Ahad, 14 April 2013

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PSM asked to run under Pakatan ticket

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 09:39 PM PDT

Pauline Wong and Tan Yi Liang, The Sun Daily

Parti Sosialis Malaysia's (PSM) candidates who want mutual cooperation with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the 13th general election (GE13) may run in seats also sought by PR parties - provided they agree to contest under the symbol of the relevant PR party.

PKR supreme council member R. Sivarasa explained that the PR coalition is not rejecting PSM's request to contest in those seats.

"We are offering the seats to their candidates but on condition that they contest under a PR ticket," he said at a press conference today. Also present was PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution.

"We hope they compromise accordingly as we are thinking of winnability," he added.

He was responding to questions on reported seat tussles between PSM and PKR in Kota Damansara (which PSM won in the March 2008 GE) and Semenyih (which PSM lost).

In the 2008 election, PSM had not had its registration as political party approved by the Home Ministry and therefore contested on the PKR ticket. The registration was given in June 2008.

The PKR leaders yesterday were however mum on whether PSM will be accepted as a component of the PR coalition, saying the presidential council has yet to make a decision.

Meanwhile, at a separate press conference, PSM secretary-general S. Arutchelvan said PSM feels its candidates are the most credible for their respective constituencies.

"We are not parachute candidates as we have done work in these areas. We will support Pakatan Rakyat in all seats they are fighting for, except for the ones we are contesting," he said.

He stressed that PSM had strict conditions as to who the party could field as an election candidate, as only those who have worked for the party for five years in a constituency can stand as a candidate.

PSM is fielding four candidates – Dr. Michael Jeyakumar for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat, PSM deputy chairman M. Sarasvathy for the Jelapang state seat, Arutchelvan for the Semenyih state seat, and PSM president Dr. Mohd Nasir Hashim for the Kota Damansara state seat.

On potential three-corner fights, Arutchelvan said PSM has proposed that a non-governmental organisation committee decides who should run for the seat.

"There must be a process when parties cannot agree who should run for a seat," he said.

He stressed PSM will not sabotage efforts by PR in its bid to seize Putrajaya.

Asked about the Selangor PKR's intention to field its candidates in Kota Damansara and Semenyih, Arutchelvan pointed out that Mohd Nasir was the incumbent in Kota Damansara having won during the 2008 general elections.

He said PSM was confident of winning as it had been working hard on the ground in its other campaign areas, Semenyih, Sungai Siput and Jelapang.

"In Sungai Siput, Dr. Michael Jeyakumar has been actively resolving local issues such as flooding and land disputes and in Jelapang, Sarasvathy has been resolving land disputes, such as the one in Kampung Jelapang Tambahan," he added.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said seat allocations in PR have to follow two 'rules'.

A seat sought by the incumbent party cannot be contested by another party. And if the seat was lost marginally in the previous election, priority is given to the party which lost to re-contest there.

On the tussle for the Sungai Aceh state seat in Penang, which has seen announcements by PAS and PKR for their own candidates there, he said the coalition's leaders will need to resolve the issue based on these rules.

 

Sabah PAS announces names of 11 candidates

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 06:15 PM PDT

(Bernama) -- PAS appears to be reluctant to wait for the Pakatan alliance led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to announce the opposition's line up for Sabah in the 13th general election (GE13).

The party announced today that it would be contesting two parliamentary and nine state seats.

PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said the party's state deputy commissioner Hamzah Abdullah and Kalabakan PAS Youth chief Usman Madeaming would stand in the Batu Sapi and Kalabakan parliamentary constituencies respectively.

He disclosed this after a closed door meeting with the party's potential candidates for Sabah at its liaison office here.

In the last election, PAS did not field any parliamentary candidate and only two state candidates, in Sukau and Merotai, where it was defeated.

Abdul Hadi said line up for state seats comprised seven men, Awang Laiman Ikin@ Abang (Tempasuk), Hamid Ismail (Tanjung Aru), Ahdah Sulaiman (Sukau), Kasman Karate (Kunak), Hasai Tudai (Bugaya), Ahmad Dullah (Merotai), Daud Jalaluddin (Sebatik) and two women, Dausieh Queck (Pitas) and Fatmawati Mohd Yusuf (Tanjung Batu).

