T’was once a shining, splendoured thing Such hopes that Life itself daren’t cage Eyes that once gleamed with love ablaze Now dulled by slow, relentless age. And for its passing do I pray That you do find amidst your Rome a Life that shines, with splendour still And may Peace find its harboured home.
Puisi I – Mata Hati
Cerah mata memandang kamu
Cerah hati menumpas ragu
Dua jiwa berkongsi hidup
Takhta kasih berhias sanggup
Redup mata menatap kamu
Redup hati nyaman beradu
Naung jiwa di taman syahdu
Sanggul nyawa dirangkul baldu
Sungguh berkat hidup berdua!
Penuh rahmat hidup bersama!
Kasih mata memandang kamu
Kasih hati nyaman bertemu
Tiada berpisah walau terpisah
Di taman abadi bertemu wajah.
Poem I – Perplexed
I hold myself in state perplexed,
Wherefore these so-called friends have flexed
their blind obeisance to a thief
Who gladly lends this nation grief.
Affrightened, shocked, we then did gasp
at tales of nation’s riches grasp’d,
In revelations of ill gain
and debts of billions now retained
at cost of our own public purse
And echoes of our children’s curse.
And herein lies my ill content
My queried mind in bafflement
What makes these fools of certain grief
to take up cudgels for a thief,
To make false claims of justice bent
When Justice was what God had sent?
Perhaps our own minds were athwart
Too bubbled up to see the art?
Or mayhaps those who know facts well
were flummoxed at the blatant spell
T’was cast by Power’s heavy wand
That Great and Good would dumbly stand
aside as thieves ruled in their prime
with robes of gold to hide their grime,
and riches piled for those with might
to plunder all in broad daylight.
And in minority we stand
The few and frazzled of the land
Accused of being “out of touch”
We’re told that politics is such:
That “Bossku”’s cause is of the right,
That white is black and black is white!
Then destined are we for the fall
a nation that would not stand tall
to judge a thief a criminal,
but rather praise a convict’s gall.
Today’s Reads III
- This ought to be required reading for everyone seriously thinking about how to refit Capitalism for the 21st Century, in a way that promotes social value, and combats the scourge of Inequality. Does it mean that Capitalism can really only be saved by those who scorn its trappings and excesses? Watch this space…
- Sometimes mockery and satire is the only way to speak Truth to Power. Yet another gem from Reddit’s “Am I The Asshole” subreddit 😀
- FT’s Rana Foroohar argues that we are entering a post-neoliberal age, where the balance between Capital and Labour will begin to tilt towards the latter, after 4 decades of the Thatcher/Reagan consensus. In some senses, Malaysia is already on this trajectory, with recent revisions to minimum wage and other labour-oriented legislation. Will it be enough to stave off the pitchforks, though?
Byju Red Flag…
Red flag alert 🚩🚩🚩
Today’s Reads II
- Paul Krugman: “There are always a number of people out there who just can’t accept the idea of fiat money as a technocratic tool of economic management.” #tweet #money #economics
- Why regulations are ‘sticky’ and hard to unwind: “Firms typically resist new regulation attempts in order to avoid the corresponding compliance costs. However, once regulations are implemented, compliance costs are often sunk and cannot be recouped. Therefore, existing firms will often resist efforts to remove the very rules they initially fought against, since these regulations become barriers that stand between them and potential competitors who haven’t yet paid the compliance costs. These dynamics all but ensure that there is no influential constituency to support removing regulations once they are enacted.” #regulations #reform #economics #publicinterest
- David Rubenstein’s 10 rules for investing in #privateequity funds: “Look at the organisation’s ability to keep people. If… people are always leaving an organisation that is an important indicator.”
Today’s Reads I
- “Herschel Walker, the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia who has been a vocal critic of absentee fathers in Black households, acknowledged Tuesday that he has a second son with whom he has little interaction.” #politicians #hypocrisy
- “This is not about grammar or spelling errors, but disrespect for the national language. The proposed fine is not to punish but to evoke love and patriotism to the country.” #totalitarianlogic
- Marc Andreessen on loving the humanities: “I spent the first 25 years of my life trying to understand how machines work,” Marc says. “Then I spent the second 25 years, so far, trying to figure out how people work. It turns out people are a lot more complicated.” https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/marc-andreessen/
Jangan Pernah Malu
Crisis of integrity? What crisis?
Three Things I am Thinking about Today #10
- We should not be surprised when autocrats abuse their powers to pursue their own personal agenda, even if it includes the illegal surveillance of an ex-wife. Looks like the backlash against Big Tech is gaining even further momentum now.
- I wonder why some folks would rather risk their lives than submit to vaccinations – a mode of treatment that has been proven to subdue the most virulent diseases known to mankind. It is as if some of us are insistent on erasing themselves from the human gene pool. Very odd.
- The rise of petroleum in our energy mix has led to more than a century of geopolitics being driven by the politics of the Middle East. Now that we are confronting a future where renewable energy technology will become an increasingly significant part of the future of global energy, the security of supply of battery manufacturing – amongst many other potential flashpoints – will begin to feature prominently in the evolution of global politics. Will US-China trade tensions escalate into a Cold War-style balkanization of global supply chains? Will countries like Korea and Japan (and of course, China) be tempted toward military escalation in order to guarantee the uninterrupted supply of raw materials? For mineral-rich, small countries like Malaysia, how do we navigate this new, more treacherous future?
Three Things I am Thinking about Today #9
- As the world begins to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns arise that we might be heading into another era of stagflation, as global economic growth still looks to be frail, and commodity prices begin an inauspicious climb. Should we be worried? I think it’s too soon to be all anxious about such prospects, but it’s good that people are thinking about it. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
- After the recent oil price slump of 2014, crude oil prices have made a gradual climb back up, but have not yet reached the peaks prior to that slump. And while there was a major drop following the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, prices have recently recovered, and a commodity boom is now on the horizon. But how will oil prices fare in the years ahead, as consumer demand for decarbonisation accelerates? It appears to be that that dreaded “peak oil” scenario is likely going to happen soon, or at least within my own lifetime. That secular shift in energy patterns will lead to significant changes in the global economy, as well as geopolitics. That will also mean that the spoils could well go to countries with the foresight to capitalise on this once-in-a-lifetime shift, like the way China has ramped up its capacity for manufacturing solar panels. Other countries would be wise to follow suit.
- This might be controversial to say in certain circles, but after 50 years of the New Economic Policy, and the “emergency” measures of forcing the reallocation of corporate equity to the hands of the “Bumiputera”, it is clear that we need a different way forward. And yet we are recently told that Bumiputera institutions should only sell to (rich) Bumiputera buyers. Why persist with the type of policies that have been proven to have failed in the past, and reward those who are already wealthy, as opposed to helping those who truly need help? And why now, when the new government of the day is insisting that we are all one “Keluarga Malaysia”?