Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

This article has earlier appeared in Beritadaily.com on 21/10/2016 Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders, particularly from Umno, and top officials of the Election Commission (EC) have always wondered why many still do not trust the EC. Why view the electoral body and its functions with much suspicion? The latest redelineation plan by the EC has heightened this atmosphere of mistrust, with both sides of the political divide voicing their concerns on the proposals. Opposition parties from Pakatan Harapan and PSM, and BN’s predominantly Chinese component parties — MCA, Gerakan, SUPP and LDP – have criticised the EC proposal for promoting racial polarisation. The complaints and objections range from proposing constituencies that are overly Malay and overly Chinese, widening disparity in number of voters between constituencies, reduction of mixed race composition, and confusion among voters on voting districts. The main grouse of the critics is that opposition parties and BN’s “Chinese-based co...

By Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid The grim reality of elusive unity, plagued by ethnocentric and ethno-religious divisions, is underlined by the continual existence of fault lines that anthropologist Shamsul A. B. calls ‘axes of contradictions’ . The stubborn presence of such social cleavages, after half a century of nationhood, raises the issue of the efficacy of integrative policies pursued by successive Barisan Nasional (BN: National Front) governments. Momentarily eclipsed by the modernisation ethos of Mahathir’s Vision 2020 and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s Islam Hadhari (civilisational Islam), the ‘national unity’ agenda has made a comeback during Najib Razak’s era since 2009 in the form of his ‘One Malaysia’ (1Malaysia) scheme. It has not been smooth sailing for Najib. It is understandably difficult for him to admit that the multiple polarisation of Malaysian society was effected at the hands of none other than his colleagues and former bosses in the ruling United Malays National Organisati...

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 ...