Podcasts about Sarawak

Last time we spoke about the North Borneo Offensive. General Buckner's 10th Army captured strategic locations, including Shuri Castle, marking a turning point. Simultaneously, General Eichelberger's forces liberated Mindanao, overcoming tough Japanese defenses in the mountainous terrain. As they approached Malaybalay, fierce resistance resulted in heavy casualties, but the Americans persisted, inflicting significant losses on their foes. By June 9, the Americans pressed further into the enemy's defensive lines, leading to intense combat. The Marines landed on the Oroku Peninsula, where fierce fighting revealed the tenacity of the Japanese defenders. General Ushijima prepared for a final stand, as American forces began to encircle and dismantle Japanese positions. As the campaign unfolded, Australians under Brigadier Whitehead launched the North Borneo Offensive, landing on Tarakan and swiftly pushing the Japanese into the rugged interior.  This episode is Victory at Okinawa Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Okinawa was more than just a battlefield; it became a symbol of sacrifice, the last heroic stand of a fading empire. By this point in the war, Japan was facing inevitable defeat, yet their resolve remained unbroken. They clung to the samurai spirit, determined to fight to the bitter end out of honor and duty. The stakes were high. Japan needed precious time to fortify its home islands, to stretch the conflict as long as possible. To achieve this, over 100,000 brave souls were sent into the fray, sacrificing their lives to slow the American advance and inflict as many casualties as they could. As we've explored in previous episodes, this fierce determination fueled their resistance. And now, we stand at a pivotal moment, the final days of the Battle of Okinawa, the last major confrontation of the Pacific War. As we last left the battlefield, it was June 16, General Buckner's 10th Army had made significant strides, capturing most of southern Okinawa and finally breaking through the last major enemy defenses at the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment. The remnants of General Ushijima's 32nd Army were now locked in a desperate fight to hold onto the Kiyamu Peninsula, slowly being pushed back toward the sea and their ultimate demise. The following day, June 17, the assault continued with renewed determination. General Geiger's 3rd Amphibious Corps pressed on through Kunishi Ridge, while General Hodge's 24th Corps worked to consolidate its hard-won gains in the escarpment. On the west coast, General Shepherd's 6th Marine Division took action as Colonel Roberts' 22nd Marines stepped in to relieve the weary 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at the northern slope of Mezado Ridge. With a fierce spirit, they began to push southward, successfully securing most of the ridge. To the east, General Del Valle's 1st Marine Division forged ahead. Colonel Snedeker's fresh 3rd Battalion took over from the exhausted 1st Battalion and advanced 1,400 yards to seize the high ground just east of Mezado. Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines fought hard to capture the remaining positions of Kunishi Ridge, achieving only a gradual extension to the east. Colonel Griebel's 3rd Battalion moved in behind them to reinforce the isolated Marines, bravely fending off a fierce counterattack under the cover of night. Further east, Colonel Dill's 382nd Regiment systematically eliminated the last enemy positions in the Yuza-Ozato-Yuza Dake area, while Colonel Halloran's 381st Regiment held firm and maintained their lines. In a key maneuver, Colonel Pachler's 17th Regiment launched a successful assault, capturing Hill 153 before Colonel Green's 184th Regiment took over during the night. Lastly, Colonel Finn's 32nd Regiment secured the reverse slopes of Hill 115, preparing to launch an attack on Mabuni and Hill 89. By nightfall, Hodge's 24th Corps had firmly secured all the commanding heights of the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment. Most of Mezado Ridge and Kunishi Ridge were now in American hands, and Colonel Wallace's 8th Marines had landed in the rear to bolster the western push. For the first time, American forces across the line looked down upon nearly eight square miles of enemy-held territory, a staggering view of what lay ahead. Realizing they were forced from their last defensive positions and that their destruction was imminent, the 32nd Army began to unravel, collapsing into chaos. On June 18, Hodge's troops seized the opportunity to strike decisively. The 32nd Regiment advanced down the coast toward Mabuni, facing increasing resistance. The 184th Regiment moved down the reverse slopes of Hill 153, closing in on Medeera, while the 381st Regiment speedily crossed the plateau, tackling scattered enemy fire to seize the high ground just 400 yards north of Medeera. Simultaneously, Dill's 3rd Battalion crashed through a rugged maze of caves and pillboxes, making a daring 600-yard advance to the base of the rocky ridge north of Aragachi. To the west, Griebel's 1st Battalion circled the eastern end of Kunishi Ridge, battling heavy resistance to gain the lower slopes of Hill 79. Further west, Roberts' 2nd Battalion pushed through the 3rd and aimed for Kuwanga Ridge, successfully seizing an 1,800-yard stretch by late afternoon. As they advanced, the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines moved forward to occupy the eastern end of the ridge. Meanwhile, the remainder of the 22nd Marines began to mop up the remnants of resistance on Mezado Ridge. Tragedy struck when Colonel Roberts was tragically killed by a sniper near his observation post during this operation. Lieutenant-Colonel August Larson would succeed him in command. Sadly, Roberts would not be the only American commander to fall that day. In the heart of the Marine line, the 8th Marines were finally called into action in the morning to relieve the weary 7th Marines. After a rigorous artillery bombardment to soften up the enemy defenses, Wallace's 2nd Battalion began its advance south toward the Kuwanga-Makabe Road, successfully capturing the high ground just north of the road by late afternoon. Meanwhile, General Buckner decided to visit Wallace's command post on Mezado Ridge around midday. He observed the 8th Marines' steady progress in the valley, taking stock of their relentless push forward. Tragically, as he was leaving the observation post, disaster struck. Five artillery shells rained down, one striking a coral outcrop near him. The jagged shards of coral filled the air, and Buckner was mortally wounded in the chest. He died within minutes, just days shy of achieving his goal: the complete capture of Okinawa. With Buckner's passing, General Geiger, as the senior troop commander, took over temporary command of the 10th Army for the remainder of the battle. Buckner became the highest-ranking American military officer killed in World War II and would hold that somber distinction throughout the entire 20th century. On June 18, the final written order from General Ushijima of the 32nd Army outlined a daring escape plan. He designated an officer to lead the "Blood and Iron Youth Organization," tasked with conducting guerrilla warfare once organized combat had ceased. Simultaneously, he ordered his remaining troops to make their way to the northern mountains of Okinawa, where a small band of guerrillas was rumored to be operating.  In his message he congratulated them on fulfilling their "assigned mission in a manner which leaves nothing to regret." He urged them to "fight to the last and die for the eternal cause of loyalty to the Emperor." This movement was not to happen in haste. Soldiers were instructed to travel in small groups of two to five over the course of several days. They were urged to don civilian clothes and avoid confrontation whenever possible. In a clever stratagem, most of the army staff officers were directed to leave the command post disguised as native Okinawans, aiming to infiltrate American lines and find safety in northern Okinawa. Some individuals, like Colonel Yahara, were entrusted with the mission of reaching Japan to report to the Imperial General Headquarters. Others were tasked with organizing guerrilla operations, focusing on harassing the rear areas of the 10th Army and Island Command, determined to continue the fight against the American forces in any way they could. Again I have read Yahara's book on the battle of Okinawa and despite being full of apologetic stuff and attempts to make himself look better, its one of the most insightful books on the Japanese perspective. You get a lot of information on how bad it was for the Okinawan civilians in caves, harrowing stuff. I highly recommend it. The American attack pressed on into June 19, though it faced delays due to the influx of civilian and military prisoners. Not all of the 32nd Army survivors were imbued with a will "to die for the eternal cause of loyalty to the Emperor." Loudspeakers mounted on tanks in the 7th Division's front lines and on LCI's that cruised up and down the coast line were successful in convincing over 3,000 civilians to surrender. Far more significant, however, were the 106 Japanese soldiers and 238 Boeitai who voluntarily gave up during the division's advance on 19 June. The relentless attack of American troops, coupled with intensive efforts by psychological warfare teams, brought in increasing numbers of battle-weary Japanese and Okinawans who had decided that the war was lost and their cause was hopeless. It is not inconceivable that every enemy soldier who surrendered meant one less American casualty as the wind-up drive of Tenth Army continued. Despite these challenges, the 32nd Regiment advanced to within just 200 yards of the outskirts of Mabuni. Meanwhile, the 184th and 381st Regiments coordinated their efforts, closing in on Medeera from the south and east. The 382nd Regiment pressed forward, overcoming fierce resistance as they reached the ridges overlooking Aragachi. Tragically, General Easley became the third major high-ranking casualty in just two days. The 5th Marines launched multiple assaults on Hills 79 and 81, but their efforts were met with fierce opposition and ended in failure. Wallace's 3rd Battalion, facing only light resistance, captured Ibaru Ridge, the last high ground before the sea, before pushing onward to the coastal cliffs. On the eastern front, Griebel's 3rd Battalion successfully seized Makabe and then joined forces with the 8th Marines to secure the coastal zone. Colonel Shapley's 4th Marines advanced alongside the 8th Marines throughout most of the day but were unable to reach the coast, halted by a formidable enemy position along the Kiyamu-Gusuku hill mass. Further south, Colonel Whaling's 29th Marines passed through the 22nd Marines and moved rapidly, also facing light resistance, reaching the base of the Kiyamu-Gusuku hill mass to link up with the 4th Marines before nightfall. As darkness enveloped the battlefield, Shepherd launched an attack on the hill mass. The 4th Marines successfully seized Hill 80, but they could only establish strong positions on the left flank of Hill 72. The 29th Marines encountered minimal opposition as they swept forward toward the southern coast. Meanwhile, the 5th Marines continued their relentless assaults on Hills 79 and 81, managing to capture most of Hill 79 before losing the crest at the last moment. Their tank-infantry assaults against Hill 81, however, once again ended in defeat. Looking east toward Hodge's front on June 21, the 382nd Regiment cleared out the last remnants in Aragachi, while the 381st Regiment seized the northern outskirts of Medeera. In the dark hours of June 20, the last courier contact was made between the Medeera pocket and the Hill 89 pocket. General Amamiya, commander of the 24th Division, issued a desperate order directing all his units "to fight to the last man in their present positions." At the time he gave this ultimatum, he had very few infantrymen left to defend the Medeera position. The relentless advance of the Marines had nearly annihilated the 22nd and 32nd Regiments, while the 96th Division had decimated the 89th Regiment at Yuza Dake and Aragachi. With their ranks severely depleted, the remaining defenders were a ragtag collection of artillerymen, drivers, corpsmen, engineers, Boeitai, and headquarters personnel drawn from nearly every unit of the L-Day island garrison. Those who managed to avoid surrender or sought to evade capture fought with the fierce determination of fanatics, resolutely defending their positions against overwhelming odds. Meanwhile, Colonel Coolidge's 305th Regiment, engaged in a vigorous mopping-up operation behind the lines of the 96th Division, prepared for an assault on Makabe Ridge. The 184th Regiment managed to secure the hills overlooking Udo, and despite facing fierce resistance from hidden enemy forces in coral outcroppings and caves along the coastal cliffs, the 32nd Regiment fought its way to the eastern slope of Hill 89. Throughout June 21, a series of small local attacks and mopping-up actions occupied most units of the 24th Corps, often interrupted to allow large numbers of civilians and soldiers to surrender. In spite of the bitter and costly resistance, the 32nd Regiment successfully secured Mabuni and advanced up to the tableland atop Hill 89. Coolidge's 1st Battalion launched an assault on the hill south of Medeera behind a heavy mortar barrage, successfully capturing its crest. The 5th Marines completed the capture of Hill 79 and undertook a heavy, costly assault that ultimately led to the capture of Hill 81. The 7th and 8th Marines began the crucial task of flushing out remaining Japanese holdouts, while also dealing with the increasing wave of soldiers and civilians choosing to surrender. The 4th Marines executed a successful double envelopment of Hill 72 that secured the strategic Kiyamu-Gusuku ridge, and the 29th Marines met only very light resistance during their sweep of Ara Saki, the southernmost point of the island. This swift progress and the obvious collapse of major enemy opposition prompted General Geiger to declare that the island of Okinawa was secure and that organized enemy resistance had come to an end. That night, in a tragic turn of events, Generals Ushijima and Cho committed Seppuku in the cave housing their command post.  On the night of June 21, Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru and Lieutenant General Cho Isamu, the commander and chief of staff of the 32nd Army, fulfilled their final obligation to the Emperor in a deeply traditional manner. In accordance with the warrior code of their homeland, they atoned for their inability to halt the American advance by committing Seppuku. On the evening of their planned departure, Ushijima hosted a banquet in the cave that served as their command post, featuring a large meal prepared by his cook, Tetsuo Nakamutam. The banquet was generously complemented with sake and the remaining stock of captured Black & White Scotch whisky provided by Cho. At 03:00 on June 22, both generals, adorned in their full field uniforms decorated with medals, led a small party of aides and staff officers out onto a narrow ledge at the cave entrance, which overlooked the ocean. American soldiers of the 32nd Regiment were stationed less than 100 feet away, completely unaware of the solemn preparations taking place for the suicide ceremony. First, Ushijima bared his abdomen to the ceremonial knife and thrust inward, followed by Cho, who then fell to the ground. As Ushijima made his final act, a simultaneous slash from the headquarters adjutant's saber struck his bowed neck. The two generals were secretly buried immediately after their deaths, their bodies going undiscovered until June 25, when patrols from the 32nd Regiment found them at the foot of the seaward cliff-face of Hill 89. General Cho had penned his own simple epitaph, stating, “22nd day, 6th month, 20th year of the Showa Era. I depart without regret, fear, shame, or obligations. Army Chief of Staff; Army Lieutenant General Cho, Isamu, age of departure 51 years. At this time and place, I hereby certify the foregoing.” Their deaths were witnessed by Colonel Yahara, who was the most senior officer captured by American forces. Yahara had requested Ushijima's permission to commit suicide as well, but the general had refused, saying, "If you die, there will be no one left who knows the truth about the battle of Okinawa. Bear the temporary shame but endure it. This is an order from your army commander." While many die-hard groups continued to fight until annihilation, an unprecedented number of Japanese soldiers, both officers and enlisted men, began to surrender. On that fateful day, Operation Ten-Go's final breaths were marked by the launch of the two-day tenth Kiksui mass attack, which saw only 45 kamikaze aircraft take to the skies. While this desperate attempt succeeded in sinking LSM-59 and damaging the destroyer escort Halloran, as well as the seaplane tenders Curtiss and Kenneth Whiting, the next day would bring even less impact, with only two landing ships sustaining damage during the final attack of the campaign. As communications from the 32nd Army fell silent, a deeply regretful Admiral Ugaki was forced to conclude the grim reality of their situation. He felt “greatly responsible for the calamity” but recognized that there was seemingly no alternative course that might have led to success. Throughout the defense of Okinawa, approximately 6,000 sorties were flown, including at least 1,900 kamikaze missions. However, the losses were staggering, with over 4,000 aircraft lost during these attacks. In contrast, Allied forces suffered the loss of 763 planes in the Okinawa campaign, with 305 of those being operational losses. Since the operation commenced, naval losses for Iceberg totaled an alarming 4,992 sailors dead, with 36 ships sunk and 374 damaged, accounting for 17% of all American naval losses in the Pacific War. Meanwhile, extensive and coordinated mop-up operations in southern Okinawa were essential before the area could be deemed secure for the planned construction of supply depots, airfields, training areas, and port facilities. In response, Colonel Mason's 1st Marines and Colonel Hamilton's 307th Regiment established blocking positions in the hills above the Naha-Yonabaru valley to thwart any Japanese attempts to infiltrate north. On June 22, the four assault divisions that had previously shattered the Kiyamu Peninsula defenses received orders to prepare for a sweeping advance to the north. Their mission was clear: destroy any remaining resistance, blow and seal all caves, bury the dead, and salvage any equipment, both friendly and enemy, left on the battlefield. The following day, General Joseph Stilwell arrived to take command of the 10th Army during the mop-up phase of the campaign. Meanwhile, units from the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions were engaged on the Komesu and Kiyamu-Gusuku Ridges, while the 7th Division probed Hill 89 and Mabuni. In the Medeera pocket, Coolidge's 3rd Battalion successfully seized Hill 85 on June 22. The 96th Division intensified its focus in the Medeera-Aragachi area, with elements of the 381st Regiment mopping up the last holdouts in the ruins of Medeera by June 23. Two days later, after a thorough search of the area south of the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment, the 10th Army finally initiated its drive northward, with both corps taking responsibility for the ground they had captured in the previous month. On the morning of June 26, the reinforced Fleet Marine Force Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion landed unopposed on Kumejima, marking it as the last and largest of the Okinawa Islands selected for radar and fighter director sites. By the end of June, the mop-up operations in southern Okinawa had resulted in an estimated 8,975 Japanese killed and 3,808 prisoners of war added to the 10th Army's total. Overall, the Americans counted a staggering total of 10,755 prisoners of war and 107,539 Japanese dead, along with an estimated 23,764 believed to be sealed in caves or buried by their comrades. This cumulative casualty figure of 142,058 was "far above a reasonable estimate of military strength on the island," prompting 10th Army intelligence officers to conclude that at least 42,000 civilians had tragically fallen victim to artillery, naval, and air attacks due to their unfortunate proximity to Japanese combat forces and installations. American losses were also substantial, with 7,374 men recorded dead, 31,807 wounded, and 239 missing, in addition to 26,221 non-battle casualties. But now, it's time to leave Okinawa and return to Borneo to continue covering the North Borneo Offensive. As we last observed, by mid-June, General Wootten's 9th Australian Division had successfully executed two major amphibious landings on Brunei Bay. Brigadier Porter's 24th Brigade occupied most of Labuan Island, with the exception of the Pocket, while Brigadier Windeyer's 20th Brigade secured the Brunei area. By June 16, Wootten decided that since the enemy was withdrawing and showing no signs of mounting an attack, he would take control of the high ground stretching from Mempakul and Menumbok to Cape Nosong. This strategic move aimed to prevent the enemy from utilizing the track from Kota Klias to Karukan and to secure beaches for supply points during the planned advance northward. Accordingly, Porter ordered the 2/28th Battalion to reduce the Pocket. The recently landed 2/12th Commando Squadron was tasked with mopping up the outlying areas of the island. Meanwhile, the 2/32nd Battalion began preparing for an amphibious movement to Weston on the mainland east of Labuan, with plans to reconnoiter across country and by river towards Beaufort. The 2/43rd Battalion and the 2/11th Commando Squadron were also set to prepare for an amphibious reconnaissance in the Mempakul area. On June 14, the 2/28th Battalion launched its initial attack against the Pocket, following an artillery barrage. However, they were forced to withdraw in the face of intense machine-gun and mortar fire. In response, the 2/12th Field Regiment took over, bombarding the Pocket for the next six days and nights, hurling a staggering total of 140 tons of shells into it. On June 16, the 2/28th Battalion launched another assault, this time supported by tanks from the north, successfully capturing Lyon Ridge, despite sustaining heavy losses. After several more days of relentless artillery, naval, and air bombardment, the 2/28th launched a final assault on June 21, just as the Japanese attempted to send two raiding parties to infiltrate through the Australian lines and attack Labuan town and its airstrip. Although these raiders managed to catch the confused defenders off guard and inflicted several casualties, they were ultimately dealt with swiftly and without causing significant damage. Meanwhile, with the combined support of tanks and artillery, the 2/28th Battalion attacked the reduced garrison at the Pocket, breaking through Lushington Ridge and Eastman Spur to eliminate the remaining Japanese positions and completely clear the area. By the end of the Battle of Labuan, the Australians had achieved a decisive victory, with 389 Japanese soldiers killed and 11 taken prisoner, while suffering 34 Australian fatalities and 93 wounded. In parallel, following a successful reconnaissance on June 16, the 2/32nd Battalion landed unopposed at Weston on June 17. They quickly secured the area and established a patrol base at Lingkungan. Over the next few days, Australian patrols began probing north towards Bukau, occasionally clashing with Japanese parties. A company from the 2/32nd Battalion also established a patrol base at Gadong up the Padas River, finding no Japanese presence in the surrounding regions. From this position, the Australians were able to patrol along the Padas River in small craft, discovering they could reach Beaufort rapidly using this route, catching the enemy off guard. Meanwhile, on June 19, the 2/43rd Battalion and the 2/11th Independent Company landed unopposed at Mempakul, further solidifying the Australian presence in the area. Two days later, while the commandos worked to clear the Klias Peninsula, the 2/43rd Battalion launched an amphibious expedition up the Klias River. This mission successfully navigated through Singkorap and reached Kota Klias, confirming that Japanese forces were not present in significant strength along the river. As a result, the 2/43rd Battalion set out on June 22 to occupy Kota Klias without encountering any resistance. Given this positive momentum, Brigadier Porter ordered the 2/28th Battalion to take over operations from the 2/32nd Battalion in and around Weston. At the same time, the 2/43rd Battalion was tasked with marching through Kandu to attack Beaufort from the north. Additionally, the 2/32nd Battalion was directed to probe north along the Padas River and along the railway, drawing enemy attention away from the main Australian advance. Looking south, while the 2/17th Battalion remained around Brunei and the 2/15th Battalion probed along the river toward Limbang, Windeyer had ordered the 2/13th Battalion to prepare for an amphibious movement to the Miri-Lutong area. Brunei town had been severely battered by Allied bombers and Japanese demolitions. The troops were critical of the air force's practice of bombing conspicuous buildings even when they were unlikely to contain anything of military importance. In Brunei, for example, the bazaar and the cinema were destroyed, but neither was likely to have contained any Japanese men or material and their destruction and the destruction of similar buildings added to the distress of the civilians. The infantryman on the ground saw the effects of bombing at the receiving end. “The impression was gained, says the report of the 20th Brigade, that, in the oil producing and refining centres-Seria, Kuala Belait, Lutong, Miri much of the destruction served no military purpose. The destruction of the native bazaar and shop area in Kuala Belait, Brunei, Tutong and Miri seemed wanton.“ On June 16, the 2/17th finally moved out and occupied Tutong, successfully crossing the river at its mouth. From there, the battalion began its movement along the coast toward Seria. However, despite the strategic importance of the town's oil wells, there was only one encounter with the enemy at the Bira River on June 20 before the town was occupied the following day, only to find the oil wells ablaze.  At Seria, the oil wells were ablaze. From the broken pipes that topped each well, burning oil gushed forth like fire from immense, hissing Bunsen burners. The pressure was so intense that the oil, as clear as petrol, only ignited several inches away from the pipe. Once ignited, it transformed into a tumbling cloud of flame, accompanied by billowing blue-black smoke. At approximately 1,000 feet, the plumes from more than 30 fires merged into a single canopy of smoke. This horrifying spectacle of waste persisted day and night. The men around Seria fell asleep to the hissing and rumbling of an entire oilfield engulfed in flames and awoke to the same din. The Japanese had set fire to 37 wells, destroyed buildings and bridges, and attempted to incapacitate vehicles, pumps, and other equipment by removing essential components and either discarding them in rivers or burying them. Consequently, the Australian engineers faced the daunting task of extinguishing the fires with only their own equipment, along with abandoned gear they could repair or make functional. They relied on assistance from local natives who had observed the Japanese hiding parts and employed methods of improvisation and selective cannibalization to tackle the crisis. Meanwhile, by June 19, raiding elements of the 2/15th Battalion had successfully secured Limbang. From this location, they began sending patrols up the Limbang River toward Ukong, along the Pandaruan River to Anggun, and east toward Trusan. The following day, after a naval bombardment by three American destroyers, the 2/13th Battalion landed unopposed at Lutong and quickly secured the area. On June 21, the Australians crossed the river and advanced into Miri without facing any resistance, successfully occupying the town and its oilfield by June 23. Turning their attention back north, on June 24, the 2/43rd Battalion began its advance toward Beaufort, swiftly moving through Kandu and reaching a position just north of the Padas River the next day. In response to their progress, Brigadier Porter ordered the 2/32nd Battalion to seize the railway terminus and the spur leading down to the river just south of Beaufort, while the 2/43rd focused on capturing the high ground dominating Beaufort from the north and east. This coordinated attack was launched on June 26. By the end of the day, the leading company of the 2/32nd had reached the Padas River, approximately 2,000 yards west of the railway terminus, while the leading company of the 2/43rd secured the railway north of the Padas, similarly positioned about 2,000 yards from Beaufort. On June 27, the 2/43rd continued their offensive, rapidly capturing the high ground overlooking Beaufort. During the afternoon, one company ascended Mount Lawley and pursued the retreating Japanese, cutting off their escape route at a track junction, while another company moved into the town, taking possession early that night. In the following hours and throughout June 28, the Australians faced a series of heavy counterattacks as they worked to consolidate their positions. Meanwhile, the 2/32nd Battalion successfully captured the railway terminus, encountering only slight opposition, with one company executing a wide flanking maneuver to the Padas just upstream from Beaufort. Under heavy bombardment from artillery and mortars, the bulk of the 368th Independent Battalion began to retreat along the Australian-held track in the early hours of June 29. While many were killed during this withdrawal, most managed to escape. At intervals groups of two or three walked into the company area in the darkness and were killed. Fire was strictly controlled, and one platoon was credited with having killed 21 Japanese with 21 single shots fired at ranges of from five to 15 yards. One Japanese walked on to the track 50 yards from the foremost Australian Bren gun position and demanded the surrender of the Australians who were blocking the Japanese line of retreat. According to one observer his words were: "Surrender pliz, Ossie. You come. No?" He was promptly shot. One company counted 81 Japanese killed with "company weapons only" round the junction and estimated that at least 35 others had been killed; six Australians were slightly wounded.  By morning, the fighting was virtually over, and the mop-up of the disorganized enemy force commenced. The attack on Beaufort cost the 24th Brigade 7 men killed and 38 wounded, while the Australians counted 93 Japanese dead and took two prisoners. Meanwhile, the 2/28th Battalion secured Lumadan village, where it made contact with the 2/32nd. Porter then ordered this battalion to pursue the retreating Japanese eastward, successfully securing the Montenior Besar railway bridge by July 4. The 2/32nd Battalion proceeded to attack toward Papar, encountering little opposition as they captured Membakut on July 5, followed by Kimanis on July 10, and finally Papar on July 12. Turning back south, the 2/17th Battalion occupied Kuala Belait on June 24, where they discovered evidence of a massacre of Indian prisoners of war.  Indian prisoners of war began reaching the lines of the 2/17th Battalion at Seria on June 22. By the end of the month, a total of 41 had arrived, reporting a horrific event: on June 14, the Japanese had slaughtered a portion of a group of more than 100 Indian prisoners at Kuala Belait. The Australians discovered 24 charred bodies at the site, along with evidence indicating that others had also been killed. A report by the 2/17th noted, "The motive for the massacre is not clear, and whether a partial loss of rations, the waving of flags, or simply Japanese brutality was responsible cannot be determined." The surviving Indians were found to be starving, with many suffering from illness. Colonel Broadbent remarked, "The loyalty and fortitude of these Indians has been amazing and is a lesson to us all. Even now, their standard of discipline is high." Two days later, patrols made contact with the 2/13th Battalion at the Baram River. Pushing south along Riam Road, the patrols of the 2/13th clashed with the Japanese at South Knoll, which they captured by the end of the month. Throughout July, the 2/13th continued patrolling down Riam Road against some opposition, eventually pushing the Japanese beyond Bakam by August. At the same time, the 2/17th conducted deep patrols southward from Kuala Belait, particularly along the Baram River toward Bakung, Marudi, and Labi. Overall, Australian losses during the North Borneo Offensive totaled 114 killed and 221 wounded, while they captured 130 prisoners and accounted for at least 1,234 Japanese killed. Following the conclusion of conventional military operations, Wootten's troops began to support the efforts of Australian-sponsored native guerrillas operating in Sarawak under Operation Semut and in British North Borneo as part of Operation Agas.  Between March and July 1945, five Special Operations Australia “SOA” parties were inserted into North Borneo. The Agas 1 and 2 parties established networks of agents and guerrillas in northwestern Borneo, while the Agas 4 and 5 parties, landed on the east coast, achieved little in their missions. The Agas 3 party investigated the Ranau area at the request of the 1st Corps. The results of Operation Agas were mixed; although its parties established control over their respective areas of operation and provided intelligence of variable quality, they were responsible for killing fewer than 100 Japanese soldiers. In parallel, as part of Operation Semut, over 100 Allied personnel, mainly Australians, were inserted by air into Sarawak from March 1945, organized into four parties. These parties were tasked with collecting intelligence and establishing guerrilla forces. The indigenous Dayaks of Sarawak's interior enthusiastically joined these guerrilla groups, essentially allowing SOA personnel to lead small private armies. No. 200 Flight RAAF and the Royal Australian Navy's Snake-class junks played crucial roles in this campaign, facilitating the insertion of SOA personnel and supplies. The guerrilla forces launched attacks to gain control of the interior of Sarawak, while the 9th Division focused on coastal areas, oilfields, plantations, and ports in North Borneo. The guerrillas operated from patrol bases around Balai, Ridan, and Marudi, as well as in the mountains and along key waterways, including the Pandaruan and Limbang Rivers, and along the railway connecting Beaufort and Tenom. Their objective was to disrupt Japanese troop movements and interdict forces as they withdrew from the main combat zone. The RAAF conducted air strikes to support these lightly armed guerrillas, who at times had to evade better-armed Japanese units. These guerrilla forces successfully raided several key towns and facilities, significantly disrupting enemy movements and efforts. It is estimated that over 1,800 Japanese soldiers were killed in North Borneo through guerrilla actions, particularly by the fearsome Dayak people, whose fierce tactics and local knowledge played a crucial role in these operations. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In the final throes of the Pacific War, the Battle of Okinawa became a fierce battleground of sacrifice and honor. As American forces, led by General Buckner, advanced, they shattered Japanese defenses, pushing them into a desperate retreat. On June 21, General Ushijima and Lieutenant General Cho, recognizing their imminent defeat, committed seppuku, adhering to the samurai code. The chaotic battle led to staggering casualties, with many Japanese soldiers surrendering, realizing their cause was lost. By June's end, Okinawa was secured, symbolizing not only a victory but also the tragic cost of war, with countless lives lost on both sides.

