Daily Dose: 02/27/08
February 27, 2008
> AsianWeek’s Top 5 Asian American Companies
> Asian Stock Indexes
> Update in Tempongko Murder Case
> Derek Chu Receives City Manager Award
> College Removes Controversial Flags
> Art Prompts Protest by Vietnamese Americans
> Wu Honors Chinese American World War II Hero
> Inouye Apologizes for Obama Remark
> Seattle Chinatown Store Will Live On in Museum
> CU Chancellor, Editors Apologize for Column on Asians
> Rep. Wu Calls for Better Coverage of Asian Americans
> ‘Urban Paradise 2008’
> Hawaiian Music Icon Dies
> Joan Chen Cast in Adaptation of ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’
> Chinese Plastic Bag Producer Closes
> Vietnam Plans to Invest $1 Billion on Internet Development
> Filipinos in Laos Warned of Drug Cartels
AsianWeek’s Top 5 Asian American Companies
1. Yahoo
2. Citigroup
3. Computer Associates International Inc.
4. Tang Industries
5. ViewSonic Corporation
1. NIKKEI 225 (Japan): [ Value – 14,031.30 ] [ Change – 206.58 ] [ %Change – 1.49% ]
2. HANG SENG (China): [ Value – 24,483.84 ] [ Change – 769.09 ] [ %Change – 3.24% ]
3. KRX 100 (Korea): [ Value – 3,517.17 ] [ Change – 21.68 ] [ %Change – 0.62% ]
4. HO CHI MINH (Vietnam): [ Value – 686.49 ] [ Change – -6.42 ] [ %Change – -0.93% ]
5. SE OF THAI (Thailand): [ Value – 832.04 ] [ Change – -2.63 ] [ %Change – -0.32% ]
BAY:
Update in Tempongko Murder Case
SAN FRANCISCO — On Tuesday, the Superior Court set a jury trial date of Aug. 15, 2008, in the case of Tari Ramirez, who was charged for the domestic violence murder of his girlfriend, Claire Joyce Tempongko. According to court documents, the defendant allegedly stabbed Tempongko on Oct. 22, 2000, in the Richmond District in front of her two young children. Tempongko was 28 years old when she was killed.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested the defendant in Cancun, Mexico, in June 2006. He was extradited back to San Francisco and was arraigned in April 2007. A San Francisco Superior Court judge determined last November to hold the defendant to answer to the charges of murder and an enhancement of using a knife to commit the act. The defendant is currently in custody on a no-bail status.
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Derek Chu Receives City Manager Award
SAN FRANCISCO — Derek Chu, budget manager of the city’s Human Services Agency is one of the recipients of the Municipal Fiscal Advisory Committee’s Public Managerial Excellence Awards. This award honors city managers for their sound fiscal management and dedication to improving city government. Mayor Newsom and the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association presented the awards at a ceremony on Feb. 25.
Chu oversees the Human Services Agency’s annual budget of $650 million, which is the city’s fourth largest. It is also one of the most complex, with 90 separate fund sources in addition to the general fund. Under Chu’s leadership, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Aging and Adult Services merged into the Human Services Agency, adding nine new operating programs and 70 new positions.
Chu has been in this position for seven years. He has worked for the city for 20 years.
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College Removes Controversial Flags
IRVINE, Calif. — Irvine Valley College removed a 144-flag display in the school atrium, because the Vietnamese community threatened a protest over inclusion of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag. The miniature flags, designed to symbolize the school’s diversity, have been on display for a decade without controversy. All were removed last week after protesters threatened to disrupt the campus if the Vietnam flag wasn’t removed. Westminster Councilman Andy Quash and Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen met with college officials after receiving calls complaining about the flag. Nguyen said, “It’s offensive because this flag represents a regime that is very dictatorial and does not respect human rights.”
