Fiction writing is difficult. Figuring out dialogue, making characters seem relatively believable, doing more “showing” instead of “telling”, trying to be more descriptive of scenes; I have all the respect in the world for writers of fiction.
Fiction writing is difficult. Figuring out dialogue, making characters seem relatively believable, doing more “showing” instead of “telling”, trying to be more descriptive of scenes; I have all the respect in the world for writers of fiction.
This is Part 3, the final part in a series of fictional articles that I started two months ago (September 2025) in The Edge
This is Part 2 in a series of fictional articles that I started in September 2025 in The Edge
For the next few articles, beginning with this one, I want to see if I can write a series of fictional short stories that illustrate different views of economic development. This is Part I.
Does it really matter if Malaysia — or any developing country — hits some arbitrary threshold of “high-income”? Or is it more important that we maintain steady, sustainable economic growth and economic development?
It is just that, for a middle power such as Malaysia, we may get far more bang for our buck by focusing on how well we diffuse technology broadly, as opposed to how well we invent the next big thing
Much of the foundation of hard science fiction is effectively taking our reality today and asking, “If this one thing were different, how would the world look?”
We need to reckon with power dynamics and decades of cultural evolution which led us to the “equilibrium” in which we find ourselves today. But there is hope, of course, by being adaptive and open in our paradigms of the world
But the point of the devolution of power is to ultimately build a more extremophile political economy that can then serve to ensure a more resilient Malaysia amid greater volatility globally
Tthe countries that can address the political economy of business in Southeast Asia — historically a family affair — will be best placed to capitalise on the investment story of Southeast Asia
But if we can hold off zombie interest groups for public policy, learn not to put human beings on pedestals, but simply take what their best and wisest decisions are for ourselves, while respecting our own mental health and that of everyone around us, maybe we’ll get through 2025 alright.