THE last general election birthed a situation that was not common before 2008: the Barisan Nasional (BN) functioning as an opposition. Although the BN has been the opposition in Kelantan for many years, it was a completely new experience for them in Selangor, Penang, Perak and Kedah. Indeed, the blanket term “opposition” previously used to [...]

Corrected on 15 July 2009 at 12.30am GOOD news for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. His approval ratings jumped from 45% in mid-May to 65% by 1 June, according to a poll by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research released ahead of his first 100 days in office on 11 July. The increase follows [...]

METAPHORS are more than sound bites. For example, the sea-changing 2008 general election is best represented by the metaphor “tsunami”, first coined by seasoned opposition leader and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang. Why is tsunami an apt metaphor for 8 March 2008? First, a tsunami sweeps away existing structures and leaves a new landscape behind. [...]

Corrected 1.40pm, 7 Feb 2009 Signboard maker in Ipoh (© Alex Moi / flickr) A FAILED state is a state losing its ability to govern and exercise authority. Text-book examples include Sudan, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Afghanistan, countries that we would never compare Malaysia to. The Fund for Peace, a US think tank, listed 12 [...]