Author: Hafiz Noor Shams

For more about me, please read this.

Categories
Politics & government

[437] Of depressed sentences

The days after November 2 feel different. There seems to be a lack of something but still, everything that I wanted to change, from the person that is sitting in the Oval Office to the policies regarding the environment, is still in place. That lack of something is seeing Kerry talking, hearing his boring voice. It pains me to see Kerry going into oblivion while Bush and the rightist fundamentalists are rising higher still.

I still can’t believe that Kerry lost, even though before Ohio started calling, even before Florida stays red, even before half of the result was announced, there was hunch that was as clear as the Tahitian waters, that Kerry was fighting a losing battle. It is the feeling of seeing the Netherlands being beaten through penalty shootouts by the Italian after all the possession and flair two European Championships ago. It is feeling of a great injustice after all that had been said and done.

Despite blunder in Iraq, regardless of the fallout from the world community, in the face of lies imitating the truth and the truth continues to be pushed aside, there are still millions of people siding with the current administration. It is a great frustration that transcends far beyond words. Perhaps this is what Voltaire had forseen long ago.

I trust that nearly half of the American people feel the same along with, perhaps, majority of the citizens of the world as it is evident with the Mirror’s “How can 59,017,382 people be so dumb?” front page and so many others. That feeling could not be more pronounced than the words written in the New York Times. Its editorial columns are filled with angry paragraphs and depressed sentences save anything that comes from Mr. Safire and Mr. Brooks and their fans.

Four more years of Bush sounds too harsh for many. I know it is too harsh for me.

America is supposed to be the bastion of secularism but regretfully, the rightist fundamentalists, which are no better than those Islamic extremists, are gaining ground. It is funny and ironic as well that wherever we may be, two species of the same class are there to be fought. Both species of fundamentalist are trying to crush each other while we are in a quagmire, continuously shouting and telling them to stop and think.

p/s – And, some of you better memorize “O Canada”, eh?

Categories
Economics Environment

[436] Of Russian final ratification of the Kyoto Protocol

Just less than an hour ago, Reuters broke to the world that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, took the last historic, necessary effort to turn the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change into a reality. With Putin’s signature, as I have put it in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the Russian ratification is complete. It will take 90 days for parties of the Protocol – 126 nations in total – to adhere to the greenhouse gases cap through three methods stated in the Protocol.

With Bush in the White House for four more years, I am sure this is some kind of a pain reliever to many who care for the environment. And within the next 24 hours, I am sure all the greens will be sending out congratulatory messages to each other.

Let me be the first one to congratulate all of you who supported or criticized the Protocol. If you supported it, it’s obvious that you care for Gaia. If you criticized it, you helped push for a better Protocol.

Kyoto is flawed, no doubt; it has its weaknesses but many will agree that Kyoto is the only effective way to combat accelerated climate change at this moment. Unless there is a better option, Kyoto currently is our only hope. Each day of inaction will cost us and our children billions and trillions of dollars. Every day of inaction eventually will lead to destruction of our planet. The cost of inactive will be unbearable in the future. I am glad that we didn’t stay idle. We fought and stayed on the table despite all the differences.

Now, all eyes are on the US, Australia and possibly China. US and Australia will no doubt come under heavy pressure to bend. China on the other hand, will enter the international environmental pact by 2010.

p/s – this week as I understand, the Arctics nations, the US included, met in Berlin, Germany to discuss the increase in temperature in the Arctics. Already, the US is being impossible and disagreeable.

Categories
ASEAN Politics & government

[435] Of case for a Malaysian intervention in southern Thailand

Things seem to be heading for the worse close to home.

A few days ago, a few Buddhists were killed as revenge to the unnecessary death of roughly 80 Muslims in southern Thailand. I don’t see the problem subsiding as everyday since the trouble was aggravated has been marred with death related to the issue.

