It’s true, Thida herself maintains without irony that the UDD is ‘not ready’ for elections. She relies on the barami of jatuporn who is a scumbag to maintain her position as it’s unelected queen.
And if she was not its unelected leader the UDD would fall into the hands of thaksinistas or extremists, so it’s actually a god thing.
Though these ironies will be lost on a site like this.
The reds need to grow up enough to be able to elect their own leaders before they have any legitimate right to lecture thailand about democracy.
A democracy movement that cannot use democracy within itself, only in thailand.
I find two pictures in this sequence very interesting. One the white missionary with camera or what ever and then all the ethnics carrying all his heavy goods, like a great white hunter in Africa, but here just headed into Burma to poach souls.
Secondly the picture of Ernest E. Heimbach burning spirit items for the conversion of Hmong. How freaking ironic. But first let me mention that Aje of Akha Outreach did this often, as did Sterile Sterilizer Paul White Lewis. But first time I’ve seen an old photograph of it.
Now on to this point, regarding burning these items. How is it these items were evil, yet later America bombed Laos to devastation costing countless lives, and recruited the Hmong and Mien to fight their war for them at cost of more lives and finally exiled the Hmong both out of the country and inside their own country. Who really had the devil spirits that needed their entire civilization to be burned? And to think that the missionaries really prepped the whole scenario? How is it the flood of missionaries now aimed at the Akha is not a prelude to using them in a conflict against the Chinese in Asia?
Brilliantly humorous reply Vichai N – but have you seen how well the Lao PDR is doing, ECONOMICALLY, these days ? With huge help from China especially – for sure. What makes you so certain a seceded Isarn, rejoined with their Lao PDR “phi-nong”, would not do as well ?
James Taylor: May I remind you that an educated populace and well-informed voters are essential to obtaining valid democratic outcomes. IMO Thaksin’s ‘genius’ is that through his own blind greed he has given Thai voters a political education they are no longer willing to ignore.
“Chinese are not looked down upon like that in Burma!”
Try that again, Tocharian, Ne Win (despite being of Chinese origin) systematically discriminated against ethnic Chinese in Burma. And there are plenty of Burmese (or Burmans, I should say) who resent China’s involvement with the Tatmadaw, and also resent Burmese of Chinese origin who are more affluent than ethnic Burmans.
“Politics makes for strange bedfellows”
The contradictory nature of “Amazing Thailand” suggests to me that the current political imbroglio may be resolved in a way not immediately apparent. Like jazz ( that ‘never-the-same-way-twice’ music) I don’t forsee history repeating itself exactly. HM the King’s birthday comments (or lack thereof) germane to the political situation may provide a clue to the sort of major political realignment that I sense is in the wind.
From my lofty 4th floor perch in the far east of the Bangkok metropolis, I sense that a ‘grand coalition’ may be formed by Abhisit’s Democrat Party and Thaksin’s Pheua Thai Party – providing the Democrats get the Ministry of Education (a non-negotiable again for him one would think) back along with a good share of the ‘A-grade’ ministries. With the recent reforms proving to actually be counter-productive in improving thinking skills of new recruits according to the Thai HR Manager I currently work with, and my Red Shirt neighbor now saying that real education reform is the litmus test – things may just get a lot more real this time.
Alternatively, the Red Shirts may themselves form a ‘grand coalition’ with the Democrats for the same reason i.e. the writing on the wall is plain enough to see for all who will but open their eyes now that Thaksin has been running the ‘big show’ again and has shown more regard for the fast buck than doing anything substantial to reform the decades past its use-by date Confucian-based education system and the ‘middle-income trap’ which it has created for Thailand.
Of course, this would seem to leave Suthep sidelined, but given that his ‘People’s Council’ concept was always going to be problematical if not unworkable for obvious reasons, it seems that his street protest movement have been intended more as a catalyst rather than a solution itself.
While I am sure the above scenarios don’t exhaust all the possible political outcomes (it is not intended to) in my opinion they do provide alternatives at least as credible as maintaining the status quo.
(1) Yes the ‘city folks’ are more expensive to buy. Where as the ‘rurals’ are venal and susceptible to the Thaksin cash machine in whatever form, for the most part the city folks demand good governance and clean government.
