Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

By Adam Minter Bloombergviews What’s worse for big business in Hong Kong -- street protests or the tear gas fired to disperse the protests? That's the uncomfortable question now confronting Hong Kong's button-down business community, which has coexisted relatively peacefully with the city’s Communist overlords since the handover to Chinese rule in 1997. For 30 years, nobody -- other than perhaps China’s growing middle-class -- has benefited more from China’s economic rise than Hong Kong. Uniquely positioned both geographically and politically as a bridge between the mainland and the developed world, Hong Kong’s leaders and businesspeople have learned the value of not rocking the boat and -- when necessary -- throwing in with those who promise continued good times. Few groups appreciate stability quite as much as the Big Four audit firms (Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG), all of whom covet the business of the state-owned Chinese companies that have...

By Clive Crook Bloombergviews Nationalism is resurgent, says Gideon Rachman in a recent column  for the Financial Times. This is surprising, he argues. Not long ago we were contemplating a new age of globalization: "In a borderless world of bits and bytes the traditional concerns of nations -- territory, identity and sovereignty -- looked as anachronistic as swords and shields." Quite the opposite, it turns out. As Rachman says, consider the separatist drive in Scotland , or Catalonia ; the growing strength of right-wing populism in England , France and elsewhere in the European Union ; Russia's moves to reclaim its empire ; the electoral success of Hindu nationalism in India; the mutually antagonistic strands of chauvinism in China and Japan . Almost wherever you look, those supposedly anachronistic concerns are driving politics. Not just surprising, this is also disturbing, Rachman goes on -- because nationalism is divisive and therefore dangerous. Resurgent...

By Francis Wilkinson Bloombergviews.com We've been having a pretty enlightened public discussion about domestic abuse these days courtesy of the National Football League. The league wasn't eager to sponsor this conversation any more than star players Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson were looking to become brand ambassadors for brutality. Instead, video of Rice's domestic battery and pictures of Peterson's beaten child forced the conversations. They seem likely to force changes in the NFL, as well. They may even influence broader behavior. That's the good news. The bad news is that Islamic State, which mixes extreme violence with the very best of seventh-century religious ideology, has recognized the power of imagery to influence us. The group is hardly the first, of course. But Islamic State clearly recognized the value of ratcheting up the horror. It doesn't take much in the way of technical sophistication, intellectual force or political power to behead three m...

Banyak negara Barat, termasuk Kanada, sebenarnya lebih Islamik daripada negara majoriti umat Islam, kata Profesor Dr Nader Hashemi. Nader, pengarah Pusat Kajian Timur Tengah di Universiti Denver, turut mengisytiharkan bahawa Kanada adalah lebih Islamik daripada negara anggota Pertubuhan Persidangan Islam (OIC). "Kanada mengamalkan kebebasan beragama, kebebasan berhimpun dan mempunyai sistem penjagaan kesihatan yang cemerlang," kata Nader semasa simposium di Hotel Renaissance di Kuala Lumpur hari ini. Simposium bertajuk "Islam, Sekularisme dan Demokrasi Liberal" dianjurkan oleh Islamic Renaissance Front dan Institut Pulau Pinang. Katanya ia kerana Kanada mengamalkan nilai-nilai sebenar yang diajar agama Islam. "Malangnya, nilai-nilai ini tidak wujud di negara-negara majoriti Islam," kata Nader. "Jika diberi pilihan, ramai orang Islam Kanada lebih suka hidup di Kanada daripada di negara majoriti Islam di mana mereka berisiko kehilangan kual...

Many Western countries, including Canada, are actually more Islamic than Muslim-majority countries, an academic has said. Director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver, Professor Dr Nader Hashemi, went further to say that Canada was more Islamic than the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries. "Canada practises freedom of religion, freedom of assembly and boasts an excellent healthcare system," Nader said during a symposium at the Renaissance Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today. The symposium, entitled "Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy" was co-organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front and Penang Institute. This, he explained was because Canada practises the actual values which Islam preaches. "Sadly, these values are non-existent in many Muslim-majority countries," Nader said. "Given a choice, many Canadian Muslims prefer living in Canada than in Muslim-majority countries where they risk losing these qu...

