May 3, 2012

Jakarta Globe - Indonesia to Announce Specific Raw Mineral Export Ban Rules on

Indonesia to Announce Specific Raw Mineral Export Ban Rules on:
Indonesia to Announce Specific Raw Mineral Export Ban Rules on Sunday
Indonesia will proceed with a ban on exports of raw minerals, with some exemptions for miners that plan to build local processing facilities, and will publish details of the rule on May 6. 6:04pm May 3, 2012
Narcotics Police in N. Sumatra Bust One of Their Own for Pushing Pills
The narcotics division chief of the Serdang Bedagai police in North Sumatra was arrested on Thursday for selling ecstasy. 5:27pm May 3, 2012
Singaporean Woman Fined For Indonesian Maid's Deadly Fall
A Singaporean woman was fined 5,000 Singaporean dollars ($4,000) after an Indonesian maid to fell to her death while cleaning the woman's windows. 5:51pm May 3, 2012
Australia Boat People Policy 'Causes Trouble' for Indonesia: Hajriyanto
Hajriyanto Thohari, deputy chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), on Thursday backed away from earlier comments in which he called Australia’s policy on towing asylum seeker vessels back to Indonesia “arrogant.” 4:49pm May 3, 2012
Jakarta Police Confiscate 382,000 Ecstasy Pills and 30.5 Kg of Crystal Meth
Jakarta police confiscated 382,000 ecstasy pills and 30.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine during drug raids from the end of March until mid April. 4:04pm May 3, 2012
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Former America WNBA basketball player Edna Campbell, center, gives advice to students at a coaching clinic in Tangerang on Thursday. The coaching clinic was conducted in an effort to establish a good relationship between US and Is...

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, prayed in front of the remains of Former Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih in Duren Sawit, Jakarta on Wednesday night. (Antara Photo)

Several train passengers wait for the train at Bekasi station on Wednesday. Kereta Api Indonesia decided to cancel the Transportation Ministry's decree to limit the capacity of train cars. (Antara Photo)

Several models wearing outfits by Indonesian designers at the 5th Surabaya Fashion Parade at Tunjungan Plaza, Surabaya, East Java on Wednesday. The fashion parade's theme was “Indonesian Culturemix,” staging the works of hundr...

Tapped Out. Blood donors lying back at Senayan City mall in South Jakarta on Wednesday. The Indonesian Red Cross organizes blood drives about four times a year in Jakarta to keep hospitals in the capital and surrounding areas well...

Green Groups Say Indonesia Deforestation Ban ‘Weak’
A coalition of green groups in Indonesia on Thursday criticized a moratorium on deforestation as “weak,” saying the year-long ban still excludes large tracts of the country’s carbon-rich forests. 3:42pm May 3, 2012
Graft Suspect Angelina Wants People to Pray for Her
Jakarta Road ‘Jockeys’ Help Motorists Skirt the Rules
Deputy House Speaker Quizzed by KPK

Ford Motor Backs Thailand Over Indonesia, for Now
Bangkok. Ford Motor Corp is eyeing Indonesia as a production center to help meet strong demand for cars in Southeast Asia but supply problems mean Thailand will remain its regional hub for the foreseeable future, company executives said. 1:47pm May 3, 2012
East Asian Nations Expand, Strengthen Emergency Program
Market Round Up: Euro Hit by Weak Eurozone Manufacturing Data
Indonesia's Revolution, Rising Demand and Role in the Global Economy

Diversion of Singapore River Yields Gem of a Chance
Singapore. Archaeologists here are hoping to get the go-ahead to see long-buried artifacts in the bed of the Singapore River when one part of it is temporarily drained and diverted later this year. 2:26pm May 3, 2012
Four Students Killed in Syria’s Aleppo
Star of Kolkata Losing Her Luster
Singapore Defense Chief Gets Top Indonesian Military Award

YouTube Promotes Channels, Pledges $200 Million in Ads
New York. In a flashy presentation to advertisers, YouTube promoted its new channels of original programming, while pledging to spend $200 million to help market them. 2:30pm May 3, 2012

Golf: Late Caddie Switch For In-Form Westwood at Quail Hollow
Buoyed by victory at the Indonesian Masters 10 days ago, British world number three Lee Westwood will have to make do with a replacement caddie at this week’s Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. 4:35pm May 3, 2012
Boxing: Indonesian Champ Chris John Vows ‘Dragon Fire Punch’ Knock Out
Singapore Flexes Muscles at Las Vegas
Baseball: Angels’ Weaver Hurls No-Hitter

Heavy Metal Scholar Graduates With Face Melting Honors
Wellington, New Zealand. The research subjects were unlikely for a university thesis: Drummer, Filf, Misery and Nail and Ripper, among others. 4:13pm May 3, 2012
Mirror, Mirror, Who’s the Most Narcissistic of Them All?
Actress Emma Yong, 36, Dies of Cancer
Ashanty and Anang Put Wedding Before Business

For a Better Road to Development, Asia Must Attract Private Partners
Policy makers across Asia realize poor infrastructure is increasingly constraining the region’s growth prospects. 10:26am May 3, 2012
Editorial: Traffic Fix Requires Better Coordination
Karim Raslan: Rudd and the Miners

My Jakarta: Safar, Therapist and Manager at the Karuna Center
A typical day for some teachers involves going over a chapter of history or biology. But how to teach students who need more than a year just to remember a seemingly simple math problem? Safar Hartanto, a therapist and manager at the Karuna Center, works with autistic students who want to learn how live a normal live, from holding a pencil to ironing their own clothes. The 38-year-old spoke with My Jakarta about his experiences handling difficult students, why he choose this career path, and his dream for the school. 10:06am May 3, 2012
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  • 5:57pm |Narcotics Police in N. Sumatra...Coby got 20 years for some weed...this guy has to get more than that doesn't he...and pigs might fly!!

