Asia Archive

Dhaka, Nov 2 – Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the country’s main opposition in parliament, has complained of ‘repression’ of its leaders and cadres by the government while briefing foreign diplomats and donor agency representatives stationed here.

At a tea party it hosted Sunday as part of the preparations for the organisation’s national council meeting scheduled for next month, its leaders justified boycott of parliament for the last nine months. They said no important issue was being discussed there.

Representatives of 25 countries and donor agencies, including the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, European Union, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Morocco, China, and Spain were present, The Daily Star said Monday.

BNP is headed by Begum Khaleda Zia, two-term former prime minister (1991-96 and 2001-06) who is also designated the leader of the opposition.

She was not present to brief the diplomats.

Zia, as per media reports, has been saying that the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which took office in January, was reversing the previous Zia government’s ‘nationalist’ policies and was ‘surrendering to foreign forces’.

The BNP plans to invite foreign guests including prominent global personalities as observers to its national council meeting that will be held in the capital, according to party leaders.

A diplomat asked a BNP leader why the national party council was being held after a 16-year gap, and about how the party was run, the newspaper said quoting an unnamed source.

Reaching out to foreign missions is frequently resorted to by the party in opposition in Bangladesh. It is much to the chagrin of the one in power that berates the diplomatic corps, alleging ‘interference in our internal affairs’.

Zia has in the recent past addressed letters to foreign missions, and a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting the latter’s plans to build a dam at Tipaimukh over Barak river in northeastern India.

Manila, Nov 2 (DPA) Sixteen people were killed Monday in a fire that gutted 58 houses in a central Philippine city, police and fire officials said.

The fire occurred before dawn in a slum area in Bacolod City, Negros Oriental province, 520 km south of Manila, city fire chief Pamela Rojane Candido said.

Candido said four of the fatalities were children. More than 3,000 people were left homeless by the fire, she added.

Initial investigation indicated that the fire might have been caused by an unattended candle at a wooden two-storey boarding house.

Fourteen of the victims were trapped on the second floor of the boarding house, while two more were found in nearby houses, police Chief Inspector Rico Santotome said.

Santotome said many of the burnt houses were made of light materials.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed her sympathies to the victims of what is believed to be the worst fire incident in Bacolod City, deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said.

‘Right now the city disaster coordinating council is convening to find ways and means to quickly implement relief and assistance to the victims,’ he said.

The incident occurred as millions of Filipinos trooped to the cemeteries for All Saints Day, when many honour their dead.

Kuala Lumpur, Nov 2 – Just talking and playing with her children is the ‘balanced method’ followed by a Malaysian woman whose five kids have entered universities when they were only 12 to 15 years old.

Halimahton Yusof’s method focuses on spending time with the children and having a designated ‘learning time’ daily.

‘When I taught my children, it was never formal. We would just talk. We would spend two hours on school work. Then, we would be outside but turn everything into an educational experience,’ she told The New Straits Times Monday.

Her eldest son, Abraham, was 13 years old when he received funding and training from the Rover Junior Tennis Initiative for top British junior tennis players.

Aisha was 15 and Iskander was 12 when they enrolled in a university.

Sufiah was 13 when she entered Oxford.

Zuleikha, 14, is now doing a degree in biology and astronomy at the Open University here.

The mother said she only realised that her ‘balanced method’ of teaching children was really effective when Iskander started showing signs of brilliance when he was just two.

‘He was able to understand the concept of time by then. He knew there were 60 seconds in a minute.

‘I would tell him to wait two minutes while I cleaned the house and he would start the countdown from the bedroom,’ she told the newspaper.

At that point, Halimahton felt that she had stumbled upon a system that could help children excel in their studies.

The 56-year-old said she had unknowingly used the system earlier with her other children with exceptional results.

Yusof spent 34 years in Britain and holds a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Hull.

She feels that it does not make sense to teach all children and all subjects in exactly the same way.

‘I’m quite happy to adjust my approach according to the subject and the child’s personality.

‘Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it’s healthy to be obsessed with children’s results.’

Iskander, 23, who graduated with first class honours from the University of Warwick’s four-year Mathematics programme at 15, feels that his mother’s approach to teaching is unique.

‘I often observe her interacting with children as if she is just playing or talking to them when she is actually teaching them mathematics formulas, chemistry or language. It’s amazing to watch her.’