KUALA LUMPUR, 5 Nov 2008: A comprehensive database is to be developed at the end of the Ninth Malaysia Plan to monitor the progress of bumiputeras in the corporate sector, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today. He told the Dewan Rakyat the database, aimed at updating government data, was expected to provide […]
Malaysia
What’s wrong with the ISA?
By Deborah LohWHEN it comes to justifying the Internal Security Act (ISA) 1960, the Malaysian government has honed its replies down pat — after the usual noise about how we still need such laws to keep the peace, they then fall back on the old chestnut — others are now doing it, too. There are growing calls […]
Spotlighting the Abdullah years
By N Shashi KalaIT’S been exactly five years since Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as prime minister. Admittedly, he had some big shoes to fill — his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad reshaped the country’s physical and psychological landscape in his quest to fulfil a particular vision of development by 2020. (© Wan Leonard) But aside […]
Grand coalition not feasible
By Zedeck Siew(Source: sxc.hu) REFLECTING on the 37-year history of the Barisan Nasional (BN), it is easy to conclude that there is some worth in grand coalitions and their ability to demonstrate political strength and unity. In the aftermath of the 8 March 2008 general election, there have been calls by some for the formation of a […]
Unravelling the DNA bill
By Khairil Anhar(© Rodolfo Clix / sxc.hu) IN 1985, Professor Alec Jeffreys of Britain’s Leicester University discovered the technique for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) profiling and storing. He had no way of knowing then that his discovery would open the door to changes in criminal prosecutions, and raise the ire of human rights and privacy advocates around the […]
The bane of book banning
By Ooi Ying NeeTHE day Norani Othman found out her book was banned by the Malaysian government, she knew she had “arrived” as a scholarly writer. The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia sociology professor had not expected that Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism — the book she contributed chapters to and edited — would be banned, but […]
