Malaysia Votes

By Lim Hong Hai
Malaysia has held regular elections since independence. This is no mean achievement.
But elections not only have to be regularly held. They also have to be “free and fair” if they are to effectively structure and civilize political contestation and to confer legitimacy on government by the victorious party.
Malaysian elections have […]

By Hwa Yue-Yi
AFTER nine months of vacation – two of which were packed with goodbyes – I was raring to leave for college last August. But amid the high-strung euphoria, the timing of my departure for the US bothered me: it was scarcely a year since I’d learnt to adore rendang, and four months till […]

Or A Skeptics Guide to the Difficult Choices Before Us

By Sharaad Kuttan

ELECTION season never fails to induce in me a sense of dread. While I wish it a quick end, I am by no means an advocate of the shorter campaign period. Like in so many other things, it’s not the length that […]

Photo by Farish Noor.
 
DO non-Malays really need to fear the keris and what it symbolises? At a 3pm public lecture at the Annexe Gallery at Central Market in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, March 1, historian and political scientist Dr Farish Noor will attempt to relocate the keris in its proper cultural-historical context. The […]

By Dr. Mavis Puthucheary
“They all have different ideologies and opposing views. You cannot form a government like that,” caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said confidently on Feb 25. He was referring to the electoral pact between the opposition parties, which has often had this criticism leveled against it. It is said that […]