Anwar in a press conference in Kota Kinabalu yesterday had said the opposition line up would be decided by the Pakatan Rakyat state leadership.

The state Pakatan Rakyat comprises PKR, DAP, PAS and two non-governmental organisations, Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) led by Datuk Wilfred Bumburing and Pakatan Perubahan Sabah (PPS) led by Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin.

Meanwhile, Lajim in a press conference here today, said PPS would be given at least four parliamentary seats and 14 state seats.

"Our candidates will be contesting on the PKR ticket. However, two of them, in Bugaya and Sukau, will use the PAS symbol," he said, hinting that he might be standing in the Beaufort parliamentary and Klias state constituencies.

Lajim said Anwar would reveal Pakatan's full line up for Sabah at the latest by Tuesday.

 

PKR shocked, PAS unveils Sarawak candidates

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 06:08 PM PDT

(The Kuala Lumpur Post) - PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang today named the party's candidates in seven constituencies in Sarawak, but three of the constituencies are also being claimed by Pakatan Rakyat partners DAP and PKR.

The names of the candidates are Abang Ahmad Kerdee Abang Masagus, a lawyer (for Kota Samarahan); Robby @ Muhamad Zaid Tandang, PAS Youth leader (Sibuti); Mohamad Jolhi, a homeopathy practitioner and PAS director of election, Sarawak (Batang Sadong); Ajji Ajiji, a businessman (Igan); Ambrose Labang Jamba, editor of Buletin Kenyalang (Julau); Jurina Mut, businesswoman (Tanjung Manis); and Nani Sahari, a businesswoman (Mukah).

Meanwhile, PKR also claimed Julau and Kota Samarahan, while DAP has named Hai Merawin @ Bonaventure for Mukah.

Hadi said that the list of the candidates has been finalised and had been agreed to by DAP and PKR.

The decision was made in the past few days.

Hadi said that the decision of the party to contest in Julau was to show that the party did not find its candidates in Muslim constituencies, but also in non-Muslim constituencies.

Julau has about 90 percent Iban voters, the majority of whom are Christians.

"We want to show that we have Iban and non-Muslims as our candidates," he said.

PKR 'shocked'

But PAS' decision to contest in Kota Samarahan and Julau is set to clash with PKR Sarawak which has firmly established its roots in the two constituencies.

Last month, over 3,000 people in Kota Samarahan attended a PKR ceramah where party de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim spoke at length.

When informed of the PAS decision, PKR chairperson Baru Bian expressed shock and said that he has not been informed of the decision.

"I will find out from Kuala Lumpur, and I am shocked that I have not been informed of the decision," he said.

He said he had directed Andy Wong, PKR's potential candidate for Julau to be on standby, pointing out that he might have to contest as an independent.

In Sibu, Wong Ho Leng, Sarawak DAP chairperson refused to comment on the decision of PAS to contest in Mukah.

He had earlier named Hai Merawin to be DAP's candidate there.

PKR and DAP still negotiating

Pakatan Rakyat has not finalised a number of Sarawak seats such as Mas Gading, Mambong, Sri Aman, Miri, and Stampin as both PKR and DAP want to stake their claim.

So far PKR has announced the names of its candidates for 11 seats that it will contest, and they are Baru Bian (Limbang), Roland Engan (Baram), Joshua Jabeng (Selangau), Thomas Laja (Kanowit), Abun Sui Anyit (Hulu Rajang), Ali Biju (Saratok), Cecilia Siti Una (Betong), Nicholas Bawin (Lubok Antu), Zulrusdi Hol (Santubong), Ahmad Nazib Johari (Petra Jaya) and Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh (Batang Lupar).

Meanwhile DAP has announced Bob Baru (Lawas), John Anthony Brian (Bintulu), Lim Sui Kien (Miri), Oscar Ling (Sibu),  Hai Merawin (Mukah), Ramli Malaka (Kapit) and Alice Lau (Lanang),  Edward Luak (Serian), and Andrew Wong (Sarikei).

