Myanmar: Major ethnic groups and where they live

Myanmar: Major ethnic groups and where they live

There are 135 ethnic groups in the country but Rohingya Muslims are rendered stateless and stripped of citizenship.

Myanmar officially recognises 135 ethnic groups but Rohingya Muslims have been rendered stateless and stripped of their citizenship.

The Rohingya are often said to be the world's most persecuted minority. They are an ethnic Muslim group in the majority Buddhist country and make up around one million of the total 50 million population.

They hail from the country's northwest and speak a Bengali dialect. Almost all live in Rakhine, one of the poorest states, with a population of three million.

About 140,000 Rohingya in the Rakhine state live in ghetto-like camps that they cannot leave without government permission.

Below is a map of the country showing where each major ethnic group tends to live.

Pattaya tries again to become family friendly

Pattaya tries again to become family friendly Read more here

Employees sit outside a go-go bar. The newest idea on how to turn Pattaya into a family-friendly resort is to declare Happy Zones. (Reuters photos)

PATTAYA - With mascots dressed as smiling fish and a police rock band, Thai authorities launched a "Happy Zone" at the weekend to improve the image of a city notorious for sex tourism.

Stung by foreign headlines portraying the seaside resort of Pattaya as "Sin City" and "The World's Sex Capital", Thailand's government has begun a new effort to re-brand it.

But the contradictions in Pattaya highlight Thailand's challenge in tackling a side of its tourist industry that remains economically vital while being officially excoriated.

"I want people to see that we are not like what they say. We are not allowing prostitution in these entertainment places," provincial governor Pakkaratorn Teianchai told reporters on the infamous Walking Street in Pattaya, southeast of Bangkok.

Less than 10 metres away, women accosted foreign men to offer sex for 2,000 baht (US$60). Others lined up with numbers so customers could take their pick. Masseuses in miniskirts offered "happy ending" massages whose euphemistic title has nothing to do with the Happy Zone of the authorities.

"Everyone is here to make a living," said one 35-year-old woman who came originally from a village in central Thailand. Tagged with the number "136", she declined to give her name.

"I would rather be a waitress, but then I couldn't send my children to school and I want them to have a better future than this," she said.

In fact, sex tourism is not growing as fast as other aspects of Thailand's tourist industry - the only bright spot for an economy whose expansion has been by far the slowest among major Southeast Asian economies since the 2014 coup.

No official figures show its scale.

But there is an indication in the balance of male to female visitors. In 2012, there were nearly 6 men for every 4 women. In 2015, the numbers were pretty much even, according to figures provided to Reuters by the tourism ministry.

The rise of Pattaya dates back to the Vietnam war days when US troops stationed in Thailand used it as an R&R spot, though prostitution is just as evident in parts of Bangkok and other resorts.

The number of female sex workers in Thailand was put at over 120,000 in a 2014 UNAids report. Some estimates run to double that and not all the women who get paid for sex are full-time prostitutes.

Given a 305 baht (US$8.80) a day minimum wage, the chance of earning several times more is an obvious lure, particularly in poorer rural regions.

CRACKDOWN

The latest of many crackdowns in Pattaya happened after foreign newspaper reports last month, which drew an angry response from Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, for whom bringing order is a mantra.

A handful of bars were raided. Bar owners and working women were fined. Scared to venture out, tourists looking for sex stayed in hotels. Street vendors and shops saw sales tumble. The money which flows to all levels in the city - including law enforcement agencies - fell off.

The Happy Zone approach is a softer way to try to show that something is being done. If it works on Walking Street, the idea will be spread to the less sanitised sois.

Businesses in the Happy Zone are asked to make the area feel safer, there are increased security patrols, police launched a mobile phone app for visitors to summon them in emergency.

"This is a pioneer project to organise a tourist destination and elevate it to promote Thailand's quality tourism," Apichai Krobpetch, chief of Pattaya city police, told Reuters. "We will also stamp out prostitution in the area."

There was no sign of that at the weekend.

In fact, Pattaya's sex industry has become an attraction in its own right for the millions of Chinese who make up about one in three visitors to Thailand.

Led by guides with pennants, the Chinese tour groups thread quickly along Walking Street, past the go-go bars and the beer bars where young Thai women sit down with foreign men.

They only pause to take pictures.

"We just came here to see. That's all," saleswoman Linda Sieng in a group of 11 tourists from Guaghzhou in southern China.

