Ambiga Sreenevasan, the Chair of the electoral reform movement, Bersih, is obviously pissed with Bob Carr’s response.
Among many critical points she makes, she quotes Burmese democratic icon, Aung Sang Suu Ki:
“…As Aung Sang Suu Kyi has famously said, “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it…”
Sure, no one wants Australia to be the regional bully or America’s deputy sheriff but neither do citizens of these autocratic regimes want an Australia that puts its political, economic and security interests ahead of more noble principles such as the rule of law and democracy, no?
Perhaps Thomas Murray is unaware that most of the German Expressionist artists drew much inspiration from Berlin’s notorious nightlife in the early 1900’s and produced 100’s of paintings that portrayed Berlin’s nightlife venues, workers and patrons.
Or, fair enough, perhaps he just prefers other artistic movements and subjects.
The Fauvists in Paris circa 1900 also favored Paris’ vibrant and colorful nightlife, its workers and patrons as a frequent subject for their paintings.
Is Thomas suggesting that contemporary Bangkok’s very large and colorful nightlife and its hundreds of thousands of workers and patrons should be off-limits for all artists, or perhaps only off-limits for Mr. Coles? ( http://nationmultimedia.com/life/Creatures-of-the-night-30192373.html )
I thought the rather negative reactions on Chris Cole’s work on this blog some months ago highlighted the major points of critique:
Unreflexive romanticism of red light districts in post-conflict societies.
Is the reference to the “German expressionism” another attempt to get the label “art”?
The name of the conference “Thailand in the World” made me think the organisers are out of touch.
Here in Thailand where it is rare to see a map on a school wall and any map beyond the Kingdom of Thailand is hard to find one thinks the title should be “Thailand out of this World”.
Well I suppose Thai auto workers are putting Australians out of a job and allowing the price of cars to plummet while food and lodgings become unaffordable and the country still exports rice which will be handy in the great famine of 2013. However I wonder when the government talks of the South East being the Detroit of Asia if either it or the workforce realise the irony of what they say consdering the ghost town Detroit has become?
Not all parts of the Assembly of the Poor are affiliated with the PAD. There was also a major split in the AOP along Red/Yellow lines. After the coup i have met several former AOP leaders at the Numthong funeral who were strongly anti-coup and anti-PAD.
Thanks a lot.
One has to always be suspicious over hidden political connections, affiliations and agendas here, one of the problematic parts of the ever pervading patronage system here in Thailand.
First, the easy question: The green color of the flags does not have any political connotations- I think it is more for their support for ‘organic/ sustainable agriculture’.
As for ‘potential allies’: one of the P-move leaders has expressed his opinion that there are certain members of the Assembly of the Poor (AOP) and the Land Reform Network of Thailand (LRNT)(without naming names) that were pressing the Land Reform Movement to allign themselves with the Red Shirts during 2008-2009. These are the ‘potential allies’. The LRNT is now focusing on land reform that will provide individual- not communal- land holdings, which is in conflict with P-move’s aims.
Lastly, re. former members of the AOP, these members of P-move are mostly based in Esaan and Bangkok, and my work/ research has been mostly in the North, so I don’t have any names or backgrounds on them.
Assembly of the Poor is heavily tied to PAD. It’s normal to be suspicious of these groups, since PAD has the tendencies to form new micro groups to make their numbers look larger than they really are.
Over at the Lowy Interpreter, Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group discusses Malaysia’s next general elections and believes a surprise is in store. She explains why in this video.
Bridget Welsh who spoke at the Malaysia and Singapore Update 2012, provides analysis on what is holding the opposition together in this interesting article.
As part of a project related to this topic, I recently spent some time going through the research libraries of the major multinational management consultancies and accounting/audit firms that have a presence in Southeast Asia. My general impression was that these companies are mostly optimistic about the prospects for further ASEAN integration, but the optimism is cautious.
For instance, in a report called “Destination Southeast Asia: A Joint Pathway to Future Growth?”, the consultancy Accenture summed up the risks to integration as follows: “Development of a regional economy is a journey of many challenges, most notably the lack of an effective supra-national authority; strong nationalism; persistent political tensions and instability; wide disparity in social-economic progress; and ambiguity in building an ASEAN identity.”