(2) No the Democrats are not 100% principled in whatever sense you could define what ‘principled’ means. Your idea of principles would very likely differ vastly from mine. But for the most part, the unprincipled Democrat Party, it is believed by the city folks, is political party that serves the interest of Thailand. Whereas the Peau Thai Party had demonstrated time and again that though very ‘principled’, its principles revolve around serving the interest of Thaksin and only Thaksin amen.
Fine, after talking the talk she should start walking the walk!
Incidentally, according to the “Australian media”, she made some “flippant” remark that Australia should show more “mercy” towards the wretched Rohingya refugees from Burma. What a “Freudian slip of the tongue” from the Lady with the Oxford accent! Unfortunately, that’s the kind of condescending tone that I hear often from the Posh Lady. By the way, I was born in Burma, but unlike Suu Kyi (or most of the pro-Chinese Burmese oligarchy), I probably have some Rohingya or Indian blood in me, and as is pointed out in this article primitive racial/tribal profiling is a “big deal” in many Asian countries. As a human rights icon, Suu Kyi has to take a clear stand on these issues and tell her adoring Burmese population to stop treating Rohingyas like “Untermenschen”. Chinese are not looked down upon like that in Burma!
Tocharian and other NM readers may want to explore the works of Mushtaq Khan to find out more on how the rule of law can be implemented in a practical manner. As Sara notes, unless those in power see the need for it, the rule of law will not be implemented.
As Malaysia’s challenges are institutional in nature implies that what is needed is reforms at the very top of the institutional hierarchy. One approach that comes to mind in addressing the ‘how to’ question would be Mushtaq Khan’s revisit of political settlements or as he states it, finding ‘growth enhancing governance’ (Khan 2010). This growth enhancing governance is not the ideal but the practical; a settlement among the competing elites and important stakeholders that allows for institutional stability, while allowing for payments to powerful vested interests, does not negate the overall opportunities for growth and its distribution to the majority of its populace. The ruling coalition in Malaysia may have figured this out in the past but it is clear that this political settlement is not working anymore. It therefore necessitates a new political settlement to graduate into a high income country.
So are you saying that the “city folks” in Bangkok are more expensive to buy.. like say Bht 1000/- instead of Bht 100/ like the rural folks?
OR
Are you actually saying that the Democrats are principled, so cannot win an election?
The slow road to more freedom is now set and shall have no U turn, as U Thein Sein has stated and carried it so far.
It is important to know that only those who understand yet unwritten
/undefined what Sr Gen Than Shwe ‘Beyond Seven Steps to Discipline Democracy’ entail.
U Thein Sein as quintessential insider (a former general himself) has carried on under a facade of more freedom/democracy successfully, that the West wisely reverse somewhat the useless careless policy claiming adequate progress towards that end.
Moving on it will make sense to have DASSK with another insider, bless by Sr Gen Than Shwe et al., as co leader to carry on the next stage of more genuine freedom.
After all not understanding or taking the word “Discipline” for granted by anyone other than it original author definition risk s scenario similar to The Tienamen Incident.
What to say. The Thaksin machine of corruption is terrifying in its scope and breath and criminal intent. No wonder every Peau Thai Party MP serves Thaksin and only Thaksin; every Peau Thai Party is in Thaksin’s payroll, no exception. And judges too of course, police and military generals, and ……
ASSK spoke precisely about these issues on her recent visit to Australia. Likewise, concrete proposals to these ends are being constructed by the various NLD Committees concerned with economic matters. Unfortunately, her remarks and work in this context tends not to get picked up by the media, or be promoted by the organisations that organise her events.
An insightful article written with intelligence!
Could you please send your report to Suu Kyi, the Lady who likes to talk too much about “the rule of law” without any concrete proposals, let alone any effective actions. I understand that Burma is still far off from the kind of economic problems that Malaysia is going through, but Suu Kyi (who recently received a couple of honorary doctorates from some Australian Universities) could learn a thing or two from you, for example about property rights for the rural population (land grabs are still very common in Burma), now that she professes to be a “real ruthless politician” and not just a cheap democracy icon (or a false idol) anymore!
