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Welcome Ramadhan

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By Shahnon August 21, 2009

Happy Ramadhan to all Muslims wherever you are..

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Popular Posts

Idiocracy and American Politics

By shahnon June 04, 2016

We (America) have become an idiocracy. And it only took two and a half centuries - Joel Stein, TIME.
This is not the first article that I have read about "Idiocracy" and the surrealism of American politics. In fact, I have tweeted something similar 2 years ago (Ha ha). But anyways, if there is one brilliantly stupid Hollywood movie that I'd like to recommend, it's "Idiocracy".
It's just too stupid when I watched it a few years ago but the stupidity is becoming the new reality in American politics. The sci-fi comedy movie was set 500 years in the future but I think nobody expected the fictitious narratives to become reality too soon; 2016!
I think I know what to ask Donald Trump if I ever get the chance to see him; "Have you watched Idiocracy?"

Uber and the neo-Luddites

By shahnon July 19, 2016

[Caption: Economic losers from creative destruction: machine-breaking Luddites (English workers who believed that new industrial machineries threatened their jobs) from early-nineteenth-century Britain. Taken from "Why Nations Fail" by Acemoglu and Robinson.]
Throughout history, from the age of the industrial revolution in the early 19th century until today, there has always been groups or communities that have attempted to resist change, specifically technological change, as represented here by the Luddites.
Today, the 'neo-Luddites' are represented by groups of extreme anti-Uber taxi drivers who have attacked and damaged many Uber cars. The two men pictured here are the modern day anti-Uber taxi drivers. See, this is why I love history. It never fails to repeat itself, again and again and again.
I have nothing against taxi drivers, except for the few uncivilised ones. Technology has change. Society will change. 21st century is not the same as the 20th century. Wha…

Navigating the Opportunities and Challenges of Communication Technologies in the Century of the 4th Industrial Revolution

By shahnon September 11, 2018

This is an excerpt from the dean's speech which I have prepared during the MedCom 2018 conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Navigating the Opportunities and Challenges of Communication Technologies in the Century of the 4th Industrial Revolution

John Culkin, a contemporary of the great communication scholar Marshall McLuhan, was once famously quoted saying, “we shape our tools and, thereafter, our tools shape us” (1967). Nothing is truer than that. We are living in an interesting period of time in the course of our human civilisation: a period of accelerating technological change, where a lot of revolutionary changes are rapidly taking place driven largely by information and communication technologies. And they in turn have produced tremendous amount of effects within our society today; from the way we consume our news and information, the way we connect and communicate with our families and friends, to the way we work, shop and play; communication technologies have fundamentally s…

Julian Assange, Wikileaks and the War Criminals

By shahnon April 13, 2019

There is a famous saying that the oldest profession in the world after prostitution is spying and espionage. The traditional idea of spying is basically to steal secret information and bring it home to your national spy agency. The internet has fundamentally changed that.

Julian Assange's Wikileaks is like James Bond but with a twist - he dumped all of the stolen secret/classified information on his Wikileaks website for a global audience.

So finally, after "hiding" for nearly 7 years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange, the self-declared "information anarchist", widely described by the media establishment as a narcissist, was arrested.

Whatever your views about Assange or Wikileaks, the fact is that he and his Wikileaks outfit have succeeded in exposing the US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, exposing gigabytes of diplomatic cables documenting thousands of reports/diplomats' conversations, which amongst others confirmed and reaffirmed wha…

The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East - A Reflection

By shahnon March 19, 2016

Like many political junkies of the world, I was intrigued and fascinated by the events in the Middle East in 2011-12. A series of revolutions (popularly referred to as the ArabSpring) swept across the Arab world from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen to Bahrain and Syria. Looking back, I was naive for actually believing that real political change was really happening.

So when I first read this book 4 years ago, I couldn't quite understand Dr Ramadan's pessimism or in his own words - "cautious optimism" over the events in the MidEast. I mean, come on, they have never tasted real democracy (Malaysia on the other hand have had 12 General Elections since 1955). Why not give them a chance instead of being overly pessimistic?

