On Unemployment

Citizens of the World,

Editorial:


By the end of this year, God forbid, we could see 50 million jobs lost worldwide, according to the International Labour Organisation. Here, more than 10,000 Malaysians have already lost their job since the start of 2009. That's about 357 people losing their jobs everyday this month. Now times that by the number of family members each of them has to feed. Even the thought of it makes me thankful for every grain of rice I had for dinner. I know that the government have their plans to mitigate this, and hopefully it plays out well. If not an issue of governance, it's an issue of faith to maintain full employment.


Item 1: "Rewriting the Rule Book for 21st Century Capitalism" by Jeffrey Sachs

Wisdom:

- Two core truths of sustainable development: that technological overhaul lies at the core of the challenge, and that such an overhaul requires a public-private partnership for success
- Free-market ideology is an anachronism in an era of climate change, water stress, food scarcity and energy insecurity


Item 2: "Interview of the President" by Hisham Melhem

Wisdom:

- All too often the United States starts by dictating -- in the past on some of these issues -- and we don't always know all the factors that are involved
- Israel is a strong ally of the United States. They will not stop being a strong ally of the United States. And I will continue to believe that Israel's security is paramount
- I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries
- I do think that it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress.


Item 3: "Is this the End of Warren Buffett" by Doug Kass

Wisdom:

- (Buffett) seems to view Berkshire's intrinsic value as the sum of its investments per share plus approximately 12 times pretax profits, excluding all income from investments
- Derivatives (massive short put positions), Buffett's refusal to sell and his apparent lack of recognition that investment moats no longer exist in some of his largest investments (especially in banking), I now feel that Berkshire's valuation will steadily suffer


Item 4: "George Mitchell and the Middle East" by Gerry Adams

Wisdom:

- Mitchell Principles:
i. To democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues
ii. To the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations
iii. To agree that such disarmament must be verifiable to the satisfaction of an independent commission
iv. To renounce for themselves, and to oppose any effort by others, to use force, or threaten to use force, to influence the course or the outcome of all-party negotiations
v. To agree to abide by the terms of any agreement reached in all-party negotiations and to resort to democratic and exclusively peaceful methods in trying to alter any aspect of that outcome with which they may disagree
vi. To urge that "punishment" killings and beatings stop and to take effective steps to prevent such actions.
- He patiently plotted a course through all of this. He brought to the process a legislative and judicial experience that saw the negotiations format changed from one of large cumbersome meetings to one of smaller groups of negotiators, usually involving the leader and deputy leader of the parties. This provided for a greater focus on the detail of the issues, and it facilitated a more workable and productive arrangement
- George spent a great deal of his time in side meetings with the parties
- In a peace process, the goal must be an inclusive agreement that is acceptable to all sides, is doable, deliverable and sustainable. That means enemies and opponents creating space for each other. It means engaging in real conversations and seeking real solutions. It means accepting that dialogue is crucial and that means recognising the right of the Palestinian people to choose their own leaders, their own representatives.


Item 5: "No Room for Israel Under America's Umbrella" by Max Boot

Wisdom:

- Obama team may consider extending the US nuclear umbrella to Israel in the event that Iran goes nuclear
- It is not clear what purpose a US nuclear threat would serve, since Israel has its own nuclear arsenal, estimated to contain 100-200 warheads
- During the cold war the two superpowers came perilously close to nuclear conflict on at least two occasions; not only during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis but also during Nato’s 1983 “Able Archer” exercise, which some in the Kremlin misread as preparations for an actual first strike


Item 6: "Partnering with Pakistan" by Asif Ali Zardari

Wisdom:

- Special envoy to Southwest Asia - Richard Holbrooke
- Pakistan has repeatedly been identified as the most critical external problem facing the new administration
- Abandonment of Afghanistan and Pakistan after the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s set the stage for the era of terrorism that we are enduring
- Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act - $1.5 billion annual commitment to social progress
- Water crisis in Pakistan is directly linked to relations with India


Item 7: "Democracy...Its Constraints" by Ignas Kleden

Wisdom:

- To assume that democratic principles and values are particular depending on where they are implemented, is highly risky
- 1959 - President Sukarno declared so-called "Guided Democracy" - supposed to be a better fit for the Indonesian character, which, it was claimed, was incompatible with liberal democracy
- President Soeharto, during the New Order administration, introduced the concept of Pancasila Democracy - Indonesia democracy should be in line with the five principles of Pancasila
- Of the 550 members of parliament, there are no more than 40 percent who are able to engage in substantial debates about the issues under discussion. The re-maining 60 percent can only be involved in the debates about their parties' position, but can offer no contribution whatsoever to the substance of the debate


Item 8: "The Stimulus is a Fiscal Straitjacket" by Jeffrey Sachs

Wisdom:

- US debate over the fiscal stimulus is remarkable in its neglect of the medium term
- 2008 stimulus package of $100bn in tax rebates was rushed into effect - had little stimulus effect - largely saved or used to pay down credit card debt, rather than spent
- US federal tax system collects about 18 per cent of gross national product, while the total of just five categories of public spending – Social Security (retirement and disability), health (Medicare, Medicaid), veterans’ benefits, defence and homeland security and interest payments – eat up about 18 per cent of GNP


Item 9: "A Measure Remodelled" by Joh Thornbill

Wisdom:

- Singapore – an open economy and a bellwether for global trade
- Commonly used indicator, gross domestic product, is an imperfect yardstick of economic activity
- A 24-member commission of prominent economists led by Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen, both Nobel prize winners, is due to report in April on ways of improving our economic bookkeeping
- Income = household consumption + investment (business, household and government) + government consumption (of goods and services) + (net trade = exports – imports)


Item 10: "Give Us Bangs for our Bailout Bucks" by Joseph Stiglitz

Wisdom:

- finance is the lifeblood of any economy
- strong stimulus is one that delivers a big bang for the buck – and quickly
- first focus should be on preventing further spending cutbacks; with states and localities limited to spending what they receive in revenues, and with tax revenues falling precipitously, making up for this shortfall is the natural place to begin
- spending should have as positive a long-run impact as possible - it creates an asset
- There was a trickle-down strategy: throwing money at the banks would trickle down to the rest of the economy. A trickle-up strategy, to prevent foreclosures, would almost surely have been far more successful

On Barack Hussein Obama's Inauguration

Citizens of the World,

Editorial:


What an historic moment it was. Barack Hussein Obama, sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. If there ever was a defining moment to symbolise the power of democracy, that was it. The speech was not that bad. It did not share the verve of Kennedy's timeless words, but it was not dull either. It's down to serious business now. I wish him all the best and Godspeed.


Item 1: "The U.S. Can Reclaim 'Smart Power'" by Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Wisdom:

- Smart power is the combination of hard and soft power
- Resources that produce soft power for a country - culture (when it is attractive to others), its values (when they are attractive and not undercut by inconsistent practices) and policies (when they are seen as inclusive and legitimate)
- America can become a smart America -- a smart power -- by again investing in global public goods, providing things people and governments of the world want but have not been able to get in the absence of leadership by the strongest country


Item 2: "Only Makes You Stronger" by Walter Russell Mead
Wisdom:

- Relentless series of crises has not disrupted the rise of a global capitalist system, centered first on the power of the United Kingdom and then, since World War II, on the power of the United States
- Financial crises in some way sustain Anglophone power and capitalist development
- Raul Prebisch - crises served a similar function in the international system, helping stronger countries marginalize and impoverish developing ones
- The biggest loser of the financial crisis thus far seems to have been Russia - Georgia invasion itself had already spooked foreign and domestic investors into pulling their money out of Russia - accelerated as the price of oil and gas fell by more than two-thirds - oil, fuel, and gas exports accounted for 65 percent of Russia's export revenues
- Over time, financial crises on balance reinforce rather than undermine the world position of the leading capitalist countries
- If financial crises have been a normal part of life during the 300-year rise of the liberal capitalist system under the Anglophone powers, so has war - wars of the League of Augsburg and the Spanish Succession; the Seven Years War; the American Revolution; the Napoleonic Wars; the two World Wars; the cold war