Your article is both insightful and, in my opinion, truly reflective of Malaysia’s social, economic and political status (or travails, being a pessimist by nature). UMNO has little interest in income equality or social and cultural equality and progress because it is interested in staying in power and preserving its entrenched interests, many of which are at cross-purposes with reform across the board. In order to maintain some semblance of civility, I will say (my opinion) that UMNO politicians are mostly clones of one another with little ideological or political variation. I will also state, at the risk of being criticized by UMNO supporters or supreme patriots, that PM Najib excels at speeches, both foreign and domestic, and not so much at technocracy and the fine details of GDP and State-Level Per-Capita incomes, infrastructural engineering drawings, and the like. Unfortunately, while dynamic in oration, neither Anwar (PR) nor the much-respected Nik Aziz Nik Mat of PAS have particularly strong national leadership and micromanagement qualities. One could argue that they have yet to be tested, at the national level, to determine that, but one works with the evidence that one has, and I for one see no indication of reliability and consistency among UMNO, PAS or PR; and DAP still remains, despite some outreach effort, a predominantly Chinese-based party that will very likely not rule in Putrajaya anytime soon. DAP is moderately independent, but with the loss of the one Malay senior council member, Tunku Aziz who is both intelligent and iconoclastic, DAP’s appeal to non-Chinese is somewhat limited (despite Lim juniors somewhat obsequious approach to Malays in Penang).
Potential reformers, who are few and far between within UMNO, like Johor representative and barely-UMNO member Shahriar Samad, has crossed party requirements, criticized UMNO on occasion, and is disillusioned with UMNO. He has told me so himself in person. I see no individual or program for reform from UMNO. I see no program for secular-based reforms, gender equality, and limitations on the patent overuse of Sharia Law, from PAS. I see division within PR, among secular and moderately religious Malays, and not very religious Chinese or Indian members or average supporters of PR. For me, Anwar has always been one big question mark. If you know ANY Malaysian who can provide unambiguous evidence of what Anwar REALLY thinks about a host of topics related to Malaysia or the US or Islam or whatever, please introduce me to them. Anwar is a political chameleon in many respects and his position on the role of Islam in Malaysia has always varied with the intended audience. His wife and daughter are more clear and consistent in their political and religious messages and actions, and I guess I must add, irrespective of a sham, illegal, and totally ridiculous trial of Anwar, notwithstanding. I do not assess his guilt one way or another since I am unable to, I do assess the illegality and non-objectivity and lack of any forensically-acceptable standards of evidence that meets the minimal requirements of democratic and objective jurisprudence, anywhere in the world. If this is an exemplification of Malaysia’s judiciary, I suggest you dream about reform but don’t expect the dream to come true too soon.
I do not think UMNO has any interest in strengthening civil law, and given their increased acceptance of both strongly politicized Islamic ideology (e,g., Perkasa and competition for votes with PAS) and Malay nationalistic forces, are more likely to strengthen JAIS and other institutions that engage in ‘Islamic Law Enforcement’ (which really means rounding up any women that a self-appointed Haji deems Haram, while discriminating against women, and arguably discriminating against non-Muslims as well).
UMNO and BN and the surrogate Malay and Chinese elite that provides support for them (of course many educated Malays and Chinese do not like UMNO) have much hubris, and basically look down on the opposition, whether PAS, DAP or PR. The US does not help, nor does the UK or Australia, by fawning over PM Najib in the interests of commercial and political ties. So, Najib just smiles on, knowing well that few countries, other than
maybe Indonesia, will criticize Malaysia
(Indonesia and Malaysia have issues over Indonesian laborers and domestic workers in Malaysia, among other issues like smog and territorial waters just over Sabah).
So, Najib assumes, whether true or not, that he is on the right track, that the world loves him, that he engenders moderate Islam
and moderate multiculturalism (I would laugh it weren’t so untrue).
PAS is not a solution, unless you want Malaysia to become Pakistan or Turkey under Erdogan, or even Iran. The record of PAS on consistency in their Islamic and political message leaves much to be desired. Read Harakah and you will see some of what PAS thinks: Religious vitriol, stereotypes about non-Muslims and non-Malays, and unfortunately occasional anti-Semitism. This is PAS, not the ‘sweet old wise’ Ustaz in Kelantan.
