The 8pm nightly royal news on television constantly shows her, smiling through endless visits and ceremonies, making merit at Buddhist temples and doing other good works.
The 2013 reform ushered in evaluations, proposed making merit the basis for promotions, and ended common practices such as teachers selling the positions to others.
The Thai people rely heavily on their Buddhist doctrines of doing good deeds as a way of "making merit".
There are nine components: 1) being self-sufficient and living simply, 2) managing stress, 3) having social relationships and support, 4) making merit and good deeds, 5) practicing self-care and self-awareness, 6) staying physically active, 7) staying cognitively active, 8) having social participation, and 9) accepting aging.
In the cool mornings, lines of orange-clad monks walk single file through its streets to accept gifts of food from the faithful who "make merit" through their offerings.
The monastery now has plenty of money, unlike decades ago, because locals and villagers who have moved to cities donate cash for new buildings, ornaments and statues, believing that they can "make merit" and improve their karmic status.
What's deteriorating Lebanon's software is the combination of a dead-handed Syrian occupation, continued Lebanese-Lebanese divisions that make merit-based governance impossible, and a government leadership that lacks any strategy for bringing Lebanon into the 21st century.
"The Newman LNP government will continue to make merit-based appointments as it has done since assuming office," he told QLS in reply to its "call to parties" for election commitments.
Mr. Giuliani, who has made merit pay a signature issue in his negotiations with the city's unions, said that he was pleased the administration had been able to get the "merit language that was so important to us" into the contract.
Make merit your main plan for life -- that you smart work will be smartly rewarded.
