Daily Dose: 11/05/08

November 5, 2008

»AsianWeek Market Report
»Asian American Voter Turnout High on Election Day, But Many Face Problems at Polls
»South Asian NGO Contributed to Obama’s victory
»Obama Win Gives Hope to Indian American Politicians
»Gays and Asians, Not So Strange Bedfellows
»Deftones Bassist in Coma After Car Crash
»New season for Asian American Theater Company
»Asian Roots/American Reality Photographs by Corky Lee
»Vietnamese Coach Confronts Ex-Boss
»Fil-Am Female Muay Thai Fighter Christine Toledo to Fight in China
»Courtesy Code for Malaysian MPs
»Ferry Accident in Philippine

Compiled by Sye-Ok Sato and Ellis Song

AsianWeek Market Report

AsianWeek Market Report
Asian Stock Indexes
NIKKEI 225	Tokyo	9,521.24	406.64	4.46%
HANG SENG	Hong Kong	14,840.16	455.82	3.17%
KRX	Busan	2,523.62	49.07	1.98%
SSE IX	Shanghai	5,865.78	196.97	3.47%
BSE	Bombay	10,120.01	-511.11	-4.81%
HOSE	Ho Chi Minh	377.83	16.39	4.53%
SET	Bangkok	321.95	-0.03	-0.01%
Asian American Market Report
Yahoo!	YHOO	13.92	+0.57	(4.27%)
Citigroup	C	12.63	-2.05	(-13.96%)
Amkor Technology, Inc	AMKR	4.14	+0.11	(2.73%)
Sybase	SY	25.86	-1.51	(-5.52%)
UnionBancal Corp	UB	73.48	Closed	Closed
East West Bank corp,Inc	EWBC	16.61	-1.26	(-7.05%)

NATION

Asian American Voter Turnout High on Election Day, But Many Face Problems at Polls

NEW YORK— Asian Americans, especially new citizens and first-time voters, turned out to vote in record numbers yesterday, but many encountered barriers at polling places, ranging from inadequate language assistance, improper requests for identification and missing names on voter rolls.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund dispatched over 1,400 attorneys, law students and community volunteers to over 130 polling places in 11 states with large Asian American populations, who recorded voter complaints and conducted a nonpartisan multilingual exit poll.

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South Asian NGO Contributed to Obama’s victory

South Asian Americans Leading Together, an NGO which advocates for civil and immigrant rights issues facing the community in the United States, contributed to the victory of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama by galvanizing the immigrant community in America.

Approximately 2.7 million South Asians live in the United States, which comprises individuals with ancestry from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives

The group educated the immigrants about their rights and their participation in the civic and political process in the United States. Both Democrats and Republicans were pulling out all the stops, especially in a few crucial swing states to woo Asian immigrants.

—Sify

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Obama Win Gives Hope to Indian American Politicians

Barack Obama’s historic win in the presidential election opens the gates for Indian American politicians like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to enter the White House in future, the Indian community in the United States said as they congratulated Obama.

Sending congratulatory messages to the president-elect, Indian American organizations and community leaders hoped that the Obama Administration in the White House would herald a new era of relationship between India and the U.S.

“The last few years under the Bush administration has seen the ties between U.S. and India grow ever stronger and that culminated in reaching the historic Civil Nuclear Agreement between these two nations,” said George Abraham, Indian national Overseas Congress general secretary. “INOC expects to see the relationship further strengthened under an Obama administration to new heights.”

— Economic Times

BAY/CALIFORNIA

Gays and Asians, Not So Strange Bedfellows

In the first-ever comprehensive poll of Asian American voters, the Rutgers/UC Riverside sponsored National Asian American Survey, an overwhelming percentage of Asian Americans, 57 percent to 32 percent, rejected bans on same-sex marriage.

In fact, Asians are the only ethnic voting group who’ve shown a clear and consistent majority against Proposition 8, the referendum that would prevent gays and lesbians from marrying in the state of California; results of the final Field Poll released on the eve of Tuesday’s election indicated that 51 percent of Asians intended to vote “No” on 8, versus 48 percent of Latinos and just 43 percent of African Americans.

Asian Americans are now well over a third of San Francisco’s population and between 20 and 25 percent of its electorate. Self-identified lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered individuals, meanwhile, make up about 13 percent of The City’s population and between 15 and 20 percent of its registered voters. Both groups, and the overlap between them, continue to grow—making up what might well be an invincible electoral bloc, if the two could only make common cause.

— SF Chronicle

ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT

Deftones Bassist in Coma After Car Crash

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Deftones bassist Chi Cheng is in a coma in a San Jose hospital following a car accident in Santa Clara. The band’s singer, Chino Moreno, reached by phone, confirmed the news but declined to give specifics.
Cheng, 38, was born in Stockton and is an accomplished poet. In 2000, he released a CD of his poetry, The Bamboo Parachute.
The Deftones formed in Sacramento in 1988 and released their debut album Adrenaline on Madonna’s Maverick Records label in 1995. Since then, the hard rock band has sold millions of records. Its biggest-selling release was the 2000 album White Pony, which sold more than 1 million copies, achieved platinum status and earned the band a Grammy Award for best metal performance for the song “Elite.”