Some in Malaysia have voiced outrage over this. There were a few protests here and there and the most notable was recently held in front of the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur. No unwanted incident happened there but it does reveal that part of Malaysians, the Malay Muslims at least, are quite concerned with the development there. And it is not just Malaysia. Practically, every other Muslim nations have somewhat voiced their regret on Thailand’s mishandling of the issue. Even the United States expressed concerns.

What bothers me the most is not the mishandling per se but rather, I am worried with the nearness of the conflict to the Malaysian border and history. So far, most of regional conflicts have occurred well off Malaysian soil. Even when a conflict spilt into Malaysia as what had happened in Sabah a few years ago, it happens at a place where the population density is very low and the effect on Malaysia is negligible. If it gets worse, the worst thing that could happen is a diplomatic row, of which is kind of fun to participate in whenever it concerns Singapore. And whenever all that occur, I may only care for an issue without the fear of knowing Malaysia might become too entangled in it. To say the least, all the diplomatic issues that had risen in the past were much less of an issue when compared to the outbreak of the recent avian flu or the infamous Coxsackie virus.

But the resurfacing issue in southern Thailand brings a different kind of feeling to me. This is simply because the southern Thai states are more culturally similar to Malaysia than to Thailand. And in many ways, the issue affects Malaysia.

Mahathir on the other day suggested autonomy power being granted to the troubled states. It is a sensible option but the administration in Thailand quickly brushed the idea off the table and accused Mahathir of interfering with Thailand’s internal problem.

This is no doubt part of Thailand’s internal issue but it does concern Malaysia. It is similar to the situation when Russia had to drop its paratroopers into Belgrade during the NATO bombing in order to help the people that shared a trait of Russian culture. Malaysia can’t stand quiet while the undercurrent occurs. Malaysia must actively participate in this issue.

At the same time, with the mercury rising in southern Thailand. It is only comprehensible to expect the tension between the Muslims and the Buddhists there to be rather high. Muslims in Malaysia have expressed their opinion but the Malaysian Buddhists haven’t but I in no way expect the Buddhists to stay quiet if the Muslims overreact. However, I trust rationality will overcome any discomfort between Malaysian Muslims and Buddhists. But this possible misunderstanding in Malaysia provides the more reason for Malaysia to lend Thailand a hand.

Of course, Thailand will be outraged by this notion but Thailand must understand that the world is a continuous system. Something that happened somewhere, will affect something else somewhere else, regardless of the magnitude. Whatever Thailand chooses to do, Malaysia will be affected. Furthermore, local trade in the vicinity of the Malaysian and Thai border will hurt if things get worse. Without trade, development along the border will suffer. Local trade must flourish for the benefit of both Malaysians and Thais and for healthy trade to occur, cooperation towards peace is a must. Therefore, it is only acceptable for Thailand to allow a Malaysian intervention. Thailand cannot deny that.

In the near past, Malaysia has acted as a mediator in the region. Malaysia was the one that brokered a ceasefire between the Mindanao rebel and the Philippines government. Malaysia has also been of a help in Aceh and Myanmar. It would be uncharacteristic of Malaysia to not assist Thailand in this issue.

p/s – Totti is an arse.

Categories
Politics & government

[434] Of four more years

A few networks have claimed that Ohio called for Bush. The official result should be the same.

The race was close but this time, the Republicans convincingly maintained and improved their influence in both the White House and the Senate. I don’t think anybody could dispute that.

To me, the result is not surprising though it is disappointing. But who would have imagined it would come down to Ohio? I certainly didn’t.

But talking after the fact is always easy. Therefore, I’ll stop here and go to straight to bed.

Oh shit, I can’t get the phrase four more years out of my head. This is going to be a long night. Remember Arnie shouting four more years at the Republican National Convention in New York?

I am hearing just that. Sometimes, it hurts to know democracy works both ways. At least, Barack Obama managed to get a place in the Senate.

