Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

Oleh Viktor Wong Di sebalik janji-janji perdana menteri dan presiden Umno Datuk Najib Razak untuk memerangi rasuah dan penyalahgunaan kuasa di dalam kerajaannya, melalui Program Transformasi Ekonomi dan sebagainya, jentera pentadbirannya masih dicacati pelbagai perbuatan yang dianggap menyalahi undang-undang, seperti penyalahgunaan kuasa, rasuah, penggelapan wang kerajaan dan sebagainya. Ini dengan jelas telah menunjukkan bahawa Suruhanjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) tidak memainkan peranan mereka dengan aktif di dalam memerangi gejala ini yang kian berterusan bahkan bertambah, sama seperti mengikut keturunan. Hampir pada setiap tahun, apabila laporan yang dikemukakan oleh Ketua Audit Negara, maka terdedahlah pelbagai perbuatan yang jelas menunjukkan bahawa penyalahgunaan kuasa dan rasuah amat meluas sekali di dalam sektor awam. Namum demikian, kerajaan BN yang di bawah pimpinan Najib telah gagal menunjukkan ketegasan mereka di dalam memerangi perbuatan yang tidak bermoral ini. In...

By Soong Phui Jee Is the BN well prepared for the 13th general election? I don't think so. At least it still has to deliberate in fielding candidates. Prime Minister and BN chairman Datuk Seri Najib Razak called for an alternative development and leadership plan during the opening of the 40th Gerakan national delegates conference. However, Penang Gerakan chief Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan expressed difficulties in rearranging the line-up, implicating that he did not think BN could regain Penang. Najib wants the Penang Gerakan to make a painful decision but the Gerakan has no idea how to make it, showing a communication problem and differences in strategy. It is indeed a great taboo in politics. If the so-called "sacrifice" means party president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Teng Hock Nan and Penang Gerakan vice-president Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye will not be contesting in the next general election and let secretary-general Teng Chang Yeow and Penang Gerakan vice-chairman Ong Thean ...

Oleh Viktor Wong Baru-baru ini Utusan Malaysia, sebuah akhbar milik penuh Umno mendakwa bahawa Malaysiakini tidak menghormati titah Sultan Selangor malah mempersoal titah baginda dengan lantang. Lupakah Utusan Malaysia bahawa pada suatu ketika dahulu, akhbar Umno tersebut juga pernah menderhakai institusi raja sebelum ini. Malah Umno juga pada suatu masa pernah lantang mengkritik institusi raja dengan mengatakan baginda-baginda menyalahgunakan kuasa. Sebenarnya, Umno adalah merupakan petualang dan penderhaka yang sebenarnya sejak dari tahun 1920 lagi. Peristiwa di Johor dan Perak Pengasas Umno, Datuk Onn Jaafar, iaitu datuk kepada naib presiden Umno sekarang Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein, telah dibuang dari Istana Johor pada tahun 1920 dan membawa diri beliau ke Singapura kerana mengkritik Sultan Johor pada ketika itu, atas isu harta dan hutang keluarga baginda. Dalam tahun 1974, Tan Sri Ghazali Jawi, ayah kepada bekas ketua perhubungan Umno Perak Datuk Tajol Rosli Ghazali, enggan meletak...

By Viktor Wong We are sure that everyone of us had seen and read the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's 2012 budget and its impact to our people. So, what do we get then? First thing in our mind here is there's actually nothing at all for us in our capacity as taxpayers or could we say a better word like, stakeholder of this country of ours. Yes, the handout was so and overly "generous" but in the end who is bearing all those costs and effects? Clearly, it is our people who has to bear all those? The perks and benefits of civil servants had increased so much given to the fact that the federal government has the highest number of employees in this country and yet they are still employing reasoning that they are still unable to cover their various "workloads" as claimed. And despite these civil servants has been getting more and more benefits, their productivity has never increase at all, based on the public feedback on their services and responses to public a...

By Viktor Wong We had managed to get some Sabahan's who are currently working in peninsular for an interview on the current situation on their homeland on condition that we should not expose their identities for fear of persecution by the state authorities and the local ruling elites. We agreed that safeguarding their identities will be our utmost priority. When we started interviewing them on the current socio-economic and political situation in Sabah, we were gravely shock to hear the worst of all over what we had actually expected. Composition of ethnics in Sabah As expected, if a general question were to put forward on who is the largest and majority stakeholder in Sabah's ethnicity, everyone of us would certainly to give one straight answer, that is the combination Kadazan Dusun and Muruts. Okay, let us look at the current ethnic composition which we got from various source. The Kadazan Dusun and Muruts current consist of about 21.1%, while the Bajaus are 13.4%, Malays con...

Compiled by Viktor Wong Elections are underway in China. Not for the country's presidency but for "Renmin Daibiao," or the National People's Congress (NPC). Over the next few months, electorates in townships and urban districts all over the country will elect delegates to their both local and provincial levels People's Congress, the lowest and provincial levels of China's multi-tiered parliamentary system. Conducted every five years, this is the only time citizens can directly vote for their legislators. On paper, anyone can seek a seat by collecting signatures of at least 10 constituents. But in China's tightly-controlled political system, all candidates are closely vetted by both Chinese Communist Party (CCP) local and top officials. Elections are carefully choreographed. Still, there are more than 100 people who have bravely coma forward to offer themselves as independent candidates. Among them is Li Chengpeng, who has declared his candidacy on Weibo, C...

By Nour Samaha With the presentation of the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations Security Council happening now, activists, analysts, and academics within the Palestinian diaspora are becoming more vocal on issues that they say need to be addressed immediately. Two issues have been coming to the forefront of the debate; the representation and the right of return of the diaspora, and the legitimacy of the Palestinian officials presenting the bid. Karim Makdissi, an associate professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, in Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that "the reputations of Mahmoud Abbas and Saeb Erekat are shoddy, and their track records demonstrate the kind of success they are going to bring at this stage." "Erekat resigned from his post earlier this year, and suddenly made a comeback, how was he able to do this? There is almost no accountability to the questions raised in the Palestine Papers, neither of them seem to understand the notio...