Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Malaysian Minister: If you don’t like it here, just leave

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My rough translation of first few paragraphs of this news article from Malay-language newspaper Utusan Malaysia:

Individuals who aren’t satisfied with the laws of Malaysia can emmigrate to become citizens of other countries, stressed the Minister for the Interior, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar.

He said that if such persons felt that the laws that are in effect in the country are not appropriate, they are free to choose to become citizens of the countries that they prefer.

If we follow the Rukun Negara, as citizens of the country we must be loyal to it including abiding by the laws that are in effect and if they feel that these laws are not right for them, they are free to choose to be citizens of other countries.

The proof of loyalty can also be interpreted as not inviting foreign powers or other governments to interfere in the domestic affairs of our country, he said while officiating a Gotong Royong Program at Sentosa Village, Sedili, near here today.

Malaysians probably won’t be surprised, though honesty of such frankness from a minister is somewhat refreshing. What’s really funny here is that he then went on to berate an activist from the ethnic Indian minority for having the temerity to call upon India to impose economic sanctions against Malaysia for its treatment of Indians in the country, when the Malaysian government seems perfectly happy to call for sanctions against Israel for what’s happening in Gaza.

Best of all however is the fact that back in December, the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced that the Malaysian government was willing to help ethnic Malays in countries where they are a minority, which presumably would entail interfering in the domestic affairs of those countries. Double standards anyone?

Also, you’d think that if a country’s citizens don’t like the laws currently on its books, they could, you know, vote in a new bunch of legislators to have them changed. Apparently, in Malaysia, any citizen who dislikes any of the laws in the country is expected to leave it instead.

Politics

Israel is wrong

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I’ve been following the discussion on QT3 on Israel’s recent campaign of airstrikes against Gaza, and one poster really struck home the essential point in just one line:

To The Israelites In Attendance,

I do not know how you people can live with yourselves, knowing what was done to your grandfathers, and doing everything but the last step to someone else’s.

Ouch to say the least. In many ways, it’s an exaggeration of course and there’s plenty to nitpick at if you’re intent on finding differences between Israel and Nazi Germany, but there are enough similarities that Israel needs to sit up and really think about what it’s doing. Yes, Israel has the right to defend itself, but does it really need to blockade the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza strip and prevent food and medicines from reaching them? Yes, Hamas uses it as a base from which to launch periodic rocket strikes into Israel, but does that justify Israel launching airstrikes that kill hundreds and injure thousands, including civilians, especially when those rockets kill only a handful of Israelis every year?

I’m concerned and exasperated by Israel’s actions, which I think are detrimental to the nation’s own interests, because I’m generally sympathetic with the Israelis’ plight. It’s a nation that I’ve come to admire and one that I like to think of as one of the good guys. But part of being one of the good guys is that you don’t sink to the level of the people you’re fighting against. It means winning the moral high ground and staying there even if it means making sacrifices.

Israel needs to understand that bombing a people into submission will never achieve peace unless they’re willing to commit genocide against the Palestinians. Israel isn’t there yet, but that’s the road that its actions are taking it down unless it musters the political will to make real sacrifices to reach a lasting compromise with the Palestinians. Given the particular history of the Jewish people, it is especially shameful that they’re anywhere near that road at all.

Games, Politics

Sarah Palin wins the U.S. Presidency

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Or she does in my game of The Political Machine 2008 Express anyway. I recently discovered that Stardock had made available a stripped down version of TPM 2008 as a free download when I was moving all of my Stardock-published games from the no longer supported Stardock Central to the shiny new Impulse platform. I’ve never played any version of The Political Machine before, but I’ve heard plenty about them, so I went ahead to download and play this demo version. This version only allows you to play the 2008 campaign lasting 21 weeks long with a choice of only four candidates: John McCain or Sarah Palin for the Republicans or Barack Obama or Joe Biden for the Democrats.

As a contrarian, I picked Palin for my candidate. I’d expected to lose horribly even at beginner difficulty, but surprisingly managed to eke out a win by two electoral votes while losing the popular votes. I immediately restarted at normal difficulty and with a much better understanding of the game now, managed to win a landslide victory against Obama. I next tried playing as Obama, expecting an even easier victory, and promptly got whupped by McCain. I call shenanigans (especially since Brad Wardell of Stardock is fairly well known among gaming circles as a Republican supporter).

As a strategy game, I wasn’t really impressed enough with the demo to be interested in buying the full game. It’s novel for a while, but I’d much rather be playing a more traditional strategy game that’s about killing and conquering your enemies, rather than trying to be more persuasive than them. What’s really interesting about this is how useful it is an educational and visualization tool for understanding the U.S. presidential elections. You’ll understand how winning the election is all about maximizing your electoral votes. It’s far better to have a solid majority in a state worth a whole lot of votes than be moderately popular in a smattering of smaller ones.  Just like real life, winnning means concentrating all your time and money in key states even if it means you’ll be hated in others.

Check the demo out by downloading Impulse for free if you’re interested.

