the __earthinc

Veblen introduced some interesting ideas in The Theory of the Leisure Class. My professor seems to insist that Veblen was an early pioneer in the field of signalling. Although Veblen drove his ideas to the extreme to bring in absurd implications that I simply will not buy, there are specific arguments that I find attractive [...]

Opinions abound and they are bound to hit some sensitive nerve. When it hits, there goes another police report. There goes another demand for an ISA arrest. The right-wing group Perkasa has been at it for some time now, calling for the arrest of various individuals for challenging what the group considers as Malay rights. [...]

In Waterloo, which is about 20 minutes to the south of the central business district of Sydney, a man in his mid-30s approached me. He offered me a leaflet. The leaflet more or less says “Vote Liberal.” Although I cannot vote in the upcoming Australian federal election, I accepted the leaflet out of curiosity. Apart [...]

The Methodist Church in Malaysia is apparently under heavy criticism after it accepted money from the BN federal government during the recent Sibu parliamentary by-election. Quite clearly, the context in which the money was given strongly suggests that the money transfer was political of nature. The transfer could have been done outside of election time [...]

I love getting across campus. I get to meet people. And I get to see posters of various kinds. They update me of development in and around campus. And it entertains me. Posters by Socialist Alternative are especially humorous. With so many outrageous accusations flying around, it is no wonder why many simply ignore them. [...]

Please do not get me wrong. Being a generally risk-adverse person, I will wear a safety helmet if I ride a motorcycle. This however is quite different from objecting to government mandating the wearing of safety helmet for motorcyclists, or cyclists. The fact that that mandate coincides with my preferred action of wearing safety helmet [...]

There is much stress on economic freedom these days. This is clear by the fact that the New Economic Model is advocating less government in various aspects. So excited are the document authors about the idea of free market that at its rhetorical climax, they highlight the phrase “market-friendly affirmative action”, never mind the apparent contradiction [...]

It was a day in May some five years ago that I hopped on an airplane alone from Detroit to San Francisco. I rarely go anyway alone. That is partly due to the distress I experience each time I find myself in a new neighborhood. I like the comfort of familiar surroundings. Whenever I am [...]

It is unclear what the future holds for the Malaysian Chinese Association. Popular public discourse so far is tilted to one that assumes that MCA is heading the way of Gerakan, which is one of national irrelevance. Whatever path MCA will take, Chua Soi Lek is now the President of the party. While I myself [...]

Abdul Hadi Awang saw it and he capitalized on it. Given how the Islamic party he is in positions itself in the Allah controversy, he took the next step and suggested that the first principle of the Rukunegara[0] be changed from belief in god to belief in Allah.[1] If Allah is a generic term for [...]