Whither reform ? I say from a combination of
population political pressure on things like the ISA and the corrupt judiciary and the inconsistent and biased application of Sharia Law, and perhaps influence from DAP, which at the state level has an impact, even if DAP won’t likely see the light of day in Putrajaya. I just do not count on PAS and PR, for different reasons, to engender reform; however, Nurul Izzah (Anwar’s daughter) is quite dynamic, consistent, reliable, intelligent, but also quite religious and quite young for high political office. Her calls for reform and her apparent Islamic sincerity, presents a difficult and dichotomous issue in the debate over how much, if any, Sharia Law there should be, and how much Civil Law there should be in Malaysia. And which cases go to which court, which is not always clear.
Malaysia’s comparative advantage is decreasing, Singapore’s has been high for so
long everyone has forgot, Indonesia and Vietnam are slowly progressing, economically,
and if Vietnam wanted to grow Palm Oil and export it, competing with Malaysia (as Indonesia already does), Vietnam would find a way. Malaysia is the second wealthiest country in ASEAN, after Singapore (though Singapore’s per-capita GDP is about 3 times that of Malaysia’s, I believe) and the hard work of Malaysians, of all backgrounds, should be celebrated. But Malaysia faces serious issues that surround income equity, the human rights of Bumiputera and Orang Asli peoples, as well as the three primary ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malays, Chinese and Indians), growing anger in East Malaysia, so
distant from KL and Putrajaya, yet dominated
by wealthy UMNO chieftains (e.g., Datuk Taib in Sarawak and Datuk Aman in Sabah), and East Malaysia giving most of its financial rewards to Putrajaya, and most of its natural resources to foreign companies (e.g., Japan, China, etc.). Then there is “Pendatang” and Ibrahim Ali’s hoof-and-mouth disease, and UMNO’s stolidness, and the divisions among some of the opposition parties which form an oxymoronic mix of Islamic PAS, pseudo-secular PR and mostly secular DAP.
Finally, any reform (economic, social, political, religious, military, etc.) requires an ethical, diligent and intelligent judiciary: There is little evidence that Malaysia has yet achieved such a judiciary. Thus, any reform laws that are promulgated
may not be so reforming in the end, and will likely come with political and financial conditions attached to them (which is a polite way to say largesse). So, whither reforms in Malaysia ?
this is a shallow piece of commentary amd shows little understanding of the real power behind the scene: it is the amaat regime we should be focused on as this has constructed an imagining of Thaksin to serve their own interests and claw back their power which was so successfully coopted by the masses through the electoral ballot box. if academics cannot see this now…!
So the same old faces have come back to haunt us.Benjamin Zawacki no less,the 2010 one time golden boy of recently politicised Amnesty International.Never realised back then US Hawk Suzanne Nossel(look her up it’s worth it) was busy positioning Amnesty as a USG proppaganda outfit,but then I never realised back then HRW were stuffed with US corporate capitalists either.Why are we being honored with Bens presence?.Why are the US/UK A-teams back in town? Anyone ?
My comment was not literal, it was symbolic, you obviously missed that. My point was (again) that Thaksin is super rich, gained wealth under questionable means, and owns several large corporation. The metaphor was not literal.
“Colombia GDP(2012) $369.8 billion. Thaksin Shinawatra and family $1.7 billion. Even allowing for inaccuracies in the figures, Peter’s statement is clearly ridiculous. These figures show Thaksin’s total net worth to be less than half of 1% of Colombia’s GDP! It does however illustrate the sort of mindless claims that are so regularly churned out by the Thaksin-haters.”
Your comments are childish, miss my point, and as I already told you, keep your opinion,
do not judge me (you do not know me), and YOUR derisive and insulting comment that I am part of a generalized group of “Thaksin-haters” has no basis because you neither know
me or no any political or other grouping to which I belong.
Please do not generalize, and do not deride my opinion about Thaksin and please do not deride me which you have by your incivility.
It seems your obsession with numbers, and inability to understand metaphors that aren’t literal, as well as your apparent defense of Thaksin (the “Thaksin’Haters”) means we have no basis for discussion, and I don’t like your belligerency, personally, and I have asked you to leave me alone and not pester me
again with your silly and idle prattle.
