A tale of two economic systems on February 13, 2019Troubled Venezuela is an instructive case study on the two politico-economic systems prevalent in the world today: nationalistic socialism and liberal capitalism. Its recent history shines a light on the failings of both a fiscally irresponsible welfare state and the widening wealth gap that compels civil society to overthrow a free-market system. I also found […]
Racism in sports on February 2, 2019Racism has absolutely no room in sports. By their very definition, sports bring together people of all races, castes, creeds and religions to compete without discrimination. And international sports bodies are right to insist on a zero-tolerance policy for racists remarks on or off the field. Yet in zealously pursuing equality, are we hyper-sensitizing certain […]
The fine line between ‘monstrous’ and ‘moral’ on January 27, 2019From jet planes to penicillin, many of the scientific advancements we take for granted today would not exist had the visionaries who reified them not crossed a moral boundary, or three. Indeed, as the celebrated Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw noted over a century ago “all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” Morality, after all, […]
Ending the ‘endless wars’? on January 17, 2019The world fears the worst every time a US president utters the phrase “mission accomplished.” From Afghanistan to Syria to Libya and Yemen, the American enterprise of “chasing monsters abroad” has thrown the entire Middle East into a perpetual state of chaos. Washington sent US special forces to Syria in 2015 to eject President Bashar […]
Malaysian “reverts” campaign for inter-faith understanding on January 8, 2019No trip to Ipoh is complete without driving downtown to Kong Heng Square, the city’s picturesque tourist trap. On weekends especially, the mouldy, old-world magnificence of the block and its arterial Concubine Lane pulsate to the rhythm of a myriadhuman bodies that descend on the area looking for great food, trinketsor both. Commerce is king […]
The Sino-American trade war has no winners on December 13, 2018The recent arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Canada points to a widening of the trade war between the US and China. She faces possible extradition to the US for helping Huawei evade equipment sanctions on Iran through a shell company. Some are calling her arrest the latest set piece in a […]
World at crossroads on climate change on December 6, 2018France has turned into a litmus test for how steep the battle to lower carbon dioxide emissions worldwide will be. And the results thus far are not heartening. In late November, thousands of French protesters labelled the “yellow vests” by local media besieged city centres across the country to protest a hike in fuel prices. […]
Can Imran Khan be impartial? on November 28, 2018The Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s two-day trip to Malaysia in late November where he met his counterpart and old friend, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, generated soundbites that ordinary Pakistanis can likely recite from memory. Drawing parallels to Dr Mahathir’s historic victory earlier this year, Khan declared at the official presser that both leaders had been […]
American double-standards on Iran on November 13, 2018The first week of November saw the entirely predictable capitulation of the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives. And with it, an abrupt end to the aura of invincibility that had hitherto framed Donald Trump’s presidency. Though the midterm elections returned the control of the House to Democrats in an emphatic fashion, Trump’s […]
Gene editing: new pandora’s box? on October 31, 2018Man’s obsession with Superman has been the driving force behind cutting-edge medical science for decades. Immortal, invincible and aloof — secretly we all wish to be like the fictitious “strange visitor from another planet.” Once scientists mapped out the human genome in 2003, our inevitable next step was to find ways to tinker with it […]