights activist Samar Badawi.

"We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful #humanrights activists," the foreign ministry tweeted on Friday.

Myanmar's startups map past, shape future with virtual reality

Yahoo – AFP, Phyo Hein KYAW, August 23, 2017

The data recorded by drones allows those with virtual reality headsets to explore

 Myanmar's temples, their crumbling centuries-old walls so close it feels like you can 

touch them (AFP Photo/Ye Aung Thu)

Yangon (AFP) - Gasps echo across the hall as the Myanmar school kids trial virtual reality goggles, marveling at a device that allows some of Asia's poorest people to walk on the moon or dive beneath the waves.

"In Myanmar we can't afford much to bring students to the real world experience," beamed Hla Hla Win, a teacher and tech entrepreneur taking virtual reality into the classroom.

"If they're learning about animals we can't take them to the zoo... 99 percent of parents don't have time, don't have money, don't have the means," she added.

Few countries in the world have experienced such rapid discovery of technology than Myanmar which has leapfrogged from the analogue to the digital era in just a few years.

During the decades of outright junta rule, which ended in 2011, it was one of the world's most isolated nations, a place where a mobile phone sim card could cost up to $3,000.

For half a century its paranoid generals cut off the country, restricting sales of computers, heavily censoring the Internet and blocking access to foreign media reports.

But today phone towers are springing up around the country and almost 80 percent of the population have access to the Internet through smartphones, according to telecoms giant Telenor.

Budding startups

Tech startups are emerging around the commercial capital Yangon, many seeking to improve the lives of rural people, most of whom still live without paved roads or electricity.

"The increase in activity from last year till now -- new startups, more people determined to become entrepreneurs and working in the tech sector in general -- is significant," said Jes Kaliebe Peterson, CEO of community hub Phandeeyar.

Virtual reality is the latest advance to cause a stir, with a handful of entrepreneurs embracing tech for projects including preserving ancient temple sites to shaping young minds of the future.

The Phandeeyar incubator works with more than 140 startups. Among them Hla Hla Win's virtual reality social enterprise 360ed which is using affordable cardboard VR goggles attached to smartphones to break down barriers in Myanmar's classrooms.

She founded the non-profit last year after 17 years working in the woefully underfunded education system in a bid to bring learning to life.

"I see it as an empathy machine where we can teleport ourselves to another place right away," she told AFP.

And it's not just school children who benefit from stepping into places they could only ever dream of visiting.

360ed has used virtual reality to help Myanmar teachers attend training courses in Japan and Finland and is working on setting up deals with schools in India, Pakistan, China and Bangladesh.

"With VR there's no divider, there's no distance," Hla Hla Win said.

Mapping the past

While 360ed is thinking about the future, Nyi Lin Seck is obsessed with the past.

Some 600 kilometres (372 miles) north of Yangon, the budding tech entrepreneur and founder of 3xvivr Virtual Reality Production launches a large drone into the skies above Bagan, one of Myanmar's most famous tourist sites.

The drone, which carries a 360-camera, circles one of the many ninth-to-thirteenth century temples that dot the landscape of what was once a sprawling ancient city.

The data it records allows those with virtual reality headsets to explore the temples, their crumbling centuries-old walls so close it feels like you can touch them.

A former head of the local TV station, Nyi Lin Seck says he makes most of his money providing virtual reality footage for hotels and luxury apartments.

But after an earthquake damaged the Bagan site last year, he vowed to use the tech to preserve a digital replica of Myanmar's archaeological treasures.

"A lot of artworks on the pagodas collapsed and were lost. Using this technology, we can record up to 99 percent of the ancient art," he says.

Saudi police question woman who wore miniskirt in video

Yahoo – AFP, July 18, 2017

Women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear long black abaya robes and
cover their hair in public (AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi police said Tuesday they were questioning a woman who appeared in an online video in a miniskirt and crop top walking through a historic site in the ultraconservative kingdom.

A series of videos, initially posted over the weekend to the Snapchat account of "Model Khulood", show a young woman in a high-waisted miniskirt walking through a fort in Ushaiqer, outside the capital Riyadh, playing with sand in the dunes and turning towards the camera for a close-up, her long hair uncovered.

The videos have since been uploaded to YouTube and tweeted by different users.

Saudi media, including the main dailies Sabq and Okaz, on Tuesday quoted a spokesman for police in Riyadh as saying the woman was being questioned and had confessed to visiting the site with her male guardian.

Saudi Arabia's guardianship system mandates accompaniment by or written permission from a male relative -- usually a father, husband or brother -- for women to study, work or travel.

The woman denied that she had uploaded the clips and that the Snapchat account was hers, the spokesman said.

The case has now been referred to the public prosecutor's office, which will decide whether to prosecute the woman.

