In calling the bluff on Chinese investments and recusing his country from earlier deals, the Malaysian Prime Minister may have eased India’s own concerns on Chinese presence around Malacca Straits

At 93, Mahathir Mohamad’s political career has spanned over 70 years and the wily nonagenarian has returned as the Malaysian Prime Minister after an itchy retirement lasting 15 years. The statesman, credited with transforming Malaysia from an agrarian to an industrial powerhouse in his first term of 22 years, has ostensibly returned to ‘save’ his country from the wrath of the multi-billion ‘1MDB’ scandal, substantial parts of which were linked to the Chinese involvement. Mahathir’s successful electoral campaign, pitched against the ‘great-grandmother-of-all-scandals’, was seen as a possible roadblock to the growing portents of Sinosphere under the previous Najib Razak regime, who had started courting mammoth Chinese investments into Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the Chinese have been on a relentless prowl to hook cash-strapped countries with its gargantuan Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to create uninterrupted routes, connectivity and infrastructure along both land and seaways. The Chinese juggernaut towards this proposed solidification of interlinkages has led to infamous belligerence and appropriations in the South China Seas and the ‘String of pearls’ ports that dot along the life-sustaining maritime passages. The approach of the Chinese efforts varies from the simple ‘cheque-book diplomacy’ of funding investments (eg Philippines), coercion (eg Doklam in Bhutan) to surreptitious ‘debt-traps’ (eg Hambantota port in Sri Lanka).

A lethal and irresistible combination of financial, military and diplomatic muscle is leveraged to ensnare and ensure the requisite Chinese footprint. Often, this Chinese footprint initially comes under the guise of civil facilities and infrastructure, which later morphs into the dual-usage (civil and military) platforms, as was done recently at the mouth of the strategically placed Djibouti base of the Chinese Navy. The sophisticated pattern of patiently luring the bait follows the generous doles of ‘unpayable’ Chinese investments, which are, thereafter, settled with certain compromises in the form of invaluable bases, arrangements and irretrievable alignments. Recently, this had led the old warhorse and one-time critic of the West, Mohamad Mahathir, to presciently forewarn of the Chinese tact as a new version of colonialism.

Malaysia and the southern tip of the Indian Islands of Andaman and Nicobar overlook and physically dominate the most sensitive and vulnerable chokepoint of Chinese nightmares in the Malacca Straits. This ultra-narrow straits host the busiest shipping lanes in the world with over 100,000 ships plying nearly 30 per cent of the global trade. From a Chinese perspective, it sustains the ‘Chinese Dream’ fueled by trade and an unending appetite for energy sources. A potential doomsday scenario of a ‘choke’ in the Malacca Straits has led to two strategic actions: First, to attempt creating alternate corridors like the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) or rail-linkages with the Eurasian nations, all dovetailed under the BRI initiative. Second, to invest disproportionately in the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to create adequate energy buffer stocks to withstand any unforeseen disruption in these regime-sustaining seaways. However, given the best economic viability of the seaways as opposed to overland routes, the essential preference remains on ensuring the uninterruptedness of these seaways by way of establishing strong Chinese footprints all along the route.

Given that only India and Malaysia have the maritime real-estate around these vulnerable Malacca Straits (as narrow as 1.5 nautical miles wide at the Philips Channel) both from a sovereign and military perspective, any untoward presence of the Chinese could upset the applecart of power balance. Currently, this area is relatively free from overt militarisation, given that the traditional Chinese naval muscularity is restricted further up in the South China Seas and the Indian Andaman and Nicobar Tri-Services Command has also adopted a defensive posture and build-up. However, the presence of Chinese warships could undo the equations as they are threatening to do so in the Maldives, or in the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, where the Chinese have acquired port control for a 99 year lease. Till the recent change in the Malaysian regime, amongst various investments that the Chinese were dangling was to invest $7.2 billion in the redevelopment of the Malaysian Malacca Port to a deep sea port (capable of handling aircraft carriers), a promise that could rival Singapore port facilities. This had the signature Chinese debt traps written all over it, which could ultimately lead to Chinese presence in these calm waters.

