KJ

The word democracy is made up of two Greek words, demos and kratos . Demos means people and kratos means rule. A democracy is therefore a rule by the people; and not a blind rule by their leaders. In any constitutional democracy, the most important political and civil right and responsibility is to vote in elections. If one does not vote, or […]

A number of people replied to my last column ; many in support of what I wrote and one in particular registering a protest that I generalised too much from my own experience in my own constituency. He is a state assemblyperson and felt that he has been a very responsible and credible one, and that my […]

\”Political integrity means just plain honesty in politics. One of the most important things is never to deceive the people. Any politician who deceives the people either for the sake of his party or because he imagines it\’s for the sake of the people, is lacking in political integrity.\” Aung San Suu Kyi Do we […]

Last week the headlines in almost all the newspapers read, \’Give a heart!\’. Just about everyone understood that the need was for a heart donor for teenager Tee Hui Yi, who has been surviving on a mechanical heart. Education Minister Hishamuddin Hussein was quoted as saying: \”Sometimes, we look at every issue from the perspective […]

The premier has made integrity his battle cry against corruption. He set up the National Institute of Integrity to help the nation migrate towards a culture of integrity. Towards this direction, a National Integrity Plan of NIP was launched as a framework to nip corruption in the bud among all and sundry. There was a […]

In the field of study called Public Administration, all public servants and other legal and official appointees of the government of the day are called agents of the government. These officers are normally gazetted as government officers with specific responsibilities. For example, the Attorney-General is an agent of the government of the day. Even the […]

Not all Malaysians agree that we are Malaysian first. Some prefer to end their reading of our history with the \’Malaysian Merdeka\’; others want to retain the concept of Tanah Melayu , day-dreaming that colonial history and global influences never existed. Such logic may be okay for one group, for that was their founding logic and provided […]

Recently, the Minister of Finance II assured the nation that we remain not only competitive but are also the recipient of quality foreign direct investments (FDI), and have the ability to sustain our growth above the 5 percent level. Nevertheless, after attending a recent DAP fund-raising dinner as a guest, I heard an almost divergent […]

In the field of political science, the concept of gerrymandering refers to \”a conscious effort by the leaders of the political system to move or change boundaries in the interest of winning the next election.\” A more universal definition by Wikipedia is: \”Gerrymandering is a form of redistricting in which electoral district or constituency boundaries […]

Any local authority exists to protect and preserve the public interest of the area under its jurisdiction. The Local Government Act amply empowers the head of the council, to protect and preserve this public interest for the benefit of the people\’s welfare. How is it that, in selected cases, the local authority ends up closing […]