Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

Ekoran daripada pindaan terhadap Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (UUCA) oleh pihak kerajaan, bagi membenarkan pelajar-pelajar universiti, kolej universiti dan kolej untuk menyertai mana-mana parti politik atau menubuhkan pertubuhan/persatuan di luar kampus, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) dan Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) harus mengambil kesempatan hasil daripada kelonggaran Akta UUCA itu untuk lebih mendekati golongan muda-mudi dan para pelajar. Daripada kajian yang telah kita laksanakan pada bulan yang lalu, kita telah dapati bahawa golongan muda-mudi dan para pelajar enggan menyertai parti-parti politik walaupun mereka menyokong ideologi dan perjuangan yang diketengahkan oleh parti-parti tersebut oleh kerana beberapa sebab seperti politik kepartian yang berpuak-puak, terlalu banyak isu-isu politik daripada isu-isu yang berkaitan dasar-dasar untuk kepentingan rakyat, ahli-ahli politik lebih mementingkan kedudukan masing-masing, tidak ada harapan dengan hanya setakat menjadi penyo...

Di dalam Kongres Nasional Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) yang diadakan pada 17hb November 2013 yang lalu, Presiden PRM, Dr Rohana Ariffin di dalam ucapan dasarnya ada menyebut aliran golongan muda pada hari ini tidak berminat untuk menyertai parti-parti politik. Sebaliknya, golongan ini lebih menumpukan perhatian mereka terhadap pertubuhan-pertubuhan sivil dan kumpulan-kumpulan pendesak (civil societies and pressure groups). Kenyataan Dr Rohana itu ada kebenarannya. Daripada kajian yang kami laksanakan baru-baru ini, aliran tersebut telah mempengaruhi majoriti golongan muda kerana beberapa faktor yang telah dan sedang berlaku di dalam parti-parti politik, baik di sebelah pihak kerajaan (Barisan Nasional), mahupun di sebelah pihak pembangkang (Pakatan Rakyat, dan sebagainya). Antara faktor utama yang menjadi perhatian yang mempengaruhi majoriti golongan muda untuk tidak berkecimpungan di dalam parti-parti politik adalah kegiatan berpuak-puak di dalam parti-parti politik utama yang kia...

By Cindi Loo - TheAntDaily.com Barisan Nasional has been claiming a moral victory for reducing the winning margin of PAS in the recent Sungai Limau state by-election in Kedah. More importantly, in the eyes of BN, it has regained the confidence of the Chinese voters. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak proclaimed there was an increase in support by the Chinese as indicated by two ballot boxes from Chinese-majority areas that went to BN. "Previously, we lost the contest for the seat by a 2,774-vote majority, but now we have reduced it to 1,084-vote majority. It shows that there is a trend of increased support for BN,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama. But PAS promptly disputed Najib’s reading, saying that the voter turnout was smaller than it was in the May 5 general election. Only 85.5 per cent of the voters cast their ballots during the Nov 3 by-election, compared with the 89.2 per cent turnout in the May 5 polls. PAS Sungai Limau by-election committe...

Malaysia has faced its steepest inflation rate hike in 20 months, mainly caused by the fuel subsidy cut in September which increased pump price by 20 sen per litre, Maybank Investment Bank (IB) has said. The research house also predicted that inflation rate will likely accelerate next year compared to 2013, as a result of the recent sugar subsidy cut announced in Budget 2014 last week. In its daily report released here yesterday, Maybank IB said that inflation in September 2013 was up by 2.6 per cent year-on-year, its highest so far this year. It also said that “transport” was the main factor in the hike as it went up 4.6 per cent year-on-year, after the pump price of RON95 petrol and diesel went up in September 3, and RON97 petrol two days later. As a result, it expected that inflation rate will pick up from 2 per cent this year to between 3 and 3.5 per cent next year. “The forecasts reflect the combined impact of the 14 per cent hike in cigarette prices on 1 Oct 2013, the...

