Bloomberg: Singapore container ship logjam spills over to Malaysian port

(July 9): Container ship congestion in Singapore, one of Asia’s busiest ports, is spreading to neighbouring Malaysia, snarling supply chains and causing delays in the movement of consumer goods.

Around 20 container vessels are anchored in a cluster off Port Klang, on the western coast of Malaysia, near Kuala Lumpur. Both Klang and Singapore sit on the Straits of Malacca, a vital waterway that links Europe and the Middle East to East Asia.

The maritime logjam is being caused by ships avoiding the Suez Canal and Red Sea due to attacks by [Ansarallah], who support Hamas in the war with Israel. Many vessels heading towards Asia are opting to travel around the southern tip of Africa, meaning they’re not able to refuel or unload cargo in the Middle East.

Port Klang is an important terminal, given its proximity to Kuala Lumpur, but a queue of this magnitude is rare, with ship-tracking images showing many vessels unloading at its berths. Slots at Singapore and Tanjong Pelepas, a Malaysian port just across the border from the city-state, also appear to be full, but there are fewer ships waiting off those terminals.

Congestion at the shipping terminals could last through August, analysts have said. Container vessel rates have surged as a result of the delays and rerouting.

2 recent articles from Al Mayadeen English I’d like to highlight, both covering similar themes

What Westerners Must Understand About The Necessity Of Palestinian Armed Struggle, Robert Inlakesh

This article is palatable to a Western audience as it directly engages with Western narratives. And so the arguments presented is nothing too out of the ordinary, with most of it hopefully being common knowledge for people here.

The Battle Against Western Arrogance, Hasan Abu Ali

I think a quote from the article itself provides a better summary than I myself could write:

I would expand on this to say: the Left's search for a non-Arab, non-Muslim resistance movement belies the fact that the center of the world revolution has been far from the West for a very long time. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, resistance has shifted from being interwoven into the fabric of Western society to something that predominantly comes from outside. The Western left, in its colonial arrogance, refuses to accept this fact, and even less the notion that, if there is a revolutionary center, it would be the Middle East.

Even among those who appreciate this revolutionary center, we are often treated as a kind of raging beast. We have an appreciable power to be sure but lack meaningful insights. These are the people who will watch our military exploits with great excitement but yawn at the impressive feats of coalition building, the slow rise to strategic equilibrium over decades, and the steady accumulation of resistance infrastructure in the world's most besieged and bombarded region. Only an arrogant Left that refuses to learn from those it sees as "lesser" could miss these monumental feats.

“contradictions” - a term constantly used but never defined

Because we are well-read enough to know one of the most famous writings from Mao you fucking idiot.

SCMP - ‘Indisputable sovereignty’: Philippines’ UN filing reignites Sabah dispute with Malaysia

US vassal antagonises neighbours to appeal to sensationalist sensibilities of their masters.

I’d be more forthcoming if this was a precursor to reviving Maphilindo in a more non-aligned and anti-imperialist union of states (not like that’s coming anytime soon but a man can dream right?) and not just a cheap claim to make transnational corporations exploit the natural resources easier without state oversight.

Only one of the countries have a state-owned oil corporation with control of the entire oil production and distribution process, while the other privatised their downstream sector for “greater market efficiency”. Talking about sovereignty is ironic.

A recent Philippine submission to the United Nations over claims to seabed territory has sparked vigorous protests from Malaysia, reviving a long-standing territorial dispute over Sabah in northern Borneo.

The historically complex dispute, which can be traced back to colonial-era agreements, has significant political and economic implications for both nations given the region’s considerable oil and gas resources.

Still having to deal with colonial shenanigans because most people in Southeast Asia still haven’t achieved any true self-determination.

Malaysia submitted a diplomatic note to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Saturday rejecting a filing from the Philippines to the UN. Manila had registered its entitlement to an extended continental shelf in the Western Palawan region of the South China Sea, defining the seabed areas over which it has sovereign and exclusive rights to exploit for natural resources.

