Michael Wilson you have many interesting things to say, but you are going over the top addressing Peter Cohen as “Herr Cohen”. Being Jewish, and Australian, I imagine he finds this extremely offensive. Cohen himself goes excessive at times – and I’ve argued against him when he does. But IMHO there have been too many ad hominem attacks on NM recently. Some jai yen yen – I.e. calm heart – as Thais say, would be an improvement.
I disagree with your view of Baswedan. He most likely won’t win, if he can’t get past the first round. He is polling last. Baswedan isn;’t a puppet of Prabowo. Prabowo only put him in, because he didn’t want to support Agus. Prabowo doesn’t particularly care if Baswaden wins or not, because Uno is the one providing all the money for the race.
Secondly, why do you assume he will do a good job. The university he was a rector was a third rate university. And his was fired from the Education Ministry because he did a poor job, not because he was “popular”. This is the type of BS that the “elitist” contributors in the New Mandala like to peddle.that Baswedan is really smart and capable, he isn’t. He is incompetent and that is why Jokowi fired. His appointment to the Ministry was largely political. He is an empty suit, that can string together flowery words that can melt the hearts of liberal types in the West.
Jakarta is extremely difficult city to govern, I know because I was a consultant for Public Works during the 1990s. When Jokowi/Ahok ran for the position in 2014, they came up with a comprehensive plan to tackle Jakarta’s problems. This plan was drafted by themselves with the help of policy makers within the PDI-P.
Policies are a dime in Indonesia, domestic and foreign consultants have written enough project documents and reports about Ciliwung river that if you dump all them written in the last 40 years there would be enough to dam Ciliwung.
Nothing Baswedan has said of his plans convince me that he has a clue what he is talking about. Ahok has stirred so much controversy because he was willing to go toe toe to with the DPRD when they try to slip bogus projects past him. Will Baswaden have the political courage to do that? Nothing in his days as Minister of Education indicates that he does. Even if he doesn’t do that, does he have any track record of raising tax revenue. The key to Jokowi’s success as a mayor and governor was his ability to raise tax revenue. Jokowi effectively doubled tax revenue in Jakarta during the 18 months he was effectively Governor of Jakarta. When he was mayor of Solo, revenue generation growth was double that of the Indonesia average for district and municipal tax revenue after inflation.
Baswedan talks about expenditure realization, that its low under Jokowi and Ahok. Spending a lot of money on conferences, $20000 UPS is an indication of progress than Baswedan is a good candidate. Basweden has suggested the following
“Melegalisasi kampung-kampung yang di anggap ilegal. Kampung-kampung yang sudah ditempati warga selama 20 tahun dan tanahnya tidak bermasalah akan di akui haknya dalam bentuk sertifikasi hak milik,” kata Koordinator Forum Komunikasi Tanah Merah Bersatu, Purwanto di hadapan Anies Baswedan, Minggu (2/10).”
As governor of Jakarta he doesn’t have the authority to legalize. , especially settlements along the river bank, because that land belongs to the Government of Indonesia (Central), and involves several central government departments). its an empty promise.
Be more Afraid: Groper-in-Chief Donald has appointed Steve Bannon, an anti-Semite, anti-Muslim, mysoginistic ultra-rightist as his Chief Strategist.
America’s White Supremacists have breached the White House. And Groper-in-Chief Donald is their Glorious Leader.
It’s such a tragedy that the late, great Gus Dur did not succeed in gaining Indonesian recognition of Israel. It would have been such a breakthrough : recognition by the world’s largest Muslim nation, following recognition by Egypt, the Arab world’s largest, and always moderate Jordan. Have n’t read yet Greg Barton’s no doubt brilliant biography of Wahid – so I’m not sure exactly why Gus Dur did not succeed. Was it simply so much chaos in Indonesia at that time ? Would be interested to hear from others here re. the failure of Wahid’s heroically brave, noble attempt.
