Tom Pepinsky

Author: tompepinsky

  • Thailand’s Most Recent Coup

    Thailand’s May 22, 2014 coup is—sadly–not a huge surprise. Not only is Thailand among the most coup-prone countries in the world (as I illustrate here), but the pressure has been steadily building over the past year. In my February post on election boycotts, I wrote

    Once we start … politicking over the electoral rule then unless we start pinning things down with further assumptions the strategies spin out of control and the model blows up.

    That, in the Thai case, might be just what the opposition wants. Because if the model doesn’t pin things down with assumptions, then you could always have the military do it for you.

    Or put otherwise,

    the clearest “solutions” to Thailand’s political crisis are to reduce the number of axes of political conflict or to impose a minority’s preferences. The former amounts to decreeing that procedural politics is no longer subject to debate … , and the latter amounts to abandoning the goal of representative elections

    Unlike perhaps most observers, I view Thailand’s recent coup as a symptom of an underlying disease, not the disease itself. The real disease is an irresolvable stalemate between two entrenched political opponents in which not just the outcomes of elections but the very legitimacy of each side’s participation in those elections is subject to debate. I don’t see any easy treatment to recommend.

  • Munching Through KL

    (Many readers may not realize that this blog started off nearly 10 years ago as basically a travel and food blog for two twenty-somethings spending a year in Southeast Asia. This post is written in that earlier mode.)

    I haven’t been back to Kuala Lumpur in awhile. It’s changed since I’ve been here: more traffic, more new construction, and a new urban vibe. I went to my first Malaysian “third-wave coffee” shop, which is a new trend in KL. My guess is that we’re seeing a new transformation in Malaysia’s middle class, one that might prove just as important as the first conspicuous transformation of the late 1980s/early 1990s. I know that this is a rather banal statement for longtime Malaysia watchers, but it’s good to see it first hand.

    But enough about that. I really came here to eat, and that’s what I’ve done. I had 16 hours from arrival in downtown KL to departure for the airport. Here’s what I did.

    Stop 1 (Friday, 5 PM): Bangsar

    Sri Nirwana Maju is the first place JM and I ever had banana leaf rice. It’s also one of my favorites.

    IMG_1463[1]

    Inside, uniformed waiters walking around with pulses, pickles, and lots of good things.
    IMG_1468[1]

    A classic banana leaf plate, with iced lemon tea on the side.
    IMG_1466[1]

    Stop 2: (Friday, 7:30 PM): Jalan Alor

    I believe that this is the first place that JM and I ever went out to eat in KL. It’s in the Bukit Bintang neighborhood, which was always touristy but which strikes me as noticeably more so than it did when we first came here.
    IMG_1473[1]

    My friends and I tried “W.A.W,” which comes recommended by many.
    IMG_1482[1]

    Normally, JM and I liked to get the whole grilled fish plus lemon chicken. My friends had other ideas, and they were excellent choices.
    IMG_1481[1]

    In the back, fried kangkong with garlic and grilled stingray. In the front, Marmite Frogs Legs. Yes, you read that right—colonialism for the win!—and they were delicious.

    Stop 3 (Saturday, 7 AM): Mesjid Jamek

    A morning bite: karipap from a hawker, enjoyed at sunrise looking over Mesjid Jamek.
    IMG_1485[1]

    Stop 4 (Saturday, 7:45 AM): Pasar Sentral

    KL’s Central Market is closed this early in the morning, but there is a nice mamak restaurant located nearby that feeds a lot of the people setting up to open the market later.
    IMG_1486[1]

    They do a pretty good roti canai. It’s chewier than I prefer, without the crispness that sets the best roti canai apart.
    IMG_1487[1]

    But the curries and teh tarik were outstanding.

    Stop 5 (Saturday, 8:30 AM): Jalan Petaling

    The last stop before heading back to catch my train is Jalan Petaling, which has a couple of nice Chinese hawker places nearby.
    IMG_1492[1]

    After all of that food, even a small plate of pork cheong fun was almost too much. Almost.
    IMG_1493[1]