DAP has yet to announce the candidates for Stampin and Bandar Kuching, but Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen and Julian Tan are expected to contest the respective seats.

As for the overlapping claims in Mas Gading, Mambong and Sri Aman, Anwar Ibrahim during his recent visit to Kuching that it is expected to be resolved very soon.

 

Hadi Awang insists man in sex video is not Mustafa Ali

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 06:04 PM PDT

(Bernama) - PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang insisted that Mustafa Ali was not involved in the sex video recording spread in the internet.

He said he did not believe the PAS secretary-general was capable of doing the video act because for the past few years, Mustafa Ali performed his prayers while sitting down.

"Those who made the recording were not aware that for the past few years Mustafa Ali performed his prayers while sitting on a chair because his knees were aching…even going down the stairs was painful (for him)…go an find someone strong and not like what was shown in the recording," he said.

He disclosed this to reporters when asked to comment on the sex video issue concerning a man who is said to look like the PAS secretary-general, here today.

Meanwhile, reporters who attended the coverage on the announcement of PAS candidates for the 13th general election (GE13) were required to register their presence and had to undergo another check before being allowed to enter the PAS office in Kota Samarahan.

 

Dr M: Chinese votes in BN’s bag as long as business chances exist

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 05:13 PM PDT

"The NEP has in fact, benefitted the Chinese more than the Malays," he added, referring to the controversial national affirmative action policy introduced in 1971 by second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, that aimed to close the economic gap between the Malays who were largely small-time farmers and Chinese who were into businesses. 

Debra Chong, TMI

Economic stability and chances for business growth are valued by Chinese Malaysians and they will support the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) at the polls so long these are not at risk, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in an interview published today. 

Ahead of the 13th general elections, surveys and analyses by pundits have flagged the Chinese — who make up about 30 per cent of multiracial Malaysia's 13.3 million electorate — as pro-oposition supporters, contrary to the former prime minister's view.  

"I think the Chinese would still value their opportunities in business. If you take an environment where they can succeed in business, they would be supportive of BN, which they did even when the BN introduced the New Economic Policy," Dr Mahathir was quoted saying in the New Sunday Times

"The NEP has in fact, benefitted the Chinese more than the Malays," he added, referring to the controversial national affirmative action policy introduced in 1971 by second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, that aimed to close the economic gap between the Malays who were largely small-time farmers and Chinese who were into businesses. 

Officially, NEP was ended in 1990 but its fundamental idea remains in effect through other governmental policies. Critics have argued that the NEP has only helped the few with close ties to the ruling elite. 

Dr Mahathir also acknowledged that without the NEP, Southeast Asia's third-largest economy would likely develop at a much faster rate than at present due to the dynamism of the Chinese community. 

"(But) it would be an unhealthy growth," he said. 

He pointed that the lopsided distribution of wealth between the races would be sharpened if the government had not taken action, and that the social imbalance would stir unrest. 

"The Chinese would be rich and the Malays would be poor. And that would lead to instability," he said. 

The 87-year-old who ran Malaysia for 22 years until his resignation from office in October 2003 said he still believed his socio-economic policies have been "fair". 

"I keep on telling people that in this country no one should feel extremely happy because if they feel happy, if one race feels happy, it means you are doing the wrong thing. You are helping that race too much. 

"The thing is you have to deny everyone something that they think they are entitled to. So they will all be unhappy, which means we are treating everyone equally," he said. 

The former Umno president who is now Perkasa advisor defended his patronage of the right-wing Malay organisation whom many Chinese appear to view dimly as being racist. 

"We cannot reject them as being non-Umno. We have to work with them. Otherwise, Umno will be a tiny organisation quite unable to get either Chinese or Malay support," he said. 

He added that he was unsure what role the group will play after May 5, but insisted that Perkasa backed not just Umno, the Malay component in the 13-party BN coalition but the other racial components as well. 