Well actually “crooked Hillary” out-polled “straight-Donald” in therms of the popular vote, albeit by a small margin. However, we also have to consider those who voted for other parties – neither for the Republicans or Democrats – and analyze of the two candidates which were they closer too or more supportive of. Moreover, we also have to consider those who did not vote (probably a significant number of African Americans: might not have tipped the states in favor of Clinton but would likely boost her popular vote) as not all “non-voters” restrain from voting because they cannot be bothered. Still we live in interesting times as “The Donald” appears as though he will be forced to back-pedal on many of his one-liner policy statements he made during the actual election campaign. However, grubby politicians that play to the worst biases and prejudices of the electorate cannot or should not be able to turn around and argue we only did this to be elected. Oh and Ryan K (not sure that is your real name) having Pence – that right wing Christian fundamentalist as DVP – is capable of what?
Pray
Tell us what exactly is the protocol for lauching a nuclear tipped rocket . Just the land based one please. Do not want to be Scare monger at NM do wee?
Lord Airbus – and Ryan K – have you checked the SIZE of the US economy lately ? It’s unlikely Trump owns/ controls a fraction of 1% of it ! Anyhow, he’s simply a brilliant brand marketeer.
Chris B. here is a warning to President-Elect Donald Trump: “You have a bunch of losers following you around. The ones in your organization can’t do any damage to the country but I can see why you have had so many failures in your business. Now you will be selecting a cabinet and you MUST choose the right people. Show the world that you will only settle for the absolute best. You should have Republicans and Democrats on your staff and women and people of color. Don’t do what the pundits are all predicting. Giuliani and Gingrich who hang on to you like leeches are out of touch hacks whose time has come and gone. Donald, they are just not worthy of you. Neither is Christie who is despised by the entire state of New Jersey and has zero credibility. The likes of Palin and Carson are also far beneath you. They are cartoon characters, and they are out of touch with most of America. You more than anyone need people who really know governing and politics. You major concern was always could you trust people. And you put people into positions they didn’t deserve because you could trust them, but you must realize that people who would do anything for you are often just holding on to the jobs they know they wouldn’t otherwise have. You will find trust worthy people outside your inner circle.”
The warning came from an insightful ‘Open Letter To Donald Trump’ from someone who was close to Donald after 18 years of working directly under/with him.
Peter Cohen – go check Michelle Obama’s stellar CV. She can hardly be described as ” false celeb status”. Of course she has views on Asia – but we don’t know them. I’m surprised you’re not more positive, considering her Jewish ancestory.
Easy to comprehend Steve C. Both the Trump and Thaksin revolts spring from the relatively poor, marginalised and regional, roaring their discontent, anger and frustration at the elites ignoring or disenfranchising them. Watch out Prayut.
I agree with most but “establishment, the elites, the 5 percent, control most if not all of the wealth” that is exactly what trump himself is part of?!
As for New Madala who added Trump pic to this Article pic.
Im confused.
New Mandala has been pro-democratic Thailand for years.
Yet, after Trumps win, one of the first Congratulees was Thaksin Shinawatra.
PEMANDU must drive More Realistic Actions.
Government is Getting More and More Unpopular nowadays.
People or Rakyat demands better living environment:
(i) BRIM must be immediately replaced with a major economic reform such that receivers of BRIM will be immediately get real and productive jobs and therefore earn higher income. This will enable them to finance their ever rising of cost of living in this country;
(ii) The True Existence of An Ethical M;sia and Its Government. The lack of this important ingredient haalready affected the quality of our tranformation process and hence the realisation of TN50;
(iii) Reduced Real Corruption Abrubtly. Surely corruptions practices are still rampant esp. in several major government agencies, namely, PDRM, Msian Immigration Dept and PBTs Please Clean up our government and also prevent existing corruption practices from spreading to all our Government Agencies.
(ii) PNB and GLCs representing the interests of the government and majority voters should and collaborate invest directly in a fast, big and meaningful way esp. in consumers goods and services. This is to shift outwards the overall supply curve of all basics goods and services required by ordinary rakyat. Also, this will also provide more jobs hence raise the disposable income of those citizens/families that are currently living just above poverty and those below poverty across the nation.