Malaysia said it “categorically” rejected the Philippines’ filing on the basis that the extended continental margin in the submission “was projected from the baselines of the Malaysian state of Sabah”. “This clearly disregards Malaysia’s indisputable sovereignty over the state of Sabah,” the diplomatic note said.

Malaysia’s protest came just as the country’s foreign minister, Mohamad Hasan, paid a courtesy call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in Malacanang Palace and met his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, on Monday.

Complicated history

The controversy over the ownership of Sabah, located on the northern tip of Borneo, stems from colonial-era agreements. In 1878, the sultan of Sulu, who owned Sabah, signed a “permanent lease” agreement with the British North Borneo Company, which the sultan’s heirs to this day interpret as a lease, while Malaysia sees it as a cession. This disagreement lies at the heart of the dispute. A weekly curated round-up of social, political and economic stories from China and how they impact the world.

We should have handled the monarchs Indonesian-style.

By submitting, you consent to receiving marketing emails from SCMP. If you don't want these, tick here When Malaysia was formed in 1963, incorporating Sabah, the Philippines lodged a formal claim, arguing that Sabah rightfully belonged to the sultanate of Sulu and thus to the Philippines. Malaysia, however, maintains that the territory was legitimately ceded to it by the British. The dispute has persisted, periodically flaring up due to diplomatic notes, legal actions, and even armed incursions.

Malaysia had been paying an annual “rent” of 5,000 silver dollars to the heirs of the sultanate of Sulu due to the 1878 agreement, which stipulated that the grant of lease was “forever and until the end of time” in exchange for rent payments. Malaysia halted payments in 2013 after one of the heirs mounted an unsuccessful bid to take over Sabah.

The cessation of payments subsequently led the heirs to seek arbitration in a French court, which resulted in a US$15 billion ruling against Malaysia. The judgment included compensation from Petronas, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company, for the extraction of oil and gas resources in Sabah.

However, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled in 2023 that the arbitration tribunal had no jurisdiction, effectively nullifying the award and supporting Malaysia’s stance against the claim .

Yeah I still don’t understand out of all the colonizers which had a presence in Maritime SEA, you’d pick France.

The last Philippine president to actively espouse, then backtrack on, the sultanate’s claim was Ferdinand Marcos Snr. Since his ouster in 1986, Manila has not formally recognised the sultan of Sulu.

Unresolved tensions

Julkipli Wadi, dean of the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Islamic Studies, told This Week in Asia that the Malaysian government should “show transparency” over the Sabah issue and that he expected the Marcos administration to shelve the dispute as did his predecessors.

“If it is shown that the oil that Petronas has been harvesting for decades comes from the Sulu Sea, then Malaysia should be man enough to open all books and never hide under the cloak of false claim and unwarranted use of other people’s and other country’s resources,” said Wadi, who hails from Sulu.

He expressed scepticism that a “strong position” over Sabah could be expected from Marcos Jnr “beyond beautifully crafted words”.

Marcos Jnr’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, also set aside the dispute even though his foreign secretary, Teodoro Locsin Jnr, posted on social media in 2020 that “Sabah belongs to the Philippines”.

I can respect Duterte’s more independent foreign policy. The same can’t be said with the current running dogs running the Philippines.

Political risk analyst Ronald Llamas told This Week in Asia that the president could not afford to be the first Philippine leader to drop the Sabah claim. “He has to negotiate for something, [or] at least appear to be negotiating. And he won’t simply drop the legacy of his father on Sabah.”

Llamas said the Philippines could still settle the dispute over Sabah through negotiations. “We can talk, clarify, negotiate with Malaysia, unlike Chinawho have not only built, but weaponised their artificial islands within our exclusive economic zone,” he said.

China catching strays from the Philippines again. We get it. Your master told you to bark and you are just following orders. You don’t have to make it transparent.

The government could also negotiate on behalf of the sultan’s heirs and his family, Llamas said. It is unclear, though, with the South China Sea dispute on his plate, whether Marcos Jnr would be willing to devote time to the Sabah dispute. In August 2022, his press secretary at the time, Trixie Cruz-Angeles, said the Sabah issue was “a private claim” by the sultan’s family and therefore “not an issue of sovereignty or of territory at the moment”.

