Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim believes there are numerous similarities between Syria and Peninsular Malaysia.

He noted how hundreds of thousands of Syrians crossed the desert and seas, suffering the loss of their loved ones, all because they wanted to escape tyranny and violence.

As for Malaysians, he said those who wished to flee the tyranny of the administrative capital, moving to Sarawak would be a walk in the park by comparison.

According to Zaid, Sarawak is the place to be in the future when the peninsula burns through its own follies.

"I feel it is prudent for us to stay away from peninsula Malays who are always looking for a fight. They want to fight Christians, liberals and those selling phones. Perkasa wants the group of pensioners who call themselves G25 to be classified as deviants.

"Sarawak will not insulate us from everything but it will provide some kind of protection from the madness found in the peninsula.

"In Sarawak, Malaysians will be quite safe from racist thugs whose idea of 'jihad' is to fight over shopping malls and enforce khalwat laws. In short, Sarawakian leaders can provide us with some relief from the toxic and deleterious politics of Putrajaya," he said in a blog post.

Zaid also described Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem, who took over the reins last year from the allegation and controversy-saddled Taib Mahmud, as a practical man.

He pointed out that Adenan is concerned about poverty and has made some sensible decisions for the people.

Only yesterday, he said, the chief minister challenged the media to help expose corruption and injustice.

"I know it's an election period but you will never hear that kind of thing from Putrajaya.

"In Putrajaya, they talk of race, religion, conspiracies, enemies within and nothing else," he added.

Zaid claimed that Sarawak is potentially the best place to be for those who want to escape the misfortune that would sweep the peninsula in the years to come.

"The school system and even public administration will be better with the use of English. When your English is good, you tend to know more about the world.

"The Islamisation of the state will be impossible because Umno is not in play there, and Malays in Sarawak will be safe without Umno," he said.

Sounding the death knell for the peninsula once again, Zaid remained pessimistic that change would happen.

"We can wish that ISIS stays away from us but we are breeding them by providing the same philosophy in our schools and religious institutions that the madmen in Syria do," he said.

He also accused local political leaders and "highly-paid preachers" of sounding like Taliban chiefs and the self-styled ISIS caliph Abu Bakar Al Bagdadi.

"We can hope that in the new year, Ali Tinju (Mohd Ali Baharom) will not hog the headlines and that the recent fight in Kota Raya was not a prelude to something more serious.

"We can pray that Federal Court judges become fearless and independent and that the police become a professional law enforcement agency.

"We can hope the Resolution of the European Parliament with respect to 1MDB and human rights abuses in Malaysia, amongst other things, will be taken seriously by Putrajaya and that our politicians will take heed of what world leaders think.

"But seriously, no such thing will happen. We can wish all we want but Malaysia will be Aleppo and Western Syria in the years to come," he added.