Michelle Obama has no views on Asia, she does not know Asia and her false celebrity status is not a criterion for knowledge. I suggest instead we ask Mrs. Lee Hsien Loong about Asia as she does know Asia well and is articulate. We could also ask Taiwan’s independent-minded and well-educated leader Tsai Ing-wen. Michelle Obama is irrelevant.
Thank you for having the convictions to express what you stated. This foreign ministry spokesperson, as well as Don Pramudvinai, the Thai foreign minister, is only doing the bidding of their new puppet masters, the illegitimate military junta, that seized power from an elected govt. tore up the constitution and is now ruling with no checks and balances, dishing out threats and warnings daily, suppressing the will of the Thai people, silencing anyone who speaks out, while jailing hundreds of innocent Thais who took a stand. It’s a shame that Thailand has fallen this low and the worst is still yet to come, with “Sia O” getting ready to take the throne.
This illegitimate military junta will be remembered as the “worst” of them all. Thailand’s day of reckoning is fast approaching and the majority of hard working Thais, who have been repressed for decades will rise up and take back their country from these so called royalists, elites, sino-thai tycoons, and men in uniform, who are corrupt to the core and have enriched themselves by all means.
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President Trump and Southeast Asia
Imagining how the next East Asia Summit would look like.
Thailand’s black hole: a Deleuzian take
Michael Wilson you have many interesting things to say, but you are going over the top addressing Peter Cohen as “Herr Cohen”. Being Jewish, and Australian, I imagine he finds this extremely offensive. Cohen himself goes excessive at times – and I’ve argued against him when he does. But IMHO there have been too many ad hominem attacks on NM recently. Some jai yen yen – I.e. calm heart – as Thais say, would be an improvement.
Seeking excuses?
I disagree with your view of Baswedan. He most likely won’t win, if he can’t get past the first round. He is polling last. Baswedan isn;’t a puppet of Prabowo. Prabowo only put him in, because he didn’t want to support Agus. Prabowo doesn’t particularly care if Baswaden wins or not, because Uno is the one providing all the money for the race.
Secondly, why do you assume he will do a good job. The university he was a rector was a third rate university. And his was fired from the Education Ministry because he did a poor job, not because he was “popular”. This is the type of BS that the “elitist” contributors in the New Mandala like to peddle.that Baswedan is really smart and capable, he isn’t. He is incompetent and that is why Jokowi fired. His appointment to the Ministry was largely political. He is an empty suit, that can string together flowery words that can melt the hearts of liberal types in the West.
Jakarta is extremely difficult city to govern, I know because I was a consultant for Public Works during the 1990s. When Jokowi/Ahok ran for the position in 2014, they came up with a comprehensive plan to tackle Jakarta’s problems. This plan was drafted by themselves with the help of policy makers within the PDI-P.
Policies are a dime in Indonesia, domestic and foreign consultants have written enough project documents and reports about Ciliwung river that if you dump all them written in the last 40 years there would be enough to dam Ciliwung.
Nothing Baswedan has said of his plans convince me that he has a clue what he is talking about. Ahok has stirred so much controversy because he was willing to go toe toe to with the DPRD when they try to slip bogus projects past him. Will Baswaden have the political courage to do that? Nothing in his days as Minister of Education indicates that he does. Even if he doesn’t do that, does he have any track record of raising tax revenue. The key to Jokowi’s success as a mayor and governor was his ability to raise tax revenue. Jokowi effectively doubled tax revenue in Jakarta during the 18 months he was effectively Governor of Jakarta. When he was mayor of Solo, revenue generation growth was double that of the Indonesia average for district and municipal tax revenue after inflation.
