What Used To Belong To Me

 Designs on various, current and former parts of the Malaysian Federation seem to not let up.

When the Malaysian Federation was formed in 1963, the Republic of Indonesia under Suharto threatened the formatoom of the Federation, triggering a Confrontation crisis across the Malacca Straits.

Thailand used to have sovereignty over Trenggganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis.
The colonial British authorities referred to them as part of the Unfederated Malay States ( Johore State being the other member).

Penang State's formation was based on some agreement between colonial British Captain Francis Light and the then Kedah Sultan in 1786.  The Pearl of the Orient was part of the Sultanate of Kedah when it was relatively undeveloped on the arrival of the British sailing ships ( I am still curious as to why the Portuguese and Dutch did not venture much into Penang Island with impact).

The Kedah Sultanate paid homage to Bangkok royalty then as expressed in the sending of the iconic Bunga Mas to Thai King Rama I.  The tradititional vibes of Thai culture and practices can be observed especially in Kedah, which has a Bujang Valley full of important Buddhist archeological troves from before the arrival of Islam.   South east Asia was basically under significant religious, language, political and traditional influence from India.

Eastward across the South China Sea from from the peninsular,  the decision for Sabah and Sarawak to join the Federation of Malaysia was made by an inner circle of individuals chosen by the departing British  - no public referendum was held.

Large portions of Sabah and Sarawak were ruled by the Brunei Sultanate, which had conflicts with the Sulu Sultanate.  People from Mindanao historically have ties with Sabah.  The significance of the influence of both the Sulu and Brunei Sultanates has often been undermentioned in the annals of the island of Borneo, now shared territorially amongst Indonesia, Malaysia and the compact but oil rich state of Brunei.

The Phllippines today is a nation with a Malay cultural basis, transformed by 400 years of Spanish Catholicism, a hundred years or so of American colonialism and still having millions of Muslims residing in its southern islands.   Sulu is part of this flank of the Filipino identity.

Back on the Malay Peninsular, Malacca was a city state founded by a Hindu prince and who had converted to Islam by the time the colonial Portuguese arrived.   The port city has historically welcomed trade, migrants, religions, finance and diversity.  Its significant role in south east Asia was overtaken by the burgeoning ports of Penang and Singapore.  Together the colonial British grouped them up as the British Straits Settlements ( together with the much forgotten district of Dindings in southerm Perak).

Sir Stamford Raffles managed in 1819 to get the Johor Sultanate to part with Singapore after the former realised the strategic potential of the island's location at the nexus between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.  Contemporary Republic of Singapore governments are very emphatic in maintaining and developing strong relationships with the Johor Sultanate.

Singapore broke away from the Malaysian Federation after only two years.  Its high economic stature in standard of living, growth, financial prowess, governance reputation and technological investment surpasses many other nations larger in land size than her.  The Singapore government is ever conscious of her critical role in geopolitics and dependence on imports.   Will Johor want to reclaim Singapore?  

Will Sulu want to have Sabah back?
Will Penang revert as Kedah territory?
Will the northern Malay States want to rejoin the southern Thai Malay states?

Politics is an ever changing game.   Boundaries can be as fluid and pliable as what those in power want them to be.
Nations control parts which can be home to cultures and religions different from their controlling political centre.

The historical basis of which present countries have been formed can be flagged to the side in the game of acquiring resources, opportunities and power.  

#yongkevthoughts

English Language News

 Nation wide news bulletins across a nation, small or large, understandably reflect the language, political shade and culture of her predominant inhabitants.

Across China, Pu Tong Hua or the Standard Speak, is pervasive across the massive extent of her territory, from Hei Long jian in the north east to Tibet in the south west.  The national tv broadcaster, CCTV, uses an updated version of a language agreed upon the embarkation  of the Republic formed after the fall of the last imperial dynasty in 1911.

We are what we speak.   Our thoughts are articulated in the language we speak.  We often do not lose the ability to speak the language of our childhood, in the community or nation where we first grow up.

The reinforcement of constant language spoken by or to us is reflected in what is articulated in news media, whether spoken, written, read or listened to.  Nations with a mainly homogenous demographic have no issues with the choice of official national language.

