PAINTING LEE KUAN YEW
HAMAS TALKS PEACE OCTOBER 25, 2010
Want to Save the Planet?
MAKE A GREENER BURGER*
*And 9 Other Radical Solutions
PL U S
NEWSWEEK’s 2010 Green Rankings Australia ................ A$ 5.95 (GST incl.) Bangladesh ...... Taka 250.00 Brunei .................... B$ 9.00 Cambodia ............ US$ 6.00 China ................ RMB 45.00
East Timor ............. US$6.00 Hong Kong ......... HK$ 55.00 India ....................... Rs 75.00 Indonesia ............ Rp 35,000 (PPN incl.) Laos ...................... US$ 6.00
Macau ................... Ptc 55.00 Malaysia ............... RM 10.00 Maldives ............... Rf. 65.00 Mongolia ............. MNT 8,000 Myanmar ............... US$ 1 .20
Nepal ............... NRs. 200.00 New Zealand ......... NZ$ 5.95 (GST incl.) Pakistan ............. Rs. 2 0 0 .00 Philippines ............ P 125.00 Singapore ............... S$ 9.00 (GST incl.)
Sri Lanka ............ Rs. 250.00 (VAT incl.) Taiwan ............... NT$ 200.00 Thailand ............... Bt 180.00 Vietnam ................ US$ 6.00
OCTOBER 25, 2010
SCOPE 7 Forget the Taiwan-China détente; the Haiti aftershocks hit the elections; a British rebellion against Rupert Murdoch; the next Chile?; and more
THE TAKE 15 Essays by owen matthews, daniel gross, ezra klein, robert j. samuelson, and jacob weisberg
FEATURES Top 10 Green Ideas 24 From burgers to atoms. The U.S. Top 100 29 Tech companies lead the list. by kathleen deveny The Global Top 25 34 IBM comes out in front. The Green Filter 35 But is GoodGuide a business? by ian yarett America’s Holy Writ 38 The Tea Party and the Constitution. by andrew romano
CULTURE Art Painters take on Lee Kuan Yew 51 Interview Zhang Yimou 54 The Good Life Kayaking in style 55
RYAN PALMER —SCIENCE FACTION -CORBIS
The Last Word Khaled Meshaal of Hamas 60
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Vol. CLVI, No. 17. October 25, 2010 © 2010 by Harman Newsweek LLC., 395 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014-3669. Printed by Times Printers Pte Ltd and Ringier Print (HK) Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright under the International Copyright Convention. Copyright reserved under the Pan American Convention. Registered in the Philippines Patent Offi ce. In the U.S.A.: Postmaster: send address changes to Newsweek International, 395 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014-3669; second-class postage paid at Los Angeles, California, and at additional mailing offices. Newsweek International is written and edited for a worldwide audience and is published weekly, except occasionally two issues are combined into one expanded issue, that counts as two subscription copies, by Harman Newsweek LLC. (ISSN 0163-7061). Singapore MICA (P) 083/10/2010, Malaysia KDN Permit PP (s) 1127/02/2011(028551). For subscription inquiries please contact Harman Newsweek LLC, 3601-02 China Resources Building, 26 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong; e-mail: newsweek.asia@customersvc.com; tel: 852-2921-2921; fax: 852-2921-2947. To order reprints, e-prints, posters and plaques or request permission to republish Newsweek content please contact our representative PARS International by visiting: www.NewsweekReprints.com.
‘That things in Chilean mining will now be different.’
JM DE LA MAZA —PRESIDENCIA DE CHILE -ARCHIVOLATINO -REDUX
RESCUE WORKER MANUEL GONZALEZ ON HIS THOUGHTS DURING THE RESCUE OF 33 CHILEAN MINERS WHO SPENT 69 DAYS UNDERGROUND AFTER A CAVE-IN
CHILEAN PRESIDENT SEBASTIÁN PIÑERA EMBRACES THE FIRST MINER RESCUED.
INTERNATIONALIST
STRAIT TENSIONS STILL HOT by isaac stone fish china’s recent belligerence toward Japan has worried its neighbors, including Taiwan, which the mainland regards as a prodigal son. China has been drawing Taiwan closer with improved trade links, and the June signing of a breakthrough free-trade agreement between the two entities will bind Taiwan’s economy even tighter to the mainland’s. Yet while both sides speak of improved relations, economic ties haven’t led to substantial political improvements. In fact, military tensions between the two are increasing. Despite Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s vague reassurances that his CHINA
A FUTURE RESTS ON ELECTIONS by jacob kushner
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OCTOBER 25, 2010
government will withdraw 1,600-plus missiles pointing at the island, Taiwan’s deputy defense minister has said that the mainland military threat is growing. Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou just announced that the country will keep buying arms internationally, and China’s defense minister, in a recent meeting with his U.S. counterpart, said that Taiwan remains the main point of contention between the two superpowers. Although tensions are much lower than they were under Ma’s pro-independence predecessor, peaceful reunification—the holy grail of China’s Taiwan policy—seems less and less likely: a study published in September by the Taiwanese United Daily News revealed that 16 percent of participants support full independence while only 5 percent want reunification with China. (The same study in 2000 showed that 12 percent supported independence
and 9 percent wanted reunification.) The Chinese government’s aggressive territoriality, coupled with its refusal to undertake meaningful political reform, fosters the deep-seated hesitance that characterizes Taiwanese views of unification: the same poll found that 54 percent of Taiwanese residents had negative views of the Chinese government, viewing it as tyrannical and autocratic. Despite decades of economic reform in Beijing, the difference between the two government’s political systems is sharp. China has long claimed Taiwan as one of its “core interests”; it has also recently included the South China Sea on that list, which also cites Tibet and Xinjiang, and refers to issues for which it allows no compromise. But until China can convince the Taiwanese that it has their best interest in mind, it might just have too many core interests to juggle.
