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The colour for Malaysia is outdated. North Korea-Malaysia diplomatic relations were cordial in the past but worsened in 2017 after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in 2017 in KLIA. Relationships soured further in 2021 after Malaysia expedited a North Korean businessman to the US in contradiction to north Korean wishes.
Further information by an official Malaysian government website. Another Malaysian site detailing the timeline of events.
Here is north Korea's official response by their Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is important to note however the Malaysian establishment is in favour of positive diplomatic relations with North Korea. Friendly relations is especially advocated by Mahathir, a member of the traditional Malay-Muslim ascendant national bourgeoisie that governed as PM from 1981-2003 and 2018-2020. He did leave remarks that he wanted to improve relations with North Korea when he was in power. However after the Sheraton move, and subsequently 2 governent reshuffles and the 2022 election, diplomatic relations with North Korea is stuck in limbo without any sign of change in the short term.
In terms of national ideology and foreign policy, North Korea and Malaysia have more in common than differences. To speak of it in a Malaysian perspective, Malaysia was one of the first member of ASEAN to normalize relations with communist countries. Despite being a middle-power state, it has more than 111 diplomatic missions in 85 countries, with a passport holding visa-free travel through 168 territories.
Although the current circumstances is unfortunate, I don't doubt that eventually Malaysia-North Korea relations will warm up again - especially with the decline of US-led Western hegemony.
Personally, this whole situation is a bit saddening as I did plan to visit North Korea one day - and tour guide prices weren't too pricey (when they were running).
Not in any specific order, they all have their moments for me.
list
- Noah (peterpan) - Seperti Seharusnya
- AJR - Neotheatre
- Gloryhammer - Tales from the Kingdom of Fife
- Powerwolf - Lupus Dei
- Amon Amarth - Twilight of the Thunder God
- Dayglow - Fuzzybrain
- Wallows - Nothing Happens
Yeah it's really weird. The British were inventors of a vicious form of financial capital that is holding the whole world hostage. A cultural tradition of short-term predatory lending and "indirect rule" that controls colonized populations through false rulers.
And we focus on... a local town somewhere just acknowledging their history and holding a community event that has been done for the last 700years.
I don’t really see a problem with this to be honest.
Just a quirky local tradition.
Saw a reel (TikTok? Shortform video?) about a Guy that was larping as a NEET in a tropical country.
And one comment really summed up my thoughts: go back home and get a job lmao.
Why do these people celebrate being leeches to society and seemingly aren't self-aware?
They get our scientists and engineers meanwhile we get this.
They're not sending us their best folks
Thank you for enhancing my scrolling experience with these images 🫡
I have no skin in the game regarding this current debate so I’ll keep my own opinions to myself for now.
However, you mentioning Brazil’s multi-party system did pique my interest because something similar happens here.
It didn’t occur to me that for most USians having more than 2 relevant parties really is an abnormality.
Igauan Malam - Insomniacks right now but honourable mention to When The Moon Shines Red by Powerwolf, I listen to it regularly ever since I first found out about it a while back.
You are set on target, you can see the point when talking about the Quran, that then it’s ok to speak up, even if the country in which it happened, allows for the burning to happen. But then, when it comes to LGBT, the country’s law must be respected and you can’t talk about it.
No. I am historicizing both LGBT people and Islam. I am saying that queerphobia and Islamaphobia are not the same. They have interactions of course, like all social phenomena does, but they are qualitatively different and have different responses.
The nature of the countries in question also affect the situation at hand.
It is you who thinks that being Queer and being Muslim is like collecting trading cards or are just mere identities rather than historically situated phenomena. This is why I treat them differently - because they are.
How is Turkish citizens expressing discontent on another country's policy in Turkey remotely the same as a British performer entering Malaysia for a concert then VIOLATING the social norms and practices?
It is insane that you are making a false equivalence between these two things.
Over here:
Certainly, there is a dialectic with the nationalism-internationalism question, but this is outside the scope of this response, which is long enough as it is.
I explicitly mention that not all issues are to be resolved internally - there are valid avenues for internationalism.