39 foreign sex worker suspects arrested Read more here

Thirty-nine women from Madagascar and Uganda are rounded up during a crackdown operation on prostitution in Pattaya, Chon Buri, in the early hours of Friday. (Photo by Chaiyot Pupattanapong) CHON BURI... 

These women are among thirty-nine nationals from Madagascar and Uganda rounded up during a raid on prostitution in Pattaya, Chon Buri. (Photo by Chaiyot Pupattanapong 

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INVOKE FUNDRAISING DINNER ANNOUNCEMENT [KUALA LUMPUR]

FUNDRAISING DINNER ANNOUNCEMENT [KUALA LUMPUR]

INVOKE has grown from just an idea to free politicians from the grip of vested interest into a movement that had made a huge impact in the last 6 months.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand in the next election because I would be convicted, but I had wanted my colleagues, whom like me had taken a plunge into the world of public office, to make as much difference as possible.

We started out with 10 young staff who quit their job to dedicate the next 24 months on changing the government. We call it #ProjekBuangNajib. Today we have 72 staff, 1 fully computerized call centre, 1 digital broadcast mini studio and 12 regional offices around the country.

12,320 Malaysians have signed up as INVOKE volunteers since October 2016. Every week, at key constituencies across the country, INVOKE volunteers carry out polling and counting agents training, knocking doors to canvass for support for change and calling persuadable voters to consider switching to opposition.

As we speak, INVOKE’s proprietary interactive response system is calling thousands of unregistered Malaysians on daily basis to register to vote as soon as possible. Our mobile registration counter is operational at marginal constituencies to target young voters to join the #ProjekBuangNajib fever.

All of this is possible because the Malaysian public has backed us all along. Out of approximately RM2 million spent so far, RM1.3 million was raised from crowd-funding from normal Malaysians like you, the balance was the money I put into this project.

INVOKE is entering the final phase of campaigning. We have provided empirical evidence that the national opposition can still win the next general election without sacrificing our commitment to justice for all, in the event of 3 corner fights nationwide.

This last 6 months is all about working on the ground. We need to deploy tens of thousands of volunteers to knock doors and spread the message to carefully targeted persuadable voters. We need to train and certify at least 10,000 polling and counting agents to be stationed in key marginal constituencies. We need to assign designated drivers to identified persuadable voters to pick these voters on voting day. We need to rev up our digital broadcast through the social media so that it expands from the current 400,000 daily reach to 1,000,000 daily in the next few months.

We need you.

INVOKE is going to host a fundraising dinner in conjunction with the launch of our policy papers on employment, civil service reforms and subsidy reforms on 15 April 2017 at SJKC Choong Wen, Jalan Klang Lama. 

Tickets are selling for RM10,000 or RM5,000 or RM3,000 or RM1,000 tables. 

Please support us as you have done in the past. Please call 03 2716 6827 or Whatsapp 013 480 7200 to buy tickets as soon as possible, or you can buy online at our eShop at ( INVOKEFundraising Dinner, KL – Ticket | SHOP | INVOKE MALAYSIA

Let’s rebuild our nation.
This nation belongs to us.

Support us financially or register as a volunteer today at INVOKE MALAYSIA | volunteerism | valour | virtue

Read more here Invoke Malaysia

Rafizi Ramli
Founding Volunteer
INVOKE Malaysia

Seadrill: Transocean-Like Sale?

Summary

Transocean's upcoming transaction with Borr Drilling sparked investors' interest.

Many assume that Seadrill's restructuring or bankruptcy will lead to multiple rig sales.

I explain why this will not be the case, both from the seller's and the buyer's side.

The only rigs that I expect to change hands in Seadrill restructuring are the newbuilds.

I noticed a common topic in all offshore drilling-related threads recently. Many investors seem to expect that the upcoming restructuring of Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL) will result in the sale of rigs at a bargain price. According to this narrative, Seadrill's peers will grab them at a fraction of their initial cost and prosper going forward. The goal of this article is to dispel this illusion.

Seadrill does not have to fire-sell rigs now

Everyone should keep in mind that entering bankruptcy proceedings through Chapter 11 does not lead to the liquidation of the company. The purpose of bankruptcy protection is to allow the business to survive and preserve jobs while stakeholders work on a viable survival plan and negotiate the appropriate capital structure. Therefore, if Seadrill ultimately files for Chapter 11, you should expect that it will continue operating as usual while creditors battle in court for their stakes.