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November rain for democracy in Thailand
It’s true, Thida herself maintains without irony that the UDD is ‘not ready’ for elections. She relies on the barami of jatuporn who is a scumbag to maintain her position as it’s unelected queen.
And if she was not its unelected leader the UDD would fall into the hands of thaksinistas or extremists, so it’s actually a god thing.
Though these ironies will be lost on a site like this.
The reds need to grow up enough to be able to elect their own leaders before they have any legitimate right to lecture thailand about democracy.
A democracy movement that cannot use democracy within itself, only in thailand.
Picturing Thailand’s highlanders
I find two pictures in this sequence very interesting. One the white missionary with camera or what ever and then all the ethnics carrying all his heavy goods, like a great white hunter in Africa, but here just headed into Burma to poach souls.
Secondly the picture of Ernest E. Heimbach burning spirit items for the conversion of Hmong. How freaking ironic. But first let me mention that Aje of Akha Outreach did this often, as did Sterile Sterilizer Paul White Lewis. But first time I’ve seen an old photograph of it.
Now on to this point, regarding burning these items. How is it these items were evil, yet later America bombed Laos to devastation costing countless lives, and recruited the Hmong and Mien to fight their war for them at cost of more lives and finally exiled the Hmong both out of the country and inside their own country. Who really had the devil spirits that needed their entire civilization to be burned? And to think that the missionaries really prepped the whole scenario? How is it the flood of missionaries now aimed at the Akha is not a prelude to using them in a conflict against the Chinese in Asia?
Who’s who in Thailand’s anti-government forces?
Brilliantly humorous reply Vichai N – but have you seen how well the Lao PDR is doing, ECONOMICALLY, these days ? With huge help from China especially – for sure. What makes you so certain a seceded Isarn, rejoined with their Lao PDR “phi-nong”, would not do as well ?
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
James Taylor: May I remind you that an educated populace and well-informed voters are essential to obtaining valid democratic outcomes. IMO Thaksin’s ‘genius’ is that through his own blind greed he has given Thai voters a political education they are no longer willing to ignore.
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
“Chinese are not looked down upon like that in Burma!”
Try that again, Tocharian, Ne Win (despite being of Chinese origin) systematically discriminated against ethnic Chinese in Burma. And there are plenty of Burmese (or Burmans, I should say) who resent China’s involvement with the Tatmadaw, and also resent Burmese of Chinese origin who are more affluent than ethnic Burmans.
What does Suthep really want?
“Politics makes for strange bedfellows”
The contradictory nature of “Amazing Thailand” suggests to me that the current political imbroglio may be resolved in a way not immediately apparent. Like jazz ( that ‘never-the-same-way-twice’ music) I don’t forsee history repeating itself exactly. HM the King’s birthday comments (or lack thereof) germane to the political situation may provide a clue to the sort of major political realignment that I sense is in the wind.
From my lofty 4th floor perch in the far east of the Bangkok metropolis, I sense that a ‘grand coalition’ may be formed by Abhisit’s Democrat Party and Thaksin’s Pheua Thai Party – providing the Democrats get the Ministry of Education (a non-negotiable again for him one would think) back along with a good share of the ‘A-grade’ ministries. With the recent reforms proving to actually be counter-productive in improving thinking skills of new recruits according to the Thai HR Manager I currently work with, and my Red Shirt neighbor now saying that real education reform is the litmus test – things may just get a lot more real this time.
Alternatively, the Red Shirts may themselves form a ‘grand coalition’ with the Democrats for the same reason i.e. the writing on the wall is plain enough to see for all who will but open their eyes now that Thaksin has been running the ‘big show’ again and has shown more regard for the fast buck than doing anything substantial to reform the decades past its use-by date Confucian-based education system and the ‘middle-income trap’ which it has created for Thailand.
Of course, this would seem to leave Suthep sidelined, but given that his ‘People’s Council’ concept was always going to be problematical if not unworkable for obvious reasons, it seems that his street protest movement have been intended more as a catalyst rather than a solution itself.
While I am sure the above scenarios don’t exhaust all the possible political outcomes (it is not intended to) in my opinion they do provide alternatives at least as credible as maintaining the status quo.