  • 5:56pm |Put Religious Freedom Before H...@bawel

    suggest you follow the Prophet Muhammad's (saaw) first instruction and LEARN/READ. You can start with @Jubal's excellent li

  • 4:57pm |Figures why mayor Diani was pussy footing the GKI church matter. He's only doing the bidding of his Middle Eastern masters who make themselves at

  • 4:51pm |Afriyani Never Meant to Kill A..."...the premeditated murder charge is inappropriate...asking the judge to dismiss the "baseless" charges".

    If I were a cynic I m

  • 4:42pm |Put Religious Freedom Before H...@Jubal: thanks for sharing.. as I said many times, we should persistently prevent people like @bawel and Arab wannabees to convert Indonesia to be

  • 4:36pm |Graft Suspect Angelina Wants P...I pass! NO reason to pray for unrepentant people.
    I feel sorry for her child though!

  • 4:35pm |Teen Racer Allegedly Kills Hom...It's an anniversary - 1 1/2 years ago and still nobody knows what happened with the boy and if he ever received any punishment for this. I know pa

  • 4:31pm |Put Religious Freedom Before H...@JUbal - thank you for the link - indeed very informative.
    WHile we are at it - I do NOT believe that this will ever change bawel's mindset


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Jakarta Globe - Thu, May 3, 2012

Thu, May 3, 2012:
Thu, May 3, 2012
WWF Indonesia Calls For Probe Into Elephant Death
Environmental organization WWF called on the government Wednesday to investigate the death of a critically endangered Sumatran elephant allegedly poisoned at an Indonesian oil palm plantation. 9:59pm May 2, 2012
Indonesian Military's Plan to Buy Brunei Royal Navy's Rejected Warships Takes on Water
An Indonesian lawmaker threatened on Wednesday to sink a plan to purchase three warships from the Royal Brunei Navy for $395 million.
10:21pm May 2, 2012
Nazaruddin's Fugitive Wife Demands House Arrest as Condition for Return
Fugitive graft suspect Neneng Sri Wahyuni, the wife of recent high-profile graft convict Muhammad Nazaruddin, will only return to Indonesia if the punishment that awaits her is house arrest, her lawyer, Rufinus Hutauruk, said on Wednesday.
9:00pm May 2, 2012

Workers use a backhoe to bury a Sumatran elephant who was fatally poisoned by the owner of palm oil plantation in Krueng Ayon village, Sampoiniet subdistrict, Aceh Jaya district, on Tuesday. The Sumatran elephant is a rare and pro...

Muhammadiyah University students enact a brawl during a theater performance depicting the poor state of national education in Makassar, South Sulawesi on Wednesday. The students demanded, among other things, better pay for lecture...

Police officers in Aceh burn 2 tons of marijuana confiscated during raids in the last three months in Lhoksukon, North Aceh, on Wednesday. (Antara Photo)

Corruption Eradication Commission Chairman Abraham Samad (Center) sits with Secretary General Transparancy International Indonesia (TII) Teten Masduki (left) and President Director Pertamina Karen Agustiawan to watch the movie 'K...

AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines End Share Swap Deal
Kuala Lumpur. Budget carrier AirAsia and state-owned Malaysia Airlines said Wednesday they have terminated a share swap deal signed last year but will continue plans to collaborate in areas such as procurement, training and aircraft maintenance.
9:48pm May 2, 2012

RIM CEO Bets on BlackBerry Without Keyboard to Challenge Apple
When Research In Motion Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins unveiled a prototype of the new BlackBerry 10 phone yesterday, it lacked a feature that has kept legions of users loyal to the platform: a physical keyboard. 8:59pm May 2, 2012
EYEWITNESS

Indonesian Sisters Change Their Lives with Barbie
Putu Restiti and her little sister, Alit, have felt invisible most of their lives, hidden in a run-down shack because they were born with twisted limbs some believe were caused by evil spirits.

They were kept out of school and had no friends. But like children everywhere, they had powerful imaginations. After being given a Barbie doll, they started stitching tiny, intricate outfits for her from their mother's sewing scraps. And in doing so, they created a new world for themselves. 10:33pm May 2, 2012
Earth Day 2012 Celebrations
Cobra Cuisine
Alternative Healing for Children
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  • 10:30pm |One real life example how our hard earned tax paying money works hard, so hard that our Military Captain can use the military work vehicle to pick

  • 10:26pm |AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines End...Excellent news for AirAsia, which is a splendidly performing airline in its target market(s).

    As for Malaysian Airlines, the govern

  • 10:24pm |GKI Yasmin Church Can Reopen i...why not just make 1 house of worship for all religion , fair for everyone

  • 10:22pm |Plaza Indonesia, the most elite prestigious mall in Indomesia, should be ashamed with its so-called high top level security! From now, we know that

  • 10:21pm |Indonesian Inflation Accelerat...this is what happens when government lowers interest rate n prints money

  • 10:19pm |Two words describe the biggest problem in Indonesia... "No Accountability". Whether its the police, the military, the government official or jus

  • 10:15pm |GKI Yasmin Church Can Reopen i...Again, for an unknown nobody person like Diani can act above the law beyond supreme court and more powerful than the President of Republic Indonesi

  • 10:10pm |Nazaruddin's Fugitive Wife Dem...So, she has a house -and presumably other assets- still in Indonesia? Freeze them. Sell them. And then inform her, the punishment waiting for her h


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Supreme Court Favorability Reaches New Low

Supreme Court Favorability Reaches New Low:

Overview

Public assessments of the Supreme Court have reached a quarter-century low. Unlike evaluations over much of the past decade, there is very little partisan divide. The court receives relatively low favorable ratings from Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted April 4-15, 2012 among 1,514 adults nationwide, finds 52% offering a favorable opinion of the Supreme Court, down from 58% in 2010 and the previous low of 57%, in 2005 and 2007. About three-in-ten (29%) say they have an unfavorable view, which approaches the high reached in 2005 (30%).

