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Asian-American Village News HeadlinesBy the Associated Press
Ex-Guantanamo chaplain: Suspicion of Muslims hinders terror warMar 13 01:53 By WAYNE PARRY Associated Press Writer WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) -- The former Muslim chaplain at the U.S. Army base at Guantanamo Bay who was once suspected of espionage says the military is discouraging American Muslims from helping more thoroughly in the war on terror by mistreating detainees and viewing Islam suspiciously. James Yee, the Springfield native who was arrested on suspicion of espionage in his role as spiritual adviser to Muslim detainees at Guantanamo, claims he and other American Muslim service members at the detention center were also viewed with suspicion by military commanders. In an interview with The Associated Press before addressing the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee's New Jersey chapter Saturday night, Yee said his case is one of the things that makes American Muslims wary of cooperating more fully in the war on terrorism. "When someone like me gets thrown in jail for making positive contributions, people see that and don't want to have anything to do with the government," said Yee, who lives in Olympia, Wash. He said one higher-up referred to him as "that Chinese Taliban" during the 76 days he spent in solitary confinement in a South Carolina military prison. Associated Press phone calls to U.S. Department of Defense public affairs were not immediately returned Sunday. Yee grew up as a Lutheran in Springfield, where he was the only Asian in his school and one of only two minorities. He converted to Islam in 1991, drawn to the religion's diversity, as well as its focus on one God. Once a highly regarded solider encouraged by commanders to serve as the "poster boy for Muslims in the military," the Gulf War veteran returned to active duty in January 2001, and the next year was sent to Guantanamo, the U.S. military base in Cuba where suspected Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners are held. In addition to seeing to the detainees' religious needs, he acted as a liaison between them and military commanders, passing along their grievances about how they were being treated. That, Yee said, made him fall under suspicion as well. "My faith surely was under fire," he told the anti-discrimination group in his speech. "That fact that I'm a Muslim-American put me in the cross-hairs. Because when I prayed in the Islamic form of prayers, when I read the Quran in the classical Arabic language, it mirrored that of the prisoners. Some interpreted that to believe that meant that me, along with the other American Muslims, were also the enemy." He was arrested in September 2003 -- two days after receiving the best officer evaluation report he had ever received -- and accused of spying and helping the Taliban and al-Qaida, offenses that carried the death penalty. But the actual charges filed against him dealt only with mishandling classified materials. Yee said the crux of the case against him stemmed from documents on his computer the military thought were classified. In reality, he said, most were articles he had downloaded from the Internet for a postgraduate course in international relations he is pursuing. None contained any classified material, and the charges were dropped in March 2004, including lesser alleged offenses like adultery, storing pornography on his Army laptop and lying to investigators. Those accusations devastated his family, which is still working to repair their relationships with each other, said Yee, 38. Yee received an honorable discharge in January 2005, followed by an Army commendation for "exceptionally meritorious service." He said military interrogators at Guantanamo used the detainees' Muslim faith against them during interrogations. Although he did not witness it, Yee said at least one detainee was made to bow in prayer with a Pentagram painted on the floor. An interrogator would scream, "Satan is your God now, not Allah!" Yee said the incident was told to him by detainees, and confirmed by translators who came to him in confidence. He also said detainees and translators told him interrogators would throw the Quran on the ground and step on it. And he said he witnessed interrogators roughly handle the Muslim holy book while looking for contraband, causing pages to fall out and bindings to crack. Earlier this month, the U.S. announced it would end its operations at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, which became notorious as a symbol of detainee abuse after photos of American military personnel mistreating prisoners became public. Yee said closing down Guantanamo would be a good symbolic gesture, but wouldn't repair the U.S. military's tainted image when it comes to humane treatment of detainees. "What can help that is opening up Guantanamo with true transparency," he said. "The world has already seen the abuses at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan," Yee told the AP. "If prisoners are being treated humanely as the U.S. says, they need to prove that. That's not to say you have to open up the military intelligence process. Yee also said the Bush administration needs to reach out to U.S. Muslim groups, which he said are eager to improve America's security. "Who better to root out extremists in the Muslim community than Muslims themselves?" he said.
