Three significant characteristics of the system of Malaysian electoral politics make it inimical to the interests of the Indian poor. It is based on simple electoral majorities, it is ethnocentric and it works to provide moral cover for the Malaysian elite. And it has become conventional wisdom that since Indians do not form a … Read more
The Evidence (Amendment) (No.2) Act 2012 will come into operation in a few days on June 1. The impact of this hastily and stealthily rushed legislation could be devastating. De facto law minister Nazri Abdul Aziz denies that amendments to the Evidence Act were a means for the government to curb online dissent by making … Read more
Prime minister Najib Razak last week announced a ‘windfall’ of RM15,000 to each Felda settler family. The planned payout is to come from the Felda initial public offering on the Felda Global Ventures Holding (FGVH) listing. As part of the IPO of FGVH, Felda will be disposing 1.21 billion of its current FGVH shares at … Read more
In my note to Chandra on May 6 which he acknowledged, and which was sent well before this latest rebuttal, I had written: “I hope we can have a sustained discussion on the important subject that you have identified. I don’t think a one-off debate is a good way to have that discussion. I know politicians … Read more
It is a pity that Dr Lim Teck Ghee has chosen to ignore some of the arguments and analyses I had presented in my earlier reply, and instead has clung stubbornly to his dogmatic position on the political scenario in the country today. “Irrefutable fact” An example of this is his warped reasoning on … Read more
I have followed with some interest the on-going arguments between the MIC and a number of PKR leaders on the status of Indians born in Malaysia who do not enjoy the rights of Malaysian citizenship. My attention has also been drawn to a recent article by Dr Paraman Subramanian entitled 450,000 stateless Indians in Malaysia, … Read more
I thank Chandra for responding to my commentary on his lambasting of Bersih 3.0. Although the Center for Policy Initiatives (CPI) is reproducing his response in full, there is really very little new in the engagement. Basically Chandra has rehashed his arguments on the far-reaching changes to human rights and political and civil liberties … Read more
Dr Lim Teck Ghee’s attack on me (CPI, 4 May 2012) does not come as a surprise. I would not have bothered to respond to him except that he has raised a couple of points about political change in the country and my stand on the electoral process that need to be rebutted. Are the … Read more
Introduction by CPI The BBC, reporting on Hamza Kashgari’s deportation from Kuala Lumpur back to his native Saudi Arabia, said the charge hanging over the young man’s head of insulting the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemous in Islam and punishable by death. Kashgari, 23, fled his country was detained upon his arrival here on Thursday … Read more
The past year has seen the government and the opposition unveil their respective economic reform policies. Even if these reform policies and their attendant programmes are implemented, they will not be able to resolve the country’s economic problems. This is because the policies advocated by both sides of the political divide are merely palliative. They do not … Read more