Item 3: "Expect the World Economy to Suffer through 2009" by Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini

Wisdom:

- U.S. economy is, at best, halfway through a recession that began in December 2007 and will prove the longest and most severe of the postwar period
- Credit losses of close to $3 trillion are leaving the U.S. banking and financial system insolvent
- The greater risk is for a kind of global "stag-deflation": a toxic combination of economic stagnation, recession and falling prices
- Policy remedies will have limited effect as insolvency problems constrain the effectiveness of monetary stimulus, and the risk of rising interest rates erodes the growth effects of fiscal stimulus packages
- Politics will make matters worse, primarily because governments in both the rich and the developing worlds are intervening in their economies more broadly and deeply than at any time since the end of World War II - politicians design stimulus packages with political motives -- to satisfy the needs of their constituents -- not to address imbalances in the global economy
- Its politics that is creating the biggest risk for markets this year


Item 4: "Five Lessons in Global Diplomacy" by Javier Solana

Wisdom:

- Key ingredients for tackling international problems:
i. Solution is always political - require political settlements that take account of the interests of all involved
ii. Intervention must always serve a political strategy and take account of the fact that foreign policy is all about the domestic politics of others
iii. Personalities and trust are essential
iv. No single country, even the US, can solve problems on its own
v. The best time to deal with a problem is the moment it arises, before positions become entrenched – ideally, before anyone has noticed there is a problem at all
- Ultimately, the objective of diplomacy is to create agreed rules


Item 5: "America's Future is Tied to Asia's" by Michael Auslin

Wisdom:

- Even in this economic collapse, Asia continues to produce nearly two-thirds of global output, the majority of which is exported to the West
- Danger in the coming years is that fragile Asian economies might look to exclusive trading arrangements or move to protect domestic markets
- No U.S. role in Asia will be credible without a continued commitment to maintaining the U.S. military capability that has ensured regional stability for decades


Item 6: "The One State Solution" by Muammar Qaddafi

Wisdom:

- A two-state solution will create an unacceptable security threat to Israel - An armed Arab state, presumably in the West Bank, would give Israel less than 10 miles of strategic depth at its narrowest point
- The compromise is one state for all, an “Isratine” that would allow the people in each party to feel that they live in all of the disputed land and they are not deprived of any one part of it


Item 7: "A Stimulus Package for the World" by Robert Zoellick

Wisdom:

- call for each developed country to pledge 0.7 percent of its stimulus package to a vulnerability fund for assisting developing countries that can’t afford bailouts and deficits
- The economic crisis has already pushed an estimated 100 million people back into poverty
- three priorities for vulnerability fund investments:
i. safety net programs that are aligned with the developing country’s ability to put them to good use
ii. investments in infrastructure
iii. support small and medium-sized enterprises and microfinance institutions


Item 8: "Saudi Patience is Running Out" by Prince Turki al-Faisal

One very pissed diplomat.


Item 9: "America's Next Step" by Mikhail Gorbachev

Wisdom:

- A new model must recognize the need for multilateral cooperation
- Those who would like to start a new geopolitical game will be in for a disappointment. China is unlikely to accept; more generally, such games belong to the past
- The solution is to move toward a world without nuclear weapons. But this goal cannot be achieved if one country retains an overwhelming superiority in conventional weapons


Item 10: "Boycotting Israel is Doomed to Fail" by Seth Freedman

I pretty much agree with the guy.


Item 11: "A New Agenda for Davos" by Kofi Annan

Wisdom:

- Roots of this economic crisis go beyond an abject failure of financial governance and neglect of warnings of the risks being run
- There may have been endless talk of globalization, but it is very clear there has been a lack of recognition of what this means for us all - no country -- no matter how powerful or prosperous -- can control the forces of globalization on its own


Item 12: "Lessons of History that Point the Way to Peace" by James Dorsey

Quote:

Whichever way Palestinian politics develop, failure to engage Hamas now will only lead the Middle East further down the road of escalating violence, destruction and death. It would produce another unnecessary cycle of violence that, if history is a guide, would create an environment in which what can be achieved then would fall short of what is possible today.