Alrighty! Hillary Clinton for President in 2008! There is no way Darth Cheney gonna get the White House.

p/s – it’s just too bad that the proposal to change the current voting system in Colorado into proportional system was struck down. In Michigan, Proposal 2 received sufficient ayes and thus, marriage is being conservatively defined. Proposal 1, which is on gambling, according to somebody from NPR, was creamed.

pp/s – at 0304, NPR projected Michigan to call for Kerry but that is useless with the current situation in Ohio. Boy, we should have invaded Ohio when we had the chance a long time ago.

p3/s – well, Kerry conceded at around 1500.

From the Michigan Daily.

Categories
Liberty Politics & government

[433] Of November 2, 2004

Kerry or Bush?

The latest Pew’s polling shows Bush would win by a small margin. However, the standard error is nowhere in sight (actually, I’m too lazy to calculate it) and therefore, I don’t know how well the poll goes in predicting the outcome for tomorrow. Furthermore, the survey seems to represent popular votes rather than predicting the electoral college result. If that is the case, then the poll is probably as useless as the popular votes that Al Gore received.

Regardless of the result, I am not sure if I strictly prefer Kerry to Bush anymore. I don’t like Bush but Kerry doesn’t seem to be sufficiently good.

One reason for this is that I do think Bush is doing a good job in some area.

I don’t like taxes and I do believe taxation is an excuse for the government to steal our money. With this, it is only possible for me to agree with Bush’s tax cut. Moreover, Bush’s tax cut does stimulate the economy. The budget deficit however is another story – it is Bush’s failure, as was Reagan’s failure, to realize the notion of a limited government, of which, another thing that I believe in.

Bush however can’t be blamed too much for the deficit. When it comes to the question of cushioning the recession, an expansionary fiscal policy is a way to do it. Furthermore, nobody, neither Clinton nor Bush, is to be blamed for the recession. It was just unfortunate for Bush to come into office when the business cycle took a dip. But the unnecessary so-called war on terror does worsen the deficit and that is certainly Bush’s fault.

With the exception of Bush’s spending spree, I agree with most of Bush’s economic policy. In fact, this is the only thing I agree with Bush and as a graduating economic major, this counts a lot in shaping my opinion.

At the same time, I am not a citizen of the United States and I recognize myself as an environmentalist (In fact, I love to call myself as a libertarian green or maybe a green libertarian but I’m a green first and libertarian second. What does it mean? Frankly, I have no idea. I just like labels). Bush’s unilateral moves on many issues and his bad environmental record are enough to sway me into the anybody-but-Bush camp.

Kerry on the other hand, seems to be sitting well with the greens and the world community at large. And with him, it is easier to imagine the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the US somewhere in the future.

But then, his economic policy will probably not move towards more free-trade – already he promised to make outsourcing more costly. In the name of efficiency, capital and labor should be allowed to roam freely. Any friction towards free flow of trade should be eliminated, unless there is a very strong reason for some restriction.

More importantly, I think most of Kerry’s plans are almost impossible to be implemented without raising taxes. He is promising to do a lot of things and at the same time, promises to not raise taxes on the middle and lower classes. He probably realizes that he has to raise taxes on somebody and so he said he is going to raise the taxes on the higher income level earner. This kind of taxation is called progressive tax rate – the tax rate goes up as the income level goes up. I don’t know about most people but in my view, punishing somebody for being successful is wrong.

So, Kerry or Bush? I don’t know anymore.

Nader? He is hopeless unfortunately, as with other candidates.

So, if I could vote, who would I vote for?

The only real candidate, My Teddy Bear!MTB for President of the World!

Whatever the outcome, the one quote to rule them all:

I voted for it before I voted against it.

It couldn’t get any better than that.

p/s – apart from the Presidential stuff, people in Michigan will be voting on at least two other issues. Proposal 1 is about gambling and Proposal 2, the highly debated issue of gay marriage.

I don’t agree with gay marriage but at the same time, I don’t feel the need for me to go against it. If they amend it, I’ll feel good because I’m a Muslim (no matter how liberal I am). If they don’t, I’ll be fine too because I’m a libertarian – I respect personal freedom.