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This is a crosspost from the original on Lemmygrad here.
On the road to high-income
This is the 1st part of a 2-part series that aims to elucidate postcolonial Malaysian history. The 2nd part will focus on Malaysian-Chinese relations as an elaboration of the history and contradictions discussed here.
Each country in the region possesses its own unique and identifiable characteristic; Singapore is a hyper-capitalist dystopia, perhaps the only one in the region that could claim first-world status; Vietnam is a market socialist republic, ironically not unlike its bitter rival, China; Thailand is perhaps globally unique in its mix of royal and military authoritarianism; Brunei is akin to a Gulf State, with its oil wealth and Islamic absolute monarchy whereas the Philippines is more akin to a Latin American nation-state with its strongmen figures, cartel problems and US imperial interference.
Malaysia on the other hand can be identified by one particular characteristic: its profound mediocrity. It is rich, but not as rich as Singapore. It is authoritarian and corrupt, but never to the extent that can be found in its neighbours such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Leaders incompetent as such that they cannot be counted on to save their ass, and reformers so dull it cannot be counted on to pursue. On the whole, Malaysia is always reliably second place to something, in all things good or bad it always falls short of excellence. A jack of all trades, master of none. If Malaysia had another name, one could surmise it to be “Asal Boleh”.[^1]
the rest of the essay
Malaysia gained independence in 1957 with over 50% of the population living in poverty. The ruling classes, who collaborated with the colonizers in persecuting communists and left forces, were forced to embark on a series of developmentalist policies to negate rising class consciousness among the populace.
Ghana and Malaysia were once taught of as twin brothers, having gained independence in the same year with an economy of a similar size and structure. Now, after more than 65 years have passed, the story could be anything but different. Malaysia’s GDP per capita is now 5 times larger, life expectancy 11 years longer and manufactured goods account for more than 80% of exports. In stark contrast to Ghana, which still is stuck in raw commodity exports, priamrily gold.
Over the course of the 70s, 80s and 90s, a push for industrialisation saw the creation of a national car company, the establishment of semiconductor manufacturing in the northern state of Penang and the mechanisation of Palm Oil production, making Malaysia the world’s largest producer until 2006, when much more populous Indonesia finally overtook the country. Crucially, Malaysia also retained state control of its oil sector under the national banner of Petronas which continues to be a major source of foreign exchange and income.
The aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis prematurely ended this era of industrialisation. However unlike Malaysia’s neighbouring states, the nation’s state finances were largely positive and could afford to refuse the diktats of the IMF and World Bank that called for much more vast and expansive neoliberal structural adjustments. Additional competition from Chinese manufacturing meant Malaysia’s manufacturing sector was on the downturn during the 2000s and remained stagnant for much of the 2010s.
As the government steps into its 12th 5-year plan in 2020, an emphasis on (re-)industrialisation has now begun. Coupled with its New Industrial Master Plan 2030, the government now seeks to transform the economy to finally graduate from its upper-middle income status by 2030.
This would mark a first for a postcolonial country of a modest size and ethnic diversity to graduate to high-income. It would ultimately also be a first because it is a country that stood more in defiance than support of the West for much of its history.
The “New” Political Economy
However, this defiance in practice is quite restrained, as the country’s open economy means it is unable to antagonise any major economies, which includes the USA. This is reflected in the establishment’s reluctance in leaving the Five Powers Defence Arrangement (FDPA), a remnant of the country’s colonial history that stipulates military co-operation with it’s former colonial masters, the United Kingdom, and her other colonies, namely, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
Furthermore, there are still structural blocks that are withholding the nation’s ability to bring general prosperity to all. The racialized economic base remains largely unchanged since the colonial era, with one major exception, which is the establishment of an indigenous Malay-Muslim bourgeosie that benefits heavily from the inflated government bureaucracy and extensive network of government-owned and government-linked companies. Outside the public sector, which remains Malay-Muslim dominated, the private sector is still dominated by local Chinese and Indian haute-bourgeoisie that benefit from this racial stratification of the economy.
In the past, the British brought waves of Chinese, Indian and Javanese migrants to Malaya to work in the plantations and mines. Now, this pattern continues with Malaysia’s over-reliance and super-exploitation of foreign South Asian labour that depresses wages locally. Roughly 10% of Malaysia’s population are immigrants, amounting to 3 million, with an additional 2-3 million undocumented. Hosting the largest Bangladeshi population outside of Bangladesh itself.
The successful urbanisation and proletarianisation of a large vast of the Malaysian population, lead to the rise of a modern political Islam that, similar to Mao’s famous saying, is “surrounding the cities from the countryside”. In contrast to this radical political Islam is the rise of an affluent urban middle class, whose ideological pretensions vacillate between comprador anglophilia to “secular” cultural nationalism. This is reflected in the numerous political parties that dot the landscape of Malaysian politics, all with it's own class and ideological affiliations.
Malaysia is now at the crossroads of old and new. Questions of Marxism and Communism, which continue to be slandered in the political mainstream for being extremist, anti-thiest, and antithetical to “Asian culture”, is being countered at an astonishing rate for many who are tired of the old Cold War rhetorics. Figures that were sidelined and entire political histories ignored after the defeat of the left forces, are being rediscovered as many are fed up with the promises of development seemingly only benefiting those at the top.
Malaysia is not exempt from the transformations taking place in the larger world economy. In fact, Malaysian history is defined by its location between trading destinations which caused it to be colonized in the first place. For better or for worse, this central location allowed Malaysia to have an open (political) economy of remarkable fluidity and diversity. Internationalism is never too far from home.
[^1]:Sourced from an online essay titled "The New Cannot Be Born: Reflections on Politics in the Land of Mediocrities" by Anas Nor’Azim. Link.