On Obama Amnesia, Israel's Strategery, Rimau Luka, Bush's Foreign Policy Smarts, Unification and Realism

Citizens of the World,

I am currently waiting to hear what President-elect Obama has to say at his inauguration. Eveyone expects it to be a great inauguration speech, if not the greatest. Everyone. A journalist on CNN said that the sea of people at Washington now is similar to the one he'd seen in Mecca during the Haj.

In the meantime, check out this amazing prediction by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 and this impassioned speech by a British MP on the conflict in Gaza.


Item 1: "Obama - the Man is the Message" by Gideon Rachman

Wisdom:

- Obama amnesia
- Mr Obama inspires not because of anything he says, but because of who he is
- Michael Gerson, President George W. Bush’s speechwriter, says that when he sat down to read the inaugural addresses of all previous presidents, it became very obvious to him that the central theme of American history is race
- More than anything he said about the financial crisis, Mr Obama’s demeanour impressed the electorate


Item 2: "The Myth of Israel's Strategic Genius" by Stephen M. Walt

Wisdom:

- Israel's past military achievements:
i. 1948 War of Independence
ii. Sinai in 1956
iii. Capture of Adolf Eichmann in 1960
iv. Beginning of the 1967 Six Day War
v. Hostage rescue at Entebbe in 1976.

- occasional tactical successes have not led to long-term improvements in their overall security situation

- Mishaps:
i. 1956 - scheme to seize the Suez Canal and topple Nasser's regime in Egypt - subsequent attack was a military success but a strategic failure: the invaders were forced to disgorge the lands they seized while Nasser's prestige soared at home and across the Arab world, fueling radicalism and intensifying anti-Israel sentiments throughout the region. The episode led Ben-Gurion to conclude that Israel should forego additional attempts to expand its borders -- which is why he opposed taking the West Bank in 1967 -- but his successors did not follow his wise advice
ii. 1966 - Six Day War - Israel's leaders who chose to start it - after seizing the West Bank, Golan Heights and Gaza Strip during the war, Israeli leaders decided to start building settlements and eventually incorporate them into a "greater Israel." - Leon Wieseltier has described as "a moral and strategic blunder of historic proportions."
iii. 1968 - War of Attrition - Egypt tried to get back Sinai - ceasefire in 1970 - Egypt and its Soviet patron used the ceasefire to complete a missile shield along the Suez Canal that could protect Egyptian troops if they attacked across the Canal to regain the Sinai - they ignored Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's peace overtures and left him little choice but to use force to try to dislodge Israel from the Sinai
iv. 1982 - Invasion of Lebanon - brainchild of hawkish Defense Minister Ariel Sharon - destroy the PLO and gain a free hand to incorporate the West Bank in "Greater Israel" and turn Jordan into "the" Palestinian state - LO leadership escaped destruction and Israel’s bombardment of Beirut and its complicity in the massacres at Sabra and Shatila were widely condemned - prolonged and heavy-handed occupation helped create Hezbollah
v. 1980s - Nurtured Hamas - as a way to undermine Yasser Arafat/Fatah
vi. Peace deals - Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Benjamin Netanyahu all refused to endorse the idea of a Palestinian state - Ehud Barak's belated offer of statehood at the 2000 Camp David summit did not go far enough - arak's own foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, later admitted, "if I were a Palestinian, I would have rejected Camp David as well."