Sometimes, a company still ends being liquidated. The instructive case is the fate of Hercules Offshore, which owned a fleet of mostly older jack-ups. The company filed for bankruptcy due to lack of backlog and significant debt load, then emerged from bankruptcy only to find itself painted in the corner by the most severe offshore drilling market downturn in history. As a result, Hercules Offshore had to liquidate itself to save what's left of value for its stakeholders.

You should keep in mind that Hercules Offshore's case is unique because the company had a weak business position even without the debt problems. The fleet was too old, job opportunities were scarce and that was the main reason why the company had to liquidate itself a year after it emerged from the original bankruptcy. This case does not resemble the Seadrill's case as Seadrill will be a major strong player if it gets rid of debt.

In order to continue as a viable enterprise, Seadrill has to decrease its debt and deal with newbuild obligations. Current rig valuations as judged by the few sales do not justify selling rigs to deal with debt even if such a sale was possible. The truth is that there are few buyers in the market so a sale is hardly an option. The only right way to go is the debt-to-equity swap, which will significantly decrease Seadrill's indebtedness and allow the company to weather the current storm.

Prospective buyers

Let's look at potential buyers to evaluate the thesis that Seadrill is not about to fire-sell its rigs.

Two Hercules Offshore jack-ups were bought by Borr Drilling, which went on to sign a letter of intent with Transocean (NYSE:RIG) to buy 15 jack-ups. It looks like Borr's transaction with Hercules Offshore created an illusion of upcoming sales from drillers which have ongoing restructuring talks. As a reminder, Pacific Drilling (NYSE:PACD) and Ocean Rig (NASDAQ:ORIG) are currently in restructuring talks with their creditors.

The potential candidates for distressed asset purchases include the "survival group" - Diamond Offshore Drilling (NYSE:DO), Rowan (NYSE:RDC), Ensco (NYSE:ESV), Noble Corp. (NYSE:NE) and the abovementioned Transocean. Newcomers like Borr Drilling and John Fredriksen's Northern Drilling should also considered as potential acquirers of distressed assets.

Let's go through these buyers one by one. Diamond Offshore is the most conservative driller in this group. Its management team was the most bearish on the industry and the company immediately cold-stacked rigs that lost work. As a result, the company has no warm stacked rigs at all. A company with this strategy won't buy additional rigs without work as it will have to immediately stack them. Also, Diamond Offshore is a floater-focused driller, and floater segment has yet to see any sign of activity, even at minimal dayrates. Purchasing floaters now looks like a pure gamble and it is evident that Diamond Offshore's management are not gamblers.

Rowan is probably the best positioned to be a distressed asset buyer. However, the company has already committed to a joint venture with Saudi Aramco, so it is not clear whether Rowan management will decided to shop for more rigs. My bet is that any additional shopping for Rowan will be on the floater side, but the timing is uncertain.

Ensco has plenty of stacked rigs. The company has recently arranged a deal to delay the delivery of a drillship. It does not look like after such a move the company will be searching to purchase more rigs.

Noble Corp. is the only driller that keeps updating its fleet status report on a monthly basis, and the latest update was grim. The work is really scarce and everything that Noble Corp. was able to find was a two-month job for a jack-up. I do not believe that Noble Corp. is positioned to commit to more rigs at this point and I expect that the company will be in a defensive mode until there is any certainty about the timing of the recovery.

Transocean has just committed to sell the entire jack-up fleet (existing ones and newbuilds) to Borr Drilling (I discussed implications of the sale in this article). So, if any buys should be expected, they'll be on the floater side. However, the company has many stacked floaters. It will be a huge success if all those floaters will survive the current downturn. In my view, Transocean is positioned to sell/scrap more rigs rather than buy new ones.

Borr Drilling was able to use the equity market to purchase rigs, but there are limits to everything and after the transaction with Transocean the company will have plenty of rigs waiting for work. In addition, Borr Drilling was founded by former Seadrill executives, so I guess that any transactions with Seadrill are highly unlikely due to ego-related reasons.

The remaining prospective buyer is Northern Drilling which is developed by Seadrill's founder, John Fredriksen. I think that it can be used to deal with Seadrill newbuilds.

