Posted in Politics & government on April 25th, 2013 No Comments »
Life in Kuala Lumpur in the past few weeks has been a constant reminder of our flawed democracy. If you are in the city, look all around you. You will see banners and posters of political parties almost everywhere. Superficially, the colorful show of political flags is a sign of democracy. Now, look closer at [...]
Posted in ASEAN, Liberty on March 8th, 2013 No Comments »
I have a fundamental objection to the Sulu and the Philippine claims of Sabah. Calling it the claim of Sabah is somewhat inaccurate because if the Philippine claim is wholly based on the Sulu claim, then by right the claim only covers roughly the eastern half of Sabah. Nevertheless, the objection that I have is [...]
Posted in Society on October 18th, 2011 3 Comments »
I find it hard to take the masses seriously sometimes. Here is a story why that is so. I attended a Pakatan Rakyat-organized forum a few weeks ago. The organizers were promoting the coalition’s proposed federal budget. There is nothing wrong with that. My problem is with the audience. Since the proposal is a plan for public finance at [...]
Posted in Conflict & disaster, Liberty on June 9th, 2011 No Comments »
It is quite understandable why Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak wants to impress King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is an important country to Malaysia. It is the largest oil exporter in the world. It is the leader of the Muslim world by default, for better or for worse. But when the Prime Minister decided [...]
Posted in Liberty, Politics & government on February 12th, 2011 2 Comments »
While having a quiet dinner in Montmartre in Paris, I overheard the waiter talking in French to a group sitting at a table. The waiter answered, I assumed to an English equivalent of the question where are you from, “Tunisie. Révolution!” He further said, this time in English, “Now, I can go home”. The whole [...]
Posted in Economics, Politics & government, Society on October 6th, 2010 No Comments »
An interesting parallel appears here between economics and exit, on the one hand, and politics and voice, on the other. Just as in economics it had long been thought that the more elastic demand is (that is, the more rapidly exit ensues whenever deterioration occurs) the better for the functioning of the economic system, so [...]
Posted in Politics & government on March 11th, 2010 No Comments »
What a wonderful piece of news. That aptly describes my reaction upon learning the request of the Penang state government to the Election Commission to organize two local elections in the Pearl of the Orient this year. Selangor’s decision to follow suit makes it an all the more brilliant development. There are obstacles to overcome and [...]
Posted in Economics, Politics & government, Society on November 30th, 2009 2 Comments »
Just weeks ago, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad contrasted the development of China and India. As reported, he praised the single-mindedness of the Chinese government in developing the country and ridiculed the Indian government for being far too democratic and not focusing enough on development. He went on to state that freedom hurts the economy.[1] [...]
Posted in ASEAN, Liberty on August 11th, 2009 2 Comments »
Trivia: How does Southeast Asia treat its first and only winner of the Nobel Prize? Answer: The home country throws her into prison (okay, it was commuted to home arrest…) and others in the region do nothing. BANGKOK — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader, was sentenced Tuesday to three years of hard [...]
Posted in Politics & government, Society on June 28th, 2009 No Comments »
If you had switched on the television, listened to the radio or read the newspapers for the past number of weeks, you may have noticed how so many individuals and entities are claiming to represent the people. The people wish for this and the people wish for that but oddly enough, your wish never coincides [...]
The name is Hafiz Noor Shams.
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