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Three Things I am Thinking about Today #5

  1. The Government is tabling a bill to raise Malaysia’s statutory debt ceiling from 60% to 65%, in order to fund stimulus measures to help Malaysians get through the pandemic. I think this is timely, and much needed. What is not clear, however, is whether this is a temporary or permanent raising of the debt ceiling (the title of the Bill suggests that this is temporary, but this is not made fully clear), and whether there is a clear plan for Malaysia to bring its debt levels back down to below 60% once the pandemic is truly over. We must not allow emergency measures to become a slippery slope that drives our nation’s finances into further indebtedness, especially after all the losses that we are incurring over the 1MDB looting. 
  1. While the debate in Malaysia’s parliament over raising the debt limit looks to be perfunctory, the United States seems to be spiraling into yet another bout of partisan bickering over its own debt ceiling. Madness? Yes. But this is the blowback that the US political class has purchased for itself when it walked blindly into the morass of the War on Terror, and the disastrous consummation of its flirtation with nativist no-nothingism with the Tea Party that had eventually led to Trump’s presidency. There is always a price to pay when you play with extremism in the pursuit of narrow parochial interests.  
  1. Here’s an interesting and totally expected thing that usually happens when you conflate a succession race with a plan to recover from a pandemic: the politics will almost always get in the way. What is Singapore thinking? Like mentioned in the article, this is not something that would have happened during Lee Kwan Yew’s time. Another chink in the armour, then, for the PAP government under Lee Hsien Loong? 
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Three Things I am Thinking about Today #4

  1. Turkey threatens to buy new missile system from Russia: is this the beginning of the end for Turkey’s membership of NATO? And will this lead to even sharper realignment of global geopolitics?
  2. The third MRT line’s alignment has been finalised and awaiting approval. I hope we do get this 3rd line done: Kuala Lumpur needs to step back from the brink of urban car congestion, and embrace more active modes of mobility. The alternative is unsustainable. 
  3. Like many of my generation, I have pegged a lot of my self-esteem and self-worth to my work. This is a good reminder that there is so much more to living than just what I do for a living.
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Three Things I am Thinking about Today #3

  1. Biden is setting a new goal for global vaccine equity: 70% of the world to be vaccinated by next year… which is already a stated goal by the W.H.O. “The U.S. wants to be engaged,” French virologist Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny said in response to this development, “but they still don’t know exactly how to engage with the new world that has developed while they were away.” Isolationism is not just a plaything for Trumpian political appeal: it has a real cost, on real human lives.
  2. The “bloated” size of the Malaysian civil service has been a favourite topic amongst opposition politicians of the past several decades, so this take on the size of the civil service is a pleasant surprise. Granted, the PSM would certainly have a bias for stronger public services. But at a time when much attention is being devoted to the Government’s operational expenses – and the heavy cost of civil servants’ emoluments – it would be interesting if a more nuanced position can be staked out on this long-running debate.
  3. Another taper tantrum ahead? At least it is good to know that the recovery seems to be progressing in earnest. But with concerns over Evergrande and the punishments being meted against Chinese businesses, a tapering could lead to oversized shocks for developing economies.  
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Three Things I am Thinking about Today #2

  1. Another anti-Trump politician is self-purging himself from the Republican Party, asking himself, ““You could fight your butt off and win this thing, but are you really going to be happy?” I wonder if a similar trend might soon take place in Umno. The Bossku  phenomenon suggests that Umno is at a crossroads: will the party turn back towards the middle ground, and reclaim the popular vote that it has progressively lost since 2008? Or will Umno stay in its current hard-right corner, justifying corruption and grand larceny in the name of Malay supremacy?
  2. The fact that an 84-year old Ku Li is still a “player” in Umno – the party of Tunku and Tun Razak and Tun Dr. Ismail – shows the depths of the party’s current lack of leadership talent. 
  3. China trolls its Pacific neighbours, even as the US tightens its focus on Asia with its recent Aukus deal.
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Three Things I am Thinking about Today #1

  1. Keep all your rough drafts and notes. You never know if you make it big some day, just like Van Gogh.
  2. Even with better medical care, the death toll from Covid-19 is now officially worse than the 1918 Spanish flu, thanks to all those anti-vaxxers who “want to do their own research.”
  3. With China cracking down on businesses, is a “bamboo curtain” about to fall, and would Southeast Asian nations like Malaysia be forced to choose?
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300 Words About Learning to Let Go

It doesn’t appear much on the front pages of Sinar Harian or Utusan Malaysia, but I cannot stop thinking about the recent announcement of the AUKUS alliance, which certainly helped to advance America’s intentions to escalate its stance against China, but has also brought the relationship between the USA and France to a level of tension that has not been seen since the late 18th century. 

What was particularly interesting to me is the venom with which France has responded to the recent developments. French diplomats called it “a stab in the back.” “You can’t understand the depth of our anger and sense of having been disrespected.” These words from the French ambassador to Australia were very telling. 