The local government of Riyadh had issued a memo saying authorities were searching for the woman who had been "walking around... in indecent clothing".

The snaps have sparked heated debate, with social media users in the region and beyond weighing in on questions of gender and rights in the kingdom, where women are required to wear long black abaya robes and cover their hair in public.

Many have come to the defence of the young woman, pointing out the privileges afforded to Western women by Saudi authorities. US First Lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, daughter of the president, did not cover their hair when they visited Saudi Arabia in May.

"If it were Trump's daughter, we would have braced ourselves for the flood of compliments and love poems," read one tweet.

"Problem solved," tweeted Shahd bint Fahd alongside a picture of the model with Ivanka Trump's face superimposed over the original.

Others expressed outrage and derided those speaking out in support of the model.

"These are the demands of the liberal ignorant community: a naked woman, a co-ed movie theatre, and music and dance. That's progress to them! Not health care and not education," read one tweet.

Facebook restores Norwegian PM's 'napalm girl' protest post

Yahoo – AFP, September 10, 2016

Phan Thi Kim Phuc delivers a speech in front of a Pulitzer-Prize-winning photo
depicting her running naked on June 8, 1972 during the Vietnam war, during a
lecture meeting in Nagoya, Japan on April 13, 2013 (AFP Photo/Jiji Press)

Oslo (AFP) - Facebook had restored by Saturday a post by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg which it had taken down over an iconic Vietnam War photo of a naked girl escaping a napalm bombing.

The world's leading social network backtracked Friday on a decision to censor the historic image because it had been flagged for violating standards regarding inappropriate posts.

An active social media user, Solberg defied Facebook early Friday by posting the photograph, helping to bring the weeks-long controversy to a head.

But it was deleted a few hours later by Facebook, in what is believed to be a first such online censorship involving a government leader.

By Saturday morning the post was restored on the Norwegian premier's Facebook page.

The online giant stopped short of apologising, saying: "An image of a naked child would normally be presumed to violate our Community Standards, and in some countries might even qualify as child pornography.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg defied Facebook early Friday by posting

 the photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down a street 

in Vietname in 1972 (AFP Photo/Vegard Wivestad Grøtt)

"In this case, we recognise the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time," it added.

Taken by photographer Nick Ut Cong Huynh for the Associated Press, the 1972 picture of a naked Vietnamese girl running from a napalm attack is considered one of the war's defining images. It was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize.

After Facebook reversed its position on the image, Solberg told the BBC she was a "happy prime minister," saying: "It shows that using social media can make (a) political change even in social media."

Singapore PM defends government Internet blockage

Yahoo – AFP, June 10, 2016

Singapore is one of the world's most Internet-savvy societies, offering
broadband speeds envied by many (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore's prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has defended the country's controversial decision to cut off civil servants' work computers from the Internet, calling the move "absolutely necessary" to keep information systems secure.

"Are we happy? I don't think so, because it will slow us down in terms of day-to-day productivity. In terms of security, safety of our systems, safety of our citizens and information concerning them, it's absolutely necessary," he told Singapore media during a visit to Myanmar.

Lee said that the defence and foreign affairs ministries already have separate computers for Internet access and for handling sensitive communications.

There was a huge backlash on Wednesday when The Straits Times newspaper reported that some 100,000 government computers would be affected by the Internet blockage, aimed at keeping data secure and preventing the spread of malware.

It quoted a cyber security official as saying that there were 16 attacks on government systems from unnamed sources in the last year, but the malware was detected and destroyed.

Singapore's prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) has defended the country's 

controversial decision to cut off civil servants' work computers from the Internet, 

calling the move 'absolutely necessary' to keep information systems secure

(AFP Photo/Mohd Fyrol)

Malware is software specifically designed to disrupt or damage a computer system.

Civil servants would still be able to access the Internet on their personal devices such as tablets and mobile phones.

Public-school teachers and lecturers would not be affected by the move, officials said.

Singapore is one of the world's most Internet-savvy societies, offering broadband speeds envied by many.

A wide range of government services are available online, including registering for marriage, filing complaints to the police and video consultations with doctors.

Singapore announced in 2014 it was stepping up IT security measures following attacks on a section of the prime minister's website, as well the website of the presidential residence.

Young Vietnamese quiz Obama on rap, weed and good looks

Yahoo – AFP, Jérôme Cartillier, Tran Thi Minh Ha, May 25, 2016

US President Barack Obama listens as a young female rapper sings a song
 at a town hall event in Ho Chi Minh City (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Barack Obama fielded questions Wednesday on everything from rap and weed smoking to his good looks at a lively meeting with young Vietnamese, who see the US leader as a far cry from their staid Communist rulers.

The US President, on the final leg of a three-day trip to Vietnam before flying to Japan, held one of his trademark town hall gatherings with hundreds of youngsters in the country's buzzing commercial and creative capital Ho Chi Minh City.