A pro-democracy group, Kembalikan Selangorku, has supported calls for Pakatan Rakyat to reform the state's constitution for democratic principles to prevail, citing the example of the appointment of the menteri besar. "We criticise Pakatan Rakyat for deserting democratic principles and switching its support from PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to her deputy Azmin Ali in a very short period. "The action of Pakatan Rakyat silently endorsed intervention of the monarchy in appointment of menteri besar," the NGO said in a statement today. The group ticked off opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for "giving up" the constitutional stand and "surrendering to the sultan's appointment". "This indeed disappointed many in Selangor," said the NGO that started the 'Black Ribbon' campaign to oppose external interference in PKR's replacement of the Selangor MB at the height of the impasse. Kembalikan Selangorku said Pakatan should ha...

Authorities in Asean countries must take action against militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) or face severe repercussions, warns a Singapore political scientist. Dr Bilveer Singh, who is a member of Singapore's Council on Security and Cooperation Asia-Pacific and sits on the republic's parliamentary committee on defence, said although the war is being fought in the Middle East, Isis is made up of Sunni Muslims from all over the world, including the Asean region. "There are three possible scenarios in which Isis could affect this region,” Bilveer, from the National University of Singapore, told a forum on the rise of Isis and its implications on Southeast Asia, organised by the Strategic Information and Research Development Centre. In the first scenario, Bilveer said Asean nationals who had fought alongside Isis would return without bringing their armed struggle home. "This would be an ideal scenario as the Malaysians, Indonesians and Filipino fighter...

Only Umno-linked daily Utusan Malaysia has total freedom of speech, Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir said today amid a government crackdown under the Sedition Act 1948. The social activist and daughter of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said ordinary citizens are claimed to be living in “total fear” and claimed to want the controversial law to stay, as they are only allowed to hear views from the Malay newspaper. “The people who have complete freedom of speech are people like Utusan,” Marina said at a session on human rights at the International Malaysia Law Conference here today. “Utusan has complete freedom to stir up fear in everyone, whereas the rest of us are trying to reassure everyone,” she added. Critics have accused Utusan of stoking racial sentiments. After the May 5 general election last year in which the ruling Barisan Nasional’s (BN) won but with its worst performance ever,Utusan front-paged a report with the headline “Apa lagi Cina mau?” (What more do the Chine...

Muslims and followers of all religions must engage with each other, not to discuss who goes to heaven or hell, but on common issues that concern all citizens, a PAS leader said at an interfaith forum. Dialogue between people of different faiths is the way to debunk the paranoia and siege mentality held by some religions, which are counter-productive to nation-building, said PAS Research Centre executive director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. "The discourse should be premised on the role of one's faith in matters of good governance, rule of law and in establishing justice and equality for all. "And only matters that pertain to issues of governance and legal and socio-economic development of the citizenry and the state should be brought to the public sphere and must be democratically advocated. "That is the need of our time, that is what the role of interfaith dialogue and religion should be, and not about who will be sent to heaven or hell," he said at the Council of Chur...

A Russian Muslim speaker has raised concerns about the way religious minorities are being "demonised" in Malaysia as it paves the way for more divisiveness in the country. Julia Sveshnikova, policy coordinator for non-governmental organisation (NGO) Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), said that interfaith interaction was under threat because people's minds were being cultivated to think less of others who are different. "That is why it rings a warning bell when religious minorities are being demonised in the eyes of a religious majority, for instance, that attitude has paved the way to the resentment about the Shia sect in Malaysia," she said at a CCM Interfaith Ecumenical Conference public forum in Petaling Jaya. Sveshnikova referred to the history of the Jews under the Nazi regime which cultivated people's minds to the point of dehumanising the "other". When people accepted this view, it was then sufficient to condone a massacre of the Jews. "...

