Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

The parliamentary caucus on reform and governance currently chaired by Port Dickson MP and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim was set up to lead the efforts to reform the parliamentary system and to address major issues on governance, looking into its weaknesses and generates initiatives to reform the administration. The parliamentary caucus is also reported to be planning to revive the Parliamentary Services Act which was abolished in 19992 by the then BN government who then transferred the parliamentary administration under the direct purview of the Prime Minister’s Department with a minister without portfolio appointed to handle all affairs related to the parliamentary staffing, budgeting and administration. To revive the Parliamentary Services Act, the caucus tasked to handle the effort must ensure that the future Act must be improvised and most not be part of the executive government’s instrument. The Act must ensure total independence of the parliamentary service, free from any inter...

Jawatankuasa pilihan parlimen atau dalam bahasa Inggeris, parliamentary select committee dan terkenal dengan singkatan umumnya, PSC adalah suatu bentuk jawatankuasa yang merangkumi ahli-ahli parlimen yang dilantik bagi mengurus atau menyiasat suatu isu ataupun perkara-perkara yang berkepentingan umum. Pembentukan dan fungsi PSC adalah berasal daripada rangkaian sistem berparlimen era British yang menggunapakai model Westminster. Negara-negara seperti Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia dan India turut menggunakan sistem tersebut. Di Britain, contohnya, telah melaksana dan menggunapakai PSC di dalam parlimen negara tersebut sejak daripada tahun 1980 lagi di mana beberapa PSC dibentuk bagi memantau, menyemak-imbang kementerian-kementerian dan jabatan-jabatan kerajaan di negara tersebut bagi memastikan ketelusan, kecekapan dan akauntabiliti di dalam pentadbiran negara tersebut. Para PSC menentukan tajuk, halatuju siasatan, persoalan, peranan mereka sendiri dan mempunyai kuasa untuk men...

Ever since after the 14th general elections held on 9 May 2019 last year, we saw the most effective opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) coming into power at the federal level together with few state governments as well which had effectively pushed Barisan Nasional (BN) from governing right to the opposition bench. The BN opposition previously under the leadership of the then Umno president had put in order a group of Umno and MCA members of parliament to form a shadow cabinet in order to provide the necessary check and balance on the current PH government. However, to our dismay, this so-called BN shadow cabinet has not been working on what they are supposed to. Instead these BN MPs particularly those from Umno had continue to raise issues and tensions on matters relating to race and religion. Worst of all these BN MPs had failed to show their maturity during the parliamentary sessions. Trading insults and gender remarks against fellow MPS has been their kind of character...

Prior to the 14th general elections last year, the then opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) laid out its manifesto for the people to decide which coalition of political parties did they want to run the federal and state governments. And the people had made their choice on 9 May 2018 to kick out the then corrupt Barisan Nasional (BN) government and installed PH in place to reform and govern our nation with new policies, institutional reforms, combat corruption and to correct the wrongs in the judiciary system as well as civil service which has been killing our nation’s reputation for years. In aftermath of PH’s takeover of the federal seat, what has been discovered were our nation’s coffers had lost billions of ringgit as the result of swindling, mismanagement and corruptions by the leaders of the previous ruling coalition. Much has gone missing, unrecoverable and as the result of the nation’s debts which is at the highest ever, trillions of ringgit, our nation’s currency deval...

Multimedia and communications minister Gobind Singh Deo had recently said that authorities will be going after news portals for maintaining public commentaries which are deemed to be insulting, inciting hate on others as well as those which are considered harming. Going after news portals may not be fair in the sense that these websites are open to public for reading and providing commentaries over news or articles of interests. Some may even suggest that the authorities should instead go after those commentators for the said statements or words penned on the news or articles. Is going after these kind of people adding value? There are millions of viewers and commentators out there. Is the authorities planning to go after them one by one, arrest them all, charge them in court and imprison them? There will be no end to such incidents. Practically, our nation's prison will be packed with these kind of people if the government were to serious in enforcing some of those multimed...

Sejak Pakatan Harapan (PH) mengambil-alih tampuk pemerintahan daripada Barisan Nasional (BN) pada 9 Mei 2018 yang lalu, ramai di kalangan rakyat jelata yang mula merungut mengenai ketidakadilan dan ketidakberkesanan dasar-dasar yang dilaksanakan oleh kerajaan baru sekarang kerana bebanan yang terpaksa ditanggung atau dikongsi oleh orang ramai. Mungkin kerana rakyat jelata telah lupa. Kemusnahan dan keadaan yang tidak menentu yang ditinggalkan oleh BN berikutan kekalahan mereka pada pilihanraya umum yang lalu, rasuah, salahguna kuasa dan pengurusan kerajaan yang penuh dengan ketidakcekapan sewaktu era pemerintahan BN yang lalu. Siapakah yang kini terpaksa mewarisi elemen-elemen negatif yang kini berleluasa di kementerian-kementerian, jabatan-jabatan, agensi-agensi kerajaan dan GLC-GLC yang ada? Adakah kita menyedari hakikat yang sebenarnya pada hari ini? Ya, ramai di antara kita telah lupa ataupun mudah lupa dengan apa yang telah dilakukan di masa yang lalu kini telah membuahkan akib...

Ramai di antara kita pada hari ini yang tidak pernah melihat, membaca ataupun mengkaji tentang apakah itu pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan. Kerajaan tempatan tidaklah merujuk kepada hanya dewan bandaraya, majlis perbandaran, majlis daerah semata-mata. Kerajaan tempatan juga meliputi pentadbiran di peringkat kampung dan taman perumahan seperti rukun tetangga, majlis pengurusan komuniti kampung (dahulunya dikenali sebagai jawatankuasa kemajuan dan keselamatan kampung) dan institusi penghulu. Ini bermakna, institusi kerajaan tempatan ini merangkumi suatu aspek pengurusan kawasan yang luas dan bukan hanya terhad kepada dewan bandaraya ataupun majlis perbandaran. Inilah satu-satunya salahfaham di kalangan pemimpin yang harus diperbetulkan. Persoalan yang seterusnya adalah, kenapa ada di kalangan pemimpin, setelah berkuasa menyatakan kepada umum bahawa pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan ini akan mengakibatkan perbezaan antara kaum menjadi semakin ketara kerana terdapat perbezaan purata penduduk d...

Some parties to these area had started to put the blame on the government on oversupply of homes. Who should be blamed for the oversupply of homes and other kinds of unsold properties? The federal government, state government or the developers. To the general view of the public, the federal government outlines the housing policy, the state government enforce and ensure regulations on land and housing are adhered to while the developers acquire the land allocated, construct, built and sell the properties to the public. Developers wanted to sell for profit, the government wanted to collect revenues to increase their funds for the expenditures to facilitate the development of better infrastructures for the people in the country. Building houses, shoplots or even shopping complexes around selected areas, whose plans are they? Planning for affordable homes, determining the locations of these houses to be build, ensuring the prices are affordable to the public, building houses and p...