The president received a huge cheer as he took to the stage in a one-party authoritarian state where politics is opaque and young people's voices are rarely heard.

US President Barack Obama has been 

met with throngs of enthusiastic well-wishers

 in a country where politicians are notorious

 for their remoteness and lack of charism

(AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Suboi, one of the country's best known female rap artists, serenaded Obama with Vietnamese lyrics about whether people are really happy if they have lots of money.

Seemingly delighted with the exchange, Obama praised the journey of hip-hop "which started out as an expression of poor African Americans" and became a "global phenomenon".

He then appeared to take a thinly veiled swipe at Vietnam's authoritarian leaders, who regularly suppress critical artists.

"Imagine if at the time when rap was starting off our government had said 'No' because some of the things you say are offensive, or some of the lyrics are rude, or you're cursing too much?" he said.

"If you try to suppress the arts then you are suppressing the deepest dreams and aspirations of a people," he added.

Earlier another young man began his question with: "Mr President, you're so handsome."

To which Obama quickly quipped "Oh. You can just stop there if you want."

Dreaming of a father

Another asked whether Internet posts about Obama's alleged marijuana smoking as a youth were true.

In this combination of images made from pool video, U.S. President Barack 

Obama, left, listens as Vietnamese rapper Suboi raps during a town-hall style event 

for the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative (YSEALI) at the GEM Center

in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Wednesday, May 25, 2016.

"I don't know if that's true," Obama quickly remarked, further dousing the issue with a warning: "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet."

But that particular exchange also prompted some soul-searching from Obama about leadership and growing out of a rebellious teenage phase prompted by the absence of a father.

"As I got older I realised that instead of worrying about the father who wasn't there, I should start worrying more about what can I do to take more responsibility for my own life," he added.

The environment was a subject that repeatedly came up. Vietnam is acutely vulnerable to climate change and environmental causes have been the focus of numerous protests against the authorities, especially among young people.

Young Vietnamese see US leader Barack Obama as a far cry from their staid 

Communist rulers (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Obama said he recognised the freedom western industrialised countries have had to pollute the earth for far longer than developing ones, but urged all countries to work together to prevent disaster.

"The problem is, if a country like China or Vietnam or India took the same development path the West did, we're all going to be under water."

Obama has been met with throngs of enthusiastic well-wishers in a country where politicians are notorious for their remoteness and lack of charisma.

"I like his behaviour, being the most powerful man in the world, but very close to people, not like leaders here," said 22-year-old Tran Huu Duy. "They only wear suits and talk cliches... (they) cannot inspire young people."

Pope hits out at Internet trolls

Yahoo – AFP, January 23, 2016

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis spoke out Friday over the increasingly aggressive nature of much political discourse and the use of social media as a forum for personal abuse.

In a message published on the same day that the Twitter-friendly pontiff met Apple boss Tim Cook, Francis said digital technology and the Internet could help bring people together but also had the potential to create deep wounds.

"Our words and actions should be such as to help us all escape the vicious circles of condemnation and vengeance which continue to ensnare individuals and nations, encouraging expressions of hatred," he said.

The pope urged politicians and others in positions of power "to remain especially attentive to the way they speak of those who think or act differently or those who may have made mistakes."

And he emphasised the importance of everyone applying the same principle to encounters in cyberspace by showing respect for "the neighbour whom we do not see."

"It is not technology which determines whether or not communication is authentic, but rather the human heart and our capacity to use wisely the means at our disposal," Francis said.

"Social networks can facilitate relationships and promote the good of society, but they can also lead to further polarization and division between individuals and groups.

"The digital world is a public square, a meeting-place where we can either encourage or demean one another, engage in a meaningful discussion or unfair attacks."

The Vatican did not release any details of the pope's meeting with Cook, who was in Italy to inaugurate a new Apple applications research centre in Naples. Francis met last week with Google supremo Eric Schmidt.

Pope Francis poses with young people in the Church of Saint Augustine in Rome
on August 28, 2013 (Osservatore Romano/AFP/File, Francesco Sforza)

Related Articles:

Pope has most clout on Twitter: study
Vatican official: Pope's Twitter account teaches us about authority

First papal 'selfie' goes viral on social media

‘The internet is a gift from God’ - Pope Francis

Philippine priests swap sermons for 'selfies'


The Internet  - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification ("The End of History")

" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "

" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  1 - Spirituality (Religions)

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation.

The teachings of the great prophets of the Middle East (all related to each other) are about unity and love. So once the holy words are redefined with new wisdom, the Human changes, not the words of the prophets. In fact, the prophets become even more divinely inspired and their wisdom becomes even more profound.

