Category: Commentary

Recently the New Straits Times ran a front page article on brazen smuggling at our borders with Thailand and Indonesia. In its report, an NST team which joined several Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission covert surveillance operations found that agencies tasked with foiling smuggling attempts were closing an eye to the movement of price-controlled goods by foreigners… Continue reading Border smuggling: Another way of looking at it

With the acquittal by the High Court of the sodomy charge against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, a key page in the country’s political history has been turned. Immediate winners are of course Anwar, his family, his team of lawyers, and the opposition. For Anwar, it was not only exoneration of the sexual smear charges brought against… Continue reading Anwar’s acquittal marks a new chapter

During the past few months, the government and Felda authorities have been engaged in a public relations exercise aimed at persuading Felda settlers as well as the Malaysian public that the proposal to float Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH) on Bursa Malaysia is in the best interests of the settlers. But is it really so?… Continue reading Is Felda Global Venture Holdings listing in the interest of settlers?

During the last few months, Prime Minister Najib Razak has been pulling out one pre-election carrot after another from his inexhaustible supply of goodies aimed at persuading the electorate to vote BN’s way in the coming general election (GE). These range from indefinite postponement of the long delayed goods and services tax to financial grants… Continue reading Barisan National’s early elections plan in disarray

The new civil service remuneration scheme recently announced by the government provides civil servants pay rises of between 7% and 13%. Coming just before the elections expected soon, it is clearly intended to influence the outcome of the elections. Umno leaders see members of the civil service not only as their ‘fixed deposit’ but also as… Continue reading Civil service as Umno’s fixed deposit or game buster

The UMNO General Assembly has come and gone.  Most political observers had expected it to be the usual rah-rah event aimed at rallying UMNO members ahead of the coming elections and in support of the leadership of Najib Razak, the party president. They were right.  The public were subject to yet another spectacle of sound… Continue reading UMNO General Assembly: Beating the drums for another May 13

To most of the country’s independent political observers, it is very clear now. With the unveiling of the new proposed law restricting our right to peaceful assembly and protest, the Malaysian public has been taken for a ride on the promise of political liberalization and reform made by the Prime Minister on the eve of Malaysia Day… Continue reading The hands behind Malaysia’s false spring

Perhaps more than anyone else Wang Gungwu has highlighted the complex dilemmas facing Overseas Chinese living abroad and their interaction with China. In a world dominated by Western science, Western thought and Western scholarship, Wang Gungwu has succeeded in being recognized internationally, as one of the world’s leading historians on China and Southeast Asia. Wang… Continue reading Wang Gungwu’s perspective on the Chinese diaspora

During the past year, there have been three controversies arising from regressive policy decisions of the Ministry of Education which have set our educational system backwards. The three controversies revolve around The teaching of Science and Mathematics for Fourth Form students in Bahasa Malaysia instead of English The use of the Interlok book as a compulsory… Continue reading Our school children as sacrificial lambs

Every once in a while the government-controlled or government-associated media engages in a public lynching of individuals that dare to challenge the Umno-scripted truth about the political system, religion, the monarchy or just about any subject which may be seen as threatening to Umno’s political and ideological dominance. The latest case involves Mohamad Sabu and… Continue reading Media lynching and academic collaborators