What then faces countries with  a diverse population in terms of ethnicity, culture and language?    There are societies facing this situation due to past colonialism,  history or active recruitment of immigrants from different parts of the world.

The Republic of South Africa has a dozen official languages but English and Afrikaans rule the news broadcasts there.
Singhalese dominate in Sri Lanka.  Both Thailand and Indonesia stand out in using only their national languages as news broadcasts, with English notably absent - this is understandable as Thailand was never colonised and Indonesia was under the Dutch colonists.  However, both countries have diverse cultural groups in their domain.

The island Republic of Singapore has a national language of Malay and three official languages of Mandarin, English and Tamil.  Yes,  the free to air news telecasts are available daily in all the four languages.   Even public announcements on the MRT reflect these four languages.

The nearby Federation of Malaysia in contrast has elevated Malay to increasingly be the de facto lingua franca of national and official stature.   I understand there may only be a sole English language news bulletin on free to air tv in Malaysia ( on a commercial channel if I am not wrong).   The numbers of non Malays in the current 34 million population of Malaysia has decreased since the 1980s due to migration, official discrimination,  low birth rates and political climate.

The United States has had an image of welcoming migration.   Think of the lure of the Statute of Liberty,  Hollywood movies, university admission,  relatively low taxation amongst the Western nations,  lifestyle attractions and the power of so called democracy.  Even if Latin Americans propel in numbers to be an ever larger percentage of the USA population,  the Englush language dominates in news broadcasts, although Spanish cannot be ignored,  especially in the parts that truly and formerly were part of Mexico.   Immigrants from overseas continue to take to the English language like ducks to water, especially those from former colonies of the now defunct British Empire.

Australia  had a long term White Australia Policy, until it was dismantled by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in the 1970s.   Since then it has embraced diversity in its welcoming of migrants, until recent developments domestically and in geopolitics.  It is said that capital cities
like Melbourne and Sydney have residents with backgrounds of around 200 nations.

The news media across Australia is mainly in the English language.  An exception is the free to air SBS service funded by taxpayers and going into its 50th year.  I recall being impressed by SBS streaming in news bulletins from across the world as early as the late 1980s.  I could tune in overnight to uncensored news presentations in their original non- English languages.  

Sad to say, since the reign of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Russian language news from Moscow and Mandarin language news from Beijing have not been allowed on SBS.   Instead SBS World Watch now streams in daily news bullletins of several languages from India, apart from Hindi.  There are perhaps 200 separate Indigenous cultures across the Australian continent, yet there is no regular news broadcast in any Aboriginal language.

English language news prevalence in daily news across Australia is spiked by access on free to air of news from the BBC, CBS, NBC, ABC USA,  Deutsche Welle, France 24,  CBC Canada, NHK and the Phillippines.

In recognition of the significant role of English as a practical international language of communication, technology, politics, finance and trade,  several newscasters of note provide world wide access of news in that language.

#yongkevthoughts

The Stars From The Universe Are Watching

 April and May 2025 can be emerging as a a transitionary time, when the stars of the Universe are looking at the choices of many groups of Homo Sapiens in their rituals and society behaviours.   Will the course of human civillisation encounter significant changes, or more things will be the same, with just different players forefront on the world stage?

Elections can be just smokescreens to seemingly give the human being on the street a sense of participation.   The powers that truly are can be putting the individuals they control as their continuing agents.

Registered voters head to the booths to mark their ballots in Canada, Singapore and Australia.   

Canada has seen the exit of long time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government has overseen the age of Covid epidemics, changing attitudes towards relentless immigration,  more acknowledgement of past injustices towards her Indigenous peoples, continuing pressure from the government of her nearest neighbour and rising costs of living.

Singapore has a newly minted Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, urgently handling a sweeping change of the landscape in international  trade, finance and economic exchanges as the fall out from the return to power of a controversial person as the POTUS.  That latter person has recently been most effective in creating widespread uncertainty.

The Australian Labor Government seeking re-election on 3 May has at most been under performing under Anthony Albanese, who has been reluctant to differ in several respects from its Opposition,  continue to toe the line and requirements from the USA and been ineffective and mainly bushfire reactive to the rising costs of housing, food, utilities, lack of commercial competition and social issues.

