Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

by Bill Van Auken One week after the abortive military coup to overthrow Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, there remains no doubt that Washington had a major hand in the bloody events that shook Istanbul and Ankara. Turkish military commanders with the closest ties to the Pentagon have been directly implicated in the attempted overthrow, including the commander of the Incirlik air base, where the US stores its largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in Europe and from which it carries out its bombing campaign against Iraq and Syria. Multiple aircraft supporting the coup flew out of Incirlik under the eyes of the US military. After it became apparent that the coup would fail, the Turkish base commander asked the US for asylum. It emerged Wednesday that a warning of the impending coup had come from Russia, which relayed intercepted radio communications between the coup plotters to Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, known as the MIT. The warning was shared with the Turkish ...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 26/2/2016 Barisan Nasional leaders, particularly those from Umno, should wake up and accept the fact that arresting and imprisoning people will not stop criticisms from being levelled against the ruling party and the government. Instead, it will certainly increase public suspicion over what these government leaders are actually up to. Apart from that, such actions will also give the impression that the BN government is trying to cover up weaknesses in its administration. In politics, public perception, whether negative or positive, exists in every form, be it criticism, commentaries, discussions, condemnations, debates, exchange of ideas or just simply a chat in a coffee shop. Whatever the BN government is doing or if any of its top leaders is linked to controversies or scandals, it will inevitably attract public attention and generate public perceptions based on the information obtained. Perception is prevalent and unless th...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 9/12/2015 WH Cheng The National Security Council (NSC) Bill was recently bulldozed to be passed in Dewan Rakyat with a simple majority after the Barisan Nasional (BN) made a mad rush to push the bill through by limiting the time for review and debates were shortened. It was a grave disappointment as elected representatives were disallowed a longer period to study and review the bill in detail before it was put to vote. What was the intention behind the BN government in making such a rush to push through this controversial bill? The passed NSC Bill will now have to go through the Dewan Negara (Senate) for another vote and later on, if voted in, will be forwarded to the King for His Majesty’s endorsement. There is no need for us to further elaborate on the details of the NSC Bill as many commentaries and opinions have been offered recently. The conclusion of the bill has been made known to all, simple as that, the prime ministe...

Charging opposition leader Teresa Kok over a satire video is a "new low" for Malaysia and an "international embarrassment", says an international rights NGO. "The Malaysian authorities are setting a new low for violating free expression by bringing criminal charges against an opposition politician in a satirical video. "The government is obviously not serious about its commitment to revoke the antiquated and abusive Sedition Act," said Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson in a statement today. He reminded Prime Minister Najib Razak of his promise on several occasions, notably during the 13th general election, to repeal what the PM himself has said was from a "bygone era". Robertson said despite this, the law is still being used for "political reasons". "The case against Teresa Kok is just the latest instance of a senior opposition politician being hauled up on arbitrary charges for simply being an opposition...

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...

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...

In this upcoming 13th general elections (GE13), we will see most top leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) major component parties will not be contesting. Their only excuse is to give way to the younger ones to contest. BN component parties leaders who will not be contesting are MCA president Chua Soi Lek, MIC president G.Palanivel, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and PPP president M.Kayveas. All of them are either keeping very quiet about their status or had announced that they would not seek for any candidacy in this GE13. Of the MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP party presidents, only the Umno president, of course the prime minister as well, Najib Razak announced his own candidacy by saying that he would defend his Pekan parliamentary seat in this GE13. MCA president Chua Soi Lek did not contest in the previous general elections (GE12) and he us currently the Selangor BN chief coordinator while his only government position is as chairman of the Penang Port Commission (PPC) which over...

According to Dr Chandra Muzaffar, the chairman of the Yayasan 1Malaysia, who is also the former PKR deputy president, changing the government in this country would not solve the problems of corruption within the nation's establishment. Asides, Dr Chandra also mentioned that not only is BN corrupt but the opposition Pakatan Rakyat is also corrupt in its administrations and politics. It shows that Dr Chandra is not only narrow minded when making such statement but he is not looking at the broader prospect of the proposal made by Pakatan Rakyat in its recently released electoral manifesto. So, does Dr Chandra mean, since Pakatan Rakyat is also corrupt, why not let BN who is "totally corrupt" to continue governing this nation so that these BN leaders could squander more in billions of Ringgit from our people? In this subject, where does Dr Chandra looking at? It looks like he looks forward for our nation to fall backwards instead of moving forward. Yes, Dr Chandra mayb...