The country’s recent UN submission, however, would categorically make Sabah a sovereignty issue.

Western dog barks at neighbours to ensure instability in the waterways that most of the world’s trade passes through. This reality doesn’t change just because you say something else.

Annual survey of the Amerikan cultural apparatus and it’s efficacy

Source

Malaysia is the only country where a majority express a favorable opinion of Russia, with nearly six-in-ten Malaysians saying this. Opinion is more mixed in other middle-income countries: Roughly half hold a favorable view of Russia in Bangladesh, Peru, Thailand and Tunisia. In some middle-income countries, however, about a quarter of respondents or more do not offer an opinion.

…

The rise in favorable views of Russia is less pronounced in other countries, including Germany, Mexico and South Korea. In each, the share of adults with a positive opinion has increased by 5 points since last year. The share holding a positive view has also grown in Malaysia and Singapore, where we last surveyed in 2022, immediately following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Yeah I do not recall reading or encountering even one local Anti-Russian piece.

At most it would be the Singaporean foreign minister posturing about “smol bean” Ukraine standing up against the “larger oppressor”.

The youth support anti-imperialism and pluripolarity

His short-ish essay, translated and titled as Geopolitics of the Amazon -- Patrimonial-Hacendado power and capitalist accumulation, is one of my first introductions to Bolivian politics that elaborates on the environment-economic development dialectic. I personally also find it a very accessible article in showcasing the role of Environmentalist NGO's in perpetuating neoliberal capitalism.

SEA Headlines

Morning Star - China blames Philippines for clash of two vessels in the South China Sea

Bernama - PM ANWAR HAS EXPRESSED MALAYSIA'S WISH TO JOIN BRICS TO THE PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL

This was inevitable I think.

Reuters - Vietnam to host Putin in nod to old ties, risking ire of West

CNA - Thailand to be first Southeast Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage

VNA - Vietnam, China bolster stable, sustainable ties

Bernama - CHINA-MALAYSIA TIES AKIN TO 'CONTINUOUS RAILWAY TRACK WITH PROMISING FUTURE' - LI QIANG

The Star - Oil spill incident: Singapore expands cleanup effort to more areas, including eastern end of island

China Daily - ASEAN SG speaks of future relations with China

Fortune - Indonesia’s $5 billion deal with Tesla is only part of its all-in strategy on nickel mining

This is different from my usual posts. It is an open letter from one of the only Marxist formulations in my country. I think it succinctly addresses a lot of the local arguments that are of interesting rhetorical value and in which I assume a lot of the people here are not often exposed to, especially when Western media often likes to picture Malaysia as Pro-Hamas and Pro-Palestine.

Note: It is common to refer to people by their first names in formal settings because a majority of the ethnic groups here have no concept of a family name. This is true for Indonesia and Brunei as well.

Palestine is more important

I take note of Tengku Zafrul’s defence of BlackRock, which has strong links to Israel, arguing that it has major shares in Apple, WhatsApp and Facebook. I take note of Defence Minister Khaled Nordin defending the inclusion of Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems, both complicit in Israel’s military dominance, in the recent Defence Service Asia (DSA) 2024 expo held in Kuala Lumpur with the argument that Malaysia is a free trading nation. I take note of Anwar’s urge of caution against not participating in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (Rimpac), a US-led maritime military exercise which includes the participation of the Israeli army.

But one thing remains. Palestine is more important.

Zafrul should understand that the deep roots of BlackRock in all major cultural mechanisms of the world is a cause for concern, not submission. Khaled should understand that giving space for those actively involved in the cleansing of innocent souls to put up a booth in our nation’s capitol is indirect endorsement of their practices. Anwar, so vocal with his support for Palestine when a microphone is in his hand, should understand participating in any US-led military exercise, especially with the direct involvement of Israel, makes his supposed support ring hollow. None of these have to do with global participation or the United Nations, whose highest court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah.