Woman deported after violating student visa in 1989Mar 13 00:46
CINCINNATI (AP) -- She lived in the United States for 18 years, raising her two sons, teaching religion classes at the mosque and selling cosmetics door-to-door. But while she lived quietly in the United States, Fatima Raziuddin also lived illegally. Last week, the woman who violated her student visa in 1989 by working at a fast-food restaurant was deported to Pakistan. "I have been a good person," Raziuddin, who lived in West Chester Township near Cincinnati for 10 years, said in a telephone interview before she was deported. "My children need me. I'm always there for them. "I would do anything to live in this country." Raziuddin never disputed the visa violation or that she broke a promise to leave the country voluntarily. But she argued that the exemplary life she led in America should outweigh her violations. If Raziuddin had left on her own in 1990, she could have reapplied for a visa in just six months and started the process of becoming a U.S. citizen. Instead, she remained in Texas with her husband, Razi Dinn, quit college and had two sons, Shabbir and Abbas. "If she would have just voluntarily departed, she might have been able to come back in a matter of months," said Greg Palmore, a Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman. "When you don't do that, you become an absconder." Raziuddin is not eligible to re-enter the country for 10 years. Dinn, a U.S. citizen and a native of India, which has had poor relations with Pakistan, is wary of moving his children to Pakistan. The United States deports about 200,000 people a year. Raziuddin, who married Dinn in 1988, said she planned to leave after her second son was born in 1991, but she became sick with thyroid cancer. Court records include hospital bills for treatment from 1991 to 1997 at the University of Texas. Dinn said her illness hurt the family financially and made it difficult for her to leave the country. They moved to the Cincinnati area in the mid-1990s after Dinn took a job with Frisch's Restaurants. "She's very kind and very giving," said Barbara Reisen, a neighbor. "She's not affluent, but she was always giving someone gifts." Raziuddin's repeated attempts for citizenship ended last month when she was arrested and sent to a jail in northern Ohio. Her lawyer made one last try to keep her in the country, arguing she could be harmed by returning to Pakistan because she is a Shiite Muslim while her husband is a Sunni Muslim. She cried into the phone as immigration officials allowed her to make a final call before boarding the plane to Pakistan. She asked her husband to send some of her belongings to her sister, who she planned to stay with for a while. "It's just too much," Dinn said after the call. "I'm without a wife. My kids are without a mom." ------ Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com
Schering-Plough's Hassan hits obstacles trying to revive companyMar 12 12:58 By GEORGE E. JORDAN, The Star-Ledger of Newark
KENILWORTH, N.J. (AP) -- When Fred Hassan took the helm at Schering-Plough, many investors hoped he would do for the troubled drugmaker what he had done for his previous employer, Pharmacia: Dress it up for a sale. He quickly won praise inside the company and out for restoring calm and focus to a business rocked by huge losses and a record fine by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to settle manufacturing problems. But three years after Hassan sold Pharmacia to Pfizer for $53 billion and moved down the road to Schering-Plough Corp., he faces a number of obstacles to a repeat performance. One issue is a co-marketing agreement Schering-Plough has with Merck for the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin. While the deal has boosted revenue, it could complicate any effort to sell Schering-Plough, since either partner has the right to buy out the other's share in the event a merger. Then there's the turnaround itself. When Schering-Plough's board hired him in April 2003, Hassan immediately announced a multistep plan to turn the Kenilworth-based company around in five to seven years. But in a recent interview, Hassan acknowledged he won't meet his deadline, mainly because it's taking longer than expected to rejuvenate the company's research pipeline. In company news releases, the time frame has quietly slipped to "six to eight years." "Things are on track with the action agenda," said Hassan, a Pakistani-born chemical engineer whose Urdu accent gives his speech a singsong cadence. "My goal here is to build the business. The idea is not to do a quick fix and make a quick exit." He has pleaded with investors to remain patient, and will probably ask for more time at the company's annual shareholder meeting this spring. ------ Against the ClockWall Street has generally looked favorably on Hassan's turnaround efforts, though it's not clear how much longer they'll give him the benefit of the doubt. The company has no 2006 earnings guidance, the stock price has been essentially flat since 2003, and earnings per share last year were a paltry 12 cents. And there's no telling when it will restore the quarterly dividend slashed in 2003 to 51/2 cents per share, from 17 cents. On Friday, Prudential Financial analyst Timothy Anderson issued a report saying that while the drugmaker's pipeline is improving, Schering-Plough "desperately needs to get its hands on more products." Anderson suggested Hassan's