Item 3: "Southeast Asia's Wounded Tigers" by Abe de Ramos

Wisdom:

- Developing economies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are being reduced to a fringe role in the global economic landscape
- Won’t be able to regain the “tiger economy” status they once held without building a stronger domestic base
- Being in the middle of the supply chain East Asia has created in the last 20 years—in which a computer is designed in Japan or Taiwan, its components made in Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia, then assembled in China
- Private consumption expenditure as a component of GDP has barely budged since at least 1990 - state expenditure and capital formation through investments...lagged across Southeast Asia
- Larger economies of Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, exports have grown and made significant contributions to their GDP growth over the period
- Current crisis, as it washes on their shores, should challenge the region to reassess its vision for the future, perhaps towards a domestic economy able to dictate its own fate


Item 4: "Bush's Foreign Policy Successes" by RealClearWorld

Wisdom:

i. Colombia - closer than ever to ending its war with FARC
ii. Military transformation - swiftly depose two governments with minimal use of U.S. troops, and thus, a minimum loss of American life
iii. India - nuclear deals
iv. China - "uncanny nimbleness"
v. Africa - saved millions of lives


Item 5: "China Makes the Road to Unity Even Longer" by Chen Shui-bian

Wisdom:

- China’s slogan of “one country, two systems” could seem quite attractive to some. Without changing the status quo, you could have your own army, judicial system, currency and could fully govern yourself. Why not consider it? Because the problem is not with “two systems”, it is with “one country”. Once Taiwan ceases to be a country, once the ROC ceases to be a country, how can we enjoy a life of luxury as slaves?
- The EU’s success is because of four principles, worth referencing in our case: sovereignty, democracy, peace and equality


Item 6: "A Return to Realism" by James A. Baker III

Wisdom:

- Have to get Hamas involved, because you cannot negotiate peace with only half the Palestinian polity at the table
- The Syrians claim that they can get Hamas to acknowledge Israel's right to exist
- We should be willing to enter into a security guarantee with Israel, to make it feel comfortable enough to negotiate peace
- You don't get peace from unilateral movement out of Gaza or anywhere else
- There ought not be any more settlements, just like there ought not be any more rockets launched at Israel
- Take into account both national interest and values
- Pragmatism is getting things done, and it can be principled
- Some people want to re-create another enemy out of China or Russia. We're not going to agree with them all the time, but those countries are not our enemies today.
- Three things. One, provision as much liquidity as you can. Two, coordinate our economic policies with our major trading partners. And three, do no harm: don't backslide on free trade and don't raise taxes in a recession.

Of New World Order, Fiscal vs. Stimulus, Government Spending, Historian's 2009, Take Aways, Bush was Right, Recession 2009, Drugs and War on Terror

Citizens of the World,

Item 1: "The Chance for a New World Order" by Henry Kissinger

Excerpts:

- During the period of economic exuberance, a gap had opened up between the economic and the political organization of the world
- Political and economic systems can be harmonized in only one of two ways - creating an international political regulatory system with the same reach as that of the economic world; or by shrinking the economic units to a size manageable by existing political structures
- (America) need(s) to modify the righteousness that has characterized too many American attitudes
- Extraordinary impact of the president-elect on the imagination of humanity is an important element in shaping a new world order - But it defines an opportunity, not a policy
- A frustrated China may take another look at an exclusive regional Asian structure, for which the nucleus already exists in the Asean-plus-three concept.


Item 2: "My Stimulus is Better than Yours" by Daniel Gross

Excerpts:

- Arguments against fiscal stimulus:
i. Ideological - Keynesian-style stimulus didn't work in the 1930s, so it won't work now.
ii. Aesthetic - question the efficiency - stimulus packages are the outcome of messy negotiations between Congress, the president, and, frequently, lobbyists - a result could be economic expansion as measured by standard statistics but little increase in economic well-being

- Arguments for monetary stimulus:
i. Christina Romer - in postwar recessions - monetary policy has been more influential than fiscal policy in the early stages of recoveries
ii. Changing structure of the U.S. economy has also led to a bias in favor of monetary stimulus - consumers and businesses have lots of debt and they buy a lot of goods and services made by foreigners

- The reality is that the situation calls for an "all of the above" approach


Item 3: "Is Government Spending too Easy an Answer?" by N. Gregory Mankiw

Excerpts:

- Valerie A. Ramey - estimates that each dollar of government spending increases the G.D.P. by only 1.4 dollars - when the G.D.P. expands, less than a third of the increase takes the form of private consumption and investment

- Christina D. Romer and David H. Romer - a dollar of tax cuts raises the G.D.P. by about $3


Item 4: "An Imaginary Retrospective of 2009" by Niall Ferguson

An historian's 2009.


