Category: Society

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Economics Environment Liberty Politics & government Society

[1181] Of a way to celebrate Earth Day

Earth Day falls on April 22 every year and the next Earth Day is about five days away. Those that care should start things running by reading The Power of Green at the NYT:

One day Iraq, our post-9/11 trauma and the divisiveness of the Bush years will all be behind us — and America will need, and want, to get its groove back. We will need to find a way to reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad and restore America to its natural place in the global order — as the beacon of progress, hope and inspiration. I have an idea how. It’s called “green.” [The Power of Green. Thomas L. Friedman. NYT. April 15 2007]

This is possible of those of writing that shakes the green world. If I am not mistaken, the last writing of such importance was The Death of Environmentalism.

The article is pretty long. If you are interesting in watch a video on it instead, go to the video section of the NYT.

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Society

[1180] Of racism does not solve the Rohingya issue

Gross generalization is easy to do because it does not require rigorous thinking. For a simpleton, this is a preferable style of thinking, or lack of. We as a society unfortunately are so simple-minded that we fall for that trap. Not too long ago, a survey claims that we as a society generalize Malays as lazy, Chinese as greedy and Indians as drunk. After that, foreign labors have been blamed for the increase of crime rate, despite the fact that the locals commit more crime than foreign workers. As if that is not enough, our legislature even considered of passing a xenophobic bill. Now, we see claim that all Rohingyas in Malaysia are beggars or criminals, the people as a whole creates “a sort of a beggar ridden country.”

It all started with a missing kid. In two weeks, the parents with the help of local community joined hand in hand for a search effort. The effort bore fruit in the end and the parents were, I believe, overjoyed.

Initially, the media reported that the kid had been living with a Rohingya family. The kid was lost and upon seeing him all alone, the family decided to take care of him. Later however, the police suspected that the kid was kidnapped by the family and used for begging purpose. There are those that seem to be turning onto the family, passing judgment based on mere suspicion while the court of law has not been given the opportunity to rule over the case. Some courageously indulge a hasty generalization and assumed guilty charge on the family. As if that is not enough, he audaciously takes the next leap and claims that all Rohingyas are beggars or criminals; either way, parasites.

Imagine, a couple’s alleged — not convicted — crime is enough to condemn a whole people. Such hasty generalization borders racism, if it is not racism by itself.

There are people that hold the same thinking. Though the actors differ, the storyline essentially remains the same. Switch Rohingyas for Arabs and Malaysians for French, you would have what racist far right in France are thinking. Switch Rohingyas for Turks and Malaysians for Germans, you would have what the racist far right in Germany are thinking. Switch Rohingyas for Jews and Malaysians for Nazi Germans, you would have what the Nazi on aggregate were thinking.

Issue regarding the Rohingyas, specifically, their status in Malaysia needs to be addressed and there is no doubt of that. But turning to hasty generalization or racism is not a solution. For a solution to be found, we need to sit back and think a little harder.

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Environment Society

[1170] Of Kota Damansara Community Forest Park is being threatened

At Wong Chun Wai (via the Malaysian Nature Society):

Many city folk who wanted to live near a green lung bought houses and land to build bungalows, believing that the state government would be committed to protecting the 100-year-old forest.

But residents at Section 8, 9 and 10 now feel cheated. They are also appalled at the eagerness of the state government in wanting to bulldoze through its plans in a high-handed manner without any respect for the views of the affected residents.

First, they were told that a cemetery would be created next to their land and now, to their horror, they found that the Petaling Jaya Structural Plan 2020 has bigger plans to develop the reserve.

[…]

It is already bad enough that the cemetery issue has divided the community — one group that wants the cemetery but most of whom do not live in the area while the other group is the one affected and is understandably against it.

[…]

More importantly, there is a huge track of land in Sungai Buloh already reserved as a burial ground. However, according to Mokhtar, it has been found to be unsuitable for burial. It has been said that the burial ground in several areas have been found to be too rocky but surely the authorities may want to consider remedial work. If an open sea can be reclaimed and mountains removed, surely it would not be an engineering feat.

[…]

It is commendable that the protesters, comprising residents of all races, have stood together despite attempts to use race and religion to break their solidarity.

These residents have expressed their disgust at such shameful tactics by certain individuals to intimidate and coax them into silence.

Elected representatives, regardless of their race or religion, should not tolerate any use of gangsterism to scare off those who do not share their views. It is utterly shameful.

[…]

The affected residents have stated that they are NOT against the setting up of a cemetery but are against the de-gazetting of the forest and the manner it had been carried out. Sadly, the cemetery issue has been used to rally support from some misinformed constituents. [A grave matter. Wong Chun Wai. April 8 2007]

It is disgusting to see how some people use race and religion to de-gazette a forest reserve. The next time the MNS conducts a visit to Kota Damansara, I am going to lend a hand.

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Economics Society

[1166] Of wanna work in the US?

Well, bad news:

On the day after it began receiving applications for H-1B work visas, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service reported yesterday it had already received more than double the number of applications it is permitted by law to grant for 2008. The same limit took two months to reach last year.

While H-1B grants are officially capped at 65,000, USCIS reported receiving over 150,000 applications as of Monday afternoon. [H-1B Visa Limits Hit After Only 1 Day. Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews. April 4 2007]

Hat tip to Jiinjoo.

Categories
Liberty Society

[1165] Of tale of two courts: common denominator

I am in the opinion that the trend of the strengthening role of religion in Malaysia reaches a new level after the civil court directed a Hindu to seek redress in the sharia court. For the past several months, the civil court has delegated many cases to the sharia court whereas the civil court should have deliberated on it instead. From a layperson’s point of view, this action increasingly widens the scope and the power of the sharia court over all Malaysians. This creates great controversies and indeed, it is another in a series of cases which test the boundary of the civil and sharia law.

This is a very worrying trend. Having the executive branch of the government enforcing religious rule in one thing, having the judiciary trading off civil liberties for religious conservative value is quite another. The judiciary is supposed to be the bulwark against the religious conservatives. When the bulwark starts to fail, the perfect analogy would be when the dykes of the Netherlands start to leak. The consequence of the leak needs no explanation.

In Malaysia right now, more than ever, we need a little boy to plug his little finger into a tiny hole, stopping the leak. This is because we as Malaysians have achieved so much since we last formed a federation in 1963. If the dyke fails, we have too much to lose.

As a libertarian, the legitimacy of the sharia court is only possible through the consent of individuals being judged by such court. I for instance only accept any sharia court ruling on me if I assent to be judged by the court — indeed by the sharia law — in the first place.

For certain reasons in this country, Muslims have two courts in this country; those courts are civil and sharia. While I have issues of being judged in the sharia court, the bigger issue is when there is an overlap between civil and sharia laws. In particular, this occurs when Muslims and non-Muslims’ interests collide.

When such event happens, in order to resolve the dispute as civil as possible, all sides will have to agree upon on whom should be the arbitrator. When there are more than one kind of courts and each side preferring one court or the other with such preference never coincides, there must be a common denominator that everybody could or must fall back to settle the original dispute. In the case of two courts, the common denominator is the civil court.

Why the civil court is the common denominator?

I like think the reason is the obvious. While the sharia law in Malaysia in theory governs certain aspects over Muslims (regardless of what I think), the civil law governs all. It is through this reasoning why the civil court is the common denominator. Again as a libertarian, this common denominator argument is valid to all, regardless of religious belief.

If we refuse to have a common denominator, to accept the civil law as the common denominator, perhaps it is better for us to quit trying to embrace each other, to live and let live, to live separately, peacefully.