Baswedan talks about expenditure realization, that its low under Jokowi and Ahok. Spending a lot of money on conferences, $20000 UPS is an indication of progress than Baswedan is a good candidate. Basweden has suggested the following
“Melegalisasi kampung-kampung yang di anggap ilegal. Kampung-kampung yang sudah ditempati warga selama 20 tahun dan tanahnya tidak bermasalah akan di akui haknya dalam bentuk sertifikasi hak milik,” kata Koordinator Forum Komunikasi Tanah Merah Bersatu, Purwanto di hadapan Anies Baswedan, Minggu (2/10).”
https://www.merdeka.com/politik/manuver-anies-sentil-ahok-soal-sungai-kontrak-politik-dengan-warga.html
As governor of Jakarta he doesn’t have the authority to legalize. , especially settlements along the river bank, because that land belongs to the Government of Indonesia (Central), and involves several central government departments). its an empty promise.
Afraid new world
Be more Afraid: Groper-in-Chief Donald has appointed Steve Bannon, an anti-Semite, anti-Muslim, mysoginistic ultra-rightist as his Chief Strategist.
America’s White Supremacists have breached the White House. And Groper-in-Chief Donald is their Glorious Leader.
Indonesia’s Israeli passport pain
It’s such a tragedy that the late, great Gus Dur did not succeed in gaining Indonesian recognition of Israel. It would have been such a breakthrough : recognition by the world’s largest Muslim nation, following recognition by Egypt, the Arab world’s largest, and always moderate Jordan. Have n’t read yet Greg Barton’s no doubt brilliant biography of Wahid – so I’m not sure exactly why Gus Dur did not succeed. Was it simply so much chaos in Indonesia at that time ? Would be interested to hear from others here re. the failure of Wahid’s heroically brave, noble attempt.
Indonesia’s Israeli passport pain
You’ve got to have an interesting family history! I wonder what it is…
Afraid new world
The tweet is mightier than the tword. And Groper-in-Chief Donald now could use both powerful weapons with unrestrained malice aforethough. Afraid!
Afraid new world
As of the day before yesterday Clinton had secured 1.8 million more votes than Trump.
Afraid new world
Well actually “crooked Hillary” out-polled “straight-Donald” in therms of the popular vote, albeit by a small margin. However, we also have to consider those who voted for other parties – neither for the Republicans or Democrats – and analyze of the two candidates which were they closer too or more supportive of. Moreover, we also have to consider those who did not vote (probably a significant number of African Americans: might not have tipped the states in favor of Clinton but would likely boost her popular vote) as not all “non-voters” restrain from voting because they cannot be bothered. Still we live in interesting times as “The Donald” appears as though he will be forced to back-pedal on many of his one-liner policy statements he made during the actual election campaign. However, grubby politicians that play to the worst biases and prejudices of the electorate cannot or should not be able to turn around and argue we only did this to be elected. Oh and Ryan K (not sure that is your real name) having Pence – that right wing Christian fundamentalist as DVP – is capable of what?
Afraid new world
Pray
Tell us what exactly is the protocol for lauching a nuclear tipped rocket . Just the land based one please. Do not want to be Scare monger at NM do wee?
Afraid new world
Lord Airbus – and Ryan K – have you checked the SIZE of the US economy lately ? It’s unlikely Trump owns/ controls a fraction of 1% of it ! Anyhow, he’s simply a brilliant brand marketeer.
Afraid new world
Chris B. here is a warning to President-Elect Donald Trump: “You have a bunch of losers following you around. The ones in your organization can’t do any damage to the country but I can see why you have had so many failures in your business. Now you will be selecting a cabinet and you MUST choose the right people. Show the world that you will only settle for the absolute best. You should have Republicans and Democrats on your staff and women and people of color. Don’t do what the pundits are all predicting. Giuliani and Gingrich who hang on to you like leeches are out of touch hacks whose time has come and gone. Donald, they are just not worthy of you. Neither is Christie who is despised by the entire state of New Jersey and has zero credibility. The likes of Palin and Carson are also far beneath you. They are cartoon characters, and they are out of touch with most of America. You more than anyone need people who really know governing and politics. You major concern was always could you trust people. And you put people into positions they didn’t deserve because you could trust them, but you must realize that people who would do anything for you are often just holding on to the jobs they know they wouldn’t otherwise have. You will find trust worthy people outside your inner circle.”