But it seems like there is no point in continuing this conversation because I realise now we operate in totally different frameworks.
yeah I see that lmao
You say that Malaysia and Singapore share similar cultures, and I agree.
You say that because of this similarity, Malaysia should share the same "progress" of Singapore.
I say that it can't and it hasn't because they are not the same. They have different material conditions.
But then you come back and say
I’m saying that is Singapore can do it, Malaysia should be able to do it within a comparable period of time.
I don't know how to continue. It seems like we are talking past eachother.
If let’s say you were living in a country where Islam was a minority and burning the Quran was legal, wouldn’t you want to have a conversation started and hope that there was some progress for your situation as well? What would you think if others in that country were to say that Türkiye protesting on your behalf would be comparable to supporting jihadist and that should not be allowed?
The reaction against the unprovoked burning of the Quran is objectively correct because Islam is globally oppressed, through wars of destabilization and occupation in West Asia, through funding of Wahhabist and Salafist groups, through neocolonial control of the Persian Gulf states, through Orientalism and Racism. So when these oppressed countries reject this imposition of Western cultural values - it is only reactionary if you are on the side of the Imperialists.
The "conversation" that happens is just further policing of LGBT communities here in Malaysia - what "progress" is that?
When the government introduces guidelines for performers, which include not talking about sensitive topics as well as behaving appropriately, and it was violated by foreigners, shouldn't the government act? What would it look like if they don't act?
It would delegitimize their rule causing further destabilization, and wreck our economy. What use would that brief conversation on LGBT rights be for people in my country, geopolitically and materially? We don't need the colonizers and the imperialists themselves protesting on "our behalf" because it causes more problems than solutions.
Certainly, there is a dialectic with the nationalism-internationalism question, but this is outside the scope of this response, which is long enough as it is.
Also, Singapore's "progress" is encumbered with problems too. Pink Dot SG, the foremost NGO advocating for LGBT rights in Singapore, had large Amerikan corporate sponsors like Facebook, Google and Apple until the government stopped it. We must question why these NGOs can easily associate themselves with Western Capital without an ounce of reflection. There are no easy answers.
Culturally, Malaysia and Singapore are sister countries, in historical times, they were only recently separated (not even 100 years yet). Not comparable with Hong Kong because Malaysia and Singapore where not given to another country that had different cultural values. They both became independent on their own. If Singapore can talk and make progress for the LGBT community, so could Malaysia.
Singapore is different from Malaysia, precisely because they were controlled differently. Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements, same as Penang, Melaka and Dinding. The strait settlements were crown colonies, versus the indirect rule found in the Federated and Unfederated Malay States.
Are we to ignore that the original reason for Singapore's expulsion was because of it's Chinese-majority that would have counterracted the power given to the Malay sultans?
progress for the LGBT community
Again - that word is used. "Progress"? Gender and sexual diversity was more progressive in 1600s Southeast Asia than 1900s Europe. What is "progress"?
Singapore can afford to be much more generous in terms of civil rights because of it's role as a tax haven for ASEAN economies. The material conditions could be anything but different.
Singapore can "progress" on civil rights while supporting imperialism in other SEA states. Until this contradiction is removed, LGBT people can't "progress" nor can they achieve liberation.
Also you seem to think that I believe that it's culturally impossible for Malays to accept LGBT people. That isn't my point. My point is that for acceptance to occur it means 0 meddling from the Global North of Global South affairs.
Until the contradictions within Malaysian society is resolved and managed, LGBT acceptance will never be reality with Imperialism being the primary contradiction.
Malays live in Singapore, same race as the Malays that live in Malaysia different citizenship only.
I agree, up to a certain point, although I would avoid using the word "race" for it's tainted colonial history. Malaysia-Singapore has never moved past their idiotic use of the word "race" precisely because they never fully decolonized.
Also this suggests that there aren't Singaporeans with Malaysian citizenship - which isn't the case. As we both probably know, Singaporean citizens are given til 22 to renounce any foreign citizenship.
Singapore’s Mufti seems to be more understanding of the situation. Why can’t Malaysia try a more sensible approach?
Sensible to whom? Western observers? Or the people that live here?