The sagacious Mahathir had to walk the tight rope of calling the bluff of Chinese investments, as also recognising the importance of maintaining cordial relations with its biggest trading partner. His first port of international call after assuming prime ministership was Beijing, where he was feted and honoured with the disconcerting realisation that Mahathir had personified the anti-Chinese sentiment and had to be charmed for future acquiescence. However, age hadn’t withered the blunt Mahathir who lost none of his chutzpah in declaring on Chinese soil, “We are not against Chinese companies, but we are against borrowing money from outside and having projects which are unnecessary, and which are very costly”, after he had announced the cancellation of three major Chinese contracts for an East Coast Rail Link and two gas pipelines, arguing the cost was inflated and the terms weren’t favourable to Malaysia. The Chinese are not known to take sleights of colonialism very easily but are cognizant of the fact that Mohamad Mahathir at 93 will be resolute on sovereign pride, independence and legacy that could militate against Chinese ambitions and debt-imperialism.

With a spiralling debt of $250 billion, declared concern on Chinese intent and non-issues with the existing infrastructure around Malacca Straits, Mohamad Mahathir may have inadvertently eased India’s own concerns on Chinese presence around the Malacca Straits. Even his remark that “free trade should also be fair trade” had unmistakable pointers of correcting the ‘China-first’ approach that dominated the Malaysian narrative. Mahathir will be welcomed into comity of the Sino-wary nations in the Asean region and will find alternate trading partners in the Japanese, Indian and Australian markets, who have their own long-term concerns and apprehensions with the formula of initial Chinese benevolence and its subsequent aftermath.

(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry)

The Supreme Court has upheld most of the provisions of the Aadhaar Act thus avoiding the fate of telecom and coal licences where its wholesale cancellation approach had sent both sectors into the NPA shoebox. In Aadhaar at stake was the taxpayer’s money in the project as well as his right to adequate privacy. Both seem to have been preserved. Aadhaar’s designers walk away with bouquets after the court ruled out profiling because of inbuilt safeguards. The 4-1 majority judgment also ruled out the possibility of obtaining a duplicate Aadhaar card, was satisfied with the adequacy of defence mechanisms for authentication and felt the data obtained was minimal while benefits, especially to the marginalised, large.

But for the political executive that was muscular, proactive and overbearing in trying to make it mandatory in all services, the order should serve as timely catnip. Aadhaar as a project will survive but only in matters of state-government welfare schemes and PAN but not for school admissions, banking and mobile services. The striking down of Sections 33 and 57 and the reading down of Sections 33 (1) and 33 (2) was very nearly an endorsement of the Rajya Sabha’s concerns that were pointedly overlooked while packaging the Aadhaar legislation as a money bill.

Now that Aadhaar survives in a watered down, truncated version, the executive needs to follow up appropriately. As a first step, Aadhaar cards should be delinked from mobile connections and bank accounts, which the court has said was unconstitutional. Hopefully, the government’s narrow escape with regard to the money bill approach will dissuade it from taking this route again to avoid going through the test in Rajya Sabha. Court adjudications at the end of the day are a matter of judgment and the executive needs to heed the dissenting opinion, especially the warning that the absence of an independent regulatory framework compromises data protection. As for the ‘right to privacy’ zealots, some of their assumptions and apprehensions were, in hindsight, overblown. But thanks to their perseverance, a balance was struck.

Ironing the wrinkles in Aadhaar

Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Supreme Court Advocate 

People of India created, and gave to themselves the Constitution. Constitution created Parliament. Parliament created Aadhaar. Judges of the Supreme Court interpret the legal validity or invalidity of the law created by Parliament. Hence the Constitution of India is supreme, unlike the British system in which Parliament is the creator of the constitution, though unwritten.

Therefore, when Parliament, being the creation of the Constitution, makes law, it has to pass legal scrutiny to ensure that it doesn’t override the basic features of the Constitution. The importance of today’s court verdict emanates therefrom. Nevertheless, prima facie does exist a real danger of writing on a 1,448-page verdict without fully going through it (it would have taken a minimum of two days to read and digest). Prudence, therefore, demands to refer to salient features which are in public domain.