*This is the 1st part of a 2-part series that aims to elucidate postcolonial Malaysian history. The 2nd part will focus on Malaysian-Chinese relations as an elaboration of the history and contradictions discussed here.* > Each country in the region possesses its own unique and identifiable characteristic; Singapore is a hyper-capitalist dystopia, perhaps the only one in the region that could claim first-world status; Vietnam is a market socialist republic, ironically not unlike its bitter rival, China; Thailand is perhaps globally unique in its mix of royal and military authoritarianism; Brunei is akin to a Gulf State, with its oil wealth and Islamic absolute monarchy whereas the Philippines is more akin to a Latin American nation-state with its strongmen figures, cartel problems and US imperial interference. > Malaysia on the other hand can be identified by one particular characteristic: its profound mediocrity. It is rich, but not as rich as Singapore. It is authoritarian and corrupt, but never to the extent that can be found in its neighbours such as Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Leaders incompetent as such that they cannot be counted on to save their ass, and reformers so dull it cannot be counted on to pursue. On the whole, Malaysia is always reliably second place to something, in all things good or bad it always falls short of excellence. A jack of all trades, master of none. If Malaysia had another name, one could surmise it to be “Asal Boleh”.[^1] Malaysia gained independence in 1957 with over 50% of the population living in poverty. The ruling classes, who collaborated with the colonizers in persecuting communists and left forces, were forced to embark on a series of developmentalist policies to negate rising class consciousness among the populace. Ghana and Malaysia were once taught of as twin brothers, having gained independence in the same year with an economy of a similar size and structure. Now, after more than 65 years have passed, the story could be anything but different. Malaysia’s GDP per capita is now 5 times larger, life expectancy 11 years longer and manufactured goods account for more than 80% of exports. In stark contrast to Ghana, which still is stuck in raw commodity exports, priamrily gold. Over the course of the 70s, 80s and 90s, a push for industrialisation saw the creation of a national car company, the establishment of semiconductor manufacturing in the northern state of Penang and the mechanisation of Palm Oil production, making Malaysia the world’s largest producer until 2006, when much more populous Indonesia finally overtook the country. Crucially, Malaysia also retained state control of its oil sector under the national banner of Petronas which continues to be a major source of foreign exchange and income. The aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis prematurely ended this era of industrialisation. However unlike Malaysia’s neighbouring states, the nation’s state finances were largely positive and could afford to refuse the diktats of the IMF and World Bank that called for much more vast and expansive neoliberal structural adjustments. Additional competition from Chinese manufacturing meant Malaysia’s manufacturing sector was on the downturn during the 2000s and remained stagnant for much of the 2010s. As the government steps into its 12th 5-year plan in 2020, an emphasis on (re-)industrialisation has now begun. Coupled with its New Industrial Master Plan 2030, the government now seeks to transform the economy to finally graduate from its upper-middle income status by 2030. This would mark a first for a postcolonial country of a modest size and ethnic diversity to graduate to high-income. It would ultimately also be a first because it is a country that stood more in defiance than support of the West for much of its history. **The “New” Political Economy** However, this defiance in practice is quite restrained, as the country’s open economy means it is unable to antagonise any major economies, which includes the USA. This is reflected in the establishment’s reluctance in leaving the Five Powers Defence Arrangement (FDPA), a remnant of the country’s colonial history that stipulates military co-operation with it’s former colonial masters, the United Kingdom, and her other colonies, namely, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. Furthermore, there are still structural blocks that are withholding the nation’s ability to bring general prosperity to all. The racialized economic base remains largely unchanged since the colonial era, with one major exception, which is the establishment of an indigenous Malay-Muslim bourgeosie that benefits heavily from the inflated government bureaucracy and extensive network of government-owned and government-linked companies. Outside the public sector, which remains Malay-Muslim dominated, the private sector is still dominated by local Chinese and Indian haute-bourgeoisie that benefit from this racial stratification of the economy. In the past, the British brought waves of Chinese, Indian and Javanese migrants to Malaya to work in the plantations and mines. Now, this pattern continues with Malaysia’s over-reliance and super-exploitation of foreign South Asian labour that depresses wages locally. Roughly 10% of Malaysia’s population are immigrants, amounting to 3 million, with an additional 2-3 million undocumented. Hosting the largest Bangladeshi population outside of Bangladesh itself. The successful urbanisation and proletarianisation of a large vast of the Malaysian population, lead to the rise of a modern political Islam that, similar to Mao’s famous saying, is “surrounding the cities from the countryside”. In contrast to this radical political Islam is the rise of an affluent urban middle class, whose ideological pretensions vacillate between comprador anglophilia to “secular” cultural nationalism. This is reflected in the numerous political parties that dot the landscape of Malaysian politics, all with it's own class and ideological affiliations. Malaysia is now at the crossroads of old and new. Questions of Marxism and Communism, which continue to be slandered in the political mainstream for being extremist, anti-thiest, and antithetical to “Asian culture”, is being countered at an astonishing rate for many who are tired of the old Cold War rhetorics. Figures that were sidelined and entire political histories ignored after the defeat of the left forces, are being rediscovered as many are fed up with the promises of development seemingly only benefiting those at the top. Malaysia is not exempt from the transformations taking place in the larger world economy. In fact, Malaysian history is defined by its location between trading destinations which caused it to be colonized in the first place. For better or for worse, this central location allowed Malaysia to have an open (political) economy of remarkable fluidity and diversity. Internationalism is never too far from home. [^1]:Sourced from an online essay titled "The New Cannot Be Born: Reflections on Politics in the Land of Mediocrities" by Anas Nor’Azim. [Link](https://jentayu.org/2024/02/06/the-new-cannot-be-born-reflections-on-politics-in-the-land-of-mediocrities/).
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Late response but surau is only used in Southeast Asia.
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The surau (a small prayer house) is the cornerstone of every village community here. Education, communal meetings and gatherings, and spirituality is found there.
In every surau, in every prayer - 5 times a day, in every khutbah, in every doaa, Palestine and Gaza is mentioned.
The same can’t be said about Saudi Arabia.
I can’t recall the number of Palestinian flags I have came across throughout the countryside and urban areas. That’s the reality of the mass support of Palestine.
May Allah grant victory to those that have been wronged. Amin.
Death to Capitalism and Imperialism.
Death to the Persian Gulf monarchies and Israel.
Death to Amerika.
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This has been the second time that I know of where there was news of an alleged Israeli normalization wrt to Indonesia.
Both are false from what I know and as you point out. It is overwhelmingly unpopular to normalize, historically, currently, and for the foreseeable future.
Normalization would anger both major factions of Indonesian Islam, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama. It is politically unfeasible.
I can only suspect the cause for such fake news to spread, probably as means of hybrid warfare of course, but the specific aims remains to be seen.
Free Malaysia Today despite the cringe name is okay in terms of news. I say it represents a neutral (Malaysian wise, so much much better) if slightly left-leaning on marginal local issues.
As for the the upgrading of military ties, yes that is true, and Western news source often amplify this fact when talking about Indonesian relations. However in reality, economically, Indonesia has always benefitted more from Chinese trade than the USA, unlike what can be said about Viet Nam, so I would still class it as par for the course for Indonesian foreign policy.
Unfortunately the aid dropping thing is common parlance for those supporting Palestine in Southeast Asia. The Jakarta Post is known to be a propaganda outlet for the ruling Indonesian establishment though. I suspect this “announcement” was made just for cheap political points locally.
Nothing fundamentally changes as of now.
It is unwise to portray all compradors and national bourgeoisie as having the same interests as each other. There are differences that can and should be exploited by left forces.
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On Friday, Bolivia's foreign ministry issued a statement, saying the country "expresses its solidarity with the sister People's Republic of China, in the face of the loss of life and severe material damage caused by a large earthquake that occurred in recent hours off the coast of Taiwan".