Dr Mahathir has been engaging in a tit-for-tat verbal battle against his political foe in the DAP, Lim Kit Siang since the opposition leader announced he was gunning for Gelang Patah, a Chinese-majority federal seat in Umno's JOhor home turf. 

Lim, who has repeatedly sparred with Dr Mahathir in Parliament, has also been backing the Umno veteran's ex-deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, with whom he is now politically-friendly to be Malaysia's next leader. 

In his interview today, Dr Mahathir described his former right-hand man as a very smart man, very charismatic, and with the ability to get along with many people of diverse backgrounds. 

"He is a fantastic man, a fantastic man!" he said, but the compliment was backhanded. 

"In a way, he is a chameleon. His colours turn to suit the environment he is in."

READ MORE HERE

 

GE13: DAP and PKR yet to settle seat distribution in Johor

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 04:29 PM PDT

(The Star) - JOHOR BARU: The battle for seats between state DAP and PKR seems to be still firing on with both sides keeping mum on their list of confirmed candidates for GE13.

"The seats will be announced when it is announced," said DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang during a press conference at the Gelang Patah DAP headquarters on Sunday.

When asked if the delay reflected disagreement on seat allocations with PKR, Lim stuck with the same reply.

"Just give us some privacy.

"It will be announced when it is announced," he said.

On Saturday, PAS introduced their full list of state candidates and confirmed that the party would be contesting for 30 out of 50 state seats and eight out of the 26 parliamentary seats.

 

Jelapang state seat to witness three-corner fight

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 04:11 PM PDT

(NST) - SUNGAI SIPUT: The Jelapang state seat is expected to witness a three cornered fight as the PSM may be forced to field its candidate in the DAP-stronghold seat in the upcoming general election.

Former Sg Siput MP Dr D. Jeyakumar said as at now the DAP has failed to respond to PSM proposal for the issue to be solved by an independent committee consisting members of several NGOs.

"We have sent a letter explaining our proposal to the DAP two weeks ago. As at now, we have not received any response from the DAP leadership," he told reporters at his service centre here today.

Dr Jeyakumar said the DAP has also refused to meet the PSM to discuss the matter with the former insisted that there is nothing to discuss.

He added PSM will use the party's logo for its candidates in the 13th general election.


PPP eyes 4 state and 2 parliament seats

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 03:51 PM PDT

Among the names mentioned as a potential PPP candidate is PPP vice chief Maglin Dennis D'Cruz, presently a senator and a deputy minister in Najib's last cabinet.

Humayun Kabir, FMT

The People's Progressive Party (PPP) is likely to contest in two parliamentary and four state seats that were lost by Barisan Nasional component parties in the 2008 political tsunami.

According to a BN source, the party has earmarked the four state seats of Pasir Bedamar in Perak, Manek Urai (Kelantan), Kota Laksamana (Malacca) and Kota Alam Shah (Selangor), and also the Federal Territory parliamentary seat of Batu.

PPP is also said to be eyeing either the parliamentary seats of Kepong or Kapar, or another parliamentary seat in Perak.

The source said PPP was awaiting Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak's approval before making any official move.

"They have said that Najib will tell them some time this week. They are confident of doing well in these seats," said the source.

In 2008, Gerakan failed to unseat DAP's Dr Tan Seng Giaw in Keong while MIC's Kapar seat was lost to PKR S Manikavasagam.

PPP meanwhile lost both the Taiping parliamentary seat and the Pasir Bedamar state seat that it had contested in 2008.

Last year PPP president M Kayveas told FMT that the party wanted to contest in BN areas that were lost to the opposition in the last general election.

While the party had claimed that it had been assured of two parliamentary seats and two state seats, it had however proposed to Najib for the additional two state seats.

READ MORE HERE

 

Jeffrey’s party calls BN’s Tataba Wave a sham

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 03:45 PM PDT

Gelombang Tataba - launched by BN's Kadsazandusun parties - has not empowered the natives in Sabah but only put Umno leaders like Mahathir and Ibrahim above the law.

