Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 25/11/2016 Of late, leaders from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, particularly from Umno, and many Umno-linked NGOs have shifted their anti-Chinese chorus to that of George Soros. Sounds like Umno and its sponsored NGOs were deliberately making Soros a scapegoat for their political misadventure and to cover up various scandals linked to their leaders, in particular the 1MDB controversy and RM2.6 billion in the Umno president’s personal account. Well, Umno has just made Soros a well-known figure in Malaysia today by claiming his involvement in an “attempt to overthrow the BN government”. Every Malaysian would be interested to know if Soros has been laying a plan to become “Prime Minister of Malaysia”. It is all about foreign funding and the Jews when Umno and its associates are trying their best to discredit and bring down all the opposition parties and civil society groups. The momentum gained by opposition groups ha...

This article has earlier appeared in the Beritadaily.com on 11/10/2016 Recently, an opposition member of parliament uttered a remark on the passing of PAS spiritual leader Haron Din in the United States. The opposition MP tweeted “Adios Haron Din, may there be peace.” To the misfortune of the MP, his statement was quickly manipulated by many PAS leaders as “insulting Islam”. In response to the allegations of those PAS leaders and the police reports lodged against the MP, the police top brass was quick and overly eager in wanting to arrest the MP for questioning. This was despite the fact that he had already shown his commitment to cooperate with the police and come forward to give his statement. We are neither advocating the cause of the MP nor supporting the opposition party he represents, but the wisdom and characteristic of the police top brass should be questioned in this case. Why prejudge the opposition MP as “guilty as seen” by announcing that he would be arrested e...

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 9/9/2016 ‘Vote for PAS and your place in Heaven will be secured’; ‘Vote for Umno to prove that you are a pure Malay’; ‘Without Umno, the Malays will vanish from this earth’; ‘Vote for PAS, you uphold Islam to the highest’; ‘Vote DAP and you are betraying the entire Malay generations’; ‘Vote DAP, you are a traitor to the Malay race’; ‘Vote DAP, you are a kafir harbi’; Vote PKR, your Malayness becomes lesser’. These words are usually coined among Malaysians by certain political parties who claimed themselves to be champions of the superiority of the race and religion today. The intimidation of voters with such words or should we say, blackmailing, has become a norm today among competing political parties, their leaders and supporters in our nation in order to gain or regain support from the voters. Are all these so-called racial and religious political parties running out of practical ideas and policies for our people and...

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...