By Nesrine Malik "Allah" means God, unless you are a non-Muslim Malaysian, in which case you have to find another word. After a recent court ruling in the country, Allah can now be used only to refer to the Muslim God, and non-Muslims (mainly the Malaysian Christian Catholic community and press) have been banned from using it. It is a decision that has inflamed opinion among minority religions and disheartened Muslims. Apart from all the practical implications of this (re-printing Bibles and so on), there are other intangible but more heartfelt grievances. At first glance it looks like a petty scuffle over semantics, but the roots of the dispute go deep into the issue of national identity. The ruling was flimsily justified by the "risk" of conversion. Announcing the change, the judge said: "It is my judgment that the possible and most probable threat to Islam, in the context of this country, is the propagation of other religions to the followers of Islam....

By Waleed Aly Six years ago, Proton - Malaysia's national car maker - teamed up with carmakers in Iran and Turkey pledging to develop the world's first ''Islamic car''. Apparently automobiles had hitherto been non-Muslims. If that's not absurd enough, this week we learnt it's a good thing Malaysian cars can't talk, because if they could, they'd no longer be able to use the word ''Allah'' to mean ''God''. That's what a Malaysian appeal court ruled this week, after a Catholic, Malay-language newspaper had dared to drop the A-bomb. The ''Allah'' controversy has been running for years, and isn't over yet. This decision overturned the original finding from 2009 in favour of the newspaper. Now the editor is planning to appeal to the highest court in the country and the government will resist. This immediately reminded me of Proton's Islamic car: strip both these stories of ...

More than 60% of Malaysian workers felt that they were not spending enough time with their families due to long working hours, a survey by online recruitment firm Jobstreet.com revealed. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said that they worked extra hours daily – two to five hours beyond their scheduled time to leave the office. Overtime was inevitable, due to unreasonable deadlines and work overload, resulting in nearly 75% choosing to stay late at the office. Most of the respondents, however, complained that they were not paid for the extra hours. More than 60% felt that their employers were not interested in ensuring a work-life balance. One respondent said, "Even if my company has work-life balance initiatives such as a gym, a chill-out area and other organised social activities, it's there in place just for show. "We don’t have sufficient manpower to sustain the workload.” And bosses, apparently, do not leave their employees alone when they are...

Certainly, the 13th general election, held on May 5th, was Malaysia's most closely contested since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957. Yet it still produced the same result as at every election since 1957—victory for the Barisan Nasional (BN), a political coalition dominated by prime minister Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). This despite the fact that the BN only won a historically low 47% of the popular vote, against the main opposition party’s 51%. Such disparities between the tangible evidence of popular sentiment and the apparently inevitable final result have forced many to question the integrity of Malaysia’s electoral system—not just now but after previous elections as well. Indeed, a whole new organisation called Bersih (meaning “clean” in Malaysian) was set up in 2006 to campaign for “clean and fair elections”. It has held three large rallies over the years in the capital Kuala Lumpur to press the government, and in particular the g...

Many of us would be asking, what is the proportional voting system all about? And if we were to go into the online search engine to determine the actual definition on the subject question, you will find aplenty and few kinds of what we would see as proportional voting system. Yes, whatever definition that you would find in the online search engine on this proportional voting system is definitely accurate, the fact that, they are few kinds, but they all carry the same meanings and objectives. The fact that is, this subject is all about providing a more democratic space for our people by creating more representations in the parliament or state legislative assemblies. Asides, the voices of the minorities and smaller political parties would also be represented in these legislative bodies through achievement of certain percentage of votes or support from our people at large. There are two kinds of proportional voting systems herein. The first of the two kinds is the people or voter...

The upcoming 13th parliamentary seating which will soon commence its first session will see some intense debates from both sides of the political divide. Both the Barisan Nasional (BN), that is the governing coalition and Pakatan Rakyat (PR), the opposition coalition had indeed made history for themselves. BN with its reduced majority under a minority government status (based on its lesser percentage of votes received nationwide) and PR with its dramatic increased representation in the parliament which had never happened in the past. What are expected here are bill, laws and issues that are to be tabled or forwarded to the parliament would see an intense debate. To get the bill and laws through, it is by simple majority, but again, it is certain that the oppositions would not let it through that easy. On the other side, the BN members of parliament (MPs) and its government ministers would not be feeling the comfort that they have been enjoying decades ago. The parliamentary su...