You're going to lose a pope soon. I have no clock. Soon to us can mean anything to you. The one who replaces him may surprise you, for his particular organization will be in survival mode at that point in time. That is to say that fewer and fewer are interested in starting the priesthood. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in the organization, and the new pope must make changes to keep his church alive. That means that his organization will remain, but with a more modern look at what truly is before all of you in a new energy. It is not the fall of the church. It is instead the recalibration of the divinity inside that would match the worship that goes on. It's a win-win situation. The new pope will have a difficult time, since the old guard will still be there. There could even be an assassination attempt, such is the way the old energy dies hard. That is number one. Watch for it. It's a change in the way spiritual systems work. It's a realignment of spiritual systems that resound to a stronger truth that is Human driven, rather than prophet driven. …”

'Like' me, 'like' me: Cambodian PM woos youth vote online

Yahoo – AFP, Suy Se, January 18, 2016

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) poses for a selfie with supporters during
 a ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime
in Phnom Penh (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

Looking more avuncular than authoritarian, Cambodian premier Hun Sen crouches for a selfie for his Facebook page with young scouts -- part of a social media blitz selling the strongman's cuddlier side as he seeks to extend a 30-year grip on power.

The 63-year-old, a wily political survivor who defected from the Khmer Rouge to oversee Cambodia's rise from the ashes of war, has vowed to remain prime minister until he is 74.

To do so he will need the support of Cambodia's youth -- a tech-savvy demographic whose votes may well be decisive in the next election, slated for 2018.

Two thirds of Cambodia's 15 million population are aged under 30. Like their contemporaries everywhere they are avid users of social media -- a sphere Hun Sen has until recently viewed with suspicion.

In 2013, young Cambodians voted in droves for the opposition, wearied by the endemic corruption, rights abuses and political repression seen as the hallmarks of Hun Sen's rule.

A self-confessed digital dinosaur, Hun Sen has in recent months launched himself online with an arsenal of new media tools.

Cambodians hold their mobile phones displaying Facebook pages of Cambodian 

Prime Minister Hun Sen (top) and the opposition party leader Sam Rainsy (below)

 in Phnom Penh (AFP Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

He has just debuted a 'Hun Sen' App for Android and Apple phones -- complementing a new personal website -- to allow the public to "receive news about me quickly".

Meanwhile his official Facebook page, minted in September, already has more than 1.9 million 'likes'.

"Wherever technology goes, we must be there too," Hun Sen said recently, also revealing in a Facebook post that he carries five smart phones to stay connected with his countrymen.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, whose Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) say they were denied a majority in 2013 by vote rigging, has more than two million 'likes' on his official Facebook page and has long embraced social media to spread his message.

With under three years to the next election, the battle for power looks poised to play out online.

What's the game?

Sebastian Strangio, author of a recent book on the mercurial premier, says Hun Sen's belated embrace of technology once more illustrates the "tactical flexibility" which has kept him in power over the decades.

"Cambodia’s old political battles have simply shifted online," he added.

But Hun Sen's online forays have received a mixed reception from his target audience.

"Awesome for an ex-bumpkin... but nothing special for young generation Khmers! They were there long before him," one Facebook user posted in English on the premier's page.

Others say the strategy is working, bringing the premier into the daily lives of young people.

University student Kea Ny, 26, told AFP many of his peers have changed their attitudes on the back of his social media outreach work.

"Among 10 of my friends, seven of them support him now. Before they all had negative feelings towards the prime minister," he said.

Two thirds of Cambodia's 15 million 

population are aged under 30 and like

their contemporaries everywhere they 

are avid users of social media (AFP

 Photo/Tang Chhin Sothy)

While it good news for Hun Sen's social media team, critics say the move is merely another feint by a master manipulator renowned for cracking down on freedom of expression.

The former communist cadre already leans heavily on pliant courts and security forces to keep rivals in check.

His government is now pushing for a cybercrime law, which critics fear will be used to target dissent.

Rainsy is currently in self-exile after a slew of criminal charges were brought against him and other core CNRP officials, which they say are politically-motivated.

An opposition senator has been also arrested over posting a doctored treaty of a highly-sensitive border area with Vietnam on Facebook.

Rainsy has been charged with being accomplice in that case.

Fearing arrest over the post, three other members of Rainsy's social media team have fled Cambodia.

Others were not so lucky -- including those in the age range the ruling party hopes to woo.

In August, a 25-year-old student was charged with incitement to commit a crime over an alleged Facebook post calling for a "colour revolution" in the country.

Another 25-year-old was charged in early January for posting "insults and threats" on Hun Sen's Facebook page.

If convicted, he faces up to two years in jail.

"He (Hun Sen) is taking to social media to show his softer side," Cambodian political analyst Ou Virak told AFP.

"The sinister flipside is of course an increased monitoring of social media, epitomised by the cybercrime law."