KJ

Another exciting weekend in KL but I was in Penang for another commitment. However, I pondered: If I was in KL, would I have participated in this yet another peaceful march? I would have for the Bersih march, but for this one, I paused to think again. Why? For one, I am not sure that, […]

The Hindraf rally and its claims being circulated abroad have come as a bolt of lightning to the government, with the prime minister being visibly upset with some of the accusations. He believes these are a pack of lies, but there is never smoke without a fire. The fact that the Hindraf march involved about […]

We have an unfortunate habit of focusing on the messenger and not the message. As a result, we seek to kill the messenger and then we believe that the problem is solved. Is it really? Whether it was armed rebellion led by militant communists between 1948 and 1960, or the cry of so-called ‘reformasi’, we […]

I refer to two excellent recent articles that point and highlight the principle that the PM made about “no one being above the law.” Both are however naughty renderings, in that, they are written by “Indians;” who beg to question the interpretation of the principle by the respective “Chiefs” of governance in Malaysia. And, yes, […]

All theories of and about democracy have assumed, that leaders of such a model of governance, were always, “of the people, by the people and for the people.” In almost every democratic system of today, such leadership is defined mostly by representative strength, and not enough by participative strength. The Athenian city-state, probably the most […]

Is a democracy, often defined as governance of the people, by the people and for the people, ever realistically possible here on earth? Are not all our definitions of democracy only postulates in the world of ideas and ideals? Is a reasonable and applied version which approximates the ideal even plausible? I suppose, the clearest […]

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdullah Mohd Zin was reported in Star to have said that the cabinet had, at two meetings on Oct 18 and Nov 1, 2006, decided that “four words could not be used by non-Muslim communities in Malaysia”. The Sun in its report stated that a similar decision had been made by the […]

How do administrators providing public services find special moral courage in particular circumstances, when this quality is the most absent core value in public institutions, especially related to bribery, corruption and plain inefficiency? I am raising the issue based on the reports about two school principals in Seremban and KL who decided to segregate their […]

Before the Pak Lah Administration made integrity a buzz-word, it was not on the lips of most public officials or even the public in general. Maybe it still is not. The government has even set up the National Institute of Integrity and launched the National Integrity Plan. That should not be the end of their […]

I was shocked and dismayed, while in the US, to read that \”32 English bibles have been seized by the customs department.\” Although they have now been released, this \”new habit of the heart\” raises some very key and important questions about how ordinary government officials see their role in public life. Is it the […]