Anwar Tinkers With Belloc Chesterton


 



Anwar Ibrahim is an intellectual.
There are as many definitions of an intellectual as there are members of the set, which is why many despise the breed.
Notorious among the latter was George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama in the 1960s and a presidential candidate, who derided intellectuals as “pointy-heads who couldn’t ride a bicycle straight.”
One isn’t sure Anwar can ride a bicycle straight, but he once rode pillion on a motorcycle to keep a campaign engagement in late December 2007 in Sungai Bakap in Penang.
Traffic was heavy between Juru and the Nibong Tebal turnoff on the North-South Expressway, so Anwar got out of his Mercedes and hopped on a supporter’s motorcycle for the ride to Sungai Bakap to keep a speaking appointment.
“I would not have been able to do that if I was still deputy prime minister,” he joked to an appreciative crowd while on a campaign swing for the 2008 general election.
GE12 resulted in a denial of BN’s supermajority in Parliament, a feat credited to Anwar’s tireless stumping throughout the country in the lead-up, aided and abetted by then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s lackadaisical administration.
Denial was an idea whose time had come; a sense and the articulation of its imminence is a mark of intellectuals.
Several political grandees have been known to smirk at Anwar’s tendency to hold forth on things that have obviously been in his mind for some time prior to bringing them up at public functions.
They think it is so much mumbo jumbo and a waste of time.
They can’t be blamed because Anwar can be circuitous and opaque when he ought to be staccato and brisk.
The languor is likely due to his nibbling at ideas while simultaneously holding forth before audiences.
Ideas, by their nature, don’t lend themselves to neat and easy formulation, nor to easy referencing.
While replying or criticising people who have lambasted him for some failure, Anwar would broach or refer obliquely to an idea or two.
In Penang last Saturday, he responded to the carping criticism that his unity government had done nothing for the Malays.
He called on Malay billionaires to give 50 percent of their profits to poor Malays if they were so concerned for them.
The call was aimed at plutocrats who had waxed rich on the privileges garnered from the state, enriching their families and cronies in the process.
Political economy
Anwar was referencing an idea called distributism, a form of political economy championed by two English thinkers, Hilaire Belloc and GK Chesterton, whose battles with the intellectual luminaries of Britain between the world wars, thinkers like Bernard Shaw, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Harold Laski, George Orwell and others, were the stuff of morning papers.
Distributism was avidly debated in Britain in the interwar period when Capitalism and Socialism battled for the allegiance of voters who had the Conservatives and Labour as the primary electoral choice.
Competing idealogies
The critical difference between the two competing ideologies revolved around the phrase “instruments of production,” the means by which wealth is produced.
Broadly, Capitalists wanted the instruments of production to be in the hands of bold entrepreneurs with few or no limits to their freedom to operate. In contrast, Socialists wanted the tools monopolised by the state to use them to ensure a fairer income distribution.
In contrast to these two schools, distributism was the model that wanted the ownership of instruments of production to be distributed among the various trades and occupations of the people, achieving a fairer creation and distribution of wealth.
Anwar Ibrahim, wittingly or unwittingly, was channelling Belloc and Chesterton in calling for a version of Distributism for poor Malays.
Six months into his administration, Anwar is in the arena of ideas, the legal coin of the intellectual realm.
A good and useful diversion from what would otherwise be distractions of the chattering classes, political conspiracy theories, racially supremacist drivel, and religious bigotry. - Mkini
TERENCE NETTO is a journalist with half a century’s experience.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.


Artikel ini hanyalah simpanan cache dari url asal penulis yang berkebarangkalian sudah terlalu lama atau sudah dibuang :

http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.com/2023/05/anwar-tinkers-with-belloc-chesterton.html

Kempen Promosi dan Iklan
Kami memerlukan jasa baik anda untuk menyokong kempen pengiklanan dalam website kami. Serba sedikit anda telah membantu kami untuk mengekalkan servis percuma aggregating ini kepada semua.

