April 15, 2008 • 12:17 am 1
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.
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty
April 12, 2008 • 8:38 pm 4
Two events in Singapore and Malaysia. Please follow these links for further info:
1. Singapore event with ISEAS.
For further details of the book, visit www.my-islamic-state.com
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Malaysia, Misc, Politics
April 9, 2008 • 12:42 am 0
Reflections on Malaysia’s Checks and Balances
The Role of the Press
The Malaysia Think Tank London released a report – Press Freedom in Malaysia – in early March. Contributors include Datuk Azman Ujang, Prof Madya Dr Azmi Sharom, Sonia Randhawa, and ‘Abidin Muhriz. The report is available for free download from www.malaysiathinktank.org
How has the mainstream press changed since 8 March and how will it evolve? What are the challenges to the press as democratic space increases? Will greater press freedom facilitate cooperation or foster conflict with bloggers? Join us in this special event to examine the role of the press as one of the check and balance institutions in a liberal democracy.
Date: Saturday 12 April 2008
Time: 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Venue: Bilik Etika, Institut Integriti Malaysia, Off Jalan Duta, 50480 KL
Chair: Datuk Azman Ujang, Chairman, Malaysian Press Institute and General Manager, Bernama
Speakers:
Zanon Ahmad, Political Editor, theSun
Karim Raslan, Group CEO, KRA Group
S Vicknesan, Editor, Malaysiakini.com
To attend, please register by sending an email to register@malaysiathinktank.org
Co-organised by the Malaysia Think Tank London, the Malaysian Press Institute, and the Malaysia Institute of Integrity
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Malaysia, Politics, Malaysia, press
March 21, 2008 • 11:10 pm 0
VISIT www-my-islamic-state.com FOR FURTHER DETAILS
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Politics
March 21, 2008 • 4:39 pm 0
Patrick Henry (1736-1799), American revolution leader:
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty
March 14, 2008 • 10:55 pm 3
Omar Khan’s post on his blog remidned me of the book ‘Waging the War of Ideas’, by John Blundell, which you can download in full below.
In particular, pay close attention to the story on page 17, and in particular paragraph 3, which I quote below:
1946: Recently demobilised from Britain’s Royal Air Force, highly decorated fighter pilot Antony Fisher finds in the Reader’s Digest a condensation of F. A. Hayek’s classic critique of socialism,
The Road to Serfdom. It confirms his own worries about his country’s tilt toward socialism.Travelling to London, Fisher seeks out Hayek at the London School of Economics (LSE). ‘What can I do? Should I enter politics?’ he asks. With Fisher’s war record, good looks, gift for speaking, and excellent education, it is no idle question.
‘No,’ replies Hayek. ‘Society’s course will be changed only by a change in ideas. First you must reach the intellectuals, the teachers and writers, with reasoned argument. It will be their influence on society which will prevail, and the politicians will follow.’
1949: Ralph Harris, a young researcher from the Conservative Party, gives a Saturday afternoon lecture in a small village in southeastern England. Fisher – now a farmer – is present and loves what he hears. Taking Harris aside after the meeting, he explains his ideas for an organisation to make the free-market case to intellectuals. ‘One day,’ he says, ‘when my ship comes in, I’d like to create something which will do for the non-Labour parties what the [socialist] Fabian Society did for the Labour Party.’ Harris is excited. ‘If you get any further,’ he says, ‘I’d like to be considered as the man to run such a group.’
The book was first published and 2001, and was republished in 2007.
It was this book that inspired me to do something to spread freedom and liberty Malaysia.
Click here to download the full book.
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty
February 10, 2008 • 11:51 pm 1
I have just finished watching Amazing Grace. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Great film.
Some may say that the film, and slavery generally, is indicative of what would happen in a capitalist world. I disagree. Taking people away from their home without their consent is like kidnapping. And forcing people to work in unacceptable conditions is simply unacceptable. Both are not in line with capitalist or classical liberal ideas. Rather, capitalism and classical liberalism are about mutual acceptance and mutual agreement.
As a tribute to William Wilberforce’s struggle for liberty and freedom, here’s Amazing Grace:
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Amazing grace, liberty
February 5, 2008 • 11:46 pm 8
As always, Saifulislam posted another well-written entry which you can see here. My comment is a bit long, so I will post it in my blog as below.
There was one comment on that entry that I want to pick on. It goes like this:
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Malaysia, Politics
February 4, 2008 • 11:31 am 3
This is an excellent video which discusses some basic ideas of classical liberalism. It is a collections of thoughts by those who attended the recent Freedom Week at Sydney Sussex College, University of Cambridge.
I think the best description of classical liberalism was given by Dr Mark Pennington at around minute 18 in this video. He argues that classical liberalism is about being able to be nice to others without being coerced. He said that doing a good deed because you feel forced to do so is, in fact, not really a “good deed” as such. A real good deed is when you do it because you want to do it. Translating that to “Muslim-speak”, a good deed must be accompanied by ikhlas / sincerity. Otherwise, it will not be rewarded as a good deed.
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Politics
February 3, 2008 • 1:43 pm 7
I have to write this one in Malay as I think this is the best way to reach my aims.
Satu surat terbuka
Assalamualaikum,
Pagi tadi saya mendengar satu ceramah bertajuk “Pandangan Islam terhadap Liberalisme” yang ustaz sampaikan. Alhamdulillah ini merupakan satu ceramah yang amat baik, jauh lebih baik daripada beberapa ceramah atas yang sama yang pernah saya dengar sebelum ini. Izinkan saya mengimbas kembali beberapa isu penting yang Ustaz sampaikan, dan saya harap Ustaz boleh betulkan jika saya tersalah dengar.
Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Malaysia, Politics, islam, islam liberal, liberal, liberalisme, Malaysia
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