Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

Tahukah anda? Tahun 2017 menandakan ulangtahun ke-150 penerbitan buku tulisan Karl Marx yang berjudul “Das Kapital”. Buku “Das Kapital” merupakan salah satu karya pemikiran Marx yang amat penting. Buku ini membawa kritikan yang amat tajam dan mendalam terhadap sistem kapitalis. (Das Kapital adalah perkataan Bahasa Jerman, Capital dalam Bahasa Inggeris, dan bermaksud Modal dalam Bahasa Malaysia.) Pemikiran Marx dan Marxisme bukannya sesuatu yang jatuh dari langit, atau timbul secara tiba-tiba. Kesedaran sosial ditentukan oleh kewujudan sosial, begitu juga dengan pemikiran Marx dan teori yang dikemukakannya. Teori Marxis adalah hasil intelektual yang dikumpulkan daripada pemerhatian, penglibatan politik dan refleksi Marx serta pendukung ideanya terhadap masyarakat semasa. Sepanjang hidupnya, Karl Marx (1818-1883) telah menyaksikan perkembangan pesat sistem sosio-ekonomi kapitalis di Eropah dan kesan-kesan daripadanya, sama ada yang positif ataupun negatif. Pemerhatian Marx terhadap si...

By Gurdial Singh Ministers, officials and elected representatives routinely make comments. These are reported by the media and attract all kinds of comments, some adverse. As happened recently, when a lawmaker suggested a solution for rape of underage victims. Journalists and editors are often threatened with a lawsuit. This may discourage the paper from reporting; which ultimately thwarts the right of the public to know. When can a newspaper report a speech or statement – which may be defamatory – and yet successfully fend off any threat of a lawsuit? Because the media occupies a special role in a democracy it is given the right to publish such matters. It's about free speech. If sued, it can raise the defence of qualified privilege. Under our Defamation Act it had to prove a duty to publish to the general public; and that the public had a corresponding duty to receive the information. This rather narrow reciprocity test was really only applicable in exceptional cases – like wa...

Oleh Izmil Amri Karikatur beruk yang disiarkan akhbar Nanyang Siang Pau mengundang kemarahan ramai penyokong PAS. Meskipun speaker Dewan Rakyat turut digambarkan sebagai seekor beruk memakai songkok, orang ramai lebih meradang dengan gambaran beruk berserban yang ditinggalkan sendirian dengan sebiji ubi keledek panas. Jenaka keledek panas itu juga tidak dapat ditangkap umum, kecuali kalau memahami pepatah Cina mengenainya. Peribahasa Cina tentang memberi keledek panas, ertinya memberi sesuatu yang susah untuk ditangani. Ini tidak perlu dijelaskan dengan panjang lebar. Pelukis menggambarkan proses penggubalan undang-undang di Parlimen seakan beruk mempermainkan undang-undang. Karakter [ 猴子戏法 ] secara amnya bermaksud "kera bermain helah" dan merupakan bidalan biasa dalam kehidupan masyarakat Cina. Namun dalam hal ini, karakter [ 法 ] juga membawa maksud undang-undang. Pelukis mungkin cuba bermain-main dengan karakter Cina dengan menggambarkan episod tangguh bahas RUU 355 adal...

By Phar Kim Beng Viewed from afar, Malaysia’s ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), might seem nigh-on unchallengeable in the general election expected as early as this year. After all, it has been in power since the country’s first such election in 1955 – two years before the country’s independence from Britain. Yet, while it is undeniably strong, its armour is not without chinks. The party cannot afford to lose the support of Malaysia’s rural constituencies – a dependency that has entwined its fate with that of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) for the past 60 years and may now represent just such a weak spot. Felda was created by Umno a year after its maiden election win to handle the resettlement of rural poor into newly developed areas and smallhold farms. It went on to alter the development of Malaysia beyond recognition as large swathes of unused land became well-irrigated plantation schemes that transformed both agricultural exports...

A Malaysian MP said girls as young as nine were “physically and spiritually” ready for marriage, as the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country passed a law on sexual offenses against children without criminalizing child marriage. Shabudin Yahaya, a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, made the comments in response to a proposal by an opposition member of parliament to amend the Sexual Offences Against Children bill to include a ban on child marriages. The proposal was voted down by the majority of parliament. “They reach puberty at the age of nine or 12. And at that time, their body is already akin to them being 18 years old. So physically and spiritually, it is not a barrier for the girl to marry,” Shabudin said on Tuesday during a debate on the bill. He also said there was “nothing wrong” with a rape victim marrying her rapist as she would then not face a “bleak future.” Shabudin’s comments sparked outrage on social media, with some opposition politicians asking for ...

By Ian Acheson In response to the Westminster attack, a 100-strong new counter-extremism taskforce has been announced to deal with the terrorist threat in prisons. I’m taking some credit for this badly needed focus. In the autumn of 2015, the then Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, asked me to lead an independent review of the threat posed by Islamist extremism in prisons, the probation service and the youth justice system. I used to be a prison governor in what was known until just a few days ago as the National Offender Management Service, so I agreed on the understanding that I reported only to him and that I had his full support to go where the evidence led me, without interference from bureaucrats. To his credit, he agreed immediately. Gathering information was a complex task for a small team. We quizzed officials, made dozens of prison visits, analysed intelligence provided by the prison service and other agencies, and surveyed the 40,000 people who work inside the criminal just...

ONE potentially powerful narrative being served to the Malay professional class is that Malaysians should heed the lessons of the Arab Spring and be wary about dismantling the existing political structure. Yes, there are weaknesses in the Umno/Barisan Nasional leadership. Yes, there are excesses and leakages in the government and the public have every reason to expect better accountability. Yes, more should be done to tackle corruption and other problems in Malaysia. But... ‎Be wary about exchanging a known and largely stable power structure with something that could result in a new era punctuated by a vacuum in political leadership, lawlessness and uncertainty. This narrative that has been put forward by preachers at retreats and talks to the Malay professional class is bolstered by examples from the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests and uprisings that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. But until today, their purpose and success remains...