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:,. .t..1 . its will stick with the Democrats, current partners, is leeryof lr. Anotherparty, and (crp), is courtingboth ChartThai Pattana main partiesand may well join pr in a flash.Other partieslack the numbersbut particularly rr is if couldaddsomeballast, that might disnervousaboutfraud cases qualify ltps. Onetiny party is led by a releader Boonyaratglin, tiredgeneral, Sondhi andsoan unlikelyally of thecoupin 2006, for Thaksinites.But there are no permain nentenemies Thaipolitics. old And then thereis Mr Thaksin's foe, the powerful army. Besidesstagingthe 2006coup, wasinstrumental it behindthe govscenes the formationof the present in It to ernment. haspromised stayin its barracks. But a closeresult and the ensuing might tempt it to meddle horse-trading if again-especially it looksasif Mr Thakr sinisonhiswayback.

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pr's populismat ) tom". Mr Kornhascosted a whoppingz.o6trillion baht ($68billion) aren't in the first year,but the Democrats of doing so badly either.Thesepromises their traditionalsupporlargesse alienate nervousabouthavingto tersin business, payforthenew wages, do MsYingluck and no oamage. The minnows will decide Forall thefocuson Mr Abhisitand Ms Yingluck, neitherwins an outrightmajority if then it will (as usual)be Thaiof seats, land'ssmallerpartiesthat play a decisive None has any role in a hung parliament. for they will simplyhaggle minideology; posts isterial andlocalpork. for Bhumjaithai, vehicle Newin Chida chob, a banned politician and former henchman, couldcomethird,perThaksin The hapswith 40 or so seats. party saysit in extremism lndonesia Retigious

Under attack

Thejailing of ajihadist leader still leavesplenty to worry about f femalePenHE ordealof a zz-year-old besan on the I tecostal trainee-Dastor a of evening Juneqth in Situbondo, town ApriliaDyahKusumaningrum in eastJava. was setupon by threemen afterleavinga church service.The detailsof what she But thensuffered disputed. shewasabare of ductedin a car,endingup hundreds kito Shemanaged makeher lometres away. cobbled way homeonly afterlocalfarmers a together bit of moneyfor herbus-fare. ChrisTheophilus Bela,of the Jakarta anNGo,says tianCommunicationForum, the abductors, who wore serban, type of a turbanfavoured Muslims, by wereIslamic radicals. tellsthe storyasan illustration He violence thathasbeof thesortof religious This come all too common in Indonesia. year has seenperhapstwo dozenattacks mostly on Java, Indonesia's on churches, most populous island. And Islamist at tacks not aimedsolelyat the Christian are Musminorityin a countrywith thelargest lim populationin the world. In February an Islamistmob lynchedsomemembers regarded by of the smallAhmadiyahsect,

grinsandbears Basyir it

killsomeorthodoxMuslimsasapostates, ing four. Members of the Shia minority havealsobeenvictimsof violence. It is hardly surprising,given this sad (andvery fresh)litany of religiousintolerance,that most analystsof religion and politics in Indonesiahave taken a sanguineview of thejailingonJuner6th the of jihadist leaderAbu BakarBasyir. Widely thoughtto havebeen the spiritualleader (lI), Asian Islamiah a South-East ofJemaah Mr offshootof al-Qaeda, Basyirwas sentencedto 15yearsin jail. He had beenarThis rested twice before, gotoff lightly. but were ableto link him to time prosecutors in training-camp the runningof a terrorist Aceh province.He facesfurther charges over an attackon a mosquein a police may in compound April.Sothezz-year-old well diebehindbars. His sentencing a boostfor Indonewas policeandjudiciary. it waslargely But sia's phenomenon irrelevant the worsening to that lies behind the of Islamicextremism assault the youngpastorin Situbondo. on Theauthorities havea worrying recordof usingIslamtolerating thuggery groups by ic orthodoxyasa pretext. busyof Thepolicehavebeenextremely FortyIateroundingup terroristsuspects. nine have been arrested, and four shot, March, of themjust a few daysbe16 since (for conviction plottingto foreMr Basyir's poisonpolice with cyanide). officers'food for Fifteen more were arrested helpingin the attackon the policemosquein April. Thisactivitymaytestifyto thezealof Indopolice, it is also, but arnesia's anti-terrorist guesSydneyJones,an expert on Indonesian jihadism with the International a Crisis Group, think-tank, worryingsign a remains, the of how widespread threat Probably only a few of thesenew suspectsowe any directallegiance Mr Bato yr terrorist orsyir, or any otherestablished ganisation. Evenbeforehis incarceration, had waned.Instead, Mr Basyir's influence MsJones argues, "violentactionis increasformedout inglythe work of smallgroups For of religiousstudy sessions." that reasontheywill be harderto track. Furthermore, althoughthe policehave gotbetterat the kick-ass of fightingterbit Muslimsand Christians rorism,moderate lags that the government far behind agree in tacklingthe underlyingcauses, suchas in thespread Islamicextremism schools of In and in societygenerally. the past,the president,Susilo BambangYudhoyono, relihas seemed reticentabout criticising perhaps fearof aliengiousextremism, for ating the Islamicpartiesin his coalition. But he has recentlybeen talking up the which regards ideologyof pancaslla, state religionsas all the country'srecognised Thatis welcome, very few local but equal. or actuallyimplement authorities schools the the policy.Until that changes, governelse ment'scritics sav.little will. r