Declining Ratings across Party Lines

There are virtually no partisan differences in views of the Supreme Court: 56% of Republicans, and 52% of both Democrats and independents rate the Supreme Court favorably. And the decline in court ratings has occurred across party lines over the past three years. In April 2009, soon after Barack Obama took office, 70% of Republicans, 63% of Democrats, and 64% of independents held a favorable opinion of the court.
Republican ratings fell steeply between 2009 and 2010, with the appointments of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the court. Democratic ratings remained relatively high through 2010, but have fallen steeply since.
The weak ratings for the court across party lines stands in contrast to most previous polls, in which those in the president’s party have viewed the Supreme Court more favorably than those in the opposite party. Most recently, throughout George W. Bush’s administration, Republicans felt much more favorably toward the Supreme Court than did Democrats. In July 2007, 73% of Republicans rated the court favorably, compared with 49% of Democrats. This divide began even before Bush took office, triggered by the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore ruling. In early January 2001, 80% of Republicans viewed the court favorably, compared with 62% of Democrats.

The Court and Health Care

The survey was conducted after the Supreme Court’s hearings on the 2010 health care law. It finds that the law’s supporters and opponents express similar views of the court.
Overall, the public remains deeply divided over the health care law: 41% say they approve of it, while 49% disapprove. Among the bill’s supporters, 52% have a favorable view of the Supreme Court, while 34% view it unfavorably. Among the bill’s opponents, the balance is only slightly less negative; 55% favorable, 28% unfavorable.
However, a survey conducted last month found that while most Americans said the health care hearings did not change their views of the court, Democrats were far more likely than Republicans to say their opinions of the court had become less favorable.
The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post, conducted March 29-April 1, 2012 among 1,000 adults, found that 32% of Democrats said their opinion of the court had become less favorable as a result of the hearings on the health care law; just 16% of independents and 14% of Republicans said their views of the court had become less favorable.
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Daily Number: 28% - Social Issues Low on Voters’ Minds in 2012

Daily Number: 28% - Social Issues Low on Voters’ Minds in 2012: Although it has been a contentious issue in many states, just 28% of voters view gay marriage as a very important issue.
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LRA victims in Central African Republic dream of Kony's demise

LRA victims in Central African Republic dream of Kony's demise: UNHCR External Relations Officer Djerassem Mbaiorem recently visited an area of Central African Republic where the Lord's Resistance Army operates.
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PAKISTAN: Tough times for IDPs living outside camps

PAKISTAN: Tough times for IDPs living outside camps:
PESHAWAR, 3 May 2012 (IRIN) - A large number of people displaced by the conflict between militants and security forces in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtoonkh'wa (KP) Province and tribal areas are staying outside the camps set up to house them, but many require urgent shelter, and health and education assistance, according to aid workers.
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LIBYA: Detained migrants face harsh conditions, legal limbo

LIBYA: Detained migrants face harsh conditions, legal limbo:
BENGHAZI, 3 May 2012 (IRIN) - In one of the many rooms where detainees are held at Ganfouda detention centre in Libya's second largest city, Benghazi, Suleiman Mansour*, a young Somali from Mogadishu, spends his days locked up along with 15 other migrants. They lie on mattresses propped against the walls, which are scribbled with names and slogans: one says “I love Somalia”.
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AFGHANISTAN: Concerns over child detention conditions in Kandahar

AFGHANISTAN: Concerns over child detention conditions in Kandahar:
KABUL, 3 May 2012 (IRIN) - A government plan to relocate an all-boys juvenile rehabilitation centre (JRC) in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, from the city centre to a site near Sarposa prison, where top Taliban leaders are held, could expose the children to significant risk, according to observers.
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SOUTH SUDAN: Losing the war against kala-azar

SOUTH SUDAN: Losing the war against kala-azar:
OLD FANGAK, 3 May 2012 (IRIN) - In the dusty courtyard of a crowded clinic in Old Fangak, in South Sudan's Jonglei state, throngs of people, some of them under mosquito nets strung between trees, wait to get tested for kala-azar, amid the worst continuous outbreak in three decades.
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IDP News Alert, 3 May 2012

IDP News Alert, 3 May 2012: Kenya: 2,000 homes destroyed by flash floods
Sudan/South Sudan: 20,000 people displaced by clashes over oil territory
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Pakistan’s Relations with India: Beyond Kashmir?

Pakistan’s Relations with India: Beyond Kashmir?: Their recent dialogue process provides the best chance yet for bilateral peace and regional stability, but Pakistan and India must still overcome serious mistrust among hardliners in their security elites.
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Tunisia: Reform Legal Framework to Try Crimes of the Past

Tunisia: Reform Legal Framework to Try Crimes of the Past:
Tunisia’s first torture case to go to trial following the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali highlights the need to address inadequacies in the legal framework for trying torture crimes. Many other cases of torture are likely to be filed against former President Ben Ali and his associates, as other victims step forward to file complaints.
(Tunis) – Tunisia’s first torture case to go to trial following the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali highlights the need to address inadequacies in the legal framework for trying torture crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Azerbaijan: Media Freedoms in Grave Danger

Azerbaijan: Media Freedoms in Grave Danger:
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) should speak out about Azerbaijan’s appalling record on freedom of expression in the lead-up to the Eurovision Song Contest.
(Berlin) – The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) should speak out about Azerbaijan’s appalling record on freedom of expression in the lead-up to the Eurovision Song Contest, Human Rights Watch said in a video report released today.
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Philippines: Officials Hide Poor From Development Meeting

Philippines: Officials Hide Poor From Development Meeting:
The Philippine government built a fence that prevents participants to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) annual meeting in Manila from seeing a slum.
(Manila)  – The Philippine government built a fence that prevents participants to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) annual meeting in Manila from seeing a slum, Human Rights Watch said today. Some of the poor families hidden from view are beneficiaries of apoverty reduction program financed by the bank.


