The Malaysian Insider

SEPT 8 – A few days ago Christian Aid put a full-page advert in a London newspaper. They asked readers to urge Gordon Brown to call the European Union to cut domestic carbon emission by 40 per cent by 2020, and ensure developing countries have all the resources necessary to reduce emissions, develop cleanly and adapt to climate change.

The advert was published in preparation for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. Several NGOs, including Christian Aid, have already started their campaigns in the run-up to the summit.

“Green” campaigns such as this one may look good superficially. After all, surely we all want to look after our planet. But examined more closely, there are traps that could create unnecessary hurdles for developing countries like Malaysia to prosper.

AUG 17 – This week (16 – 22, August 2009) is World Water Week. Hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the theme this year is “Accessing Water for the Common Good”. A series of seminars and talks are being held in Stockholm to examine the topic from a global perspective.

To mark this year’s World Water Week, the Malaysia Think Tank is publishing the report “Water Provision in Malaysia: Privatise or Nationalise?”

The report, which is available for free download from www.WauBebas.org, looks at what we can learn from the global successes and failures of water management.

JULAI 27 — Sekiranya kita hanya berbicara mengenai persoalan ekonomi dan bukan hal-hal lain, maka saya memuji tindakan Datuk Seri Najib Razak menjadikan ekonomi negara kita lebih liberal. Walaupun ekonomi kita masih belum liberal sepenuhnya, beberapa langkah liberalisasi yang diusahakan oleh Perdana Menteri merupakan tindakan permulaan yang baik.

Proses liberalisasi pasaran di Malaysia sedang berlaku tatkala beberapa kuasa besar dunia menunjukan belang proteksionis mereka. Amerika di bawah Presiden Barack Obama mewarwarkan polisi “Beli Barangan Amerika”. Negara-negara lain pula membalas dengan dasar perlindungan sempit masing-masing. China, Russia, Australia, dan beberapa negara dalam Kesatuan Eropah kini semakin galak mahu melindungi industri domestik mereka.

JULY 1 — The article by Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad MP  makes a very interesting read.  The way he presented his ideas shows just how risky it is to speak up against the top brass in PAS.

Just look at the top half of Dzulkefly’s article. Even though he is a member of PAS’ central committee, he had to write twelve paragraphs just to justify opening his mouth. It was as if in PAS, freedom of expression exists only if you can justify it.

Obey, or else…

JUNE 16 — PAS is obviously not homogenous. There are more than one school of thought in the party. The two most obvious schools are the conservatives and the “more-liberals”. I hesitate to call the latter “liberals” as many of them stop short of believing in classical liberal ideas. But they are definitely more liberal than the conservatives.

And I also hesitate to use the term “ulama group”. There are those who are not religiously educated but still hold to a conservative worldview. In reality, some of the ulama are just a subset of the conservatives, and not all ulama are conservatives.