When government workers in white anti-contamination suits descended on Ceng Kim's farm to slaughter his pigs, claiming they were infected with the bird flu virus that killed three people nearby, he hid inside his house.
He couldn't bear to watch, but the rest of Indonesia saw the dramatic images on television that night: Squealing pigs electrocuted one by one and tossed into a fire.
"My pigs didn't kill anyone," said Kim. "But if the government says they're sick, what can I do?"
PHOTO: AP
Pig farmers are not the only ones scratching their heads -- international experts are bewildered as well.
They say there is no evidence pigs have been infected with avian flu, despite the government's insistence that the animals are contributing to the recent outbreak in Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country.
Critics say the government is going after pigs because they are an easy target and may divert attention away from fears about the infection in poultry, a staple food for millions of people throughout the country.
Many Muslims consider pigs to be unclean, though pork is regularly eaten by the country's large ethnic Chinese minority, a group that frequently faces discrimination and abuse.
Indonesia is the only country to be culling swine in its fight against bird flu, which has swept through poultry populations in Asia since 2003, killing or forcing the slaughter of hundreds of millions of ducks and chickens. Sixty people have died, mostly Thailand and Vietnam, which announced its latest two deaths on Friday.
Indonesia's first deaths were earlier this month -- a 38-year-old auditor and his two young daughters who lived on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The government initially said the victims had no known contact with birds, and that the closest source of infection appeared to be Ceng Kim's pigs, 15km away. Later, traces of the virus were found in chicken droppings in the family's own backyard.
Though an Indonesian scientist claimed in May he discovered the H5N1 strain of bird flu in pigs, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization says it has no evidence that swine have been infected -- in Indonesia or anywhere else.
The "focus should be on chickens and ducks," said FAO veterinarian Juan Lubroth.
Trisatya Putri Naipospos, Indonesia's top veterinarian, agreed and accused the government of playing "politics" with pig farmers, the majority of whom are ethnic Chinese.
At the same time, many Muslim Indonesians are happy to see ministers appearing on television saying pigs are dirty.
The Agriculture Ministry defended ongoing pig culls, saying they are part of a multi-pronged approach to eradicating bird flu and are in "no way influenced by politics, religion or race." More than 9 million chickens and ducks also have been killed since 2003, it noted.
But Indonesia's larger strategy is not always clear, even to itself.
Days after Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono vowed to carry out mass culls in bird flu-affected areas, he changed his mind, saying only sick animals would be killed.
He blamed a lack of money, saying the government could not afford to compensate farmers for their loss. It's the same argument made 18 months ago when bird flu first surfaced, though no request has been made to Parliament for emergency funds.
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young people in India are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)
HOTTER: While Indians are accustomed to summer heat, climate change has caused northwestern India to warm faster than other parts of the country, an academic said Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures for yesterday of about 45°C in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope. The weather department warned that conditions would likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses. India declares a heat wave whenever maximum temperatures
BIGGER ROLE: Beijing has said it maintains an impartial stance on the war in Ukraine, but by training Russian troops, China is far more involved than previously known China’s armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year, and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine, according to three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by Reuters. While China and Russia have held a number of joint military exercises since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beijing has repeatedly said that it is neutral in the conflict and presents itself as a peace mediator. The covert training sessions, which predominantly focused on the use of drones, were outlined in a dual-language Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing on
RSS