The best place on earth

Vulnerability - that was the first thing that crossed my mind when news was abuzz about the Chile earthquake and the subsequent tsunami so I looked at our map.

And then, it reminded me of something in this map.

See it?

Peninsula Malaysia and Italy share one thing. We are the only two peninsulas jutting out to sea surrounded by 'bodyguards' that are land masses of other countries.

Malaysia's natural barriers are Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Batam islands, Kalimantan and the Philippines. For Italy, continental Europe and Africa act as bodyguards.

This means that even if 20-storey tsunamis break out in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and pulverize cities from London to New York, Rome and KL will be left untouched.

But countries of the Mediterranean have one big disadvantage. They are in an active volcano zone (remember what Vesuvius did to Pompeii?) Therefore as a country, Malaysia wins hands down in occupying the best geological position on the planet.

Only two things can cause a mass exodus from Malaysia, both of which are man-made. One, rising sea levels that will submerge the Isthmus of Kra and turn Peninsula Malaysia into the Island of Malaysia when we'll see Sg Petani, Ipoh, Kajang and Maran become our new beachfronts. Two, politics.

Between the two, politics wins hand down as our leading power of mass displacement, having sent thousands of refugees abroad and working hard to send thousands more.

My imagination entering a movie fantasy mode, if the whole world erupts in a ring of fire - with the Wyoming supervolcano consuming the US and Canada, tsunamis consuming all major cities from London to Tokyo, massive earthquakes consuming Indonesia to China to the Mediterranean, guess who will be left standing?

The Malaysian politician.

They will be left to rule the brave new world. Isn't that a comforting thought? Finally we can go global. (Trying to be sarcastic on a Monday morning.)

I'm joking. If that ever happens, Malaysia will have a challenge from Burma, Thailand and Cambodia who are as well protected from natural disasters as we are. Furthermore I don't think they've ever lost an aircraft engine or bought submarines that don't dive, which makes them a superior force in that movie fantasy I'm afraid.