Category Archives: General Politics

Game-Changers at the Year’s Start

At the beginning of 2012, this was the series of incidents taking place, including the sacking of Hasan Ali, the “We are all Adam Adli” and others. A version of this was published in theSun on the 13th January 2012. … Continue reading

Posted in General Politics, Reflections | Leave a comment

Managing Plural Societies

In this article, I look at just how a consociational a democracy our country is, based on reflections of a dialogue session that I participated in at the Centre for Dialogue in Melbourne. A version of this was published in … Continue reading

Posted in Ethno-Religious Politics, Outside Malaysia, Religion | Leave a comment

Malaysian Lessons from Bolivia

Having worked on a documentary last year, I truly appreciate the worth of the visual medium now. Documentaries add great value to the study of politics as well, as the “Our Brand is Crisis” documentary shows. This was first published … Continue reading

Posted in General Politics, Outside Malaysia | Leave a comment

How Far the Economic Reform?

Recently there has been an interesting Teraju clip being circulated on Facebook. I mentioned Teraju in my article here, comparing it against what Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak initially wanted to do with the New Economic Model (NEM) but … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Ethno-Religious Politics | Leave a comment

Bridging the Gap

Is Malaysia getting more or less polarised? A version of this was published in theSun on 10th August 2011. Bridging the Gap In Thomas Friedman’s 2005 book “The World is Flat”, he predicted that with the advent of technology, the … Continue reading

Posted in Ethno-Religious Politics, Reflections, Religion | Leave a comment

Why Everything is Political

Why Everything is Political There is a tendency for people to complain in loud groans how everything is oh-so-political these days. The fact is that, yes, everything is in fact political. Especially so in a country like Malaysia where decision-making … Continue reading

Posted in Civil Society, Economics, General Politics, The Cause | Leave a comment

When we begin to doubt

When the RCI on Teoh Beng Hock’s death was released, I was appalled at its findings, especially certain paragraphs which others have now described as “bad fiction”. This was my piece in theSun on 27th July 2011 on my analysis … Continue reading

Posted in General Politics, Selangor, The Cause | Leave a comment

Effecting Real Change: Political or Non-Partisan?

One of the most hotly contested issues surrounding Bersih 2.0, Bersih 3.0 and the movement was whether it was political or not. I think this is reflective of how we individually feel – how do we help the nation best, … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, General Politics, Reflections | Leave a comment

Local democracy alive and kicking in Pakatan states

Although civil society is disappointed that Pakatan states didn’t implement local elections in its first term, nevertheless there were achievements to this end: local village, mosque committee elections and more – first published in the Penang Monthly’s July 2011 issue. … Continue reading

Posted in Elections, Public Administration, The Cause | Leave a comment

Assimilation vs. Integration

First published in Selangor Times in July 2011, a topic that always seems to be current in Malaysia. Assimilation vs. Integration Last weekend, I was invited to speak at an event organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports together … Continue reading

Posted in Ethno-Religious Politics | Leave a comment