Anda juga boleh memberikan sumbangan anda kepada kami dengan menghubungi kami di sini
Sanusi Blames Little Napoleons For Murky Ties With Anwar

Sanusi Blames Little Napoleons For Murky Ties With Anwar

papar berkaitan - pada 28/4/2023 - jumlah : 301 hits
Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has blamed his murky relationship with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Little Napoleons in the latter s office Stressing that he has no personal issues with the prime minister the PAS lawmaker clai...
Suaram With Activist Track Record Anwar Must Realise Proposed Reforms Or Risk Being Seen As Worst Pm

Suaram With Activist Track Record Anwar Must Realise Proposed Reforms Or Risk Being Seen As Worst Pm

papar berkaitan - pada 28/4/2023 - jumlah : 234 hits
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim may risk being labelled the worst prime minister Malaysia ever had if he does not make concerted efforts to implement the changes and amendments he preached when he was in the Opposition human rights watchdog Suaram...
Anwar Needs To Sweep Out His Advisors And Start With A Clean Slate

Anwar Needs To Sweep Out His Advisors And Start With A Clean Slate

papar berkaitan - pada 6/5/2023 - jumlah : 306 hits
MURRAY HUNTER The dismissal of the Prime Minister s Office chief strategic communications officer Wan Nurzila Abd Rahman is only a symptom of much deeper problems Local media is touting interpersonal issues as the reason for her dismissal O...
Dr M Rallying Anti Anwar Groups With Malay Proclamation Say Analysts

Dr M Rallying Anti Anwar Groups With Malay Proclamation Say Analysts

papar berkaitan - pada 4/5/2023 - jumlah : 196 hits
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang and several leaders from the party signed the Malay Proclamation after a meeting with Dr Mahathir Mohamad PETALING JAYA The signing of Dr Mahathir Mohamad s Malay Proclamation by various opposition party leade...
Where Are Rights Reforms Suaram Asks Former Victim Anwar

Where Are Rights Reforms Suaram Asks Former Victim Anwar

papar berkaitan - pada 27/4/2023 - jumlah : 213 hits
Anwar Ibrahim will be the worst prime minister if he fails to deliver the reforms that Pakatan Harapan has touted over the years said human rights group Suaram Saying the new government has been slow in introducing policies to protect human...
Anwar Pm Paling Teruk Jika Gagal Tunai Janji Reformasi Suaram

Anwar Pm Paling Teruk Jika Gagal Tunai Janji Reformasi Suaram

papar berkaitan - pada 28/4/2023 - jumlah : 313 hits
malaysiakini comAnwar Ibrahim akan menjadi perdana menteri paling teruk jika gagal menunaikan janji reformasi yang telah dibuat Pakatan Harapan selama ini kata kumpulan hak asasi manusia Suaram Menyifatkan kerajaan lambat dalam memperkenalk...
A Scenario Of How The Anwar Government Could Fall

A Scenario Of How The Anwar Government Could Fall

papar berkaitan - pada 27/4/2023 - jumlah : 311 hits
There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics Murray Hunter Et tu Brute For political strategists it s always important to map out and play through different political scenarios that could potentially face the government Below is on...
Mca President Denies Involvement In Plot To Overthrow Anwar Administration

Mca President Denies Involvement In Plot To Overthrow Anwar Administration

papar berkaitan - pada 26/4/2023 - jumlah : 139 hits
MCA president Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong has denied involvement in any plot between Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional to overthrow the current government He said his priority is revive the country s post pandemic economy and to champion ...
Wordplay And Slang For Brand Name

Staycation Di Swiss Garden Kuantan Makbul

Kl Chinatown Festival 2024

Cultural Reasons Make Malaysians Target For Human Trafficking Says Firm

Hiburan Tahu Lah Minat Tapi Tak Perlu Follow Netizen Kecewa Lihat Pemakaian Daiyan Trisha

Seketika Di Tugu Negara

Cikgu Bawa Trip Tadika Naik Kapal Terbang Dengan Kawan Kawan Pengalaman Baru Anak Anak

Cops Probing Into Foreigner S Death In Custody At Klia


echo '';
Info Dan Sinopsis Drama Berepisod Lara Kasih Slot Samarinda TV3

Senarai Lagu Tugasan Konsert Minggu 2 Gegar Vaganza 2024 Musim 11

Keputusan Markah Peserta Konsert Minggu 1 Gegar Vaganza 2024 Musim 11

Senarai Lagu Tugasan Konsert Minggu 1 Gegar Vaganza 2024 Musim 11

Info Dan Sinopsis Drama Berepisod Dhia Kasyrani Slot Akasia TV3


Apa Itu Thyroid Tummy Punca Perut Buncit Yang Jarang Disedari

Topvision Daripada Pasaran Leap Ke Pasaran Ace Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad

Pengalaman Stay Casabella Homestay Di Batam

Coffee Is For Closers The Motivational Phrase From Quot Glengarry Glen Ross

Coffee 2 0 Brewing The Future Of A Beloved Beverage

Daun Gugur Dijadikan Baja Kompos