Killer, I admire your persistent attacks on me but also wonder why.
Other New Mandala readers have never attacked me so viciously. Also, other New Mandala readers comment on a variety of issues but you seem to be very particular in your defence of UMNO/BN.
This must mean that New Mandala has been recognised by UMNO/Barisan Nasional as an influential source of information. I personally am very honoured (RPK watch out, NM is going to be more popular than MT).
Of course, your exhausting me by making false claims or deliberately misinterpreting facts or ignoring key issues I’m addressing and this is diverting my precious time away from my research (hmmm… isn’t this the same strategy taken by BN on Anwar …piling charges, after charges on him or as Abdul Razak Baginda says “to file charges against him for the next 100 years” ).
You must understand that unlike you, I’m not paid to blog or to attack particular views. I need to do a Phd too and doing a Phd here is pretty tough.
Be patient, all will be put into perspective in good time.
This book is a big deal Constant. It is the most wonderful book I have ever read about Thailand. Anyone with an interest in Thailand, whatever that interest may be, will learn an enormous amount from reading it.
Does this means you are running away from debating with me ?
BTW, no sane person would say Najib’s reign is less democratic or more corrupted than Dr M’s. Malaysia definitely made tremendous progress though it is no Australia for sure.
If you disagree with this statement, please be an academic and show me the empirical data to show Malaysia has indeed declined in these aspects based on data published by reputable international bodies. Otherwise your argument is no better than that being churned out by Pakatan cyber troopers – baseless and mindless politically motivated accusations.
I wonder what would your professors think seeing your running away from “vigorous debate” after getting caught for making politically loaded and totally unacademic conclusions.
In this work as well as any other pieces of literature of any country, you will find greed, fury, and illusion dramatized. This simply basic human nature. No big deal.
‘ Asian Development Bank’s Country Strategy and Program (2006), offers a stinging rebuke of bilateral and multilateral donors in Laos, particularly their failure to leverage reform in areas of governance. ‘
‘Reform’ at the hands of this bunch!? Thank god the Lao’s have been spared that at least. The Chinese have unfortunately supplied similar ‘reforms’ in Lao.
I think ‘Simon’ is correct. Not only the Tak Bai massacre and the pogrom against the slow- and no-payers in the Royal Thai Police drug dealers’ protection program, but the ghosts of Phra Supoj Suvacano and the ‘disappeared’ Somchai Neelaphaijit and the thousands of other self-actualized citizen activists are unrestful and Thailand can never have peace until their murderers are brought to justice.
I don’t see Yinglak pursuing her brother’s crimes. I hope I am short-sighted. I don’t see her pursuing the others, either.
You hide my crimes and I’ll hide yours.
It will slowly dawn on all involved that what we have in Thailand is the patented Obama ‘McChange’… change without changing… pedaled by the same ‘elite’ franchise that has pedaled Krispy Kreme’s to Bangkok ‘elite’ obese.
The redshirts are going to have to form their own party if they are serious about getting Thailand into traditional Thai svelte shape.
The comparison to Hitler and Stalin is absurd and is proof of an extremely poor understanding of history. Also very poor satire if meant so. My family having had to feed on of the escapes of a German camp (a teacher having had the courage of thinking differently), we know to make certain differences, if you know what I mean.
Yingluck has no intention at all to start abolishment of LM Law. The people which voted for her have in the meantime understood and are preparing themselves for actions. The problem of Joe is not that he is half Thai-American; his problem is that in Thailand no one cannot think and say what he wants. It has become a law which is utilized in a Stasi way, i.e. everybody can denounce his neighbor and bring him to jail, like in Pakistan when you denounce one for being a Christian. In reality, para 112 should only be valid when and if the king himself intents action, like it is the case in European monarchies.
Yingluck has herself prostrated herself before the king’s portrait, same rules as the ones in North Korea. As the king has to sign all important acts, it’s another proof that we are in an absolute monarchy and certainly not in a constitutional monarchy, whatever the various constitutions might say (paper is patient and accepts anything you write on it). So she will follow the king’s instructions and having only some “liberty” in economic questions as the army proofed itself totally incompetent in this chapter and her brother will guide her. That’s how a legally elected “democratic” government works in Thailand. Furthermore Thaksin is becoming welcome in many countries, not only states like Montenegro or Nicaragua, i.e. politicians of more important economies are aware that the 60 years of royal reign are rapidly coming to an end, that the heirs at best will have only very limited power, if at all they survive the coming turmoil.