But by now, it is evidently clear that Dr Ramadan's pessimism was fully justified. The so-called revolution was only meant to be temporary. While the revolution succeeded in bringing down Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, promises of a democratic elections and…

Of Maps, Jerusalem and Donald Trump

By shahnon December 08, 2017

Apart from books and coffee, I'm also quite a fan of maps. I grew up with a world map up on my bedroom wall. So it came naturally that I enjoyed and aced Geografi in school. But this map is a special one. It is not just a map, but a reminder.
A reminder of the longest illegal occupation and subjugation of an entire group of people in modern history. A reminder of 'Al Nakba' or the depopulation (read: ethnic cleansing) of Palestinians from their towns and villages in 1948, followed by the occupation of East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza in 1967, until today.
Donald Trump's latest decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would only make things worse for peace and stability. I mean things are already bad for the Palestinians. How long should the Palestinians be expected to live under the Israeli Military Occupation? Can we have a timeframe, at least? Or alternatively, can the Palestinians be given Israeli citizenship?

Unfortunately, Israel is only interes…

Revisiting Moïsi's "The Geopolitics of Emotion"

By shahnon July 11, 2016

"The Geopolitics of Emotion: How Cultures of Fear, Humiliation and Hope are Reshaping the World" (Anchor Books, 2009)
I have read this remarkable work by one of France's leading scholars, Dominique Moïsi, 5 years ago. It remains as one of the best books on contemporary global politics in my collection. But nothing quite struck me of how spot-on his views were, until recently; namely the Syrian refugee crisis, the rise of the far-right anti-immigrant parties across Europe, the global appeal of the IS terrorist group, the rise and the populism of the xenophobic Republican Donald Trump in America and most recently the British fear and anger behind #Brexit.
To Moïsi, the three major global civilisations are represented by three important emotions; West; America and Europe (fear), Islamic (humiliation) and, India, China, East Asia and Africa (hope).
It is grossly insufficient to only be focusing on Trump's racism and his personality alone without understanding the appeal …

Edward Bernays, Vietnam War and Nasi Goreng USA

By shahnon October 08, 2017

Have you ever thought about the history of "nasi goreng USA" or American Fried Rice (fried rice + bacon and eggs) ? No, not udang, sotong and ayam.
1) There would be no nasi goreng USA had there been no Pattani/Kelantanese tom yam restaurants spread across major towns and cities in Malaysia. Like other popular menus e.g. nasi goreng Pattaya/Pattani/Paprik etc, as their name suggests, originated from Thailand.
2) There would be no nasi goreng USA had there been no Vietnam War; where it was first introduced to the American soldiers based in Thailand.
3) And there would be no nasi goreng USA had there been no Edward Bernays, Father of PR, one of America's best known propagandist in the early 20th century AND the man responsible for leading a PR campaign in introducing "bacon and eggs" as a "hearty American breakfast" about 100 years ago.

BN needs to step-up its game in cyber warfare subterfuge - The Mole

By shahnon November 30, 2015

Another online media interview on Malaysian politics. Written by Amira Nutfah Zulkifli of The Mole.
KUALA LUMPUR – Nov 3, 2015: The lack of tactical and robust cyber warfare strategies had been identified as the main reason why Barisan Nasional is on the losing ends against the opposition parties in cyberspace.

Cyber warfare experts told The Mole that in order for BN to reverse that trend, it must also step-up its game in influencing public opinions by fixing their leadership and internal issues.

They insisted that BN must work on fresh narratives for their strategies if they are to win the people’s hearts again.

Primarily, BN should understand that cyber warfare involves more than just cyber troopers as for now, the opposition are thriving in resonating their beliefs and propaganda.

Political analyst Shahnon Mohamed Salleh of the Centre of Media and Information Warfare Studies, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) reviews local cyber warfare as being rather phenomenal particularly after the …

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Demassification of Media and Society: Re-Envisioning Toffler

By Shahnon October 31, 2013

Well known journalist and author, Thomas Friedman may have popularised the phrase “flat world” in his award winning book “The World is Flat” to advocate the idea of globalisation but two decades earlier, Alvin Toffler had already conceptualised and prophesied the revolutionary changes in the 21st century – a global society that is being shaped and fuelled by communication technology. It should be obvious that Toffler is not the only futurist around. There are dozens of other scholars and authors who have produced similar kind of works. But none has captured the public’s imagination as powerful as Toffler’s.

It has been 33 years since the publication of Alvin Toffler’s most celebrated futurist book, “The Third Wave” (first published in 1980), widely considered as the most important publication in Toffler’s trilogy, which included “Future Shock” (1970) and “Power Shift” (1990). It is timely that we re-look and re-evaluate some of its major themes, especially in the context of new media …

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