The most striking feature of the Aadhaar verdict today, undoubtedly, is the sole dissenting voice from the Bench, which stood 4-1. If true, that ‘Aadhaar as a money bill’ is a wrong perpetrated on the Constitution, being ‘politically expedient but constitutionally impermissible’ and that ‘Section 139AA of Income Tax is unconstitutional’, Aadhaar is likely to re-emerge as live issue for future, and further Supreme Court litigations. It’s a situation in which minority logic makes majority language a future cause of legal action. 

The stamp of constitutional validity on Aadhaar, however, is the biggest news, striking down of a few sections thereof notwithstanding. In overall perspective, the judiciary has reiterated the supremacy of the State’s role, rather Parliament’s role, in making law, through the government, in certain basic welfare schemes reaching the comparatively marginalised section of society.

In contrast, the striking down of Section 33(2) pertaining to national security exemption for disclosure of Aadhaar information is unlikely to go down well with a section of departments and officials dealing with the issue of State. Prima facie, though it runs in tune with the spirit of democracy of the Indian Union, nevertheless, there also could be situations challenging enough, cropping up before the Supreme Court.

The best part of the verdict emanates from delinking it with the education system. That is a welcome relief for both parents and children as it was creating an incurable headache of sorts all around the countryside. The court certainly deserves a big ‘thank you’ from millions.

The two most important points around which the entire Aadhaar came up for lengthy litigation now need to be looked into. First, right to individual privacy, which could also be thought of as an extension and continuation of right to individual liberty, falling under fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Constitution vide Articles 12 to 35; and second, the PAN-Aadhaar interfacing which has been raised by the dissenting judge of the 4-1 verdict.

No doubt ‘right to privacy’ does not have an exclusive and explicit existence in the Constitution, yet the first, third, fourth and fifth Amendment, along with several Supreme Court verdicts, recognise its existence and importance. Articles 19, 21 and 22 constitute a robust enough bulwark against State encroachment into an individual’s fundamental rights.

Yet when Aadhaar was introduced, there emerged legitimate concerns pertaining to the intrusion of the State into a citizen’s right to privacy, linked to fundamental rights. The counter argument here too could be considered, being the points of ‘devil’s advocate’! Which fundamental right be considered eternally sacrosanct and unlimited in a diverse society of historically fissiparous forces? Secondly, did not the fundamental right to property undergo transformation in the past? Between property and privacy, which supersedes whom? Are they contradictory? Or complementary?

Having said that, one is constrained to point out that the very linking or interfacing of PAN and Aadhaar has its own dynamics, which in a way amounts to the indirect entry of Aadhaar in places even when and where it is not required to be present vide the verdict of the Supreme Court.

The question is, how is it possible? It is not only possible, it will be reality, especially for the 5 crore income tax payees, though not necessarily for the rest of the 120 crore heads who fall below the income tax net. Section 139AA of the Income tax Act makes the PAN-Aadhaar link mandatory for annual tax returns for all — company and individual. However, though Aadhaar is not mandatory for opening a bank account, the production of PAN before bank officials would automatically reveal the Aadhaar number and identification of the potential tax-paying client of the bank. That by itself would amount to the entry of the client, with automatic exposure of his Aadhaar to the bank.

To be fair to the law and the verdict thereon, however, the majority of Indians have been exempted from undergoing the process of production of Aadhaar to the banks, which more often than not did not inspire the desired level of confidence, especially among those using small and common banks.

All in all, the verdict cannot be said to be an exercise in futility; all the more because the judiciary has asked the government to ensure that the security of privacy is not breached. The entire issue began with it. Law of the land in India is usually made with the best of intentions, excellent ideas and high hopes. However, the traditionally weak implementation thereof along with a system of non-diminishing corruption (in the past) has ruined many a plan, thereby making law more a liability than an asset. Hope the verdict brings brighter days for the country.

A few media reports have indicated that as a part of its reorganisation effort, there is a proposal by the Army Headquarters (HQ) to shift the Directorate General of Rashtriya Rifles (DGRR) from New Delhi to Kashmir or Udhampur, ostensibly to take charge of the counter-terror (CT) operations in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

Additionally, the suggestion could also have come to relieve HQ 15 Corps from the counter-terrorism responsibility.What exactly is the Rashtriya Rifles (RR)? Is it similar to the Assam Rifles (AR) which fights the insurgency in the North East and has its HQ (DGAR) in Shillong, in closer proximity to the areas of the deployment of the AR? Is a similar model as the HQ DGAR being contemplated to set up HQ DGRR in the counter-insurgency zone in J&K?

