www.wansaiful.com

I saw Franklin Cudjoe as I walked into the main lobby of the Sheraton. And then bumped into Kendra Okonski. It was a nice start - there are familiar libertarian faces. It could be rather overwhelming to attend a conference with almost 700 people if you don’t know anyone!

The first session was a networking event organised by Atlas (although it was still the Heritage Resource Bank). It was very good to finally be able to put faces to names.

Then, the talks.

First up was a a session of “Why Limit Government?”. Carrie Lukas (Independent Women’s Forum) spoke first, and her main message was that governments have a tendency to try to be like “parents”. But their parenting skills are usually horrendous as they need to keep their “children” (read the citizens) in perpetual childhood. That way, they can remain in power - ie: as long as the people feel that they are powerless without the government, they will keep voting for the same politicians, in the same way that a child will always go back to the protection of the parents so long as they continue to feel that they are still too young to look after themselves.
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Ian Duncan Smith gave a marvellous speech on “A Conservative Vision for a Just Society” at the Heritage Resource Bank. A great, great, speech. I will blog about it later as I have to dash to dinner now. But it really was GREAT.

Thankfully day 3 is less hectic. Just a few more meetings to pick up some of the discussions that were not compeleted properly yesterday, and then it was time to switch to the “tourist mode again”.

I am bit tired to blog about the full details, so, just some short lines.

I managed to arrange a tour inside the Capitol, so, just after lunch, that was the first stop. The building is deep in history, but not quite as “rich” as the Westminster parliament. I particularly like the Rotunda which connects the House of Representatives and the Senate. The artwork around it, and particularly the carving-like drawings just below the window panels are beautiful. They have a small exhibition at the ground floor but there were not many exhibits.

By the time I finished the Capitol, there was not enough time to go to the White House Visitor Centre (they close at 4pm). So I thought I would just go to the National Archive. But the queue was too long, and I didn’t want to stand waiting in the heat (it was quite a hot day). So I took a tour bus around DC,going all the way up to the Washington National Cathedral, passing through Embassy Row and Georgetown, and then back to the Union Station. From there, back to the hotel, and then straight to the airport.

I arrived in Atlanta at around 11pm.

All in all, it wasa good trip to DC.

What a tiring day! I stepped out from my hotel room at 8.30am, and did not get back until about 9pm. Well, part of it was because I went to a few tourist attractions, but it was a busy day nonetheless.

The day started with a meeting with Radwan Masmoudi, President of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy. I have been wanting to get to know CSID better for quite a while but never got the chance. So this was an opportunity that was not to be missed. We had a long chat about the state of democracy in the Muslim world and the challenges faced by democrats in those countries. We also spoke abut how Malaysia in the 1990s was the beacon of hope for many Muslim majority countries. But we have lost it - Turkey has clearly taken over. I now know a lot more about what they do and how they do it. It is all good. We should have more organisations like the CSID. They are doing a conference on “Political Islam and Democracy: What do Islamists and Islamic Movements Want?” in May. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend.

Also met with Dr Samih Teymur, President of the Turkish Institute for Security and Democracy. This is a newly established (about 6 months) institute and the model, and the type of work, that they do is quite different. They are funded by the Turkish government and they have quite a number of postgraduate students (in the hundreds) that they support. The model of operations that they use is an excellent example of a what a government could do if they are serious about projecting a positive image globally. I would add that the same could also apply to any serious political movement - if you want to be taken seriously at the international level, you need a lobbying “agent”. We didn’t have enough time today (the 2 hours was not enough!) so I am meeting him again tomorrow.

Also met with Angela Wu and Bennett Graham of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. I didn’t know much about The Becket Fund before but I am always keen to know more about how organisations working on sensitive issues like religious freedom operate. So this was a great eye opener. Just two weeks ago Angela briefed American policy-makers on the effect of the recent Malaysian general election and the briefing can be found here.

After all that, it was time to turn into “tourist mode”.