Singapore and Malaysia has a shared history for millenia, and already got seperated due to colonization. I agree with that. However, because of that, the situation is a bit more complicated and the material conditions between the 2 countries can't ever be more different.
It's like arguing that Taiwan Province or Hong Kong has LGBT rights so why can't mainland China have it.
The questions we must ask: is there majority will for further LGBT protection and "rights"? Is this event where a White Guy trashes the government and then subsequently leaves for his next tour beneficial for LGBT people on the ground? What are the local and international conditions in which this "outrage" took place?
Why should we be mad at a government in which we already knows is forced to do this, which everyone here knows is homophobic, when this was clearly initiated by those outside the country that can't even respect our normal cultural practices, and then tries to shoehorn a politically sensitive issue like homosexuality?
Is this for the benefit of our people? Or is it a very self-evident case of liberal virtue signalling?
I thought I replied to this but I didn't
I only included LG in the title because the event only included them, although it was mb that I forgot to include the B.
Later on I did use LGBT but it was for convenience, in an ideal world there would have been alternative terminology for LGBT people.
Gender and sexual minority is one of them but I personally don't like it.
And why I left out transgender people isn't some transphobic plot - it's because transgender people is treated differently in Islamic societies. They are their own special case and I don't necessarily see why we should force the umbrella "LGBT" onto Third World constructs that don't perfectly map onto it.
To those downvoting, take a look at this thread. Then come back here and tell me if you have objections to the analysis.
Thread is copy-pasted down below.
Let me teach you Marxist 101 wrt this whole Matty Healy thing. The force that drives social change is primarily the internal contradictions of a society, which of course reacts to external influences. The primary contradiction internationally is imperialism at the moment. (1/9)
In a postcolonial world, formerly colonised nations are in the process of healing from colonial trauma. A component of decolonisation is the reclamation of one’s own culture as this affirms and empowers the identity of the colonised. (2/9)
But the colonialists themselves were responsible for epistemicide and cultural genocide. They imposed their norms, including the gender binary which is rooted in capitalism, onto our ancestors who had their own differing attitudes toward gender and sexual diversity. (3/9)
Anti-queer attitudes (in the capitalist sense) among Malays is learned. The knowledge of their previous attitude is repressed. This is not to say that their attitudes were perfect but change happens and the Malays would’ve made their own progress on this issue. (4/9)
The West has a track record of continuing the White Man’s burden, screaming human rights as an excuse to criticise our practice and lecture us on what to do. They’ve also weaponised social issues to incite colour revolutions in parts of the Third World. (5/9)
Matty Healy’s act of “protest” against our government is one that will backfire against us. A white Brit kissing a man to challenge the authority of Malaysia is a microattack on our right to decide for ourselves the values we follow. (6/9)
He also presents the act of two men kissing as a Western imposition onto our people. This adds ammo for a people who are ignorant of their ancestors’ nuanced attitude towards this stuff to label the LGBT people as a threat to national sovereignty. (7/9)
This is why what he did was reactionary. It was a reaction and it will incite reactions that inhibit the progress of our revolutionary efforts. It sabotages our attempt to improve the conditions of gender and sexual diverse people in Malaysia. (8/9)
The government will point to this and can use it as an excuse to enact further restrictions on the practice of the local LGBT community. We will have to face the reaction of the government which they see as necessary to maintain the status quo. So, fuck Matty Healy. (9/9)
Westerner virtue signals LG rights in Global South country, government stops the entire event and bans them from performing; liberals (local and international) are crying lol
Oh boy I thought I would cool it with the controversial LGBT stuff on this site but my country was pulled into the Western culture war this time (making my blood boil as per usual).
The British band The 1975 decided to do a stunt where 2 male band members kissed on stage. Which was proceeded by a rant and behaviours that was very liberal, only could be done by someone who grew up in a hyper-capitalist and alienated society in which individualism festers like a plague.
Needless to say, but this sort of "activism" doesn't work. That's obvious enough.
Then the liberals that consume too much American media (or lives in America) comes out of the woodwork bashing the government for over-exaggerating, and/or praising this pathetic attempt at lecturing the barbarians for their bad values. Liberals really showcase remarkable cynicism and hatred of the masses.