Politics

Why unity through enforced assimilation doesn’t work

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My wife and I are currently working our way through all five seasons of Babylon 5. It’s one of the most highly acclaimed science-fiction shows ever produced for television, so not having watched it was seriously hurting my street cred as an sci-fi geek. Anyway, in one of the first season episodes, The Geometry of Shadows, the command crew of the station is presented with an odd problem.

Members of one the minor races, the Drazi, have begun fighting one another for no apparent reason, and the escalating level of violence is threatening the security of the station, so the newly promoted Commander Ivanova needs to find a solution to the problem. To do that, she needs to find out why they are fighting. As it turns out, every once in a while, the Drazis put a number of sashes in a gigantic barrel, one for each Drazi. Half of the sashes are dyed purple, the other half green, so whichever colour of sash a Drazi draws out of the barrel determines which group he belongs in. As the Drazis explain, “Where there was one Drazi people, now there are two. The two fight until there are one.”

Continue reading Why unity through enforced assimilation doesn’t work →

Politics

Zaid Ibrahim a libertarian?

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So I received a Malaysia Think Tank newsletter today and, surprise, surprise, it seems that the controversial Zaid Ibrahim has joined the group’s advisory board. The news was covered in The Star as well, but I didn’t notice it earlier. For those out of touch, this was the guy who resigned from his post as a minister in the Prime Minister’s department after the government used the ISA law on three prominent people earlier this year and eventually got sacked from UMNO after attending events organized by opposition parties DAP and PKR. People were expecting him to join one of the opposition parties, especially after Anwar Ibrahim commented that the PKR would be delighted to have him, but he declined without ruling it out entirely.

If Zaid Ibrahim really does lean libertarian, it’s not so surprising that he would be uncomfortable being a member of any of the main opposition parties since all of them are explicitly socialist. Malaysia doesn’t have a libertarian political party yet, but this is surely a good sign of things to come.

In other news reported in the newsletter, the Malaysia Think Tank apparently won an award from the Atlas Economic Research Foundation for its work in spreading libertarian thought in Malaysia by promoting Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Now, I’m not sure how exactly they promoted the novel because The Fountainhead is probably still my favorite novel and if something was being done about it in Malaysia, I’d expect to have heard something, but that’s still great, great news.

Politics

Mugabe: Cholera epidemic? What cholera epidemic?

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I’m sorry but I just can’t stop myself from posting bad news from Zimbabwe because it’s so sad that it’s comical. Anyway, in response to growing pressure from the rest of the world to send in outside troops to bring relief to the Zimbabwean people, President Robert Mugabe has announced that there is no cholera epidemic in his country, and hence no reason for any other country to mount any kind of intervention. As he says:

“I am happy to say our doctors have been assisted by others and WHO (the World Health Organisation)… so now that there is no cholera,” he said in a nationally televised speech.

That’s not what everyone else is saying, of course. Take this example from ReliefWeb:

The U.N. aid agencies report the outbreak is worsening amidst growing criminality in the country. They say security is bad and looting is on the increase, as are attacks and robberies of humanitarian aid workers.

Cholera is having a devastating impact, as 43 out of Zimbabwe’s 62 districts are reporting cases. In addition, the United Nations reports cholera is spreading to South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.

That’s some serious chutzpah right there, comparable to the Iraqi Information Minister’s bombastic claims that there were no American troops in Baghdad on live television in 2003 even while American tanks were rolling in behind him. Let’s hope that the world will see the back of Mugabe in fairly short order so that the real work of rebuilding Zimbabwe can begin.

UPDATE: The Zimbabwean government is now saying that the cholera epidemic is still going on but claims that it is caused by a biological weapon attack orchestrated by the United States.

News & Politics, Politics

Newsflash: immigrants are good for us

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Today’s copy of The Star has an article rather naughtily entitled “Night market hides a foreign secret”. It’s about a market in Sungai Buloh New Village that is operated mainly by traders of Bangladeshi origin and caters mostly to other immigrants. Even though the reporters note that the traders sell pretty much the same things that you might expect to find in a typical Malaysian market and they manage to do it at a lower price than comparable Malaysian traders, the idea that it needs to be hidden implies that this is something wrong or shameful. The article even chose to highlight only comments from those locals who happen to know about the market that put it in a bad light, complaining about how the traders there have stolen business from them, how it has become a gathering place for Bangladeshis and how it’s illegal and protected by thugs.

As often is the case, the article showed up as a discussion thread on LYN, I was pleasantly surprised to read the rational and economically literate reactions from the posters there. One posted that the government should issue them with permits and that they should be allowed to operate as they wish so long as they obeyed the country’s laws and paid their taxes. Another noted that having the local council maintain them as illegal businesses simply meant that the police and other local authorities would be able to extract regular bribes from them. Yet another posted that at least these people were willing to work hard for their money instead of posting silly rants online.

So it seems that there are moderate Malaysians who recognize that this market isn’t only harmless but actually contributes to our national economy. Which makes it doubly sad that a national newspaper like The Star would choose to skip this higher and nobler road of educating the public that immigrants are ultimately a net good for us and instead pander to populist, economically illiterate and racist anti-immigrant sentiment.