Malaysia is probably the most politicised nation state in South East Asia today. I dare say that we are even more politicised that our fiery neighbour, Indonesia. They probably beat us only in having more street rallies, bombings of religious sites and (Malaysian) flag burning demonstrations. And by virtue of that statement, Malaysians are probably the most politicised people in South East Asia. In other words, we are becoming more Machiavellian than we ever thought! If you don't believe me, just read through the political tweets in TwitterJaya or Facebook postings by the Barisan or Pakatan activist/cyber troopers. By saying that, I am not accusing people who hold a Machiavellian political view are all bad and wrong. The issue here is that sometimes people tend to accuse their political opponents as practicing Machiavellian politics without them realising that they too are "guilty" of adopting the same Machiavellian tactics. For example, we have become more partisan than ...

"There's always two sides to a coin", or so said a popular English proverb. Like everything else in the world, the same goes for history. But sometimes, there are not just two, but dozens of differences and interpretations of history. No this is about Mat Sabu, Bukit Kepong or Mat Indera or the Communist Party of Malaya, no. That's old news. I've debated and argued (or rather tweeted) about it long enough already on Twitter. So to those not in the know, this year marks the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Sultanate of Melaka (I prefer the Malay spelling for Melaka), and the beginning of Portuguese colonial rule in Tanah Melayu. What caught my interest to blog about this is partly due to an article in The Star (see image), the Melaka Chief Minister Ali Rustam was reportedly to have remarked that "Melaka had prospered as a nautical haven since the arrival of Alfonso d' Albuquerque" on August 24 1511. Hang on a second there, YAB. Are you serious? I...

I hate to admit this all the time but the reality is that I've been spending so much time on "free" Twitter and Facebook and leaving this "paid" blog almost unattended. So what I would like to do today is to post some of my selected tweets here. The issue of Palestine has always been close to my heart. So when the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided to go to the UN to seek for the UN's support for statehood or independence, I naturally became excited. Excited at the prospect of finally seeing freedom and justice for the Palestinians who are suffering from the Israeli occupation for almost three generations.And tweeted my thoughts and shared quite a number of articles on Twitter and Facebook, except here. While the majority of the international community are solidly behind the establishment for the state of Palestine, Hamas has been rather disappointing to say the least. Instead of showing solidarity with their fellow Palestinians, they ques...

This is a test Sent by DiGi from my BlackBerry® Smartphone

So this is my first blog post via Blackberry. I know there's nothing much to shout about. And no, if you happen to reach here searching for a Blogger for Blackberry app, this is not the place. I've no idea why Google hasn't come up with Blogger for Blackberry app yet. Hoping to post more blog entries soon. Salam Ramadhan 1432.

Seriously, I just don't get it. Why is Gladwell, a well-respected author, is so against the social media? Of course, there were more revolutions before the Internet was born. But social media, for whatever purpose it may serve, is just part of the evolution of communication technology . I think if Gladwell lived in the 50s or 60s, he must have had the same opinion on tv or radio or film. Read his latest piece on The New Yorker here, DOES EGYPT NEED TWITTER?

Here ye! Here ye! Just a quick announcement here. Shahnon.com is finally...UPDATED! (the content is not up yet though). It's been more than a year, I think, since I last changed my web layout. Later folks.

Happy (Gregorian) New Year to all! In commemorating the new year ( 1.1.11 ) - which many have speculated to be an election year for Malaysia - I'd like to republish my opinion-article which was first published at Klik4Malaysia many moons ago. As widely anticipated, David Cameron, 43, has just been named as the new British Prime Minister with Nick Clegg (pic above) as the Deputy Prime Minister. If the English Premier League is the most-watched football event in Malaysia aside from the quadrennial football World Cup, then the UK General Elections could be one of the most closely watched elections. Dubbed as one of the most exciting and hotly-contested elections, the UK elections have inspired and captured the interest of many Malaysians, including myself. What made the 2010 contest even more interesting than previous elections was the advent of strong "third force" in the shape of Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats (also known as the Lib Dems) in British politics. The pheno...