Lol
Taiwan slams Bolivia for quake solidarity with China - CNA
DPP authorities' politicization of earthquake a 'secondary disaster' to Taiwan residents - Global Times
I couldn’t find the actual statement on their website.
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I am not one to usually post deeply cynical stuff, but was going through Andre Vltchek’s works and this section especially relevant.
“It is a brutal horror show, the never-ending awfulness of Western neo-colonialism, as well as the sleazy servility of local rulers. The results are omnipresent: the beaches of entire countries are devastated and privatized. Whole enormous islands like Borneo, Papua and Sumatra are finished, scarred and poisoned by local and multi-national corporations. It is smoke and filth, clogged rivers, collapsed cultures. Entire ancient civilizations are wiped-out, converted to 4th rate replicas of Disneyland. No mercy, no compassion, no future.
But it is all hushed up. Crimes are denied. Outraged, confused nations are called ‘lands of smiles’, or ‘’friendly and tolerant archipelagos’.
It is insane, but tens of millions of foreign tourists descend on this ruined part of the world, annually. They see nothing. Some like it. They only nurture their complexes of superiority here. They do not want to understand anything. They choose to be blind. Cheap sex, shitty alcohol and beach food, as well as monumental sunburns. They continue the demolition work which has been triggered by their governments and corporations.”
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Thailand’s economy stumbles as Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia race ahead
Thai economy is falling far behind its Southeast Asian peers amid growing middle-income trap fears.
Growing fears? Thailand has been in the trap since the 1997-98 financial crisis that the imperialists subjected the country to. Surprising that when foreigners run a speculative roulette in your economy, it collapses! GDP growth has never been the same afterwards.
Now, under an 200 years-outdated Royal-Military superstructure I don’t see how things will improve. Suffering with a fertility rate of 1.3 without the economic development of South Korea, Japan or Singapore.
China’s BRI will help with badly needed infrastructure but the rot goes deeper. It is projected that Viet Nam will reach parity with Thailand’s economy by 2030, and soon overtake it after that. Long gone are the days of import-substitution industrialization.
Thailand may have escaped the tumultuous period of European colonization from the 1500s-1800s but is now suffering under the imperialism and “neo-imperialism” of the 1900s and 2000s.
No wonder Thailand ruling class has shifted it’s alliances towards China, as shown by the recent ISEAS poll. However, NGOs and “activists” have now been mobilised in this moribund economy to maintain US hegemony.
Betrayed and continuing to be betrayed by the West for 100 years. Sometimes we learn the lesson the hard way.
It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.
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Ironic isn’t it?
The countries that were most influenced by Chinese culture are often the most anti-Chinese.
South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.
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Singapore still has the next largest proportion of muslims in Southeast Asia, 15%.
And as much as they act otherwise, Singapore is still within the cultural realm of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. They inevitably will be influenced by the trends seen in their neighbouring countries.
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From that ISEAS survey that was linked before:
12.4% in Malaysia says Hamas was justified in attacking Israel
I serve the red, white and blue 🇲🇾🇲🇾
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Although that plays a large part, Muslim Southeast Asia has always been more China friendly than the rest. Even after Western propaganda regarding the Uyghurs.
In the survey itself, I think the more interesting shift is Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar edging closer or slightly surpassing the 50% mark.
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It depends on the country I feel. I think Singapore/Indonesia is more China friendly on the ground than is reflected in the polls. Philipines is much more neutral.
Myanmar - I am unsure which specific people and group they polled but I think certain ethnic enclaves are much more China friendly than it implies, especially along the border with China.
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Important to note that the ISEAS-Yusof Survey has always measured the opinions of the elites and the professional middle classes moreso than the average person.
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I definitely agree.
This article “Why ‘non-alignment’ is obsolete, costly optical illusion” does go over some issues regarding the toothless Non-aligned Movement if they do not fully commit to truly being independent like Iran or Belarus. I don’t really have any good arguments against what the author is saying, even if it’s mainly referring to an African context.
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I assume you mean DPRK’s relation with Indonesia/Malaysia?
From what I know there is some trade that goes on between both countries and North Korea but it is quite minuscule.
Right now North Korea still struggles with agricultural production and requires imports but both Malaysia/Indonesia, suffering from Imperialism, means that they are unable to provide what North Korea wants. Both Indonesia and Malaysia are net food importers. Indonesia especially is neo-colonized and de-industrialized.
Although Malaysia is able to provide industrial electronic goods, North Korea is able to source them directly from China which I assume is much easier and cheaper. Military equipment wise both Indonesia/Malaysia defence industries are undeveloped and so that also hampers any potential for trade with North Korea.
The relations between North Korea and Malaysia/Indonesia has and will probably continue to be mostly symbolic but I think the future does look brighter. Inshallah.
Edit: I forgot to say that Indonesia and previously Malaysia maintaining good relations with North Korea despite no economic benefits and invites criticism by the West does showcase some semblance of independence despite facing imperialism. It should be supported.
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I made a comment on Lemmygrad months back giving a brief overview of North Korea-Malaysia relations. Malaysians used to have visa-free access to North Korea.
Here’s a copy
North Korea-Malaysia diplomatic relations were cordial in the past but worsened in 2017 after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in 2017 in KLIA. Relationships soured further in 2021 after Malaysia expedited a North Korean businessman to the US in contradiction to north Korean wishes.
Further information by an official Malaysian government website. Another Malaysian site detailing the timeline of events.
Here is north Korea's official response by their Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is important to note however the Malaysian establishment is in favour of positive diplomatic relations with North Korea. Friendly relations is especially advocated by Mahathir, a member of the traditional Malay-Muslim ascendant national bourgeoisie that governed as PM from 1981-2003 and 2018-2020. He did leave remarks that he wanted to improve relations with North Korea when he was in power. However after the Sheraton move, and subsequently 2 governent reshuffles and the 2022 election, diplomatic relations with North Korea is stuck in limbo without any sign of change in the short term.
In terms of national ideology and foreign policy, North Korea and Malaysia have more in common than differences. To speak of it in a Malaysian perspective, Malaysia was one of the first member of ASEAN to normalize relations with communist countries. Despite being a middle-power state, it has more than 111 diplomatic missions in 85 countries, with a passport holding visa-free travel through 168 territories.
Although the current circumstances is unfortunate, I don't doubt that eventually Malaysia-North Korea relations will warm up again - especially with the decline of US-led Western hegemony.
As for Indonesia, this article titled Indonesia and North Korea: warm memories of the Cold War gives quite detailed information on the subject.
I’d also like to add that DPRK alongside Iran, are the only ones that maintain a strictly progressive and anti-imperialist position on “Israel” and Palestine.
All other AES and Islamic countries falter, either through their “2-state solution” rhetoric or even worse by having non-insignificant economic relations with “Israel” (looking at you Viet Nam).