Muchos sucesos que involucran a los Pueblos Indígenas están pasando alrededor del mundo. ¿Sabes cuáles son? Como parte del derecho a la información, Cultural Survival presenta este noticiero del mes de junio de 2025 con notas relevantes de Norte, Centro y Sur América, África y Asia, el cual puedes escuchar, descargar y compartir de forma gratuita. Música de introducción: - “Burn Your Village to the Ground” de The Halluci Nation. Derechos de autor, propiedad de The Halluci Nation. Usada bajo su permiso. Redacción: - Rosy Sul González, maya kaqchikel, Cultural Survival, Guatemala. - Shaldon Ferris, khoisan, Cultural Survival, Sudáfrica. - Dev Kumar, sunuwar, Cultural Survival, Asia. Voz: - Rosy Sul González, maya kaqchikel, Cultural Survival, Guatemala. - César Gómez, maya poqomam, Cultural Survival, Guatemala. Edición: - Rosy Sul González, maya kaqchikel, Cultural Survival, Guatemala. Imagen: - Cultural Survival. Enlaces: NICARAGUA: La Asamblea Nacional legaliza la explotación de recursos en áreas naturales y dejará de consultar a pueblos indígenas. https://es.mongabay.com/2025/05/nicaragua-pueblos-indigenas-areas-naturales/ ECUADOR: Líderes indígenas de América Latina celebran Cumbre indígena y exigen cumplimiento de sus derechos humanos y territoriales. https://puntodelplata.es/ecuador-acoge-cumbre-indigena-para-exigir-cumplimiento-de-fallos-de-derechos-humanos/ PANAMÁ: Comunidad indígena de Arimae denuncia represión y desplazamiento forzado. https://www.telesurtv.net/panama-comunidad-indigena-arimae-represion/ COLOMBIA: Avanza la autonomía indígena y los pueblos podrán tener su propio gobierno. https://es.mongabay.com/2025/05/avanza-autonomia-indigena-colombia-pueblos-propio-gobierno/?utm_source=Latam&utm_campaign=a4eebc45b4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_05_27_08_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a4eebc45b4-77326061&mc_cid=a4eebc45b4&mc_eid=b3424011f2 ARGENTINA: Comunidades indígenas se movilizan para frenar desalojos. https://argentina.indymedia.org/2025/05/09/comunidades-indigenas-se-movilizan-para-frenar-desalojos/?utm_source=chatgpt.com PERÚ: 13 muertos en Pataz confirman que la actividad minera está fuera de control. https://aidesep.org.pe/noticias/13-muertos-en-pataz-otra-senal-del-infierno-minero-que-los-pueblos-indigenas-ya-denunciaron/ CHILE: Solución a conflicto mapuche con destino incierto. https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2025/05/05/solucion-a-conflicto-mapuche-en-chile-con-destino-incierto/ ESTADOS UNIDOS: Arqueólogos descubren extensas tierras agrícolas antiguas de los nativos americanos en Michigan. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/06/nx-s1-5423660/surprise-ancient-native-american-agriculture CANADÁ: Las Primeras Naciones se oponen a la aceleración de proyectos de infraestructura. https://thelogic.co/news/the-big-read/first-nations-big-projects-mark-carney/ AUSTRALIA: Victoria lidera un histórico tratado indígena. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/could-australia-see-its-first-indigenous-treaty-by-next-year/io51q74jv KENIA: Mujeres masái desarrollan negocios que promueven la conservación cultural y medios de vida. https://news.wm.edu/2025/06/02/entrepreneurial-approaches-to-conservation-lessons-from-maasai-women-in-kenya/ INDIA: Activistas exigen la detención del proyecto de la presa Siang. https://countercurrents.org/2025/06/stop-forcible-dam-activity-and-militarization-in-siang-valley-safeguard-ecology-uphold-indigenous-peoples-rights/ INDONESIA: El auge del níquel impulsa abusos ambientales y de derechos humanos. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-allowing-nickel-industry-abuses-to-go-unchecked-report MALASIA: Aldea Cultural de Sarawak ofrece una muestra del Patrimonio Indígena en su “Museo viviente”. https://www.travelandleisureasia.com/sg/destinations/southeast-asia/guide-to-sarawak-cultural-village/

Audio Siar Keluar Sekejap Episod 157 kali ini menampilkan hos jemputan, Zaidel Baharuddin, yang bergandingan bersama KJ dalam sebuah episod yang sarat dengan perbincangan isu semasa merangkumi politik, dasar kesihatan dan landskap ekonomi negara.Episod dibuka dengan analisis mengenai keputusan mengejut Tengku Zafrul meninggalkan UMNO dan menyertai PKR, termasuk implikasinya terhadap kestabilan Kerajaan Perpaduan, keberkesanan Akta Anti Lompat Parti serta ramalan masa depan politik beliau selepas tamat tempoh sebagai Senator hujung tahun ini.Perbincangan diteruskan dengan isu peletakan jawatan Rafizi Ramli dan Nik Nazmi daripada Kabinet, dan bagaimana tindakan mereka membuka ruang kepada gerakan semak imbang dalam PKR serta kemungkinan rombakan Kabinet oleh PMX dalam masa terdekat.Isu sivil melibatkan Yusoff Rawther dan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim turut disentuh, termasuk permohonan PMX untuk merujuk isu imuniti ke Mahkamah Persekutuan yang ditolak. KJ dan Zaidel meneliti kesan politik terhadap kepimpinan Madani serta persepsi antarabangsa terhadap kebebasan institusi kehakiman di Malaysia.Dalam segmen kesihatan, Keluar Sekejap menjemput Dr. Chang Chee Song untuk menjelaskan kontroversi dasar price transparency dan penggunaan Akta 723 ke atas klinik swasta. Turut dibincangkan: isu yuran konsultasi yang tidak dikemas kini sejak 2006, ketidaktelusan dalam peranan TPA (third-party administrators), serta keperluan reformasi menyeluruh terhadap sistem penjagaan kesihatan termasuk semakan semula Akta 586 dan struktur harga ubat.Segmen akhir memfokuskan kepada cabaran ekonomi semasa dengan KWSP melaporkan penurunan 13% dalam pendapatan pelaburan suku pertama 2025, serta langkah Petronas mengurangkan 10% tenaga kerja berikutan prestasi kewangan yang merosot dan ketidaktentuan dalam rundingan bersama Petros di Sarawak.Ingin jenama anda dikenali oleh ribuan pendengar?Taja episod Keluar Sekejap untuk tahun 2025!Hubungi kami di +6011-1919 1783 atau emel ke commercial@ksmedia.my untuk maklumat lanjut dan pakej penajaan eksklusif.

Ministerial takeover accelerated SMM2H: 1,901 approvals in 5 years versus 1,240 in previous 13 years under Immigration control.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here. 

In this episode James Watson comes on to talk about his work with Tomistoma (i.e. the Sunda Gharial). We talk about his research work, some of the interesting aspects of Tomistoma natural history, what threats Tomistoma face going into the future, and palm oil plantations. Bryant also joins us as a co-host, and we do briefly touch on herping in Sarawak. Enjoy!

Terima kasih MYDATASSM – Sumber Maklumat Korporat Malaysia yang Dipercayai kerana sudi menaja episod ini! Dengan akses pantas dan mesra pengguna kepada data rasmi Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia(SSM), MYDATASSM membantu anda membuat keputusan yang lebih tepat dan yakin - sama ada untuk urusan bisnes, membuka akaun bank perniagaan, semakan latar belakang, atau keperluan rasmi.Mantra kami, "Segalanya Mudah dengan MYDATA", mencerminkan komitmen kami untuk memudahkan proses anda, dari semakan maklumat syarikat hingga ke penyata kewangan dalam bentuk digital yang diiktiraf.Usahawan, penjawat awam, pelabur, atau orang awam — semuanya boleh bermula di sini.Cari, semak, dan yakin – hanya di MYDATASSM.Website: https://www.mydata-ssm.com.my/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mydatassm/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyDataSSMX: https://x.com/MYDATASSMTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mydatassmLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bigdataworks/Get your SSM documents in a jiffy at MYDATA Express: 019-2797563Audio Siar Keluar Sekejap Episod 155 antaranya membincangkan langkah beberapa negeri yang mengharamkan penjualan vape, mencetuskan perdebatan mengenai keberkesanan dasar kesihatan awam serta perbezaan pendekatan antara kerajaan negeri dan persekutuan.Episod ini juga mengulas kenyataan bersama antara Petronas dan Petros, yang dilihat sebagai satu perkembangan penting dalam hubungan ekonomi antara kerajaan persekutuan dan Sarawak, khususnya dalam pengurusan sumber asli negeri.Turut dibincangkan adalah cadangan untuk menaikkan umur persaraan wajib kepada 65 tahun, dengan sorotan terhadap pro dan kontra dasar ini dari sudut kemampanan fiskal, peluang pekerjaan anak muda, dan kesejahteraan warga emas.Episod ini turut menyentuh Sidang Kemuncak ASEAN yang sedang berlangsung, termasuk peranan Malaysia dalam menghadapi cabaran serantau serta pertembungan kuasa-kuasa besar yang semakin ketara di Asia Tenggara.Ingin jenama anda dikenali oleh ribuan pendengar?Taja episod Keluar Sekejap untuk tahun 2025!Hubungi kami di +6011-1919 1783 atau emel ke commercial@ksmedia.my untuk maklumat lanjut dan pakej penajaan eksklusif.