fair and inclusive elections in Haiti may prove impossible. When the country goes to the polls on Nov. 28 to choose a new president, the post-quake logistics present huge challenges: some 230,000 dead have to be purged from voter rolls and 1.3 million more displaced have to be reregistered. But an even greater threat is actually Haiti’s electoral commission itself, which is under fire for sidelining 15 candidates without explanation and excluding the Lavalas party, which stands in opposition to the current president, René Préval. In this case, shoddy democracy bears a danger that could have long-reaching consequences. If
Haitians don’t trust their government, they could hinder the reconstruction process by resisting the government’s attempts to evict them through eminent domain, or relocating to a new displacement camp. In Haiti’s history, lesser things than mass evictions have sparked riots and brought the country to a standstill. Furthermore, international investors and donors are likely to be skittish about a government tainted by illegitimacy. “Flawed elections now will come back to haunt the international community later,” 45 U.S. representatives recently wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Port-au-Prince may end up with a strong leader. It also needs a legitimate one.
HAITI
FROM TOP : PICHI CHUANG —REUTERS , JAKE PRICE
SCOPE
LONDON MEDIA TURNS ON ITS BARON by william underhill media baron rupert Murdoch is once again setting his sights on London. His $54 billion News Corp., which already owns The Times of London and tabloid The Sun, now plans to shell out $12 billion for a full takeover of broadcaster Sky TV. If the deal happens, media analyst Claire Enders has predicted that Murdoch will control half of the U.K.’s newspaper and TV markets within a decade. In a rare show of unity, Murdoch’s rivals in the British media are clamoring for the government to block BRITAIN
the sale. His papers may have backed David Cameron’s Conservatives in the election, but Murdoch is not likely to get the government’s blessing now. For one thing, Cameron’s party failed to win an outright victory despite Murdoch’s support. For another, the decision on whether to allow the takeover belongs to business secretary Vince Cable, a fiercely pro-regulation Liberal Democrat who recently raised a storm by publicly warning that “capitalism takes no prisoners, and it kills competition when it can.”
WHICH COUNTRY WILL SEE THE NEXT MINING DISASTER?
DEREK SWALWELL —GALLERY STOCK
by jimmy langman after the last chilCHILE ean miner was rescued from the San José mine, rescue worker Manuel Gonzalez ascended from the 700-meter-deep drill hole, and President Sebastián Piñera asked what he was thinking on the way up. Gonzalez replied: “That hopefully things in Chilean mining will now be different.” This near-tragedy will surely bring about changes in Chilean mining. But several other countries are in line for the next big accident if they don’t also take a cue. Topping the list is China, with 2,631 accidental miner deaths last year, followed by some former Soviet states (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia), as well as Colombia and Turkey. Statistics vary, as many accidents are not even reported, but the International Federa-
tion of Mine Workers’ Unions estimates that overall, 12,000 workers die in accidents each year. Mining has always been a risky activity, but experts blame lax laws and enforcement, inadequate worker training, and low investment in technologies for the unusually high accident rates in some countries. Workplace accidents are not the only worry. In July, the Chinese mining company Zijin caused a massive acid-waste spill in the Ting River that poisoned drinking water for some 60,000 people. Zijin has been moving to expand into other nations, such as Peru, which is a worrisome trend, says Keith Slack, a senior policy adviser at Oxfam America. These countries must push for reform. The next mining disaster is unlikely to have such a miraculous ending.
BY THE NUMBERS
LIKING LIQUIDITY Debt issuance to emerging markets skyrocketed in September, reflecting a preference for liquidity by sovereigns and corporations, according to a new report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
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POLITICS MIDTERMS
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OCTOBER 18, 2010
AMERICA’S HOLY WRIT TEA PARTY EVANGELISTS CLAIM THE CONSTITUTION AS THEIR SACRED TEXT. WHY THAT’S WRONG. by andrew romano
since winning the republican senate primary in Delaware last month, Christine O’Donnell has not had trouble getting noticed. When the Tea Party icon admitted to “dabbl[ing] into witchcraft” as a youngster, the press went wild. When she revealed that she was “not a witch” after all, the response was rabid. O’Donnell has fudged her academic credentials, defaulted on her mortgage, sued a former employer, and campaigned against masturbation, and her efforts have been rewarded with round-the-clock coverage. Yet few observers seem to have given her views on the United States Constitution the same level of consideration. Which is too bad, because O’Donnell’s Tea Party take on our founding text is as unusual as her stance on autoeroticism. Except that it could actually have consequences.