By the way, she and her brother thought it more important to celebrate the queen’s birthday instead of thanking all the people who have been sacrificed for the fight for democracy.
The voters of PT have not forgotten this total lack of respect for the ones who have fought during 5 years (informal body-count amounts presently to >2’000 and not only to 90 or some). They are also angry that no action is taken to abolish the LM law but they also are learning fast from what’s going on in Lybia, Yemen etc. and how, and are piling up arms. If the Thaksin Group thinks he can resolve this boiling unrest with economic measures and despite the fact that the lousy economy is hurting the middle class it’s not any more sufficient. Has anyone ever seen a multimillionaire fighting and scarifying himself to impose democracy against dictatorship! This will end in violence and there will be only one winner, i.e. the party which has the larger number of people.
Imran Khan, the highly respected British human rights lawyer, who has been engaged by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) to look into taking action against the British government for its role in the exploitation of Indian Hindus during Malaysia’s period as a colony, and its failure to protect their rights when independence was declared in 1957, had this to say in The Guardian, about his experience being deported from Malaysia..
Meanwhile, sitting in the immigration office at KLIA gave me a glimpse of how differently people are treated in Malaysia. Sitting beside me awaiting interrogation were men – predominantly young, on their own and originating from Pakistan, India or sub-Saharan Africa. They would be summoned to their meeting with an immigration officer via an intermediary – always a Malaysian of Chinese origin wearing a coloured paper bracelet to signify that he had clearance to come into the airport. He would order his charge in terms which reminded me of a master/servant relationship – a click of the fingers, a terse command, the use of their surname only. These men appeared to be workers entering the country through the patronage of their Chinese bosses. It didn’t take much imagination to work out how they would be treated once they left the airport terminal.
“…Any neutral academic (which I hesitate to include you) will tell you that Malaysia has made tremendous strides in governance, war against corruption, human rights. transparency,etc since the late 90s…”
Are you serious. Have you seen any international indicators – Transparency International, World Bank Governance Indicators, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, etc?
Is this a deliberate strategy to confuse and mislead?
Listen, your entitled to your own realities. Greg Sheridan, Barak Obama and Julia Gillard have all affirmed that Najib is great Malaysian leader and so do you, for reasons best known to all of you based on values that you all have.
I have my own values which inform my analysis and it is clear that I differ fundamentally from all of you.
So, keep reading New Mandala for my anecdotes, views and analysis on Malaysia (please also inform your friends) and I’m sure all of us at New Mandala would be always happy to hear of realities from your side of the prism.
I had a glance around for formal legal opinions on the criteria for intervention as applied to Burma (or not applied to Burma) in 2007-8. One of the few was published through Berkeley University’s new (semi-peer-reviewed?) e-text platform, titled When to Intervene: A Legal Framework for determining when Armed Intervention is Appropriate…, Kevin S. Cox, 2009. The article includes some quotations attesting to the most gruesome aspects of the Burmese repression of the peaceful protests (bullets and brains on the sidewalk, blood on monks’ robes, etc.) but comes to the following opaque conclusion: “In order to engage in an armed intervention, the concept requires the identification of a just cause; the right intention; force be used only as a last resort; such force be proportional; there exist a reasonable expectation of success; and the right authority. These criteria for when to intervene have predictably failed, as evidenced by the disaster in Burma discussed above, for the same reasons they have failed the victims of genocide and humanitarian crises in the past.” [p. 31] “Where a humanitarian disaster is identified and not acted upon, as was the case in both Rwanda and more recently in Myanmar (Burma), there can be no last resort, and hence no prospect of justified armed intervention. The reasons for inaction are all too obvious, as in the case of China in regard to the Burmese, and there will continue to be arguments, both candid and veiled, to justify inaction until such action is mandatory . . . or, more accurately, the mandate for such action is enforced.” [p. 71]
SOURCE: http://works.bepress.com/kevin_cox/2/
It may be that the slow-turning wheels of peer review simply haven’t yet produced the reflections on 2007-8 that I’m looking for (i.e., perhaps more is now on its way to press).
