The articles, the opinions, the stories, the poems and the cartoons Ovi magazine covers for Tuesday November 16th, 2021
The Dark Forces Changing Malaysian Society by Murray Hunter
Malaysia was once a harmonious society, where the different
ethnic groups coexisted with a sense of community, and each ethnic group
once openly celebrated festivals together. All the ethnic groups were
free to express their cultures, and practice their religions without
interference. Malaysia had a strong and stable government with a working
multi-racial coalition. All of the nation’s citizens were once proud to
be Malaysian.
Malaysia once lived up to the tourist slogan ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’.
There are many forces that have dramatically changed Malaysian
society over the last 50 years. Tanah Melayu has changed from a rich
multi-cultural society, that was appreciated by all, towards an insular
narrow thinking one, where minority groups have become disconnected from
the cultural, political, and social directions the country is now
headed.
The product of this changing Malaysia is the current budget delivered
by the new Ismail Sabri Yakoob government just recently. This budget
has been criticised from many quarters. The budget is being charged as
being unfair to all citizens, and totally lacking empathy towards the
suffering Rakyat during this Covid crisis. Former minister Zaid Ibrahim
said that Malaysia is the only country in the world that has a race
specific budget.
The rest of this article will look at the factors that have brought Malaysia to this point.
Continue reading HERE!
In a new room #poem by Bohdan Yuri
“Shadows dancing, lost and found,
stars above, make no sounds;
from the moon, ghostly abstractions
fill my room with playful distractions.”
Continue reading HERE!
Subsidies and soft loans: facts and fallacies by Joseph Gatt
In many countries, notably France and former French colonies,
I hear a lot of businesses saying things like “we need the government
to help us” or “our business needs subsidies” or “our businesses needs
soft loans.”
So here are the facts and fallacies.
Fallacy: subsidies help increase production
Fact: a lot of the subsidies go to new technologies but also training
in the new technologies, hiring new staff, and other expenses.
In the case of agriculture, production depends on many factors,
including weather factors and the overall economic health of the nation.
In the case of industry, production depends widely on the necessity
of the product and the overall consumer demand of the product.
So subsidies won’t always increase production. And even if subsidies
do increase production that does not guarantee the product will sell.
Fallacy: the government should build electricity, water, gas and transportation facilities for farmers and small industries.
Fact: the government should connect cities and provide citizens access to electricity and gas and water.
Continue reading HERE!
UNESCO founded
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations
established on 16 November 1945. Its stated purpose is to contribute to
peace and security by promoting international collaboration through
education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect
for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights along with
fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter. It is the heir of the
League of Nations’ International Commission on Intellectual
Cooperation.
UNESCO has 193 Member States and seven Associate Members. The
organization is based in Paris, with over 50 field offices and many
specialized institutes and centres throughout the world. Most of the
field offices are “cluster” offices covering three or more countries;
there are also national and regional offices. UNESCO pursues its
objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences,
social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.
Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and
teacher-training programmes; international science programmes; the
promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and
cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity;
international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and
natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights,
and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.
Tang & Ram 21#21 #cartoon by Thanos Kalamidas
for more Tang & Ram, HERE!
For more Ovi Cartoons, HERE!
Ovi magazine
We cover every issue
