THE year 2010 is the year of creativity and innovation for Malaysia. And yet, a common lament when discussing the country’s state of affairs or the quality of education is that we lack in precisely these areas. What, then, of the government’s plans to make Malaysia a high-income nation? Where do we even begin in […]
Mahathir Mohamad
Who pays our political parties?
EVER wondered where political parties get their money? And what they use it for? While skeptics may think that political parties just use their money for handouts and bribes, in fact, they also legitimately need money to carry out proper functions. For example, political parties need to maintain their party machinery, conduct voter education and […]
Autonomy in UM
UNIVERSITI Malaya (UM) has made a comeback by climbing 50 spots to be ranked 180 in the 2009 Times Higher Education – QS World University Rankings under vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon. What does this academician, responsible for restoring UM’s reputation, have to say about university autonomy, the state of Malaysia’s higher education system, […]
BN divided on Islamic state issue
FORMER prime ministers Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, when he was still deputy premier, have all proclaimed Malaysia to be an Islamic state. Despite that, most Umno parliamentarians have avoided answering the question, “Do you think Malaysia should be a secular or an […]
PR shies away from Islamic state issue
THE Nut Graph started posting six questions to 222 Members of Parliament (MP) in January 2010 for its MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project. The project — a likely first of its kind in Malaysia — aims to record MPs’ positions on key issues of democracy as well as provide MPs a platform for voters […]
Fifa, reserve place for Malaysia!
I’M upset that the Malaysian football team is not playing in the Fifa World Cup in South Africa. In fact, Malaysia has never made it to the Fifa World Cup. Ever. Doesn’t the rest of the world realise that they cannot expect the Malaysian team to compete on an even playing field? Don’t they realise that they need to […]
A non-Malay PM: How possible?
IN envisioning federal power, one of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR)’s trickiest points is where to place the DAP (read, a Chinese Malaysian) in the executive line up. As prime minister? God forbid, not in this Malay-Muslim majority country. As deputy prime minister? But what about PAS?
Criticising the monarchy
“Because the Rajas so easily handed over Singapore, Penang and Pangkor to the colonialists and then the Malay states, the People (“rakyat”) could no longer accept a system that only gives power to the Rajas and the People are not given any role in the country’s politics.” FORMER Umno president and Prime Minister Tun Dr […]
Understanding Malaysia
IT was somewhat of a joke when the Malaysian government finally released the political biography, Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times, for sale here. Barry Wain (pic courtesy of Barry Wain) In the five months since November 2008 when 800 copies were shipped from Hong Kong to Port Klang and placed on hold, Malaysians […]
Keeping Perkasa on track
IT just has to juggle it all, Perkasa pro-tem president Datuk Ibrahim Ali says of the government and its duties. These include protecting Malay Malaysian privileges, maintaining subsidies while managing depleting oil resources, and providing for other poor communities. In the second of a two-part interview on 9 March 2010 with The Nut Graph in […]
