A Brief Discussion on Ordinary Citizens

“There has never been a time when thinking and reading are more necessary than now.”

Over the past year, the chaotic political situation, powerful political parties, leaders who abuse their power, and election manifestos without a realistic basis have repeatedly stirred up controversy, making the upcoming 14th National Election very uncertain.

Not everyone has the time and energy to pay attention to every political issue that concerns them, nor does everyone have a clear mind to sort out the complex historical context.

As a "citizen", one has a certain degree of responsibility to society, so one should moderately intervene in public affairs, ask sharp questions to those in power, examine whether their political positions are consistent, criticize the feasibility of policies, and hope that these discussions on public affairs can promote social progress and influence public policies.

Lin Weidi

Born in Penang, Malaysia. He attended primary school in Taiwan, secondary school in Malaysia, and university in the UK. He currently works in Singapore. He has many roles: doctor, publisher, bookstore director, magazine editor, and writer.

His works include the essay collections "Before the First Book", "Arrogant", "Nothing to Do", "So", "Between Two Doctors" (co-authored with Wu Meiyu), "Real Doctor, Fake Literary Youth", "Big Writer, Little Fresh Meat"; the novel collections "The Disappearance of Your and My Country" and "Forest and Grass" (Sansan Publishing House); the poetry collection "Flashback"; and the light-hearted sketch "This is Ginseng" (co-authored with Chen Guanting).

7 Economic Concepts of the Chinese
10 About China and Taiwan
19 History Textbooks of Malaysian Independent Chinese Schools
21 Regarding the suspension of the UM Chinese Language Society
23 About Dialects
28 About Facebook
31 About "Double Submission" and "Editing"
33 On the Division of Labor between Generalists and Specialists
35 About Reading
37 About "Your circle is really messy"
39 About “Do more, talk less”
41 A Brief Discussion on My Left-Right Theory
42 A Brief Discussion on My Theory of Love
44 On the various ideologies in Taiwanese society
46 About the “Progressive Party”
48 On Conservatism and Progress
51 On China’s Cultural Protectionism
53 About Rich Upbringing
55 About AIDS
58 Not in Penang, Penang is no longer
63 About Beef Kway Teow
65 On the Battle between Classical and Vernacular Chinese
67 About Chinese
69 About official languages
72 So-called professional
74 Online public trials are harmful to the doctor-patient relationship
76 Eligibility to Speak
78 The Beauty of Entity
80 About Malaysia's 14th General Election
83 About Malaysia, About the Country
86 About Lao Ma
90 About Democracy
93 The line about personal attacks
96 About Consumption Tax
100 About not voting and casting spoiled ballots
103 On the plight of the Chinese in Malaysia
109 About the Democratic Action Party
109 2018 Chinese New Year Short Film
114 Does “intensified opposition” represent Namewee’s personal creative dilemma, or is it a metaphor for Malaysian Chinese?
120 About Drifting North
123 About Namewee and "Like a Dog"
125 On Freedom of Speech
128 On China's Culture, Economy and Politics
132 Politics without a stance is a disaster — Response to Councillor Wong Shu-ki
138 On limiting the term of office of the Prime Minister
143 On Power Asymmetry and Public Discussion
148 A Pie That I Don’t Know If It Can Be Baked: Comments on Najib’s Public Speech at the National University
153 On the Dilemma of the Democratic Action Party
159 On the Dilemma of the Malaysian Chinese Association
163 On Why Maria Chen Should Not Run
165 About Maria Chen, who had never been neutral
168 On Politics and Honesty
170 About Malaysia and China
172 About #MeToo
176 Regarding the Recognition of the Unified Examination
180 On the Singapore-Malaysia border and labour in Singapore and Malaysia
182 About Singapore-Malaysia Economic Interaction
185 A Brief Analysis of the PH Election Manifesto
190 How to vote in the Malaysian election
200 About the “Big Picture”
203 About the Malaysian electoral system