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U.S. Vowed to Push China: Chen

U.S. Vowed to Push China: Chen: The blind Chinese activist says Washington's assurance that his rights would be protected in China led him to leave the U.S. Embassy.
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Beijing Probes Chongqing Abuse Claims

Beijing Probes Chongqing Abuse Claims: China's central authorities are looking into claims of forced confessions during Bo Xilai's anti-gang campaigns.
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Petitioners Stage Hunger Strike

Petitioners Stage Hunger Strike: Beijing authorities round up hundreds of petitioners in "black jails" ahead of Labor Day.
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Tibetan NGOs Must 'Register' or Close

Tibetan NGOs Must 'Register' or Close: Chinese authorities block community efforts to organize around social and environmental issues.
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New Suspect in Murder Case

New Suspect in Murder Case: Cambodian authorities have detained another man in connection with the killing of Chhut Wuthy.
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Weapon Embargoes Easily Bypassed, Report Says - The Epoch Times

Weapon Embargoes Easily Bypassed, Report Says - The Epoch Times:

The Epoch Times

Weapon Embargoes Easily Bypassed, Report Says
The Epoch Times
For example, Burma broke embargoes and bought more than $600 million in weapons in that time period, Iran bought an estimated $574 million between 2007 and 2010, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo purchased $124 million between 2000 and 2002, ...

and more »
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Updates to Google News US Edition: Larger Images, Realtime Coverage and Discussions

Updates to Google News US Edition: Larger Images, Realtime Coverage and Discussions: Posted by Scott Zuccarino, Product Manager, Google News

When a story breaks, Google News is designed to give you the most relevant articles from a variety of sources --- from national news outlets, to local points of view, to expert opinion pieces. To continue to expand your views on the news, we are adding three new features for those using our US edition: larger images on our main page; a new realtime coverage page to surface the latest articles and commentary; and relevant Google+ posts for a new social perspective.

Get coverage in real time
Our new realtime coverage page is now available for every news story as soon as they become available to Google News. 







See relevant comments on top stories
Many news stories inspire vibrant discussions on Google+, and today we're starting to add this content to both the News homepage, and the realtime coverage pages. This way you can see what your circles, journalists covering the story and notables like politicians or others who are the subjects of stories have to say about breaking news, and even contribute to the discussion directly from Google News.

Note that these Google+ discussions will only appear for those of you reading the US edition who have signed in and upgraded to Google+.







If you'd like to try these new Google+ features in News, it's easy to upgrade here.  That said, if you prefer your Google News to contain just news stories and no Google+ posts, you can either log out of Google or turn off the display of Google+ posts via the Google News settings page.  

We're rolling out all of these features over the next week, so don't worry if you don't see them immediately. Today's updates are the latest examples of how we're working to provide users with a beautiful, consistent experience across Google. So we hope you enjoy them.
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May 2, 2012

Catholics' Presidential Pick Differs by Ethnicity, Religiosity

Catholics' Presidential Pick Differs by Ethnicity, Religiosity: Most Hispanic Catholics prefer Barack Obama for president, while the majority of non-Hispanic white Catholics prefer Mitt Romney. Catholics are also divided by religiosity: The most religious pick Romney; the nonreligious pick Obama.
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U.S. Job Creation Nears Four-Year High

U.S. Job Creation Nears Four-Year High: Gallup's Job Creation Index increased to +20 in April from +18 in March and is now at its best level since July 2008. While better hiring levels are occurring in the private sector, government workers are reporting job cuts.
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Vietnam air pollution among the worst in the world — TalkVietnam

Vietnam air pollution among the worst in the world — TalkVietnam: The quality of the environment in Vietnam has steadily dropped compared to other nations in the world, according to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI),...
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Vietnam Key to Japan's Southeast Asia Policy | Atlantic Sentinel

Vietnam Key to Japan's Southeast Asia Policy | Atlantic Sentinel: This comes as Japan and Vietnam have held increasingly numerous high level meetings and exchanges with each other. Both countries realize that they have a mutual interest in cooperating strategically in order to counter ...
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Police arrest 84 in Timor Leste May Day protest | East Timor Law ...

Police arrest 84 in Timor Leste May Day protest | East Timor Law ...: Posted: 01 May 2012 1711 hrs - DILI: Police in Timor Leste's capital city Dili fired warning shots and arrested 84 people to disperse some 500 May Day protesters calling for higher wages on Tuesday, police and a witness said ...
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Concern East Timor MPs are boycotting votes on legislation | East ...

Concern East Timor MPs are boycotting votes on legislation | East ...: An East Timor MP says whips should be introduced to the nation's parliament to help ensure that parliamentary members turn up when crucial votes on proposed legislation are scheduled. Fernanda Borges, an M-P for the ...
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Likely during Parliamentary Election, voters can vote anywhere they choose

Likely during Parliamentary Election, voters can vote anywhere they choose:
MP Manuel Tilmans says the Election Law will be altered in time for voters to be able to vote anywhere they choose during the Parliamentary Elections 7 July 2012. So that all citizens can take part and express their right to vote and free choice, during the Parliamentary Election scheduled for 7 July 2012, voters will be able to vote wherever they want and will no longer be restricted to voting at where they initially registered.

“If someone is from Oe-cusse and registered in Oe-cusse but lives in Baucau, he or she will be able to vote in Baucau,” said Member of Parliament (MP) Manuel Tilman, last week (20/04) at the National Parliament, Dili.
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Some Political Parties struggle to attract women to join their ranks

Some Political Parties struggle to attract women to join their ranks:
President of PLPA Party Francisco Gomes rejects claims his party struggles to get women to join the party. The Vice President of the National Parliament, Member of Parliament (MP) Maria Paixao claims some political parties are struggling to identify women to join their ranks.

“Some parties, I will not mention them, came to me and told me they are struggling to attract women to join their party,” said MP Paixao recently (19/04) at the National Parliament, Dili.

She recommends to those political parties that in order to attract more women to join their ranks they need to go into the community and encourage women to join their party.
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When Some Reds are like Ultra-Royalists

When Some Reds are like Ultra-Royalists:
Pravit Rojanaphruk
Soon after Vipar Daomanee, a former Thammasat University lecturer, criticized red-shirt leader Nattawut Sai-gua for his endorsement of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s decision to pay respect to Privy Council President Gen. Prem Tinsulanond, Vipar received a short note from an audience at a symposium she spoke on lese majeste law and prisoner of conscience Somyos Prueksakasemsuk.