Luke Rintod, FMT

KOTA KINABALU: Opposition State Reform Party (STAR) has accused Sabah Barisan Nasional coalition parties PBS, UPKO and PBRS of colluding with Umno and harming Sabahans' rights.

The native parties' unity drive which it is promoting as the "Tataba Wave" is merely rallying support for embattled Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) and helping Umno's "ketuanan Melayu" or Malay supremacy in Sabah, a top leader said yesterday.

STAR Sabah deputy chairman, Daniel John Jambun, said Sabahans realise that the "Gelombang Tataba" was nothing but an idea hatched by Umno to empower Dr Mahathir Mohamad to help perpetuate "ketuanan Melayu dan Umno" idea to lord it over Sabahans.

The outspoken party leader who along with its chairman Jeffrey Kitingan is campaigning on a platform of autonomy for Sabah, said the trio of BN parties representing Sabah native interests had launched a programme that was simply an extension of BN's Blue Wave or "Gelombang Biru".

Two opposition leaders from the Kadazandusun community have already used the Tataba Wave as an excuse for joining the BN.

The Tataba Wave was started by the leaders of the three Kadsazandusun parties last month to galvanise waning support for the Umno-led BN government in Sabah and the country.

"By empowering Umno and BN, the non-Muslims would continue to be suppressed as the Tataba Wave would only embolden (former prime minister) Mahathir (Mohamad) and Ibrahim Ali of Perkasa," Jambun said.

"By calling the Kadazandusuns to support BN and Umno, the leaders of PBS, UPKO and PBRS are empowering Ibrahim to repeat his call for the burning of our Bible or Alkitab," he said in a statement.

Jambun who is also president of UK-based Borneo's Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo) said Ibrahim should be charged for treason, and Mahathir too for the IC Project.

"But look, PBS, UPKO and PBRS are calling the people to support Mahathir and Ibrahim instead.

"Obviously the Gelombang Tataba has not empowered the natives in Sabah but has only put Umno leaders like Mahathir and Ibrahim above the law. Sabahans must see this ploy, hatched by Umno but carried by the three parties to hoodwink the people," he alleged.

READ MORE HERE

 

Hindraf to Anwar: Call off your mandores

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 03:38 PM PDT

The organisation wants the PKR leader to stop his party leaders with their cheap attacks on Hindraf and Waythamoorthy.

Athi Shankar, FMT

Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim should act like a gentleman if he was serious and sincere on working with Hindraf Makkal Sakti and endorse its blueprint, said the movement's Kedah chapter coordinator P Muniandy.

Pakatan has contacted Hindraf recently to recommence talks on the movement five-year blueprint meant to uplift the marginalised Indian community.

Muniandy said Anwar must choose between wanting to work with Hindraf for betterment of ethnic Indians under a win-win coalition pact or engage in cheap tactic by deploying mandores to criticise the human rights movement.

He said Hindraf's talks with Barisan Nasional national chairman Najib Tun Razak for his endorsement on the blueprint had nothing to do with Anwar or his mandores.

He said Hindraf was not interested in Pakatan – BN political feud because it was not helping the marginalised Indian cause anyway.

He said Hindraf's focus was to uplift the marginalised segment of working class Indians, who have been isolated and sidelined from mainstream development for over 200 years.

He said Hindraf never stopped talking with Pakatan and already had 21 meetings with the coalition.

"Only mandores are making noises as though they know everything.

"Have you seen any Pakatan top leaders making any statement against Hindraf?

"These mandores should stop from going berserk to condemn Hindraf.

"Anwar should gentlemanly stop them," he told FMT here today, when commenting on cyber attacks by PKR's S Jayathas.

Jayathas, who was formerly a paid staff in P Uthayakumar's Human Rights Party (HRP) office, has claimed Hindraf supremo P Waythamoorthy had struck a deal with Umno.

Labelling Waythamoorthy as a "traitor", Jayathas claimed the Hindraf supremo had hid the movement's registration from public knowledge.

Jayathas pleasing political master

Muniandy said Jayathas' remarks showed that he wanted to please his political master to grab a seat to contest in the forthcoming general election.

