Comments

First, I want to send a clear message that I don’t have any affiliation of agent, party or interest.
1. No one has been asked to fall for this. One cannot apply the same ruler that measures the standard of a full-fledged democracy. The country is still installing democracy. The installation phase is the most dangerous one. Party politics adds another line of differentiation to the country which is already divided along the lines of ethnicity and —-. Every citizen has the responsibility to protect the country not to collapse. The country has little room for such people who make empty rhetoric.

2. Yes. Some political elites are cheaters. That’s why we need to improve structure to constrain the agents. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that we need to destroy the whole system and reconstruct. Acting one’s relevant role for the common good goes further than rhetoric when the country is in desperate need of stability. Without stability, democracy cannot be advanced.

3. Not everyone from the ethnic groups seek political asylum. We have some ethnic nationals in MOFA who love the country and the people. A large population of different ethnic people are coexisting in different States and Regions of the country. Both the government and the ethnic armed groups are equally responsible for choosing confrontation or armed conflict which triggers the spread of asylum seekers.

4. Myanmar nationals/citizens abroad have been given opportunity to return to their native land and to strive for the common good or for private interests. Some returned and others stick to the host countries to make money while projecting political rhetoric back into the country.

5. I am a Mon-Bamar hybrid but I don’t have the narrow sense of ethnicity. Locking in endless confrontation is good for nothing.

6. Yes, some people like the word of their mentors.

So disappointing to note that there are some elements who don’t even have a serious sense of the state’s identity and the identity of its citizens.

So disappointing to note that there still are some elements succumbed themselves to incompatible usage.

Hmm! Ethnic enzymes! Not bad. These ethnic enzymes may show relatively similar characteristics across certain spectrum when compared to the other enzymes which grow on different areas of the substrate at different environmental conditions. May be there are some typical cases where the enzymes of that have grown over the same area of substrate show different character.

What I mean here is the importance of peace. The world/earth is the substrate upon which the living things grows. The collision of greed, anger and pride can destroy the substrate/earth.

Politics is as delicate as enzymes.

I don’t like the usage ‘slave’. That’s all. I didn’t respond to your comment.

Good article.
By the way, UWSA (United Wa State Army) is a PLA proxy and I mainly blame Khin Nyunt for making crooked deals with all these opium drug warlords, smugglers and gangsters for selfish personal gain. Burma is more or less a Chinese vassal state now, without territorial and moral integrity.

Do you really think that the feudal, reactionary Thai monarchy is not rotten and corrupt? How do you explain the fact that king Bhumibol is the richest monarch of the world (according to Forbes) in a country plagued with poverty and injustice ?

Sean

Malaysia thus far had only one ethical Prime Minister and that is, Tun Hussein Onn. The yard stick will be the case of MIC President Manicavasagm where he had converted to Islam which was a well kept secret and died when he was still in office.

The Islamic authorities were there to claim the body and a tussel ensued between the Islamic and MIC Hindus. Tun Hussein intervened and told the Islamists to back of and let them proceed with Hindu rites.

Mr. Forster,

Your anaemic commentary, oblivious of Malaysian realities, is what is outrageous.
I find nothing apologetic in Greg Lopez’s comments, but I find you apologetic for irrationality, which Malaysia already has in spades, and has had for quite some time.

This is outrageous. Greg Lopez, posing as an independent academic, leaves us with the suspicion that he’s actually some sort of apologist for the idea that in Malaysia, being a Muslim might be a prerequisite to being an ethical leader. He says that the book’s analysis, while extensive, “does not provide any definitive answer (the editors acknowledge the difficulty in attempting to do so).” He notes that “Abdullah Badawi understood … the role of Islam in promoting good governance.”
Greg: your efforts at academic detachment are obviously well-intentioned. But you seem to have got yourself into a conceptual muddle. Obviously Islam claims to promote good governance. But for those of us not primarily concerned with doctrinal apologetics, the far more relevant question which you should be trying to come to terms with is: “In Malaysia,to what extent is being a Muslim perceived as a prerequisite to being an ethical leader?”
Opinion on this matter is obviously divided. The book attempts to assess how ethical Badawi and others were by some undefined absolute standard. But it doesn’t seem to have anything to say about how ethical their behaviour was perceived to be, or about whether the ethical dimension of their behaviour was perceived as having anything at all to do with their being Muslims.
The answer to these questions is far from obvious. Some might argue, paradoxically, that being Muslim in fact made Badawi and others less ethical than they otherwise might have been, because it provided a cloak of piety and consequent political invulnerability for what might otherwise have been perceived as unethical behaviour. Some might argue that perceptions of what Muslim ethics prescribe are as varied as perceptions of Islamic doctrine in any other area. We are still waiting for a rigorous academic assessment of the role of Islamic ethics in political perceptions in Malaysia.

It’s an important issue but unfortunately this analysis falls short of the mark. Most informed estimates suggest there are 3-4 million Myanmar migrants working abroad, or about 10% of the labour force. The census conducted in 2014 is widely considered not to be an accurate assessment of this population. In addition, there is reason to believe that a substantial portion of overseas workers come from ethnic minority groups, particularly for those employed in low-skilled work in Thailand. These workers are more likely to hold anti-USDP views as a result of decades of conflict with the Myanmar military. To suggest that they are excluded from voting due to “logistical challenges” obscures the fact that the current government has very good reason not to allow them to vote.