I think you should focus on the double standards in criminal prosecutions between the yellows and the reds. How many yellow shirt protesters are in prison? Have been prosecuted? If there is a huge disparity this must be pressed to the front pages.
Those two journalists, as I’ve mentioned before, were killed because they were irresponsible. What you also might want to do is focus your efforts on creating war zone guidelines of common sense so more journalists don’t act recklessly when covering these events.
The commentary seems to be degenerating to the level of trivia, howeber I would like to comment on the statement that LM ” upsets my inculcated western sense of progress, democracy and fair play”.
Well it didn’t seem to upset the King, born in the USA and educated in Europe nor Mark ex Oxford. If one looks at the double standards regularly applied in the West one realises that fair play is applicable only when one plays e.g. rugger, snooker or in debates at the club ( e.g Palace of Westminster, Capitol Hill ).
Democracy is repugnant to Western elites just as it is to Thai. So for example when Haitians wanted Aristide for President neither Clinton, Bush jr not Obama would have it. When Palestine at free elections voted for Hamas the USA & EU punished the people who made the wrong choice.
Further the USA in particular has since 1945 engineered so many murderous coups d’etat and regime changes contrary to the wishes of its own people that I am encouraged by the news that Andrew Spooner is working at exposing how the dirty deals between the US and Thai military are supressing democracy in Thailand.
If you actually read the “Tales” on that FB group, you will find that a person can die multiple times and yet come back to life again only to die in a brutal way. Jail then shot / being eaten by crocodiles / stomp to death, all of these happened to one “character” !
There are stories of hundreds of babies being used to cure uncle etc.
Thanks for this excellent summary. I have heard conflicting speculation regarding the possibility of legislation coming out of parliament within the year that would legalise independent labour unions. Do you have any insights or predictions on this?
I am sorry, again your key points are off the mark.
1. All the points I have raised are from your article so there so you can’t say we are talking about different issues. BTW some of my points are also about Level 1 as well.
2. Your fundamental point that Malay/Muslim supremacy is the reason for Malaysia’s failure to get out of its middle-income trap is also completely flawed and unsupported by empirical data or research findings. This is merely hot air and empty talk. In fact your point is easy to disapprove Malaysia has been growing fast even with NEP before the Asian economic crisis. So how can Malaysia grow among the fastest in the world despite the NEP and the so-called Malay/Muslim supremacy policies ? Any neutral academic (which I hesitate to include you) will tell you that Malaysia has made tremendous strides in governance, war against corruption, human rights. transparency,etc since the late 90s.
3. Your argument that the Malay/Muslim supremacy has manifested in 4 critical areas also wrong for 2 points (institutional degradation and excessive centralization). How can these relate to each other ? I am perplexed that an academic can make such fantastical leaps of logic. These are sort of mistakes that I won’t even tolerate from 1st year undergraduate, much less a PhD student.
4. I think you are guilty of misleading uninformed readers with this so-called concept of Malay/Muslim supremacy. UMNO does not subscribe to this ideology and neither this is a formal concept. This is a loose terms that do not translate into the sinister meaning that you trying to pin on. While there are some right wing elements would like to abuse this term, it is nowhere accepted as the official ideology of the ruling coalition or Malaysians in general. What is more accurate is the notion of “Malays special rights” that is specified in the Malaysian Constitution. What you are trying to do, as many Pakatan politicians often do, is to portray the actions of few extremists as the official position of UMNO.
5. I also think you are completely wrong in stating that Malaysia has
institutionalised racism. It is one thing to allocate quotas for the bumis and another thing of being racist. It is a very serious accusations that the Malaysian govt is racist. Racism conveys a meaning that the govt is actively pursuing policies that discriminates other races. This is not true as can be seen from basis economic data where the non bumis are doing far better than the bumis. Helping the bumi community doesn’t equate to hurting the others.
