Falungong now a political exercise

Peter Kerr in his first article (The Jakarta Post, May 8, 2001: Falungong strives for another dimension in life) said there were only about 1,000 Falungong practitioners in Jakarta. I wonder how many of these said practitioners actually read The Jakarta Post and why Kerr is offering a telephone line for English speakers for the Falungong seminar.

Couldn't he have found a more weighty, urgent or popular topic to write about than the Falungong. Is Kerr himself a practitioner of Falungong? I wonder too how many of the Post's readers are practitioners of Falungong.

Senior minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew said recently, as quoted by The Straits Times, the Falungong was now not a deep- breathing meditation exercise, but a heavy-breathing political exercise. Perhaps it can be added that the Falungong has become a much politicized cult, too.

SIA KA-MOU

Jakarta