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
To Neptunian’s two questions, the answers are:
(1) Yes the ‘city folks’ are more expensive to buy. Where as the ‘rurals’ are venal and susceptible to the Thaksin cash machine in whatever form, for the most part the city folks demand good governance and clean government.
(2) No the Democrats are not 100% principled in whatever sense you could define what ‘principled’ means. Your idea of principles would very likely differ vastly from mine. But for the most part, the unprincipled Democrat Party, it is believed by the city folks, is political party that serves the interest of Thailand. Whereas the Peau Thai Party had demonstrated time and again that though very ‘principled’, its principles revolve around serving the interest of Thaksin and only Thaksin amen.
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
Fine, after talking the talk she should start walking the walk!
Incidentally, according to the “Australian media”, she made some “flippant” remark that Australia should show more “mercy” towards the wretched Rohingya refugees from Burma. What a “Freudian slip of the tongue” from the Lady with the Oxford accent! Unfortunately, that’s the kind of condescending tone that I hear often from the Posh Lady. By the way, I was born in Burma, but unlike Suu Kyi (or most of the pro-Chinese Burmese oligarchy), I probably have some Rohingya or Indian blood in me, and as is pointed out in this article primitive racial/tribal profiling is a “big deal” in many Asian countries. As a human rights icon, Suu Kyi has to take a clear stand on these issues and tell her adoring Burmese population to stop treating Rohingyas like “Untermenschen”. Chinese are not looked down upon like that in Burma!
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
Tocharian and other NM readers may want to explore the works of Mushtaq Khan to find out more on how the rule of law can be implemented in a practical manner. As Sara notes, unless those in power see the need for it, the rule of law will not be implemented.
I touch on this in a book review, “Malaysia’s Development Challenges.”
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
So are you saying that the “city folks” in Bangkok are more expensive to buy.. like say Bht 1000/- instead of Bht 100/ like the rural folks?
OR
Are you actually saying that the Democrats are principled, so cannot win an election?
Rolling with the times?
The slow road to more freedom is now set and shall have no U turn, as U Thein Sein has stated and carried it so far.
It is important to know that only those who understand yet unwritten
/undefined what Sr Gen Than Shwe ‘Beyond Seven Steps to Discipline Democracy’ entail.
U Thein Sein as quintessential insider (a former general himself) has carried on under a facade of more freedom/democracy successfully, that the West wisely reverse somewhat the useless careless policy claiming adequate progress towards that end.
Moving on it will make sense to have DASSK with another insider, bless by Sr Gen Than Shwe et al., as co leader to carry on the next stage of more genuine freedom.
After all not understanding or taking the word “Discipline” for granted by anyone other than it original author definition risk s scenario similar to The Tienamen Incident.
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
What to say. The Thaksin machine of corruption is terrifying in its scope and breath and criminal intent. No wonder every Peau Thai Party MP serves Thaksin and only Thaksin; every Peau Thai Party is in Thaksin’s payroll, no exception. And judges too of course, police and military generals, and ……
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
ASSK spoke precisely about these issues on her recent visit to Australia. Likewise, concrete proposals to these ends are being constructed by the various NLD Committees concerned with economic matters. Unfortunately, her remarks and work in this context tends not to get picked up by the media, or be promoted by the organisations that organise her events.
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
Dear Ms. Smylie,
An insightful article written with intelligence!
Could you please send your report to Suu Kyi, the Lady who likes to talk too much about “the rule of law” without any concrete proposals, let alone any effective actions. I understand that Burma is still far off from the kind of economic problems that Malaysia is going through, but Suu Kyi (who recently received a couple of honorary doctorates from some Australian Universities) could learn a thing or two from you, for example about property rights for the rural population (land grabs are still very common in Burma), now that she professes to be a “real ruthless politician” and not just a cheap democracy icon (or a false idol) anymore!
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
Superb article Sara!
