Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

My article has earlier appeared in Aliran.com on 15/2/2015 Religious principles are created for the entire humankind. If any particular segment of humanity does not follow the great virtues taught by religions such as kindness, patience, tolerance and understanding, the people would be in a difficult position to live in peace and harmony. It has been quite natural for cunning and cruel people, political leaders and religious elders to take advantage of any kind of virtue. Many political and religious leaders of today must bear in mind that those who fight and shed blood in the name of religion do not actually follow religious principles and do not serve the cause of humanity at all. They fight for their personal gain, agenda and political powers by misusing the name of the religion. Political and religious leaders should identify the root cause of this phenomenon and resolve their problems and conflicts in a peaceful and civilised manner. True religion never encourages any form of d...

We can define all existing religions around us into two categories: Religions which are based on faith and religions based on mental purity rather than faith. Those emphasize faith more than mental purity believe that they could obtain their final salvation through their ardent faith alone. To them, mental purity is not the subject of importance in the quest for salvation. That is why they said that no one could obtain final salvation by observing morals and precepts without also developing strong faith towards god or the religion. We are in the opinion that faith is not the most important aspect in practice (although it is still an important component of practice) but that purity of mind is. When we have purity in mind added with wisdom, we can never hold wrong ideas as the real truth. Faith alone cannot purity the mind and to get rid of doubts in order for us to understand the truth. People can uphold wrong beliefs blindly without analysing it or without having any sense o...

Artikel saya telah diterbitkan dalam Aliran.com pada 4/2/2015 Seruan agar pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan dipulihkan dengan segera semakin lantang. Pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan adalah hak rakyat untuk memilih wakil-wakil mereka untuk menjadi ahli-ahli majlis daerah, perbandaran dan dewan bandaraya. Selain daripada itu, pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan ini juga memberikan hak mengundi kepada rakyat untuk memilih presiden atau yang dipertua majlis-majlis daerah, perbandaran dan datuk-datuk bandar di peringkat dewan bandaraya. Di sesetengah negara, demokrasi sebegini turut diperluaskan sehinggalah ke peringkat akar-umbi, seperti perkampungan, daerah perumahan dan unit-unit pendudukan. Manakala di dalam negara kita pula, pilihanraya hanya merangkumi hak rakyat untuk mengundi meilih wakil-wakil mereka ke Dewan Rakyat (Parlimen) dan Dewan Undangan Negeri (Dun), manakala ahli-ahli Dewan Negara (Senat), ahli-ahli majlis daerah, perbandaran dan dewan bandaraya serta ahli-ahli Jawatankuas...

Premier Najib and allies use law to bludgeon critics In 2012, with Malaysia’s national ruling coalition facing a tough reelection campaign, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak promised a raft of human rights reforms including cutting the country’s infamous colonial-era Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. None of those reforms happened. Instead, in the past several months, Najib, faced with a revolt within his United Malays National Organization, has in effect replaced the internal security act with a sedition law that he had also promised to do away with. Under its provisions, as many as 20 opposition political figures, lawyers and at least one journalist have been charged and are confronted with varying penalties in what the Malaysian press has taken to calling “operation dragnet,” an oblique reference to Operation Lalang, in which former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ordered the roundup of dozens of opponents in 1987 and jailed them under ...

My article has appeared in Aliran.com on 30/1/2015 Decentralisation is defined as the distribution and delegation of functions and powers from the federal government to state and local governments. In aftermath of the 12th general election in 2008, which saw the Barisan Nasional losing its two-thirds majority in the parliament and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat capturing five state governments, discussion arose about the need for decentralisation following some friction in federal-state relationship which are seen to be jeopardising the states’ administration, roles and development plans. In every kind of governing system, pros and cons are sure to exist. Much depends on on who, how and what kind of party or coalition of parties is elected. Other relevant factors including the ethnic groups or combination of ethnic groups involved; the ideology or combination of ideologies; the attitude of the governing parties and the governing policies at the federal, state or municipal level...