First stop, Union Station. Quite a grand building for a train station. And inside it was more like a shopping complex than anything else. I found the biggest donut I have ever seen at the Union Station’s foodcourt - it was larger than the circumference of a football!

Then, a bus trip to Lincoln Memorial. This is a must see for anyone visiting DC. The statue was one thing, but what attracted me the most was the tiny exhibition room at the ground floor. They have some of Lincoln’s speeches engraved on slabs of stone, and you can see how his ideas evolved. He started off as someone whose mission was to defend the Union, but gradually, as he was refining his philosophy, he became a defender of equality. I snapped some pictures which I will upload later.

After that, another bus trip to Capitol Hill. By the time I got there, it was almost 7pm. Everything was closed. So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to just walk slowly along Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House. It has already been quite a long day and so it was a very slow walk. With various stops along the way, it took almost a full 90 minutes before I reach the White House. Too tired to do anything else after that, so I took a taxi back to the hotel.

I have more meetings tomorrow but I want to try to get to the National Archives, before departing to Atlanta in the evening.

Because of the delay at JFK, I arrived at Baltimore Airport at around 6pm. The journey from BWI to Henley Park hotel (which is marvelous!) took about 1 hour by taxi, which gave me just enough time to refresh before the 7.30pm dinner with the Cato team.

It was a very good dinner. The food was very good, and the company was even better. Tom Palmer, Nicole Kurokawa, Fadi Haddadin, Diqing Jiang, and Nouh El-Harmouzi were there.

Ok…. time to get some rest. More meetings tomorrow.

I arrived at New York’s JFK Airport at around 12.30pm. In order to avoid Heathrow, I decided to take Delta Airline from Gatwick. The flight was….just ok. Nothing spectacular. But there was plenty of space in the cabin as there were only 3 people in the business class. But the food was terrible. What I don’t understand is, why is it that every time you ask for halal food, the caterers automatically assume you want curry. They gave me biryani for lunch. Why can’t it be halal sirloin steak?

And, to make things worse, my connecting (another Delta!) flight from JFK to Baltimore is now delayed by about 1 hour 30 minutes. So I am stuck in the departure lounge (more like a cheap campsite rather than a “lounge”) - the wait is long enough to make you hate the lousy Delta terminal, but too short to allow enough time to go out of the airport. Sigh….

But, I am looking forward for a good night rest at the Henley Park Hotel tonight. It should be a nice one.

Can Moral or Religious Obligation Ever Justify the Use of Force Inadmissible Under Secular Law?

Introduction: Dr Lynn Welchman

Speakers: Professor Abdullahi An-Na’im and Professor Tariq Ramadan

Chair: Sir James Craig

Monday 19th May, 6.00pm – 7.30pm, Temple Church

Tickets can be booked online at www.temple2008.org

The formal dialogue will be followed by questions and answers.
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This is an edited transcript of my speech, at the Ibn Khaldun Seminar on 18 December 2007, at Menara Integiriti, Institut Integriti Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. So, when you read, remember that when I say “here”, I was referring to Malaysia because I was in Malaysia at that time. Comments are welcome. See video here: www.youtube.com/malaysiathinktank

This was also published by Malaysiakini on 31 March and 1 April 2008

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To start with, let me tell you a bit about Malaysia Think Tank London. We are relatively young classical liberal think tank. Our focus in on policy issues and we try to use classical liberal values to produce policy proposals. Based in London, we started our operations last year. I lead the senior management team and we are supported by an International Advisory Board. We are now looking into the possibility of opening a KL office, and we are planning a series of events beginning from February next year in Malaysia.

The topic tonight is not an easy one. I know the publicity of this event explicitly links me with PAS but I am not speaking for PAS. I represent myself in this forum.
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I heard that Tun Mahathir is coming over to the UK this week. He will be speaking in Manchester on Saturday, and in London on the 23rd.

I am hoping to go to the one in Manchester, but am still not sure as I will be flying off to Washington DC that weekend - will be spending a few days in DC before attending the Heritage Resource Bank and Atlas Liberty Forum, both in Atlanta.

Oh dear.