The sheer chauvinism in which you come into another country as a guest to perform and then lambast government policy in which you yourself are not affected by and in which you agreed to beforehand, while at the same time breaking many social norms - well that takes the cake.
Thank you for giving right-wingers ammo to further politicize and police "LGBT" communities in this country - making it worse for everyone here by enflaming the already vicious identity politics prevalent here (referring to the local identity politics - not commenting on the American one).
Good job, colonizer. I see that the Brits still think that anyone cares about what they have to say.
The coverage by the Rolling Stone and The Independent is as chauvinistic as ever. I'd prefer it if you just called us primatives directly instead of this whole fake concern for human rights.
Atleast Reuters had the decency to mention that:
> Friday's incident sparked uproar on Malaysian social media, including among some members of the LGBT community, who accused Healy of "performative activism" and said his action could expose the community to more stigma and discrimination.
but in typical fashion doesn't mention that such behaviours, even if advocating for something the majority of the people agree, is not acceptable. It's a concert, not a political debate. Narcissistic behaviour and dysfunctional interpersonal skills (as determined by our culture and society at large) isn't something that should be promoted. Furthermore, this isn't even mentioning colonial history and ongoing imperialism.
Liberals needs to be sent into re-education camps for decades to deworm their minds from their terminal brain disease.
Alhamdullilah that most people here don't have it and recognised the chauvinism for what it is. (All non-english and many English replies on this tweet for example.)
I just mean that colonialism and imperialism still exists. It wasn’t abolished overnight after gaining independence, so the basis for the deprivation of a majority of muslims still exists. We can’t even industrialise let alone “progress” (in the least liberal sense of the term).
In other words the contradiction still exists, and can only be negated/resolved by anti-imperialist class struggle.
Only a few countries have achieved complete decolonisation (of both society and economy) and has the “cultural capacity” to get rid of colonial ideas, like the orientalism you mention.
They erase the Sunnah!
I agree completely!
What was Mao's famous dictum?
From the masses, to the masses.
Without consent from the people, it will fall apart.
Non-hetero sexual relations and diverse gender expressions is not contradictory to Islamic society either but I don't see how succumbing to the "LGBTQ+" label will do anything.
To quote the article in the OP:
Very numerous forms of social-sexual relations were corrupted by the colonial fact. The indigènes of the world are fighting to reconstruct them and to rebuild the link to the fragments of social history and memories at risk of disappearing, not without certain ambiguities and not without being interlaced with the white heterosexual model.8
And I will especially reject any attempt at those that paint a broad brush at my culture and my family for being reactionary, when Colonialism and Imperialism itself was not negated overnight.
The Anglo-Saxon world, with all due respect to the British people, has a very good idea of how to hammer in liberal ideology into the heads of the people. They are exceedingly good at it.
No lies detected whatsoever.
Vic3, CK3 or Stellaris?
I know pirating is always an option, and I used to play EU4 completely pirated.
But I got some credit remaining on Steam and they’re on sale right now, so lads, which should I go for?
Background info being I only played EU4 before, and enjoyed the nation-building side more rather than the military strategy. Although I was able to do some WCs back in the day and I do like micromanaging and extending a 20hr campaign into a 100hr one.
Gay universalism, homoracialism and « marriage for all »
I was debating whether to insert this within LGBT+ or Islamic Leftism but I do think ultimately it might fit here better because it covers the specific experience of French indigènes, which makes it more relevant here.
I feel like in these sort of online Islamic “progressive” spaces, there’s no genuine discussions happening. These spaces are often almost defensive in nature - like the existence of this community is just to prove to disapproving whites that Islam isn’t this, or isn’t that. This is a result of being in a Western dominated space in general.
Gender and sexual minorities is a very important phenomenon that must require a response, yet it is almost ignored or never spoken about because this muslim-homophobia dichotomy is so engrained that people are (rightfully) scared to even talk about it, especially across the White left.
I’d of course invite everyone to treat this article critically, and contribute if you have any qualms against their conclusions, although I will admit my opinions have slowly drifted closer to the article as the years went by.
Islamic Finance: A viable socialist alternative to Western finance?