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Art Prompts Protest by Vietnamese Americans
LOS ANGELES — Protesters paraded in front of one of Little Saigon’s leading newspapers for the publication of a photograph they call the work of Communist sympathizers. The offending photo was of a piece of art by a University of California, Davis, graduate student and Vietnamese immigrant, who saw the creation — a yellow and red foot-spa tub — as a salute to Vietnamese refugees like her mother-in-law, who toiled in a nail salon after the family came to America. But the protesters saw something far more menacing. The tub was yellow with three red stripes, which the protesters said must be a reference to the flag of the fallen country of South Vietnam. And the spa’s yellow power cord was plugged into a red outlet, which seemed to resemble the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The controversy underscores how homeland politics continue to echo in the Vietnamese American community.
— Los Angeles Times
NATION:
Wu Honors Chinese American World War II Hero
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved Congressman David Wu’s legislation to name a post office in Beaverton, Ore., after Major Arthur Chin, a Chinese American World War II fighter pilot. “As a fighter ace in World War II, Major Arthur Chin was a true Chinese American hero,” Wu said. “I am proud to honor Major Chin’s life and his service to our country.” Chin, who was born in Portland, Ore., volunteered for the Chinese Air Force in 1932. By mid-1939, Chin was promoted to the rank of captain and credited with having shot down five and a half enemy aircraft, which made him one of the first American fighter aces of World War II. For his bravery and service, Chin received numerous medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1949, Chin worked in the U.S. Postal Service in Portland. He died in September 1997 and was honored posthumously as one of the first American aviators inducted into the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame.
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Inouye Apologizes for Obama Remark
HONOLULU — Hawai‘i Sen. Daniel Inouye is apologizing for remarks he made about presidential candidate Barack Obama and his alma mater. Inouye is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. The senior Democratic senator has sent a letter to Punahou School President James Scott. The flap started when Inouye told The Honolulu Advertiser at the Hawai‘i caucuses last week that Punahou is “not a school for the impoverished.” He said it was interesting that it was Punahou that set Hawai‘i-born Obama’s life plan in place. Obama’s response came in an interview with KITV in which he said: “Shame on Danny for trying to pull that stunt.” Obama noted that he went to the wealthy private school on a scholarship and was raised by a single mom and his grandmother. Inouye’s staff says he apologized to school officials for his choice of words.
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Seattle Chinatown Store Will Live On in Museum
SEATTLE — The Yick Fung Co., one of Chinatown’s longest-operating stores that served customers for nearly a century, will close its doors at 705 S. King St. The Mar family, which opened the import-export store in 1910, is donating the ceramic bowls, handwritten account books, woks, aging scales and other historic gems to The Wing Luke Asian Museum. The museum reopens May 31 next door at its new expanded location. Starting Monday, its staff will move goods from the three-level store that is reminiscent of life in a southern Chinese town to the museum. Cassie Chinn, museum deputy program director, said much of the store, including its wooden shelves filled with glass jars of Chinese preserved vegetables and faded cans of bamboo shoots, will be rebuilt inside the museum. About 40 family members and friends gathered Sunday for the private farewell.
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C.U. Chancellor, Editors Apologize for Column on Asians
BOULDER, Colo. — The chancellor of the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus has apologized for a student’s satirical column poking fun at Asians. Editors of the student newspaper apologized as well. The column said Asian students “hate us all,” and should be rounded up and forced to play drinking games and endure other ordeals until they change. Chancellor Bud Peterson said the column used offensive and hateful language. He apologized to Asians and Asian Americans at the University of Colorado and around the world. Editors of the Campus Press apologized “to anyone who was hurt by this article.” The column was written by Max Karson, identified as a staff editor, and posted on the Campus Press Web site.
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Rep. Wu Calls for Better Coverage of Asian Americans
WASHINGTON — Congressman David Wu, D-Ore., joined by several colleagues in the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, sent letters to the president of CNN and the executive in charge of MSNBC, urging the networks to increase and improve the coverage of Asian American and Pacific Islander voters in the 2008 presidential race. “Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are an increasingly politically significant population,” Wu wrote. In the letter to CNN President Jonathan Klein, Wu states his deep concern over the lack of coverage of Asian voters in the 2008 presidential race by CNN and other media outlets. The letter notes that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, with approximately 7 million Asian American and Pacific Islanders eligible to vote and close to 3.5 million registered to vote.