6. I also disagree with your comment “Your reality is that the BN government is doing a great job and the fault lies with the opposition coalition and Malaysians who support the opposition.” When did I state so and even implied it ? My position is simple. At the present moment, compared to Pakatan, BN offers a better choice for Malaysians. Nothing more, nothing less. GE2008 is a blessing for Malaysians since they are able to compare the policies and administrative capabilities of Pakatan vs BN. My own observation is that Pakatan is a dysfunctional coalition without any common stand or policies. Even at state level their performance is abysmal.
Their leaders play a double game. At the Federal level, they criticise BN and like to float fantastical policies and dangle all kinds of reforms and progressive policies. But at the state level, they couldn’t even solve simple problems. Look at Kelantan. PAS been ruling the state for decades but their much touted “Negara Kebajikan” nowhere to be seen. Look at Penang, DAP speaks proudly of socialist policies, meritocracy and Malaysian Malaysia. But make Chinese CM as their key campaign agenda to fish for votes and cosy up with big business to over develop the state with super condos and luxury houses.
I hope you take up my challenge and reply my points and not take the easy way and end the debate by saying we are talking about different topics.
I am 100% certain that I can out-debate you on this topic any time, any place.
I merely wish to clear up a misconception by commentators #15 and #16. The ICTS was sponsored by Mahidol U., but was not held at Mahidol U.’s main campus in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom. Rather, it was held at the luxurious and rather expensive Siam City Hotel in central Bangkok. I for one would prefer to see such conferences held at University venues, but there is (yet) no hotel or conference center in Salaya that could accomodate 700 guests. I also suspect that preserving Thai “face” was rather important in the choice of hotel venues as well.
I did not attend because I got the advance word that there did not seem to be anything enticing enough to make it worth my while or worth the expense. I gather from the comments above that my early intelligence gathering was more or less correct.
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Malaysia – a simple institutional analysis
Killer, I admire your persistent attacks on me but also wonder why.
Other New Mandala readers have never attacked me so viciously. Also, other New Mandala readers comment on a variety of issues but you seem to be very particular in your defence of UMNO/BN.
This must mean that New Mandala has been recognised by UMNO/Barisan Nasional as an influential source of information. I personally am very honoured (RPK watch out, NM is going to be more popular than MT).
Of course, your exhausting me by making false claims or deliberately misinterpreting facts or ignoring key issues I’m addressing and this is diverting my precious time away from my research (hmmm… isn’t this the same strategy taken by BN on Anwar …piling charges, after charges on him or as Abdul Razak Baginda says “to file charges against him for the next 100 years” ).
You must understand that unlike you, I’m not paid to blog or to attack particular views. I need to do a Phd too and doing a Phd here is pretty tough.
Be patient, all will be put into perspective in good time.
Happy hunting Killer.
Siamese love, sex and war in Canberra
This book is a big deal Constant. It is the most wonderful book I have ever read about Thailand. Anyone with an interest in Thailand, whatever that interest may be, will learn an enormous amount from reading it.
Malaysia – a simple institutional analysis
So Greg
Does this means you are running away from debating with me ?
BTW, no sane person would say Najib’s reign is less democratic or more corrupted than Dr M’s. Malaysia definitely made tremendous progress though it is no Australia for sure.
If you disagree with this statement, please be an academic and show me the empirical data to show Malaysia has indeed declined in these aspects based on data published by reputable international bodies. Otherwise your argument is no better than that being churned out by Pakatan cyber troopers – baseless and mindless politically motivated accusations.
I wonder what would your professors think seeing your running away from “vigorous debate” after getting caught for making politically loaded and totally unacademic conclusions.
Siamese love, sex and war in Canberra
In this work as well as any other pieces of literature of any country, you will find greed, fury, and illusion dramatized. This simply basic human nature. No big deal.
Wikileaks on Laos
‘ Asian Development Bank’s Country Strategy and Program (2006), offers a stinging rebuke of bilateral and multilateral donors in Laos, particularly their failure to leverage reform in areas of governance. ‘
‘Reform’ at the hands of this bunch!? Thank god the Lao’s have been spared that at least. The Chinese have unfortunately supplied similar ‘reforms’ in Lao.
Just, fair, accountable!
