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Repressed are remembered
Thousands of Mongolian were affected by political repression which began in the 1920s, reaching a peak in the 1930-40s.
An official day of remembrance and tribute to the repressed was held on September 10 nationwide. Leaders of the state, ministries and public organisations laid wreaths at memorials and religious rites were carried out in monasteries and at the graves and stupas of those repressed.
Only about 260 of the repressed still survive. Over 66 years, around 29,000 have been compensated and had their good names restored, about 26,000 of them in the last 15 years.
State Commission for Management and Organisation of Rehabilitation of Political Repression (SCMORPR) secretary N. Sampilnorov said, “The rehabilitation work is coming to the final stage, but has yet to finish. There are about 5,000 judgement rolls which have not yet been checked in the special archives of the General Intelligence Agency.”
Testing the constitution
The third seminar of Asian Constitutional Court (ACC) judges was held September 6-8 at Parliament House, organised by the Constitutional Court and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Mongolian Constitutional court chairman J. Byambadorj said, “It is important for any country to follow without exception the law of the nation, the result of a life-time struggle by its people, regulating fundamental political, economic and social relations. History has demonstrated that there is a need for a special institution, obliged to enforce compliance with the Constitution. The work of such an institution is no longer a matter for a single nation and is taking on international characteristics. Our seminar is a testimony to this.”
At the seminar were about 30 judges from constitutional courts in the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, South Korea and Indonesia, discussing pressing issues such as the power of a constitutional courts, problems between constitutional courts and politics, the legal basis for an election and dismissal of constitutional justices.
Three dead in Hovsgol
On August 30, sisters B. Enkhmaa (14) and B. Enkhtsolmon (11) with their brother Ts. Erdenebat (23) vanished from their camp while the family was mining for gold in the Bagash area, 40km from Renchinlhumbe soum, Hovsgol Aimag.
After an arduous search, all three were found dead, announced Minister responsible for Emergencies U. Khurelsukh on September 12.
On September 4, five days after the three went missing, the Hovsgol Aimag administration told the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) that they were lost; there was no explanation for the delay in notification.
Katrina charity
Cities and residents hit by Hurricane Katrina are benefiting from assistance from many countries. The Mongolian government is donating $50,000 and has opened an appeal to which people can contribute.
On September 9 the Youth Union and the Students’ Union told the prime minister that they would like to run a concert to raise funds for the appeal.
The unions said that they would help the donations campaign in any way that they could so that Mongolians can help Americans, and an office to coordinate the campaign has been opened at the Youth Union.
A Golomt Bank account have been opened for disaster relief, and donations can be made to account number 1102833434 (tugrugs) or 1102833436 (US dollars).
The Trade and Development Bank has also opened donation accounts: 499080158 (tugrugs) or 499080169 (dollars).
It’s a minefield
What does Mongolia have to do with landmines? It’s a question that Satnam Jit Singh, Diplomatic Adviser to the International Campaign To Ban Landmines (ICBL), is used to hearing.
The answer is a little - and a lot. He said that Mongolia has a landmine stockpile from the Soviet era, which realistically these will never be used, but he is promising funding to help the government to decommission them completely.
More importantly, he claims, in the global campaign to eradicate landmines, Singh needs Mongolia to sign the 1997 Ottowa Convention banning antipersonnel landmines.
World Speakers conference
The Second World Conference of Parliamentary Speakers was held September 7-9 at the UN in New York, attended by speakers from over 150 countries and regions.
Representing Mongolia were Speaker Ts. Nyamdorj; Parliamentary Group (MPG) committee chair MP K. Sairan; MPG committee deputy chair MP N. Enkhbold; MP S. Oyun; UN standing representative Ch. Baatar; and Parliamentary Office Foreign Relations Department chair M. Choidorj.
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) President Sergio Paez spoke of the conference objectives, future IPU aims and its cooperation with the UN, saying that the meeting was evidence of a united position of world parliaments.
The IPU was established in 1889, and Paez said that it gave political encouragement and assistance to all nations. Other speeches stressed that the IPU needed a strategic partnership with the UN.
Humanitarian aid to the US
A regular cabinet meeting was held on September 7 and the following issues were discussed.
Humanitarian aid to the US
Cabinet decided to give aid worth US$50,000 to the US victims of Hurricane Katrina, called the biggest disaster in US history, when major cities were flooded and many oil rigs and homes were lost. The losses are estimated to be worth over $100 billion.
Campaigns to send humanitarian assistance to the US are underway worldwide, including in India, Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, last December the most heavily tsunami-affected countries. Over 50 countries like Australia, China, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia and organisations like the UN, NATO and WHO will give aid.
The US has supported Mongolian reforms since 1990 with aid worth about $200 million, with a further $1 million to fight natural disasters.
Turkish Minister’s visit
Turkey’s Labour and Social Welfare Minister Murat Baseskioglu was here on an official September 5-10 visit, at the invitation of Mongolian Labour and Social Welfare Minister Ts. Bayarsaikhan.