Item 5: "10 Take Aways from the Bush Years" by Bob Woodward

Excerpts:

1. Presidents set the tone. Don't be passive or tolerate virulent divisions.
2. The president must insist that everyone speak out loud in front of the others, even -- or especially -- when there are vehement disagreements.
3. A president must do the homework to master the fundamental ideas and concepts behind his policies.
4. Presidents need to draw people out and make sure that bad news makes it to the Oval Office.
5. Presidents need to foster a culture of skepticism and doubt.
6. Presidents get contradictory data, and they need a rigorous way to sort it out.
7. Presidents must tell the public the hard truth, even if that means delivering very bad news.
8. Righteous motives are not enough for effective policy.
9. Presidents must insist on strategic thinking.
10. The president should embrace transparency. Some version of the behind-the-scenes story of what happened in his White House will always make it out to the public -- and everyone will be better off if that version is as accurate as possible.


Item 6: "History will Show that George W. Bush was Right" by Andrew Roberts

Excerpts:

- Measures he took to lock down America's borders, scrutinise travellers to and from the United States, eavesdrop upon terrorist suspects, work closely with international intelligence agencies and take the war to the enemy has foiled dozens, perhaps scores of would-be murderous attacks on America
- True reasons for invading Afghanistan in October 2001 and Iraq in April 2003 - 14 spurned UN resolutions, massive human rights abuses and unfinished business following the interrupted invasion of 1991 will be recalled
- Characteristic openness and at times almost self-defeating honesty, Mr Bush has been the first to acknowledge his mistakes – but there are some he made not because he was a ranting Right-winger, but because he was too keen to win bipartisan support


Item 7: "A Global Breakdown of the Recession in 2009" by Nouriel Roubini

Excerpts:

- United States economy is only halfway through a recession that started in December 2007 and will be the longest and most severe in the post-war period - the real GDP growth contraction playing out through the year as follows: first quarter 2009: -5%; second quarter 2009: -4%; third quarter 2009: -2.5%; fourth quarter 2009: -1%--adding up to a yearly real GDP growth of -3.4% for the U.S. in 2009.
- Latin American countries will face a significant slowdown in economic growth. A combination of negative external shocks will slow down regional GDP growth to 0.8% in 2009.
- latest cyclical upswing in the Eurozone was largely driven by a temporary but powerful boost to domestic investment from disappearing risk premia in the aftermath of the adoption of the single currency and by external demand from a buoyant world economy - expect a below-consensus contraction in real GDP of around -2.5%
- United Kingdom economy is poised to shrink in 2009. Our forecast of a -2.3% growth in real GDP is below consensus as we do not expect a recovery in the second half of the year
- Eastern Europe is set to slow abruptly in 2009 - Countries with the largest current-account deficits are the most exposed to sharp corrections.
- Reliance on exports and capital flows to fuel growth - Asia faces a gloomy 2009 amid a G-7 recession - Expect Asia's, excluding Japan, growth to slow down sharply to 3.8% in 2009 - Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan will remain in recession through the first half of 2009, which might extend into third quarter 2009 while the ASEAN economies will slow significantly from the 2004-07 growth trends.
- China will experience a hard landing in 2009, with growth unlikely to exceed 5%, a sharp slowdown from the 10% average of the last five years
- Reversal of capital flows and high credit cost will pull down India's growth significantly, to around 5% in 2009
- Japan's domestic demand continues to be an unreliable growth driver, and its export machine is stalling, given the global contraction and a stronger yen - foresee real GDP growth contracting 2.5% in 2009
- Australia's recession will likely end in 2009 after starting in fourth quarter 2008 - Average annual GDP growth in 2009 will be flat to sluggish (0% to 1%)
- global recession will reduce demand for Middle East and North Africa's resource and non-resource exports, and the global liquidity crunch will reduce capital inflows, growth is expected to slow to an average of 3% in 2009
- Commodity prices, which already fell sharply in the second half of 2008, will face further price pressure in 2009 - estimate an average West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price of $30 to $40 a barrel in 2009, as the fall in demand continues to outstrip supply cuts and production delays