Vipar and Pravit at '365 Days of Somyot in Jail', on 29 April 2012 (photo from Thailand Mirror)
The letter, from a person identified as a red shirt, warned Vipar that she can say whatever she likes but she should not sow rift within the red-shirt movement by criticizing Nattawut.
If you are one of those people who feel that a good number of red shirts have not really learnt to appreciate the true value of open criticism, you are not alone.
Perhaps they are not aware, but reds who are intolerant of criticism of Thaksin and of their other leaders are in a way very much similar to ultra-royalists who can bear nothing that is even mildly critical of the monarchy institution.
Years of political polarization means red shirts, as well as ultra-royalists yellow and multi-coloured shirts, think their group alone are absolutely right and so there is no need to take in any from outside or engage in open self-criticism-cum-introspection.
Reds who can’t take criticism or appreciate the value of criticism in a democratic society can’t seriously claim to be fighting for democracy. And if some of these reds do not stop calling themselves fighters for democracy, they will simply be doing a disservice to the notion of democracy itself, which at any rate is already a very loaded term in Thai politics since you can also claim to be staging a military coup for democracy.
Years of each over-exposure to their own political media means to some reds (as well as yellow and multi-coloured shirts) are used to only one-sided news and information about their leaders and movement. They also grew increasingly suspicious of anyone who criticized their leaders, thinking that there must be a deeper reason or conspiracy. This is just like ultra-royalists who believe that those who voiced opposition to the draconian lese majeste law must all be seeking to sow rift in society and part of a conspiracy to overthrow the monarchy - real or imagined.
That’s the danger of over consumption of one-sided information and complete adoration of someone, be it the King, Thaksin or Nattawut.
It is most ironic that these red shirts who can’t bear to listen to criticism of Thaksin and Nattawut would dislike ultra-royalists so much for their fondness of one-sided ‘positive-only’ information about the Thai monarchy.
But why?
Could it be that they are so used to adoring someone, so when they no longer adore the King and Queen, they would have to seek to adore someone else like Thaksin instead? By the way, portraits of Thaksin can be found hanging on the walls of a good number of rural red shirts’ homes, that it reminds me of the pictures of the King and Queen.
It’s unclear what percentage of red shirts are intolerant of criticism but it constitutes a serious challenge to the red-shirt movement in particular and Thai society in general.
Thailand can’t afford to have so many political groups being intolerant of criticism if, especially if all of them claim to be wishing for a genuine democracy.
Time and again, I have kept reminding red shirts whom I met that they should be fighting to free themselves and not merely fighting to replace one group of elites with another.
The prospect is not good, however, because I can count only one influential red shirt who is keen on open self-criticism and appreciates the value of criticism against Thaksin and other red leaders. His name is Red Sunday group leader Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, and he once told me when he criticized Thaksin for being bossy about how the Yingluck Shinawatra administration ought to run the country, he was accused by some reds of being an enemy disguising himself as a red shirt. And Sombat is the man who defied the Abhisit Vejjajiva government’s emergency decree right after the bloody crackdown ended in May 2010.
Note: Being a co-speaker next to Vipar on the symposium, I seized the opportunity to warn red shirts at the gathering that intolerance is definitely not democratic, unless some of the red shirts in the audience want to be more like ultra-royalists themselves.
Hearing my criticism later on Twitter, well-known host at Voice TV, MR Nattakorn Devakul tweeted to me in English saying: “Most reds I know love bashing Thaksin; in fact, they have a lot of fun doing it and still do especially now with so much backtracking”.
I partly agree, though I think these reds tend to be the so-called ‘progressive reds’ (แดงก้าวหน้า) minority and with the exception of one or two, they mostly confine themselves to criticizing Thaksin or red shirt leaders in private. It’s chillingly similar to nasty gossips on the Thai monarchy that many who called themselves royalists frequently indulge in.
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When will the Thai yellow shirts start protesting again?

