Bharat Rakshak

Are we abandoning the politics of the region while aspiring to dominate the waters?

BANGKOK, May 19 — Exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (pic) said today he fears a crackdown on anti-government protesters could lead to guerrilla warfare across the country.

“There is a theory saying a military crackdown can spread resentment and these resentful people will become guerrillas,” Thaksin told Reuters in a telephone interview, declining to say where he was.

The National Front coalition's victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections despite losing the popular vote has not only exposed the entrenched racial divide in the country but also a new schism — between the rural poor who preferred the status quo and the urban middle-class who wanted change.

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Speaking at the news conference, Najib blamed a "Chinese tsunami" for the coalition's performance.

Nationally-recognized Ponagar festival opens
TUOI TRE
UPDATED : 05/01/2013 14:44 GMT + 7



The Ponagar fest, the biggest cultural event held by Cham people in the south of the central region, kicked off on Apr 30 in Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang coastal city.
The event also earned the recognition as an intangible national heritage the same day.
From Apr 30 to May 2 when the festival takes place, the Ponagar tower is open free of charge to tourists. More than 100 groups from across the country have registered to take part in the event.
The festival features such rituals as dressing up the Ponagar goddess, requiems, floating flowers and colored lanterns, processions and offerings to the goddess and Cham traditional dances.
Roughly 60,000 pilgrims and visitors, almost double last year’s number, are expected to join the four-day festival, as this year the event coincides with public holidays Apr 30 and May 1, said Le Van Hoa, from the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
According to Tran Manh Cuong, vice head of the department, the 1,200-year-old Ponagar tower was recognized as a national historical relic in 1979.
The fest, held annually in the third month of the lunar calendar, is to pay tribute to goddess Yan Po Nagar, or Thien Y Thanh Mau in Vietnamese, who is identified with the Hindu goddesses Bhagavati and Mahishasuramardini.
As legend has it, Thien Y Thanh Mau taught locals how to do farming, weaving and knitting along with several other vocations to fend for themselves and safeguarded them from calamities and wars.
The Ponagar fest, the biggest cultural event held by Cham people in the south of the central region, kicked off on Apr 30 in Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang coastal city.
The event also earned the recognition as an intangible national heritage the same day.
From Apr 30 to May 2 when the festival takes place, the Ponagar tower is open free of charge to tourists. More than 100 groups from across the country have registered to take part in the event.
The festival features such rituals as dressing up the Ponagar goddess, requiems, floating flowers and colored lanterns, processions and offerings to the goddess and Cham traditional dances.
Roughly 60,000 pilgrims and visitors, almost double last year’s number, are expected to join the four-day festival, as this year the event coincides with public holidays Apr 30 and May 1, said Le Van Hoa, from the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
According to Tran Manh Cuong, vice head of the department, the 1,200-year-old Ponagar tower was recognized as a national historical relic in 1979.
The fest, held annually in the third month of the lunar calendar, is to pay tribute to goddess Yan Po Nagar, or Thien Y Thanh Mau in Vietnamese, who is identified with the Hindu goddesses Bhagavati and Mahishasuramardini.
As legend has it, Thien Y Thanh Mau taught locals how to do farming, weaving and knitting along with several other vocations to fend for themselves and safeguarded them from calamities and wars.

http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/9196/na ... tival-open