The rule of law and Malaysia’s middle income trap
Sara,
Your article is both insightful and, in my opinion, truly reflective of Malaysia’s social, economic and political status (or travails, being a pessimist by nature). UMNO has little interest in income equality or social and cultural equality and progress because it is interested in staying in power and preserving its entrenched interests, many of which are at cross-purposes with reform across the board. In order to maintain some semblance of civility, I will say (my opinion) that UMNO politicians are mostly clones of one another with little ideological or political variation. I will also state, at the risk of being criticized by UMNO supporters or supreme patriots, that PM Najib excels at speeches, both foreign and domestic, and not so much at technocracy and the fine details of GDP and State-Level Per-Capita incomes, infrastructural engineering drawings, and the like. Unfortunately, while dynamic in oration, neither Anwar (PR) nor the much-respected Nik Aziz Nik Mat of PAS have particularly strong national leadership and micromanagement qualities. One could argue that they have yet to be tested, at the national level, to determine that, but one works with the evidence that one has, and I for one see no indication of reliability and consistency among UMNO, PAS or PR; and DAP still remains, despite some outreach effort, a predominantly Chinese-based party that will very likely not rule in Putrajaya anytime soon. DAP is moderately independent, but with the loss of the one Malay senior council member, Tunku Aziz who is both intelligent and iconoclastic, DAP’s appeal to non-Chinese is somewhat limited (despite Lim juniors somewhat obsequious approach to Malays in Penang).
Potential reformers, who are few and far between within UMNO, like Johor representative and barely-UMNO member Shahriar Samad, has crossed party requirements, criticized UMNO on occasion, and is disillusioned with UMNO. He has told me so himself in person. I see no individual or program for reform from UMNO. I see no program for secular-based reforms, gender equality, and limitations on the patent overuse of Sharia Law, from PAS. I see division within PR, among secular and moderately religious Malays, and not very religious Chinese or Indian members or average supporters of PR. For me, Anwar has always been one big question mark. If you know ANY Malaysian who can provide unambiguous evidence of what Anwar REALLY thinks about a host of topics related to Malaysia or the US or Islam or whatever, please introduce me to them. Anwar is a political chameleon in many respects and his position on the role of Islam in Malaysia has always varied with the intended audience. His wife and daughter are more clear and consistent in their political and religious messages and actions, and I guess I must add, irrespective of a sham, illegal, and totally ridiculous trial of Anwar, notwithstanding. I do not assess his guilt one way or another since I am unable to, I do assess the illegality and non-objectivity and lack of any forensically-acceptable standards of evidence that meets the minimal requirements of democratic and objective jurisprudence, anywhere in the world. If this is an exemplification of Malaysia’s judiciary, I suggest you dream about reform but don’t expect the dream to come true too soon.
I do not think UMNO has any interest in strengthening civil law, and given their increased acceptance of both strongly politicized Islamic ideology (e,g., Perkasa and competition for votes with PAS) and Malay nationalistic forces, are more likely to strengthen JAIS and other institutions that engage in ‘Islamic Law Enforcement’ (which really means rounding up any women that a self-appointed Haji deems Haram, while discriminating against women, and arguably discriminating against non-Muslims as well).
UMNO and BN and the surrogate Malay and Chinese elite that provides support for them (of course many educated Malays and Chinese do not like UMNO) have much hubris, and basically look down on the opposition, whether PAS, DAP or PR. The US does not help, nor does the UK or Australia, by fawning over PM Najib in the interests of commercial and political ties. So, Najib just smiles on, knowing well that few countries, other than
maybe Indonesia, will criticize Malaysia
(Indonesia and Malaysia have issues over Indonesian laborers and domestic workers in Malaysia, among other issues like smog and territorial waters just over Sabah).
So, Najib assumes, whether true or not, that he is on the right track, that the world loves him, that he engenders moderate Islam
and moderate multiculturalism (I would laugh it weren’t so untrue).
PAS is not a solution, unless you want Malaysia to become Pakistan or Turkey under Erdogan, or even Iran. The record of PAS on consistency in their Islamic and political message leaves much to be desired. Read Harakah and you will see some of what PAS thinks: Religious vitriol, stereotypes about non-Muslims and non-Malays, and unfortunately occasional anti-Semitism. This is PAS, not the ‘sweet old wise’ Ustaz in Kelantan.
