Falun Gong looks like a cult, smells like a cult and, by any reasonable definition, is a cult, said a recent article in Japan Times.

The article, a book review by Philip Cunningham, a researcher with Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, offered an insightful look at the Falun Gong issue by closely examining "Falun Gong's Challenge to China,"a reader assembled by New York media critic Danny Schechter.

In his book, Schechter attempts to answer some questions about Falun Gong by offering a diverse range of viewpoints, allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, the article said.

The "blind men"Schecther quotes in describing this elephant of a "meditation group"include Chinese Government commentators, human-rights advocates, Western scholars, PR experts and the self-proclaimed "Master"himself -- Li Hongzhi.

Oddly enough, the article said, the least informative account in the book comes from Li. He is cryptic at best, oblique and obscure at worst, the article claims. He sounds outright naive, if not disingenuous, when he says that the Falun Gong movement "doesn't have an organizational structure at all."

According to Cunningham, in talking of the demons that haunt mankind and legitimize his quest, Li sounds simply nutty: "The aliens come from other planets. Some are from dimensions that human beings have not yet discovered."He also says he can fly and control people from a distance and scientists would agree with him if scientists were not too politicized to see the real truth, the article said.

Having lived in Japan during the time of Aum Shinrikyo -- a doomsday cult that terrorized the country in 1998 -- Cunningham said simply hearing talk of levitation and special powers by a guru with messianic aspirations makes him cringe. Seeing ordinary people put themselves at risk and get hurt in the name of some fat cat guru in luxurious exile is painful, he seethes.

"It predisposes me very much against the grandiose pretensions of Li Hongzhi,"Cunningham wrote.

He said the Chinese have a point when they argue that Falun Gong must be smashed to protect human rights and free speech: Cults lack transparency and hide the truth.

During Aum's short and inglorious history, it targeted publications and television stations that dared to challenge its right to be "left alone?to pursue its bloody agenda.

Cults are notoriously thin-skinned when it comes to media criticism, and Falun Gong is no exception, the article said.

The first few big rallies in Tianjin and Beijing were directed at unfriendly media coverage, long before the group was deemed an evil cult and banned.

The article quoted Schechter's book: "In 1996, for reasons that haven't been fully explained, Li, who speaks only Chinese, came to the US with permanent visa status for him and his family."

Cunningham wishes that Schechter had followed up on this and other interesting hunches, such as his initial sense that Falun Gong was a CIA plot to destabilize China. The deeply illiberal, anti-homosexual rhetoric of the movement is duly noted but not grappled with, he said.

According to Cunningham, Schechter's own observations on the cult have an unapologetic liberal bias: He sees religion where others might see a cult.

"Schechter, who calls himself a 'media dissector,'is too smart to make a claim to the last word on such an opaque topic. He gives adequate space to conflicting, even contrary viewpoints,"the article said.

The second half of Schechter's book consists of annotated readings, including practitioner accounts, letters from China, state media accounts, official and unofficial biographical data, US State Department press releases, the text of China's anti-cult legislation, an introduction to the teachings of Li Hongzhi and an Internet resource guide.

Cunningham wrote that Schechter is among a handful of media commentators who have actually met Li Hongzhi, though his account of the meeting and transcript tend to reinforce the image of Li as both banal in his ordinariness and yet somehow inscrutable.

Schechter comes from a radio and TV background, which helps explain his ear for good quotes, the article added.

When queried on the whereabouts of Master Li, Falun Gong follower and official translator Erping Zhang is quoted as saying, "I have no idea. I do not even have the desire to know."

The article noted that Schechter included in his book the delightful anti-Falun Gong ditty recorded by Peter Carlson of The Washington Post: "I think my Falun Gong is fine,/ It can help collect money to dine,/ And drink a lot good wine . . ./ I have lots of followers here and there,/ And now I'm a billionaire,/ What about anything else [do] I need to care?"

(China Daily 2001/02/03)