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Is this a Uyghurs attempt by
?
Yes.
Iran has been facing crippling sanctions from the USA that is equivalent to that of Cuba.
We should be especially careful with narratives from Western media (Human Rights Watch) and Western-allied media (Al-Jazeera).
I did a quick read of the HRW report, which cites numerous Iranian Human Rights NGOs based in the USA, with one of them, on their wikipedia page even saying it was funded by the US Department Of State.
So much benefit of doubt is given to these Western aligned NGOs but not a single shred is given to an imperialized nation that is perhaps the only Islamic country on Earth to successfully and completely defeat Imperialism from it’s borders (except perhaps Algeria)?
Looking at the actual HRW report:
Immediately revoke all policies and repeal laws that legalize violations of the rights of Baha’is, including but not limited to:
- Article 12 of the Iranian Constitution
Oh Article 12 which states:
The official religion of Iran is Islam and the Twelver Ja'fari school [in usual al-Din and fiqh], and this principle will remain eternally immutable. Other Islamic schools, including the Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali, and Zaydi, are to be accorded full respect, and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. These schools enjoy official status in matters pertaining to religious education, affairs of personal status (marriage, divorce, inheritance, and wills) and related litigation in courts of law. In regions of the country where Muslims following any one of these schools [fiqh] constitute the majority, local regulations, within the bounds of the jurisdiction of local councils, are to be in accordance with the respective school [fiqh], without infringing upon the rights of the followers of other schools.
So they basically want to reverse the popular revolution of the masses that overwhelmingly supported the Islamic revolution of 1979? Perhaps now we know what the geopolitical aims that this false narrative of persecutions and oppression is hoping to entail?
By the way here’s Article 13 and 14 of the constitution:
Article 13: Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian Iranians are the only recognized religious minorities, who, within the limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.
Article 14: In accordance with the sacred verse; ("God does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with those who have not fought against you because of your religion and who have not expelled you from your homes" [60:8]), the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Muslims are duty-bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with ethical norms and the principles of Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human rights. This principle applies to all who refrain from engaging in conspiracy or activity against Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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foreigners are moving in.
Was this made in the 1500s
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Just read an article that talks about imperialism, neo-colonialism, coloniality, decoloniality and feminism that was funded by the NED.
We believe in collective movements and are interested in further observing the growing connectivity within and without the region, especially in the last few years: from Thailand to Myanmar and Hong Kong, as seen in the Milk Tea Alliance and pro-democracy movements. These show us the power of the people, who are constantly building political solidarity for a common goal. Our shared past (i.e. colonialism) still shapes our shared present struggle for an inclusive democracy.
Anti-imperialism in form but imperialism in substance.
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So the collaborator oligarchs that are conducting genocide in West Papua had the audacity to ask the Western mining conglomerate Freeport to invest in downstream industries and they are complaining.
Freeport warns copper export ban could cost Indonesia $2 billion in lost revenue
Classic
> MELAKA, March 25 (Bernama) - Melaka will serve as the host for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations established since 1974, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh. > He said he had sent a letter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim earlier to seek the Federal Government's approval for Melaka to be selected as the host for the celebration, considering that the state had established relations with the Great Wall country over 600 years ago. > "That's why I proposed to the Prime Minister to hold the 50th anniversary celebration of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations in Melaka and it has been generally agreed upon, and we have received a letter from the Foreign Ministry to propose the celebration events," he told Bernama. > Earlier, Ab Rauf had received a courtesy call from Bernama chairman Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai at his office in Seri Negeri here today. Commenting further, Ab Rauf said Melaka is very famous among Chinese tourists as it is depicted in the history books of the country during the five visits of Admiral Cheng Ho to the state. > "The history books of China (studied from elementary school to university) show Admiral Cheng Ho's [Zheng He] route to Southeast Asia, he came to Melaka five times, that's why any Chinese leader who comes to Malaysia must set foot in Melaka. >"There are Chinese leaders who come to Malaysia, they take sand from Melaka and put it in a bottle, they take it back... (that's) how they appreciate the history between Melaka and China that began 600 years ago," he said. > Meanwhile, Wong said Bernama is committed to supporting all efforts undertaken by the Melaka state government in the tourism sector including the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic ties, Visit Melaka Year 2024 (VMY2024), World Tourism Day, and the World Tourism Conference 2025 which will also be held in Melaka. >"I asked some Chinese tourists on Jonker Street (in Melaka) last night and they said they are more familiar with Melaka than Kuala Lumpur. > "For them, Melaka is a historical and very important city and in conjunction with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations, many events will be organised, so we assure that Bernama and other media will support the state of Melaka," he said. > Malaysia established diplomatic relations with China officially on May 31, 1974, thereby becoming the first ASEAN country to extend a hand of friendship to Beijing. Melaka is the city in which the Straits of Malacca gets its name from. Malacca is simply the old latinised spelling for it. China did not only interact with Islam in Central Asia, it had a a varied and influential history in Southeast Asia as part of the maritime Silk Road. Some scholars even argue that Chinese traders helped spread Islam in Southeast Asia. I have something in the pipeline that will hopefully be finished closer to the anniversary. It will cover Malaysia-China relations over the past hundreds of years - the good and the bad, the complexities and contradictions that I hope will give readers an appreciation of SEA history and politics. I also hope it will give a brief respite to the rampant Islamophobia and Sinophobia present in Western circles.