I think ‘Simon’ is correct. Not only the Tak Bai massacre and the pogrom against the slow- and no-payers in the Royal Thai Police drug dealers’ protection program, but the ghosts of Phra Supoj Suvacano and the ‘disappeared’ Somchai Neelaphaijit and the thousands of other self-actualized citizen activists are unrestful and Thailand can never have peace until their murderers are brought to justice.
I don’t see Yinglak pursuing her brother’s crimes. I hope I am short-sighted. I don’t see her pursuing the others, either.
You hide my crimes and I’ll hide yours.
It will slowly dawn on all involved that what we have in Thailand is the patented Obama ‘McChange’… change without changing… pedaled by the same ‘elite’ franchise that has pedaled Krispy Kreme’s to Bangkok ‘elite’ obese.
The redshirts are going to have to form their own party if they are serious about getting Thailand into traditional Thai svelte shape.
We who believe in freedom cannot rest
Regina, Canada, Burma
I believe this was the response to the hawkish French minister Bernard Kouchner’s call for intervention in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.
FACT’s plea for Joe Gordon
The comparison to Hitler and Stalin is absurd and is proof of an extremely poor understanding of history. Also very poor satire if meant so. My family having had to feed on of the escapes of a German camp (a teacher having had the courage of thinking differently), we know to make certain differences, if you know what I mean.
Yingluck has no intention at all to start abolishment of LM Law. The people which voted for her have in the meantime understood and are preparing themselves for actions. The problem of Joe is not that he is half Thai-American; his problem is that in Thailand no one cannot think and say what he wants. It has become a law which is utilized in a Stasi way, i.e. everybody can denounce his neighbor and bring him to jail, like in Pakistan when you denounce one for being a Christian. In reality, para 112 should only be valid when and if the king himself intents action, like it is the case in European monarchies.
Yingluck has herself prostrated herself before the king’s portrait, same rules as the ones in North Korea. As the king has to sign all important acts, it’s another proof that we are in an absolute monarchy and certainly not in a constitutional monarchy, whatever the various constitutions might say (paper is patient and accepts anything you write on it). So she will follow the king’s instructions and having only some “liberty” in economic questions as the army proofed itself totally incompetent in this chapter and her brother will guide her. That’s how a legally elected “democratic” government works in Thailand. Furthermore Thaksin is becoming welcome in many countries, not only states like Montenegro or Nicaragua, i.e. politicians of more important economies are aware that the 60 years of royal reign are rapidly coming to an end, that the heirs at best will have only very limited power, if at all they survive the coming turmoil.
By the way, she and her brother thought it more important to celebrate the queen’s birthday instead of thanking all the people who have been sacrificed for the fight for democracy.
The voters of PT have not forgotten this total lack of respect for the ones who have fought during 5 years (informal body-count amounts presently to >2’000 and not only to 90 or some). They are also angry that no action is taken to abolish the LM law but they also are learning fast from what’s going on in Lybia, Yemen etc. and how, and are piling up arms. If the Thaksin Group thinks he can resolve this boiling unrest with economic measures and despite the fact that the lousy economy is hurting the middle class it’s not any more sufficient. Has anyone ever seen a multimillionaire fighting and scarifying himself to impose democracy against dictatorship! This will end in violence and there will be only one winner, i.e. the party which has the larger number of people.
Racial discrimination: Unofficial sources
Imran Khan, the highly respected British human rights lawyer, who has been engaged by the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) to look into taking action against the British government for its role in the exploitation of Indian Hindus during Malaysia’s period as a colony, and its failure to protect their rights when independence was declared in 1957, had this to say in The Guardian, about his experience being deported from Malaysia..
Malaysia – a simple institutional analysis
Are you serious. Have you seen any international indicators – Transparency International, World Bank Governance Indicators, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, etc?
Is this a deliberate strategy to confuse and mislead?
Listen, your entitled to your own realities. Greg Sheridan, Barak Obama and Julia Gillard have all affirmed that Najib is great Malaysian leader and so do you, for reasons best known to all of you based on values that you all have.
I have my own values which inform my analysis and it is clear that I differ fundamentally from all of you.
So, keep reading New Mandala for my anecdotes, views and analysis on Malaysia (please also inform your friends) and I’m sure all of us at New Mandala would be always happy to hear of realities from your side of the prism.