When will the Thai yellow shirts start protesting again?:
Voranai in the Bangkok Post on the decline of the yellow shirts and the reasons why they may protest again:
In 2005, at the height of Thaksin’s power, the PAD took to the streets on the platform of fighting corruption. But fighting corruption is never a strong enough platform, at least not in the Kingdom of Thailand. The factor that inspired people to don yellow and take to the streets was defence of that most sacred institution, the monarchy.
As for whether the Thaksin network was ever anti-monarchy, there is not and never has been any proof of that. But that is neither here nor there. The lips of society were flapping less about corruption, but more of anti-monarchy sentiments.
With disgust and condemnation, the lips vented about how the former prime minister made funny faces during a royal audience. With rumours and speculation, the lips fumed over how the fugitive prime minister planned to turn Thailand into a republic, with him as the president.
Corruption is never enough to incite passion. The love of the King always is plenty more than enough. As a strategy to undermine the Thaksin political machine, it worked wonders _ seven years ago.
The problem is, seven years have gone by and no plot to overthrow the monarchy has been exposed. In fact, Thaksin’s ruling Pheu Thai Party has proclaimed itself the defender of the monarchy and a staunch supporter of the lese majeste law.
…
Today, the PAD is splintered into various smaller groups, including the most active one in recent time, Tul Sitthisomwong’s multi-coloured group. But none of them could ever muster more than a few hundred supporters.
They have also split with an important ally, the Democrat Party. Their own political party, the New Politics Party, is practically a non-entity in parliament. And now, the army has closed its doors to them, seemingly in any case.
Corruption, it’s not enough to rally a crusade. Charter amendments are also not enough to rally a crusade, even if many have argued that said amendment is in the interests of granting amnesty to Thaksin.
As for defending the monarchy, how is one to defend the monarchy against someone else who’s also defending the monarchy? Everybody is defending the monarchy. The platform is crowded. There’s not enough of a foothold, not enough space to shout and scream from _ and hence, the passion subsided, the funds drained and the movement waned.
…
The question then becomes if and when Thaksin sets foot on Thai soil, would the fear/hatred for him spur enough passion to resuscitate the fading yellow? Does the PAD have the logistics, infrastructure and funding to take on the Thaksin political machine for a third time?
As BP blogged back in September which touched on the decline of the yellow shirts:
What kind of reaction are we likely to get if Thaksin was to come back and receive a pardon? Yellows are split into a different groups.
You have the multi-colored shirts who are lead by Dr. Tul, who appear to be mainly middle-class, upper class Democrat voters who organize via Facebook. They don’t have a media arm so there are questions on whether they capable of sustaining a mass protest. So far they have staged brief, symbolic protests in Lumpini Park (adjacent to Silom) of  a couple of hundred.
Another part of the yellows is of course, Sondhi L and his media network and those who still use the PAD name. They don’t appear to be in any mood to protest. Sondhi L said on ASTV TV on Sep 14 that “we will not used as their tool again and the Democrats need to fight”. Then, he launched into a tirade against the Democrats and the multi-colored group linking them to the Democrats. So far the PAD have not joined the multi-colored groups in protesting.
So far this is just speculation, but where this is smoke there can sometimes be fire. Many people are still opposed to Thaksin and well there are risk of protests – and well there is the Q of does Thaksin want to take the risk when he is sitting in the jail that something like a coup will go wrong – but there is now a plausible path to Thaksin returning this year. Of course, you then have the possible associated protests although if he does actually spend some time in a jail then the outrage from the anti-Thaksin side is likely to be more muted. Protests cannot be ruled out though. Nevertheless, this is the most plausible path that BP has seen for Thaksin returning to Thailand. As does he want to wait until December next year in the hope that nothing has gone wrong? The possibility of Thaksin returning – it may not be to live, but just to enter Thailand at times This is also part of the reason why you have been hearing mention of tensions in December…
BP: So you can see there are three issues on which the yellow shirts would protest again, namely (a) anti-monarchy activities by the government including lese majeste reform, (b) constitutional amendments, and (c) amnesty law.
For (a) as noted by Voranai above, Puea Thai have now become the defender of the monarchy. As blogged in March 2012:
 In recent months, the Yingluck government has made it clear that lese majeste will not be amended. Yingluck states she will focus on the economy and rehabilitating the country after the floods (her standard answer). Before the election and even recently, Thaksin has referred to problems with the excessive use of lese majeste, but he has not indicated any reform. It appears as part of some deal/arrangement with the establishment that there will be NO reform of lese majeste in the near future.  The government is only focusing on enforcement of the law – and it seems we may get another committee to review lese majeste cases – but as we saw under Abhisit there was also a committee, but we still had a record number of cases. So focusing on enforcement may not mean much.
BP: For now, this seems unlikely to change so it isn’t a reason to protest.
For (b), as blogged in December 2011:
This is what the Speaker said a few months ago and this would mean a referendum in early 2013. A Puea Thai MP and the party’s chief legal advisor was quoted in Matichon a few days ago as saying the referendum was likely to be held in May/June 2013. This is because it will take a few months to amend Section 291 of the Constitution to set up the drafting assembly – currently the constitution can be amended by parliament without a referendum – and then you are electing the assembly which will take another couple of months, an estimated eight months to draft the amendments, public education and hearing, and then a referendum.This has been the basic plan for a while – see also this earlier post where Chalerm said the same thing. Some red shirts and some within Puea Thai disagree about the process and want it to do be done quicker, but most public statements back the drafting assembly and then a referendum. This is also what Yingluck stated a few days ago that the referendum shouldn’t be held until after the amendments are proposed.
BP: The amendment before parliament is only a procedural amendment on the process to amendment the constitution so the real amendments won’t be for a number of months, but because of the likely process of the real amendments will be a committee made of 99 people (77 being elected and the 22 being appointed by parliament) and then this will go to a referendum, this weakens the ability of PAD to protest. It will be easy to say let the people decide in a referendum – assuming that provisions related to the royal family are not touched. PAD’s method of protest against the procedural amendment is to file a lawsuit (which seems very weak). Chamlong confirmed that the PAD wouldn’t take to the streets to protest against a procedural amendment. MCOT:
Meanwhile, Chamlong Srimuang, a top leader of the Yellow Shirt PAD denied media reports that the PAD will rally later this month at the Army Club to oppose the attempt to amend the Constitution.
He said the PAD will demonstrate only if the constitutional amendment affects the monarchy, and the move paves the way for granting an amnesty to wrongdoers
BP: This leaves (c) which PAD confirmed a few days ago was the main issue they were preparing for. As blogged back in July, the yellow shirts would oppose amnesty:
Actually, BP suspects that even if the PAD were to gain from the amnesty they would still strongly protest against it* because why not? They have nothing to lose. They fail to stop it, the PAD leaders still gain from the amnesty; they stop the amnesty bill, they will be credited with stopping it and well it still seems unlikely the cases will result in them being convicted – it is 30 months since the airport takeover and as we have seen the case against the PAD leaders are still languishing compared with those of the red shirt leaders from last year. A Puea Thai government is the best thing for PAD and ASTV….
The Bangkok Post quotes PAD spokesman Parnthep Pourpongpan:
“Once the monarchy’s power is affected and an amnesty law is launched, we will begin our [large] movement,” he said.
The Nation recently:
The ruling party yesterday gave a signal that it is switching its reconciliation move to a low gear, with a possible plan to sponsor a relevant bill next April.
The timing will coincide with the passage of a new charter. Whether or not the slowing down of reconciliation push would affect Thaksin Shinawatra’s intention to return home remain to be seen.
“The draft reconciliation law should be ready after the charter change,” Pheu Thai MP Kokaew Pikulthong affirmed yesterday.
The Bangkok Post though has more details and we see that Korkaew was stating that the process would not be complete until next April:
The Pheu Thai Party will table a reconciliation bill for House deliberation after the charter amendment draft has been passed by parliament in the final reading, party list MP Korkaew Pikulthong said on Wednesday.
Mr Korkaew said details of the bill had not been finalised because party members still had differing opinions about the scope of the amnesty.
Some MPs were of the opinion the amnesty should cover all political offenders, starting from protests by the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) before the 2006 coup to protests by the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in 2010 and afterwards.
Other MPs thought the amnesty should not cover protests and government leaders.
Therefore, the amnesty bill would not be filed until after the charter amendment had been passed by parliament, he said.
Mr Korkaew, a UDD core member, expected the reconciliation process to be completed before the next Songkran festival in 2013.
BP: Parliament is currently debating the procedural amendment to the constitution and this is likely to 1-2 more months as the process is drawn out by the Democrats to obtain concessions from the government. Hence, the process is still a number of weeks away from starting. Initially, it seemed that Puea Thai would rush the process after the Interior Minister stated that public hearings would be a waste of time and just delay the process, but he then reversed himself per the Bangkok Post:
Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, in his capacity as head of a panel to follow up on implementation of the recommendations made by the Truth for Reconciliation Commission, said on Friday that his committee had decided to stage public hearings in all regions throughout the country plus Bangkok to allow all stakeholders to voice their views on the reconciliation plan.
He said the King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI) might be invited to join the hearings process. A report about the hearings must be completed and sent to parliament within 60 days; however, the dateline can be slightly extended, he added.
BP: This makes it more difficult for the PAD or a yellow shirt-aligned group to start protesting too early. Will they protest against public hearings? Who will protest? Dr. Tul? The PAD including Sondhi L (who has various legal cases and convictions and as of last month he was abroad).  Recently, there was a protest outside the Army Club. The Bangkok Post:
A group of about 200 people rallied outside the Army Club in Bangkok yesterday, calling for the military to take action against the Yingluck government.
The rally began outside the club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road about 7am,
The message from demonstrators, who called themselves Riak Khuen Amnart Jak Nak Karnmuang Nerakhun Phaendin was that they wanted the army to take action against the government to pave the way for what they called ”parliamentary reform”. They did not specify what action the military should take.
BP: 200 people? The PAD were not involved and an ASTV Manager article has labelled the protesters as the “establishment mob” (ม็อบอำมาตย์). Then, of course, you have the issue of what establishment support there is for the yellows. Crispin in March 2012 in Asia Times:
A new drive to achieve an amnesty through parliamentary means has met predictable resistance from the opposition Democrat party and anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest group, and raised the specter of new instability after over a year of relative political calm.
Recommendations submitted by a local think-tank to a parliamentary reconciliation subcommittee proposed an amnesty for offenses committed on both sides of the political divide and a reversal of decisions handed down against Thaksin by military coup maker-created bodies.
A similar amnesty proposal in 2008 by a previous Thaksin-aligned government provided the initial spark for PAD protests that for months laid siege to Government House and temporarily shut down Bangkok’s international airport. While the Democrats and PAD have claimed that adoption of the new amnesty recommendations could lead to new instability, that will likely depend more on how the military’s royalist leadership perceives the latest proposed deal.
…
The establishment is also apparently divided on whether its interests would be best served by mobilizing again around the PAD.
The PAD’s recent decision to call off a planned mass rally against proposed constitutional changes came amid a weak popular showing and is indicative of the broad establishment’s lack of support for more destabilizing street protests. New illegal assembly charges filed against PAD leaders were likely also factored into the PAD’s decision to remain inactive.
BP: Indeed. Regardless, we seem weeks, if not many months away from something happening. For now, we are still in wait-and-see mode. All signs suggest things between the government and the establishment is stable and so, as long as this holds, there will be little establishment support for the yellows who have been increasingly fractured…..
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Megachurches and the cultural applications of religion

