Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

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...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 24/8/2016  Whenever there are rallies held in Malaysia, organised to seek reforms, just and fairness over important issues affecting our people and the entire nation, the Barisan Nasional government and their leaders are so quick to claim that these rallies whether it is civil society or opposition dominated were some kind of attempt to topple a “democratically elected” government of theirs. The question here is, are rallies here in Malaysia capable of overthrowing the BN government as alleged by many BN leaders, particularly of those from Umno? What specific or concrete evidence do they have to immediately implicate that these kind of rallies were deemed violent and attempted coup similar to those which had taken place in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Tunisia or Egypt? Are these BN leaders losing confidence on their own capabilities and leadership until they have to resort to such idea that someone out th...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 6/1/2016 The negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, or better known by its acronym, TPPA, which includes Malaysia has taken place for about eight years. Prime Minister Najib Razak also announced in his Budget 2016 speech that Malaysia had agreed in principal to join the US-sponsored trade agreement because of its benefits to our people. The TPPA is expected to be tabled in parliament on Jan 26, following which a vote will take place in order to set the course for the government to officially endorse the trade agreement which is due to be officially sealed in February 2016. Much has been said by the government on the goodness of the TPPA but if there are so many goodies in this trade agreement, why hasn’t the government revealed details of them? Why weren't any of the details outlined to the general public if this pact could serve the interest of our people-at-large? Najib and his government has insisted ...

The people had spoken up in the recently concluded Merdeka Day cum Bersih 4 rally. The people had shown the government that they are overall dissatisfied and unhappy with the nation’s state of affairs today. The people had spoken of their unhappiness over the change of their livelihood, their shrink income, the increasing inflation, the GST which caused the nightmare, the declining Ringgit, corruption, power abuse, mismanagement and the main factor, a leader of the current government who had sold out our nation for RM2.6 billion. The participants of the Bersih 4 rally, saw a total of about 280,000 to 310,000 people from all walks of life, regardless of race, religion, skin colour or status and regardless of any political or ideological beliefs, came together as one, all came as Malaysians to voice their discontent over the inefficient government of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Leaders and ministers in the BN government can no more hide their heads under the sand anymor...

Pembentukan Jawatankuasa Jurucakap Pemantau (Shadow Spokesperson) Bagi parti-parti pembangkang yang tiada kerusi parlimen atau terjemahan dalam Bahasa Inggeris, “non-parliamentary opposition parties (NPOP)” , mereka sememangnya mempunyai banyak peranan untuk dimainkan walaupun tidak mempunyai ahli-ahli parlimen mahupun ahli-ahli dewan undangan negeri. Di antara peranan utama yang boleh dimainkan oleh NPOP adalah, membentuk suatu jawatankuasa jurucakap pemantau memerhati portfolio kementerian kerajaan dan mengeluarkan kenyataan mengenai perjalanan pengurusan, pentadbiran dan isu-isu yang berkaitan dari masa ke semasa. Untuk pengetahuan ramai, suatu jawatankuasa jurucakap pemantau memerhati portfolio kementerian kerajaan (shadow spokespersons) adalah hampir sama dengan bentuk sebuah kabinet bayangan, tetapi cuma sebutannya berlainan sedikit oleh kerana kedudukannya sebagai NPOP. Pembentukan jawatankuasa jurucakap pemantau memerhati portfolio kementerian kerajaan ini membolehkan par...

By Yeong Kam Loong Looking at the recent formation of Left Coalition and the surface of internal issue of Parti Rakyat Malaysia during Permatang Pauh by-election, there's some observation, analysis and strategy that i hope that can be helpful to the Party and Coalition. Analysis: The recent formation of Left Coalition has stirred considerable amount of curiosity from the public who view it as a 'budding' third power in the political landscape and what it can deliver. However, the recent Permatang Pauh by-election has somehow created minor negative perception on PRM from the public. A chinese newspaper commentary (some might have already seen it) had listed 3 important points: 1. The internal conflict between Penang Branch and Central Committee in candidate placement 2. The difference of stance on Hudud between candidate and the party. 3. This event created doubts from the public on PRM's principle as a political party, and eventually the Left Coalition. This is import...

Decentralisation as an alternative Decentralisation is defined as the distribution and delegation of functions and powers from the federal government to state and local governments. In aftermath of the 12th general election in 2008, which saw the Barisan Nasional losing its two-thirds majority in the parliament and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat capturing five state governments, discussion arose about the need for decentralisation following some friction in federal-state relationship which are seen to be jeopardising the states’ administration, roles and development plans. In every kind of governing system, pros and cons are sure to exist. Much depends on on who, how and what kind of party or coalition of parties is elected. Other relevant factors including the ethnic groups or combination of ethnic groups involved; the ideology or combination of ideologies; the attitude of the governing parties and the governing policies at the federal, state or municipal levels. But in the highly c...