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2124249 Figured this should be shared here aswell. > Hello and warm greetings to my fellow news mega enjoyers and to the wider hexbear, lemmygrad and lemmy.ml community, > > I've been finding myself browsing the newsmega often and was often thinking of a way that would help me contextualize the discussions and news that I'm reading. I remembered an atlas I had in school that would show the location of industries and natural ressources (and more) and decided try to recreate a digital version similar to https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/. When I stumbled upon lemmy-js-client I found a fun way to display lemmy comments geographically, which I would like to share with you: > > https://hex-atlas.netlify.app/ > > ⚠️ **Spoiler Tags are not implemented** thus CWs are not hidden > > Nexus Features: > - [@SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net](https://hexbear.net/u/SeventyTwoTrillion) Bulletins > - Hexbear Reading List (Thank you [@CARCOSA@hexbear.net](https://hexbear.net/u/CARCOSA) for the suggestions) > - ProleWiki (Thank you Lemmygrad for maintaining this) > - Wikipedia/Natopedia > - Anarchist Library > > I'm open for suggestions, but would like to continuously add new features: > - Mastodon.social (well documented) > - Marxists.org (will be difficult) > - ~~Moon of Alabama (looks easy)~~ (Thank you [@someone@hexbear.net](https://hexbear.net/u/someone) for pointing out the transphobia) > - Usability and performance improvements > - and maybe more cool features where the guiding ideas are: "IRL Victoria 3 UI" and a "cockpit for newsmega-enjoyers" (e.g. comparing regions and seeing commodity/capital flows, real-time 1% flight data, vessel data - to enjoy the ansar allah blockade, virgin chad ranking, etc.) > > > > Basic usage: > - use query to search location by query e. g. brics and find discussions pertaining to the selected location. > > - the query field can also be used to find and filter content by communities that are not listed > > - on Mobile long press pictures to unblur it (not fully tested) on desktop hover with mouse > > > It's in a prototype stage so please keep in mind: > > - ⚠️ **Spoiler Tags** are not implemented thus CWs are not hidden ⚠️ > > > - It's mostly optimized for desktops. Sry comrades with old hardware - no optimization, yet :( > [@kota@hexbear.net](https://hexbear.net/u/kota) post inspired me to look into this tho. > > > - **Provinces/Territories**: While I was doing manual edits to some regions I realized I'm doing something very political (duh). Following this, I'm looking for solutions to implement _user defined regions_ (if there's interest from you) e.g. #fromTheRiverToTheSea #brics #udssr #whatever Comrade [@SleeplessOne1917@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/u/SleeplessOne1917) offered help, but I have only experience with front-end and am not sure how and what to propose. All my ideas are leveraging the current state of development and might be annoying to you. If you have experience, suggestions, etc. on how to make this work, feel free to start a discussion, reach out, etc. > > > - **Provinces/Territories**: If you want something particularly aggravating changed asap, feel free to start a discussion and vOtE! I'll update manually. > > > - Countries that span two continents are only displayed as belonging to one e.g. Russia - Europe (Dataset used: https://github.com/lukes/ISO-3166-Countries-with-Regional-Codes) > > > - Right now this project is exclusive to hexbear, lemmygrad, lemmy.ml and their federated instances. I have an inner conflict: Generally, fuck intellectual property and I would like to make it foss, but this would make it available for lib/chud content as well. Should I? Help me resolve this. > > > - No login implemented > > > Please consider this a tribute to this community, which I've been lurking and a member since the r/CTH days (nevar forget). I started web development not too long ago and am deeply inspired by dev titans among others: > > [@nutomic@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/u/nutomic) > > [@dessalines@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/u/dessalines) > > [@SleeplessOne1917@lemmy.ml](https://lemmy.ml/u/SleeplessOne1917) > > Thank you and the mods and admins for making hexbear/lemmy what it is today. > >  > > > Enjoy your weekend :) > > > (After I post this I will leave the computer for a while and wont be able to really check and respond for a few hours) > > Death to fascism > > Death to capitalism > > Death to imperialism > > Trans rights are human rights > > 
This is a repost of [my comment](https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/3823945) on Hexbear’s news megathread. I figured it would be good to post it here aswell for further visibility and perhaps invite more responses. Euros being delusional as per usual. [Malaysia’s PM Anwar Ibrahim makes ‘no apology’ for Hamas links on Germany visit](https://archive.is/2024.03.12-083415/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3255064/malaysias-pm-anwar-ibrahim-makes-no-apology-hamas-links-germany-visit) The Malaysian PM visits Germany and gets accused of supporting Hamas by an audience member - but are these westerners completely illiterate? > Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has defended Malaysia's relations with Hamas, saying he made "no apologies" for his nation's historical links with the Palestinian militant group and reiterating his stance that the Middle East conflict predates the October 7 attack on Israel. > "What I reject strongly is this narrative, this obsession, as if the entire problem begins and ends with the 7th of October," the prime minister said. There had been decades of "atrocities, plunder and dispossession of Palestinians," he added at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. Despite the hysteria that the “geopolitics understanders” made about Anwar Ibrahim’s NED credentials months ago, Westerners seemingly forget that his initial rise came from the radical student organizations in the 1970s which were in-part connected with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Iranian Revolution and other influential Islamic movements at the time. Of course he will be anti-Israel. That has been the hallmark of Malaysian foreign policy since the beginning - even with our 1st PM in 1957 - and he was the most Western friendly of them all. As the article mentions: > Anwar's staunch support for the Palestinians can be traced back to his years as a student leader in the 1970s including as the leader of the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement. > Muslim-majority Malaysia does not recognise Israel's statehood. It has long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, hosting Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1984 and 2001 and welcoming Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal, leaders of the political wing of Hamas, in 2020. This reminded me of when multiple “Israeli” news outlets accused Malaysia of [being the most anti-semitic country on Earth](https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/anti-semitism-in-malaysia), despite historically having no native Jewish population, and a residential population that at it’s peak only reached the teens. Completely unhinged and insane. And [then there’s the palm oil issue](https://www.bernama.com/en/business/news.php?id=2278111). Banning our palm oil will not change the fact that we were able to succesfully industrialize its production and outcompete your local biofuel industry. Europeans needs to stop barking like a rabid dog. It isn’t the 1800s or even the neocolonial late 1900s anymore. These deindustrialization policies will not work, especially when you yourself have lost any capabilities of enacting economic warfare. Hiding behind a facade of environmentalism doesn’t change reality. As [Bloomberg noted](https://archive.is/2024.03.05-001353/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-04/malaysia-sees-asia-africa-taking-palm-oil-europe-doesn-t-want), there will be other markets that the palm oil could be sold to. You are kneecapping yourself just to appear “environmentally friendly”. Perhaps it’s just the final cries of a region declining into subordination. The garden after all, will inevitably be reclaimed by the jungle. It just takes time. Also I read the worst thing ever when I was researching for the post, titled “[A Close Encounter With Asia’s Anti-Semitic Capital](https://forward.com/culture/327354/a-close-encounter-with-asias-anti-semitic-capital/)”. Warning: Terminal crackerism.
Source: [Imperialism and the international split of the proletariat](https://anti-imperialist.net/blog/2023/05/23/imperialism-and-the-international-split-of-the-proletariat/).