Just like Brexit, I believe that the fury of the French reaction can only be truly understood when seen in the long arc of imperial history. 

The French, under Napoleon, were on the brink of European – and by extension, given the colonial drive of the 1800s, one could even say World – domination, until Waterloo. French history, since then, has been one long slide downwards, culminating in the submission to Germany in World War II, the humiliation of Dien Bien Phu, and the loss of Algeria.

Like Britain, France has struggled to adapt to the realities of postwar Europe, and the primacy of America. How will France move forward from here? If Britain’s example is anything to go by, there will be further flailings of existential angst to come. 

Will France go as far as switching its allegiance away from its Atlantic allies, and cozy up to Russia and China? At the moment, this seems rather unlikely, but stranger – and more suicidal – things have happened when nations cannot let go of a glorious but all-too-distant past. 

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300 Words about Writing

I have been blogging, on and off, for the past two decades. I have never been able to keep a regular momentum going, though, and I envy those persons who have had the focus and consistency to maintain an active and lively blog.

The age of blogging, of course, has come and gone. Online content creation has migrated from longform musings on Tumblr and Blogspot, to snippets of wit and flaming on Twitter, to the cacophony of shortform videos that make up the vanguard of today’s social media. For a reader like myself, however, there is a satisfaction in engaging with ideas and exposition, that cannot be quenched by the fast-food nature of contemporary content. 

My recent reading of Borges’ Fictions has reminded me that short stories, when wielded by a maestro, can become a powerful medium to explore ideas that encompass dizzying multitudes. An imaginary encyclopedia about an imaginary planet that makes up the imaginary literature of an imaginary Central Asian nation? A fable about a man who can never forget anything? A short story about betrayal and identity and regret? All these things can come alive, from the sheer combination of letters to conjure up worlds imagined and unimaginable.

Another recent inspiration has been the 200 Words About Culture blog on Substack. It doesn’t – and shouldn’t – take much to put your thoughts out into the world: to amuse, to entertain, to educate, or perhaps merely to record the passing of our limited days on this earth. 

And what is stopping me from writing? Nothing much other than the gnawing – and yet overpowering – sense of “who would care about what I have to say?” I have been sitting with this for some time now, until I realized: I should care. And that should be enough. 

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Why I Really Dislike Bullying

Anyone who has grown up in schools and playgrounds would know that bullying is a rather common problem. Bullying is a basic form of power games, and indeed constitutes part of our early initiation into the mysteries of human life. 

I personally find bullying particularly abhorrent. Bullying is a weapon of the weak-willed; for those who try their hardest to divert attention from their own sense of inadequacy by shining an unflattering light on those of others. 

There is also a performative element to bullying: most bullies relish the idea of having fellow gang members around them to observe the humiliation and disempowerment of the victim. The bullying act must be seen and witnessed, for it to be truly savoured. 

Perhaps I am being too precious. The law of the jungle seems to be an ineluctable fact of human existence. We must eat, or be eaten: the Darwinian concept of natural selection is what gives our lives its sense of mission and urgency and purpose.

But contest and competition can and must be governed by Honour: this is the principle that underlies the basic architecture of human relations. We need rules and guidelines to tell us how to play the game; referees to enforce those rules and keep people honest; penalties for when rules are broken. The bully scorns such niceties, and considers himself above the rules that must be abided by others. 

Like in our childhood playgrounds, bullies ought not to be tolerated. We need to call them out for who they are, and what they are doing. Confronted with real and sustained power, the bully shrinks and walks away. This is the only language that the bully understands, and we should not be afraid to speak that language when we have to. 

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The Character of Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him)

One of the most powerful aspects of the religion of Islam that has always struck me as patently obvious, and yet so obviously ignored by Muslims in our own daily lives, is the character of Prophet Muhammad. Even before his prophethood, Muhammad was described as a trustworthy person. Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Draz, in his classic exposition of the miracle of the Quran, described Muhammad (peace be upon him) thus:

“His tongue would not utter a word without knowledge, and his eyes would not attempt to conceal anything different from what he declared. Moreover, he would not listen to those who were inclined to exaggeration as they sang his praises. He was great in his humility, with frankness and honesty that are very rare among leaders and with meticulousness that is exceptional even among scholars.”

How many of our Muslims “leaders” would this moral standard that Prophet Muhammad has exemplified for us? How many of our kings and prime ministers have employed deceit and oppression, supposedly in the defense of the religion? How many of our presidents and politicians would swell with pride as their sycophants murmur approval and adulation? 

Humility, frankness, and honesty: these can feel like bygone qualities for a bygone age of heroes. And yet, these are the qualities that many Muslims continue to demand in our leaders. 

The late Nik Aziz, one could argue, had a rather lacklustre record in his 23 years as Chief Minister of Kelantan. And yet, he continues to hold a strong grip on the imagination of many Malay Muslims. They remember his simple frugality, his humble demeanour, his plain spoken charm. 

Humility, frankness, honesty. We can only pray that many more of us may start emulating Muhammad, fully and joyfully, in our everyday lives.