Andrew Ang—former BlackRock executive, Columbia professor, and advisor to Sarawak's sovereign wealth fund— explores the intersection of personal journey and professional insight in modern investing. From the severe value investing drawdown between 2018 and 2020 to the strategic comeback post-COVID vaccine announcements, Andrew unpacks lessons from one of the most turbulent financial periods in history. He also discusses how investors can build resilience into their portfolios, the nuanced role of crypto assets, and the growing importance of tax-efficient strategies in long-term wealth building. Listen in for a thoughtful discussion that blends research, practical guidance, and a global perspective on today's investment landscape.

We dive into the wild, unpredictable jungle that is Malaysian politics, where East Malaysia (yep, Sabah and Sarawak) holds way more weight than most people realize. It's not just about policies anymore — it's a chaotic mix of big egos, big money, and fragmented voices pulling in every direction. From the sway of the Malay vote to the structural mess nobody wants to fix, we unpack why political "stability" feels more like a myth.  Spoiler: real change might just come from the youth finally getting tired of the same old political drama.   Chapters 00:00 - The Political Landscape of East Malaysia 02:52 - The Fragmentation of Political Voices 06:06 - The Role of Personalities and Money in Sabah Politics 08:50 - The Future of Sabah Elections 12:04 - The Importance of the Malay Vote 14:56 - The Challenges of Political Stability 18:08 - The Structure of Malaysian Politics 20:52 - The Influence of East Malaysia on National Politics 24:05 - The Role of Young People in Politics 27:01 - The Future of Malaysia's Political Landscape   --- FOLLOW PROFESSOR JAMES CHIN HERE:  Sunway Uni: https://sunwayuniversity.edu.my/jci/staff-profiles/professor-james-chin  Tasmania Uni: https://discover.utas.edu.au/James.Chin   X; https://twitter.com/jameschin110  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jameschin2641  --- Follow Chuang here:  URL: http://www.domore.my/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsu-chuang-khoo-ab199343/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/khoo.chuang/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/khoohsuchuang/ --- Follow DoMore here:  WEBSITE: https://www.domore.my/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DoMoreTakeChargeofYourLife ITUNES: https://apple.co/2lQ47mS GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/3b1l8iO SPOTIFY: https://tinyurl.com/y6zufvcp PODBEAN: https://domoreasia.podbean.com/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/domore.asia/

Untuk episode kali ini, saya membaca kiriman daripada Amirul. Beliau menceritakan pengalaman beliau sewaktu menjaga ayahnya di salah sebuah pusat jantung di Sarawak. Apa yang anda akan lakukan, jika anda mendapati yang diri anda terperangkap di tingkat satu bagi hospital itu ? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TWiP solves the case of the man in the Malaysian city of Kucheng who presents with left arm swelling, and presents a new case for you to decipher. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Daniel Griffin, and Christina Naula Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Discord server Letters read on TWiP 257 New Case We are still in Kuching, Malaysia in the northern part of the Island of Borneo. This is the Sarawak portion of Malaysia. A man in his late 30s is admitted to the hospital in December with daily fevers that last for several hours and shaking chills. He had previously been healthy with no medical problems. He lives in the city and works in an office, however, in the few weeks prior to getting admitted he was visiting the jungle. Apparently not too far outside of Kuching, one can go up into the jungle and see Orangutans. He had gone into the jungle but this was 2 weeks prior to the onset of symptoms. Since then he reports no unusual exposures. He lives with his wife and children and they are all healthy. A few days prior to admission he noted fever, chills, and a headache. He is a little nauseated but no vomiting. On exam he has a fast heart rate and appears ill. His respiratory rate is increased and he is not febrile on admission but later does have fever.  No enlargement of the liver or spleen on exam. Otherwise unremarkable. His labs are notable for low white blood cells, anemia, and a platelet count of less than 50k per microL. His coagulation studies are abnormal, serum creatinine is elevated, and there is elevation of his serum aminotransferases. Become a patron of TWiP  Send your questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv Music by Ronald Jenkees

S17E8 : EP#3 Kita Jaga Sabah berama Professor Madya Dr Bilcher BalaBanyak kami tengok di medsos makin rancak orang cerita pasal MA63, perjuangan MA63, ‘Kita mesti fight kita punya MA63!'… membuatkan saya sama kenny tertanya-tanya, adakah majoriti kita faham apa itu MA63? Sebab kami pun tidak faham 100%?Bila kami buat research siapa ‘ngam' kami panggil sebagai guest untuk membahas dan educate kita tentang isu ini… nama beliau ni paling banyak orang suggest. Dr Bilcher Bala.Siapa Dr Bilcher ni?Dr. Bilcher Bala is an Associate Professor of History at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) . Born on October 8, 1967, in Miri, Sarawak, he is of Kelabit ethnicity . His research interests encompass various aspects of Malaysian and Bornean history, including the history of Sabah and Sarawak during British colonial rule, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), indigenous communities such as the Kelabit, Lundayeh, and Lun Bawang, and maritime archaeology . He has contributed to multiple research projects, including studies on the legal historical context of Sarawak's claim over oil and gas jurisdiction and the role of indigenous leadership in political change . Ini bilang si ongol Wiki, bah mari kita dengar KJS Podkas minggu ini bersama Dr Bilcher Bala!KITA JAGA SABAH, KITA BANGKIT, satu gerakan atau movements yang menyatupadukan rakyat Sabah, tidak kira usia, agama serta bangsa. KJSKB Podcast memberi focus kepada knowledge based lifestyle dengan penerapan informasi strategik secara santai terhadap rasa cinta kita kepada Sabah, negeri kesayangan semua. Ayuh, kenali kami di semua social media kami hari ini. Check us out! https://linktr.ee/kinabalupodcastIklankan product kamu dan perkhidmatan kamu bersama dengan podcast no 1 di Sabah hari ini. Email kami di kinabalupodcast@gmail.com Dengarkan Podcast No #1 di Sabah di Spotify dan YouTube hari ini.  #fyp #no1podcastinsabah #podcastno1sabah #no1podcast #viralpodcast #podcastviral #fyp #kinabalupodcast. #kitajagasabahkitabangkit #kitajagasabah #kitabangkit #podcastsabah #kjskb

Chinese nationals lead both the Federal and Sarawak MM2H programs, accounting for a total of more than 15k applications.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here.

(Apologies for the audio quality in this episode - technical issues got in the way, but we couldn't let this conversation go unheard. Thanks for sticking with DoMore!) Anwar Ibrahim is in power, but does he really have the people's support? Malaysia's political landscape is shifting, and the Malay community's stance on Anwar, the rise of PAS, and the power of Sabah and Sarawak are shaping what happens next. In this episode, we break down why the Malays haven't rallied behind Anwar, how economic struggles fuel political discontent, and why social media is rewriting the rules of the game. But here's the real question: Can Anwar deliver? With UMNO losing ground, Sabah and Sarawak demanding more control, and economic recovery tied to political survival, his leadership is on the clock. Will reforms and stability win him long-term support, or is Malaysia heading toward another political shake-up? Tune in to get the full picture. Chapters 00:00 - Navigating the Malay Community's Political Landscape 03:08 - Anwar Ibrahim's Challenges and Strategies 05:53 - The Role of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian Politics 08:52 - Key Demands from Sabah and Sarawak 11:59 - Economic Recovery and Political Reform 15:11 - The Future of Anwar Ibrahim's Leadership 18:13 - Concluding Thoughts on Malaysia's Political Future   --- FOLLOW PROFESSOR JAMES CHIN HERE:  Sunway Uni: https://sunwayuniversity.edu.my/jci/staff-profiles/professor-james-chin  Tasmania Uni: https://discover.utas.edu.au/James.Chin   X; https://twitter.com/jameschin110  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jameschin2641  --- Follow Chuang here:  URL: http://www.domore.my/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsu-chuang-khoo-ab199343/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/khoo.chuang/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/khoohsuchuang/ --- Follow DoMore here:  WEBSITE: https://www.domore.my/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DoMoreTakeChargeofYourLife ITUNES: https://apple.co/2lQ47mS GOOGLE PLAY: https://bit.ly/3b1l8iO SPOTIFY: https://tinyurl.com/y6zufvcp PODBEAN: https://domoreasia.podbean.com/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/domore.asia/ ---

