Corrected on 14 Jan 2009, 3.30pm I ARGUED previously that the Kuala Terengganu by-election is a battle in which Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has little to gain and much to lose. A real turning point would happen only if Umno can seriously bring down PAS’s support to below 45% among Malay Malaysians […]
Malay
Poll: Candidate trumps party
From left: Abdul Wahid Endut (PAS), Wan Ahmad Farid (BN’s candidate from Umno) and Azharudin Mamat @ Adam (independent) PETALING JAYA, 13 Jan 2009: The quality of the candidate standing in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary by-election is more important than current issues and party capability, a new poll has revealed. Seventy-seven percent of a 527-person […]
Swing voters in Kuala Terengganu
The merry-go-round in Kuala Terengganu’s Islam Hadhari theme park THE Kuala Terengganu by-election, which has to be called following the death of its Member of Parliament Datuk Razali Ismail from the Barisan Nasional (BN), will be held on 17 Jan 2009, with nomination day falling on 6 Jan. The parliamentary seat is one of the […]
Fatwa on tomboys is regressive
Fatwa protestors outside KLCC (photos by Lainie Yeoh) DOES Malaysia have serious morality and social problems? Definitely. To name a few: corruption, money politics, draconian laws like the Internal Security Act (ISA), abuse of power, violation of citizen’s rights, environmental problems, failure to reduce the high crime rate, rampant snatch theft, domestic violence, and failure […]
Helping the Malay poor
ON 11 Nov 2008, the Prime Minister’s Department answered a question about income distribution that I had submitted before the start of the current parliamentary session. The reply was read by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department SK Devamany, who gave the following figures based on a 2007 Statistics Department survey of households: The […]
Ethnic outsiders vs bumiputera-ism
(© Konrad Mostert/sxc.hu) THERE are two issues around the appointment of Low Siew Moi as general manager of the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS). The first, as raised by laywer-cum-blogger Haris Ibrahim, is whether this state agency should act like an ethnic institution that serves only Malays or bumiputera. The second is, if indeed PKNS’s […]