Regina, Canada, Burma
I had a glance around for formal legal opinions on the criteria for intervention as applied to Burma (or not applied to Burma) in 2007-8. One of the few was published through Berkeley University’s new (semi-peer-reviewed?) e-text platform, titled When to Intervene: A Legal Framework for determining when Armed Intervention is Appropriate…, Kevin S. Cox, 2009. The article includes some quotations attesting to the most gruesome aspects of the Burmese repression of the peaceful protests (bullets and brains on the sidewalk, blood on monks’ robes, etc.) but comes to the following opaque conclusion:
“In order to engage in an armed intervention, the concept requires the identification of a just cause; the right intention; force be used only as a last resort; such force be proportional; there exist a reasonable expectation of success; and the right authority. These criteria for when to intervene have predictably failed, as evidenced by the disaster in Burma discussed above, for the same reasons they have failed the victims of genocide and humanitarian crises in the past.” [p. 31]
“Where a humanitarian disaster is identified and not acted upon, as was the case in both Rwanda and more recently in Myanmar (Burma), there can be no last resort, and hence no prospect of justified armed intervention. The reasons for inaction are all too obvious, as in the case of China in regard to the Burmese, and there will continue to be arguments, both candid and veiled, to justify inaction until such action is mandatory . . . or, more accurately, the mandate for such action is enforced.” [p. 71]
SOURCE: http://works.bepress.com/kevin_cox/2/
It may be that the slow-turning wheels of peer review simply haven’t yet produced the reflections on 2007-8 that I’m looking for (i.e., perhaps more is now on its way to press).
Just, fair, accountable!
Tyrell,
I think you should focus on the double standards in criminal prosecutions between the yellows and the reds. How many yellow shirt protesters are in prison? Have been prosecuted? If there is a huge disparity this must be pressed to the front pages.
Those two journalists, as I’ve mentioned before, were killed because they were irresponsible. What you also might want to do is focus your efforts on creating war zone guidelines of common sense so more journalists don’t act recklessly when covering these events.
FACT’s plea for Joe Gordon
The commentary seems to be degenerating to the level of trivia, howeber I would like to comment on the statement that LM ” upsets my inculcated western sense of progress, democracy and fair play”.
Well it didn’t seem to upset the King, born in the USA and educated in Europe nor Mark ex Oxford. If one looks at the double standards regularly applied in the West one realises that fair play is applicable only when one plays e.g. rugger, snooker or in debates at the club ( e.g Palace of Westminster, Capitol Hill ).
Democracy is repugnant to Western elites just as it is to Thai. So for example when Haitians wanted Aristide for President neither Clinton, Bush jr not Obama would have it. When Palestine at free elections voted for Hamas the USA & EU punished the people who made the wrong choice.
Further the USA in particular has since 1945 engineered so many murderous coups d’etat and regime changes contrary to the wishes of its own people that I am encouraged by the news that Andrew Spooner is working at exposing how the dirty deals between the US and Thai military are supressing democracy in Thailand.
FACT’s plea for Joe Gordon
Seh Fah: It is clear evidence of the pressure to plead guilty.
Narrative sedition and democratic consolidation
If you actually read the “Tales” on that FB group, you will find that a person can die multiple times and yet come back to life again only to die in a brutal way. Jail then shot / being eaten by crocodiles / stomp to death, all of these happened to one “character” !
There are stories of hundreds of babies being used to cure uncle etc.
FACT’s plea for Joe Gordon
Seh Fah
You said –
“Harry was out in six months. Clear evidence of the effectiveness of discrete diplomacy.”
There is no real evidence of this – just hearsay from you and Andrew Walker (the same person who previously said veracity was relatively meaningless).
Harry was freed cos he confessed and because he showed the correct kind of contrition.
If he’d gone for a not guilty plea and refused to grovel it is an almost cast-iron certainty he’d still be in a Thai prison.
Why do you think Suwicha Thakor was released (he had to think of his kid) while Da T isn’t?
I would suggest you and others stick to the evidence rather that what you imagine Australia’s “diplomatic” power to be.
Burma’s parliamentary prospects
Kyaw Kyaw,
Thanks for this excellent summary. I have heard conflicting speculation regarding the possibility of legislation coming out of parliament within the year that would legalise independent labour unions. Do you have any insights or predictions on this?