However, the report also pointed out some good news of genuine progress towards integration, such as the fact that intra-regional exports are increasing and tariffs are decreasing. This news was also pointed out in a report by BCG called “The Companies Piloting a Soaring Region,” which said that between 2002 to 2008, “average regional tariffs fell from 4 to 2 percent, helping to generation a jump in intraregional trade from $155 billion to $415 billion.”
So, while it’s unclear whether ASEAN as a political institution will gain power in the coming years, there are certainly other macroeconomic signs that the region is achieving greater economic integration nonetheless.
On a final note, I too am a little confused by the data table that Mr. Hunter included in his article. These have mostly already been commented on, but I’ll point out one additional oddity: how can the US have more internet users than people? Mr. Hunter states that the total number of users in America is 498 million, but a quick Google search suggests that it is more on the order of 250 million, a number that is much more plausible in a country with only 311 million people.
Can you also tell us more about the leaders of this group who were former members of the Assembly of the Poor, please, especially their background, and where they positioned themselves during 2005/2006, and after the coup?
Is the green color of their flags coincidental, or is there any involvement of the New Politics Party – which has the same identification color?
Ah yes, the politics of people’s movements…It is ironic that P-move received the most support for its proposals during Abhisit’s Yellow government (the party of the ‘middle and upper classes’)including the passage of legislature to establish the Community Land Title Office and the approval for a National Land Bank. Meanwhile, it hasn’t received any assistance from the ‘pro-poor’ Red Yingluck government… The Yingluck government, in fact, have told P-move that it would not support the Community Land Title initiative because it is an “Abhisit scheme”… Furthermore, P-move has alienated some potential allies because they have refused to align themselves politically…
Topical but totally off the track and this thread!
True though. On today’s planet earth, with owner/ operator, the multinational corporations of your kerrching religion, 1984 is alive and well.
In Ministry of Truth, Winston rewrites the history. Ministry of Peace makes war, for war is Peace.
Nobel Peace Prize cannot be conferred unless one has literally millions of deaths attributable.
Poor sod “THe Lady” , still trying to accrue numbers by supporting 120 battalions of “Dad’s Army” doing some clumsy killing/ a lot of raping and torturing and mostly dying.
But the objection from any of those wannabe politicians?
Great article! It is heartening to see a people’s organization such as P-Move (derived from the earlier People’s Assembly of the Poor) taking to the streets to demonstrate in support of the rights of the poor, especially when it is apolitical. I hope the Yingluck government can move beyond the fact that this group is not partisan or connected to the UDD to address P-Move’s grievances.
I’d say if Obama bagged the Nobel peace prize so should Thein Sein of Burma, sorry Myanmar. You can then argue on the finer point of who’s got more blood on his hands. So give the man what’s due to him.
Don’t forget the US had always been comfortable with strongman #1 Ne Win for his staunch anti-communism for all his 26 year reign, somewhat ├а la FDR, able to turn properly PC post-1988 uprising when conveniently the Burmese communists no longer figured in the equation, and now having managed to make ASSK and TS kiss and make up, the regime looking like emulating Suharto’s ‘Guided Democracy’ just half a century too late, TS can be a real contender for the Nobel peace prize, never mind the Kachin, Karen…….kerrching!
[…] latest review of “Imagining Gay Paradise” is in Mandala. It’s an online academic journal so put on your thinking cap if you read it. But the writer […]
In fact, is structuralism something bad? Social actors, after all, do not produce their actions and thoughts ad hoc and out of nowhere. This also applies to their meanings and actions regarding their imagined world of spirits. Can we imagine new mandala without structures? No.
If your products are being beaten by another country on price and quality then sorry Vichai, you are doing something wrong?!
I live in Thailand and have seen blatent laziness for the nearly 9yrs I have lived here. If you work hard then floods forgiving you will have a good crop. Organic is the only way to save this polluted country.
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Bob Carr and electoral reforms in Malaysia
Ambiga Sreenevasan, the Chair of the electoral reform movement, Bersih, is obviously pissed with Bob Carr’s response.
Among many critical points she makes, she quotes Burmese democratic icon, Aung Sang Suu Ki:
“…As Aung Sang Suu Kyi has famously said, “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it…”
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/malaysias-elections-should-the-international-community-care-ambiga-sreenevasan/
Sure, no one wants Australia to be the regional bully or America’s deputy sheriff but neither do citizens of these autocratic regimes want an Australia that puts its political, economic and security interests ahead of more noble principles such as the rule of law and democracy, no?
