Today's Straits Times has a great quote from Clive Kessler, the veteran Australian sociologist, about one of the fundamental ironies of Malaysia, which seems particularly insightful given the Kartika caning furore.
"If you're not a Malay or Muslim, you've diminished rights but a great deal of freedom. If you're on the Malay side of the equation, you've got lots of rights but very little freedom." (A version of the interview is online here.)
So poor old Kartika can get a guaranteed place at university and a scholarship to boot, buy a cheap condo and nab a seat on the board of a government-linked company but she can't crack open a beer in peace.
Meanwhile, her fellow citizens of Indian and Chinese origin can drink to their heart's content but have to go overseas to get a place at university (perhaps not such a bad thing, after all...), shell out more for property and pay off Malays in order to get ahead in business.
In the interview, Kessler also suggests that UMNO, the Malaysian ruling party, has been slow to change because "it has wanted to keep the political world of deference, obedience, favour-seeking and gratitude".
He's right, of course. Furthermore, I'd argue that even those within UMNO who want change are unable to deliver it because, as another academic put it to me recently, "UMNO is corrupted to its core, like India's Congress Party".
Showing posts with label Jemaah Islamiyah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jemaah Islamiyah. Show all posts
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Does resurgent terrorism threaten Indonesia's bright prospects?
Up until the deadly suicide bomb attacks on two upmarket Jakarta hotels last month, the discourse surrounding Indonesia was all about the country's bright prospects.
From investment bankers to academics and journalists, everyone was talking about the remarkable transition to peacecful democracy and how Indonesia's economy, freed from reliance on exports to the West, was set to be the next emerging market success story.
The hotel attacks and the subsequent mopping up operations against Noordin Top and his Jemaah Islamiyah henchmen have changed the tone of the debate.
Reme Ahmad, who works on the foreign desk of the Straits Times, is one of many who has warned that "every bullet and bomb they use could destroy Indonesia in the eyes of investors and tourists".
But, as I have noted before when writing about Sri Lanka, terrorism tends to put fewer investors off than you might think. Sure, tourists are scared away in the initial aftermath of any major attack, but for the rest of the country it's business as usual.
The real danger comes from a sustained campaign of violence. With Noordin and many of the other key JI leaders now reportedly dead or under lock and key, this seems less likely.
But as with Al-Qaeda, even though JI appers to be becoming a more splintered grouping, autonomous, individual cells still remain a serious, if less co-ordinated, threat.
From investment bankers to academics and journalists, everyone was talking about the remarkable transition to peacecful democracy and how Indonesia's economy, freed from reliance on exports to the West, was set to be the next emerging market success story.
The hotel attacks and the subsequent mopping up operations against Noordin Top and his Jemaah Islamiyah henchmen have changed the tone of the debate.
Reme Ahmad, who works on the foreign desk of the Straits Times, is one of many who has warned that "every bullet and bomb they use could destroy Indonesia in the eyes of investors and tourists".
But, as I have noted before when writing about Sri Lanka, terrorism tends to put fewer investors off than you might think. Sure, tourists are scared away in the initial aftermath of any major attack, but for the rest of the country it's business as usual.
The real danger comes from a sustained campaign of violence. With Noordin and many of the other key JI leaders now reportedly dead or under lock and key, this seems less likely.
But as with Al-Qaeda, even though JI appers to be becoming a more splintered grouping, autonomous, individual cells still remain a serious, if less co-ordinated, threat.
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