We understand that this capitalist government alongside every other capitalist government we have had bends the knee willingly to the US and it’s allies no matter how many lives are lost. We understand the need for free trade and the intricacies of navigating an unfree world with the conglomerate of NATO nations bullying others willingly. We understand that taking any material step to disrupt the lives of the US, Israel and their military industrial complex is an immense risk for our nation.

Having said all of that, Palestine is more important.

We know this government wants to make political gains against Perikatan Nasional, so every Palestine protest by them is labelled a political ploy. We know Perikatan are also only using this issue for clout, using the issue to further divide Malaysians on the basis of race and religion. We know the mudslinging on both parts is to distract from the real issues people like BDS Malaysia and Gegar are pushing.

We acknowledge all of that. But Palestine is more important.

Have some perspective. There is a genocide happening. There are pictures of children being dismembered. There are videos of bombs raining down on innocent Palestinians. Bombs made by whom, funded by whom? And at this time when the world is divesting, when people around the globe are protesting and day-by-day, though the bombs keep raining down, the will of the Palestinian people remains unbroken. When victory approaches as each material step is taken by those who claim to be allies of Palestine. When necessary military action is taken by all who can over the land Israel occupies. Is it at this time we want to play the card of free trade, global citizenship and national security?

It is time to take some risks. Begin withdrawing from all of the above actions. Send back the US ambassador until the conflict is over. Take some risks because, to us, Palestine is more important. To you?

SEA Headlines

Been a busy week, dealing with Eid preparations and all.

CNA - Analysis: Why more than half of ASEAN states are set to miss Ukraine’s peace summit in Switzerland

The Manila Times - The question of Asean centrality

Viet Nam News - Việt Nam, Cuba intensify solidarity, cooperation

Nikkei Asia - U.S. tops China as ASEAN's largest export destination

SCMP - As China ties deepen, Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim says geopolitics is no zero-sum game

Anwar did not dispute that the overlapping [South China Sea] claims were an issue between the two partners, but stressed that the West had an “obsession, the tendency to exaggerate the problem”.

Anwar called for settling South China Sea disputes through bilateral engagements and discussions within Asean, rather than third-party intervention, especially to quell the latest tensions between Beijing and the Philippines.

“It is important to impress on the Philippines, on the Chinese, that we are here. We must be prepared and able to manage our own affairs,” he said, adding that Malaysia would push this point upon assuming the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year.

VietnamPlus - Malaysia calls on ASEAN countries to push to connect railway network

The Business Times - South-east Asian economies no longer tethered to Fed’s decisions

The Bangkok Post - Is Asean ready to abandon coal?

Reuters - Prabowo adviser denies plans to raise Indonesia's debt to 50% of GDP

Neoliberalism still reigns supreme.

The China Academy - China’s Modernization: Lost in Translation

“a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind” fails to convey its intended meaning in Chinese, according to Professor Li Xiguang, who has served at both the Washington Post and Xinhua News Agency. Li lamented that all emerging countries, including China, suffer from the constraints of translation on the power of their narratives.

One of the most important aspects for constructing the China’s narrative of Zhongguoshi Xiandaihua (中国式现代化) is the translation of its keys concepts. Current translations are not only inaccurate but also misleading for international readers. Here are some examples:

Zhongguoshi xiandaihua (中国式现代化) [lit. Chinese style modernization] : “a Chinese path to modernization”. The translation missed the keyword “Chinese style”.

Renlei wenming xinxingtai (人类文明新形态) [lit. Human civilization new form/state]: “a new form of human advancement”. The translation missed the word “civilization”.

Renlei mingyun gongtongti (人类命运共同体) [lit. Community of Human Destiny]: “community of shared future for mankind”. The addition of the word “shared” in the English translation suggests a perceived difficulty for countries or peoples of diverse backgrounds to jointly build a “community of human destiny”.

Why can’t Renlei mingyun gongtongti be translated as “a mankind community of different value systems”?

