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.
All in Democracy
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
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
And so, here is a list of eight (completely arbitrary number) “indie” public goods that we think would make Malaysia — or in some cases, at least our immediate neighbourhoods — a better place to live for all.
Whatever happens with global politics following the year of elections — especially with the US presidential election — navigating the waters of global policy means navigating “swamps, deserts and chasms”.
Therefore, it isn’t that less bureaucracy is a good thing; we just need a high-performing bureaucracy. We really need to quit sabotaging our organisations, public and private.
The best part about reading stuff is learning new ideas and seeing how they might connect to other ideas or be applicable to certain situations or circumstances. So with that in mind, I thought I would just share four of the most interesting ideas I learnt in 2023, be it from books or articles.
The point of the article was to figure out, in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, some better indicators for Malaysia’s economic development as opposed to the more popular ones. And so, in a further adaptation of Blattman’s concept, I have proposed a further 10 “indie” development indicators.
Those in power typically prefer the status quo; after all, rules were made by those who were powerful enough to set the rules in the first place. And while rules are ostensibly made for the benefit of all, they are rarely, if ever, made at the expense of those in power.
Democracy should be a verb, not a mere noun, and a big part of democracy and, therefore, answering the question of “How do we live together?” requires more humility in our thoughts and actions
The academic field of political economy has made a resurgence and is at the forefront of cutting-edge social science research. A major part of this resurgence is due to the recently departed Alberto Alesina.