Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Halal ink: Muslim-majority Indonesia set for polls

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Halal ink: Muslim-majority Indonesia set for polls

Yahoo – AFP, Harry PEARL, April 15, 2019

It is Indonesia's biggest polls, with 190 million voters and 245,000 candidates
standing for the presidency, parliament and local positions (AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto)

Dipping their fingers in halal ink to prevent double voting, Indonesians cast their ballots Wednesday in a bitterly contested presidential election, with the main rival to incumbent Joko Widodo already threatening to challenge the result over voter-fraud claims.

The Muslim-majority nation's biggest-ever polls -- with more than 190 million voters and 245,000 candidates vying for the presidency, parliament and local positions -- is largely a referendum on Widodo's infrastructure-driven bid to rev up Southeast Asia's largest economy.

But, looming in the background, two decades of democratic gains are at risk of being eroded, analysts said, as the military creeps back into civilian life under Widodo, and his trailing rival Prabowo Subianto, a former general, eyes reforms that harken back to the Suharto dictatorship.

If he loses, Subianto's camp has already warned it will challenge the results over voter-list irregularities.

"It's high stakes in this election," said Evan Laksmana, a senior researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The election is largely a referendum on President Joko Widodo's infrastructure-

driven bid to rev up Southeast Asia's largest economy (AFP Photo/BAY ISMOYO)

"We simply don't know what (Subianto) would do if he won and we don't know if the institutional constraints in place would contain him."

Halal ink

Voting starts at 7:00 am local time Wednesday (2200 GMT Tuesday) in easternmost Papua and ends at 1:00 pm at the other end of the country in Sumatra.

Ballots will be cast at more than 800,000 polling booths across the volcano-dotted country, from the tip of jungle-clad Sumatra and heavily populated Java island to beach paradise Bali and far-flung Sumbawa.

Voters will punch holes in ballots -- to make clear their candidate choice -- and then dip a finger in Muslim-approved halal ink, a measure to prevent double-voting in a graft-riddled country where ballot buying is rife.

A series of so-called "quick counts" are expected to give a reliable indication of the presidential winner later Wednesday. Official results are not expected until May.

Most polls show the 57-year-old Widodo holding a double-digit lead over Subianto, 67, setting up a repeat of their 2014 contest, which Widodo won despite an unsuccessful court challenge over his narrow victory.

Voters dip their finger in halal ink after casting their ballot, like this Indonesian

woman shown after advance overseas voting in Malaysia (AFP Photo/Mohd RASFAN)

The race has been punctuated by bitter mudslinging between the two camps, religion-driven identity politics and a slew of fake news online that threatens to sway millions of undecided voters.

'Pragmatism over principle'

Widodo campaigned on his ambitious drive to build roads, airports and other infrastructure, including Jakarta's first mass-rapid-transit system.

But his rights record has been criticised owing to an uptick in discriminatory attacks on religious and other minorities, including a small LGBT community, as Islamic hardliners become more vocal in public life.

"(Widodo) has chosen pragmatism over principle on issues of Islamism and pluralism," said Dave McRae, a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute.

Widodo, a practising Muslim, blunted criticism that he was anti-Islam by appointing influential cleric Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate.

But victory for Widodo and Amin -- known for his disparaging views towards minorities -- could be the latest knock to Indonesia's reputation for moderate Islam.

Former general Prabowo Subianto has run on a fiery nationalist ticket, courting

Islamic hardliners and promising to boost military spending (AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto)

"There is a longstanding track record of very conservative views," Kevin O'Rourke, an Indonesia-based political risk analyst, said of Amin.

"It's inevitable that will affect policy making."

Subianto -- joined by running mate Sandiaga Uno, a 49-year-old wealthy financier -- has run on a fiery nationalist ticket.

He courted Islamic hardliners, promised a boost to military and defence spending and, taking a page from US President Donald Trump, vowed to put "Indonesia first" as he pledged to review billions of dollars in Chinese investment.

Subianto's presidential ambitions have long been dogged by strong ties to the Suharto family and a chequered past.

He ordered the abduction of democracy activists as the authoritarian regime collapsed in 1998, and was accused of committing atrocities in East Timor.