Fasting month in Jakarta

It's that time of the year again. My drivers are fasting,the maids are fasting, so are the rest in my office.

In Indonesia, which prioritizes religion over everything else, fasting is a God given right. Efficiency and productivity is down; people call in sick; people arrive late for work - all these are "acceptable" and "understandable".

I've been told by a Moslem friend in Indonesia that fasting is God's test of one's resolve. He says that things are different in the Middle East, where everyone works only half a day at most during the Ramadhan fasting month. But in Indonesia, the Moslems supposedly believe differently - during Ramadhan, one is supposed to carry on life as usual.

There are numerous interpretations - understandably. I'm not a Moslem so it would not be fair for me to comment on their practises.

However, if we go by the norms promulgated by renowned economists and theorists, I would expect that Moslem nations observing the holy month of Ramadhan should have devised policies which will ensure that their working population contribute more during the other months just so they can make up for the losses in productivity and efficiency of the fasting months.

I don't have statistics to delve further into this; but from observation, I don't think any policies have been put in place. At least not in Malaysia and Indonesia. I'm not even sure that Malaysia and Indonesia have any yardsticks or benchmarks to effectively measure productivity, fasting or not fasting.

Perhaps that's something the authorities can consider and come up with an effective solution in this era of globalisation and supposedly fair competition?

Tumultous months ahead for ASIA

So, what's all this news about Thailand and Malaysia? Why are they hogging the headlines?

With Thailand's re-inventing of democracy, and Malaysia's reconciling of the balance between Malays and the other races living in that country, we in Asia are left where we started.

The Philippines has its problems, but they are contained in a way. Who in Asia gives a shxx about what happens in Makati or Mindanao these days? We all have our hands full in our own countries with our own issues.

Internal Security Act?

So be it. It's not democratic; but who cares these days?

Can Anwar maneuver himself out of his sodomy allegations? Can Samak find a replacement whom the DAP will be happy with? We don't know. Just like this unknown Palin out of Alaska who is facing the American public now!

We all know (or should know) who Hillary Clinton is. McCain was from the last campaign, so again, no excuses. Obama? Well OK also, since he's had the benefit of that political machinery behind him. But, to be honest, their running mates are a cast out of heaven.

But that's politics out of the USA! Period. Anyone care to dispute that?

So why can't we in Asia be the same?

Why can't we in Asia have politicians with the same flair as those in Uncle Sam? Why can't we be... simply what they can be?

We are new to this thing called democracy - I gather. We are new economies. We are immature countries without a stable political system, like what Uncle Sam has. We are we.....

So why are we pretending that "we are not we" ....?

Why are the Badawis and Mahathirs pretending that we are different? Why is the PAD behaving like they are the God of the Thais?

Even the likes of Hu Jingtao and Wen Jiabo have come to terms with this new world (in their own ways), so why are people still re-inventing the wheel?

Thai democracy - where they're at now

I wrote about the Thai style of democracy last June. And guess what - they've just declared a state of emergency.

The PAD (People's Alliance for Democracy) in Thailand isn't that democratic after all. They want the constitution changed so that the Parliament comprises elected representatives as well as appointed reps, such as those from trade unions etc. How can that be democratic? Who is authorised to appoint reps to Parliament other than the citizens of Thailand?

One of their justifications is that Thais in the rural parts of the country are illiterate or less literate than those in urban centres; and these are the people most culpable to voting for people who give them money - what they call vote buying. But aren't these rural folks a part of their populace with the same rights under the constitution?

Their proposals smell of the Indonesian parliament under the rule of President Suharto where there are fixed number of appointees from various organisations, such as the military etc.

If Thailand can get away with this, then Malaysia can also say that the rural Malays do not deserve the same vote as the urban Chinese. Malaysia can also say that the rubber tappers who are so essential to their economy also do not deserve the same vote as the more educated people. Should we redefine democracy such that one university degree gets one vote? Or one higher school certificate gets one vote? Maybe Singapore should dictate that those who do not have two kids cannot vote. Or that democracy is only for the elite; and anything which the elite doesn't like is not democracy?

Although absurd - I believe - these are the notions the 10,000 or so people illegally occupying the government's office, and the same group who closed off the airports to their main tourist destinations are proposing for their country. Is Thailand heading back to the stone age? Only the Thais know.