Tribune News Service

Ambala, September 9

An Army Major lodged a complaint at the Topkhana police post here this evening, alleging that two unidentified bike-borne youths snatched her chain.

According to information, Major Nozia Hansraj, in her complaint, said that she was on her way to her house on foot after completing some work at the Engine chowk when the two youths on the bike reached there and snatched her chain and fled from the spot.

8 Army jawans hurt in accident

https://youtu.be/RdIDipAMDmE

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 9

On the eve of Parkash Utsav of the Guru Granth Sahib, the sanctum sanctorum, Darshani Deorhi and Akal Takht at the Golden temple have been decked up with flowers.

Illuminated with colourful lights and flowers, the holiest Sikh shrine has tastefully been decorated.

SGPC chief secretary Roop Singh said 100 quintals of flowers were brought from different countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. A majority of these flowers has longer shelf life.A ‘nagar kirtan’ will be taken out from historic Gurdwara Ramsar, where the Guru Granth Sahib was edited, to the Golden Temple.

A fireworks display will be carried out and ‘Jalau’ (show of splendour) will be displayed at the Golden Temple.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has already declared a gazetted public holiday on September 10.

The new FTC-2000G is a fixed-wing, multi-role combat plane tasked mainly with airstrikes against ground targets. It can also be used as a fighter jet or trainer aircraft, Aviation Industry Corp of China said in a statement

China’s indigenously-built new multi-role combat aircraft for exports has made its debut flight, the state-run media reported Saturday.

The FTC-2000G, a new multirole combat aircraft developed for export by the State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China, (AVIC) made its debut flight on Friday in the southwest Guizhou province, state-run China Daily reported.

The FTC-2000G aircraft flew for about 16 minutes. More than 1,000 people, including AVIC executives and provincial leaders as well as ambassadors and military attaches from several nations, took part in the ceremony marking the debut flight, it said.

China in the recent past has developed a range of fighter jets including a stealth aircraft. It also jointly produces JF-Thunder aircraft with Pakistan.

However, China is yet to develop an engine of its own for the jets and mostly imports it from Russia.

According to AVIC, the aircraft is tasked mainly with air strikes against ground targets.

The FTC-2000G is a fixed-wing, multi-role combat plane tasked mainly with airstrikes against ground targets. It can also be used as a fighter jet or trainer aircraft, AVIC said in a statement.

Equipped with modern radar and fire-control systems, it is capable of staying airborne for three hours in a single operation and can carry as much as 3 tonnes of missiles, rockets or bombs, AVIC said, adding that it is equipped with air-to-surface weapons.

Hu Jianxing, chief designer of the FTC-2000G at Guizhou Aviation Industry, said the aircraft features high operational economy and can carry out tasks in all weather conditions and at night.

With the proper equipment, the aircraft will also be able to perform reconnaissance or electronic-warfare operations.

“The aircraft can fulfil a wide range of tasks, ranging from flight training and close-in air support to long-distance penetration airstrikes and air escorts,” he told the daily.

It took less than two years to develop the jet, the AVIC said, adding that the twin-seat plane is a modified version of a new type of advanced training jet that has been deployed by the Chinese Air Force and Navy.

The aircraft has a maximum speed of 1.2 Mach, or 1,470 kilometers per hour, a maximum take-off weight of 11 metric tons, a maximum flight range of 2,400 km and an operational flight ceiling of 15 km.

Though the FTC-2000G will face competition from South Korea’s FA-50 and Italy’s M346, it will enjoy a pricing advantage, another daily, Global Times, quoted experts as saying.

As a light-duty attack aircraft or fighter jet, it is a replacement for old models such as China’s J-7 and the former Soviet Union’s MiG-21.

China delivered six FTC-2000s, FTC-2000G’s predecessor, to Sudan in May, according to UK-based Jane’s Defence Weekly.