best bet would be to buy a smaller drugmaker such as Kos Pharmaceuticals of Cranbury. If Hassan's latest timetable is correct, he may not be around to see the final results of his plan. At 60, he's five years away from mandatory retirement. "It's enough time to make a difference. Maybe not enough time to count the numbers, but the time to get that research engine going and do good," he said. Most Wall Street analysts remain in his corner -- for now. After all, the rest of Big Pharma is suffering from the same drug development issues plaguing Schering-Plough. And while shares of Pfizer, Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb are below where they were three years ago, Schering-Plough's stock is modestly higher. "While Schering-Plough still has its work cut out for it, it has come along way since he (Hassan) arrived," Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan said. "At the end of the day, Schering-Plough has to have an exit strategy. Either they turn it around and it's going to be a growth company from here, or it's going to be sold. "Which way it's going to go is still an open question." ------ The "Chameleon"If Hassan knows the answer, he wouldn't say in two recent interviews. He is known to keep his cards close to the vest -- and to play a bad hand very well. "There is no doubt about it -- that's why they (investors) are willing to give him the time," said Frank Abella, chief executive of IPG Investment Partners Group in Plainfield, who manages a fund that owns restricted shares of Schering-Plough. Hassan's $14.9 million in compensation last year made him one of the pharmaceutical industry's highest-paid chief executives, even though Schering-Plough's $26.6 billion in market capitalization makes it a relatively small drug company. Abella, who advises clients to buy Schering-Plough stock, calls Hassan a "chameleon" who hints the company is for sale while investing in the future by 0 percent of net income -- $1.8 billion last year -- into research and development. The company is investing heavily in the production of biologics, complex biotech medicines to treat cancer and other serious illnesses. Still, Abella says, "I'm more convinced than ever if he thought it was to his advantage and there was a 40 percent premium to the market, he would sell the company." The son of the first Pakistani ambassador to India, Hassan left Pakistan in 1970 to enroll at Harvard Business School. After graduation, he headed to Nebraska to take a job at Sandoz, a generic drugmaker. He went back to Pakistan for Sandoz in the late 1970s -- a dangerous time during the Afghan War -- before making the jump to American Home Products, where he engineered his first "unlikely turnaround" in the early 1990s. As executive vice president, Hassan devised the strategy to defend Premarin, American Home's hormone-replacement therapy, against generic competition. When Hassan took over Pharmacia & Upjohn in 1997, he cast off several executives and replaced them with stars from American Home Products, now Wyeth. He then merged with Monsanto in 2000 to acquire Celebrex, a move that thrust Pharmacia into the top ranks of the drug industry. He later moved the company from London to Peapack. Pfizer bought Pharmacia to acquire Celebrex, a Cox-2 inhibitor that turned out to be a bad bet with the withdrawal of Vioxx, another Cox-2, because of safety concerns. But there's no doubt Hassan did right by Pharmacia investors. "That was a totally different company from this one," Hassan said of Pharmacia. "It was a very robust company with good revenues." ------ Going By the PlaybookSchering-Plough was a mess when Hassan arrived in early 2003, the year the company reported a loss of 31 cents per share, down from a $1.34-a-share profit in 2002. The company's top seller, decongestant Claritin, had lost its patent and there were no blockbusters brewing in Schering-Plough's labs. Complicating matters were investigations of the company by an alphabet of federal agencies. The probes would eventually result in more than $700 million in fines and hundreds of millions of dollars to fix manufacturing problems in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. "It's hard to think of a government agency Schering-Plough wasn't being investigated by," Deutsche Banc's Ryan said. At Schering-Plough, Hassan has followed a playbook similar to the one at Pharmacia. He replaced senior management with loyalists, many of them hired away from Pfizer after the Pharmacia merger. Hassan's team attempted to squeeze as much as possible out of existing products such as Remicade for rheumatoid arthritis. At the same time, they went on a campaign to reduce costs by ordering 1,700 layoffs, slashing perks and cutting the quarterly dividend in half. "I was not very popular on that day," Hassan said of the day in August 2003 when he announced the first round of cuts. Still, by all accounts Hassan has managed to foster loyalty by listening to his troops, encouraging openness and new ideas, and delicately dressing down co-workers who have not done their homework. Schering-Plough employs about 6,000 people in New Jersey. Ultimately, the 2004 deal with Merck to market Vytorin -- a combination of Zetia-Zocor -- provided Schering-Plough with much-needed revenue that may have spared cuts in research spending. But in some ways, the Vytorin partnership shackles Hassan: The agreement contains a "poison pill" that gives Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, the