He recalled that Jayathas was a political hopeful who hopped from PKR to Hindraf then to HRP and now back to PKR within five years.

"Jayathas should shut his mouth up since he had left Hindraf to pursue his selfish interests," said Muniandy.

READ MORE HERE

 

DAP tells PAS to back off in Merotai

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 03:35 PM PDT

Merotai is considered a 'hot seat' as both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat component parties are eyeing the seat. 

Azman Habu, FMT

TAWAU: The squabbles for seats in Pakatan Rakyat, the national opposition coalition, is now threatening to turn cannibalistic in Sabah with DAP warily eyeing PAS intentions in the east coast of the state.

With little to gain and everything to lose, the Pakatan parties are facing off over who gets to place their candidate in the Muslim majority Merotai constituency land held by the BN's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

PAS hit a 'sour' note when its president Abdul Hadi Awang included the constituency in its corner while Sabah DAP claims the seat is still under negotiations between the coalition partners.

Hadi announced at a function held at PAS Kalabakan office at Taman Semarak that the Islamic party would put up contestants in two parliamentary seats and nine state seats in Sabah.

The parliamentary seats are  Batu Sapi and Kalabakan, while the state seats are Pitas, Tempasuk, Tanjung Aru, Sukau, Kunak, Bugaya, Tanjung Batu, Sebatik and Merotai.

Merotai is considered a 'hot seat' as both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat component parties are eyeing the seat considered a toss-up with the voters divided and moods likely to swing at the
11th hour.

Sabah DAP chairman Jimmy Wong, who was present when the PAS candidates were announced, said he was caught by surprise that Merotai was mentioned.

"The seat negotiations among Pakatan Rakyat has yet to be finalised and the Merotai state seat has already been conceded to DAP if LDP is defending the seat on behalf of BN," he said.

READ MORE HERE

 

Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice

Posted: 13 Apr 2013 02:37 PM PDT

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/023/930/original/race-face-off-120126.jpg?1327592119 

Livescience

 

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

"Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood," he said.

Controversy ahead

The findings combine three hot-button topics.

"They've pulled off the trifecta of controversial topics," said Brian Nosek, a social and cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia who was not involved in the study. "When one selects intelligence, political ideology and racism and looks at any of the relationships between those three variables, it's bound to upset somebody."

Polling data and social and political science research do show that prejudice is more common in those who hold right-wing ideals that those of other political persuasions, Nosek told LiveScience. [7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You]

"The unique contribution here is trying to make some progress on the most challenging aspect of this," Nosek said, referring to the new study. "It's not that a relationship like that exists, but why it exists."

Brains and bias

Earlier studies have found links between low levels of education and higher levels of prejudice, Hodson said, so studying intelligence seemed a logical next step. The researchers turned to two studies of citizens in the United Kingdom, one that has followed babies since their births in March 1958, and another that did the same for babies born in April 1970. The children in the studies had their intelligence assessed at age 10 or 11; as adults ages 30 or 33, their levels of social conservatismand racism were measured. [Life's Extremes: Democrat vs. Republican]

In the first study, verbal and nonverbal intelligence was measured using tests that asked people to find similarities and differences between words, shapes and symbols. The second study measured cognitive abilities in four ways, including number recall, shape-drawing tasks, defining words and identifying patterns and similarities among words. Average IQ is set at 100.

Social conservatives were defined as people who agreed with a laundry list of statements such as "Family life suffers if mum is working full-time," and "Schools should teach children to obey authority." Attitudes toward other races were captured by measuring agreement with statements such as "I wouldn't mind working with people from other races." (These questions measured overt prejudiced attitudes, but most people, no matter how egalitarian, do hold unconscious racial biases; Hodson's work can't speak to this "underground" racism.)

As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias.

People with lower cognitive abilities also had less contact with people of other races.

"This finding is consistent with recent research demonstrating that intergroup contact is mentally challenging and cognitively draining, and consistent with findings that contact reduces prejudice," said Hodson, who along with his colleagues published these results online Jan. 5 in the journal Psychological Science.

Read more at: http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html

 

 

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