Rescue and patchwork relationship.B Book 3 in 18 parts, y FinalStand. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.Loving your enemy is easy, you know precisely where both of you stand(Right where we left off)The closest Marine had been waiting for me to finish my bonding moment with Menner before speaking. He walked and talked like an officer."You are certainly Mr. Cáel Nyilas," he nodded. "I'm Lt. Robeson, United States Marine Corps. I would like to take you and your party home. What is the situation?""Lieutenant, this young lady is Aya Ruger. She was kidnapped along-side me and managed to kill over twenty of our enemies, so be careful around her." I was deadly serious about what I said. Aya should get proper credit for all the people she sedated then drowned. Dead was dead, even if it was accidental."These two," I pointed to Zhen and Mu, "are Lúsìla ninda and Amar, Taiwanese nationals suffering some shock from the abrupt crash landing of the aircraft. They don't seem to know why they were kidnapped, but they were instrumental in aiding Aya and me making it to shore during the typhoon.""If you say so, Sir," he nodded. He did believe me, yet a soldier was taught to be skeptical of anything a civilian told him about a military situation. "The bodies?""Those are the corpses we found after the storm. I decided we should attempt to place them in your custody so you can figure out who they are," I suggested."Sir, I don't think we can let civilians keep their weapons aboard the flight," the Marine Lt. stated since I had both a pistol and submachine gun, Aya had her pistol and Zhen had her and Mu's blades. A Marine NCO sent a party to gather the dead."Marine, I am Cáel Nyilas, Irish diplomat, freebooter and Champion of the worst possible causes," I began my spiel."You probably have some orders concerning bringing me in alive. I am not so constrained and am more than willing to steal this aircraft and fly back to Hawaii without you. My team keeps their weapons, or you give me your best shot, right now," I met his gaze. He mulled over his options. Two Romanians and two Marines were starting to load the ad hoc body bags aboard the C-37B."Normally I don't take that kind of crap from a civilian and I don't want you to think I'm making an exception because of your Security Clearance. I'll let your people keep your weapons, but if something goes wrong, I'm shooting you first," he assured me."Done deal," I offered my hand and he shook it."Oh and Happy Tibetan Independence Day," he congratulated me."What?" I gasped. Rescue and patchwork relationships{6 pm, Sunday, August 17th ~ 22 Days to go}{11 pm Sunday, Aug. 17th (Havenstone Time)}{And just this once, 11am Monday, Aug. 18th Beijing Time}"Oh and Happy Tibetan Independence Day;, nice work.," the Marine congratulated me."What?""How is that possible?" muttered Mu."Yippee!! No more burning monks," Aya fist-pumped. Personally, I think she did that for the enjoyment of our guardians and to piss off Zhen and Mu just a tiny bit more.(Mandarin) "Brother," Zhen studied her brother's pained expression. "What has gone wrong?"(Mandarin) "The province of Tibet apparently has broken away," he groused. In English, to the Marine Lieutenant he repeated, "How is this possible?""I take it you didn't know Peace Talks had broken out?" he grinned. I doubted the Lt. bought my 'these are my two Taiwanese cobelligerents' story, but belief was above his pay grade, so he didn't give a shit."Yes," Mu mumbled, "we knew of the proposed cease-fire.""Yes, you mean both sides actually honored it?" I added. I really had been out things for a while."Nearly two days ago, noon, Peking Time, the People's Republic of China and the Khanate put a six month cease-fire into effect which has remained intact for forty-one," he looked at his watch, "forty-one and a half hours." He was being a cock to the petulant Mu. No one called Beijing 'Peking' anymore. I had even ordered Beijing Duck on several menus. Peking was the height of Western Imperialist thinking, or so it looked to Mu.(Mandarin) "He is yanking your chain, Mu," I explained. "You are looking pissed off at being rescued, which isn't doing my alibi for you much good.""My apology," Mu nodded to the lieutenant. "Is there any news from the Republic of China? Are they free as well?" That was nice of Mu to call Taiwan by its pet name, the ROC."Not yet," he patted Mu's unwounded leg, "but with the utter shellacking the Khanate put on the People's Navy (really the People's Liberation Army Navy, but the Marine was getting his shots in) it is only a matter of time."I had been translating in a low voice to the V nători de munte in order for them to keep up with the conversation. They all started laughing. The Marines joined in. There was a huge joke here that we had missed out on while stranded.(Romanian) "So, ask them if they know where their aircraft carrier is," Menner chuckled. Most Romanians had grown up knowing of only one China.Me: (Romanian) "What!"A Naval Corpsman who didn't know Romanian, but knew 'aircraft carrier' just fine jumped in: "Oh yeah, the missing Chinese Aircraft carrier," she chortled.Mu: "What!"I'd only been gone two and a half days. What the hell had been going on?(What had transpired in my absence and the subsequent consequences)(Notes:P R C = People's Republic of China; PLA = People's Liberation Army;P L A N = People's Liberation Army Navy;P L A A F = People's Liberation Army Air Force;R O C = the Republic of China {aka Taiwan, aka Chinese Taipei, aka the "other China"};The First Unification War {aka what the Khanate did to China in 2014};Truce lasts from August 16th 2014 until February 15th, 2015 = 183 days)There are several classic blunders grownups should know to avoid: never fight a land war in Asia, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, and, if you are going to cross a master thief, first make sure you have nothing of value. For the land war in Asia, check with my partner, the Khanate. Substituting Black Hand for Sicilian ~ check with Ajax, use an Ouija board. So far, destiny was batting .500.The last blunder I created entirely on my own, but I felt it was the true and right response for the circumstances. So witness the Six Families of the Ninja and the greatest theft in all of recorded history.In the closing hours of the First Unification War, as in many wars, some serious theft was going on; mainly it was the People's Republic getting fleeced.The most obvious and immediate blows came in the Spratlys and Parcel Islands where Khanate forces (actually, elements from all the JIKIT players) seized the key island in the Parcel chain, Woody Island, and secured the P L A N base the Chinese had created there, including the 2,700 meter runway built there in the 1990's. The 1,443 Chinese civilians and 600 military inhabitants in the area were incidental complications and the survivors were about to be 'repatriated' to the mainland anyway; the Khanate didn't want them hanging around as they prepared for the inevitable end of the six-month truce.Yes, the Khanate had stolen the most important island airfield ~ an unsinkable carrier really ~ in the South China Sea. It was also the northern end of the potential People's Republic of China's stranglehold on the east-west sea lanes between East Asia and the rest of the World, i.e., roughly 25% of all global trade.The southern end? That would be the Spratlys. There are few 'real' islands in that 'island group' and only two worth having: the artificial one the P L A N was building and the one the ROC has a 1200 meter airfield on. That artificial island and every other PRC/P L A N outpost in the region was also stolen by the Khanate between 4 a.m. and noon of that final day of active conflict.Every geological feature that had been the basis for the PRC's claims to all of the South China Sea was now in Khanate hands. Considering how much the P L A N had bullied everyone else in that portion of the globe, the Khanate taking over their geopolitical position was incredibly awkward. It was going to get worse.Technically, the Khanate hadn't stolen the P L A N 'South Sea Fleet' (SSF); they'd blown the fuck out of it, including sinking the sole fully-functioning P L A N carrier Liaoning as well as five of the nine destroyers and six of the nineteen frigates in her battle group. The Liaoning and one destroyer had died in those last few hours as the SSF was racing for the relative safety of Philippine waters ~ so close, but no cigar.So the Khanate had stolen the ability of the P L A N to project power in the South China Sea until February 15th, 2015 when the U N brokered truce ended. But that was not the epic theft, though. That distinction went to the Ninja. What did they steal? A semi-functional Chinese nuclear powered super-aircraft carrier still under construction.The beast had no official name yet, but she was a 75,000 ton engine of Global Domination laid down in 2011 and clearly complete enough to float and to be steered under her own power. (To be on the safe side, the Ninja included stealing four tugboats to help in their getaway.) So, you may be asking yourself, how does one 'steal' a nuclear-powered, 1000 foot long, 275 foot wide and ten-story tall vessel?For starters, you need a plan to get on board the sucker. We had begun with the Black Lotus. They wanted to sneak onboard, exit the dockyard the ship was being built in, then sink it off the coast so it couldn't be easily salvaged. That was plan A.Enter the Khanate and their plans; they too wanted to sink this vessel, and destroy the dry docks while they were at it. That was plan B. Actually, the Khanate desire was to contaminate that whole section of the port city with fallout from shattered reactors. They knew they would have to apply overkill when they smashed that bitch of a ship because the PLAN had hurriedly put on board its defensive weaponry ~ ensuring that the Khanate couldn't easily destroy it. For their approach, Temujin's people wanted the Black Lotus' help with the on-the-ground intelligence work. But the Black Lotus didn't want to help anyone irradiate Chinese soil.Enter JIKIT as referee. All those islands the 'Khanate' was busy stealing were actually part of a larger JIKIT mission called Operation Prism. Another object that was a part of the overall plan was Operation Wo Fat, the sinking of the Liaoning ~ again GPS direction and distance to be courtesy of the Black Lotus.JIKIT absolutely needed the Black Lotus. The Black Lotus wouldn't help anyone planning on poisoning any part of China for the next thousand years. Sinking the unnamed and incomplete vessel off the coast in deep waters meant no nuclear leakage and plenty of post-war time to salvage the wreck before it did start to hemorrhage. The Khanate wanted to kill this potential strategic nightmare no matter what it cost the Chinese ecology.JIKIT went to the Ninja to help them adjudicate the issue. All the lights flared brightly in Ninja-Town when they heard of that delicate dilemma. They could make everybody happy and send a clear message to the Seven Pillars expressing how unhappy the six surviving families were about the 7P's trying to annihilate them when all of this 'unpleasantness' began.The Khanate was already going to blast the shipyards and docks, the Black Lotus was already going to sail the ship into deep waters, so why not take it one step further, sail the ship into Japanese waters and declare it Khanate property as a colossal Fuck You! to the PRC, PLAN and specifically the Seven Pillars, all at the same time?Now normally, you can't steal a ship that big. The owners will notice it is missing and come looking for it. And you can't sell or hide the damn thing. So, you steal it at the tail end of a war before the players can capture, or sink it. It just so happened the Ninja had access to a war and such a time table.The next problem: where do you put it? The Khanate's closest safe haven was 8,000 km away at the Eastern Mediterranean Seaport of Izmir.But wait!The Khanate was about to steal an island airbase with its own (albeit small) harbor. The Khanate was confident that a few weeks after the truce, an alternate port, or two, would become available for the two-to-three year process it would require to prepare the vessel so it could be commissioned as the true warship it was meant to be.So, how do you steal a well-guarded, humongous ship with its skeleton crew of 500? You need a distraction ~ a big one. Remember those Khanate airstrikes? They intended to destroy the dockyards anyway. Now all they had to do was 'miss' the carrier.They could do that. If you recall, to dissuade the Khanate from sinking the ship in the final days of the war, the PLAN had hastily put teeth on the thing by giving it all its pre-designed defensive weaponry and added jury-rigged radar and sonar systems. The carrier could defend itself if needed. With the new plan (C), the airstrikes could avoid those teeth, thus reducing the risk of losing their precious planes and pilots.A series of bombing runs and missile hits near the carrier would convince the PLAN admiral in charge to hurriedly put some distance between the ship and shore, Not out to sea. That would be stupid. Within the harbor, his weaponry could adequately defend his ship. And if she took serious damage, he could run her aground, so the vessel wouldn't really sink.The only problem was that out in the harbor, with everything exploding, he was away from the only ground security support available. That was when the Amazons, Black Lotus, Ninja and JIKIT mercenaries would make their move. How could they sneak up on such a big, important ship? By using the submarines the US Navy, the British Royal Navy and Japanese Defense Force were providing, of course.Note: As I stated earlier, Lady Fathom, Addison and Riki had wandered way off the reservation . By this time, if you were a Japanese, British, or American submarine commander in the Yellow Sea and you weren't part of this madness, you were insanely jealous of those who were.The missions JIKIT was sending them on were:-definitely Acts of War if they were ever discovered,-far more dangerous than any war game exercise they'd ever been part of, and-the ultimate test of their crews and equipment.These people weren't suicidal. They believed they were the best sneaks under the Seven Seas and now they could prove it ~ in 50 years when this stuff was declassified (if it ever was).For the one American, two British and four Japanese submarines inserting the assault teams, this whole mission had a surreal feel to it. They were transporting a packed assortment of women of Indian, Malaysian and Indonesian descent along with some very lithe Japanese ladies and gents, none of who talked a whole lot.There was a third group with the spooky women and spookier Japanese teams, and that group was scared shitless about the sudden turn their lives had taken. They were all former American and British servicewomen (to not tick off the Amazons too much) with carrier and/or nuclear reactor experience who had been RIFed (Reduction in Force, aka fired) in the past five years from their respective national navies.Around a week ago, they had all answered an advertisement by a logistics support corporation that was going to do a 'force modernization' in an unnamed country. They all knew that mean the Khanate. The job had been laid out as 'basically your old job with the addition of training the natives' and it included the promise of no combat.It was a guaranteed five year contract with an option for a year-to-year extensions for another five years if you desired to stick around. For that, you received your 'pay grade upon retirement + 20%', free room and board, private security, judicial protections and a $10,000 to $10,900 signing bonus. For many struggling military families, it was manna from Heaven and thousands were signing up.Then 72 hours ago, a different group from the same company came knocking on the women's doors. If you could come with them right then and there, they had a satchel of money, $100,000 to $109,000, tax free, and a Non-disclosure Agreement for you to sign. Sure, the deal sounded shady, but the money was very real.Twenty-four hours later those who accepted the money found themselves in a small fishing village on Ko Island, Japan. There some rather fiercely intense people outlined the job they were needed for. From a submarine, the assault teams would sneak aboard the carrier, neutralize the crew and then the new crew (them) would sail it to Jeju, Jeju Island, South Korea.At that point they would be allowed to stay with the vessel (preferred), or depart for a non-war zone of their choice. Both options came with another $100,000 to $109,000 payment. Anyone who declined this particular job would remain incognito on Ko Island for another 48 hours then be allowed to leave without the need to return their initial payment.Of the 312 job applicants, 293 volunteered for both the first and second parts of the assignment. With the technical and linguistic expertise of the Amazons and 9 Clan members that would be enough to get their prize to Jeju Island's temporary safety and then make the last leg to Woody Island and a more permanent anchorage.Besides the airstrikes to goad the carrier away from the wharves, all the Khanate had to do with the carrier was put three or four clearly Mongolian faces onboard when the various nations of the world came calling. After all, what was the public going to believe:, the Khanate had pulled off yet another daring (i.e., mostly JIKIT) Special Forces coup, just as they'd managed to do throughout this short war, or that 'Ninjas stole my Battleship, umm, carrier' stuff some PRC leaders were claiming? Forty-eight hours later the whole globe was able to watch the newly named Khanate supercarrier, the  z Beg Khan, passing through Japanese territorial waters while being escorted by South Korean and Japanese warships.The PRC did complain to the United Nations over the 'theft' of both the carrier and 'their' islands, but the Security Council, led by the UK, could and would do nothing about the 'latest round of injustices heaped upon the People of China'. By the time the UN got around to doing nothing, the next round of JIKIT diplomacy was causing the PRC even greater headaches.That greatest theft, while remarkable in its own right, was really a sideshow to the reordering of the political order in Southeast Asia. The big winner wasn't the Khanate. And it certainly wasn't the mainland Chinese. No, the nations to immediately prosper were an unlikely pair, the Republic of India and the People's Republic of Vietnam (PRV). The Republic of China (R O C) was also getting its own small boost as well.By gambling their precious navy, India had become the largest power broker in the South China Sea's resource bonanza. She went from a minimal presence to being the critical ally of the Khanate and the 'big stick' (naval-wise) of Asia's new dynamic duo. The Indians had the only two functional aircraft carriers in the region and the Khanate had Woody Island with a mega-carrier number of planes sitting on it.Their combined naval aviation was not something any of the others powers wanted to mess with. The duo then sealed their supremacy by making the duo a trio. That third member was the PRV. Vietnam was the land-based logistical anchor of the three regional powers.Not only did Vietnam gain the prestige denied it for over two centuries, it redressed the P L A N humiliating treatment of their own navy for the past thirty years. The Khanate's naval aviation would shield Vietnam's economic exploitation of the Parcel Islands. The Indian Navy could counter anything the P L A N South China fleet could come at them with.Yes, the P L A N had two other fleets, the Northern and Eastern, but both had been put through their own 1001 levels of Hell by the Khanate's air power, plus they had to protect the Chinese heartland from Russia and North Korean ambitions. The South Koreans and Japanese were suddenly a very real threat from the East too. But for the time being, the Indians had the decisive edge.The final location for the  z Beg Khan was an old familiar haunt for some Americans, Da Nang, PRV. It had the facilities, courtesy of the US military from the 1960's and 70's, to be the new base for the Khanate's Eastern Fleet and logistical hub for their naval aviation forces in the Parcel Islands.The Vietnamese were thinking with more than their testicles, as were the Indians. Sure, geopolitical clout was nice, yet that was only the icing on the economic cake that was the Parcel Island Accords. That hasty bit of JIKIT backroom dealings gave a 50% stake in the Parcels to the PRV.India got 20% of something she had 0% in a month ago. The Khanate gained a 20% stake for their audacity and the ROC gained 10% because the other three would protect its share from the PRC. Something was better than nothing and the three legitimate powers agreed to the deal because in less than six months, the PRC would be back in the game.The Indians and Vietnamese wanted the Khanate to stay interested in the region and the Taiwanese wanted to forge closer ties to the Khanate. That treaty was a 'no-brainer'. Within one week, the Vietnamese were strutting like peacocks and internal political opposition to the Indian intervention into the South China Sea in the Indian parliament was silent.The Spratly Islands was a tougher deal to work out within the six month timetable. There were more players ~ the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand (who had a non-functional carrier). The JIKIT deal gave everyone but the Indians a 10% piece of the huge natural gas, oil and fisheries pie and the Indians got 20% once more.The Philippines and Malaysia were both very opposed to this treaty; they believed they deserved a far larger portion of those regional resources. Indonesia and Thailand also felt they could hold out for a bigger slice and weren't happy with India getting so much for basically having a double handful of ships (34 actually) sailing about.That 'handful of ships' was the point JIKIT was trying to make. If the PRC beat the Khanate next year, did any of the players think the PRC would give them anything, even if they promised them more right now? Really? When the PLAN had the biggest guns, they hadn't respected any other claims to the region. Why would that change in the future?The reality was this: India would only stick around if they had the economic incentive to remain. Vietnam, the Khanate and the ROC were watching the clock and realized this was the best deal they would get. Brunei and the Philippines were also coming to that understanding. Brunei was tiny (thus easy to defend), very rich already and a good ally of the British.The Philippines had a very weak navy and a non-existent naval air force. They couldn't even enforce their current claims versus Brunei, much less confront the PLAN, or any other nation's current military. The Philippines was, sadly, relatively big and very poor. Its big traditional ally was the United States, and the US was currently busy doing 'not much' about the South China Sea situation.The world's biggest navy was partially taking up its traditional (and treaty bound) role of interposing itself between the North Koreans, PLAN/PLAAF and Russians arrayed near Japan and South Korea, or busily not 'ratcheting up tensions' in the region by sending more forces into the front lines.President Obama was urging dialogue and 'stepping back from the brink' even though every country in Southeast Asia felt the brink had already dissipated the moment the PRC was forced to accept the cease-fire. In this context, the Philippines had good reason to be feeling lonely at the moment.Bizarrely, both New Delhi and Hanoi were singing the praises of US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Rt. Honorable Phillip Hammond, Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for the UK, for their deft handling of the crisis, thank you, Riki Martin and Lady Yum-Yum.Riki wasn't expecting any thanks. She was certain she'd be fired and imprisoned for the rest of her life. Lady Fathom Worthington-Burke was sure she'd get two additional knighthoods out of the deal, which would look very nice engraved on her tombstone. Javiera had long ago decided to face the music and go down with the ship, so to speak.The CIA's Addison Stuart already had her exit strategy. She was going to go work for the Khanate, building up their clandestine service when this whole mad scheme collapsed into recriminations and 'extreme sanctions'. Mehmet, Air Force Sr. Master Sgt. Billings and Agent-86 had all decided to go with her. Katrina had their escape plane on standby. Mehmet's family was already 'vacationing' in Canada.Anyway, the Republic of India, the Khanate, the Republic of China, the People's Republic of Vietnam (the Vietnamese were happy to already be getting half of the Parcel Island windfall), the Sultanate Brunei (Lady Fathom 'knew' some people and the Sultan was an autocratic Muslim ruler, just like the Great Khan) and the Philippines (because they had no other true choice) were all coming around to signing the Spratly Accords.Indonesia and Thailand were kind of waiting for a better deal. Malaysia was downright hostile, having gravitated toward the PRC over the past decade and been assured by the PRC a better apportionment would be their reward for upsetting the treaty process.The Great Khan's answer was simple. He publically threatened the Malaysian Federation in general and both the King (Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah) and Prime Minister of Malay (Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak) in particular with military action if they kept dragging their feet.He even told them how he'd do it. He'd butcher or expel every living thing in the states of Perlis and Kedah (~ 2.1 million people) and give those empty lands to Thailand to settle along with the added sweetener of Malaysia's 10% of the Spratlys. He would also invade Eastern Malaysia, taking the island state of Labuan for himself while giving Sarawak to Indonesia and Sabah to the Philippines if those to states agreed to the split.He'd also decimate their navy & air force before devastating every port city, just like he'd done to China. He'd already killed more than two million Chinese. What was another two million Malays to him? Also, Indonesia wanted Sarawak and the Philippines had claims on Sabah. While they were openly and publically defying the Great Khan's plan, could Malaysia really take the chance?What would India and Thailand do while this was going on? Thailand stated that it would protect its territorial integrity, whatever that meant. India wasn't returning Malaysia's phone calls while showing their populace re-runs of Malaysian violence against their Hindu minority, the bastards!To the world, the Indian Navy proclaimed it would 'defend itself and its supply lines' which was a subtle hint that they would shepherd any Khanate invasion force to their destination. Why would the Indians be so insensitive? The Malaysians were screwing up their deal to get 20% of both the Parcel and Spratlys wealth, that's why.If the Khanate went down, there was no way India could defend their claims (which they'd won by doing nothing up until now). Oh yeah, Vietnam began gathering up warplanes, warships, transport ships and troops for the quick (710 km) jaunt across the Gulf of Thailand to north-eastern Malaysia to kill Malaysians because Vietnam needed the Khanate to ensure their own economic future as well.That military prospect had a cascade effect, especially among the Indonesian military. If the Indian Navy remained active, the vastly more populous Western Malaysia couldn't reinforce the state of Sarawak. Sure, the Philippines was unlikely to conquer Sabah on their own, but all the Indonesians needed was for Sabah to be kept pre-occupied while their army took their promised territory, fulfilling a fifty year old dream of conquest/unification.The United Nations blustered. It wasn't that they didn't care, they did. They also cared about the deteriorating situations in Libya, Nigeria, Syria and Ukraine. The situation was complicated by the unwillingness of the permanent members of the Security Council, namely the PRC and Russia, to recognize the Khanate.In reverse, when those two tried to stick it to the Khanate, the UK stoically vetoed them. Why? Well, more on that later. Let's just say the Khanate was good for business in the European Union in general and the United Kingdom in particular because the Khanate was prepared to economically befriend the British. Ireland was being treated in a promising manner too. The United States,the United Nations?Let's just say that in the two months following the cease-fire, the Khanate bloodily and brutally solved the ISIS conundrum and the Donbass Crisis. When the smoke cleared, the Khanate had reintroduced the practice of impalement to the modern battlefield, driven the separatists from the Ukraine and was on the border with Israel and Jordan.Sure, the Ukrainians were stun-fucked by the Khanate's 'peace-keepers' going on a bloody rampage through the eastern rebellious regions, but they had delivered up peace by mid-September. Yes, the Russians were in an uproar about the impalements.As the Khanate spokesperson said, 'if they aren't your people, then it is not your problem' and 'there are no more Russians left alive in the Ukraine'. In fact, fewer than a thousand people, all armed insurgents, were executed in such a manner, but the terror created by the highly publicized killings had the effect of sending a hundred thousand people stampeding over the frontier into Russia proper.Next, the Khanate said it wanted to 'reexamine' the Crimean situation. There were Turcoman in that area and they weren't being treated well, or so it was claimed.Even as Russia and the Khanate were posturing in the Donbass, the Khanate struck in the Middle East. By the end of September, Syria and Lebanon had ceased to exist as organized entities. Most of those two countries as well as portions of western Iraq became Turkish provinces in the Khanate infrastructure. Northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq became the Khanate state of Kurdistan.It was a campaign reminiscent of the 13th century Mongol conquest, not a modern military struggle. Whole villages were eradicated. The entire Arab population of Mosul was exiled to the new territories in the East. The city was repopulated with Kurds from Turkey. Back in Turkey, those Kurds were replaced by Armenians from Azerbaijan, cauterizing another internal issue within the Khanate.Jordan was cautiously hopeful. Israel? "We don't seem to be having problems with Hezbollah anymore," with a shrug and "it could be worse." As for ISIS; there really was an Islamic State controlling more than half of Iraq and all of Syria now and it allowed no other pretenders to that distinction. By the time the world woke up to that reality though, the Great Hunt had happened and I was dealing with the consequences of that.A larger ideological and political matter was occurring in the United States, the United Kingdom (and to a limited extent Australia and Canada). The Ramshackle Empire (aka the Khanate) was just that ~ a Frankenstein nation fueled more by nationalistic pride and nostalgia for a Super-State (that only two living people had firsthand experience with) than an integrated armed forces and infrastructure.It may have been built upon more than a 13th century creation and two hundred years of real and imagined oppression. It did have long term planning and real genius driving it forward. Having throttled the PRC into giving them six precious months of peace to 'tidy up the backyard' (aka the Middle East and Russia) and forge a true nation, the Khanate was now hiring experts to aid them in the task.First and foremost, Temujin and the Earth & Sky had envisioned an armed state built upon military principles and discipline. Fate had delivered to them the means of their own salvation in the form of NATO's policy of disarmament and 'Reduction-In-Force' levels (RIFed).The US and UK had trained tens of thousands of male and female volunteers in their Armed Forces in infrastructure creation and management for the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. From 2010, those militaries had informed those experts that their services were no longer required. Unlike the shrinking militaries of the 1990's, there was no private sector to 'soak up' the majority of those personnel.The Earth & Sky had been working on the problem of nation-building on a time table and they kept coming up short. They had to fight to create their state first, so the all-important after-battle had been something their leaders dreaded. Temujin had been understanding about not everything being 100% ready. Few wars were fought that way.Then a young male Amazon of mixed Magyar ancestry talked history with the Earth & Sky representative to a seemingly inconsequential personage's funeral. A few critical E&S leaders (a minority, to be sure) immediately sought ways to cultivate this man into what was a ten year plan to open doors to the Amazons. Then that man saved the Great Khan's life and everything changed.Before the E&S had even remotely considered directly approaching the Amazons for help, the Amazons came knocking on their door. The Seven Pillars of Heaven had tried to kidnap a camp full of Amazon children ~ an assault on their future. The two secret societies were bound by one unique, fortunate idiot and a mutual thirst for vengeance.They were also directed by two incredibly foresighted, ambitious and brilliant people. In Katrina of Epona, the E&S elders found someone who equaled their hope to see the Seven Pillars humbled and humbled immediately. Moreover, these were the Amazons they were dealing with. Amazons always sought both lightning decisions and long term solutions.From the moment Iskender left his third meeting with Cáel Nyilas, Katrina put the fruits of the First Directive (the Amazons efforts to recruit militant outsider women) into overdrive. Havenstone had the apparatus in place to screen potential inductees. All they had to do was add a "can you suggest any other people who might be interested in this line of work" box to their employment forms.That brought men into the process in surprising numbers. The market was flush with military veterans having trouble readjusting to the civilian community. The Khanate wasn't hiring killers. They wanted ex-military and civilian police officers to create a national police force.They also wanted engineers and builders, cadres for their cadet corps and a whole range of specialist in jobs most of the Western World took for granted. The money came from off-shore accounts funded by Havenstone International. The employment opportunities came from Earth & Sky front companies operating in the UK and the US (and Israel, but that was another matter).They had already started hiring scores of civilian English-speaking experts to help build their newborn nation's infrastructure before the first blow landed. English hadn't been chosen out of any cultural bias. Relying on Russian and Chinese sources wasn't feasible, the Khanate wasn't overly linguistically gifted where distant tongues were concerned and, as pointed out, the English-speaking world had a glut of applicants.Now to the problem, there were people in the US and UK who weren't happy with their citizenry going to the Khanate and helping them to survive and thrive. These power groups wanted the Mongol-Turkish Empire to keep the resources flowing to the West, without any reciprocal commitment on their part.Imagine their surprise when some wonks at the State Department and Foreign Ministries found bundles of expedited passport requests to the (former) nations of Turkmenistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Mongolia (and later Afghanistan and Iraq). The Department of Defense  Ministry of Defense were discovering their former military personnel and civilian contractors with Security Clearances were heading the same way.Of all those destinations, only Mongolia and Kazakhstan were under any kind of 'Restricted Travel' advisories. Barring any coherent anti-Khanate strategy from their administrations, the bureaucracies were doing their jobs, with Havenstone exerting just enough influence to get the job done while flying beneath the radar.After JIKIT was created, the group had a US Senator greasing the wheels to get the requests expedited. In England, Lady Worthington-Burke shamelessly used the people at the other end of the O'Shea hotline to get the job done overseas. She did have to sell out a teammate, but that was what good boys were for ~ taking one for the team. (That would be me, if there was any misunderstanding.)When Cáel Nyilas was kidnapped under the watchful eye of the FBI (I wasn't sure how they got that bum-wrap), the whole situation exploded. The PRC didn't have me, yet promised they might produce me if certain concessions were made. According to Addison, I was worth 5,000 barrels a day of refined fuel oil and 50 tons of coal a month, and the Great Khan agreed to pay! Woot! I was loved by somebody who was a somebody.All that attention drove home some salient points. I was a noble scion of Ireland, Romania, Georgia and Armenia (in no particular order) and they all wanted to know why the US had let me be kidnapped. Didn't my president know I was a sacred national treasure? After JIKIT tracked down the bribes and clandestine activities to Chinese shell corporations, those powers wanted to know what sanctions would be applied.'But wait, wasn't I a private citizen?' my national leaders pleaded. Then the PRC made a case which boiled down to 'I had it coming for being a fiancé to Hana Sulkanen and a brother to the Great Khan', while ignoring me being snatched in the territorial US of A. Of course, they didn't claim to have actually done the kidnapping.Javiera was waiting on that one; 'What was their excuse for kidnapping a little US girl to force my compliance?' The furious Federal authorities even found two dead adult bodies and two digits from said child to add to the media frenzy. To prove I had migrated to fantasy land, the CNN journalist got it right ~ they had tortured the girl and I had killed two of them for it. Just ask the Romanian Army how lethal I could be.In a rare comment, Temujin informed the international press that he believed I was still alive. Why did he believe that? If I wasn't, they would have been able to spot the pile of dead enemy around me and my 'boon companion' (go Aya!) from orbit. Until they discovered this carnal pit from Hell, I was surely still alive.Just at the cusp of turning publically against the Mongol barbarians, the world suddenly got angry with their enemy, the PRC. The principal two Western regimes were paralyzed with indecision until my miraculous cry for help from the middle of the Pacific showed the world I was alive, had punished my enemies and rescued others from under the opponent's cruel thumb.Clearly if I started ranting against the People's Republic of China, my government would be rather peeved with me. I hadn't screwed a dozen poli-sci majors to miss out on that obvious situation. I behaved and hoped they wouldn't make me die from an embolism, or some other equally implausible cause.(DC is a marvel. 9 pm, Monday, August 18th. 21 days)I'd been dragged to DC, to honor promises made in Rome a week ago. I had another choice; I could have justifiably said I was still getting over my kidnapping ordeal. But that choice fucked over Javiera Castello, my boss at JIKIT (Joint International Khanate Interim Task force).That was how I ended up in a 'secret and secure' meeting with Tony Blinken, Deputy National Security Advisor (DNSA) and his experts. He was someone I didn't know. The rest, I'd had a verbal run-in with them after the Romanian bloodbath. I'd been cranky. I would hardly consider us to be on good terms now.All four experts were from the US State Department. They were foregoing their usual group of flunkies because this meeting wasn't really happening. All the participants were officially somewhere else, mostly not even in D.C. Had this soiree 'really happened', the Congressional sub-committees would have been able to request the minutes of Tony's meeting with members of JIKIT and:·         Victoria Nuland, Ass. Sec. of State for European & Eurasian Affairs (ASSEEA)·         Robert O. Blake Jr., Ass. Sec. of State for S & C Asian Affairs (ASSCAA)·         Daniel R. Russel, Ass. Sec. of State for E. Asian and Pacific Affairs (ASSEAP)·         Bill A. Miller, Director of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) (aka Big Willy)We made stiff, formal introductions (which signaled the utter lack of trust in the room.) Javiera hadn't wanted to put me through an interrogation this soon after my near-death experience, considering my snarky nature when stressed. The White House was putting the squeeze on her. The main player was Tony, who talked with the Leader of the Free World on a weekly, if not daily, basis.The Diplomatic Security Service people had successfully peeled off Pamela and my SD Amazons only after they agreed I could keep Aya. They tolerated me keeping the nine-year old girl despite the obvious fact she had gone through worse hardships than I had endured and was still packing her Chinese QSW-06 suppressed pistol.I had already fabricated and submitted my report on how I'd overcome a plane-full of rogue delinquents from the Forumi i Rinis  Eurosocialiste t  Shqip ris  (Euro-socialist Youth Forum of Albania) bent on recruiting impressionable European socialites by accessing my Twitter account.That's right, the Albanians had it out for me. I reiterated that critical bit of data to the Department of Homeland Security when they questioned me on the veracity of my memories. The two ethnic Chinese I was found with? I thought they were from Taiwan, and they both appeared to be suffering from amnesia.I was already suffering repercussions from my pathological refusal to take life seriously. Javiera believed I was about to get a formal apology from Ferit Hoxha, Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations. Damn it! Now I had to do something nice for the Albanians. Maybe I'd offer them membership in the Khanate, full-statehood with an economic package to sweeten the deal.Yes, that was how Albania and Kosovo joined the Khanate, a product of my love for exaggeration and a little post-Ottoman solidarity over Tarator (cold soup made of yoghurt, garlic, parsley, cucumber, salt and olive oil with a side of fried squids), Tav  Kosi (lamb meatballs) and Flia & Kaymak (a dessert I highly recommend).We had toasted the Pillars of Kanun (Albanian oral law and tradition): ~ Nderi (honor), Mikpritja (hospitality), Sjellja (Right Conduct) and Fis (Kin Loyalty), ~ and he promised to tell his people that I had Besa which was an Albanian-ism for being a man who would honor his word of honor (despite us being brought together by my lie). The shit-ton of financial and military aid I asked the Great Khan to sweeten the pot with might have helped as well.Later, Lady Yum-Yum told me that the military leaders of NATO called it a 'master-stroke' in neutralizing Comrade Putin's Russian-backed 'Greek threat

