political parties
Malaysian Politician Visits the Semai
A veteran Malaysian politician was unexpectedly stranded in an isolated Semai community in the Cameron Highlands on New Year’s Eve. The sense of being trapped fostered feelings of sympathy for the poverty of the Orang Asli. According to one news report, Lim Kit Siang, a long-time leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), entered the […]
Persuading the Amish to Vote
Republican leaders in Pennsylvania are becoming nervous that citizens who supported Donald Trump in 2016 are considering voting for Democrats in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections. Donald Trump, Jr., attended a state Republican gathering in Hershey on September 21 and tried to reassure the faithful in the crowd about the accomplishments of his dad. Party […]
Election Results in Orang Asli Villages
A news report two weeks ago indicated that the Semai were expressing strong disgust for the then-ruling party of Malaysia, the Barisan Nasional (BN), going into the national election on May 9. As it turned out, voters in the nation were so concerned about the wide-spread corruption of the BN government, which had been in […]
Semai Urged to Vote for Changes
An elderly leader of the Semai in Malaysia’s Perak State has advised all members of his society to vote against the ruling political party in important national elections. Gahrai Kadek, the 77-year old Tok Batin (leader) of the Semai in the state, advised the Orang Asli people to vote out the Barisan Nasional (BN) government […]
Semai Seek their Rights
Several Semai spoke up at a political convention in a major Malaysian city last week to complain about the lack of services provided by the state for their villages. A report in the news service The Malaysian Insight described the ways the state of Pahang has been ignoring its Semai communities. After 60 years of […]
The Popularity of Redshirts [journal article review]
The word “redshirt” has very different meanings in the United States and Rural Thailand. In the U.S., student intercollegiate athletes normally are permitted to play on their teams for only four years. If they are in five-year undergraduate programs, during that fifth year (often the first one) they may be part of a team but […]
Thailand Celebrates its Peaceful Traditions
An AP report last Thursday explained that the recent protests in Thailand have been caused by deep divisions between the peaceful rural Thai and urban residents of the country. Protesters in Bangkok resent the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He was driven out of […]
The Catholic Church and the Politicians
About 130 years ago, Roman Catholic priests from Germany moved into southwestern Tanzania and started converting the Fipa to Christianity, a process that began to change their culture, though they still retained their peacefulness when Willis did his field work in the 1960s. When Smythe was doing her field work in Ufipa between 1994 and […]
Possible Government Support for the Semai
Malaysia’s Perak State appears to be responding to criticism about its history of repressive practices toward the Semai. The new chief minister of the state says things will change. A news story last week in Bernama, the Malaysian National News Agency, indicated that the current Menteri Besar (chief minister) of Perak, Dr. Zambri Abdul Kadir, […]
Yanadi Woman Mesmerizes a Political Convention
A slight, unpretentious, 30-year old Yanadi woman gave a very effective speech at a political convention near Hyderabad last week and made an enormous impression. She will probably be nominated to be a candidate in upcoming state elections from the new political party that organized the meeting. Tupakula Munemma, a wage laborer from the village […]