Malaysia – a simple institutional analysis
Dear Greg
I am sorry, again your key points are off the mark.
1. All the points I have raised are from your article so there so you can’t say we are talking about different issues. BTW some of my points are also about Level 1 as well.
2. Your fundamental point that Malay/Muslim supremacy is the reason for Malaysia’s failure to get out of its middle-income trap is also completely flawed and unsupported by empirical data or research findings. This is merely hot air and empty talk. In fact your point is easy to disapprove Malaysia has been growing fast even with NEP before the Asian economic crisis. So how can Malaysia grow among the fastest in the world despite the NEP and the so-called Malay/Muslim supremacy policies ? Any neutral academic (which I hesitate to include you) will tell you that Malaysia has made tremendous strides in governance, war against corruption, human rights. transparency,etc since the late 90s.
3. Your argument that the Malay/Muslim supremacy has manifested in 4 critical areas also wrong for 2 points (institutional degradation and excessive centralization). How can these relate to each other ? I am perplexed that an academic can make such fantastical leaps of logic. These are sort of mistakes that I won’t even tolerate from 1st year undergraduate, much less a PhD student.
4. I think you are guilty of misleading uninformed readers with this so-called concept of Malay/Muslim supremacy. UMNO does not subscribe to this ideology and neither this is a formal concept. This is a loose terms that do not translate into the sinister meaning that you trying to pin on. While there are some right wing elements would like to abuse this term, it is nowhere accepted as the official ideology of the ruling coalition or Malaysians in general. What is more accurate is the notion of “Malays special rights” that is specified in the Malaysian Constitution. What you are trying to do, as many Pakatan politicians often do, is to portray the actions of few extremists as the official position of UMNO.
5. I also think you are completely wrong in stating that Malaysia has
institutionalised racism. It is one thing to allocate quotas for the bumis and another thing of being racist. It is a very serious accusations that the Malaysian govt is racist. Racism conveys a meaning that the govt is actively pursuing policies that discriminates other races. This is not true as can be seen from basis economic data where the non bumis are doing far better than the bumis. Helping the bumi community doesn’t equate to hurting the others.
6. I also disagree with your comment “Your reality is that the BN government is doing a great job and the fault lies with the opposition coalition and Malaysians who support the opposition.” When did I state so and even implied it ? My position is simple. At the present moment, compared to Pakatan, BN offers a better choice for Malaysians. Nothing more, nothing less. GE2008 is a blessing for Malaysians since they are able to compare the policies and administrative capabilities of Pakatan vs BN. My own observation is that Pakatan is a dysfunctional coalition without any common stand or policies. Even at state level their performance is abysmal.
Their leaders play a double game. At the Federal level, they criticise BN and like to float fantastical policies and dangle all kinds of reforms and progressive policies. But at the state level, they couldn’t even solve simple problems. Look at Kelantan. PAS been ruling the state for decades but their much touted “Negara Kebajikan” nowhere to be seen. Look at Penang, DAP speaks proudly of socialist policies, meritocracy and Malaysian Malaysia. But make Chinese CM as their key campaign agenda to fish for votes and cosy up with big business to over develop the state with super condos and luxury houses.
I hope you take up my challenge and reply my points and not take the easy way and end the debate by saying we are talking about different topics.
I am 100% certain that I can out-debate you on this topic any time, any place.
No passion at ICTS11
I merely wish to clear up a misconception by commentators #15 and #16. The ICTS was sponsored by Mahidol U., but was not held at Mahidol U.’s main campus in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom. Rather, it was held at the luxurious and rather expensive Siam City Hotel in central Bangkok. I for one would prefer to see such conferences held at University venues, but there is (yet) no hotel or conference center in Salaya that could accomodate 700 guests. I also suspect that preserving Thai “face” was rather important in the choice of hotel venues as well.
I did not attend because I got the advance word that there did not seem to be anything enticing enough to make it worth my while or worth the expense. I gather from the comments above that my early intelligence gathering was more or less correct.
FACT’s plea for Joe Gordon
Billy Budd #66
Harry was out in six months. Clear evidence of the effectiveness of discrete diplomacy.