German expressionism and the Bangkok night
Perhaps Thomas Murray is unaware that most of the German Expressionist artists drew much inspiration from Berlin’s notorious nightlife in the early 1900’s and produced 100’s of paintings that portrayed Berlin’s nightlife venues, workers and patrons.
Or, fair enough, perhaps he just prefers other artistic movements and subjects.
The Fauvists in Paris circa 1900 also favored Paris’ vibrant and colorful nightlife, its workers and patrons as a frequent subject for their paintings.
Is Thomas suggesting that contemporary Bangkok’s very large and colorful nightlife and its hundreds of thousands of workers and patrons should be off-limits for all artists, or perhaps only off-limits for Mr. Coles? ( http://nationmultimedia.com/life/Creatures-of-the-night-30192373.html )
Links to Expressionists:
http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/ge/artists
http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/ge/themes/dance_leisure
http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/ge/themes/sex
Link to Fauvists:
http://noma.org/pages/detail/114/
German expressionism and the Bangkok night
I thought the rather negative reactions on Chris Cole’s work on this blog some months ago highlighted the major points of critique:
Unreflexive romanticism of red light districts in post-conflict societies.
Is the reference to the “German expressionism” another attempt to get the label “art”?
Thai studies in Sydney
The name of the conference “Thailand in the World” made me think the organisers are out of touch.
Here in Thailand where it is rare to see a map on a school wall and any map beyond the Kingdom of Thailand is hard to find one thinks the title should be “Thailand out of this World”.
Well I suppose Thai auto workers are putting Australians out of a job and allowing the price of cars to plummet while food and lodgings become unaffordable and the country still exports rice which will be handy in the great famine of 2013. However I wonder when the government talks of the South East being the Detroit of Asia if either it or the workforce realise the irony of what they say consdering the ghost town Detroit has become?
People’s Movement for a Just Society
Not all parts of the Assembly of the Poor are affiliated with the PAD. There was also a major split in the AOP along Red/Yellow lines. After the coup i have met several former AOP leaders at the Numthong funeral who were strongly anti-coup and anti-PAD.
People’s Movement for a Just Society
Thanks a lot.
One has to always be suspicious over hidden political connections, affiliations and agendas here, one of the problematic parts of the ever pervading patronage system here in Thailand.
People’s Movement for a Just Society
First, the easy question: The green color of the flags does not have any political connotations- I think it is more for their support for ‘organic/ sustainable agriculture’.
As for ‘potential allies’: one of the P-move leaders has expressed his opinion that there are certain members of the Assembly of the Poor (AOP) and the Land Reform Network of Thailand (LRNT)(without naming names) that were pressing the Land Reform Movement to allign themselves with the Red Shirts during 2008-2009. These are the ‘potential allies’. The LRNT is now focusing on land reform that will provide individual- not communal- land holdings, which is in conflict with P-move’s aims.
Lastly, re. former members of the AOP, these members of P-move are mostly based in Esaan and Bangkok, and my work/ research has been mostly in the North, so I don’t have any names or backgrounds on them.
Hope this was useful.
People’s Movement for a Just Society
Assembly of the Poor is heavily tied to PAD. It’s normal to be suspicious of these groups, since PAD has the tendencies to form new micro groups to make their numbers look larger than they really are.
International community take note – regime change looms in Malaysia
Over at the Lowy Interpreter, Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group discusses Malaysia’s next general elections and believes a surprise is in store. She explains why in this video.
http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2012/10/12/Believe-in-miracles-why-the-2013-Malaysian-elections-may-surprise.aspx
Malaysia and Singapore Update 2012 videos
Bridget Welsh who spoke at the Malaysia and Singapore Update 2012, provides analysis on what is holding the opposition together in this interesting article.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/whats-keeping-malaysias-opposition-together-bridget-welsh/
ASEAN’s missed opportunities
[…] and business expansion. In fairness, both PwC and Accenture recognize these challenges, but unlike some commentators, their tone is generally […]
ASEAN’s missed opportunities
As part of a project related to this topic, I recently spent some time going through the research libraries of the major multinational management consultancies and accounting/audit firms that have a presence in Southeast Asia. My general impression was that these companies are mostly optimistic about the prospects for further ASEAN integration, but the optimism is cautious.
For instance, in a report called “Destination Southeast Asia: A Joint Pathway to Future Growth?”, the consultancy Accenture summed up the risks to integration as follows: “Development of a regional economy is a journey of many challenges, most notably the lack of an effective supra-national authority; strong nationalism; persistent political tensions and instability; wide disparity in social-economic progress; and ambiguity in building an ASEAN identity.”
