Category: Politics & government

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Activism Photography Politics & government

[906] Of yesterday’s DAP forum

I was at a DAP forum yesterday. I came earlier than most people and sat in the third row.

I really don’t want to comment on it but I have a picture that I wanted to share.

Some rights reserved. By Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams

Nope. There’s no mistake in the photo. The focus is intentional. This is how I felt after the forum started to drag on and on with odd questions in form of speeches. Somehow, some people have trouble differentiating between questions and statements. I went straight to bed immediately after I reached home.

While I chose photography to express myself, Patrick Teoh chose a more immediate media to express his frustration at the flow of the forum in a very frank manner.

I came to the forum because of two reasons. One was to return all materials a project — that I was in — had borrowed from a friend; second, just curious why on earth we want to set Pak Lah free.

I of course came with a typical libertarian mindset – I want to be free.

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Environment Politics & government

[899] Of Tories are green

I first noticed David Cameron when he took over the UK Tories’ leadership last year from Michael Howard. First of all, I’ve always liked Blair; charming, young and best of all, green. That doesn’t necessarily translate into support for the Labor Party though. (Okay, okay, Labour. Happy now?) I don’t know enough of British politics to choose side but Blair’s personality and his green tendency is strong enough for me tip my hat to the Labour Party. However, Blair’s possible successor, Gordon Brown isn’t as fun as Blair himself. And Brown seems a little bit closer to the red side as far as I’m concerned. Cameron on the other hand, while coming from a conservative, is green. With a green leadership, the Tories are starting to suit me. It’s a sort of a green-blue party. I consider myself as a libertarian green and hence, it’s only natural for me to be attracted to the new Tories.

Nevertheless, there are accusations that David Cameron is doing a Kerry – trying to impress too many people at once. New stuff is also coming out about him; despite earlier the media hailing him for cycling to the Houses, that cycling activity is apparently a gimmick. I really hope hypocrisy isn’t the case. Reason is, if Cameron’s really sincere, this is something good for the green. Why? Simple. When was the last time two major parties in a country with great global influence last tried to be greener than the other?

From the top of my head and from my limited knowledge, I can’t think of any.

And certainly, Malaysia comes nowhere near such scenario despite the Badawi administration’s initial green slogans. Like so many of the administration efforts, his green effort is starting to look like greenwashing.

Coming back to the main issue, usually, it’s the race to the center. But perhaps, this race towards the green is really a race to the center. Maybe — for those in the UK, correct me if I’m wrong — environmental issue is a centrist’s issue in the UK. If that is so, what a wonderful place the UK is right now.

Of course, the unfortunate part is that both the Labour and the Tories support the invasion of Iraq. Another thing is that, the Tories are Euroskeptics. I’m pro-EU simply because I’m for a more integrated ASEAN. I see a successful EU as a brownie point for those that are for a stronger ASEAN.

Still, whichever side wins next year, I’m happy to speculate that the UK would be green.

Categories
Conflict & disaster Liberty Politics & government

[892] Of a three-state Iraqi federation is just another Yugoslavia

Iraq might be moving towards a weak three-state federation divided by religion and ethnicity :

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Iraq’s fractious ethnic and religious parliamentary groups agreed Sunday to open debate on a contentious Shiite-proposed draft legislation that will allow the creation of federal regions in Iraq, politicians said.

The agreement came after a compromise was reached with Sunni Arabs on setting up a parliamentary committee to amend Iraq’s constitution, a key demand by the minority.

The committee will be set up Monday and the federalism bill will be read to the body a day later, Sunni and Shiite politicians said.

The deal opens the way for Iraq’s Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds to move ahead politically and break a two-week political deadlock that threatened to further sour relations between the communities. If left unresolved, the deadlock could have further shaken Iraq’s fragile democracy and led to more sectarian violence.

The federalism bill calls for setting up a system to allow the creation of autonomous regions in the predominantly Shiite south, much like the self-ruling Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Sunni Arabs have said they fear the legislation will split Iraq apart and fuel sectarian bloodshed.

The Kurdish north and Shiite south hold Iraq’s oil fields, while the predominantly Sunni Arab areas are mostly desert.

Somehow, I don’t think the creation of that kind of federation suits the condition Iraq is currently in. I fear the act of craving Iraq into three regions might mean a permanent strike on unitary state of Iraq. While the three-state solution does have its merit, who could guarantee Iraq won’t be another Yugoslavia?

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ASEAN Liberty Politics & government

[888] Of wishing for a speedy recovery towards Thai democracy

How ironic it is for us in ASEAN to discuss so profusely about getting Myanmar closer to democracy, we failed to stop a democracy from falling back into military rule.

When I was in Bangkok not too long ago, I witnessed the symbol of Thai democracy. It stands so proudly in the middle of the city.

Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams. Some rights reserved

I as a citizen of ASEAN wish the people of Thailand a speedy return to democracy. It’s only fair for the birthplace of ASEAN to be in a democratic atmosphere.

Categories
Economics Politics & government

[872] Of bye bye Chad, hello Venezuela

It’s likely that many Malaysians and others have already read that Petronas – the giant Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company – has been kicked out of Chad. In a rather suspicious way too. The Chadian president alleges that Petronas fails to pay taxes to the Chadian government. After doing some reading, I feel the expulsion of Petronas is an exercise by Chad to forcefully nationalize part of Chadian oil and gas industry. That taxes stuff is simply a red-herring:

The surprise move followed Chad’s decision to create a new national oil company, which it said should become a partner in the country’s existing oil-producing consortium, led by U.S. major Exxon Mobil and including Chevron and Petronas.

If you’re a Malaysian and you haven’t heard of the expulsion, then you’re probably too busy talking about a wedding between a Malaysian pop star and er, somebody.

Interestingly, the People’s Republic of China seems to have a hand on the Malaysian explusion given that the PRC stands to directly benefit from Malaysian loss. So, it’s kind of hard to shrug off the idea that the PRC might have a hand on this.

Whatever PRC role in this expulsion is, if Petronas is kicked out, Chad is stealing from Malaysian citizens. But then, given the fact that Chad was the world’s most corrupt nation according to Transparency International last year, we should have seen this coming.

While that happens, here comes Hugo Chavez to the rescue:

KUALA LUMPUR: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez received a red-carpet welcome in Malaysia on Monday ahead of talks expected to focus on politics in the Middle East and cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

Socialist or not, black gold is still black gold. I’m sure even commies understand what that means.

Who needs Chad, eh?

Welcome Hugo Chavez.