Dr Farish Noor’s assessment of Perkasa as “a class issue… reflecting the anxieties of poor Malays who are scared of the globalization process??? is off the mark. There is presently little or no data on Perkasa’s membership or ideology to support his assertion. For example, we do not know how large its membership is, … Read more
Introduction by Dr Lim Teck Ghee CPI rarely runs articles that have appeared in news websites such as the Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini or others since we feel it is unnecessary to duplicate their posts. We are however making an exception in the case below. We hope not only that the international media picks up this … Read more
Manmohan Singh ialah Perdana Menteri India yang ke-14 yang kini telah masuk penggal kedua pemerintahannya. Di kalangan pemerhati politik, ramai yang terkejut ketika beliau dilantik kali pertama sebagai perdana menteri pada tahun 2004. Tatkala Parti Kongres India memenangi pilihanraya umum pada tahun tersebut, calon popular bagi jawatan perdana menteri ialah Sonia Gandhi, balu kepada … Read more
The greatest threat to Britain’s continued presence in Malaya was the rising Malay nationalism during the several decades prior to Merdeka. To neutralize this threat, the British rulers chose to appease Malays with pro-Malay policies that protected the community while at the same time discriminating against Chinese and Indians – a strategy known as ‘divide … Read more
Introduction by CPI “But what began to aggravate and worsen ethnic relations in the early 1930s was a series of ‘pro-Malay’ policies, which the British initiated to help Malays cope with the economic depression and to meet the demands of rising Malay nationalism based on treaty obligations.??? This statement extracted from the article below should … Read more
Di Malaysia, perkataan ‘liberal’ sering dianggap sebagai satu fahaman menyimpang dari ajaran Islam – sehingga anggapan liberalisme itu seolah-olah sesat dari ajaran Islam. Liberal dianggap kehidupan hedonis yakni liar, suka berhibur, meminum arak serta mengamal budaya Barat yang dipandang sebagai kurang berakhlak. Pemikir dan pembawa idealisme itu pula dicemuh sebagai pembawa budaya pemikiran bebas dan … Read more
This was written as a commentary in response to an article by Shagul Hamid Abdullah, Director-General of Biro Tatanegara that recently appeared in a national daily. Since the paper has declined to publish it, we are making the commentary available to other media outlets in the hope that it will be widely read and the … Read more
There was the intention both in the Alliance and the Reid Commission that the provision in Article 153 on Malay special position should be transitional – i.e. reviewed 15 years after independence. Drafting the Malayan Constitution: Compromises and Consensus, 1956-57 The sequence of political events leading to independence, according to Donald Horowitz, was a factor … Read more
Why did Umno and MCA to work together? Why did Tan Cheng Lock break off with Onn Jaafar? Could the whole political scenario for the country have taken a different direction in the early 1950s? Local elections: The demise of the IMP and the emergence of the Alliance Party, 1952 In late 1951, local elections … Read more
Introduction by CPI Dr Lee Kam Hing’s essay is originally titled ‘Forging Inter-ethnic Cooperation: The Political and Constitutional Process towards Independence, 1951-1957’ and published in the book Multiethnic Malaysia — Past Present and Future (2009). CPI with permission from the author is reproducing his essay in three parts for online reading in our website. … Read more