Although restricted to the Conclave, laden with traditional secrecy and religious ritual,  the selection of the next Pope at the Vatican is essentially a political process.    The successful candidate, who emerges on the balcony after white smoke is seen bellowing,  presides over 1.4 billion Catholics, mainly in Africa, South and Central America, the Phillippines, Timor-Leste and Europe.

Nations outside the USA are scrambling to reorganise supply logistics, access to critical minerals and manufacturing ingredients, payment systems, trading arrangements, over reliance on the USA and other impacts on GDP and economic growth.

Military conflict, suffering by the masses as part of socio-political aggression, the enrichment of the arnaments business and an intense propaganda media channeling remain key features of continuing disputes in the part of the world that transverses Sudan, Yemen, Gaza, the West Bank,  Ukraine and bordering parts of Russia.

Will Europe wake up to being more self reliant, more proactive and united in her affairs and strategy?   It can be a time to diversify alliances, partners and arrangements.   So can the disparate nations of South-east Asia, historically caught between the tradewinds and politics of the so called East and West.   Problems can be opportunity,   challenges can be the time to build a new future.

The sanctions, boycotts and cutoffs faced by the Chinese economy in recent years have made China even more determined and passionate to significantly improve their growing advanced technology,  reduce strategic  risks and become more self sufficient.    This is a nation that does not have enough food security,  takes on the massive macro debts of an over spending USA and now beginning to reduce the utilisation of the USD, long seen as a safe vital currency.

So will change be grabbed by the horns of the proverbial bull?    Will voters choose more of the same?   Can political leaders realise that viable preparations for a very different social, political and economic future may be too late?   Will governments continue to bask in the comfort zone of a landscape that has disappeared and not come back?  Will societies continue to be led by individuals who think less of their own nation and follow the wants of another country?   Will cabinets wait for reactive mindsets, instead of being proactive?

#yongkevthoughts

As Autumn Arrives

 As autumn supposedly has arrived in the southern parts of Australia,  flora is decelarating growth from their summer speeds.  I say "supposedly" as it can be still humid and warm on afternoons in New South Wales.   Sunrises and sunsets have not displayed thd intense colours, hues and streaks that I expect in April in the Antipodes.

As leaves begin to discolour and drop, I drag out the old furniture to the garage.   Another step forward in the process of the twice yearly roadside disposal provided by the local Council.   Daylight savings had ended a few weeks ago - and nights look more full as they arrive earlier. 

I have a motley collection of mainly smallish items which I say I want to part with - but never seem to be able to do.   What is it that we are encouraged to do - start small, do it regularly and soon the job is done?

I can be the type who loves to pull out the weeds one by one, instead of procastinating and eventually do  a bombardment of weed killer spray.
Procastination irritates me, but I go through periods practising it.   At times I find that delaying a chore can pay off, but often it is simpler and more rewarding to do it on a timely basis.

In a burgeoning contemporary world of more self service and self management,  what I find remarkably irritating are constant App updates to new versions,  regular change of passwords and greater recurrence of cutoffs that never happened before the internet of things.

Is there more choice in entertainment for the family and self?    While payable streaming services increase, there are more ads and less inspiring programmes on free to air screens.   Cinema megaplexes are still around, despite the rise of access to personalised viewing as opposed to shared collective viewing.
Our human eyes strain under the weight of reading, writing and viewing on small but portable devices.

Food we may have taken for granted are increasingly processed, prepacked, programmed and interfered with.  Climate change affects our usual growing sources, politics and logistical barriers challenge distribution and consumers are further distanced from the producers.

We can now bank without physically stepping into one.   We can dine at our own accord without ever knowing the kitchen and staff cooking it.   We  generate work output without meeting our team members.   We  purchase goods and services without having to go to a mall.

We are told we can save our personal time to do other things.   Do we use the freed up opportunity to embrace more of Nature, the vibes beyond the electronic, artificial and virtual world significantly enveloping us?

Do I fully realise its autumn, with her gentle embrace of an ever spinning Earth?

#yongkevthoughts

What I Do Not Miss

 What things I do not miss, not being a customer of the two largest Australian supermarket chains.