Megachurches and the cultural applications of religion:
I have long argued in private that Singapore megachurch Christianity resembles folk Taoism as much as it does conventional Christianity. Adherents of megachurches, many of whom would have renounced Taoism to convert to Christianity, may rise in uproar. But I am undeterred in my observation.
There are many ways to look at the human phenomenon known as religion. Classifying people or groups of people by nominal self-declaration is one. Classifying them according to their doctrinal similarities is another, though it is one that some religious adherents tend to insist as the sole valid way. In part, this springs from the demand that religion is a phenomenon unto itself, and it can only be assayed on its own terms.

The religious may think it is potentially demeaning to their faith to examine the phenomenon from other disciplinary perspectives, e.g. psychology, sociology or political science. And yet, there can be no full understanding of the part played by religion in human lives and society — and in geopolitics as well — without bringing these other perspectives to bear.
The theme of this essay is how the cultural manifestation of megachurch Christianity in Singapore is closer to that of folk Taoism than other Christian streams. I believe this angle will add to the understanding of the findings revealed by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) from a recently-reported survey titled Church, Class, Attitudes:  A Survey of Church-going Protestants in Singapore.
The survey was conducted between December 2009 and January last year. Respondents were asked to fill up a questionnaire. The findings — released yesterday at a press conference — were based on 2,663 questionnaires from respondents at 24 churches here.
– Today, 17 April 2012, Megachurch goers ‘less likely to exercise moral influence publicly’: Survey, by Syed Amir Hussain
According to the Straits Times, the questionnaire was 14 pages long. This suggests that there is plenty of data in there we haven’t yet seen, but since it will be several months before ISEAS publishes a book on this, all I have for now are news reports and a few graphs from the Straits Times, 17 April 2012:

Difference in attitudes

With that caveat, what we can see from the graphs is that the attitudes of megachurch members are slightly more conservative than members of other protestant churches. This you can gather from the first and the third graphs, though I am not sure whether the small differences in the first graph have been tested for significance.
However, projecting those values into the public sphere is not something that megachurch members are keen on, compared to other Protestants, as can be seen in the second and fourth graphs.
It appears that these members view religion as more personal than public. They do not quite think it legitimate to impose their views on state and society, at least not to the same extent as other Christians surveyed.
One hypothesis for this is that megachurch adherents are more often than not new converts to Christianity. Being new converts, they have friends and family members belonging to other religions, and therefore intuitively feel it awkward to impose.
And while most respondents agreed that Christians should interact more with people of other faiths, those from megachurches were likely to already have friends from different religions. They were also more inclined to spend their leisure time with them. A possible explanation might be that they often have parents from Buddhist or Taoist backgrounds, explained the researchers.
– Straits Times, 17 April 2012, Megachurches ‘conservative but tolerant’, by Jennani Durai
“Old” Christians, on the other hand, mostly found in the traditional denominations of Anglicanism and Methodism, tend to come from Christian families. There is more conformity in their social and family circles, and they may grow up expecting such conformity to be normal.

