“Pakatan [Rakyat] will not last long … I will not be a part of this group of people which are destroying my country, my race and my religion … Today’s PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) and Pakatan [are] now a far cry from practi[s]ing the pure struggle of ‘reformasi’ which de facto PKR leader [Datuk Seri] […]
Current Issues
Normalising caning
By Ding Jo-Ann and Patrick Kratzenstein(Corrected at 3:10pm, 8 March 2010) “The public and world community no longer needs to fear caning as a punishment under the syariah because it is not cruel but instead educates the offenders. It also provides awareness and teaches the offenders to repent and not repeat the acts.” Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who […]
BTN: What next?
By Ding Jo-AnnTHE Selangor government’s November 2009 announcement banning state employees from attending Biro Tatanegara (BTN) courses due to racist elements triggered a flurry of public testimonies. Many former BTN participants shared their own encounters with racism during the course, including on The Nut Graph. The government was quick to defend the BTN programme while agreeing that […]
A disabled-friendly Malaysia?
By Ding Jo-AnnMALAYSIA passed the Persons with Disabilities Act (PWDA) in 2008 as part of its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN Convention). According to the PWDA, those persons with disabilities shall have equal access to the following in Malaysia: public facilities, amenities, services and buildings; public transport; education; employment; information, […]
The Islamic state we deserve?
By Shanon ShahON 9 Feb 2010, history was made in Malaysia when three Muslim women were caned at Kajang prison for “illicit sex”, a syariah offence. Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the caning was done according to the law, and claimed it “did not result in any wound on [the women’s] bodies”. Hishammuddin must have […]
Holding MPs accountable
By Patrick KratzensteinPETALING JAYA, 12 Feb 2010: The Nut Graph‘s MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project is similar to a German web-based initiative where people can pose questions to their elected representatives in the national parliament or Bundestag. Abgeordnetenwatch.de, which literally means “watching Members of Parliament”, was a grassroots effort started in Hamburg in 2004. The […]
Pakatan Rakyat
By The Nut Graph teamPR leaders celebrating their victory during the Permatang Pauh by-election in Aug 2008 SO what is the deal with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)? Is it merely experiencing the normal teething problems of a newly formed political coalition? Are all its problems engineered by the BN, or could some actually have been internally generated? After the […]
PKR’s strange disciplinary logic
By Shanon Shah(Stationary pic by ba1969 / sxc.hu) DISCIPLINE within political parties has been in the spotlight recently. In the headlines was PAS’s suspension of its Shah Alam Member of Parliament (MP) Khalid Samad. And then there is Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)’s trio of male Malay Malaysian leaders — Zulkifli Noordin, Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim and […]
Don’t charge Nasir Safar
By Ding Jo-AnnDATUK Nasir Safar‘s alleged racist remarks have sparked calls by Barisan Nasional component parties for Nasir to be charged with sedition and even detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. Buckling under such pressure, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein announced on 4 Feb 2010 that the now former special officer of the prime […]
Reaching the middle Malay Malaysian
By Deborah Loh(See-saw image by scusi/Dreamstime) THE DAP’s unveiling of “Middle Malaysia” couldn’t have been at a better time. But with the ongoing “Allah” debate and the defiance by Parti Keadlian Rakyat (PKR)’s Zulkifli Noordin, an apt question is, just who are Middle Malaysians? From party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng‘s description, Middle Malaysia indicates a state of […]