Newbuilds

Here's a list of Seadrill newbuild rigs:

Semi-subs

Drillships

Jack-ups

Newbuilds are an additional headache for Seadrill. Obviously, the company can't take delivery without a contract in place. At the same time, yards are getting inpatient as highlighted by Ensco's drillship case and demand additional contributions to delay deliveries. In Seadrill's case, there are just too many rigs ordered. I don't think that any player in the market has the capacity to absorb them even at a discount.

In my view, the problem will be solved like in West Rigel's case. As a reminder, West Rigel is supposed to be owned by the joint venture between North Atlantic Drilling (NYSE:NADL) and the yard, Jurong, if no contract for the rig is found. This is an elegant exit from the troublesome situation which can be replicated en masse if Northern Drilling buys stakes at Seadrill's newbuilds. Compared to existing rigs, on which creditors count as a collateral, every stakeholder in Seadrill restructuring will be glad to see newbuilds vanish from the company's pipeline without additional costs.

Bottom line

There's no reason to expect a fire-sale of Seadrill rigs if the company enters Chapter 11. In addition, there are likely no buyers for a big fleet, and single sales won't move the needle for the company. The exception are the newbuild rigs, which could be acquired by a new speculative buyer like John Fredriksen's Northern Drilling and also could be partially owned by shipyards. As we see from recent developments, consolidation does not happen as existing players have no resources to participate in distressed sales. New players emerge, making the market even more competitive.

Disclosure: I am/we are long DO.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I may trade any of the abovementioned stocks.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks

Who is afraid of an Islamic state? By Commander (Rtd) S THAYAPARAN Royal Malaysian Navy

Who is afraid of an Islamic state? By Commander (Rtd) S THAYAPARAN Royal Malaysian Navy