By Natalie Shobana Ambrose The events of the past few weeks have shown that democracy has many faces and variations. And of it, many supporters and detractors. Some look to America's version of democracy as the frontrunner while there are those who dispute that. What does it take to make a democracy and how do we get it right? Scotland's independence referendum vote last week was deemed "the largest democratic event in the history of Britain". For a brief moment it felt as if part of the world was holding its breath while the votes were being counted. Perhaps Queen Elizabeth's private comments to "think very carefully about the future" were resounding in the minds of many. While Spain might have breathed a sigh of relief at the nay outcome, for many perhaps more so for the Catalonia Independence movement that has ambitions to secede from Spain, it has added to their plight to vote and push for their version of democracy. A few days after the Sco...

A series of "unsavoury" decisions by the judiciary on sedition cases shows that the courts are not impartial when it comes to politically-motivated cases, said Lawyers for Liberty co-founder Eric Paulsen. "The only institution which stands between the rakyat and the continued abuse of power by the police and Attorney-General's Chambers is the judiciary. "Unfortunately, recent decisions by the judiciary do not give the rakyat much optimism nor hope that this is the case," Paulsen said in a statement. The cases of construction site supervisor Chow Mun Fai and Anything But Umno (ABU) activist Ali Abdul Jalil were two recent examples in which the court had shown "disproportionality" in its decisions, he said. "Chow had initially been charged under the Sedition Act 1948 for an offensive Facebook posting and later pleaded guilty under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988." "After admitting to using Facebook to post offensive commen...

The Sedition Act crackdown continues with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim being the latest to be investigated over remarks uttered three years ago. According to PKR legal adviser Latheefa Koya, the probe concerns a speech he delivered during a political rally in Gombak. Newly appointed Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali was also investigated over the same issue. "Azmin's statement had already been taken in 2011, but looks like they (the police and the authorities) are re-opening the case," said Latheefa. She said the police are scheduled to record Anwar's statement on Friday at the PKR headquarters. PKR's Padang Serai MP N Surendran, who himself is facing two charges under the Sedition Act, would accompany Anwar when his statement is taken. The case has been classified under Section 4 of the Sedition Act. Anwar was scheduled to launch the DNA (Datuk Najib Altantuya) campaign at the ceramah held near Taman Melawati on March 26. Pandemonium erupted when the police li...

In the context of Malaysian politics, it is not defamatory to refer to a politician, who hopped from party to party, as a "frog" or "political frog", a Penang High Court ruled today. Judicial Commissioner S. Nantha Balan said while the words were not complimentary, they were also not defamatory. He said this while ruling on former Bukit Gelugor PKR division chairman Lim Boo Chang's defamation suit against Tanjong MP Ng Wei Aik for calling him a "frog" three years ago. He dismissed the suit and ordered the plaintiff to pay the defendant RM30,000 in legal cost. "The plaintiff (Lim) has failed to prove that the impugned words were defamatory. "There is no evidence that the defendant had any vendetta against the plaintiff," he said, adding that the remark was made by Ng when he had to defend his party, DAP, from being maligned by the plaintiff. "I do not see this as a manifestation of malice. It showed that he (Ng) had to do it out of ...

By Dr Azly Rahman ‘Dewan ulama delegate pays tribute to slain militant, saying he was a martyr’ – The Malaysian Insider That was what I read yesterday – a most dangerous symbolic act Malaysia is seeing from an influential political party- the romanticising of diabolism, and if a political party can do this, imagine what we will be facing in these immediate years to come – home grown ISIS! We ought to be afraid and to be very afraid – when the modus operandi of ISIS is to strike global fear through the broadcasting of beheadings, rape, mayhem, murder. My question to the government is, what are you going to do about this celebration of martyrdom and diabolism? What is martyrdom or “shahidism in jihadism…”? I am still grappling with these words. It might be the most misunderstood concept in the Socratic maxim of the life examined. My questions are: Who or what would you die for and why? is the question… Who decides whether one has died for god and paradise awaits…? and Which god is worth...