Familiarity breeds contempt. There’s no doubt whatsoever that Umno/BN is very unpopular notwithstanding attempts by it to bribe its way back into power with the people’s money. The opposition in general and the PR opposition alliance in particular will clinch the popular vote come the 13th general election. On paper, Umno/BN can win 112 … Read more
The Hindraf blueprint gets into some immediate specifics for the Indian Nation in Malaysia, especially the underclass. A peanut figure of RM 4.5 billion has been mentioned. More importantly, the problems between Hindraf and BN/PR can only be resolved on a macro basis if both sides of the political divide accept that: the Sapu Bersih … Read more
Nyam Kee Han may be young in age but the comment made by this activist of the ‘Sahabat Rakyat’ human rights group is mature. He had said: “Any real reform agenda could never be successful by ignoring, neglecting and sidelining a selection of marginalised citizens…”. If only the many experienced governments had listened to … Read more
Hindraf chairman P. Waytha Moorthy will embark on a hunger strike to take his movement’s cause beyond and above partisan politics. Since the outpouring of Indians onto the KL streets on Nov 25, 2007 much water has flowed under the bridge but very little has changed in the lives of the Indian marginalized and poor, … Read more
Speaking at the launch of a book on the Malaysian monarchy, Malaysian prime minister Najib bin Razak said that the Malay Rulers “are above politics” (see ‘ Najib: Constitutional monarchy fosters stability, prosperity ’, The Malaysian Insider, 30 Jan 2013). He said that the Malaysian monarchy “provides a solid foundation” for turning Malaysia into a … Read more
There are major contradictions in the claim that the word ‘Allah’ belongs only to Muslims and Islam and does not apply to non-Muslims and other religions (JAKIM), and in the insistence that non-Muslims must convert to Islam to use the word ‘Allah’ (Perak’s mufti Harussani Zakaria). The contradictions are as follows. 1. If we disallow … Read more
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad published a piece called ‘Change’ yesterday in his blog. In it he asked why change governments. He then criticised the socialist ideology. He strangely claimed that “Malaysia has no ideology”. That is completely untrue. When Mahathir came into power in 1981, Malaysia was introduced to the neoliberal ideology. … Read more
The recently announced National Education Blueprint contains nothing new. And it shows the powers-that-be have no real intention to listen to the public or make any bold reforms to our ailing education system. It is a repetition of the sad old story about racial prejudice, not much different from the so-called ‘National’ Education Policy which … 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
In the years that I have been to Indonesia I have seen it change from a fairly tolerant society, especially after Suharto, to a less tolerant one in a relatively short time. This growing intolerance is not racial but religious. Sometimes it is between Muslims and Christians but increasingly it is between one Muslim sect … Read more