I was reading Socialism's Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism by Ramin Mazaheri, and they mentioned something that has become a common sight here too: Islamic finance.
Iran is leading in Islamic financing, with Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE and Qatar filling the rest of the Top 5 according to this report.
For those who don't know, it's basically finance but with Islamic principles as accorded to the Quran and various Madhhabs (schools of jurisprudence).
Some of it's principles are (quoting Wikipedia), among others:
> 1. Paying or charging interest. "All forms of interest are riba and hence prohibited". Islamic rules on transactions (known as Fiqh al-Muamalat) have been created to prevent use of interest. > 2. Investing in businesses involved in activities that are forbidden (haraam). These include things such as selling alcohol or pork, or producing media such as gossip columns or pornography. > 3. Charging extra for late payment. This applies to murâbaḥah or other fixed payment financing transactions, although some authors believe late fees may be charged if they are donated to charity,or if the buyer has "deliberately refused" to make a payment.
Has any comrades read much on this?
How viable do you think is such a financial system, especially now, with renewed interest in de-dollarisation? (see what I did there?)
Can it fully live up to it's socialistic principles in a world capitalist system?
10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka (2007)
![](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/85cbcf7c-13eb-4e7c-88ce-83f9bfaaf39e.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=512)
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About the multiracial, working class hartal I mentioned before that took place prior to the supposed communist emergency in what was then Malaya.
Marxist analysis of ‘I am a girl like you’ in Barbie’s The Princess and The Pauper
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2dd59bd7-9f3b-4bcc-ad02-2b7cef1140d7.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=512)
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Set in a feudalistic fictional world, the song espouses a liberal (to use the term a bit anachronistically) feminist form of class collaborationism.
Although both expresses ill-feelings toward the heteronormative patriarchy that they live in, the film tries to make a false equivalence between both of their lives just because of their gender. Erika exhibits false consciousness believing that a princess has the same experiences as her, an indentured servant whose forced to work due to her parent’s debts.
This is clearly shown in the first few lines of the song, where Erika had to manually toil away in hard day’s work to even feed herself and yet brushes it off as being ‘used to it’, while Anneliese (the princess) just ‘has to ring a bell’ to have an omelette delivered to her bed. Erika, being kept ignorant by the ruling class, exclaims that they have the same lives.
To use Frier’s analysis, it can be seen that Anneliese, although still part of the aristocracy, is denied humanity (agency) not only through her gender but also due to her class as shown by the song’s chorus ‘We carry through to do what we need to do’. Showcasing how everyone is oppressed to some extent in class society.
Reason #1024834738283462710^9999999 why Western culture must be destroyed:
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bf507fa9-c073-4078-93f3-d9ff14b9b311.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=512)
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What's a word in a language you know that is not directly translatable to English?
The word must be something non-political that is in everyday use or in common speech.
For example, in my mother language there's the word muak, which describes the feeling you get after eating the same dish repeatedly, leading to you being sick of it and not wanting to eat that dish anymore.
Tired (ie. tired of eating the same x dish/food) may be the closest word/phrase in the English language that captures the meaning, but not exactly.
(Thoughts?) What about the boys? Addressing educational underachievement of boys and men during and beyond the COVID pandemic
What about the boys? Addressing educational underachievement of boys and men during and beyond the COVID pandemic
![What about the boys? Addressing educational underachievement of boys and men during and beyond the COVID pandemic](https://lemmygrad.ml/pictrs/image/f55129fb-8ae7-421a-b3a5-be03561de207.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Went and dug a little deeper and it seems that for high-income nations, this trend of more women than men graduating in universities (as well as outperforming in school) has been going on for multiple decades now.
Apart of me wants to think its just right-wing hysteria because this was brought to my attention by some random podcast clip using this example as somehow proof that patriarchy doesn't exist lol. Some articles I read did mention how other factors (particularly class and race) was a higher determinant of school/university success.
And I particularly do not like biological explanations anyways (too essentialist to my taste, but I can't say for sure). I forgot which article in particular but it did argue it's because men used to be able find jobs in more traditional blue-collar industries, leading to this present day discrepancy.
What do you all think?