Oh boy I thought I would cool it with the controversial LGBT stuff on this site but my country was pulled into the Western culture war this time (making my blood boil as per usual). [The British band The 1975 decided to do a stunt](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/22/malaysia-festival-halted-matty-healy-1975-criticises-anti-lgbtq-laws) where 2 male band members kissed on stage. Which was proceeded by a rant and behaviours that was very liberal, only could be done by someone who grew up in a hyper-capitalist and alienated society in which individualism festers like a plague. Needless to say, but this sort of "activism" doesn't work. That's obvious enough. Then the liberals that consume too much American media (or lives in America) comes out of the woodwork bashing the government for over-exaggerating, and/or praising this pathetic attempt at lecturing the barbarians for their bad values. Liberals really showcase remarkable cynicism and hatred of the masses. The sheer chauvinism in which you come into another country as a guest to perform and then lambast government policy in which you yourself are not affected by and in which you agreed to beforehand, while at the same time breaking many social norms - well that takes the cake. Thank you for giving right-wingers ammo to further politicize and police "LGBT" communities in this country - making it worse for everyone here by enflaming the already vicious identity politics prevalent here (referring to the local identity politics - not commenting on the American one). Good job, colonizer. I see that the Brits still think that anyone cares about what they have to say. The coverage by the [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-1975-malaysia-festival-matty-healy-slams-anti-lgbtq-laws-1234793551/) and [The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/the-1975-malaysia-matty-healy-denise-welch-b2379860.html) is as chauvinistic as ever. I'd prefer it if you just called us primatives directly instead of this whole fake concern for human rights. Atleast [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/rock-band-1975s-set-stopped-malaysia-after-onstage-kiss-2023-07-22/) had the decency to mention that: > Friday's incident sparked uproar on Malaysian social media, including among some members of the LGBT community, who accused Healy of "performative activism" and said his action could expose the community to more stigma and discrimination. but in typical fashion doesn't mention that such behaviours, even if advocating for something the majority of the people agree, is not acceptable. It's a *concert*, not a political debate. Narcissistic behaviour and dysfunctional interpersonal skills (as determined by our culture and society at large) isn't something that should be promoted. Furthermore, this isn't even mentioning colonial history and ongoing imperialism. Liberals needs to be sent into re-education camps for decades to deworm their minds from their terminal brain disease. Alhamdullilah that most people here don't have it and recognised the chauvinism for what it is. ([All non-english and many English replies on this tweet for example](https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1682434753520361474?s=20).)
I know pirating is always an option, and I used to play EU4 completely pirated. But I got some credit remaining on Steam and they’re on sale right now, so lads, which should I go for? Background info being I only played EU4 before, and enjoyed the nation-building side more rather than the military strategy. Although I was able to do some WCs back in the day and I do like micromanaging and extending a 20hr campaign into a 100hr one.
I was debating whether to insert this within LGBT+ or Islamic Leftism but I do think ultimately it might fit here better because it covers the specific experience of French indigènes, which makes it more relevant here. I feel like in these sort of online Islamic “progressive” spaces, there’s no genuine discussions happening. These spaces are often almost defensive in nature - like the existence of this community is just to prove to disapproving whites that Islam isn’t this, or isn’t that. This is a result of being in a Western dominated space in general. Gender and sexual minorities is a very important phenomenon that must require a response, yet it is almost ignored or never spoken about because this muslim-homophobia dichotomy is so engrained that people are (rightfully) scared to even talk about it, especially across the White left. I’d of course invite everyone to treat this article critically, and contribute if you have any qualms against their conclusions, although I will admit my opinions have slowly drifted closer to the article as the years went by.
learningfromchina.net
This is a good followup to the previously shared article over here by the same writer on “[Peak China](https://mronline.org/2023/05/23/peak-china-a-new-low-in-western-attempts-to-persuade-china-to-commit-suicide/)”. The article gives a much more historical view on the role of US imperialism, in dominating other previously (and still somewhat) productive centres of the capitalist world economy - Germany and Japan, and hindering growth in other parts of Asia as well.
I was reading *Socialism's Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism* by Ramin Mazaheri, and they mentioned something that has become a common sight here too: Islamic finance. Iran is leading in Islamic financing, with Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE and Qatar filling the rest of the Top 5 according to this [report](https://icd-ps.org/uploads/files/ICD%20Refinitiv%20ifdi-report-20221669878247_1582.pdf). For those who don't know, it's basically finance but with Islamic principles as accorded to the Quran and various *Madhhab*s (schools of jurisprudence). Some of it's principles are (quoting [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking_and_finance#Principles)), among others: > 1. Paying or charging interest. "All forms of interest are riba and hence prohibited". Islamic rules on transactions (known as Fiqh al-Muamalat) have been created to prevent use of interest. > 2. Investing in businesses involved in activities that are forbidden (haraam). These include things such as selling alcohol or pork, or producing media such as gossip columns or pornography. > 3. Charging extra for late payment. This applies to murâbaḥah or other fixed payment financing transactions, although some authors believe late fees may be charged if they are donated to charity,or if the buyer has "deliberately refused" to make a payment. Has any comrades read much on this? How viable do you think is such a financial system, especially now, with renewed *interest* in de-dollarisation? (see what I did there?) Can it fully live up to it's socialistic principles in a world capitalist system?
Over the past few years, honestly more than that, maybe even a decade or so now, there’s been more and more forms of e-payments over here that are independent from Global North systems. The government has been pushing for digitalisation of payments, as part of the wider ASEAN push for more localized and independent systems. Now you see stores and stalls accepting a lot of payment systems, such as Chinese ones like WeChat and Alipay, but also local ones such as TouchnGo and MaybankQRpay. You can actually see more than 10+ logos on each cashier stall, accepting a wide range of payment mediums. Of course Global North ones like Visa and Mastercard are still accepted. Just “recently” Singapore and Malaysia signed a deal to further integrate each other’s local QR payment systems. I think the deal with Thailand is ongoing with the [wider ASEAN agreement](https://www.lowyat.net/2022/279218/southeast-asia-link-qr-code-payment/) on E-commerce. De-linking from the Global North is increasingly important as they retreat from their neocolonial “free markets” to open domination and sanctions of “rowdy” and “authoritarian” Global South countries. South-south co-operation is always a good thing.
About the multiracial, working class [hartal](https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/354470) I mentioned before that took place prior to the supposed communist emergency in what was then Malaya.
www.youtube.com
Again this applies to a lot of global south countries, including southeast asia. When he mentions the race to the bottom, this is seen through the overemphasis on foreign direct investment (FDI) taking place in ASEAN countries. We see leaders in the region bend over backwards for Western entrepreneurs and capitalists, giving them overly favourable conditions so they can exploit our labour, our land, and our environment.