Whither reform ? I say from a combination of
population political pressure on things like the ISA and the corrupt judiciary and the inconsistent and biased application of Sharia Law, and perhaps influence from DAP, which at the state level has an impact, even if DAP won’t likely see the light of day in Putrajaya. I just do not count on PAS and PR, for different reasons, to engender reform; however, Nurul Izzah (Anwar’s daughter) is quite dynamic, consistent, reliable, intelligent, but also quite religious and quite young for high political office. Her calls for reform and her apparent Islamic sincerity, presents a difficult and dichotomous issue in the debate over how much, if any, Sharia Law there should be, and how much Civil Law there should be in Malaysia. And which cases go to which court, which is not always clear.
Malaysia’s comparative advantage is decreasing, Singapore’s has been high for so
long everyone has forgot, Indonesia and Vietnam are slowly progressing, economically,
and if Vietnam wanted to grow Palm Oil and export it, competing with Malaysia (as Indonesia already does), Vietnam would find a way. Malaysia is the second wealthiest country in ASEAN, after Singapore (though Singapore’s per-capita GDP is about 3 times that of Malaysia’s, I believe) and the hard work of Malaysians, of all backgrounds, should be celebrated. But Malaysia faces serious issues that surround income equity, the human rights of Bumiputera and Orang Asli peoples, as well as the three primary ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malays, Chinese and Indians), growing anger in East Malaysia, so
distant from KL and Putrajaya, yet dominated
by wealthy UMNO chieftains (e.g., Datuk Taib in Sarawak and Datuk Aman in Sabah), and East Malaysia giving most of its financial rewards to Putrajaya, and most of its natural resources to foreign companies (e.g., Japan, China, etc.). Then there is “Pendatang” and Ibrahim Ali’s hoof-and-mouth disease, and UMNO’s stolidness, and the divisions among some of the opposition parties which form an oxymoronic mix of Islamic PAS, pseudo-secular PR and mostly secular DAP.
Finally, any reform (economic, social, political, religious, military, etc.) requires an ethical, diligent and intelligent judiciary: There is little evidence that Malaysia has yet achieved such a judiciary. Thus, any reform laws that are promulgated
may not be so reforming in the end, and will likely come with political and financial conditions attached to them (which is a polite way to say largesse). So, whither reforms in Malaysia ?
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
this is a shallow piece of commentary amd shows little understanding of the real power behind the scene: it is the amaat regime we should be focused on as this has constructed an imagining of Thaksin to serve their own interests and claw back their power which was so successfully coopted by the masses through the electoral ballot box. if academics cannot see this now…!
November rain for democracy in Thailand
So the same old faces have come back to haunt us.Benjamin Zawacki no less,the 2010 one time golden boy of recently politicised Amnesty International.Never realised back then US Hawk Suzanne Nossel(look her up it’s worth it) was busy positioning Amnesty as a USG proppaganda outfit,but then I never realised back then HRW were stuffed with US corporate capitalists either.Why are we being honored with Bens presence?.Why are the US/UK A-teams back in town? Anyone ?
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
neptunean, it’s a hypothetical exercise … I’m not saying that this in any way a desirable scenario
Who can stop the Thaksin system?
My comment was not literal, it was symbolic, you obviously missed that. My point was (again) that Thaksin is super rich, gained wealth under questionable means, and owns several large corporation. The metaphor was not literal.
“Colombia GDP(2012) $369.8 billion. Thaksin Shinawatra and family $1.7 billion. Even allowing for inaccuracies in the figures, Peter’s statement is clearly ridiculous. These figures show Thaksin’s total net worth to be less than half of 1% of Colombia’s GDP! It does however illustrate the sort of mindless claims that are so regularly churned out by the Thaksin-haters.”
Your comments are childish, miss my point, and as I already told you, keep your opinion,
do not judge me (you do not know me), and YOUR derisive and insulting comment that I am part of a generalized group of “Thaksin-haters” has no basis because you neither know
me or no any political or other grouping to which I belong.
Please do not generalize, and do not deride my opinion about Thaksin and please do not deride me which you have by your incivility.
It seems your obsession with numbers, and inability to understand metaphors that aren’t literal, as well as your apparent defense of Thaksin (the “Thaksin’Haters”) means we have no basis for discussion, and I don’t like your belligerency, personally, and I have asked you to leave me alone and not pester me
again with your silly and idle prattle.