Dr Nasir Hashim writes about how empires, as they crumble, tend to wage war against their own people – but the people will stand up to defy the waves of oppression unleashed on them. Death of an empire Did I not tell you about this senile Empire? With its pompous guardians constipating at its door steps Festered by collusions, greed, profits, demi-gods and lost horizons But did I also not tell you how they fervently dig graves for others? Too sedated and too dumb to realise that’s their very own Did I not tell you how their bastion of power is crumbling like nine pins? Yet they think that’s progress So they pride Over slogans and promises Destroying the very dreams that they ever fostered So the Empire continues to wallow in jaundiced gusto Shackling the innocents at every twist and turn of time Claiming victory for placid democracy and justice Now you are witnessing the Empire’s bleeding ‘broken chain of command’ Of misdirected priorities and competing opportunists Flip-flop decision...

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...

Socialism is usually defined into many kinds of ideology unnecessarily by many socialist leaders themselves as well as opponent of socialism. Such has indeed confuse many socialists, potential socialists and those who are interested in deepen their understanding on socialism. Why do we need to interpret socialism into so many kinds of ideological segment, such as Leninism, Marxism, Maoism, Trotskyism, Centre-Left, Social Democrats, Socialist Democratic, First International, Third International, Fourth International or whatsoever ? Some even claim they are more socialist then others and vice-versa. Some claim to be reformed socialist and this confuse our socialist community even more. As the result of all these differences, we could see first the Socialist, Labour and Communist Parties around the world disintegrating one by one like a domino, some of these parties are even split into two or three political parties but their names still remain as socialist or communist, with only d...

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...

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...

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 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 13th general elections (GE13) is approaching, approximately ten more days to go from today. And both side of the political divide, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) are campaigning hard in order to gain support from the voters. In this year's GE13, it also saw a significant rise on the number of independent candidates. Well, the backgrounds of these independent candidates are of many kinds, majority are political party dissidents from both BN and PR, incumbents who are not being selected to recontest in their respective seats, and of course, for the first time, there are also a lots of serious contenders who are contesting as independents to offer what they said, "they would only serve the people in particular because they would not be tied up to the interests of the political parties". Then, on the voters' side. What do the voters of today actually want? The voters of today are very much different from the voters decades ago. Voters of today co...

In the first place, why are we now focusing on a two-party system to be implemented in our nation? Didn't we all realize that our nation has been adopting a multi-party democratic system where we are supposed to allow any political parties to contest in the general elections, to offer their respective manifestos for the people to decide and to convince our people that the said political party would be the people's best choice of representation. We supposed we have been overly focusing on one thing, to take down the current Barisan Nasional (BN) government which has been ruling our nation for more than 55 years now. Yes, with more than 55 years of power abuse, corruptions, mismanagement of public funds and racist politics, enough is enough but it does not mean that the choice of our people should be limited to only a two-party system? It looks like everyone of us has really forgotten what we are really looking for, that is democracy and social justice. In pursuing for a d...

The Registrar of Societies (ROS) or its name in Malay language, Pendaftar Pertubuhan is a department under the jurisdiction of the Home Affairs Ministry tasked to receive, review and approve the applications from various groups or parties to establish societies, associations and political parties in accordance to the Societies Act. Asides, the right of our people to assemble and our freedom to establish associations are also enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Since 1998, it has been noticed that groups or people who are trying to establish new political parties are usually being harassed or discouraged from doing so by the ROS without whatsoever reasonable explanations. Hassles such as, provision of documents, repeated requests for amendments of the party constitutions or by-laws, missing documentations, seeking unreasonable explanations and many more had in fact prevented and discouraged various groups from coming forward to have their groups, clubs or associations registered...

Major shifts in political alliances here may occur after Election 2013, which is still expected to be a toss-up between the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR), Singapore’s  The Straits Times  reported today. The paper noted that much of BN’s hopes to keep federal power now depends heavily on the polls outcome in Sabah and Sarawak, both states still long-considered the ruling party’s stronghold. File photo of people lining up to cast their ballots in the Sarawak state election in 2011. Observers believe the coming general election will be too close to call. “Whatever the outcome on Polling Day, the story will not end here. If the PR wins more seats than the BN in Peninsular Malaysia, it is likely to woo BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak to defect to it,” the English daily reported. “Bad losses for either coalition could worsen inherent faultlines in both and they could fall apart as easily as they were stitched together,” it added. Att...