But Malaysians’ love affair with the fruit persists. Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in. Talk about what’s new with Johor nowadays and one usually ends up with a five-letter acronym - JSSEZ, or the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. But all the excitement about rising opportunities has also hastened the demise of what traditionally has juiced up Johor’s economy - pineapple farms. Land packed with the hardy, spiky fruits is making way for more profitable oil palm plantations, data centres as well as other commercial and industrial activities. Malaysia is not giving up on pineapples though, as it's the No 2 export fruit after the mighty durian. Sarawak has earmarked 20,000 hectares just for growing the fruit. In this episode, ST’s foreign editor Li Xueying speaks with Malaysia correspondent Lu Wei Hoong about his love affair with pineapples and why it means so much to Malaysians. Highlights (click/tap above): 0:56 A special fruit to Malaysians 5:00 The closure of Lee’s Pineapple Juice 7:03 The rise of data centres 12:42 From Johor to Singapore: The pineapple connection Read Lu Wei Hoong’s article here: https://str.sg/zby2 Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Host: Li Xueying (xueying@sph.com.sg) Edited by: Fa’izah Sani Executive producer: Ernest Luis Follow Asian Insider on Fridays here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 ST Podcasts website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa — Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

But Malaysians’ love affair with the fruit persists. Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in. Talk about what’s new with Johor nowadays and one usually ends up with a five-letter acronym - JSSEZ, or the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. But all the excitement about rising opportunities has also hastened the demise of what traditionally has juiced up Johor’s economy - pineapple farms. Land packed with the hardy, spiky fruits is making way for more profitable oil palm plantations, data centres as well as other commercial and industrial activities. Malaysia is not giving up on pineapples though, as it's the No 2 export fruit after the mighty durian. Sarawak has earmarked 20,000 hectares just for growing the fruit. In this episode, ST’s foreign editor Li Xueying speaks with Malaysia correspondent Lu Wei Hoong about his love affair with pineapples and why it means so much to Malaysians. Highlights (click/tap above): 0:56 A special fruit to Malaysians 5:00 The closure of Lee’s Pineapple Juice 7:03 The rise of data centres 12:42 From Johor to Singapore: The pineapple connection Read Lu Wei Hoong’s article here: https://str.sg/zby2 Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters Host: Li Xueying (xueying@sph.com.sg) Edited by: Fa’izah Sani Executive producer: Ernest Luis Follow Asian Insider on Fridays here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 ST Podcasts website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts ST Podcasts YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa — Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- #STAsianInsiderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For years, Indigenous communities in Sarawak have fought to protect their ancestral lands from unsustainable logging, challenging industry practices and certification schemes that failed to recognise their rights. Their persistence has led to a victory that saw contested logging concessions lose their certification, marking a turning point in the push for stronger protections. We speak with Celine Lim, Managing Director of Save Rivers, to find out more how the Stop The Chop campaign played a huge part in this, and what this latest update means for community-led conservation. We also discuss the flaws in Malaysia's timber certification system, and what's next in the fight for Indigenous land rights.Image Credit: The Borneo ProjectSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

HOTEL SARAWAK BERHANTU SELIMUT KENA TARIK KETIKA TIDUR | ADA ORANG PANGGIL SAYA DI TINGKAP BILIKMALAM SERAM THE HORROR TALK SHOW | DITAJA TOP EJEN HARTANAH TEAMMIRZAFAITeamMirzaFai pemenang TOP 1 Agent Hartanah sebanyak 21 kali (The Pegasus Awards). Dengan kepakaran serta pengalaman memguruskan hartanah HDB, Condo serta Landed property Mirza Subari, Fai Muni, Leha Ramli, Elfi Muni dan Amir Amzar akan memudahkan lagi proses jual beli hartanah anda. PEMILIK RUMAH BTO anda kemungkinan mempunyai harta yang lumayan hubungi TeamMirzaFai untuk ketahui berapa keuntungan menjual rumah anda. Tiada paksaan untuk membuat keputusan dan tiada bayaran untuk sebarang pertanyaan.Hubungi sekarang melalui whatsapp atau panggilan telifon 83832145, 83338555. Urusan jual beli hartanah anda menjadi mudah dan sempurna dengan TeamMirzaFai Selamat menyambut tahun 2024 semoga tahun ini KC dapat terus menyajikan lebih banyak kisah seram serta hiburan yang boleh dinikmati untuk seisi keluarga. Terima kasih atas sokongan anda pada tahun 2023 KC amat menghargainya! Jom Malam Seram!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/malam-seram--3347472/support.

Here's the latest news from the world of Omniglot. New language pages: Lawangan, an East Barito language spoken in Central Kalimantan Province in Indonesia. Belait, a North Bornean language spoken mainly in Brunei, and also in northern Sarawak in Malaysia. I started putting together a new phrases page containing translations of the phrase ‘So long, […]

Wir springen in dieser Folge nach Borneo. Im 19. Jahrhundert begründet dort ein britischer Abenteurer eine Dynastie, die über mehr als hundert Jahre Bestand haben sollte. Wir sprechen darüber, wie es dazu kam, was das für das kleine Königreich Sarawak bedeutete und wie die Dynastie schließlich, unter Rajah Vyner und Ranee Sylvia ihr Ende fand. // Erwähnte Folgen - GAG349: Konstantin Phaulkon im Königreich Ayutthaya – https://gadg.fm/349 - GAG352: Wallace und das Rennen um die Evolutionstheorie – https://gadg.fm/352 - GAG445: Alexandra David-Néel – https://gadg.fm/445 - GAG290: Der Angriff der Leichten Brigade – https://gadg.fm/290 // Literatur - Kaur, Amarjit. “The Babbling Brookes: Economic Change in Sarawak 1841-1941.” Modern Asian Studies 29, no. 1 (1995): 65–109. - Middleton, Alex. “Rajah Brooke and the Victorians.” The Historical Journal 53, no. 2 (2010): 381–400. - Philip Eade. Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters: An Outrageous Englishwoman and Her Lost Kingdom. Hachette UK, 2018. - Tarling, Nicholas. Britain, the Brookes, and Brunei. Kuala Lumpur, New York, Oxford University Press, 1971. http://archive.org/details/britainbrookesbr0000tarl Das Episodenbild zeigt James Brooke auf einem Gemälde aus dem Jahr 1846. //Aus unserer Werbung Du möchtest mehr über unsere Werbepartner erfahren? Hier findest du alle Infos & Rabatte: https://linktr.ee/GeschichtenausderGeschichte //Wir haben auch ein Buch geschrieben: Wer es erwerben will, es ist überall im Handel, aber auch direkt über den Verlag zu erwerben: https://www.piper.de/buecher/geschichten-aus-der-geschichte-isbn-978-3-492-06363-0 Wer Becher, T-Shirts oder Hoodies erwerben will: Die gibt's unter https://geschichte.shop Wer unsere Folgen lieber ohne Werbung anhören will, kann das über eine kleine Unterstützung auf Steady oder ein Abo des GeschichteFM-Plus Kanals auf Apple Podcasts tun. Wir freuen uns, wenn ihr den Podcast bei Apple Podcasts oder wo auch immer dies möglich ist rezensiert oder bewertet. Wir freuen uns auch immer, wenn ihr euren Freundinnen und Freunden, Kolleginnen und Kollegen oder sogar Nachbarinnen und Nachbarn von uns erzählt! Du möchtest Werbung in diesem Podcast schalten? Dann erfahre hier mehr über die Werbemöglichkeiten bei Seven.One Audio: https://www.seven.one/portfolio/sevenone-audio

Happy Merdeka to our Malaysian fans! Today's stories are all from Malaysia and submitted by Stephy and Connie. We've got 6 stories to keep you entertained and spooked out this Friday. New York Hotel from JB, and abandoned Malaysian theme park, beach hotel in Sarawak, a grandfather's house in Mukah, Borneo, and an underground carpark in Kuching. We may debate about whose cooks better nasi lemak or laksa, but when it comes to ghost stories, we all love a good supernatural confession from Malaysia.  Enjoy! Supernatural Confessions was created and produced by Eugene Tay. If you would like to support this channel, do consider backing us on ⁠Patreon⁠ [www.patreons.com/supernaturalconfessions]. Weekly featured confession videos are live shows are streamed on ⁠YouTube⁠ [www.youtube.com/supernaturalconfessions]. Merchandise available on our ⁠website⁠ [www.supernaturalconfessions.com]

Chinese and UK applicants lead the pack as 450 successful applicants secure Sarawak RM90 mil in deposits ahead of the upcoming changesView the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here.

The changing political dynamics at the federal government have led to renewed attention on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and what Sabah & Sarawak are entitled to under the historic deal. A key contention is whether the MA63 grants Sabah and Sarawak a right to hold 35% of seats in Parliament. We'll hear both sides of the argument today from two prominent academics that have commented extensively on the issue - Dr. James Chin of the University of Tasmania & Dr. Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University.Image Credit: Labor Studio / Shutterstock.com

Sarawak changes S-MM2H deposit threshold, income rules, new fees, and agent licensing criteria from January 1, 2025.View the full article here.Subscribe to the IMI Daily newsletter here.

