Author: Dr Navin C Naidu

Mitigating menaces

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. – Thomas Jefferson, third US President Reported history for the purposes of developmental political science accepts the fact that the politics of government in nation states began with the Peace of Westphalia

T- O – T- U: TYRANNY OF THE UNELECTED

Who is the master: the unelected judge or the elected politician? — Lord Neuberger, former President of the Supreme Court, UK TOTU refers to juridical abominations perpetrated by unelected lawyers who are elevated to the Bench. The irony that judges not elected by citizens but by Executive fiat morphs into

G-I-G-O: Garbage In, Garbage Out

There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. – Ludwig von Mises, Austrian economist Language being the dress of thought, GIGO was welcomed as a byword into our cultural lexicon. It’s an effective reminder to habitual complainers who conveniently forget that

Secrets of a nation’s greatness

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it. – Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher Switzerland, Singapore and the Scandinavian nations are hailed as role models for great nations. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS nations) are said to have

Passing the baton

Young people need models, not critics. – John Wooden, American basketball coach Nelson Mandela’s inspirational advice to young people that they are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom is a coherent indictment for the older generation to be the vanguard.

Objectivism: A way of life

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. – Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President The progenitor of objectivism as a way of life is Ayn Rand, A Russian-American writer who describes it as “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own

Contractarians and contrarians

The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but how it thinks. —  Christopher Hitchens, American critic The Big Uneasy in Malaysia today is the lack of telos (Greek) — ultimate aim or goal — which evidences cognitive distortions in leadership actively engaged in rearranging the

A constitution and its monarch

Malaysians are concerned and disconcerted over the unelected appointment of the ninth prime minister, the proclamation of an emergency, and the immediate remedies for jump-starting the grunts, groans and gasps of the national economy. The only comfort and solace reposes in the theatre and drama of the Federal Constitution (FC)

Facing feared news and fake news

Misinformation is a virus unto itself. – Brianna Keilar, Australian-American commentator Reuters reports that a Danish national was the first to be convicted under Malaysia’s Anti-Fake News Bill of April 2018 for making a video clip that accused the police for taking 50 minutes to respond to a shooting incident.

Landmarks and landmines of the law

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. – Louis D Brandeis, former Justice of the United States Supreme Court The Federal Constitution (FC), the supreme law of the land, at Article 160, defines “Aborigine” but omits “Native” which can only be gleaned at