I WOULDN’T normally consider myself an outlaw. Last month, for example, I submitted another deferment request for the six-year-old National Service summons that I have yet to fulfil because of school calendars. I also don’t buy pirated DVDs. But recently I have found myself among the many in a position where democratic citizenship conflicts with [...]

PRIOR to 25 June 2011, all seemed to be going relatively well for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration. The Barisan Nasional (BN) government was hard at work improving public perception, with extensive media coverage on government programmes such as the Government Transformation Programme and Economic Transformation Programme. There were talks of a possible [...]

THE planned Bersih 2.0 rally calling for improvements to Malaysia’s electoral system has been garnering mixed reactions. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said police may arrest illegal demonstrators, even under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite state detention without trial. Perkasa said they would demonstrate, too, to keep Bersih protesters from mischief. [...]

WHAT will it take for the Election Commission (EC) of Malaysia to be independent? Or at the very least, to be seen as trying to be independent even if it can’t really be so, according to the EC’s own explanation? At a Bersih 2.0 public forum on 21 Feb 2011 in Petaling Jaya, what was [...]

BARISAN Nasional (BN) won big in both the Batu Sapi and Galas by-elections on 4 Nov 2010. In Galas, BN beat PAS with a 1,190-vote majority and won 12 out of the 13 polling districts. PAS only managed to retain its stronghold in Sungai Terah with a reduced majority of 258 compared to 510 in [...]

IT feels like only yesterday but it’s been three years this week since the historic Bersih rally of 10 Nov 2007 that demanded for free and fair elections. For certain, that 40,000 strong rally, together with the subsequent Hindraf demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, was partly responsible for the political tsunami of the 2008 general election. [...]