As rightfully pointed out by scholars such as Professor Ejaz Akram from Pakistan, Zhongguoshi xiandaihua is the first modernization attempt in human history that is not associated with the West. Since the West ushered in modernity, it has been promoting its own set of value standards, which is a product of its unique European historical setting, as the universal standards for all of humanity. The Western style of civilization is based on inequality rooted in dichotomies of Christians versus barbarians and “modern Western society” versus “traditional non-Western society”.

The Western-style civilization, in terms of the production and dissemination of knowledge, has regarded non-Western knowledge as alternative, ignorant and barbaric. Consequently, the West has been engaging in a thorough intellectual cleansing of non-Western knowledge as Western modernity swept across the world. Nowadays, China’s prestigious universities have to establish Guoxueyuan, or Schools of Traditional Chinese knowledge, to preserve traditional culture. This only shows how unpopular they are in Chinese universities. To the contrary, we never see Western universities establish any “school of traditional knowledge” because their current knowledge system is steeped in their values and their traditional knowledge.

When Chinese universities set up institutions such as Guoxueyuan, the implication is that since we now have a designated place for traditional knowledge, it should stay out of the way in other disciplines. As a result, humanities and social sciences such as communication, business, law, political science, etc. can comfortably copy disciplinary structures and standards of their Western counterparts.

Utilizing its extensive influence in the existing body of knowledge on modernity, the West deems itself the judge of civilizations, even casting judgement on the longstanding Chinese civilization. This mindset is embraced by China’s academia to the the extent that they think China’s modernization can only be legitimized if it fits into the Western discourse of modernity.

However, such approach is essentially an attempt to “reason” with the Western within their own linear logical framework, a system which the West holds the right of interpretation. The confinement of our own thoughts and language by Western narratives and ideas would ultimately render China’s position indefensible.

In this sense, key concepts in Chinese politics, including those stemming from its unique experience striving for modernization, should be translated within the context of China. For instance, the meaning of the Chinese term for human rights (人权 renquan) extends far beyond “right to vote” and “right to ballot”. Therefore, the best translation for the Chinese term should simply be its pinyin: renquan, highlighting the fundamental differences between Chinese and Western paths to realizing human rights. The same approach should also be applied when translating key concepts such as ziyou (freedom) and minzhu (democracy).

Phonetic translation of key Chinese concepts, instead of direct appropriation of the existing English words, enables China narratives rooted in its cultural roots, which will facilitate better communication of China’s original ideas on the world stage. It will not only promote the construction of China’s narratives, but also enrich the language and the body of knowledge for all humankind, capable of supporting the order of Renlei mingyun gongtongti.

SEA Headlines

VietnamPlus - MATERNAL, CHILD HEALTH CARE – EVIDENCE OF ENSURING HUMAN RIGHTS IN VIETNAM

Notice how human rights are interpreted differently here.

China Daily - Malaysia-China relations: An exemplar for ASEAN countries

Reuters - Freeport Indonesia raises output target, awaits new export permit

SCMP - US-Thailand ties: strategic recalculations amid Bangkok’s tilt towards China and new geopolitical realities

CSIS - Palm Oil Powerhouses: Why the EU’s Deforestation-Free Regulation Does Not Work in Southeast Asia

VNExpress - Southeast Asian tourists make beeline for China as visa rules eased

WSWS - Ukrainian president berates China at Singapore security conference

Bloomberg - Competing US-China Defense Tactics Dominate Singapore Forum

China accuses US of seeking to build an Asian version of NATO

SEATO 2.0 baby

SCMP - China’s growing influence shapes talks at Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue, with spotlight on rules-based order

And East Timor’s President Ramos-Horta said there needed to be better communication between military and political leaders to quickly de-escalate potential crises such as possible miscalculations on the Korean peninsula or in the South China Sea.

“Ideally, in a romantic world, the South China Sea should be a zone of peace and prosperity,” he said. “Crisis consultation on the code of conduct in the South China Sea should be intensified with active dialogue and bilateral negotiation.”

It seems that the West has always been the original morality police and its accusations are merely confessions.