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 more amazing that the current administration under Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, heir to this veritable tradition of sophisticated statecraft, should be handling the present spate of public demonstrations in the capital of Kuala Lumpur in such a clumsy manner.  Publication: Opinion Asia, 14 Dec 2007.  Author:  Ooi, Kee Beng.  [Download]