Confluence with folk Taoism

I posit here a different explanation, which is not mutually exclusive with the above. It is that with many megachurch members coming from families with Taoist backgrounds — and I am told megachurch congregations are disproportionately Chinese — they bring with them Chinese cultural attitudes to the role of religion. Traditionally, the Chinese see religion as something for personal benefit and improvement, rather than a source of norms for remaking earthly society according to the dictates of gods. This attitude can be glimpsed from a line in Today’s news story:
Follow-up focus group sessions with respondents from megachurches found that, to them, “morality was articulated as a private matter” and “moral influence is to be exercised through one’s private capacity in spheres that one is active in, rather than by imposing values through the church as a civic organisation”.
– Today, 17 April 2012, Megachurch goers ‘less likely to exercise moral influence publicly’: Survey, by Syed Amir Hussain
A related fact is that doctrinally, megachurches in Singapore preach the “health and wealth” prosperity gospel. This is a widely-known fact, though it is also hinted at by this sentence in the report:
It also found that those who attend a megachurch tend to give more to their church in the form of tithes, come from the emergent middle class and be more likely to view wealth as an indicator of a person’s faithfulness.
– ibid.
This is perhaps why Singaporeans (and myself) tend to use the term “megachurch” as shorthand for this stream of Christian teaching, when strictly speaking the term should merely refer to congregation size. ISEAS, for the purpose of its study, defined a megachurch as a non-denominational church, attracting 2,000 worshippers or more a week and often featuring a charismatic senior pastor, with rock concert-style services or a multitude of outreach ministries.
The similarities with folk Taoism are these:
  • The idea that the chief purpose of a relationship with a deity is a protective and benefactive one;
  • That ritual is important, the more expressive and exuberant the better;
  • Tithe-giving and earnest expressions of faith considered to be congruent, even positively-related, with material success.
I need to stress that in this essay I am not discussing doctrinal systems, but only cultural manifestations: the behavioural performance of religion and the meanings attached to it. By this measure, Singapore megachurches fit more within the Chinese or Taoist folk tradition than conventional, more austere Protestantism. The god (and loyalties) may have changed, but the role of religion in their lives remain much the same.
In truth, neither this strand of Christianity nor the style of worship we see in our megachurches is original to Singapore; they are very much imported. What I am postulating is that their parallels with Chinese folk religious practices and attitudes helped these churches gain adherents locally (even if the adherents would vociferously deny it) to such an extent that today we in Singapore conflate the “mega” in megachurch with the prosperity gospel. Crossover was made easier because the cultural manifestation was similar.

Christianity as status marker

If that’s the case, why convert? As any historian knows, through the centuries and throughout the world, conversion is more often for social (sometimes political) reasons than any other. And so it is in this case, in my view. There is a much higher status to be had calling oneself a Christian than a Taoist. And once the process has been seeded in a society, peer pressure and the need to belong gives it momentum. It is much like how we descendants of immigrants from China who had come wearing the samfoo (a tunic and trouser combination that women wore) have adopted Western-style clothes. We would not be caught dead wearing the samfoo today unless it’s for a fancy-dress ball. Being “modern”, much-equated with “Western”, has snob appeal.
In this respect, I thought this finding of the researchers particularly interesting:
Megachurch worshippers aged 29 and below were also more likely to have lived in public housing, to speak Mandarin at home, and to have parents with lower levels of education. The researchers characterised them as an ‘aspiring or emergent middle class that has achieved upward social mobility’.
– Straits Times, 17 April 2012, Megachurches ‘conservative but tolerant’, by Jennani Durai
Taking up Christianity can be explained as one more box to be checked on the path of social ascent. Conversion is a sociological phenomenon with social benefits, even if the subject is not fully conscious of it. What conversion is not is to be probative of the truth claims of any doctrine.
This is not to say that their Christianity is skin-deep or that megachurch members do not whole-heartedly embrace the Bible and the gospels. I can assume that they do, and that they will feel it a greatly positive influence on their lives. But I will point out that one can make oneself believe anything. Singapore has a term for it, even though we only use it to refer to Islamist extremists: self-radicalisation. Put aside the negative connotations, and you will see that the process is much the same even if the end-points are different.

Avoiding questioning

Yet, here again, I can make one more comparison with folk Taoism. I think the nature of belief in megachurch Christianity is a little less questioning than in other, more longstanding strands of Christianity. Some churches value their intellectual tradition, but it would seem to me that charismaticism and the prosperity gospel would present considerable obstacles to intellectualism.
Folk Taoism is not known for critical enquiry either. One accepts certain givens about the nature of gods and their powers, otherwise it might get too difficult to understand how elaborate ritual can lead to passing exams or curing disease.
This absence of questioning can be seen in the relative conservatism espoused by megachurch members, for an absence of interrogation tends to produce a bias towards traditionalist reading. For example, the graph #5 below shows them to be more disapproving of homosexuality than other Protestant Christians, albeit by a small margin. You also see it in the third graph above, with respect to a stance against pre-marital sex.

Yet, the graph #6 shows them far more comfortable with interacting with homosexual persons. How to explain this?
Certainly, the megachurch members’ tendency to see religion as a personal matter must play a large part. But it still begs the question why, for all the interaction with gay people, they still hold such conservative beliefs? Why haven’t their beliefs changed? This question precipitates the very point I want to make: one cannot explain it without admitting the thesis that in this strand of Christianity, questioning received beliefs is just not done. Here, once more, is a similarity with Chinese folk religion, the same religion that many people, including megachurch members, would describe as being full of unexamined superstition.

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