ARTS:
“Hip-hop and Polynesian dances offer more than just dance steps — the cultures give them direction, discipline and the opportunity to be creative in a very productive and positive way,” said Malu Rivera-Peoples, school director and co-producer of “Urban Paradise.”
Tickets are $15 to $20 at the door. Tickets may be purchased from
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HONOLULU — Aunty Genoa Leilani Keawe, one of the most beloved traditional Hawaiian singers, died in her sleep on Feb. 24 at the age of 89. Known widely as “Aunty Genoa,” she recorded more than 20 albums, dating back to vinyl 78 rpm and 33 1/3 rpm albums, and about 150 singles. Keawe’s life in music started when she sang with her sister in the island Mormon choir at Laie. Her professional career began in 1939 with bandstand shows in Kailua and at the Officers Club before World War II with George Hookano and his band.
Keawe also sang on the radio and on early TV programs. She received many music awards and took traditional Hawaiian music across Asia, Canada, Switzerland, Brazil and many U.S. cities. She performed on a trip to Russia when she was in her 80s.
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Joan Chen Cast in Adaptation of ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’
Chinese American actress Joan Chen will star in a film adaptation of Li Cunxin’s Mao’s Last Dancer, directed by Australian award-winning director Bruce Beresford. The novel, which won the Book of the Year Award in Australia and was short-listed for several other prestigious literary awards, is based on the life of Li, who, as a small boy in the wake of Mao’s cultural revolution, was chosen to leave his peasant family and sent on an amazing journey toward freedom and personal triumph.
Chen, who starred in the Australian film The Home Song Stories last year, will play the role of Li’s mother, while Desperate Housewives’ Kyle McLachlan has been cast as a lawyer. Filming on Mao’s Last Dancer begins mid-March in China, before moving to the U.S. and Australia.
GLOBAL:
Chinese Plastic Bag Producer Closes
BEIJING — China’s largest producer of plastic bags, Huaqiang factory in central Henan Province, has been closed for more than a month after the government announced a ban to stop stores from handing out free bags. The ban takes effect on June 1, two months before Beijing hosts the Summer Olympic Games, and will eliminate the flimsiest bags and force stores to change to more durable bags. The government wants to cut waste and conserve resources. The factory, owned by Nanqiang Plastic Industrial Ltd. of Guangzhou in southern China, produced 250,000 tons of plastic bags a year. The factory will sell its equipment and raw materials. All 10,000 workers were sent home when the the factory closed.
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Vietnam Plans to Invest $1 Billion on Internet Development
HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam’s largest telecommunications company plans to invest $1 billion to upgrade the country’s broadband Internet network and keep pace with economic growth. Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group will expand and improve the network over the next two years, said Bui Quoc Viet, spokesman for the state-owned firm. The improved network will provide faster connections for Vietnam’s nearly 19 million Internet users, he said. Roughly one-fifth of the country’s 85 million people use the Internet. “Vietnam is developing very quickly, and the number of Internet users is rising,” Viet said. “We have to build a better Internet infrastructure.” The Vietnamese government wants to expand the country’s broadband network into previously unserved regions of the country, and link public high schools and government offices to the network.
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Filipinos in Laos Warned of Drug Cartels
MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos in Laos have been warned against allowing themselves to be used as couriers by drug syndicates.
In its report to the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Embassy in Vientiane warned Filipinos in Laos and elsewhere “not to allow themselves to be used as couriers of any kind of luggage if they are not personally aware of the contents.” They have also been advised to decline offers of “easy money,” since the penalty for drug trafficking in many countries could be life imprisonment or death.
The embassy detailed the syndicate’s modus operandi as including “front men,” mostly from West Africa, befriending Filipinas with promises of marriage and a comfortable life.
Many such cases were reported by the Philippine Embassy in Beijing, which has documented Filipinos caught transporting drugs from Nepal, Macau and other countries.
— Asian Journal
Compiled by Irene Aranya, Melissa Chin, Amy Lin, Lisa Wong Macabasco and Peter J. Swing
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