On this episode of the pod, my guest is David Cayley, a Toronto-based Canadian writer and broadcaster. For more than thirty years (1981-2012) he made radio documentaries for CBC Radio One's program Ideas, which premiered in 1965 under the title The Best Ideas You'll Hear Tonight. In 1966, at the age of twenty, Cayley joined the Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO), one of the many volunteer organizations that sprang up in the 1960's to promote international development. Two years later, back in Canada, he began to associate with a group of returned volunteers whose experiences had made them, like himself, increasingly quizzical about the idea of development. In 1968 in Chicago, he heard a lecture given by Ivan Illich and in 1970 he and others brought Illich to Toronto for a teach-in called “Crisis in Development.” This was the beginning of their long relationship: eighteen years later Cayley invited Illich to do a series of interviews for CBC Radio's Ideas. Cayley is the author of Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey (2022), Ideas on the Nature of Science (2009), The Rivers North of the Future: The Testament of Ivan Illich (2004), Puppet Uprising (2003),The Expanding Prison: The Crisis in Crime and Punishment and the Search for Alternatives (1998), George Grant in Conversation (1995), Northrop Frye in Conversation (1992), Ivan Illich in Conversation (1992), and The Age of Ecology (1990).Show Notes:The Early Years with Ivan IllichThe Good Samaritan StoryFalling out of a HomeworldThe Corruption of the Best is the Worst (Corruptio Optimi Pessima)How Hospitality Becomes HostilityHow to Live in ContradictionRediscovering the FutureThe Pilgrimage of SurpriseFriendship with the OtherHomework:Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey (Penn State Press) - Paperback Now Available!David Cayley's WebsiteThe Rivers North of the Future (House of Anansi Press)Ivan Illich | The Corruption of Christianity: Corruptio Optimi Pessima (2000)Charles Taylor: A Secular AgeTranscript:Chris: [00:00:00] Welcome, David, to the End of Tourism Podcast. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. David: Likewise. Thank you. Chris: I'm very grateful to have you joining me today. And I'm curious if you could offer our listeners a little glimpse into where you find yourself today and what the world looks like for you through the lenses of David Cayley.David: Gray and wet. In Toronto, we've had a mild winter so far, although we did just have some real winter for a couple of weeks. So, I'm at my desk in my house in downtown Toronto. Hmm. Chris: Hmm. Thank you so much for joining us, David. You know, I came to your work quite long ago.First through the book, The Rivers North of the Future, The Testament of Ivan Illich. And then through your long standing tenure as the host of CBC Ideas in Canada. I've also just finished reading your newest book, Ivan Illich, An Intellectual Journey. For me, which has been a clear and comprehensive homage [00:01:00] to that man's work.And so, from what I understand from the reading, you were a friend of Illich's as well as the late Gustavo Esteva, a mutual friend of ours, who I interviewed for the podcast shortly before his death in 2021. Now, since friendship is one of the themes I'd like to approach with you today, I'm wondering if you could tell us about how you met these men and what led you to writing a biography of the former, of Ivan.David: Well, let me answer about Ivan first. I met him as a very young man. I had spent two years living in northern Borneo, eastern Malaysia, the Malaysian state of Sarawak. As part of an organization called the Canadian University Service Overseas, which many people recognize only when it's identified with the Peace Corps. It was a similar initiative or the VSO, very much of the time.And When I returned to [00:02:00] Toronto in 1968, one of the first things I saw was an essay of Ivan's. It usually circulates under the name he never gave it, which is, "To Hell With Good Intentions." A talk he had given in Chicago to some young volunteers in a Catholic organization bound for Mexico.And it made sense to me in a radical and surprising way. So, I would say it began there. I went to CDOC the following year. The year after that we brought Ivan to Toronto for a teach in, in the fashion of the time, and he was then an immense celebrity, so we turned people away from a 600 seat theater that night when he lectured in Toronto.I kept in touch subsequently through reading mainly and we didn't meet again until the later 1980s when he came to Toronto.[00:03:00] He was then working on, in the history of literacy, had just published a book called ABC: the Alphabetization of the Western Mind. And that's where we became more closely connected. I went later that year to State College, Pennsylvania, where he was teaching at Penn State, and recorded a long interview, radically long.And made a five-hour Ideas series, but by a happy chance, I had not thought of this, his friend Lee Hoinacki asked for the raw tapes, transcribed them, and eventually that became a published book. And marked an epoch in Ivan's reception, as well as in my life because a lot of people responded to the spoken or transcribed Illich in a way that they didn't seem to be able to respond to his writing, which was scholastically condensed, let's [00:04:00] say.I always found it extremely congenial and I would even say witty in the deep sense of wit. But I think a lot of people, you know, found it hard and so the spoken Illich... people came to him, even old friends and said, you know, "we understand you better now." So, the following year he came to Toronto and stayed with us and, you know, a friendship blossomed and also a funny relationship where I kept trying to get him to express himself more on the theme of the book you mentioned, The Rivers North of the Future, which is his feeling that modernity, in the big sense of modernity can be best understood as perversionism. A word that he used, because he liked strong words, but it can be a frightening word."Corruption" also has its difficulties, [00:05:00] but sometimes he said "a turning inside out," which I like very much, or "a turning upside down" of the gospel. So, when the world has its way with the life, death and resurrection and teaching of Jesus Christ which inevitably becomes an institution when the world has its way with that.The way leads to where we are. That was his radical thought. And a novel thought, according to the philosopher Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher, who was kind enough to write a preface to that book when it was published, and I think very much aided its reception, because people knew who Charles Taylor was, and by then, they had kind of forgotten who Ivan Illich was.To give an example of that, when he died, the New York [00:06:00] Times obituary was headlined "Priest turned philosopher appealed to baby boomers in the 60s." This is yesterday's man, in other words, right? This is somebody who used to be important. So, I just kept at him about it, and eventually it became clear he was never going to write that book for a whole variety of reasons, which I won't go into now.But he did allow me to come to Cuernavaca, where he was living, and to do another very long set of interviews, which produced that book, The Rivers North of the Future. So that's the history in brief. The very last part of that story is that The Rivers North of the Future and the radio series that it was based on identifies themes that I find to be quite explosive. And so, in a certain way, the book you mentioned, Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey, [00:07:00] was destined from the moment that I recorded those conversations. Chris: Hmm, yeah, thank you, David. So much of what you said right there ends up being the basis for most of my questions today, especially around the corruption or the perversion what perhaps iatrogenesis also termed as iatrogenesis But much of what I've also come to ask today, stems and revolves around Illich's reading of the Good Samaritan story, so I'd like to start there, if that's alright.And you know, for our listeners who aren't familiar either with the story or Illich's take on it, I've gathered some small excerpts from An Intellectual Journey so that they might be on the same page, so to speak. So, from Ivan Illich, An Intellectual Journey:"jesus tells the story after he has been asked how to, quote, 'inherit eternal life,' end quote, and has replied that one must love God and one's neighbor, [00:08:00] quote, 'as oneself,' but, quote, who is my neighbor? His interlocutor wants to know. Jesus answers with his tale of a man on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho, who is beset by robbers, beaten, and left, quote, 'half dead' by the side of the road.Two men happen along, but, quote, 'pass by on the other side.' One is a priest and the other a Levite, a group that assisted the priests at the Great Temple, which, at that time, dominated the landscape of Jerusalem from the Temple Mount. Then, a Samaritan comes along. The Samaritans belonged to the estranged northern kingdom of Israel, and did not worship at the Temple.Tension between the Samaritans and the Judeans in the Second Temple period gives the name a significance somewhere between 'foreigner' and 'enemy.' [00:09:00] In contemporary terms, he was, as Illich liked to say, 'a Palestinian.' The Samaritan has, quote, 'compassion' on the wounded one. He stops, binds his wounds, takes him to an inn where he can convalesce and promises the innkeeper that he will return to pay the bill.'And so Jesus concludes by asking, 'Which of the three passers by was the neighbor?'Illich claimed that this parable had been persistently misunderstood as a story about how one ought to act. He had surveyed sermons from the 3rd through 19th centuries, he said, 'and found a broad consensus that what was being proposed was a, quote, rule of conduct.' But this interpretation was, in fact, quote, 'the opposite of what Jesus wanted to point out.'He had not been asked how to act toward a neighbor, but rather, 'who is my neighbor?' And he had replied, [00:10:00] scandalously, that it could be anyone at all. The choice of the Samaritan as the hero of the tale said, 'in effect, it is impossible to categorize who your neighbor might be.' The sense of being called to help the other is experienced intermittently and not as an unvarying obligation.A quote, 'new kind of ought has been established,' Illich says, which is not related to a norm. It has a telos, it aims at somebody, some body, but not according to a rule. And finally, The Master told them that who your neighbor is is not determined by your birth, by your condition, by the language which you speak, but by you.You can recognize the other man who is out of bounds culturally, who is foreign linguistically, who, you can [00:11:00] say by providence or pure chance, is the one who lies somewhere along your road in the grass and create the supreme form of relatedness, which is not given by creation, but created by you. Any attempt to explain this 'ought,' as correspond, as, as corresponding to a norm, takes out the mysterious greatness from this free act.And so, I think there are at least, at the very least, a few major points to take away from this little summary I've extracted. One, that the ability to choose one's neighbor, breaks the boundaries of ethnicity at the time, which were the bases for understanding one's identity and people and place in the world.And two, that it creates a new foundation for hospitality and interculturality. And so I'm [00:12:00] curious, David, if you'd be willing to elaborate on these points as you understand them.David: Well if you went a little farther on in that part of the book, you'd find an exposition of a German teacher and writer and professor, Claus Held, that I found very helpful in understanding what Ivan was saying. Held is a phenomenologist and a follower of Husserl, but he uses Husserl's term of the home world, right, that each of us has a home world. Mm-Hmm. Which is our ethnos within which our ethics apply.It's a world in which we can be at home and in which we can somehow manage, right? There are a manageable number of people to whom we are obliged. We're not universally obliged. So, what was interesting about Held's analysis is then the condition in which the wounded [00:13:00] man lies is, he's fallen outside of any reference or any home world, right?Nobody has to care for him. The priest and the Levite evidently don't care for him. They have more important things to do. The story doesn't tell you why. Is he ritually impure as one apparently dead is? What? You don't know. But they're on their way. They have other things to do. So the Samaritan is radically out of line, right?He dares to enter this no man's land, this exceptional state in which the wounded man lies, and he does it on the strength of a feeling, right? A stirring inside him. A call. It's definitely a bodily experience. In Ivan's language of norms, it's not a norm. It's not a duty.It's [00:14:00] not an obligation. It's not a thought. He's stirred. He is moved to do what he does and he cares for him and takes him to the inn and so on. So, the important thing in it for me is to understand the complementarity that's involved. Held says that if you try and develop a set of norms and ethics, however you want to say it, out of the Samaritan's Act, it ends up being radically corrosive, it ends up being radically corrosive damaging, destructive, disintegrating of the home world, right? If everybody's caring for everybody all the time universally, you're pretty soon in the maddening world, not pretty soon, but in a couple of millennia, in the maddening world we live in, right? Where people Can tell you with a straight face that their actions are intended to [00:15:00] save the planet and not experience a sense of grandiosity in saying that, right?Not experiencing seemingly a madness, a sense of things on a scale that is not proper to any human being, and is bound, I think, to be destructive of their capacity to be related to what is at hand. So, I think what Ivan is saying in saying this is a new kind of ought, right, it's the whole thing of the corruption of the best is the worst in a nutshell because as soon as you think you can operationalize that, you can turn everyone into a Samaritan and You, you begin to destroy the home world, right?You begin to destroy ethics. You begin to, or you transform ethics into something which is a contradiction of ethics. [00:16:00] So, there isn't an answer in it, in what he says. There's a complementarity, right? Hmm. There's the freedom to go outside, but if the freedom to go outside destroys any inside, then, what have you done?Right? Hmm. You've created an unlivable world. A world of such unending, such unimaginable obligation, as one now lives in Toronto, you know, where I pass homeless people all the time. I can't care for all of them. So, I think it's also a way of understanding for those who contemplate it that you really have to pay attention.What are you called to, right? What can you do? What is within your amplitude? What is urgent for you? Do that thing, right? Do not make yourself mad with [00:17:00] impossible charity. A charity you don't feel, you can't feel, you couldn't feel. Right? Take care of what's at hand, what you can take care of. What calls you.Chris: I think this comes up quite a bit these days. Especially, in light of international conflicts, conflicts that arise far from people's homes and yet the demand of that 'ought' perhaps of having to be aware and having to have or having to feel some kind of responsibility for these things that are happening in other places that maybe, It's not that they don't have anything to do with us but that our ability to have any kind of recourse for what happens in those places is perhaps flippant, fleeting, and even that we're stretched to the point that we can't even tend and attend to what's happening in front of us in our neighborhoods.And so, I'm curious as to how this came to be. You mentioned "the corruption" [00:18:00] and maybe we could just define that, if possible for our listeners this notion of "the corruption of the best is the worst." Would you be willing to do that? Do you think that that's an easy thing to do? David: I've been trying for 30 years.I can keep on trying. I really, I mean, that was the seed of everything. At the end of the interview we did in 1988, Ivan dropped that little bomb on me. And I was a diligent man, and I had prepared very carefully. I'd read everything he'd written and then at the very end of the interview, he says the whole history of the West can be summed up in the phrase, Corruptio Optimi Pessima.He was quite fluent in Latin. The corruption of the best is the worst. And I thought, wait a minute, the whole history of the West? This is staggering. So, yes, I've been reflecting on it for a long time, but I think there are many ways to speak [00:19:00] about the incarnation, the idea that God is present and visible in the form of a human being, that God indeed is a human being in the person of Jesus Christ.One way is to think of it as a kind of nuclear explosion of religion. Religion had always been the placation of a god. Right? A sacrifice of some kind made to placate a god. Now the god is present. It could be you. Jesus is explicit about it, and I think that is the most important thing for Iman in reading the gospel, is that God appears to us as one another.Hmm. If you can put it, one another in the most general sense of that formula. So, that's explosive, right? I mean, religion, in a certain way, up to that moment, is society. It's the [00:20:00] integument of every society. It's the nature of the beast to be religious in the sense of having an understanding of how you're situated and in what order and with what foundation that order exists. It's not an intellectual thing. It's just what people do. Karl Barth says religion is a yoke. So, it has in a certain way exploded or been exploded at that moment but it will of course be re instituted as a religion. What else could happen? And so Ivan says, and this probably slim New Testament warrant for this, but this was his story, that in the very earliest apostolic church. They were aware of this danger, right? That Christ must be shadowed by "Antichrist," a term that Ivan was brave enough to use. The word just has a [00:21:00] terrible, terrible history. I mean, the Protestants abused the Catholics with the name of Antichrist. Luther rages against the Pope as antichrist.Hmm. And the word persists now as a kind of either as a sign of evangelical dogmatism, or maybe as a joke, right. When I was researching it, I came across a book called "How to Tell If Your Boyfriend Is The Antichrist." Mm-Hmm. It's kind of a jokey thing in a way, in so far as people know, but he dared to use it as to say the antichrist is simply the instituted Christ.Right. It's not anything exotic. It's not anything theological. It's the inevitable worldly shadow of there being a Christ at all. And so that's, that's the beginning of the story. He, he claims that the church loses sight of this understanding, loses sight of the basic [00:22:00] complementarity or contradiction that's involved in the incarnation in the first place.That this is something that can never be owned, something that can never be instituted, something that can only happen again and again and again within each one. So, but heaven can never finally come to earth except perhaps in a story about the end, right? The new heaven and the new earth, the new Jerusalem come down from heaven.Fine. That's at the end, not now. So that's the gist of what he, what he said. He has a detailed analysis of the stages of that journey, right? So, within your theme of hospitality the beginnings of the church becoming a social worker in the decaying Roman Empire. And beginning to develop institutions of hospitality, [00:23:00] places for all the flotsam and jetsam of the decaying empire.And then in a major way from the 11th through the 13th century, when the church institutes itself as a mini or proto state, right? With a new conception of law. Every element of our modernity prefigured in the medieval church and what it undertook, according to Ivan. This was all news to me when he first said it to me.So yeah, the story goes on into our own time when I think one of the primary paradoxes or confusions that we face is that most of the people one meets and deals with believe themselves to be living after Christianity and indeed to great opponents of Christianity. I mean, nothing is more important in Canada now than to denounce residential schools, let's say, right? Which were [00:24:00] the schools for indigenous children, boarding schools, which were mainly staffed by the church, right?So, the gothic figure of the nun, the sort of vulpine, sinister. That's the image of the church, right? So you have so many reasons to believe that you're after that. You've woken up, you're woke. And, and you see that now, right? So you don't In any way, see yourself as involved in this inversion of the gospel which has actually created your world and which is still, in so many ways, you.So, leftists today, if I'm using the term leftists very, very broadly, "progressives," people sometimes say, "woke," people say. These are all in a certain way super Christians or hyper Christians, but absolutely unaware of themselves as Christians and any day you can read an analysis [00:25:00] which traces everything back to the Enlightenment.Right? We need to re institute the Enlightenment. We've forgotten the Enlightenment. We have to get back to the, right? There's nothing before the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment is the over, that's an earlier overcoming of Christianity, right? So modernity is constantly overcoming Christianity. And constantly forgetting that it's Christian.That these are the ways in which the Incarnation is working itself out. And one daren't say that it's bound to work itself out that way. Ivan will go as far as to say it's seemingly the will of God that it should work itself out that way. Right? Wow. So, that the Gospel will be preached to all nations as predicted at the end of the Gospels." Go therefore and preach to all nations," but it will not be preached in its explicit form. It will enter, as it were, through the [00:26:00] back door. So that's a very big thought. But it's a saving thought in certain ways, because it does suggest a way of unwinding, or winding up, this string of finding out how this happened.What is the nature of the misunderstanding that is being played out here? So. Chris: Wow. Yeah, I mean, I, I feel like what you just said was a kind of nuclear bomb unto its own. I remember reading, for example, James Hillman in The Terrible Love of War, and at the very end he essentially listed all, not all, but many of the major characteristics of modern people and said if you act this way, you are Christian.If you act this way, you are Christian. Essentially revealing that so much of modernity has these Christian roots. And, you know, you said in terms of this message and [00:27:00] corruption of the message going in through the back door. And I think that's what happens in terms of at least when we see institutions in the modern time, schools, hospitals, roads essentially modern institutions and lifestyles making their way into non modern places.And I'm very fascinated in this in terms of hospitality. You said that the church, and I think you're quoting Illich there, but " the church is a social worker." But also how this hospitality shows up in the early church and maybe even how they feared about what could happen as a result to this question of the incarnation.In your book it was just fascinating to read this that you said, or that you wrote, that "in the early years of Christianity it was customary in a Christian household to have an extra mattress, a bit of candle, and some dry bread in case the Lord Jesus should knock at the door in the form of a stranger without a roof, a form of behavior that was utterly [00:28:00] foreign to the cultures of the Roman Empire."In which many Christians lived. And you write, "you took in your own, but not someone lost on the street." And then later "When the emperor Constantine recognized the church, Christian bishops gained the power to establish social corporations." And this is, I think, the idea of the social worker. The church is a social worker.And you write that the first corporations they started were Samaritan corporations, which designated certain categories of people as preferred neighbors. For example, the bishops created special houses financed by the community that were charged with taking care of people without a home. Such care was no longer the free choice of the householder, it was the task of an institution.The appearance of these xenodocheia? Literally, quote, 'houses for foreigners' signified the beginning of a change in the nature of the church." And then of course you write and you mentioned this but "a gratuitous and truly [00:29:00] free choice of assisting the stranger has become an ideology and an idealism." Right. And so, this seems to be how the corruption of the Samaritan story, the corruption of breaking that threshold, or at least being able to cross it, comes to produce this incredible 'ought,' as you just kind of elaborated for us.And then this notion of, that we can't see it anymore. That it becomes this thing in the past, as you said. In other words, history. Right? And so my next question is a question that comes to some degree from our late mutual friend Gustavo, Gustavo Esteva. And I'd just like to preface it by a small sentence from An Intellectual Journey where he wrote that, "I think that limit, in Illich, is always linked to nemesis, or to what Jung calls [00:30:00] enantiodromia, his Greek word for the way in which any tendency, when pushed too far, can turn into its opposite. And so, a long time ago, Illich once asked Gustavo if he could identify a word that could describe the era after development, or perhaps after development's death.And Gustavo said, "hospitality." And so, much later, in a private conversation with Gustavo, in the context of tourism and gentrification, the kind that was beginning to sweep across Oaxaca at the time, some years ago, he told me that he considered "the sale of one's people's radical or local hospitality as a kind of invitation to hostility in the place and within the ethnos that one lives in."Another way of saying it might be that the subversion and absence of hospitality in a place breeds or can breed hostility.[00:31:00] I'm curious what you make of his comment in the light of limits, enantiodromia and the corruption that Illich talks about.David: Well I'd like to say one thing which is the thought I was having while you, while you were speaking because at the very beginning I mentioned a reservation a discomfort with words like perversion and corruption. And the thought is that it's easy to understand Illich as doing critique, right? And it's easy then to moralize that critique, right? And I think it's important that he's showing something that happens, right? And that I daren't say bound to happen, but is likely to happen because of who and what we are, that we will institutionalize, that we will make rules, that we will, right?So, I think it's important to rescue Ivan from being read [00:32:00] moralistically, or that you're reading a scold here, right? Hmm. Right. I mean, and many social critics are or are read as scolds, right? And contemporary people are so used to being scolded that they, and scold themselves very regularly. So, I just wanted to say that to rescue Ivan from a certain kind of reading. You're quoting Gustavo on the way in which the opening up of a culture touristically can lead to hostility, right? Right. And I think also commenting on the roots of the words are the same, right? "hostile," "hospice." They're drawing on the same, right?That's right. It's how one treats the enemy, I think. Hmm. It's the hinge. Hmm. In all those words. What's the difference between hospitality and hostility?[00:33:00] So, I think that thought is profound and profoundly fruitful. So, I think Gustavo had many resources in expressing it.I couldn't possibly express it any better. And I never answered you at the beginning how I met Gustavo, but on that occasion in 1988 when I was interviewing Illich, they were all gathered, a bunch of friends to write what was called The Development Dictionary, a series of essays trying to write an epilogue to the era of development.So, Gustavo, as you know, was a charming man who spoke a peculiarly beautiful English in which he was fluent, but somehow, you could hear the cadence of Spanish through it without it even being strongly accented. So I rejoiced always in interviewing Gustavo, which I did several times because he was such a pleasure to listen to.But anyway, I've digressed. Maybe I'm ducking your question. Do you want to re ask it or? Chris: Sure. [00:34:00] Yeah, I suppose. You know although there were a number of essays that Gustavo wrote about hospitality that I don't believe have been published they focused quite a bit on this notion of individual people, but especially communities putting limits on their hospitality.And of course, much of this hospitality today comes in the form of, or at least in the context of tourism, of international visitors. And that's kind of the infrastructure that's placed around it. And yet he was arguing essentially for limits on hospitality. And I think what he was seeing, although it hadn't quite come to fruition yet in Oaxaca, was that the commodification, the commercialization of one's local indigenous hospitality, once it's sold, or once it's only existing for the value or money of the foreigner, in a kind of customer service worldview, that it invites this deep [00:35:00] hostility. And so do these limits show up as well in Illich's work in terms of the stranger?Right? Because so much of the Christian tradition is based in a universal fraternity, universal brotherhood. David: I said that Ivan made sense to me in my youth, as a 22 year old man. So I've lived under his influence. I took him as a master, let's say and as a young person. And I would say that probably it's true that I've never gone anywhere that I haven't been invited to go.So I, I could experience that, that I was called to be there. And he was quite the jet setter, so I was often called by him to come to Mexico or to go to Germany or whatever it was. But we live in a world that is so far away from the world that might have been, let's say, the world that [00:36:00] might be.So John Milbank, a British theologian who's Inspiring to me and a friend and somebody who I found surprisingly parallel to Illich in a lot of ways after Ivan died and died I think feeling that he was pretty much alone in some of his understandings. But John Milbank speaks of the, of recovering the future that we've lost, which is obviously have to be based on some sort of historical reconstruction. You have to find the place to go back to, where the wrong turning was, in a certain way. But meanwhile, we live in this world, right? Where even where you are, many people are dependent on tourism. Right? And to that extent they live from it and couldn't instantly do without. To do without it would be, would be catastrophic. Right? So [00:37:00] it's it's not easy to live in both worlds. Right? To live with the understanding that this is, as Gustavo says, it's bound to be a source of hostility, right?Because we can't sell what is ours as an experience for others without changing its character, right, without commodifying it. It's impossible to do. So it must be true and yet, at a certain moment, people feel that it has to be done, right? And so you have to live in in both realities.And in a certain way, the skill of living in both realities is what's there at the beginning, right? That, if you take the formula of the incarnation as a nuclear explosion, well you're still going to have religion, right? So, that's inevitable. The [00:38:00] world has changed and it hasn't changed at the same time.And that's true at every moment. And so you learn to walk, right? You learn to distinguish the gospel from its surroundings. And a story about Ivan that made a big impression on me was that when he was sent to Puerto Rico when he was still active as a priest in 1956 and became vice rector of the Catholic University at Ponce and a member of the school board.A position that he regarded as entirely political. So he said, "I will not in any way operate as a priest while I'm performing a political function because I don't want these two things to get mixed up." And he made a little exception and he bought a little shack in a remote fishing village.Just for the happiness of it, he would go there and say mass for the fishermen who didn't know anything about this other world. So, but that was[00:39:00] a radical conviction and put him at odds with many of the tendencies of his time, as for example, what came to be called liberation theology, right?That there could be a politicized theology. His view was different. His view was that the church as "She," as he said, rather than "it," had to be always distinguished, right? So it was the capacity to distinguish that was so crucial for him. And I would think even in situations where tourism exists and has the effect Gustavo supposed, the beginning of resistance to that and the beginning of a way out of it, is always to distinguish, right?To know the difference, which is a slim read, but, but faith is always a slim read and Ivan's first book, his first collection of published essays was [00:40:00] called Celebration of Awareness which is a way of saying that, what I call know the difference. Chris: So I'm going to, if I can offer you this, this next question, which comes from James, a friend in Guelph, Canada. And James is curious about the missionary mandate of Christianity emphasizing a fellowship in Christ over ethnicity and whether or not this can be reconciled with Illich's perhaps emphatic defense of local or vernacular culture.David: Well, yeah. He illustrates it. I mean, he was a worldwide guy. He was very far from his roots, which were arguably caught. He didn't deracinate himself. Hmm. He was with his mother and brothers exiled from Split in Dalmatia as a boy in the crazy atmosphere of the Thirties.But he was a tumbleweed after [00:41:00] that. Mm-Hmm. . And so, so I think we all live in that world now and this is confuses people about him. So, a historian called Todd Hart wrote a book still really the only book published in English on the history of CIDOC and Cuernavaca, in which he says Illich is anti-missionary. And he rebukes him for that and I would say that Ivan, on his assumptions cannot possibly be anti missionary. He says clearly in his early work that a Christian is a missionary or is not a Christian at all, in the sense that if one has heard the good news, one is going to share it, or one hasn't heard it. Now, what kind of sharing is that? It isn't necessarily, "you have to join my religion," "you have to subscribe to the following ten..." it isn't necessarily a catechism, it may be [00:42:00] an action. It may be a it may be an act of friendship. It may be an act of renunciation. It can be any number of things, but it has to be an outgoing expression of what one has been given, and I think he was, in that sense, always a missionary, and in many places, seeded communities that are seeds of the new church.Right? He spent well, from the time he arrived in the United States in 51, 52, till the time that he withdrew from church service in 68, he was constantly preaching and talking about a new church. And a new church, for him, involved a new relation between innovation and tradition. New, but not new.Since, when he looked back, he saw the gospel was constantly undergoing translation into new milieu, into new places, into new languages, into new forms.[00:43:00] But he encountered it in the United States as pretty much in one of its more hardened or congealed phases, right? And it was the export of that particular brand of cultural and imperialistic, because American, and America happened to be the hegemon of the moment. That's what he opposed.The translation of that into Latin America and people like to write each other into consistent positions, right? So, he must then be anti missionary across the board, right? But so I think you can be local and universal. I mean, one doesn't even want to recall that slogan of, you know, "act locally, think globally," because it got pretty hackneyed, right?And it was abused. But, it's true in a certain way that that's the only way one can be a Christian. The neighbor, you said it, I wrote it, Ivan said it, " the neighbor [00:44:00] can be anyone." Right?But here I am here now, right? So both have to apply. Both have to be true. It's again a complementary relation. And it's a banal thought in a certain way, but it seems to be the thought that I think most often, right, is that what creates a great deal of the trouble in the world is inability to think in a complementary fashion.To think within, to take contradiction as constituting the world. The world is constituted of contradiction and couldn't be constituted in any other way as far as we know. Right? You can't walk without two legs. You can't manipulate without two arms, two hands. We know the structure of our brains. Are also bilateral and everything about our language is constructed on opposition.Everything is oppositional and yet [00:45:00] when we enter the world of politics, it seems we're going to have it all one way. The church is going to be really Christian, and it's going to make everybody really Christian, or communist, what have you, right? The contradiction is set aside. Philosophy defines truth as the absence of contradiction.Hmm. Basically. Hmm. So, be in both worlds. Know the difference. Walk on two feet. That's Ivan. Chris: I love that. And I'm, I'm curious about you know, one of the themes of the podcast is exile. And of course that can mean a lot of things. In the introduction to An Intellectual Journey, you wrote that that Illich, "once he had left Split in the 30s, that he began an experience of exile that would characterize his entire life."You wrote that he had lost "not just the home, but the very possibility [00:46:00] of home." And so it's a theme that characterizes as well the podcast and a lot of these conversations around travel, migration, tourism, what does it mean to be at home and so, this, This notion of exile also shows up quite a bit in the Christian faith.And maybe this is me trying to escape the complementarity of the reality of things. But I tend to see exile as inherently I'll say damaging or consequential in a kind of negative light. And so I've been wondering about this, this exilic condition, right? It's like in the Abrahamic faith, as you write "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all begin in exile.And eventually this pattern culminates. Jesus is executed outside the gates of the city, nailed to a cross that excludes him even from his native earth." And you write that "exile is in many ways the [00:47:00] Christian condition." And so, you know, I've read that in the past, Christian monks often consider themselves to be homeless, removed from the sort of daily life of the local community in the monasteries and abbeys and yet still of a universal brotherhood. And so I'd like to ask you if you feel this exilic condition, which seems to be also a hallmark of modernity, this kind of constant uprooting this kind of as I would call it, cultural and spiritual homelessness of our time, if you think that is part of the corruption that Illich based his work around?David: Well, one can barely imagine the world in which Abram, who became Abraham said to God, no, I'm staying in Ur. Not going, I'm not going. Right? I mean, if you go back to Genesis and you re read that passage, when God shows [00:48:00] Abraham the land that he will inherit, it says already there, "there were people at that time living in the land," right?Inconvenient people, as it turns out. Palestinians. So, there's a profound contradiction here, I think. And the only way I think you can escape it is to understand the Gospel the way Ivan understood it, which is as something super added to existing local cultures, right? A leaven, right?Hmm. Not everything about a local culture or a local tradition is necessarily good. Mm hmm. And so it can be changed, right? And I would say that Illich insists that Christians are and must be missionaries. They've received something that they it's inherent in what they've [00:49:00] received that they pass it on.So the world will change, right? But Ivan says, this is in Rivers North of the Future, that it's his conviction that the Gospel could have been preached without destroying local proportions, the sense of proportion, and he put a great weight on the idea of proportionality as not just, a pleasing building or a pleasing face, but the very essence of, of how a culture holds together, right, that things are proportioned within it to one another that the gospel could have been preached without the destruction of proportions, but evidently it wasn't, because the Christians felt they had the truth and they were going to share it. They were going to indeed impose it for the good of the other.So, I think a sense of exile and a sense of home are as [00:50:00] necessary to one another as in Ivan's vision of a new church, innovation, and tradition, or almost any other constitutive couplet you can think of, right? You can't expunge exile from the tradition. But you also can't allow it to overcome the possibility of home.I mean, Ivan spoke of his own fate as a peculiar fate, right? He really anticipated the destruction of the Western culture or civilization. I mean, in the sense that now this is a lament on the political right, mainly, right? The destruction of Western civilization is something one constantly hears about.But, he, in a way, in the chaos and catastrophe of the 30s, already felt the death of old Europe. And even as a boy, I think, semi consciously at least, took the roots inside himself, took them with him [00:51:00] and for many people like me, he opened that tradition. He opened it to me. He allowed me to re inhabit it in a certain way, right?So to find intimations of home because he wasn't the only one who lost his home. Even as a man of 78, the world in which I grew up here is gone, forgotten, and to some extent scorned by younger people who are just not interested in it. And so it's through Ivan that I, in a way, recovered the tradition, right?And if the tradition is related to the sense of home, of belonging to something for good or ill, then that has to be carried into the future as best we can, right? I think Ivan was searching for a new church. He didn't think. He had found it. He didn't think he knew what it was.I don't think he [00:52:00] described certain attributes of it. Right. But above all, he wanted to show that the church had taken many forms in the past. Right. And it's worldly existence did not have to be conceived on the model of a monarchy or a parish, right, another form that he described in some early essays, right.We have to find the new form, right? It may be radically non theological if I can put it like that. It may not necessarily involve the buildings that we call churches but he believed deeply in the celebrating community. As the center, the root the essence of social existence, right? The creation of home in the absence of home, or the constant recreation of home, right? Since I mean, we will likely never again live in pure [00:53:00] communities, right? Yeah. I don't know if pure is a dangerous word, but you know what I mean?Consistent, right? Closed. We're all of one kind, right? Right. I mean, this is now a reactionary position, right? Hmm. You're a German and you think, well, Germany should be for the Germans. I mean, it can't be for the Germans, seemingly. We can't put the world back together again, right?We can't go back and that's a huge misreading of Illich, right? That he's a man who wants to go back, right? No. He was radically a man who wanted to rediscover the future. And rescue it. Also a man who once said to hell with the future because he wanted to denounce the future that's a computer model, right? All futures that are projections from the present, he wanted to denounce in order to rediscover the future. But it has to be ahead of us. It's not. And it has to recover the deposit that is behind us. So [00:54:00] both, the whole relation between past and future and indeed the whole understanding of time is out of whack.I think modern consciousness is so entirely spatialized that the dimension of time is nearly absent from it, right? The dimension of time as duration as the integument by which past, present and future are connected. I don't mean that people can't look at their watch and say, you know, "I gotta go now, I've got a twelve o'clock." you know.So, I don't know if that's an answer to James.Chris: I don't know, but it's food for thought and certainly a feast, if I may say so. David, I have two final questions for you, if that's all right, if you have time. Okay, wonderful. So, speaking of this notion of home and and exile and the complementarity of the two and you know you wrote and [00:55:00] spoke to this notion of Illich wanting to rediscover the future and he says that "we've opened a horizon on which new paradigms for thought can appear," which I think speaks to what you were saying and At some point Illich compares the opening of horizons to leaving home on a pilgrimage, as you write in your book."And not the pilgrimage of the West, which leads over a traveled road to a famed sanctuary, but rather the pilgrimage of the Christian East, which does not know where the road might lead and the journey end." And so my question is, What do you make of that distinction between these types of pilgrimages and what kind of pilgrimage do you imagine might be needed in our time?David: Well, I, I mean, I think Ivan honored the old style of pilgrimage whether it was to [00:56:00] Canterbury or Santiago or wherever it was to. But I think ivan's way of expressing the messianic was in the word surprise, right? One of the things that I think he did and which was imposed on him by his situation and by his times was to learn to speak to people in a way that did not draw on any theological resource, so he spoke of his love of surprises, right? Well, a surprise by definition is what you don't suspect, what you don't expect. Or it couldn't be a surprise.So, the The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela is very beautiful, I think. I've only ever seen pictures of it, but you must expect to see it at the end of your road. You must hope to see it at the end of your road. Well the surprise is going to be something else. Something that isn't known.[00:57:00] And it was one of his Great gifts to me that within the structure of habit and local existence, since I'm pretty rooted where I am. And my great grandfather was born within walking distance of where I am right now. He helped me to look for surprises and to accept them also, right?That you're going to show up or someone else is going to show up, right? But there's going to be someone coming and you want to look out for the one who's coming and not, but not be at all sure that you know who or what it is or which direction it's coming from. So, that was a way of life in a certain way that I think he helped others within their limitations, within their abilities, within their local situations, to see the world that way, right. That was part of what he did. Chris: Yeah, it's really beautiful and I can [00:58:00] see how in our time, in a time of increasing division and despondency and neglect, fear even, resentment of the other, that how that kind of surprise and the lack of expectation, the undermining, the subversion of expectation can find a place into perhaps the mission of our times.And so my final question comes back to friendship. and interculturality. And I have one final quote here from An Intellectual Journey, which I highly recommend everyone pick up, because it's just fascinating and blows open so many doors. David: We need to sell a few more books, because I want that book in paperback. Because I want it to be able to live on in a cheaper edition. So, yes. Chris: Of course. Thank you. Yeah. Please, please pick it up. It's worth every penny. So in An Intellectual Journey, it is written[00:59:00] by Illich that "when I submit my heart, my mind, my body, I come to be below the other. When I listen unconditionally, respectfully, courageously, with the readiness to take in the other as a radical surprise, I do something else. I bow, bend over toward the total otherness of someone. But I renounce searching for bridges between the other and me, recognizing that a gulf separates us.Leaning into this chasm makes me aware of the depth of my loneliness, and able to bear it in the light of the substantial likeness between the Other and myself. All that reaches me is the Other in His Word, which I accept on faith."And so, David at another point in the biography you quote Illich describing faith as foolish. Now assuming that faith elicits a degree of danger or [01:00:00] betrayal or that it could elicit that through a kind of total trust, is that nonetheless necessary to accept the stranger or other as they are? Or at least meet the stranger or other as they are? David: I would think so, yeah. I mean the passage you've quoted, I think to understand it, it's one of the most profound of his sayings to me and one I constantly revert to, but to accept the other in his word, or on his word, or her word, is, I think you need to know that he takes the image of the word as the name of the Lord, very, very seriously, and its primary way of referring to the Christ, is "as the Word."Sometimes explicitly, sometimes not explicitly, you have to interpret. So, when he says that he renounces looking for bridges, I think he's mainly referring [01:01:00] to ideological intermediations, right, ways in which I, in understanding you exceed my capacity. I try to change my name for you, or my category for you, changes you, right?It doesn't allow your word. And, I mean, he wasn't a man who suffered fools gladly. He had a high regard for himself and used his time in a fairly disciplined way, right? He wasn't waiting around for others in their world. So by word, what does he mean?What is the other's word? Right? It's something more fundamental than the chatter of a person. So, I think what that means is that we can be linked to one another by Christ. So that's [01:02:00] the third, right? That yes, we're alone. Right? We haven't the capacity to reach each other, except via Christ.And that's made explicit for him in the opening of Aylred of Riveau's Treatise on Friendship, which was peculiarly important to him. Aylred was an abbot at a Cistercian monastery in present day Yorkshire, which is a ruin now. But he wrote a treatise on friendship in the 12th century and he begins by addressing his brother monk, Ivo, and says, you know, " here we are, you and I, and I hope a third Christ."So, Christ is always the third, right? So, in that image of the gulf, the distance, experiencing myself and my loneliness and yet renouncing any bridge, there is still a word, the word, [01:03:00] capital W, in which a word, your word, my word, participates, or might participate. So, we are building, according to him, the body of Christ but we have to renounce our designs on one another, let's say, in order to do that. So I mean, that's a very radical saying, the, the other in his word and in another place in The Rivers North of the Future, he says how hard that is after a century of Marxism or Freudianism, he mentions. But, either way he's speaking about my pretension to know you better than you know yourself, which almost any agency in our world that identifies needs, implicitly does. I know what's best for you. So Yeah, his waiting, his ability to wait for the other one is, is absolutely [01:04:00] foundational and it's how a new world comes into existence. And it comes into existence at every moment, not at some unimaginable future when we all wait at the same time, right? My friend used to say that peace would come when everybody got a good night's sleep on the same night. It's not very likely, is it? Right, right, right. So, anyway, there we are. Chris: Wow. Well, I'm definitely looking forward to listening to this interview again, because I feel like just like An Intellectual Journey, just like your most recent book my mind has been, perhaps exploded, another nuclear bomb dropped.David: Chris, nice to meet you. Chris: Yeah, I'll make sure that that book and, of course, links to yours are available on the end of the website. David: Alright, thank you. Chris: Yeah, deep bow, David. Thank you for your time today. David: All the best. And thank you for those questions. Yeah. That was that was very interesting. You know, I spent my life as an interviewer. A good part of my [01:05:00] life. And interviewing is very hard work. It's much harder than talking. Listening is harder than talking. And rarer. So, it's quite a pleasure for me, late in life, to be able to just let her rip, and let somebody else worry about is this going in the right direction? So, thank you. Get full access to ⌘ Chris Christou ⌘ at chrischristou.substack.com/subscribe