1.  Over priced and shrink size inflated items.

2.   Miserable points chalked up on using their reward cards.

3.   Miserably sized fruits that look like they were designed by a factory.

4.    Items over priced but claimed as offered with discounts.

5.  Self service areas that are so lacking in space.

6.   Aisles that are crowded with customers busy socialising and chatting with each other, when they should go to the pub or club.

7.   Apparently fairly priced items on shelves but with a so close expiry date.

8.   Shopping trolleys that remain dirty and stained but waiting for use by new customers.

9.    Processed products that are so full of excessive amounts of ingredients like sugar, fat, preservatives and sodium.

10.   Since Covid, occasional runs of severe shortages of specific items on their supermarket shelves.

True Change

 All things shall pass, for better, worse, more of the same, or nothing at all.

Change is the constant, constancy is change. 

If each of us did not overly attach ourselves to the passing wind, chatter and temporariness of most things in human affairs or Nature, we would not have wasted our limited time, attention and energy on diversionary things. 

Our inner journey continues.  Focus our innate abilities, nourishment and vibes on more useful and longer term matters.

Reflect and we realise the true nature of true and meaningful change.

#yongkevthoughts

Singapore Faces the Usa Tariffs

 Singapore finds itself so vulnerable with the April 2025  Trumpian tariff moves.

Singapore is a society that even has to import basic things like food.  The nation has prospered as a hub of trading, a broker of exchange, a strategic sea, air and technology port and churner of business.

With high tariffs, kicked off by Trump as only a starter of what he really wants, in this current upset in international relations, countries are varying in approaches and reactions to current Usa government moves.  Some retaliate, others take it on the chin, many wake up from this jolt to the assumed benefits from the  use of comparative advantage, niche specialisation  and freer trade of the recent past.

The current shock felt by most economies also is the result from perhaps over relying on the Usa to continue buying from them.  The Usa has long ago given up its own capability to manufacture many things - although it still holds an advantage in making pharmaceuticals, IT related retail products, commercial aircraft, military arnaments  and agricultural produce -  items that Singapore precisely require.

Singapore's pillars of growth, until the cloud of current uncertainty clears, lie exposed if human civilisation  sinks into convulated trade wars.

If nations outside the Usa take this opportunity to increase trading links amongst themselves, Trump can find himself increasingly isolated.   The reality is that the world has generally put its risks and growth parameters overly on the Usa - and the quake has arrived.

I have to remind myself that the Usa economy also requires things from other nations - they are not self sufficent.  The Usa overspends in retail consumption and consistently is in debt, not only in government operations, but also because other national governments and non  Usa imvestors are willng to finance that debt.

What does the Usa need from.Singapore? 

Maybe more in non trading matters - a military base or partner,  a supporter of sea routes that the  Usa utilises for various reasons,  a supplier of high tech components?

#yongkevthoughts

The Churn 2025

 The way stock exchange prices fall or rise are all part of the way shares work.  Sentiment, speculation, fundamentals, demand, uncertainty, competition, chase for higher returns, timeliness, hedging, parking, liquidity and more.

Financial trading, asset values, share churning and investment stability are all vulnerable to quake like proportions of downstream and immediate impact of significant tariff impositions by a dominant player like the USA government. 

Topsy turvy  causes and events are currently shaking human made arrangements that have been in use for so many years.  At least for now, or for some time.

Whether it leads to better or worse times, opportunity or challenge, or a storm that passes by, is up to our mindset, response, reaction and migitative action we choose.

History can repeat or rhyme.  Trump is not original in his actions.   Tariffs and sanctions have been applied in spectacular fashion by the USA and other nations in the past, leading to war, awakening,  upheaval, regrowth, industrial change, the doldrums and philosophical reflection.

To me, it is what we, as individuals,  have already learnt or  do learn further intrinsically from such human made developments, that is more significant.

Human systems in society can be fragile, turbulent, structurally vulnerable or shaking in political winds.   Yet they can be embedded in longer lasting values, infrastructure, internationally agreed and implemented agreements and principles.   The growth of human civilisation demonstrated the tensions between opppsite ends of the spectrum, change management or mismanagement and the destruction of the old to make way for the new.

At times human beings have to take steps backwards in order to go forward.  What used to work can be chucked ruthlessly away by events of Nature, political ego, silo thinking religious or cultural imperatives and more.  What did not work can be taken up again in a tornado of other priorities.  What works can be adopted once more by a new dynasty.