The warning came from an insightful ‘Open Letter To Donald Trump’ from someone who was close to Donald after 18 years of working directly under/with him.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/to-donald-trump-my-former-boss_us_58276828e4b02d21bbc907c7
President Trump and Southeast Asia
Peter Cohen – go check Michelle Obama’s stellar CV. She can hardly be described as ” false celeb status”. Of course she has views on Asia – but we don’t know them. I’m surprised you’re not more positive, considering her Jewish ancestory.
President Trump and Southeast Asia
Easy to comprehend Steve C. Both the Trump and Thaksin revolts spring from the relatively poor, marginalised and regional, roaring their discontent, anger and frustration at the elites ignoring or disenfranchising them. Watch out Prayut.
Afraid new world
I agree with most but “establishment, the elites, the 5 percent, control most if not all of the wealth” that is exactly what trump himself is part of?!
Afraid new world
The only god i can see in this story is the trumposaurus… no other imaginary friend available alas………..
President Trump and Southeast Asia
As for New Madala who added Trump pic to this Article pic.
Im confused.
New Mandala has been pro-democratic Thailand for years.
Yet, after Trumps win, one of the first Congratulees was Thaksin Shinawatra.
Malaysia’s economic transformation programme
Briefly: ” PEMANDU To Be Beyond Theory & Labs”,
PEMANDU must drive More Realistic Actions.
Government is Getting More and More Unpopular nowadays.
People or Rakyat demands better living environment:
(i) BRIM must be immediately replaced with a major economic reform such that receivers of BRIM will be immediately get real and productive jobs and therefore earn higher income. This will enable them to finance their ever rising of cost of living in this country;
(ii) The True Existence of An Ethical M;sia and Its Government. The lack of this important ingredient haalready affected the quality of our tranformation process and hence the realisation of TN50;
(iii) Reduced Real Corruption Abrubtly. Surely corruptions practices are still rampant esp. in several major government agencies, namely, PDRM, Msian Immigration Dept and PBTs Please Clean up our government and also prevent existing corruption practices from spreading to all our Government Agencies.
(ii) PNB and GLCs representing the interests of the government and majority voters should and collaborate invest directly in a fast, big and meaningful way esp. in consumers goods and services. This is to shift outwards the overall supply curve of all basics goods and services required by ordinary rakyat. Also, this will also provide more jobs hence raise the disposable income of those citizens/families that are currently living just above poverty and those below poverty across the nation.
President Trump and Southeast Asia
Michelle Obama has no views on Asia, she does not know Asia and her false celebrity status is not a criterion for knowledge. I suggest instead we ask Mrs. Lee Hsien Loong about Asia as she does know Asia well and is articulate. We could also ask Taiwan’s independent-minded and well-educated leader Tsai Ing-wen. Michelle Obama is irrelevant.
A response to the Thai government
Thank you for having the convictions to express what you stated. This foreign ministry spokesperson, as well as Don Pramudvinai, the Thai foreign minister, is only doing the bidding of their new puppet masters, the illegitimate military junta, that seized power from an elected govt. tore up the constitution and is now ruling with no checks and balances, dishing out threats and warnings daily, suppressing the will of the Thai people, silencing anyone who speaks out, while jailing hundreds of innocent Thais who took a stand. It’s a shame that Thailand has fallen this low and the worst is still yet to come, with “Sia O” getting ready to take the throne.
This illegitimate military junta will be remembered as the “worst” of them all. Thailand’s day of reckoning is fast approaching and the majority of hard working Thais, who have been repressed for decades will rise up and take back their country from these so called royalists, elites, sino-thai tycoons, and men in uniform, who are corrupt to the core and have enriched themselves by all means.