— Sacramento Bee

New season for Asian American Theater Company

The well-known but long financially troubled Asian American Theater Company—one of the nation’s primary Asian American theater companies in the 1970s and ’80s—is ready to announce both a new leadership team and a truncated new season.

Duy Nguyen and Alan S. Quismorio have been named the new co-artistic directors, working with interim Executive Director Darryl Chiang to get the company back on track. Quismorio, a member of Crowded Fire Theater Company, has been associated with AATC as an actor off and on since 1996. Nguyen, who emigrated from Vietnam, has worked with a variety of local companies as a director and playwright.

Their first season will open in the spring with an AATC New Works Incubator Showcase, two weeks of staged readings and workshops of new scripts. A full world-premiere production of Aurorae Khoo’s Fayette-Nam will open in June.

— SF Chronicle

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Asian Roots/American Reality Photographs by Corky Lee

LOS ANGELES — For well over 35 years, New York-based photojournalist Corky Lee has played both witness and participant in chronicling the evolution and expansion of the Asian and Pacific Islander American community through his photography.

Signifying more than just a fleeting moment caught on camera, Lee’s trademark images deftly capture the personal stories amidst a public sphere of social and political movements spanning from the 1970s to present day.

The Chinese American Museum and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument are proud to present “Asian Roots/American Reality: Photographs by Corky Lee” opening on Nov. 16 to May 31, 2009 and curated by community artist Steven Wong and photography instructor Joanne Kim.

Occupying two galleries, the exhibit will feature 88 black and white photographs depicting scenes of labor, protest, resistance, celebration and everyday community events that defined the socio-political and cultural landscape of APIA communities over the past three decades.

SPORTS

Vietnamese Coach Confronts Ex-Boss
HANOI, Vietname — Vietnamese Olympic coach Mai Duc Chung will face former Viet Nam coach Austrian Alfred Riedl in a friendly match in Ha Noi.
Chung, who was previously Riedl’s assistant, will test his Olympic team in a friendly against V-League team Hai Phong Cement. The match will be played at the National Sport Training Camp in Ha Noi before the Olympic team leaves for the Grand Royal Challenge in Myanmar.

The match is an amazing first meeting between old colleagues in their new positions. It is expected that many fans will be drawn to Ha Noi to watch the spectacle.

—Vietnam News

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Fil-Am Female Muay Thai Fighter Christine Toledo to Fight in China

LAS VEGAS — Local Las Vegas professional champion female muay thai fighter Christine Toledo is scheduled to fight in Zhengzou, China. Toledo will face a top hometown Chinese female fighter in a K-1 rules bout. K-1 rules include kicking, punching and kneeing. Elbows are not permitted, and clinching is reduced to a minimum of one hold and one knee strike. Both fighters are contracted to fight at 52kg (114 lbs).

Toledo has been training vigorously for this fight. Her last fight took place in Las Vegas, which resulted in a unanimous decision in a full rules muay thai bout over her British opponent and she improved her record to 13 wins and 2 losses. Toledo admits that her Chinese opponent will be very different and poses a new challenge for her.

Toledo is currently training under Master Chan and Anthony Badua in Las Vegas. Fil-Am trainer Anthony Badua is scheduled for travel to China with Toledo for this fight and will be coaching her during the bout.

GLOBAL

Courtesy Code for Malaysian MPs
The Malaysian government is launching a campaign to try to improve the behavior of members of parliament. It follows incidents of name-calling and abuse during debates. The government says it will introduce a code of ethics for MPs and may use leaflets to try to teach them proper parliamentary etiquette.

Malaysian TV viewers were shocked earlier this year when lawmakers traded insults during the first televised parliamentary debate. A well-known opposition MP, Karpal Singh, called a rival from the governing party “Bigfoot,” referring to a mythical Malaysian apeman.

In return, he was described as a “big monkey.” Two other lawmakers were told to apologize last year for making crude remarks in parliament about a female colleague’s menstrual cycle.

—BBC

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Ferry Accident in Philippines

MANILA — Forty people died while 76 others were rescued after a ferry capsized off the central Philippine island of Masbate on Tuesday.
Sudden strong winds and waves caused the boat MB Don Dexter Cathlyn to overturn shortly after leaving a Masbate port to take passengers to Sorsogon province in the main island of Luzon, according to regional army commander Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sodusta.

Coast Guards are searching for 13 missing passengers. The boat was loaded with 119 passengers and six crews, but local authorities suspect there may be more riders as overcrowding is common in ferries.
The accident was the worst since a 23,800-ton ferry sank in June also near Masbate island at the height of typhoon Frank, killing more than 800 people. Divers are currently recovering bodies from that ship named Princess of the Stars, whose front hull protrudes from the sea.

Daily Dose: 11/05/08

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