Projek Dialog initiator Ahmad Fuad Rahmat is appealing to members of the public to endorse the Declaration of National Solidarity. Ahmad Fuad is a research fellow at the progressive Muslim think-tank Islamic Renaissance Front. The declaration can be read in an online petition at the Projek Dialog website and has two goals: First, to call … Read more
I refer to Ipoh Echo front page article, 16-30 Nov 2012 ‘Perak Water Board, doing it right the first time’. I wish to point out that building the Sultan Azlan Shah dam across Sungai Ulu Kinta was not the right thing to do. About eight years ago, I wrote to the former Perak Menteri Besar … Read more
Memberi ruang kepada anak-anak menemui diri mereka sendiri, begitulah intipati sebuah rencana yang tersiar di akhbar New Straits Times baru-baru ini. Penulis rencana tersebut memberi pendapat sedemikian ekoran keputusan UPSR yang diumumkan pada 19 November 2012. Pada pandangannya ibu bapa cenderung menaruh harapan yang terlampau tinggi terhadap pencapaian anak-anak di sekolah. Malah banyak berita dan … Read more
The case of Nurul Izzah Anwar, the PKR vice president, making the statement that there is no compulsion in religion and that this should apply not only to non-Malays but to Malays as well is now commanding the public domain. Thanks to Utusan Malaysia and the Internet, the speed at which Nurul’s statement spread was … Read more
(The article below first appeared in the newsletter of the International Sociological Association Vol, 3, no, 1.) In his seminal book Muslim Society, Ernest Gellner boldly asserts: “By various obvious criteria – universalism, scripturalism, spiritual egalitarianism, the extension of full participation in the sacred community, not to one, or some, but to all, and the … Read more
PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli will be a panellist in a discussion this evening (Nov 20) on how to ‘Say No to Corruption’. Other speakers are Robert Lazar, managing partner of the law firm Shearn Delamore & Co and Bernard Khoo, a retired teacher who blogs at ‘Zorro Unmasked’. The discussion is held in conjunction … Read more
CPI introduction We are reproducing this recent book review from The Economist. It deals with the sordid politics and economics of foreign aid from the point of view of Britain, the donor country. This case study is of particular importance to us in Malaysia as the recipient country where there has been a string of … Read more
The Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) delegation will picket outside the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth hotel on Tuesday when the Lynas Corporation holds its annual general meeting. A 19-men group from Kuantan led by SMSL chairman Tan Bun Teet are in Australia this week on a mission to convey to the company shareholders the risks … Read more
Islam, Malay rights and the royal institution. Let’s get a few things straight. These are three different and separate issues. Despite what some might say, see in their fevered dreams, or hallucinate about, Islam is not under attack in this country. In fact, I am starting to think that these self-appointed (or self-anointed as the … Read more
Ucapan Presiden Obama setelah menang pilihanraya presiden Amerika Syarikat baru-baru ini memberi gambaran menarik tentang gaya pemikiran dan pandangan seorang pemimpin yang berjiwa besar. Mungkin sahaja segala yang diucapkan hanya retorik politik semata-mata tetapi sentimen yang diutarakan benar-benar mengusik jiwa mereka yang mendengar. Ingatan pertama kepada rakyat setelah mengucapkan terima kasih kerana mengundi beliau ialah … Read more