Indonesia electoral politics and palm oil in 2014

I am keeping an eye on this.

Please refer to posting at Khor Report's Palm Oil blog here: http://khorreports-palmoil.blogspot.com/2014/04/indonesia-parliamentary-elections.html

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I'll also note other less obviously palm oil impactful items here.

Thanks to Seng Keat for this one: Resurgent political Islam, or astute Islamic parties? By Greg Fealy – 14 April 2014; http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/04/14/resurgent-political-islam-or-astute-islamic-parties/?utm_content=buffer26c6a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer;
There were two main surprises in the 9 April legislative election in Indonesia, at least if the various quick count results are to be relied upon: the first was the poorer than expected performance of former president Megawati’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the second was the higher than predicted vote for Islamic parties..... In 2009, the total vote for Islamic parties was 29%, the lowest ever recorded.  All major pollsters had forecast an even worse result for the 2014 election, with the Islamic party-vote ranging from around 15% to 25%.  No survey had Islamic parties improving on their overall performance of five years ago.  But the quick count results from 9 April showed that the five Islamic parties contesting the election had gained about 31-32% of the national vote.  Most of the polls had four of the five parties experiencing falling support; only the National Awakening Party (PKB) was slated to increase its vote.  The quick count figures showed that in fact four of the five parties lifted their vote, and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which had been predicted to suffer the biggest drop of all—around 3-5%—ended up with just a 1% decline.... How are we to account for this unexpectedly good showing?  To being with, there is little to suggest that this was due to a rise in ideological Islam.  None of the four Islamic parties that passed the 3.5% parliamentary threshold campaigned using Islamic concepts or doctrines.  Rather, their appeals to their core constituencies emphasised the practical benefits that they had or would deliver to their supporters..... (they moved ot the ) centre of the political spectrum, and away from a doctrinaire Islamic position...

Nature has no bank account

On ecosystem services and the moral gap

Patching up the economy by adding on ecosystem services does not make the economy sustainable but it makes it more efficient: you can more efficiently destroy nature. This is a “patch it up” approach. We should not look at ecological systems through the lens of economics. We need some institutions and moral social pressure to consume less rather than more. It may take this generation to consume less; especially the rich people of this generation. All the prices set by the ecosystem services approach is income to somebody. But nature has no bank account.

Source: Norgaard, Richard B. 2013. Ecological Economics and Energy Economics in Historical Context, Spring 2013, Lecture 17: Ecosystem Services - Neoliberal economic thinking invades conservation, biology and ecology. University of California, Berkeley: Unversity of California.

Richard Norgaard, professor of energy and resources; http://blogs.berkeley.edu/author/rnorgaard/
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Separate, but related is this... Occupy was right: capitalism has failed the world
One of the slogans of the 2011 Occupy protests was 'capitalism isn't working'. Now, in an epic, groundbreaking new book, French economist Thomas Piketty explains why they're right; http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/13/occupy-right-capitalism-failed-world-french-economist-thomas-piketty

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Interesting that neo-liberal hegemony says we should now seriously tackle the energy sector!

IPCC climate change report: averting catastrophe is eminently affordable; http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/13/averting-climate-change-catastrophe-is-affordable-says-ipcc-report-un; Landmark UN analysis concludes global roll-out of clean energy would shave only a tiny fraction off economic growth... The new IPCC report warns that carbon emissions have soared in the last decade and are now growing at almost double the previous rate. But its comprehensive ­analysis found rapid action can still limit global warming to 2C, the internationally agreed safe limit, if low-carbon energy triples or quadruples by 2050... “It is actually affordable to do it and people are not going to have to sacrifice their aspirations about improved standards of living,” said Professor Jim Skea, an energy expert at Imperial College London and co-chair of the IPCC report team. “It is not a hair shirt change of lifestyle at all that is being envisaged and there is space for poorer countries to develop too,” Skea told the Guardian.... Nonetheless, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change at the lowest cost, the report envisages an energy revolution ending centuries of dominance by fossil fuels – which will require significant political and commercial change. On Thursday, Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for an anti-apartheid style campaign against ­fossil fuel companies, which he blames for the “injustice” of climate change... Biofuels, used in cars or power stations, could play a “critical role” in cutting emissions, the IPCC found, but it said the negative effects of some biofuels on food prices and wildlife remained unresolved... Kaisa Kosonen, at Greenpeace International, said: “Renewable energy is unstoppable. It’s becoming bigger, better and cheaper every day. Dirty energy industries are sure to put up a fight but it’s only a question of time before public pressure and economics dictate that they either change or go out of business...

Khaw family in Thailand

Discovering some grand distant and past relatives. Had the first inkling on some past sugar barons on Province Wellesley; /khoryuleng/2014/03/early-c19th-sugar-cultivation-in.html and then mentioned it to some friends in academia. See below.

7 April 2014: I checked with Michael Montesano, expert on Thailand. A remarkable coincidence. He is working on a book project that addresses the place of the Khaw family in Thai historiography. They are linked to the Wellesley sugar barons and also to the current Thai finance minister, Kittiratt Na-Ranong.

6 April 2014: I was chatting with Tony Milner about this little history snippet, and he thought of a famous Khaw family in that part of the world. Are they related? Here's some links courtesy of Tony:

Profit, Power & Politics: Malaysia palm oil in the global and local political-economy (drafting in final stage)

Just to get myself more focused for the next two weeks of heavy duty work on book drafting, I've put together the new working title and chapter plan. This will be based on my work and contacts (mostly non-attributed interviews & public info only) as a research consultant in the palm oil industry in SE Asia. This will include material written up in Khor Reports' Palm Oil e-newsletter and blog. This book draft has been sponsored by ISEAS where I was Visiting Research Fellow for 2013. 
 

Rumours on China investment in Kuantan Port

Thanks to reader sending alert on rumour in social media. Question on China investment in Kuantan Port?
 
This reads: "behind the scenes story: Chinese investors decide to cancel Kuantan Industrial Park investment plans." Underneath is the caption of an old picture showing PM Najib and CPPCC committee chairman Jia Qinglin viewing the Kuantan park model (and no useful info on sources...).