Asia in 3 minutes: from a polygamy dating app in Indonesia to death by selfie (again) in India
The rapper Macklemore sings ‘Same Love’ to a packed stadium as Australia mulls same-sex marriage, and three Indian students are ‘mutilated’ by train while posing for a picture
U.S. rapper sings gay anthem to Australian rugby fans
American rap artist Macklemore performed a gay anthem at a rugby league final in Sydney as Australia votes on whether to allow gay marriages. The artist sang Same Love to more than 80,000 rugby fans in Sydney as the North Queensland Cowboys took on the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League Grand Final – a sport traditionally associated with macho values. The same-sex marriage debate has divided the nation along religious and generational lines and at times has threatened to turn nasty.
What next? Former prime minister Tony Abbott – a campaigner against gay marriage – tweeted that “Footy fans shouldn’t be subjected to a politicised grand final”. He also complained that an Australian should have been chosen to perform and said he prefers Savage Garden, the lead singer of which is gay.
Swipe right, and right again: Polygamy dating app available to Indonesians
A dating app in Indonesia that aims to bring together men and women interested in polygamous marriages has stirred controversy and debate in the Muslim-majority nation. Polygamy is legal in Indonesia, where a man is allowed to be married to up to four women at a time. Lindu Pranayama, the 35-year-old developer of the app called AyoPoligami, said the idea came to him a year ago when he was scrolling through a dating app. “A lot of men are looking to engage in polygamous marriages but when they go to regular dating sites or apps they don’t see options [for] polygamy,” he said.
What next? The app has registered 10,000 users since its launch in April – around 60 per cent of whom are men. It allows users to swipe left or right on a person’s profile to signal their willingness – or not – to meet them. Women’s rights activist Zakia Tunisa said the app was “upsetting and shocking”. “The app gives a stimulus for polygamy to be accepted in society and maybe even compelling women to accept it,” she said.
Three students taking selfies on a bridge ‘mutilated’ by train in India
Three college students were killed by a train while taking photos of themselves on a railway line in India. The three were photographing themselves on a bridge when the train hit them in the town of Bidadi in the southern state of Karnataka, police said. “We found their mutilated bodies on the track and investigations have been taken up,” said R S Bylanjaiah, a local railway police officer.
What next? India has the world’s worst record for selfie deaths. Last month a man was crushed to death by an elephant when he tried to take a selfie with it in the eastern state of Orissa state. A study by the Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Delhi found that of 127 reported selfie deaths worldwide from March 2014 to September 2016, 76 of them were in India.
