Posted in Politics & government, Society on April 24th, 2012 No Comments »
I have been accused as a purist when it comes to defining the term liberal. I subscribe to a specific definition of the term liberal that will disqualify many other self-proclaimed liberals quickly. By specific, I am referring to libertarianism. Others prefer the term classical liberals and I find it hard to really differentiate the [...]
Posted in Economics, Society on February 27th, 2012 No Comments »
Liberal Malaysians in general are happy to stress on the wisdom of the crowd. In a context where the government holds a condescending attitude towards the public and in times when information spreads faster before the government can act, it is an appealing point to subscribe to. Travel around and try to talk politics among [...]
Posted in History & heritage, Society on September 21st, 2011 No Comments »
It is always a pleasure to listen to what Farish Noor has to say. He is a kind of a hip academician that challenges and entertains the mind. He makes history subversive and so making it much more interesting that the dull official version sanctioned by the establishment. I like subversion, even if I myself [...]
Posted in Liberty on June 7th, 2011 No Comments »
The way Suaram reasoned its position on drinking and smoking ban shocked me. According to the group’s coordinator, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not explicitly mention the consumption of alcohol and tobacco as a human right but it does mention detention without trial is a violation. Because of that, Suaram supports drinking and [...]
Posted in Liberty, Society on January 14th, 2011 2 Comments »
I feared being alone as a child. One could say I was spoiled. I remember bugging my parents every time I needed to go the bathroom or the kitchen at night. Activities in the house died down as the night progressed. Both the bathroom and the kitchen were located at the back of the house [...]
Posted in Economics, Politics & government on November 25th, 2010 No Comments »
There is talk of a third force in Malaysia. Lawyer and activist Haris Ibrahim has stated that the third force is a bunch of independents ready to co-operate with Pakatan Rakyat. Zaid Ibrahim wants to form a third political party. If in the end, it comes to a third competitive and national political grouping capable [...]
Posted in Liberty, Mudslinging on May 18th, 2010 5 Comments »
Dear Ms. Alicia, In replying to your letter, I will probably admit to only this: perhaps I accidentally casted my net too widely by not using enough qualification when I criticized Farrelly some days ago.[1] I qualified my statement at the beginning but later, I did away with it. I tend to do this because [...]
Posted in Liberty on May 13th, 2010 6 Comments »
Elizabeth Farrelly at the Sydney Morning Herald writes that the burqa is an affront to feminism.[1] She makes feminism sounds authoritarian. Quoting a friend of mine, “all this really is another case of someone trying to shove the politics of one kind of identity ahead of another.” I am unsure how widely this view is [...]
Posted in Economics, Liberty, Society on April 17th, 2010 No Comments »
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 [...]
Posted in Liberty, Politics & government on December 9th, 2009 No Comments »
I admire John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. In it, the author succinctly describes the limits of the state and individual liberty. His defense of individual liberty against the transgression of the state and the majority is impressive to me, who is already familiar with core points Mill articulated in On Liberty even before learning Mill’s [...]
The name is Hafiz Noor Shams.
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