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

“Today I want to puke when I hear the word 'radical' applied so slothfully and stupidly to Islamist murderers; the most plainly reactionary people in the world.” - Christopher Hitchens, ‘Hitch-22: A Memoir’ In my previous article, I argued that we should not be surprised that a segment of Malaysian youths are enamoured by the extreme religious dogma that threatens local and regional stability when mainstream Malaysian political culture is predicated on racial and religious supremacy. With regard to the contention of Rizal Mansor (aide of the PM’s wife Rosmah Mansor) that "uncouth” Malaysians are prone to demonise the government and belittle our security forces, I repost what I wrote about our security forces in an article about the Puchong terrorist attack: “Security personnel tell me that efforts with monitoring mosques and other religious meeting places are hampered by the fact that on-the-ground assets have to filter so-called ‘anti-Umno’ rhetoric that is part of the democratic process and the real threats of anti-government rhetoric by committed Islamic terrorists.” The above is a convenient lead in to an article by Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, an associate professor of politics at the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) who published a good primer on the methods of radicalisation and the state’s response to it in the Middle East Institute - ‘ISIS Recruitment of Malaysian Youth: Challenge and Response’. No doubt, the associate professor is part of the government initiative, or at the very least should be part of the consultative framework to counter the problem of the radicalisation of youths in this country. I like this article for various reasons. In simple language, it outlines both the means of ISIS (now renamed IS) recruitment and the state’s response to it. It also focuses on an aspect of recruitment, the ‘usrah’ method - (from the article) “small groups comprising fewer than 10 members who meet regularly to discuss and learn about Islam - that I find as an “insurgency” tactic, fascinating. Azizuddin, in quoting chief assistant director of the counter-terrorism division of the Royal Malaysian Police Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, wrote, “Usrah, as a method of entrenching the ‘dakwah persona’ is effective in forming close-knit communities of dakwah activists with a mission to proselytise and Islamise society.” Azizuddin elegantly frames the process with “If usrah is the sustenance, its camps can act as recruitment platforms for not only new dakwah candidates, but also new recruits for ISIS” and uses an example of a former commando who first joined an ‘usrah’ group which eventually led him to IS. What I have always found fascinating is the kinds of literature used by these ‘usrah’ groups to learn and discuss about Islam. While the state regularly bans books critical of Islam, it also has an unfortunate habit of banning books that offer different interpretations of Islam that deviate from the state-sanctioned dogma. Banned Islamic text deviate by promoting ‘secular’ values or any values that the state, through its various Islamic bodies, classifies as transgressing against ‘Islam’. I have no idea what text are used by these recruitment groups, but I do know that if there are no official state narratives beyond the lip service to religious diversity that Muslims can refer to challenge the orthodoxy of the various Islamic cults that are a danger to democracies around the world. If Muslims cannot openly interpret their religion without fear of sanction from the state, this provides an opportunity for groups like IS to not only disseminate their literature within a controlled cult-like environment, but also offer a narrative that Muslims are not Islamic enough and beholden to corrupt regimes. When there is no counter-balance, there is only extremism. When the narratives of these extreme Islamic groups deviate very little from the narratives of the state that Muslims are under siege and that the faith has to be protected or that Muslims should always support one another, then there is very little resistance to the idea that Muslims are a monolithic religious group beholden to religious betters to frame the discourse. Furthermore, this stifling of speech hampers the efforts by the state security apparatus to discover truly deviant and dangerous teachings that advocate violence. Add to this, the security apparatus has to contend with suspicion from a wide range of civil society groups, including Islamic groups, because instruments of the state like Pota (Prevention of Terrorism Act) and other security tools are viewed by many Malaysians as just another avenue to stifle political dissent. The symptoms, not the disease Azizuddin’s article cites numerous examples where the ‘usrah’ method has been used by officials in power to influence unsuspecting recruits and while the security apparatus has done a remarkable job in investigating and subduing such threats, it is plainly obvious, to me at least, that like many issues in Malaysia, the security apparatus is addressing the symptoms but not the disease. The article also highlights the state’s online initiative but unintentionally highlights the problem with the state advocating certain narratives that speak more of the indoctrination process of courses like BTN (Biro Tatanegara) and other state-sponsored initiatives that promulgate the narratives that the Muslim community is under siege. The article states that “In an effort to combat ISIS recruitment of Malaysian youth and others, the police decided in October 2014 to shut down pro-ISIS websites. At the time, there were about 12 locally registered websites used by militant recruiters, which were known to have glorified several terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, and to have been responsible for convincing a number of Malaysians to join militant outfits.” Really? Only in 2014 did the state security apparatus decide that the best way to combat the ISIS (or IS) online was to shut down sites that glorified extremist violence? This is the problem right here. Because the state is too busy defining Islam and everyone with different ideas of Islam as “deviant”, criminal organisations are free to spread their dogma and infect the attitudes of certain Muslims who are already infused with ideas of racial and religious supremacy. In addition, make no mistake. These extremist groups are criminal organisations. The article also highlighted another aspect of “funding” which would be funny, if not for the fact that these extremists have carried out violent acts that have killed many Muslims in lands already blighted with corrupt ‘Islamic’ regimes. As the assistant director of the Police Counter-Terrorism Group elaborates - “We know that before this, many militants wanting to fight in Syria would sell off their belongings or were sponsored to go over (there) by ISIS supporters in the country… Lately, however, the trend of taking personal loans from banks is on the rise. They include young militants, especially those in the early 20s. Those with low credit ratings will apply for personal loans for as low as RM5,000 (US$1,400).” I have no idea if Malaysia can withstand the dark forces aligned against it. I do know that if the state continues with its policies of painting a “moderate” face on extreme foundational religious and racial ideas and oppositional forces continue playing the same Umno game, when the dust eventually settles and we would be just another blighted Islamic state. Future generations won’t have the cold comfort of what we indulge in now, that is, thinking “not in our time”. Why Muslim youths are radicalised. From Malaysiakini

Islam for Muslims or Islam for all? By Commander (Rtd) S THAYAPARAN Royal Malaysian Navy

Islam for Muslims or Islam for all? By Commander (Rtd) S THAYAPARAN Royal Malaysian Navy

