I have a feeling that some people think I’m a Liberal Islam because I call myself a green libertarian. Allow me to reiterate, I’m not part of Liberal Islam school of thought. I would like to clarify that the green in “green libertarian” is environmentalism. One way or another, typically, it’s free market environmentalism.
I hope that clears the air up.
Anwar Ibrahim calls for a reduction of retail prices of gasoline. I’d imagine such call would introduce greater subsidy to already heavily subsidized prices in Malaysia:
Kerajaan sepatutnya merendahkan harga runcit petrol di Malaysia berikutan penurunan harga minyak mentah sedunia, keuntungan Petronas yang meningkat dan kadar inflasi yang tinggi.
It roughly translates to:
With respect to global price drop of crude oil, rising profitability of Petronas and high inflation rate, the government should lower the retail price of gasoline in Malaysia.
There goes half of the support I had for him.
Did anybody read what Khairy Jamaluddin wrote in the NST today?
For the first time ever, Malaysians who previously only read reports in newspapers or saw excerpts on the news were exposed to Umno uncut, unplugged.
For the first time, they followed every syllable, every word and every gesticulation from each speaker.
The ensuing “culture shock” is understandable. Never before have those on the outside had the opportunity to see what only delegates, observers and official media have seen in the past.
But what must be understood here is that, as far as Umno members are concerned, there was nothing unusual about this year’s debate.
Now that logically begs the question: If the rhetoric in Umno has always been like this, then shouldn’t non-Malays be even more worried since this is the norm?
The answer is an emphatic “no”.
I won’t guess how would the non-Malays or even the Malays answer that question. But what do you mean by no, Khairy?
To me, if the people in UMNO see such rhetoric as norm, then everything should be a whole lot more worrying. If we as a nation see such racist rhetoric as norm, then I fear the ground is already fertile for May 13, part two.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak takes Orwell to heart:
PUTRAJAYA: Future Umno general assemblies may not be telecast live, given the flak the party has received over this year’s proceedings.
Party deputy president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said many people felt that the telecast was an inappropriate thing to do because it gave a distorted view of Umno proceedings.
Dear sir, how could such speeches be distorted when it were directly heard by all Malaysians that cared to listen and personally uttered by the speakers, the representatives of UMNO?
Unvarnished truth is never a distorted view.
If the representatives in UMNO speak like what they spoke, in one way or another, it reflects the party, whether a person likes it or not. Those representatives, after all, represent the party’s grassroots. So, when a majority of those representatives spew hatred, then it shows something is wrong. The sooner we all realize this, the easier we as Malaysians could treat our disease that plagues us all.
Well, theoretically, at least.
Hello Mr. President. You might have notice all those protests in Indonesia held with respect to your visit. Well:
I believe that history will make very clear that President Bush shamelessly exploited the emotions around 9/11 for political purposes. He used those 9/11 emotions to take far-right Republican domestic agenda on taxes, the environment, and social issues from 9/10—an agenda for which he had no popular mandate—and drive it into a 9/12 world. In doing so, Mr. Bush not only drove a wedge between Americans and between Americans and the world, he drove a wedge between America and its own history and identity. His administration transformed the United States into “the United States of Fighting Terrorism.” This is the real reason, in my view, that so many people in the world dislike President Bush so intensely. They feel that he has taken away something very dear to them—an America that exports hope, not fear.
We need our president to restore September 11 to its rightful place on the calendar—as the day after September 10 and before September 12. We must never let it become a day that defines us. Because ultimately September 11 is about them—the bad guys—not about us.
We’re about the Fourth of July. We’re about 11/9.
— Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat.
Welcome Mr. President to the Malay Archipelago.