He was accompanied by his Foreign Relations Department Deputy Director General Levent Genc and Employment Agency Acting Deputy Director General Ali Ozkan.
On September 6, President N. Enkhbayar met Minister Baseskioglu and reminded him that Mongolia and Turkey had ties going back hundreds of years, and said that the recent visit by the Turkish Prime Minister was an important step in this.
He added that it would be good to develop cooperation in the social sector and expand economic and trade relations.
Ulaanbaatar Partnership 2005
The Ulaanbaatar Partnership 2005 international autumn trade fair was held September 8-11 in the Sarny Titem Trade Centre, sponsored by the Vitafit Group.
This, the ninth such fair, was staged by the Ulaanbaatar City Mayor’s Office and the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).
There were over 130 national and foreign companies displaying IT, tourism, pharmaceuticals, beauty products, food, leather, wool, cashmere, vegetable oil, chocolates and juices.
A happy fete
On Thursday September 8 it looked as if the Women’s Institute had decided to hold their annual fair in Ulaanbaatar instead of in Much Binding-in-the-Marsh.
The southern end of Sukhbaatar Square was covered with gers and booths, filled with the same kind of homemade wares you would find on the English village green.
There were fresh flowers and vegetables, wilting in the late summer sun, each labelled so that no one would mistake a cucumber for a tomato; there were bottled vegetables, unlabelled and vaguely threatening.
There were handicrafts, including beautifully made models of gers and Chinggis Khan’s soldiers, rugs and socks.
Economy gets stronger teeth
Most westerners of a certain age will remember an enormously successful television advertising campaign for fluoride toothpaste.
Calcium fluoride, said the white-coated trustworthy man with sparkling teeth, will stop tooth decay and put dentists out of business.
This was about as true as most advertisement campaigns; but calcium fluoride really is vital to the modern world - and Mongolia has become one of the world leaders in a calcium fluoride boom.
Chemically known as CaF2, it is also called fluorspar or Blue John, and Mongolia has over 20 percent of the world’s known reserves of the stuff, with other large deposits yet to be proved.
Getting it all together
Finding the Ulaanbaatar Puzzle Museum is itself something of a puzzle. The International Museum of Wisdom (its full and slightly foreboding title) hides itself away in an obscure corner not far from the Black Market.
The museum is a private venture and entry is more expensive than other city museums. The Tg3,000 for foreigners is four times that for the Mongolian. English speaking guides are available, but only to groups of four or more, leaving the casual solo tripper feeling a bit unrewarded.
But despite these handicaps, a visit to the Puzzle Museum makes for an absorbing afternoon.
The founder, Z. Tumen-Ulzii, is a world-renowned toy maker and inventor who began to invent his own toys in early childhood. In 1983 he received his first toy patent.
Needle in a haystack
The Mongol Messenger has been contacted by several people asking for information about things they want to buy but cannot find in Ulaanbaatar.
We were unable to help, but perhaps there are readers who can; if so, please contact Messenger and we will let everyone know.
1.Grapefruit juice: RB writes that he has a passion for grapefruit juice, which seems rarely to be available; he says that every other sort of juice is common, just not grapefruit. Anyone seen supplies?
Japanese dermatologist
Professor Shimizu Hiro of the Hokkaido University Medical School arrived in Mongolia on August 17, invited by International Volunteers Network (IVN) for Mongolian Children President Igichu.
The professor is a world expert in dermatology and has published a number of textbooks.
He lectured at an August 18-19 seminar at the Chinggis Hotel to over 100 domestic and foreign specialists and medical staff.
On August 19 he visited the Dermatology Centre, and spent two hours examining unidentified skin diseases, taking samples to identify at home in Japan.
Irish pubs, Mongolian drinks
What is this thing about Irish pubs?
OK – I can understand Chinese, Russian, Korean and Japanese restaurants; maybe even a French bistrot and a German beerhaus or three; these countries all have some kind of relationship with Mongolia.
But there are three popular Irish pubs in Ulaanbaatar. Why? Have the owners or customers ever been inside an Irish pub? Seen what the typical Irish pub looks like?
Maybe it is some kind of Mongolian-Irish conspiracy. Like an Irish joke that no one gets the point of. An Englishman, an Irishman and a Mongolian were in a pub one day…
I should perhaps declare my bias. I am half Irish; my father was born in Co. Tipperary. I am descended from Rory O’Connor, the last High King of all Ireland.
Artistic Horizons
The Union of Mongolian Artists Gallery last week played host to an exhibition entitled Landscape as Perception and Utopia. The exhibition was exemplary of the diverse creative outpourings the gallery affords visitors the opportunity of seeing.
Entry to the gallery is free and exhibitions are frequently changed over. The gallery features collected works by both Mongolian and international artists.
The most recent exhibition was an intriguing collection by Swedish and Finnish artists, exploring ideas and concepts of landscape in diverse ways. Tiina Mielonen’s oil paintings on plexiglass are brightly coloured picture postcards, with finely textured brushstrokes lending subtle accents to each piece. |