Canadian Rajah is a new play that explores a forgotten chapter of Sarawak's history. Presented by Masakini Theatre Company, the production is directed by Sabera Shaik, and brings to life the poignant and complex relationship between Esca Brooke Daykin, the first-born son of the second Rajah of Sarawak, and the formidable Ranee Margaret. We speak to cast members Sarah Shahrum, Malik Taufiq, and Israr Khalid to explore what the play written by Dave Carley is all about, while also exploring their experiences working on this historical drama.Image credit: Masakini Theatre Company via CloudJoi

Sarawak is Malaysia's largest state by land area yet it contributed only 9.1% to the country's GDP last year. That is now expected to change with the state having invested some RM20 billion ringgit to develop its infrastructure so far. Timothy Ong, CEO of the newly established InvestSarawak, shares his vision to bring sustainable investments into the state known for decades for its oil & gas industry, as well as for developing homegrown SMEs.

The governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, has announced new measures meant to boost the country's ailing economy. China's central bank is lowering its benchmark interest rate as well as reducing the cash requirement that banks are supposed to hold in a bid to free up lending capacity and reach the government's target of 5 percent growth this year. Also in this edition, a new report outlines the deforestation threats in Malaysia's Sarawak state and what the EU can do about it.

S16E2 PART 1 : KESATUAN PARTI TEMPATAN SABAH UNTUK PRN17   Kami Interview Pemerhati Politk Bebas : Datuk Kalakau Untol Suara anak muda dari Kinabatangan, Razman Durhan Wahai Sabahan! Mari Bersatu seperti Sarawak! Kita tidak pernah membenci semenanjung, TIDAK! MA63 special thanks to Azmi of AGC for the space!   Jom datang Beramai-ramai ke ;-   Global Agritech Summit 2024 8 dan 9 October 2024 SICC, Kota Kinabalu Sabah   untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut lagi, layari www.globalagritecsummit.com atau  email mereka di info@globalagritechsummit.com dan  whatsapp mereka di 0123355067 Out on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube dan semua podcast platform.   Produced by 