Item 8: "Stimulating Our Way to Rock Bottom" by Ron Paul

Excerpts:

- Goal of the economy is not job creation
- Goal of a healthy economy is productivity - jobs are a positive outcome of that
- The truth is our economic problems are due to loose monetary policy, central economic planning, and the parasitic expenses of government


Item 9: "'War on Terror' was Wrong" by David Miliband

Excerpts:

- Notion of a "war on terror" has defined the terrain - phrase had some merit: it captured the gravity of the threats, the need for solidarity, and the need to respond urgently - where necessary, with force
- Idea of a "war on terror" gave the impression of a unified, transnational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida - reality is that the motivations and identities of terrorist groups are disparate
- Best antidote to the terrorist threat in the long term is cooperation - championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society - uphold our commitments to human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad
- Foundation for solidarity between peoples and nations should be based not on who we are against, but on the idea of who we are and the values we share

Of a Free Malaysia, a Reason for Peace and Have a Good Laugh, Muslims

Citizens of the World,


Item 1: Free Malaysia?

We're the 58th freest economy in the World (9th out of 41 in Asia Pacific), according to a Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal research finding. Seems that we scored slightly better this year. The full report on Malaysia is very interesting. Some excerpts:

- Above the world average in eight of the 10 economic freedoms
- Top income and corporate tax rates are moderate, and the overall tax burden is low as a percentage of GDP
- Non-tariff barriers still limit overall trade freedom
- Institutional challenges to overall economic freedom include corruption and a judiciary that remains vulnerable to political influence
- Bribery is a criminal act, but perceptions of widespread corruption and cronyism persist

Same old, same old, really. Is too much freedom a dangerous thing, though?


Item 2: A reason to end the conflict?

This maybe? If the land smells bad enough, maybe no one will want it anymore.


Item 3: Nice.

You Muslim? For the love of God, do not say these.

Of Malaysian Exports, Boycotts, The American Century and Netanyahu Strikes Back

Citizens of the World,



Item 1: Exports, Shmexports

So what if our exports are sliding? From the article, MATRADE CEO Datuk Noharuddin Nordin is ever the relativist, comparing our 5% drop to Japan and South Korea, whose exports declined 19% and 16% respectively. MATRADE has also decided to focus more of their promotion in 2009 on West and Central Asia, as well as the waking giants China and India. Maybe this will encourage Malaysians to focus more on services as most developing countries should. Also, expect more businessmen from the Stans asking you for directions at Bukit Bintang.


Item 2: Boycotts, Shmoycotts

Let me make it clear early on that, off the bat, I don't think boycotting works...when done individually at least.

Fine, I've heard the arguments and I've read the emails about how God will judge you not on what you achieve, but on what you did to achieve a certain moral goal. Thus, no matter how small the deed, i.e. boycotting goods made in a particular country, doing it ensures you the blessing of God and you should do it anyway regardless of its impact.

My argument is just that doing something whilst knowing that its impact will be minimal, and stopping there, is rather selfish. It makes YOU feel good more than it will hurt the people you want hurting.

I would like to suggest an alternative. Or rather, a step higher up the boycott ladder. You want to boycott? Fine. But do it whilst ensuring that the impact will be substantial. Pressure your nearest supermarket to stop stocking on the product. Pressure your government to halt transactions with that particular country. Organise a protest and call in the media.

But will this REALLY work? And who exactly will be hurt by a boycott?

I don't have the export numbers for Israel right now, but I'm sure it must be very substantial and involves importers from many countries. Now, to make the impact substantial, you have to ensure that all these countries participate as well. Especially their main trading partners i.e. US, UK, EU, etc. A step higher: go online. Share ideas on making a boycott work. You'll not only know more people, but you may even learn to not judge people by their religion of choice (plenty more on this xenophobia prevalent among Malaysians in a different posting).