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CULTURE The Minister as Muse As Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, reflects on his mortality, artists are experimenting with his image in their work.
COURTESY OF THE CREDIT VALENTINE TK WILLIE GALLERY
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CULTURE ART
The vibrant
watercolor shows a gaming table with three playing cards, each depicting a different portrait of the same man. Small figures kneel at the corners pleading, “Papa, can you help me not be frightened?” and “Papa, don’t you know I have no choice?” They are lyrics from the gay anthem “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” from the Barbra Streisand film Yentl; the man featured on the cards is Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, who is often described as a father figure—albeit an authoritarian one—to the young nation. New York–based Singaporean artist Jimmy Ong incorporated the lyrics to reflect the anxieties of a generation of gay men in a city-state where homosexual activity remains a criminal act punishable by up to two years in prison, while the card motif is a nod to the much-debated opening of two casinos earlier this year. Ong’s work is a relatively rare example of a contemporary artist incorporating
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Lee’s image, even though Lee has dominated Singapore’s political landscape since the young nation’s independence in 1965. Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990 but has remained involved in government and holds a cabinet position with the title “minister mentor.” His image has the power to evoke strong reactions, yet unlike Mao Zedong, whose image has been embraced by legions of Chinese artists, Lee has remained a distant, often taboo subject for many Singaporean artists. “I can only speculate that it is self-censorship at work,” says Ong. “Even in my artwork I am self-censoring, like using Yentl’s lyrics in place of my own voice.” But just as the 87-year-old Lee has started in recent interviews to contemplate openly his own mortality, some artists are also beginning to reflect on Lee’s life and legacy. Several recent art exhibitions have used his image to explore the notion of nationhood, though never too critically. “Reevalu-
ations are part of anyone’s legacy, but to do so while someone is still in office colors the effort with all the anxiety of politics,” says Jason Wee, a Singaporean artist also based in New York. “Mao is no longer in office, and Lee still is.” Wee has been working on a series of portraits of Lee, using shampoo bottle caps arranged to create a pixelated effect. Titled No More Tears, the portraits are a nod to Lee’s rare emotional moment in 1965, when he cried on television announcing the separation of Singapore from Malaysia and Singapore’s future looked uncertain. Wee has also gone beyond mere iconographic representation, examining how deeply the aging statesman’s influence runs over the citystate’s citizens. In the recent exhibition Beyond LKY at Singapore’s Valentine Willie Fine Art Gallery, artists were asked to reflect on a Singapore without Lee. Wee installed a tall, dark, granite sculpture in the shape of the number one, inscribed with the words in mem-
FROM LEFT : COURTESY OF SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM , NO CREDIT
Wee’s No More Tears; Ong’s painting.
ory of my father, mr. lee, along with Self-Portrait (Yellow, Green and Red Mr. Lee), an ink portrait in which the artist looks like Lee. “I decided on a selfportrait, but one that shows how little control I have over my genetic, national, and ideological paternity,” says Wee. Others at the exhibition also reflected on Lee’s influence on Singaporeans, positive and negative, though many did not use his iconography. The British had no qualms about promoting Sir Stamford Raffles and other colonial figures when they ruled Singapore, and to this day a tall, white statue of the “founder” of colonial Singapore still stands proud along the Singapore River. Surprisingly, ever since the city-state gained independence in 1965, it has continued to celebrate the names of colonial pioneers on monuments, streets, and bridges, rather than embrace new modern-day heroes. As the first generation of political pioneers has begun to pass on, there have been
occasional calls to celebrate them and their achievements, but the Singaporean government, and in particular Lee, has always shied away from anything that could be construed as creating a cult of personalities. Few of Asia’s other longtime leaders have hesitated using public art to promote themselves; Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos had his own bust carved into a hillside in central Luzon, and Mao’s image was so pervasive that it was not only on official buildings, but also in every single household. Lee has preferred the nation building to be carried out in other media, such as newspapers and textbooks. “The cult of personality makes him uncomfortable,” says Tom Plate, author of Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew. “He thinks it’s tacky. Until very recently, he didn’t even want to talk much about aspects of personality and his personal life.” Gallery owner Valentine Willie points out that artists have probably been reti-
cent to use Lee’s image in their works, because officially, the use of any cabinet minister’s image requires approval from the Media Development Authority. Yet he also acknowledged that at his recent exhibition he did not seek any permission nor did he encounter any problems. Indeed, some of the works were reproduced several times in the state-controlled media, which could be considered a subtle endorsement. “The greatest censorship is self-censorship,” says Willie. “We’ve lived for so long under a regime where we can’t do this or that, it’s almost ingrained in our psyche that we don’t go there.” That’s definitely changing. A finalist for the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art prize, whose winner will be announced early next year, is an oil painting in the popart style of a young Lee relaxing with his family. It is by Ong Hui Har, who tackled the private side of the political leader in a one-woman show earlier this year. The true test will be if and when she and her colleagues tackle the other side.
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