Ever since this guy visited Singapore and proclaimed "bugs aren't a problem" here like in other placed with lish greenery, I learned to ignore his travel opinions.
Huh Malaysia mentioned. Been a rare occurrence since the 1MDB scandal.
Lots of opinions on this article as a Malaysian.
- Kuala Lumpur is not representative of the rest of Malaysia at all. Seems like that's the only place the author visited. So there's gonna be a lot of bias in this article.
> "Malaysian food isn’t even very distinct"
We do have our unique foods. You just need to know where to look. We have desserts like Kuih Talam (Pandan Coconut Cake), and Nyonya cuisine, both of which local and quite good.
The section on race and ethnicity feels very confused. I suppose it is somewhat difficult to explain the difference between "Malaysian" and "Malay" to outsiders.
> the Malaysian government has worked hard to create unity from this jumble of diversity. Religion has been used as a force to unify the Malay people
* unify against the other ethnic and cultural groups in Malaysia.
> It’s an interesting case study for Americans who believe the now-fashionable right-wing dogma that diversity breeds conflict.
Ah now I see why things are worded so weirdly.
> driving outside of the city center, you see endless forests of apartment towers, similar to what you see in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Singapore.
Yeah KL is definitely giving off a misrepresentative image. Most of Malaysia is rural with bungalows here and there in small clusters. Even in Penang, you don't really see forests of apartments once you get out of the city centers.
> Climate change has made Japanese summers almost unbearably hot — hotter than Malaysian summers, in fact.
Haha Malaysian summers implying we have a winter. I think the temperature is pretty bearable with just ceiling fans. AC is excessive.
I do think Malaysia has gotten better though. We're still a corrupt country with lots of problems but the worst of it has passed (Najib is jailed)
One minor thing I would quibble about are fans being sufficient. The problem is less about the heat and more about the constant high humidity, and fans don't solve that problem. Air-conditioning does. This is a subjective opinion of course - I know loads of people who are perfectly fine with fans in their house.
Just a poorly written article. Noah had some unique insights into economics. I believe that somehow made him believe that he is a unique genius (hes not) and the world wants his opinion on everything (we don’t).
Ahh, the infamous Asian Poverty Porn sought by Western Tourists is a phenomenon that manifests as a kind of voyeuristic tourism where Western visitors seek out places of visible hardship like slums, rural poverty, or “authentic” deprivation, under the guise of cultural exploration, humanitarian awareness, or “off-the-beaten-path” adventure.
A whole load of BS. Ask the Chinese and Indians citizens of that country on how it feels living under an apartheid like system. And that's not taking into consideration the endemic corruption and Islamist agenda. Malaysia was a country that could have been(compare Singapore), instead it will always be a mediocre and semi-developed corrupt nation like most countries in that region. A great place for a holiday or rich Westerners to retire, but a person of colour would want to stay away. The so called Bumiputera have all but destroyed that nation and if not for the Chinese it would just be another Indonesia.
> Ask the Chinese and Indians citizens of that country on how it feels living under an apartheid like system
It's bad, but not that bad. We get discriminated against but not actively attacked.
> but a person of colour would want to stay away
We don't really have a problem with racism against people of color, especially considering the ruling class isn't even white.
> Malaysia was a country that could have been(compare Singapore)
Singapore is an extreme outlier. Even without an Islamic government, I'm not sure it'd be possible for us to do as well. Chinese Malaysians have a lot of cultural issues as well and would've probably led to very similar corruption.
Ever since this guy visited Singapore and proclaimed "bugs aren't a problem" here like in other placed with lish greenery, I learned to ignore his travel opinions.
Huh Malaysia mentioned. Been a rare occurrence since the 1MDB scandal.
Lots of opinions on this article as a Malaysian.
- Kuala Lumpur is not representative of the rest of Malaysia at all. Seems like that's the only place the author visited. So there's gonna be a lot of bias in this article.
> "Malaysian food isn’t even very distinct"
We do have our unique foods. You just need to know where to look. We have desserts like Kuih Talam (Pandan Coconut Cake), and Nyonya cuisine, both of which local and quite good.
The section on race and ethnicity feels very confused. I suppose it is somewhat difficult to explain the difference between "Malaysian" and "Malay" to outsiders.
> the Malaysian government has worked hard to create unity from this jumble of diversity. Religion has been used as a force to unify the Malay people
* unify against the other ethnic and cultural groups in Malaysia.
> It’s an interesting case study for Americans who believe the now-fashionable right-wing dogma that diversity breeds conflict.
Ah now I see why things are worded so weirdly.
> driving outside of the city center, you see endless forests of apartment towers, similar to what you see in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Singapore.
Yeah KL is definitely giving off a misrepresentative image. Most of Malaysia is rural with bungalows here and there in small clusters. Even in Penang, you don't really see forests of apartments once you get out of the city centers.
> Climate change has made Japanese summers almost unbearably hot — hotter than Malaysian summers, in fact.
Haha Malaysian summers implying we have a winter. I think the temperature is pretty bearable with just ceiling fans. AC is excessive.
I do think Malaysia has gotten better though. We're still a corrupt country with lots of problems but the worst of it has passed (Najib is jailed)
This comment is spot on.
One minor thing I would quibble about are fans being sufficient. The problem is less about the heat and more about the constant high humidity, and fans don't solve that problem. Air-conditioning does. This is a subjective opinion of course - I know loads of people who are perfectly fine with fans in their house.
Smug blogger visits foreign country for a few days, finds evidence of his pre-existing belief system.
Just a poorly written article. Noah had some unique insights into economics. I believe that somehow made him believe that he is a unique genius (hes not) and the world wants his opinion on everything (we don’t).
i kind of prefer less developed areas. big skyscrapers and stuff don’t make me happy to be around.
Ahh, the infamous Asian Poverty Porn sought by Western Tourists is a phenomenon that manifests as a kind of voyeuristic tourism where Western visitors seek out places of visible hardship like slums, rural poverty, or “authentic” deprivation, under the guise of cultural exploration, humanitarian awareness, or “off-the-beaten-path” adventure.
Or, they simply prefer smaller towns without high-rises
I heard Western Appalachia is a lovely place to visit
Most of Europe as well.
I love Malaysia!
Malaysia Boleh :-)
A whole load of BS. Ask the Chinese and Indians citizens of that country on how it feels living under an apartheid like system. And that's not taking into consideration the endemic corruption and Islamist agenda. Malaysia was a country that could have been(compare Singapore), instead it will always be a mediocre and semi-developed corrupt nation like most countries in that region. A great place for a holiday or rich Westerners to retire, but a person of colour would want to stay away. The so called Bumiputera have all but destroyed that nation and if not for the Chinese it would just be another Indonesia.
> Ask the Chinese and Indians citizens of that country on how it feels living under an apartheid like system.
Apartheid? In India?
it reads to me as "discrimination toward Chinese and Indians in Malaysia". It's an Islamic nation, one of the nicer ones to be fair.
> Ask the Chinese and Indians citizens of that country on how it feels living under an apartheid like system
It's bad, but not that bad. We get discriminated against but not actively attacked.
> but a person of colour would want to stay away
We don't really have a problem with racism against people of color, especially considering the ruling class isn't even white.
> Malaysia was a country that could have been(compare Singapore)
Singapore is an extreme outlier. Even without an Islamic government, I'm not sure it'd be possible for us to do as well. Chinese Malaysians have a lot of cultural issues as well and would've probably led to very similar corruption.