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Malaysiakini : “Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.” - John Adams Commander Thaya on the right I was sincerely trying not to write another article on Islam. Every time I write an article on Islam I get the usual hate mail from folks who accuse me of being anti-Islam and anti-Malay. The people who email me are not bad people. Far from it. If you define “good” as opposing Umno and corruption, then these folks fall into the category of “good” as defined by oppositional forces. Personally, I think this is a crappy definition of good but it takes all kinds, right? Lawyer Aidil Khalid said something in a debate organised by Bebas recently that demonstrates why this country is ultimately doomed. Forget about the fact that non-Muslims are losing the demographic game but this idea of co-existence and mutual gain is anathema to mainstream Islam. If people wonder why when most people migrate they do not want to go to places where there is a Muslim majority, then you have to look no further than the idea espoused by Aidil Khalid. "And we do not even want to impose it (syariah law) on the non-Muslims. It is only for Muslims," Aidil said. On the face of it sounds reasonable. However, is it really? What these Islamists are doing, and they do this everywhere, is make a clear distinction between "us" and "them". They are proud of the distinction they attempt to make but get all butt hurt when Western governments attempt to do the same. Let me be very clear. There is enough empirical evidence that laws solely meant for Muslims in this country have a direct impact on non-Muslims hence this separate but equal canard is just another example of how mainstream Islam in this country always attempts to subvert democratic principles in the name of Muslim solidarity and hegemonic power. Some folks got extremely upset when Aidil claimed that Muslims have not complained when they have been subjected to civil laws which have a “Christian” influence. While this statement is inaccurate for many reasons, the intent behind the claim points to an anti-Western bias rooted in Saudi Wahhabism and drenched in hypocrisy. Let us unpack this statement, adding a couple of other points that this young lawyer made. Here are the three points he made: 1) Muslims have not complained about the Christian-influenced civil laws. 2) That interpretation of the Federal Constitution should be based on our traditions. 3) The right of states to “debate, enact and pass matters on Islam". The first statement is utter bunkum because we have a dual track system when it comes to certain civil laws. Over the years, and with the Arabisation process, state religious departments have encroached in the legal and social domains of Malaysians and have used anti-Western rhetoric to bolster claims of Malay/Muslim nationalism and to maintain political hegemony. This brings us to the second point. What exactly are “our” traditions? Who defines these traditions? I doubt Aidil when he talks about traditions he means a Malaysian culture that should be inclusive and accepting of diversity as guaranteed under our Federal Constitution. What he most probably means is the traditions of the dominant Malay majority. Fair enough. However the problem here is that Malay culture has evolved over time. The Malays of today are different from the pre- and post-colonial Malays. Social engineering, the influx of foreigners and decades of the Arabisation process has made it clear that mainstream Malay culture and traditions is in fact a replica of Saudi culture or at least that is the eventual goal. “Malay” tradition and cultural norms have over the years been replaced with Wahhabi imperatives that seek to extinguish the various cultural influences that made Malay culture and traditions such a melting pot of Southeast Asian influences. Hence if we know that Wahhabism is the dominant Malay culture, then what this young lawyer is advocating is that those so-called traditions of those interpreting the Federal Constitution should rely on is in fact a foreign Islamic ideology that the Saudis themselves are claiming to curtail. Deviant thinking However, let us for one minute think it is okay to rely on such interpretations. Let us assume that Islamic jurisprudence is an acceptable source of law for all of us. Let us go back to the so-called golden age of Islam, that era where most rational Muslims use as a touchstone to promulgate the idea that theirs is in fact a forward-thinking religion. Do you know of any Muslim Malaysian scholars who advocate such a position? I do. I could name many but these folks are sanctioned by the state for deviant thinking. Deviant from what, you may ask? From standard, Wahhabi thinking. People like Aidil always reminds us that “interpretations of Islam and the Quran should be left to scholars who have spent entire lives dedicated to understanding the religion”, but when confronted by voices other than the ones approved by the state, these scholars suddenly lose their Islamic credentials. Here is an opinion of someone who has had a formal education when it comes to the intricacies of Islam, Wan Ji Wan Hussin - “I don’t agree that only Islam can be propagated. The Federal Constitution states that, but I don't agree with it from the viewpoint of religion. Let the law practitioners debate if it’s from the law’s point of view. But as someone who studied religion, that statement is wrong. Non-Muslims should be given the right to give their views, as opposed to only the Muslims who can do so. Maybe that's why people have accused me of being ‘liberal’.” Does this sound like something Aidil can get behind or is this one of those situations where this Islamic scholar suddenly loses his Islamic credentials? I have often argued that the only way we can stop the process of sliding into a failed Islamic state is when we have diversity of thought when it comes to Islam. The main reason why the state wishes to silence dissenting voices is that they are a threat to religious, but more importantly, political hegemony. However, the last point is where the action really takes place. I am a firm believer in constraining federal power. So my question to this young lawyer is, what if a state decides that it is unIslamic to discriminate based on race and religion? What if Islamic authorities in a particular state decide that there should be a separation between mosque and state? What if the state’s Islamic authority decides that there no need for a local Islamic authority? Would this young lawyer be still gung-ho on state rights or would this just be another case, where the state loses its Islamic legitimacy because it goes against the federal-approved form of Islam? That Malaysian original Haris Ibrahim at the Bebas debate said that he would not have the Islam he believes in taken away from him. The tragedy is that his version of Islam is anathema to mainstream Malaysian Islam.

