Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

By Wan Saiful Jan The philosophy guiding how a government relates with the people is something that not many Malaysians talk about. But if we go back to the early days of this country, ideology used to matter. In a speech delivered at IDEAS Annual Dinner on 20 February 2016, Tun Musa Hitam, Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister who started his political career under Tunku Abdul Rahman, said, "In those early days of our history, politics was more ideological than material. There were indeed, yes, indeed, two camps in Umno: the Tunku camp and the Razak camp. "The Tunku camp was clearly and unapologetically right wing, pro-west and pro-business. The Razak camp was allegedly socialist-communist inclined, a brand enough to scare and scuttle people away all the way in those days when communist terrorists were the biggest threat to our independence." This was a telling statement, because Musa was suggesting that the liberal administration of the Tunku was event...

By Zhang Tao Israel, a country with a small territory, is considered a strong military power in the Middle East. Its Air Force, known as the "long arm of Middle East", did excellent work in several Middle East Wars, with an air battle track record that shows 60:3 in the third Middle East War, 56:1 in the fourth and 84:0 in the war against Lebanon. The Israeli Air Force played a critical role for the country to survive in a geo-environment surrounded by unfriendly powers. Because of its special geo-environment, losing a war may mean losing the country for Israel. In this sense, Israeli Air Force pilots not only have to carry out combats, but also shoulder the responsibility for national survival. Therefore, pilots that are reputed as the "treasure of Israel" have to go through rigorous selection and training. In addition to strict physical examination, the Israeli Air Force also applies the "pilot basic skill evaluation system" when selecting pilots to c...

By Samuel Chan (SCMP) Two localist lawmakers who had their swearing-in oaths for the Legislative Council invalidated ­called on Saturday for Hong Kong to “insulate” itself from the ­mainland. Although they stopped short of openly advocating independence for Hong Kong at a seminar in Taipei, the latest comments by Youngspiration’s Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang and Yau Wai-ching could further antagonise Beijing. China’s leaders are wary of any “collusion” between separatist forces in Hong Kong, Taiwan and even Tibet and Xinjiang. The pair ignored warnings by leading Beijing loyalists that the Taiwan trip was “making matters worse”. Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, the city’s only delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, warned that Beijing might back a trusted candidate for next year’s chief executive election regardless of his or her unpopularity, if independence talk continued to gather steam. That was seen as a reference to incumbent Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, alt...

By Syauqi Jamil, Beritadaily.com While Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Budget 2017 had plenty of goodies and petty benefits, it however missed out on addressing the structural weaknesses of Malaysian economy, said an opposition lawmaker today. PKR vice president Tian Chua said Najib’s budget announcements were merely used as a disguise to blanket the real problems that the nation’s economy was facing. “We are waiting for a direction from a very stagnant economy, coming from the losing of confidence by domestic and international investors. “We are facing increasing constricted expenditure for development because we do not have revenues. Our exports are down and we did not develop new methods to collect government revenues, besides GST,” he told Berita Daily. He said the increment of the 1Malaysia People’s Aide (BR1M) was merely an act of “using more band aid to cover more leakages”. The Batu MP also urged the government to have the courage to face the reality of Malaysia lag...