The masses continue to be swept up in the aftermath of decisions, wise or otherwise, made by individuals and their cohorts in power   - whether financial, technological, political or more.  In a population of eight billion, most of the denizens of Earth are like the proverbial ants that some can look upon with disdain  or without care.

In the meantime, the eagle still soars.  The moon continues to exert its gravity on the tides.  Human beings in their masses still lose some of their reality in this contemporary world based more on instant gratification, excessive waste and false diversions.   Human nature is essentially self centred - but the finesse and  cultivation by some societies of community priority over self can help to reverse this selfish characteristic.

News media reacts.  They do not really help us respond or think effectively on a holistic basis.  Their business is to churn, excite, incite and divide.  The presence of movement, or creating differences, is their rationale to make money out of events.

And so is making money out of investment in tangible assets, non tangible instruments of trade and finance, putting a bet on short or long term pricing of tradeable options, cashing on the lack of supply,  sentimentally driving up demand and liquidating at the right time.

Investments, trading, media reporting and  economic growth all need activity.  Why do finance websites, business reporting and 

investment screens obsessively display continuous trends and changes?   Revenue is mostly earned on the acquisition and disposal of the variety of investments, hedged, physical, derivative or intangible.  

Both news and finance thrive on events that spark off sentiment waves.

Nature does not sit still  either.  Our planet does move,  babies do grow,  seasons change.  

In human society, assets run down past their useful life,  man made currencies without the backing of gold vary in value and perception of worth and societies can collapse, as opposed to the unrealistic presumption that growth happens eternally.

Bullies know when their territory is being reduced, when their competitiveness has declined and they cannot practically get back to their days of misplaced glory.  The human pysche is built for change, adaptation and improvement.   Being the top dog a half century ago does not ensure being still king of the hill in 50 years in the future.  Down trodden economies of even 20 years ago, with renewed effort, intelligence and reorganisation can blossom for the future.

They embed themselves with longer lasting vibrancy, strength and meaningful management, direction and effort.  They do not resort to short term aggressive measures -  they build up their capability, markets and trade.

#yongkevthoughts

Daylight Savings Patterns 2025

 In 2025, Canada, except for her province of Saskatchewan, started Daylight Savings Time (DST) on 2 March.  Nearby Nuuk ( Greenland, part of Denmark) also uses DST.

This was followed a week later on 9 March in the USA, except for the states of Hawaii and Arizona, which opted out of DST.

Small portions of Mexico bordering the USA implement DST, but not for the majority of territory in Mexico.

The UK this year began daylight savings on Sunday 30 March, like the European Union.

Several portions of the Middle East adopt Daylight Savings Time arrangements.  They are Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, West Bank and Israel.

In the Southern Hemisphere, south eastern states of Australia, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and South Australia will end Daylight Savings Time on Sunday 6 April.  Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland do not use DST.

Unusually, New Zealand will do so on the same day  6 April 2025 (they often do so a week earlier than Australia).

Chile, including Easter Island in the eastern South Pacific, are exceptions in South America which otherwise do not implement DST.

The Antarctic uses DST.

There is no practice of daylight saving in Russia, Asia, Africa ( except Ceuta and Melilla), the South Pacific ( except for the Chatham Islands of New Zealand) and most of Central and  South America.

Specific Caribbean Islands, even with tropical weather, do use DST - Cuba, Haiti, Bermuda, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

There are nations which are on permanent DST and so do not bother their residents to move their clocks forwards or backwards. Examples are the Falkland Islands ( British Overseas Territory), Syria and Jordan.

Countries with warmer weather tend to not bother with DST - and vice versa. 

Smart devices like screen gadgets auto change time for users in areas subject to daylight savings changes twice a year. 
Just be more mindful when you are catching scheduled transport on the affected days.   Most governments change rhe time at 2 or 3 am in the middle of the night.

One gets an extra hour of sleep when daylight savings ends.  The reverse applies.  Some territories apply the change on long weekends, but it is always on an early Sunday morning.

All of these DST complications come from human intervention.  Countries which have cancelled DST include Russia, Brasil and Samoa.

#yongkevthoughts