The Economist May 28th 2022 Asia 49S
omemenspendtheirweekends
watchingfootball.ImamSafi’iandhis
matesspendtheirswatchingsongbirds
warble.Hundredsofsongbirdcontests
takeplaceacrossIndonesiaeveryyear.
OnmostweekendsMrImamandhis
friendsattendduelsinJakarta,thecap-
ital,rootingfortheirpetcrooners.The
birdsareassessedbyrefereeswhograde
thecomplexityandrangeoftheirmelo-
dies,aswellastheirstaminaandposture
astheyflitaroundtheircages.
Owninga championbirdisnotjusta
matterofpride.Winnersreceivetelevi-
sions,motorcycles,carsandcashprizes
ofhundredsorthousandsofdollars.
OverthepastfouryearEthes,MrImam’s
stonemagpie,hasrackedupscoresof
trophiesandenrichedhisownerbysome
15mrupiah($1,000)—halftheaverage
annualwage.MrImamattributeshis
bird’ssuccesstolove,careandgood
nutrition.Lookingaftersongbirds,he
says,islikelookingafterchildren.
Indonesianshavecometoregard
songbirdsasa “socialandfinancial
asset”,writesPaulJepsonoftheUniversi-tyofOxford,andcompetitionsasan
opportunitytonetwork.Theyalsopro-
videanexcusetohangoutwithbuddies.
Tournamentsare“boisterous”anda
“greattime”,saysMrImam,especially
whenEthesisnotcompeting.Watching
songbirdschallengeeachotherina kind
ofAvianIdol“relievesourstressoverthe
weekend”.Menfromallwalksoflife
participate—evenJokoWidodo,In-
donesia’spresident,onceenteredhis
white-rumpedshamaina competition.
ThepeopleofJava,Indonesia’smost
populousisland,havekeptsongbirds,a
symbolofJavaneseknighthood,for
centuries.Butcontestsstartedtobecome
commoninthe1980sand1990s,when
enthusiastsbeganreplacingimported
zebradoves,whosevocalisationsare
fixed,withnativepasserines,which
couldbetrained.Thisopenedupthe
tournamentstoanyonewiththetime
andpatiencetocoachtheirpets.
OwnershipofsongbirdsinJavahas
doubledoverthepastdecade.Thereare
between66mand84mbirdsincaptivity
ontheisland.Nearlya thirdofhouse-
holdskeepthem,accordingtoa survey
conductedin2018.Breederscannotkeep
upwithdemand,andinanycaseit is
wildbirdsthatareprizedfortheirsup-
posedlysuperiorvocalcords.Somany
birdshavebeenwhiskedfromtheforests
ofIndonesiathatmorethana dozen
speciesareindangerofextinction.
TradersarenowransackingMalaysia
andThailand,too.TheIndonesiangov-
ernmentisawareoftheproblem and
forbidstradeinprotectedspecies.In 2018
hundredsofbirds,includingsongbirds,
wereaddedtothatlist.Yettradersexploit
legalloopholesandpatchyenforcement.
Asmanyas1mbirdsweresmuggledout
oftheforestsofSumatra,a bigIndone-
sianisland,in2019,accordingtoone
estimate.Indonesia’sloveofbirdsong
threatensthesongbirdsthemselves.SongbirdcompetitionsAvian idol
J AKARTA
IndonesiansknowwhythecagedbirdsingsThaipoliticsChadchart topping
O
nmay 22 nd 2014 soldierskidnapped
Chadchart Sittipunt, then Thailand’s
transport minister, detaining him and oth-
er cabinet members in an undisclosed lo-
cation for a week while army generals
seized power in a coup. Eight years later to
the day, Mr Chadchart was elected gover-
nor of Bangkok, the country’s capital, by a
landslide—he won 52% of the vote.
Among his rivals was Aswin Kwan-
muang, the incumbent, who was appoint-
ed by the junta in 2016. With a mere 8% of
votes, Mr Aswin took a humiliating fifth.
Though he ran as an independent, he was
seen as the preferred candidate of Palang
Pracharat (ppp), the army’s proxy party. The
ppphas run the country since 2019, when
the junta tried to give itself a sheen of de-
mocracy by holding elections. The Bang-
kok vote was widely regarded as a referen-
dum on the government of the prime min-
ister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, the senior gener-
al who seized power eight years ago. It was
the last one before a general election,
which must be called by next March.
Mr Chadchart’s election may mark a
turning-point in Thai politics. The last two
decades have seen vicious fights between
conservative, pro-army “yellow shirt” roy-
alists and pro-democracy “red shirts” and
student protesters, which have sometimes
tipped over into violence. Mr Chadchart
used to belong to the latter camp, as a
member of Pheu Thai, the party of Thaksin
Shinawatra, a populist former prime min-
ister. But he now styles himself a moder-
ate. His technocratic background (he is a
former engineering professor), friendly
manner and promise to govern from the
middle appealed to both red and yellow
shirts. His victory suggests Bangkokians
are ready to “move on” from the political
strife of the past two decades, says Stithorn
Thananithichot of King Prajadhipok’s In-
stitute, a Thai think-tank.
Whether the rest of the country is ready
for Mr Chadchart’s new, conciliatory style
of politics remains unclear. Seeing the
overwhelming support for Mr Chadchart
in Bangkok, Mr Thaksin predicts a land-
slide victory for his Pheu Thai party at the
general election. His optimism may be pre-
mature. Many yellow shirts voted for Mr
Chadchart precisely because he distanced
himself from his old party, which they
loathe. Two important parties in the go-
verning coalition—the pro-army pppand
Bum Jai Thai—did not contest the election.The latter, which won 10% of the vote in
2019, is popular in rural areas.
Yet conservatives must still be nervy.
The ppp probably did not contest the gov-
ernorship because it suspected the party
would flop, Prajak Kongkirati of Thamma-
sat University in Bangkok said at a post-
election talk. Indeed, the party won just
two of 50 seats in elections to the city
council held the same day. By contrast,
Pheu Thai and Move Forward, a social-
democratic party popular with young peo-ple, won a combined 34 seats. It did not
help that many conservative parties fought
each other in the governor’s race.
No one in the ruling coalition will be
more worried than Mr Prayuth. He has led
the country for eight years, first as junta
leader, then as prime minister after the
constitution was rewritten to prolong his
rule. Yet he has little to show for it, and his
popularity is low and fallingfurther. Con-
servatives must hope thatMrChadchart is
content with his new job.nB ANGKOK
An election in Bangkok heralds an
optimistic new kind of politics