With the latest case of police brutality has been exposed. It has already caused another death as the result of police torture. It is simple that the police top brass would respond to such cases. They would just say the force would conduct its own internal investigation, domestic inquiry, or the policemen involved would be suspended awaiting further investigation. After all these efforts - internal investigation, domestic inquiries, suspension of the police personnel, what we got today? It is still happening. The police brutality and torturing are still happening. The number of death in the police custody are still happening. It has not stop, but instead it has been continuing much like a fanfare within the police force itself. It has already became a routine and a must-do job within the police force today. What are the improvement plans, counter-measures, productive measures or whatever they could name? Yes, they listed down hundreds of them. So does those under the Government Tr...

Exposures after exposures were reported at the most recent hearing of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the Illegal Immigrants in Sabah. Does all these look as at it has been fabricated? No, not at all. The scandal in Sabah was real. So does the existence of over more than half a million of illegal immigrants from Indonesia and the Philippines who are now residing permanently in Sabah. Thanks to the Barisan Nasional (BN), particularly the dominant party called Umno, these illegal immigrants are able to stay put in the state until today. Asides, they were also given express citizenship status and granted voting rights when most of the Sabah bumiputras particularly the Kadazan Dusuns, Muruts, Bajaus, Dumpas, Orang Sungai, Rungus and many more in the rural areas are still not able to become voters until today despite their status as real Sabahans and the fact that they are Malaysians. Everyone knows that the scandal, better known as Project IC really exist in Sabah and ...

When Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajuddin gave a prediction of a possible Pakatan Rakyat narrow victory in the next 13th general election, overnight, he has became a political enemy of his employer. The BIMB chief economist has been suspended from active duty by his employer until further notice and it was not clear that if he would later face the bank's domestic inquiry for an alleged "misconduct" as claimed earlier by the BIMB's managing director. What "misconduct" has Azrul committed in the forum which he has attended and had his view presented? If the BIMB managing director has mentioned that his view and prediction on Pakatan's possible narrow victory are entirely his personal, then why issue him a suspension on BIMB capacity? Has Azrul ever mention "according to BIMB's prediction, Pakatan will gain a narrow victory"? No he did not say so. Furthermore, Azrul has attended the forum in under...

By Steve Oh The  Malaysiakini  report on Nurul Izzah Anwar's  statement   that there should be no compulsion in religion even for Malays is a watershed idea for the nation. This poignant truth surpasses even the remarkable observation made by former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the country's "first rate infrastructure and third world mentality." It shows that Malaysian leaders know what's wrong with their country but do they have the moral courage and political capability to right the wrongs? I am sure Nurul Izzah and her political coalition will win many votes if she makes her suggestion a key policy in their political manifesto. It will bring Malaysia in line with contemporary values of human rights because the Malays are still a bonded people, controlled by all sorts of rules and regulations that exempt other Malaysians. This one-nation two-system method of governance is retrograde and reason why despite all the high-sounding political s...

By Simon Sipaun PROHAM is a new human rights NGO formed by former Suhakam and the Police Commission commissioners. It was launched on 21st March, 2011. Incidentally, 21st March every year is the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This RTD will go a long way towards realizing PROHAM’s hope to see that Malaysia will, sooner rather than later become a party to the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1969 (ICERD). This move represents a realistic approach to the issue rather than sweeping it under the carpet and pretend it is not there. 2. I am unable to find one good reason why Malaysia should persistently continue to be not a party to ICERD. Any government which refuses to be a party to ICERD is a government that supports racism and racial discrimination. How else can I interpret such state of affairs? 175 countries are currently party to ICERD including many Islamic countries. Only 15 cou...

By P.Ramakrishnan, President of Aliran Twenty five years ago, Malaysia witnessed what one person could do to sustain his lust for power. His unabated lust for power unleashed the worst traits in the Barisan Nasional to imprison 106 innocent Malaysians to keep the BN in power. The man behind this dark episode in our history was none other than Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia. On 27 October 1987 the rule of law was discarded, natural justice was ignored, the role of the judiciary was overridden, parliamentary democracy was sidelined so that he could cling on to power at all costs and by all means. As Prime Minister, Home Minister and Justice Minister, Mahathir rode roughshod so that his position would remain safe and sound and that there would be no one to challenge him. Today, more than ever, we must remember this shameful part of our history and wonder whether this will be repeated when the results of the 13th general election are announced. ...