Skip to conclusion and discussion for TLDR. Firstly, I want to discuss an article on the “Journal of Democracy”, the NED’s “academic” propaganda outlet. The China one is [not surprising whatsoever](https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/chinas-threat-to-global-democracy/). And the [Malaysian one](https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/the-final-rise-of-anwar-ibrahim/)… exhibit the same eurocentric rhetoric, although is less obvious at first. The article recognises Anwar Ibrahim’s (AI) shapeshifting politics depending on the climate, literally the most politician ever to politicking. The article mentions that corruption has been a problem for Malaysian democracy since the beginning. That is true. It is a DOTB after all. Typical politicians and western commentators only say that the ruling party has corruption, but corruption and nepotism infects Malaysian society in all of its popular bourgeois parties and beyond parliamentary politics and the state. **On Mahathir and his “anti-imperialism”** Western media always depicts Mahathir as more anti-West than he actually is. It was during his rule that a large scale privatisation programme took place. You can’t even blame Western neocolonial institutions because Malaysia was lucky than most countries and had no sovereign debt. [He literally oversaw an economy that was 50% run by the state to one that is <10%](https://tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/credit-to-government-and-state-owned-enterprises-to-gdp-percent-wb-data.html). The only reason the resulting financial crash in 1997-8 didn’t destroy us was due to both Chinese and Japanese cooperation with ASEAN. Mahathir literally asked Reagan for and subsequently allowed Amerikan troops into our land in the 80s. The high GDP growth in the late 80s to mid 90s was due to the very profitable state-run oil sector, and a lot of FDI that funded all these privatisation programmes. Privatisation and economic growth continues to be a myth perpetuated by the ruling parties during that time. Post-crash, even the economic growth had decreased compared to pre-crash. Not to mention it enabled the shift of the Malaysian economy to “importing” (to use their terms) of foreign labour to pay them subsistence wages for plantation work. Our real wages may have increased but it ignores at how much of that is subsidized by “importing” labour from poorer countries, considering that 10% of the Malaysian population in 2020 are immigrants. Another example would be the privatisation of our power grid through TPPs, in which specific capitalists and their cronies benefit from favourable government lending contracts. This economic liberalisation also lead to chronic food insecurity and a destruction of our rainforests for cash crop plantations. After the 1997-8 crash, the government relaxed their privatisation policy. This is because lots of privatised industries failed, and not only that, but they stopped mentioning privatisation by their 11th five year plan (yes we have 5 year plans that are also produced in English!) due to the failures. This neoliberal policy, however, was continued and maintained by his successors. The 97-98 crash prompted Mahathir to kick out AI, justifying it by saying AI was an IMF stooge. Mahathir exploited the anti-imperialist tendencies found in a postcolonial population. We are not the west, we still remember, either through popular discourse or even through current material conditions, the role of imperialism and colonialism in our country and global history more generally. It is a matter in which this sentiment is channelled towards. As I demonstrated before, this depiction that Mahathir was a principled anti-imperialist in any regard falls apart with any close inspection. Akshually, Mahathir and BN/UMNO generally was doing a based anti-imperialism because they didn’t fully subscribe to Westernisation and follow what Westerners expected. Wow! The… _Oxford graduate_ really told the colonizers off! **On “Anti-imperialist” westerners** AI will not impose [Reaganite neoliberal measures](https://twitter.com/historic_ly/status/1596212182332870657?s=46&t=h-evPbr3P64yhK5R8MVHYg ) because that already happened. AI can’t discontinue every single [chinese-linked project](https://piped.video/watch?v=SlJ-BRHCBUQ) because he doesn’t have the power to do so. The prominence of [bourgeois Malay-muslim money that went into all these projects](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/08/debunking-myth-debt-trap-diplomacy/5-malaysia-and-bri) further secures the development of these projects. Most of the “development” (including some of the BRI projects) as well, are high-rises like the country hasn’t already seen 10 million condominiums for the T20 (top 20%, see previous link). A lot of them are for the inflated and speculative property market in Malaysia. It was for political convenience that these programs were determined to be part of BRI, NOT something China itself proposed. Not to mention the [flagship ECRL project was continued](https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/ecrl-project-proceed-cost-reduced-rm1101b-says-pm-anwar). If you actually followed Malaysian politics, read the coalition manifestoes, it would have been obvious that none of the parties had any form of bare privatisation policy in mind. All of them are an eclectic mix of social democratic policies. Of course, manifestos are not representative of what the coalition will actually do - a limitation of bourgeois democracy, I might add - but it is still useful to see what the parties think is valued to Malaysian voters. Furthermore, the New Atlas uses statements from AI as fact. Of course the dude in front of anglos would be a neoconservative war hawk. I can easily find quotes of him being a centrist liberal in local media. Like [here](https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/79250/wisma-putra-to-maintain-principles-of-neutrality-new-minister-zambry), and [here](https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/anwar-ibrahim-advocates-neutral-malaysia-amid-great-power-rivalry-in-asia-pacific/2645166) (from the Turkish Anadolu Agency), and [here](https://www.rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/idss/ip22081-malaysia-is-back-the-foreign-policy-of-anwar-ibrahim/#.Y7tEqRanwlQ): > The new government’s foreign policy will be largely shaped by Anwar himself. Since Malaysia’s foreign policy is highly consistent and institutionalised, his approach to foreign affairs will be like that of his predecessors but with his characteristic energy and self-confidence. …and [here](https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/11/26/anwar-draws-kudos-for-adept-foreign-policy-stance/): > “(Of course) he (Anwar) will expand the process of diversifying our economic dependence and trade relations with other major economic players in Asean, India and the US.” […] > “China is an important neighbour. Of course it’s a priority to enhance bilateral, trade, investment and cultural relations with China,” said Anwar. “I would not just leave (ties with China) as it is. (They) need to be enhanced.” Even in the clip of the IRI the New Atlas referred to, they mentioned how other US agencies (USAID) said that the current Malaysian governments were friendly to the US, and they didn’t want to jeopardise the relationship. Great choice we have here in a bourgeois democracy, Western-friendly reactionary right or Western-friendly reactionary right enabler. Like Malaysia’s 2021 GDP PPP per capita (29000) is closer to states like Russia and Turkey (33000, 31000) than even her immediate neighbours (Indonesia, 13000, and Phillipines, 9000). GDP isn’t everything, but you need to understand, the Malaysian ruling class has matured and isn’t composed of weak neocolonial compradors (mostly). We don’t even have a prominent communist or socialist opposition in the government like in Turkiye or Russia. It is simply ridiculous to support the bourgeois Malaysian government. As for the bersih movement, that is much more complicated. Again, like other protests, it came from a genuine result of the bourgeois dictatorship. The nature of protests I think are much more organic than it is made out to be. Somehow when the *rakyat* face succeeding economic downturns, marketisation of welfare, racialized and spatialized gap between rich and poor, rising living costs, and corruption and rentierism, the assessment is: akshually this is all concocted by the West and we should support a bourgeois government because they are marginally not as anti-Chinese geopolitically (even that is subjected towards the government’s own need to villify and scapegoat the chinese minority and I remain unconvinced that Najib was anymore pro-Chinese and anti-West than his predecessors). The protests was done through a so-called united front, including Marxist and socialist, as well as petty bourgeois-liberal and social democratic elements. So the claim that the Marxists involved in organising, who had faced police harassment, threats