Summary: Where are rafflesia found? Join Kiersten as she visits Southeast Asia (not literally) to find out.    For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   “Most of the world's largest flowers (genus Rafflesia) are now on the brink of extinction,” by Pastor Malabrigo Jr, Adriane B. Tobias, Joko Witono, Sofi Mursidawati, Agus Susatya, Mat Eunuch Siti-Munirah, Adhityo Wicaksono, Reza Raihandhany, Sarah Edwards, and Chris J. Thorogood. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10431 Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. The second thing I like about rafflesia is where it is found. This genus of plant has a very small distribution. Let's talk about where you can find these amazing flowers. You probably remember from last week's introductory episode  that rafflesia our found in southeast Asia. None have been found outside this region at the recording of this podcast in 2024, although researchers believe that there are more within this region that have yet to be seen and described by science. The majority of rafflesia are found in the Philippines, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and Peninsular Malaysia. For your reference, Peninsular Malaysia refers to the western portion of Malaysia, or the island portion, and consists of 11 states and two federal territories. Let's take a look and where specific species of rafflesia are found. Before I get started, please excuse any mispronunciation of country names. I mean     no offense.  Rafflesia arnoldii, the largest species of rafflesia with a spread of three feet in diameter, is found in Malaysia in Borneo and Sarawak. This rafflesia has two varieties, the second variety is Rafflesia arnoldii atjehensis which is found in Indonesia on West Kalimantan and Sumatra. Rafflesia aurantia is fund in the Philippines in Luzon and the Quirino Province. Rafflesia azlanii is found on Peninsular Malaysia in Perak and Pahang. Rafflesia baletei is fund in the Phillipones on Southern Luzon and the Camarines Sur Province. Rafflesia bengkuluensis is found in Indonesia in Souther Sumatra. Rafflesia cantleyi is found in Peninsular Malaysia and on Tioman Island. Rafflesia consueloae, the smallest rafflesia at only 9.7cm in width, is found in the Philippines in Luzon, Nueva Ecija Province.   Rafflesia gadutensis is found in Indonesia on the Western coast of Sumatra and Benkulu. Rafflesia hasseltii is found in Indonesia's central Sumatra. Rafflesia keithii can be found in Malaysia's Borneo and Sabah and Indonesia's East Kalimantan. Rafflesia kerrii is found in Peninsular Thailand as well as Peninsular Malaysia. Rafflesia lagascae is found in Luzon in the Philippines. Rafflesia lawangensis can be found in North Sumatra and the Gunung Leuser National Park of Indonesia. Rafflesia leonardii is found in Luzon, Phillipines. Rafflesia lobata can be seen in Panay, Philippines. Rafflesia manillana lives in Samar Philippines. Rafflesia meijeri blooms in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Rafflesia micropylora is also found in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Rafflesia mira and Rafflesia mixta are both found in Mindanao, Philippines. Rafflesia patna is found in Java, Indonesia. Rafflesia philippensis is, you guessed it, found in the Philippines, Luzon Island, Quezon Province, Mt. Banahaw. This flower also goes by R. Banahaw or R. banahawensis in an homage to where it grows. Rafflesia pricei is found in Borneo, Sabah, possibly N. Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan. Rafflesia rochussenii lives in Western Java and Sumatra, Indonesia.  Rafflesia schadenbergiana and Rafflesia speciosa are both found in the Philippines in Mindanao and Panay respectively. Rafflesia tengku-adlinii is found in Borneo and Sabah Malaysia. Rafflesia tuan-mudae is also found in Malaysia but in West Sarawak. Rafflesia verrucosa resides in Mindanao, Philippines. Rafflesia zollingeriana is found in eastern Java, Indonesia. The remaining species of rafflesia that we currently know of have incomplete taxonomic identification, so we are not sure if they are all seperate species from the one described above, but they are all found in Indonesia or Peninsular Malaysia. Thanks for hanging in there listeners, I didn't list these all out just so I could say rafflesia a lot, although I have to admit it is fun to say, I want to highlight how many places each specie is found. If you didn't tune it out, you may have noticed that most species are only found in one place. Only five species are found on more than one island. Since most of these flowers are found on islands, the theory of island biogeography applies. This theory, in a nutshell, says that larger islands should host a larger amount of species than smaller islands because larger islands are, well, larger. This holds true for the majority of islands that host rafflesia, but when dealing with nature, there is always an exception to the rule.  This is true of rafflesia. The island of Luzon is seven times smaller than Borneo yet both of them host the same amount of rafflesia. Scientists are not sure why yet, but research into this is ongoing. When discussing distribution of this plant, we do have to keep in mind that scientists are still discovering new species or discovering known species in new locations, so our knowledge is continually evolving.  Most rafflesias are found in a rainforest habitat on the island where they bloom and that is due to the nature of the host plant upon which they rely. The vines in the genus Tetrastigma seem to be the only vines that host these amazing flowers and they are mostly found in rainforests. Now that we know what rafflesia is and where to find it, next week we will delve into its unusual life cycle.  Thank you for listening to episode two of rafflesia. The locations where this incredible flower is found is my second favorite thing about them.  If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.    So join me next week for another episode about Rafflesia.       (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof recently revealed that there have been differing legal views between the federal and state levels, as Sarawak demands more rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to be fulfilled. These demands were reportedly discussed at the highest council meeting last month. Bandar Kuching MP Dr. Kelvin Yii joins us to discuss Sarawak's interpretation of provisions such as maritime jurisdiction, land, and taxes.

Our third Hungry Ghost Month story takes us to Sarawak, where a motherly spirit encounters something far more frightening than another ghost.Ghost Maps follows an unnamed narrator as he chronicles true accounts of the supernatural across Southeast Asia. ►GHOST MAPS CREDITS:Kyle Ong - DirectorWayne Rée - WriterJoline Lim - Art Director►SUPPORT & FIND US HERE:HANTU InstagramHANTU YouTubeHANTU TikTokHANTU FacebookHANTU TwitterHANTU WebsiteHANTU Patreon►MUSIC CREDITS:Kevin Macleod: https://incompetech.comMyuu: https://www.youtube.com/user/myuujiArtlist: https://artlist.io/ ►THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS ON PATREON: Stanley SantosAustin ChongLinda HadenNeoVegasAssassinMai Jake Lee YJSofeaCeph, the Ghost WriterSlajaSajkaNicolez PhuaAndika BramantioMedidi StephensMiranda Pruett Abby WintkerDyah Candra Hapsari SubagyoAdnan SalimPhani ShankarTom JohariR.YAayush GuptaNikoHeather TanKai LinJulie HolochwostMonica DuboisLexiHanni LaurenChristopher SmallwoodAshley ChanØyvind Husebø Kismet Sith Socheata ►ABOUT HANTU:#trueghoststory #ghoststory #ghoststories #horrorstory #horrorstories #southeastsia #singapore #ghostmaps #deadair #podcast #wearehantu #hantu #hantusg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's the latest news from the world of Omniglot. New language pages: Biatah bidayuh), a Land Dayak language spoken in Sarawak in Malaysia and West Kalimantan in Indonesia. Kembayan (Matéq), a Southern Land Dayak language spoken in West Kalimantan Province in Indonesia. Modang, a Kayanic language spoken in East Kalimantan Province in northern Indonesia. Maay […]

S15E9 Part 3 : Aku Dan Kota Marudu / Datuk Wetrom Bahanda 1.⁠ ⁠MA63 2.⁠ ⁠Sarawak ada bargaining power 3.⁠ ⁠Undo 18 4.⁠ ⁠Kami main game dental Datuk Wetrom Bahanda Produced by

Our third Hungry Ghost Month story takes us to Sarawak, where a motherly spirit encounters something far more frightening than another ghost.Ghost Maps follows an unnamed narrator as he chronicles true accounts of the supernatural across Southeast Asia. ►GHOST MAPS CREDITS:Kyle Ong - DirectorWayne Rée - WriterJoline Lim - Art Director►SUPPORT & FIND US HERE:HANTU InstagramHANTU YouTubeHANTU TikTokHANTU FacebookHANTU TwitterHANTU WebsiteHANTU Patreon►MUSIC CREDITS:Kevin Macleod: https://incompetech.comMyuu: https://www.youtube.com/user/myuujiArtlist: https://artlist.io/ ►THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS ON PATREON: Stanley SantosAustin ChongLinda HadenNeoVegasAssassinMai Jake Lee YJSofeaCeph, the Ghost WriterSlajaSajkaNicolez PhuaAndika BramantioMedidi StephensMiranda Pruett Abby WintkerDyah Candra Hapsari SubagyoAdnan SalimPhani ShankarTom JohariR.YAayush GuptaNikoHeather TanKai LinJulie HolochwostMonica DuboisLexiHanni LaurenChristopher SmallwoodAshley ChanØyvind Husebø Kismet Sith Socheata ►ABOUT HANTU:#trueghoststory #ghoststory #ghoststories #horrorstory #horrorstories #southeastsia #singapore #ghostmaps #deadair #podcast #wearehantu #hantu #hantusg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

En Malaisie, le gouvernement souhaite mettre en place « une diplomatie de l'orang-outan », un plan présenté par le ministre malaisien des Plantations le 8 mai dernier et qui se veut similaire à la « diplomatie du panda » de la Chine. Plus précisément, le gouvernement malaisien souhaite offrir des singes à ses principaux partenaires économiques et notamment aux pays importateurs d'huile de palme. L'industrie de l'huile de palme est souvent pointée du doigt pour favoriser la déforestation, elle-même responsable de la disparition des orangs-outans. De notre correspondante en Malaisie,Au nord de l'île de Bornéo, dans la réserve naturelle de Semenggoh du Sarawak, un groupe de touristes guette la silhouette d'un orang-outan. Dans les arbres, une fourrure rousse se distingue dans les feuillages « Je pense qu'elle est en train de fabriquer un simple nid, pour se reposer. Elle a commencé par casser les branches, les feuilles, et elle s'en fait un nid », explique le guide. Avec le projet de la diplomatie de l'orang-outan du gouvernement malaisien, ces touristes, tout comme d'autres, pourraient voir cette espèce dans des zoos des pays importateurs d'huile de palme, plutôt que dans leur habitat naturel.À lire aussiReprise de la «diplomatie du panda» entre la Chine et les États-UnisPour Michelle Desilets, la directrice de l'organisation Orangutan Land Trust, basée en Grande-Bretagne, la mise en place d'une telle politique par la Malaisie serait un véritable trompe-l'œil sur la conservation des singes. « Ce ne serait pas une bonne idée d'envoyer des orangs-outans hors de Malaisie, vers d'autres pays. Encore plus si c'est pour persuader d'une manière ou d'une autre ces pays à considérer la Malaisie comme engagée dans une démarche de conservation et d'huile de palme durable. » Pour rappel, la Malaisie est l'un des principaux producteurs au monde d'huile de palme.Pour la directrice de Orangutan Land Trust, le gouvernement malaisien n'est pas sérieux sur son désir affiché de protéger l'espère, car si c'était le cas : « Il soutiendrait beaucoup mieux les mesures de conservation de l'espèce dans le pays, in situ, où ces singes vivent. Deuxièmement, le gouvernement montrerait un véritable engagement en faveur d'une culture d'huile de palme durable justement. Ce qui veut dire que l'huile de palme soit au moins exempte de déforestation. »À lire aussiRDC : au coeur de la déforestationÀ cause de la déforestation, les orangs-outans sont menacés d'extinctionLa volonté du gouvernement malaisien de mettre en place une diplomatie de l'orang-outan se fait entendre alors que l'Union européenne interdit depuis peu les importations de produits issus justement de la déforestation. La déforestation qui menace les primates en danger critique d'extinction : « La Malaisie est le deuxième producteur mondial d'huile de palme. L'expansion des plantations de palmiers à huile dans la forêt tropicale a entraîné une perte d'habitat pour des espèces en danger critique d'extinction, comme l'orang-outan, explique Heng Kiah Chun, responsable de campagne chez Greenpeace Malaysia, et rappelons-le, l'orang-outan n'est qu'une partie de la faune sauvage de la forêt tropicale ! »Heng Kiah Chun rapporte qu'il ne faut pas forcément assimiler huile de palme et déforestation : « Le problème, ce n'est pas l'huile de palme, c'est la déforestation le problème. L'huile de palme peut être cultivée sans détruire la forêt tropicale si l'industrie accepte de se réformer ! Si la Malaisie s'engage à préserver la biodiversité, à mettre en œuvre une politique de non-déforestation, c'est beaucoup mieux. » Il martèle : « La diplomatie de l'orang-outan ne peut pas résoudre la crise de la déforestation. »Et le temps presse, selon les ONG : moins de 100 000 orangs-outans seraient encore présents sur l'île de Bornéo.

Sarawak has come a long way since 1963 and is charting a seemingly independent economic future that hinges on greater autonomy from the federal government. What is the pathway to shared development and prosperity for Sarawak and Malaysia as a whole, in line with the Dayak phrase “segulai, sejalai” or onward together? We discuss this to mark Sarawak Day on 22 July.Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

Audio Siar Keluar Sekejap Episod 115 bersama tetamu istimewa, Yang Amat Berhormat Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Premier Sarawak membincangkan mengenai kedudukan Sarawak dalam Malaysia serta perkembangan terkini tuntutan Perjanjian Malaysia 1963 (MA63). Episod bersempena Hari Sarawak yang disambut pada 22 Julai setiap tahun ini turut menyentuh mengenai misi dan visi serta hala tuju pembangunan negeri Sarawak selain turut melihat masa hadapan politik Sarawak. Bagi yang berminat menaja episod Keluar Sekejap untuk 2024, boleh hubungi +601119191783 atau emel kami di tajaan.ks@gmail.com.

The premier of the Malaysian state of Sarawak recently announced new dam projects on three rivers in Borneo without the informed consent of local people. The managing director of the Sarawak-based NGO SAVE Rivers, Celine Lim, joins the podcast to discuss with co-host Rachel Donald how these potential dam projects could impact rivers and human communities in Borneo. She also reflects on lessons learned from a recent visit with Indigenous communities in California, who successfully argued for the removal of dams on the Klamath River and are now restoring its floodplain. She says her community relies on the Tutoh River for food and transport, so the announcement “definitely threw the community into a frenzy because no one knew of this plan before the announcement.” Read the full story from Danielle Keeton-Olsen and view footage of the guest's trip to California with the Borneo Project here at Instagram. Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend! If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps! See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates. Please send your ideas and feedback to submissions@mongabay.com. Image Credit: A man steers his motorboat near Long Moh village on August 26, 2023. The village is located along the Baram River. Image by Danielle Keeton-Olsen for Mongabay. --- Timecodes (00:00) Introduction (02:36) A lack of consultation (10:05) Legal rights and UNDRIP (13:42) Impact of hydropower projects on Sarawak (20:39) A relationship with the river (27:58) Solidarity and solace on the Klamath River (33:10) Breaking down the cognitive dissonance (43:16) Credits

The Hydrogen Economy & Technology Roadmap (HETR) launched last year projects Malaysia to gain between RM49 billion to RM61 bil ringgit in additional GDP contribution, as well as RM12.1 billion in revenue gains from the hydrogen market by 2030. Sarawak is leading this move, aiming to become a commercial hydrogen producer by 2027. Dr Rezal Khairi Ahmad, the CEO of NanoMalaysia, shares his views on this issue.Image Credit: shutterstock.com

Eine Reise durch Borneo ist eine Reise in die Natur: Entdecke dort Orang-Utans und Nasenbären in der freien Wildbahn!

National-level celebrations for HAWANA 2024 (National Journalists Day) were held in Kuching, Sarawak over the weekend. During the event, comments by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on the relevance of World Press Freedom Index rankings raised questions about the government's commitment to free, independent media. We discuss the divergence between government rhetoric and action concerning news media with Wathshlah Naidu of the Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ).Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

The Man Who Would Be King tells the story of two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. It was inspired by the exploits of James Brooke, an Englishman who became the "white Raja" of Sarawak in Borneo, and by the travels of American adventurer Josiah Harlan, who claimed the title Prince of Ghor.The story was first published in The Phantom Rickshaw and other Tales (Volume Five of the Indian Railway Library, published by A H Wheeler & Co of Allahabad in 1888). It also appeared in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories in 1895, and in numerous later editions of that collection.It is the basis for John Huston's 1975 film of the same name, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine as the "kings", and Christopher Plummer as Kipling. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Man Who Would Be King tells the story of two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. It was inspired by the exploits of James Brooke, an Englishman who became the "white Raja" of Sarawak in Borneo, and by the travels of American adventurer Josiah Harlan, who claimed the title Prince of Ghor.The story was first published in The Phantom Rickshaw and other Tales (Volume Five of the Indian Railway Library, published by A H Wheeler & Co of Allahabad in 1888). It also appeared in Wee Willie Winkie and Other Stories in 1895, and in numerous later editions of that collection.It is the basis for John Huston's 1975 film of the same name, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine as the "kings", and Christopher Plummer as Kipling. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Forgotten Heroes: The True Story of Sarawak People Who Fought and Died Assisting Allied Forces in WWII aims to outline the critical role played by Sarawak.

Ikuti sedutan episod khas Keluar Sekejap sempena Pesta Audio Siar Kuala Lumpur 2024 (KL Pod Fest 2024) yang dibawa khas oleh Mamee Chef berlangsung pada 4 Februari lalu. Antara kelainan yang kami tampilkan pada persembahan itu termasuklah membawa penonton menelusuri sejarah Malaysia pada dekad-dekad yang signifikan, kuiz dan pemberian barangan KS kepada penonton. Topik-topik yang dibincangkan pula merangkumi peluang PAS meletakkan calon Perdana Menteri; kepentingan Sabah dan Sarawak dalam senario politik negara; penarikan diri Malaysia daripada menganjurkan perlumbaan F1 serta harapan dan pandangan KS terhadap Perdana Menteri, YAB Anwar Ibrahim. Terima kasih kepada semua penaja-penaja yang telah menaja KL Podfest 2024!

Audio siar Keluar Sekejap Episod 82 antaranya telah membicarakan isu hangat yang kini menjadi perbualan rakyat Malaysia, iaitu Pengampunan 50% Dato' Seri Najib Razak. Keluar Sekejap juga membincangkan tentang legasi Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud di Sarawak. Keluar Sekejap berkesempatan mengulas tentang isu graduan asing bekerja di Malaysia dan kuota 30% wanita sebagai pembuat keputusan. Bagi yang berminat menaja episod Keluar Sekejap untuk 2024, boleh hubungi +601119191783 atau emel kami di tajaan.ks@gmail.com.

The Melbourne-based Swinburne University of Technology set up its first overseas branch in Sarawak back in 2000; but what makes this campus interesting is the fact that it is jointly owned by Swinburne University and the Sarawak state government. How do institutions like Swinburne Sarawak feature in the state's long-term plans to provide free tertiary education to resident Sarawakians? We speak to Pro-Vice Chancellor and CEO of Swinburne Sarawak Prof. Lau Hieng Ho for more on the institution and the role of education in building a prosperous Sarawak.

Hello to you listening in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia with this terrific travel video! Click HEREAnd a shout out to you Jeffrey Tan with your own YouTube channel broadcasting from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Story Prompt Friday and your host, Diane Wyzga.Maybe like me you dream of your life changing. I know I've done that often enough to be rewarded with magic, miracles, and mistakes. The mistakes don't stop me. I've learned from what my mistakes taught me so I can continue to pursue magic and miracles. It's true, isn't it: our mistakes are meant to galvanize us, not to define us.Story Prompt: What if everything in your Life had changed and you acted as if it had? Then what? Write that story!Practical Tip: The magic of stories is also in the sharing. If you wish share your story with someone or something.  All that matters is you have a story.You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:conversation✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

The third episode of our specialist series, Explore: How To Plan An Expedition, focuses on the reality of funding, and who's paying. Money is one of the least favoured things to talk about when it comes to expedition planning but it's unavoidably essential, as without it, your grand plan is very little more than an idea. In this episode, Matt speaks with Dr Eleanor Drinkwater, Ben Saunders, Tom Allen, and Shane Winser. They go deep into grant applications - how to write them, what to include, and how to review them. They also cover crowdfunding, corporate commercial funding, and even self-funding. They discuss how competitive it can be, how to stand out, and what work remains even when the expedition is over. Dr Eleanor Drinkwater is an entomologist, expedition leader, lecturer and science communicator. Having completed her PhD on invertebrate personality, she is fascinated by both invertebrate behaviour, as well as understanding how humans can work with and cultivate invertebrates in a sustainable and ethical way. She has worked both in the UK and further afield in Peru, Australia, Honduras and French Guiana. She is committed to science communication, and has also co-founded an entomophagy science festival group.Ben Saunders is a pioneering polar athlete and a record-breaking long-distance skier, who has covered more than 6,000km on foot in the Polar Regions. He's broken the record for the longest human-powered polar journey in history, and holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton. He has shared his story with a huge range of people, businesses and organisations, and his focus is now on climate technology investment.Tom Allen has been a full-time traveller, writer and filmmaker for over 15 years. He has undertaken adventurous journeys on 5 continents, runs a long-established adventure cycling website, and now describes himself reluctantly on his social media profiles as a 'self-unemployed creative explorer'. In 2016 he led the RGS-supported Land Rover Bursary expedition to explore and map the first long-distance hiking trail across the Caucasus. The Transcaucasian Trail, as it is now known, has since evolved into a massive international development project which he estimates will take a good decade or so to complete.Shane Winser works for the Royal Geographical Society where she curates the annual Explore symposium and Festival. A zoology graduate, she assisted in the planning and organisation of the RGS's own research programmes to the tropical forests of Sarawak and Brunei, the mountains of the Karakoram, and the drylands of western Australia, Kenya and Oman. She chairs the technical panel for BS 8848: the British Standard for organisers of a wide variety of ventures, including university and academic fieldwork, gap year experiences, adventure holidays, charity challenges and research expeditions.You can find out more about the RGS and use the Explore digital resources by visiting rgs.org/explore, or @rgs_ibg on socials.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.