right to buy Schering-Plough's share of the partnership if the Kenilworth company merges with a larger drugmaker. "The way the original deal was set up, it was not terribly likely for anybody else to acquire Schering-Plough," said David Katz, president and chief investment officer at Matrix Asset Advisors, a New York City-based fund manager who owns shares in Merck but not Schering-Plough. "Merck was the best and only game in town." But times have changed. Katz said uncertainty over the Vioxx litigation "makes it tougher for a company to be acquired by Merck for stock." That means Schering-Plough may be forced to go it alone, chasing growth where it can. Hassan says that's just fine with him. He says he's currently on the hunt to acquire new products "priced within our risk appetite." "We're going to do deals as they come along," Hassan said. "We're going to do it because it is financially justified." ------ Information from: The Star-Ledger, http://www.nj.com/starledger
Carson City museum would honor Chinese railroad workersMar 11 18:27
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- A group has unveiled plans for a $50 million museum in Carson City that would honor 19th century Chinese railroad workers in the West. Co-directors Art Hannafin and Khan Tung said they hope to make the Chinese Workers Museum of America an attraction for tourists and scholars alike, as well as a repository for early Chinese American artifacts. Plans call for the 250,000-square-foot complex to feature a six-story conical building with windows that reflect gold, flanked by two six-story buildings that resemble ancient Chinese fortifications known as gateways. Hannafin said the design of the centerpiece would evoke the dream of Chinese immigrants -- that of a gold mountain promising prosperity. But what it turned out to be in reality was a dream denied, he said. "The structure will convey a hollow feeling -- like their dreams," Tung told the Nevada Appeal. Visitors would be able to look out over surrounding Eagle Valley from the top of the building. One of the gateways would be used for preserving artifacts while the other would be for changing exhibits. Hannafin, owner of the Carson City architectural firm Hannafin Design Associates, and Tung, the company's senior associate, hope to open the museum in the next four or five years with the help of private donations secured by a steering committee. Among committee members are Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Gov. Kenny Guinn and state Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio. The museum would pay special tribute to Chinese laborers who helped build the V&T Railroad between Reno and Virginia City, organizers said. A section of the old railroad between Virginia City and Carson City is expected to open as a tourist attraction by 2012. Organizers hope to build the museum on public land near the proposed V&T Railroad depot off U.S. Highway 50 in east Carson City. ------ Information from: Nevada Appeal, http://www.nevadaappeal.com
Korean drama craze reaches United StatesMar 12 19:26 By JAYMES SONG, Associated Press Writer
HONOLULU (AP) -- It's become a daily ritual for Gayle Stephens. She often laughs and cries while getting her daily fix inside the privacy of her Ewa Beach home. She's even tried to get her family hooked. Stephens loves Korean dramas. She is among a growing number of Americans with no connection to Korean culture who say the shows are a more compelling and wholesome alternative to the usual daytime programming on U.S. TV. And retail giants are also starting to tune in. "I like the fact that they're cleaner, they're not as smutty as the American dramas," said Stephens, a 32-year-old black woman who grew up in Durham, N.C. "I didn't think I would enjoy watching, but I really got caught up in it. It's very engaging," she said. TV dramas have become South Korea's hottest export since cell phones, female golfers and kimchi. The Korean craze, which also includes music and film, has swept through Japan, China, the Philippines, Singapore and most of Asia and is now making its way across the United States. "It's just a small peninsula nestled between Japan and China, but they've just hit it right," said Tom Larsen, general manager of YA Entertainment LLC, a major North American distributor of Korean dramas. "They know how to put together a good drama that their neighbors in Asia are eating up." Now, more Americans are saying hello to "hallyu," or the "Korean wave." Larsen said the dramas are the driver behind the wave, but it is really "all things Korea." "It stopped in Hawaii, built up some momentum and reached California shortly after and is continuing to spread across the states," he said. "The mainland is three, four, five years, behind Hawaii." Korean soap operas used to be only offered in select Asian video stores, but now they are going mainstream with English subtitles. In Hawaii, retailers such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Borders, Blockbuster and Tower Records are capitalizing on the craze and in the past few months began selling Korean drama box DVD sets for $60 to $120. The DVDs are also sold in music and book stores in cities with large Asian communities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago and New York, as well as online at Amazon.com. Since opening in 2003, San Bruno, Calif.