New wave of Chinese nationals drawn to Malaysia - From around the Blogs

New wave of Chinese nationals drawn to Malaysia

A report in the South China Morning Post has highlighted a new wave of Chinese nationals moving to Malaysia. The report “Why are Chinese nationals moving to Malaysia?” mentioned two main categories:

MM2H – From 2002 to 2016, a quarter of the 31,732 successful applicants were from China or 7,967. In 2016 alone, over 1,000 Chinese nationals enrolled in MM2H making up 44 per cent of the applicants. Next were the Japanese at a distant 9 per cent.

Migrant workers – especially in the construction sector.

But there is another category that the report didn’t mention: independent students (not just those who come with their families and are enrolled in international schools) who come on their own from China to study in Malaysia.

The other day, I am sitting down having dinner at a shop in George Town. The place is full; and then this skinny, mop-haired teenager walks up and hesitantly asks if he can share my table. Turns out, he is a 15-year-old lad from Hainan and speaks Hakka.

But seems happy to converse in English; so curiosity piqued, I ask him what he is doing in Malaysia.

“Studying English,” he replies. Apparently, he arrived in Malaysia with a friend and enrolled in an independent Chinese school in Penang. At the school, he says, there are about 60 students from China. He says he feels at home in Penang, it is less stressful, the weather and food are OK, and he likes the old buildings here.

But why doesn’t he study English in China, where I am sure there are many specialist schools teaching English?

“I can, but then I won’t be able to talk (and practise) with many people like I am talking to you now.”

I ask him if he misses his family back home. “No,” he says, sipping his drink. “I can keep in touch with my parents over WeChat.”

Once he finishes his education, he hopes to work as a translator in Kuala Lumpur. (Presumably, by then firms from China would be present in a big way in the Klang Valley). Obviously not in a hurry to return to China then.

Days earlier, I ran into another student from China.

I ask her what she is doing in Penang. Studying architecture in a local university, she says in halting English.

That made me wonder, why would a student from China, with its many skyscrapers dotting the cityscape and a construction boom, choose to come to Malaysia to study architecture? From a place like China, whose economy is booming, to Malaysia, which is experiencing a slowdown.

A businesswoman, a Chinese national, whom I met at a dinner tells me many young Chinese dream of going to North America, but the queues for visas at the US embassy are long.

So some students from China opt to study in Malaysia as a stepping stone before moving on elsewhere. Moreover, the standard of English required for education in Malaysia is slightly lower than that required in the United States, she says. Plus it is probably cheaper to study here, no doubt.

As for the people in China who buy property here – some of these buyers, she says, want to move their money out of China in case their government takes some of it away from them, one way or another, given that inequality is getting to be a problem in China.

The South China Morning Post report cites several pull factors for Chinese nationals moving to Malaysia:

• lower cost of living
• cleaner air
• relatively laid-back (for now) atmosphere in Penang
• similar culture
• English education at international schools

But against that, they are not officially allowed to work – but they can buy property, which would be a boon for developers here (despite the restrictions on currency outflow China, which many buyers from China know how to circumvent – for now).

This leads to other problems: who will the developers here prefer to build for – the wealthier foreigners or locals, many of whom can only afford less expensive homes?

All this is happening even before Najib’s new wave of China projects in Malaysia can take hold. These massive infrastructure projects will invariably bring with them many more workers from China – professionals, managers, technicians, less-skilled workers along with developers and construction workers – and let’s not forget the staff of the China banks who will set up shop in Malaysia to bankroll these projects, adding to our debt.

By

 Anil Netto

 

Malaysia Hari Ini : External Debt RM908.7b

Malaysia Hari Ini : External Debt RM908.7b

Very sad it was not because of me buying Bananas at the Ritz or hoarding the bananas or playing in the Banana stock market because the Government is run by idiotic humans who think they are better than us, Monkeys 

I am very sad and very sad that the BN-Government are investing in the Pink Bananas which are worthless and poison to their health 

 and I tried but

Now is time for the apes to rule as the time for Humans to rule is finished