In fact, for a country without an ideology, the depth to which daily life in Malaysia has been politicised is dumbfounding – until one remembers that the issue of Malay rights, accompanied by a steady process of Islamisation, could not but have over the decades configured all major decision-making processes. It is therefore all the … Read more
British colonial policies set the stage for the subsequent balance between state and civil society in Malaysia, including the persistent racial stratification of the public sphere, cross-racial differences in modes of state–society engagement and the focus on development of citizenship skills for some groups and autonomous self-regulation for others. This article explores the vestiges and … Read more
A comparison of the GDP growth rates between Penang and its competitors indicates that Penang shares the same growth trend as that of Singapore. Economic growth in both locations peaked in 1994. As in the case of Singapore, Penang’s growth tapered off and dipped further in 1998, when it experienced a contraction of 8.5% in … Read more
Malaysia is a net importer of migrant workers. It exports highly-skilled labour on a long-term or permanent basis and imports low to medium-skilled contract migrant workers. The latter form an overwhelming majority of cross-border labour flows and the incidence of irregular migration is high among the less-educated and less-skilled migrants. Hence, the policy focus on … Read more
The IDR could become the Achilles heel of a relationship often wrecked on the shores of irreconcilable national economic interests. Much could go wrong if the political players fail manage differences that have come with a baggage of historical irritations in Malaysia-Singapore relations. Publication: Opinion Asia, 01 Jun 2007. Author: Saravanamuttu, Johan. Download
The politics of fear – where UMNO warned non-Malays that violence was imminent if the Malays purportedly represented by that party lost power, and where non-Malay parties in the ruling coalition cautioned that the non-Malays would be unrepresented in the government and Islamism would take over if they voted for the opposition – was shown … Read more
MALAYSIA’S drop of one position in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) recently announced Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) must be seen for what it really is – not one step backwards but many forward in terms of global confidence in the economic policies and future of the country. Publication: New Straits Times, 28 September 2006. Author: … Read more
The almost USD 50 billion budget is the costliest ever in Malaysia’s five decades of independence. It is 10.9% higher than the previous one and nearly three times that of the 1998 budget (not accounting for inflation). Publication: Opinion Asia, 10 Sep 2007. Author: Liew, Chin Tong. Download
Some observers have noted that Malaysia is not being viewed as a country that is as transparent as it should be. It has been pointed out that the practice of awarding large infrastructure projects on the basis of closed-door negotiations would erode public confidence and send the wrong message to the international business community. Publication: … Read more
The task of nation building has posed an enormous challenge for postcolonial Muslim leaders, especially for those committed to the creation of a nation based on Islamic rules, norms and visions. Conventional wisdom holds that the discrepancy between a “parochial” national framework — based on religion — and the modern reality of a nation-state framework … Read more