Posts by Simon Grigg
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Yep because I'm well aware of Churchill's rather selective application of democratic principals.
isn't exactly in full swing there's a less flattering reason why folks might be a wee bit reluctant to offer their candid opinion to an Al-Jazeera reporter bearing photos of 'Tank man'.
dunno, Craig, for all that I'm not so sure of myself to think that I can put the words in their mouths that confirm my preconceptions.
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If China were to institute 'western'-style democracy it would inevitably end up in civil war as each province/state decided to go their own way.
Dunno, they've managed to hold together reasonably well over a century or two despite huge upheavals. They've had their civil wars and come through them as a nation and for better or worse I think, and this is a massive over-generalisation, they are, as a nation extraordinarily proud of who and what they are, where they have come from and where they are going.
it's just a wee bit racist
see..there we go..I'm agreeing with you again Craig...I find much of the concern for China and Chinese downtroddenness a tad racist and paternalistic.
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I accept that but technically, the first language Indonesians learn at home as children before they go to school would be their first language
it's quite an interesting thing this one. There have been a few studies of recent that suggest that, in urban Java at least, Bahasa is wiping out many of the smaller languages, or at least absorbs them.
The media being in Bahasa Indonesia, and English and the rise of a middle class for whom local languages are often seen as quaint and almost primitive is killing the local dialects. You are as likely to meet an middle class person in Jakarta for who English is their second language rather than Javanese or Betawi.
That said, Jakarta has it's own particular street take on Bahasa which can be almost unintelligible to a non resident. Many kids there, and in other urban centres have almost never heard their Bahasa Adat spoken, even in the family house.
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I think the key here is that the figures count native speakers. Many more people speak English but it will be their second third or more language.
I'd argue that in the case of Indonesian it's pretty much a native language. It's almost universally spoken, 99% of the media is in it, almost all signage, all official and commercial communication etc. Local languages tend to be spoken in the street, in face to face communication much (but not all) of the time.
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Well they are a one party totalitarian regime aren't they? Some free and fair elections, with democratic choices would solve the leadership issue surely?
But they do have elections.
Whether they qualify as free and fair is a wider question but they perception of China now as an unbending totalitarian monster is questionable. Despite the wide western perception, we are not looking at an equivalence to either Stalin or Hitler in 2008.
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Watching the opening ceremony all I could think of was throwing my hands up and surrendering now. China will rule the planet one day. Possibly in my lifetime.
In Guangzhou an Australian manufacturer I was having a few beers with said..You are looking at the future here, they just need to invent a giant vacuum cleaner to clear the sky.
That list misses Bahasa Malay which in it's various forms has some 300 million speakers (240 million in Indonesia alone)
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Thanks John for demonstrating this issue......Whatever happens, this is an unmissable story. And its going to be an unmissable couple of weeks.
I couldn't agree with you more Charles.
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Why can't all news networks be like this?
Agreed. Our TV, especially the various Murdoch channels out of HK, is generally shocking here (aside from the Korean gameshow channel, and the Christian Network which has the sound 1 second behind the video and has had for two years..why can't the lord sort that out?) but we are lucky to get 8 different news networks, however AJ shines above them all. It's what TV news channels should be like and shames the others.
I accept the thrust of your comments Simon, but the skeptic in me also wonders if after 5 years in jail he came out 're-educated'? And the cynic in me wonders if he was in at all. Is it possible he's just a Govt actor presented to a guilable media? Mind you, I find AJ to be a pretty reliable news organisation.
Who knows but the sceptic in me says that I doubt AJ would be that easily fooled.
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Come on, Mark. Let's hear from you. You're over there.
Yep, agreed...no tongue biting
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Ditchings are rare, but there've been a few.
It seems that this is about as close as it gets for a modern airliner