of death penalty, and arbitrary detention throughout their entire lives, are actually “Western agents” is not only tone-deaf about the Malaysian political reality, but screams Western chauvinism. In Malaysian politics, foreign funding is a constant political trope levelled against the opposition. It’s nothing new. Not saying its wrong but acting like Malaysians don’t care is simply wrong. There were already concerns [raised about NED funding of AI](https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/08/30/reveal-funding-by-us-based-ned-suaram-tells-ph/) by Malaysians prior to the western “anti-imperialist” saviours! Right-wingers in this country especially love talking about foreign intervention (unless it’s disguised under US-allied Saudi Wahhabist flavour). The government had always accused anyone critical of them for destabilization and other red scare propaganda to scare the people into submission. But the government are the good guys! The protests are bad because some people and organisations that participated in the protest took some NED money! Ignore that the major orgs have stopped taking NED money after IRI-NED connections were discovered. Regardless, the Marxist orgs involved of course had no NED funding. Imagine if this was Amerikan politics, and someone insisted that you vote for the Libertarian party because they are isolationist (ie. they have a “good” foreign policy), not recognising this is part of the election cycle of Western bourgeois dictatorships. Dissent is allowed, and isolationist tendencies are just a reactionary response to labour aristocrats receiving less of the imperial profits. In the talk of Malaysian elections, ignoring the alternative coalition, headed by a radicalised and chauvinistic PAS is a grave error. It simply is dangerous for the party who wants to introduce Sharia to all people in the country to be in charge. Not only is that unwanted by the ethnic minorities and the bumiputera of East Malaysia, it is this right-wing political Islam that may actually pivot Malaysian foreign policy more to the West. They act like typical religious chauvinistic political movements. They perpetuate red scare propaganda and ostracize Jews and the Chinese. It is a no-brainer that in the long term their interests lie more with the West, considering recently in their party propaganda they claim that [Communist colonialism was worse than the Western colonialism](https://twitter.com/abdulhadiawang/status/1582673132082823170). I probably don’t need to explain why that is wrong and dangerous now do I? And all these westerners have the gall to say that Malaysians are propagandized! Yes they are! But they are propagandized by the denial of the explicitly left-wing and communist movements that gave our independence! They are propagandized about neoliberal capitalism and democracy! They are misled by those who resort to ethnic chauvinism for their support! What Malaysians want is continual equitable prosperity and modernisation. Stability and peace is highly valued. This weird fear mongering that AI will want war with China, when it runs counter to the aims of the Malaysian ruling class and the *rakyat*, is ridiculous. China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner, and Malaysia has been China’s largest ASEAN partner, for a decade plus. Although we form part of the FPDA, and host an Australian military base (which also counter the assertions that previous Malaysian governments were anti-western in the first place), these bilateral arrangements are well, bilateral, and a more comprehensive military partnership is domestically unpopular. It is only the Global North that has a fully developed Military Industrial Complex. Malaysian opinion polls show that they have a positive opinion of China and US for years now as well. Although I wish Malaysians would hate the US more, these polls show how non-alignment, not playing into Amerikan geopolitical games, is popular. So when they talk about Malaysia - clueless of its history and culture, doesn’t attempt to understand the complexity of a postcolonial semi-peripheral state - is it not just eurocentrism? What’s with this fear-mongering about AI’s ascension like you have an attention span of a liberal (one election season)? **Conclusion and discussion** The culmination of events that led to AI's prime ministership was a result of decades long bourgeois rule. It was inevitable. Communalist/racialist politics perpetuated by the British and ruling classes after independence is inherently unsustainable and destructive for society. To simply attribute it to US influence is simplistic and signifies a lack of knowledge and understanding of southeast asian and Malaysian politics, and reeks of eurocentrism in which the only thing they seem to know about the country is that the flag looks similar to the Amerikan flag. Malaysian, and in general SEA politics, is a result of numerous upon numerous contradictions of colonialism and capitalism. This is reflected through our politics. Please do not import your understandings of geopolitics, colonialism and capitalism from the Americas and Europe. Like it’s amazing that a [Trotskyist website](https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/11/28/zgjn-n28.html) was more accurate, which is a low-bar considering their most profound analysis is “Malaysians should rise up against their bourgeoisie”! Malaysia normalised relations with communist countries after the cold war, and is part of the NAM and ASEAN, which may have had anti-communist roots, but by the late 1990s had changed with the ascension of Laos and Viet Nam. Malaysian foreign policy has been largely consistent since then, and will continue to maintain certain “non-negotiables” such as Palestinian support and a safe distance between any great power (neutrality). Euro-Amerikan news media likes to picture foreign politics as solely about them and their anxieties. It must always be about China-US relations. It must always be about them because people in the global south don’t make history, only northerners do!
Although the entire article has full of bangers, the quote below is my favourite. > The program of the "rules based order" is more maximalist than the Cold War. Anglosphere policy elites occupy a narrative-based reality. Their narrative of the necessity of liberal democracy and neoliberal capitalism for all places and all times must be maintained whatever the facts. They are the heroes of an eschatological conflict between light and darkness, good and evil, democracy and totalitarianism. Compromise with their satanized adversary is appeasement and coexistence is a dirty word. The West is the last bastion of ideology, the crusader of a deformed, late liberalism with the right to fashion every society on earth in its own image. The rest of us must either be re-made according to the latest iteration of "values," however inimical or repulsive to tradition, culture and faith, or be marked for expulsion. There is nothing in between. > Good luck forcing this infantile logic on the foreign policies of the most culturally and politically diverse region in the world, with a shared identity constituted by two thousand years of cultural cross-pollination across the trade routes of the Old World. Southeast Asia is constituted by its very in-betweenness with respect to the civilizational poles of Islamic, Indic and Sinic worlds. Today it is what makes ASEAN central to the multilateral architecture of East Asia, the crossroads of an "Asian Century" made possible by the rise of China.
Colonial capitalism moment. Was reading a book chapter this topic so take this post as a daily reminder to hate the Brits. Admittedly, this is the full quote: > Many ‘coolies’ perished in this brutal and coercive colonial capitalist economy due to diseases, largely malaria, poor diet and harsh working conditions for long hours. On some plantations, the mortality rates were huge ‘as many as 60 rising to 90% of the labourer’s died within a year of their arrival’ (Sandhu, 1969: 171). These appalling and deplorable living conditions were prolonged for a long time (Sasidaran, 2012), and the education and medical facilities were far from adequate (Tinker, 1976: 153). But what's interesting was the book mentioned that more than 2million south Indian labourers had arrived into the colony by 1939, but the actual recorded Indian population from census never reached above [700,000](https://www.ehm.my/publications/articles/malayas-early-20th-century-population-change). Although they could have emigrated back, another possibility is well, as mentioned above, they died. Regardless, the population statistics do add up. Book chapter referenced: Selvaratnam V. (2021) ‘Malaysia’s South Indian ‘Coolies’: Legacies of Imperialism, Colonial Capitalism and Racism’ in R. Rasiah, A. Hashim and J.S. Sidhu (eds) Contesting Malaysia’s Integration into the World Economy, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillian, 169-200.
Now
Neptium
Neptium@ lemmygrad.mlClass struggle in all its forms.