As for the second question, will it only be Zionist Israelis that are hurt if no one buys Israeli goods? I've read somewhere before that the majority of factory workers in Israel are Arabs (Indonesians, in our case). What will happen to them when their plant closes? How will they earn a living? Is it worth taking away a bad person's source of income if an innocent person will be hurt too? Something to think about.


Item 3: The American Century-ed?

Not just yet. I have so much respect for the United States of America. At its best, I repeat, at its best, the nation and its principles have given so much to the World. Thus the 20th Century being widely called The American Century. The article quotes several reasons why the American Century is not ending just yet, despite the Economic crisis and quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are political dynamism, demography and, the one I most agree with, a high degree of competition. The encouragement and the spirit of competition brings out the best out of a person, a company and a country. A local example would be the prices we paid for groceries barely 10 years ago.

10 years ago my family moved to Subang Jaya. Back then one side of Subang was the gateway to Kuala Lumpur and on the other side we had palm trees that stretched far into the horizon. We bought our groceries at Bintang, a supermarket in Petaling Jaya which amazingly still stands today despite the virulent competition. The only difference to the store now is the dwindling number of people visiting it and the change to their logo, from a simple star to a more snazzier one. After a few years of driving half an hour and paying prices cents cheaper than the grocery store at Bintang, here comes Giant. Then Carrefour. Then Mydin. Now we have four supermarkets within ten minutes from our home. Groceries became cheaper, considering the inflation of course. We now have choice. My father can now choose to buy rice at Giant and yogurt at Carrefour because both products are cheaper at the respective outlets. Capitalism at work.


Item 4: Netanyahu Writes

From "Militant Islam Threatens Us All" by Benjamin Netanyahu:
- Moral clarity - There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy which seeks peace and targets the terrorists, and Hamas, an Iranian-backed terror organization that seeks Israel's destruction and targets the innocent
- Disproportionate force - Does proportionality demand that Israel fire 6,000 rockets indiscriminately back at Gaza? Does it demand an equal number of casualties on both sides? Using that logic, one would conclude that the United States employed disproportionate force against the Germans because 20 times as many Germans as Americans died in World War II.

Of Samuel Huntington

Fellow citizens of the world,


The great political scientist, Samuel Huntington, died on Christmas eve. I actually found out about this just yesterday while reading this. I've been an admirer of his works, filling up my bookshelves with as much of his books as I can get my hands on (latest tally: 2).

I remember when I was in one of my PolSci tutorials at the ANU and we were discussing his infamous article. Being the only Muslim, it was quite an effort convincing the class that I was not out to render them and their kind extinct. I noted how in Islam, just like in every other religion, different people interpret their teachings differently. In the case of Islam, different Muslims interpret the Quran and the Sunnah differently. Thus, there are those who find in the holy sources words of hate and terror, words that demand the blood of non-believers and the conquering of foreign lands. Yet at the same time, there are also people who find words of peace and acceptance, and words of love and charity. At the end of the day (or at the end of days, of course), the Almighty will be the ultimate judge of our rights and wrongs.

Back to Mr. Huntington. This man leaves a great legacy behind, not just in the magnanimity of his idea and discourse, but also inadvertently the arguments, counterarguments and more discourses that came about as a result. It is saddening to think that no more of his works are to be published and debated. Hopefully this generation and generations to come will look for wisdom in his works and find ways to avoid anymore "clashes".

Of 2009

2009 Outlook:

Economy: bleak

Internet: bleak

International Relations: balanced?

Of 2008

Citizens of the world,

Wow. What a year 2008 was. Personally, a lot of things were put into perspective, often not at my own will. I strive to think of the best moments of last year, yet my mind is clouded right this moment. Truthfully, it has been that way for a few months now. Despite 2008 being the year of HOPE and TRAGEDY, all I wish for is for the clock to turn back that I may right my wrongs. Or at least the biggest wrong I've ever made.

I pray for a better year ahead. I pray for a peaceful 2009. Happy New Year.