In our previous  topic , we had discussed and greatly emphasized on the importance of separation of powers between the party and the government. The main purpose of such measure is to curb any possible abuse of powers, corruption, favouritism and conflict of interest between the one party leader who is also a member of the government's executive body i.e. be it the state or the federal cabinet. And here you are today, the Selangor state government under the leadership of its Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had did it. He has set a very good example and reference for everyone of us to see and proven that a government without any party leaders or chairmen at helm could be well managed or governed effectively. Tan Sri Khalid who is from PKR is not the state PKR chairman was appointed Menteri Besar of the state in 2008 after the party won the state jointly with its coalition partners in the Pakatan Rakyat and has been put to continue the state stewardship following the repe...

Our nation's Senate or better known as the Dewan Negara in our national language, currently serves as the parliament's some sort of upper house. The Dewan Negara was established as per Chapter 4, Article 45 of the Federal Constitution of which also states the establishment of the and composition of the House of Representative or better known as the Dewan Rakyat (lower house). Unlike the Dewan Rakyat, the members of the Dewan Negara carrying the title of Senator are not elected by the people. They are all appointed by the respective state governments and the King (Yang Di Pertuan Agong) and serve a term of three years, of which their tenure can either be renewed or terminated at the pleasure of the respective state governments or the King. For those appointed by the King are usually nominees selected by the sitting federal government in Putrajaya and the King merely endorses those federal appointees by bestowing them with an official appointments. Recently, the DAP Nation...

In aftermath of the 13th general elections (GE13), the two main Chinese-based Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, namely MCA and SUPP had sounded their frustration over the rejection by the Chinese community onto their parties' candidacy. MCA has went into the extend of calling on all its leaders not to accept any government positions anymore. For those who are now holding government position were instructed to tender their mass resignations. On the other side, Sarawak's SUPP had voiced their dismay over their poor performance by stating that by voting the Oppositions as representatives, would mean the Chinese community had in fact lost their rights and place to voice their grievances in the government. According to both MCA and SUPP again, there will be no more Chinese representatives in the BN governments and other related bodies as they have been summarily rejected by the people in the last GE13. It has also been reported that MCA has start closing down most of i...

The elections campaigning would stop once the clock struck 12.00 am this midnight. Tomorrow morning, the  13th general elections shall commence nationwide. All voters are urged to come out without fear to vote for whoever in your minds, and should you have made the correct decisions, do not hesitate to put your choice into the ballot boxes. The destiny of this nation of ours is in our hands. We hope, with the choice this time, nation would be able to move forward towards a new dawn. Whatever outcome it may have after 12.00 am tomorrow then, we hope the political parties or coalition who are on the verge of losing or may lost, would gently accept with open minds the decisions made by our people (the electorates) for the sake of the nation. This is a democratic nation and in general elections, there are those who won and so does those who lost. This is indeed a democracy in practice. The winner gets the chance to govern for a period of 5 years while the loser would take this opp...

We guess, many of you would be wondering why are we asking such question, “What has MCA done to the Chinese community in Malaysia?” Obviously, none of us would ever realize the real and terrible impact that MCA has made onto the Malaysian Chinese and if they were to see this, the definite question too would be, “done what?”, “don’t know”, “not aware”, “none of our business”, or even, “we don't want to know at all”. The inception of MCA in 1949 can be traced back from the origins of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) and its chapter in the then Malaya, which was famously known as Kuomintang Malaya (KMT Malaya). In aftermath of the Second World War and the defeat of the KMT forces in China in 1949, the KMT Malaya has began to move towards transforming its Malayan chapter into a local Chinese based organization in order to preserve its existence and long term political opportunity in this county. And this is how MCA was born in February 1949, where the party later teamed up...