Author: Hafiz Noor Shams
For more about me, please read this.
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[1293] Of race for the sky
Many are impressed at how buildings are sprouting in Chinese as well as certain Arabic cities. The trend is not alien to Kuala Lumpur at the moment, though the pace is probably less than stellar.
The new buildings in the city are marvelously modern and clean in design. The one besides The Ascott is a great example.
And yes, do notice the yellow crane.
And yes, Kuala Lumpur has blue sky.
As Bob mentioned, Bob and I were interviewed by Chris Vallance of Pods & Blogs, BBC Radio Five. The interview centered around Nat’s arrest and bloggers’ reaction. In retrospect, I should not have said “we” as if I were representing all Malaysian bloggers.
An excerpt is available at Bob’s blog. The full version which contains other segment is available at Pods & Blogs’ post entitled Show Notes: Obscenity, Secrets and Facebook.
I was mumbling during the interview but thank you technology.
p/s — and oh yes, Nat has been released.
I used to sympathize with the Democrats not long ago but I have jumped off the bandwagon some time after the Democrats conquered the Congress. Why?
Well:
WASHINGTON, July 15 — On Capitol Hill and on the presidential campaign trail, Democrats are increasingly moving toward a full-throated populist critique of the current economy.
Clearly influenced by some of their most successful candidates in last year’s Congressional elections, Democrats are talking more and more about the anemic growth in American wages and the negative effects of trade and a globalized economy on American jobs and communities. They deplore what they call a growing gap between the middle class, which is struggling to adjust to a changing job market, and the affluent elites who have prospered in the new economy. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, calls it “trickle-down economics without the trickle.” [New Populism Is Spurring Democrats on the Economy. NYT. July 14 2007]
With the Democrats in power of the Congress, I would like to see a Republican President and Ron Paul would do just fine for me. Maybe even Mitt Romney but that is just because Mankiw is his advisor. I certainly do not want to see the mistake of giving too much power to Barisan Nasional in Malaysia repeats itself in the US.
If a Democrat President sits in the Oval Office, I have a feeling a recession — with their protectionist and anti-trade thinking — will hit us all, sooner or later.
Earlier today, Khairy Jamaluddin seems to imply that CTOS is victimizing the Malays.
“Otherwise, many people will be victimised, especially Malays who may have settled their debts but get penalised by the information provided by CTOS,” he told reporters after the opening of the Rembau Umno Youth delegates meeting here.
The meeting was opened by Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who is also the state Umno liaison chief.
Khairy said he noticed that most of the people on the CTOS blacklist were Malays. [Khairy Suggests Winding Up CTOS. Bernama. July 14 2007]
Worry not Malays because here comes the knight in shining armor to save the day!
It is amazing how he is trying to turn a completely ethnic-neutral issue into a racial one. While doing that, he portrays himself as a savior by calling for CTOS to be winded up. By calling for such action, the victimized Malays would be grateful to Khairy for fighting for the Malays.
Wicked rationale of a populist, I would say.
I personally doubt that CTOS is trying to get the Malays. In fact, CTOS, from my reading, does not blacklist people. It merely provides individual’s credit information which is available publicly.
Regardless, if it is true that most with bad credit rating are Malays, there is one possible easy explanation to that: the Malays make up the majority population in this country. Assuming everything else is the same, it would be rational to expect the number of Malays with bad credit rating would reflect the percentage of the Malaysian population.
I would be interesting to to see the percentage of individuals with bad credit rating based on ethnicity background. I am betting that the relevant percentage would reflect the composition of the Malaysian population.