-based YA has seen revenue triple in each of the past two years behind strong sales of its top sellers: the tearful love story "Stairway to Heaven," and historic drama "Dae Jang Geum." YA plans to release 22 titles this year. Fans say the Korean shows, centered around relationships and family, focus more on story lines than special effects and are a refreshing change from American programming they see as too violent and too racy. Annette Marten, a 69-year-old nurse from Kailua, said Korean soaps depict love in a more romantic and artistic way, without steamy, bedroom scenes. "I'm not prudish in any way, but it's so lovely how they express themselves," she said. "I get all excited if they get a hug. It has so much more meaning." Marten, who has been hooked for nearly two years, said she enjoys the deep characters, surprise twists, unpredictable endings and the actors. "I like the young heartthrobs. I think they're wonderful," she said. Many Korean dramas feature elements also found in American soap operas -- love triangles, forbidden love, evil mothers-in-law and corrupt business partners. But a key difference is that Korean story lines end usually after 16 to 20 hour-long episodes, no matter how popular they become. CBS's "Guiding Light," on the other hand, has been on the air since 1952. "They go from one bed to the next and everybody ends up with someone else's husband and it never ends," said former daytime TV fan Yolanda Kala, 48, of Waianae. "It's like 20 years and they still have the same problems. At least with the Korean stuff, you start and you end." KBFD-TV in Honolulu, the nation's first FCC-licensed station dedicated to Korean programming, had primarily Korean viewers when the company first aired in 1986. Today, less than 10 percent of viewers are Korean and ratings are higher than ever, said Jeff Chung, the station's general manager. "Why is hallyu a recent phenomenon? It's because of the production level, the quality of the writing and acting," Chung said. "It's greatly improved in recent years." In just a few years, the station has helped Korean dramas become part of Hawaii's entertainment landscape. Travel agents here are selling tours to Korea to visit filming locations. There are blogs and chatrooms. Hawaii's largest daily newspaper carries a weekly column. Korean restaurants, shops and language classes are now filled with curious non-Koreans. There're even fan clubs devoted to the dramas. Gerrie Nakamura and Nora Muramoto, who are of Japanese ancestry, are truly Korean drama queens. They founded the Hawaii K-Drama Fan Club in 2002 with about 20 people, but the group has grown to 400 members, mostly middle-aged women of all races. Only about 5 percent of its members are of Korean heritage. Muramoto, 59, said her love of the dramas has inspired her to take Korean cooking and language classes. Inside her home in suburban Pearl City, Muramoto has a big collection of Korean CDs, video tapes, DVDs, posters and magazines. Nakamura, a high school teacher, said she sometimes recommends the dramas to her students to learn about family values and respect for elders. "We grew up with 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'The Waltons,' but today's kids don't have that," she said. "They see extreme whatever -- reality TV and naked girls on MTV." Club member Jane Sugita said she used to watch Japanese soaps. "The Japanese dramas used to be good. They've really gone down hill," she said. "I found Korean dramas to be much better. The story lines are better, it's more realistic, you can relate, and the actors are handsome." More than 200 members attended the latest club gathering and got a visit by journeyman actor Lee Jeong-gil, who often plays the role of a father or businessman. "I was blown away by the welcome," Lee said. "I never expected anything like this." There are other fan clubs devoted to specific Korean stars, such as Bae Yong-joon, the soft-smiling star of "Winter Sonata." The 2002 love story turned Bae into a huge star in Asia, especially in Japan, where his scarf-wearing image is featured on everything from teddy bears to key chains. Bae created a buzz and mobs everywhere he goes in Asia. Nine women were hurt outside his Tokyo hotel in November 2004. Hawaii's Bae fan club boasts more than 100 members and may expand into a national group. "Winter Sonata is showing on the mainland and there's pockets of underground fandom all over the U.S.," said Michelle Smith, the club's president. Smith is obsessed with the star, but acknowledges she isn't the typical fan. "Your typical Bae Yong-Joon fan is in her 40s, has a family and listens to K-pop," she said. "I ride a Harley, play electric guitar and listen to Green Day, AC-DC and Ozzy." Music, from ballads to instrumentals, plays a prominent role in Korean dramas. There's also a lot of crossover in acting and singing, such as pop stars Jung Ji-hoon and Eric Mun. Jung, of the hit romantic-comedy series "Full House," is better known as the singer "Rain." He performed in front of two sold-out crowds at New York's Madison Square Garden last month and has had sold out concerts across Asia, performing in front of 40,000 fans at Beijing Workers Stadium in October. Retiree 62-year-old Margie Okuhara said she feels like a teenager again when the Hawaii drama club meets to swoon over the stars. "My kids call me a groupie," she said. "I say, 'That's OK, when you get to be my age, you can do whatever you want."' ------ On the Net:
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