Day 2 APHR Climate Conferencing Notes ‘Emissions need to accompany economic development’ said the popular Thai Politician Pita and the Filipinos spoke on the legal aspects of the transition. The transnational haze panel was needed. The civil society was terrific with questions on cement emissions, couple of ones from @klimaaction were mind blowing. Environmental civil society is certainly alive and well in this region. The critical takeaway was from the Subang MP, who said why can’t the ASEAN prepare its own standards while a prominent public intellectual voice was skeptical about the scalability of carbon markets in Malaysia due to transparency issues. One of the best climate events attended, with grace and substance in equal measure.

Climate Conferencing at the Malaysian Parliament.

It seems like the oscars of the climate civil society in ASEAN, with Parliamentarians, Civil Society, Think Tanks and Academics brain storming ways to integrate climate thinking into policy participation.

Nadia from Klima Action raised a powerful point.

It was great to meet old friends from the civil society as well as Leader of the Opposition in Singapore, Mr. Pritam Singh, ex NMP Anthea Ong among others.

As a stakeholder engagement specialist, the forum itself is the message. Wicked problems are inherently Multi stakeholder, and elected politicians have more pressing elections to win at intervals. Climate matters when constituents reel under a flood or a heatstroke and agrarian patterns change and lead to job losses.

Climate financing, the topic of my PhD was raised again and again, as climate resilient infrastructure needs money and money moves things.

‘This is the most political band in Malaysia because it asks to remember’- Eddin Khoo, 11th July 2024 during his jazz rendition at Simply Jazz, KL

A sublime evening of music and memory, as if the performance is an act of keeping an idea of Malaya alive, a pre May 13th 1969 one?

The song had Merdeka Bridge in Singapore, it used to be there yet is remembered through songs and these performances. It is a poignant register of history, a sonic one.

A music performance which is an act of remembering and of resistance. Mantap!

It was enriching to learn about Malaysian Climate Policy at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, a think tank under the Malaysian government. Many thanks to Mr Yi Jian for his solidarity.

A day of public facing history in a seminar room outside the classroom but open to the public by the Counter Archive Project of the Malaysian Design Archive funded by the British Council. The event was supported by UM and NUS.

A Cultural Memory and Archive Workshop by Prof Jessica Rapson of KCL, followed by a Masterclass helmed by Prof Farid, whom I met first time in person.

A true intellectual tour de force of the day, the reason behind I still believe in a life of the mind.

A post which I wrote on my blog 6 years back has a generous comment today.

Writing The City: The Tour Bus As The Lens

One of the reasons why I keep writing

Thinking of Stone Town.

The Zanzibar discourse at ZMO Berlin

I grew up with the Al Kindi, Al Harthy, Al Rawhy and Al Barwani in Masqat. I worked under an Al Rawahi, and they are the sharpest one can be.

Batu Caves is the performance of heritage and the performance of the Hindu Faith. The Hindu Tamil diaspora comes together with Chinese Buddhists with migrant from Nepal, India and Bangladesh to mark their identity where the tourism gentrification is clear as a locus of income generation.

A clear favourite with North Indian Tourists as a Kartikeya Mandir though.