However, the report also pointed out some good news of genuine progress towards integration, such as the fact that intra-regional exports are increasing and tariffs are decreasing. This news was also pointed out in a report by BCG called “The Companies Piloting a Soaring Region,” which said that between 2002 to 2008, “average regional tariffs fell from 4 to 2 percent, helping to generation a jump in intraregional trade from $155 billion to $415 billion.”
So, while it’s unclear whether ASEAN as a political institution will gain power in the coming years, there are certainly other macroeconomic signs that the region is achieving greater economic integration nonetheless.
On a final note, I too am a little confused by the data table that Mr. Hunter included in his article. These have mostly already been commented on, but I’ll point out one additional oddity: how can the US have more internet users than people? Mr. Hunter states that the total number of users in America is 498 million, but a quick Google search suggests that it is more on the order of 250 million, a number that is much more plausible in a country with only 311 million people.
People’s Movement for a Just Society
Which potential allies?
Can you also tell us more about the leaders of this group who were former members of the Assembly of the Poor, please, especially their background, and where they positioned themselves during 2005/2006, and after the coup?
Is the green color of their flags coincidental, or is there any involvement of the New Politics Party – which has the same identification color?
People’s Movement for a Just Society
Ah yes, the politics of people’s movements…It is ironic that P-move received the most support for its proposals during Abhisit’s Yellow government (the party of the ‘middle and upper classes’)including the passage of legislature to establish the Community Land Title Office and the approval for a National Land Bank. Meanwhile, it hasn’t received any assistance from the ‘pro-poor’ Red Yingluck government… The Yingluck government, in fact, have told P-move that it would not support the Community Land Title initiative because it is an “Abhisit scheme”… Furthermore, P-move has alienated some potential allies because they have refused to align themselves politically…
Counterpunch: Pol Pot wasn’t so bad
U Moe Aung,
Topical but totally off the track and this thread!
True though. On today’s planet earth, with owner/ operator, the multinational corporations of your kerrching religion, 1984 is alive and well.
In Ministry of Truth, Winston rewrites the history. Ministry of Peace makes war, for war is Peace.
Nobel Peace Prize cannot be conferred unless one has literally millions of deaths attributable.
Poor sod “THe Lady” , still trying to accrue numbers by supporting 120 battalions of “Dad’s Army” doing some clumsy killing/ a lot of raping and torturing and mostly dying.
But the objection from any of those wannabe politicians?
May be they all should share the prize.
People’s Movement for a Just Society
Great article! It is heartening to see a people’s organization such as P-Move (derived from the earlier People’s Assembly of the Poor) taking to the streets to demonstrate in support of the rights of the poor, especially when it is apolitical. I hope the Yingluck government can move beyond the fact that this group is not partisan or connected to the UDD to address P-Move’s grievances.
Counterpunch: Pol Pot wasn’t so bad
I’d say if Obama bagged the Nobel peace prize so should Thein Sein of Burma, sorry Myanmar. You can then argue on the finer point of who’s got more blood on his hands. So give the man what’s due to him.
Don’t forget the US had always been comfortable with strongman #1 Ne Win for his staunch anti-communism for all his 26 year reign, somewhat ├а la FDR, able to turn properly PC post-1988 uprising when conveniently the Burmese communists no longer figured in the equation, and now having managed to make ASSK and TS kiss and make up, the regime looking like emulating Suharto’s ‘Guided Democracy’ just half a century too late, TS can be a real contender for the Nobel peace prize, never mind the Kachin, Karen…….kerrching!
Review of Imagining Gay Paradise
[…] latest review of “Imagining Gay Paradise” is in Mandala. It’s an online academic journal so put on your thinking cap if you read it. But the writer […]
The power of spirits
In fact, is structuralism something bad? Social actors, after all, do not produce their actions and thoughts ad hoc and out of nowhere. This also applies to their meanings and actions regarding their imagined world of spirits. Can we imagine new mandala without structures? No.
Self-sufficient Pyramid Scheme
If your products are being beaten by another country on price and quality then sorry Vichai, you are doing something wrong?!
I live in Thailand and have seen blatent laziness for the nearly 9yrs I have lived here. If you work hard then floods forgiving you will have a good crop. Organic is the only way to save this polluted country.