KJ

Pemudah, the high-powered steering committee to help the nation steer through the rough waters of public services delivery systems for the benefit of businesses and Foreign Direct Investment, has finally seen the light. Leaving aside tunnel vision, it has set its sights on Kuala Lumpur City Hall. Up till now, its strategy was to ‘pick […]

This issue has riled me and therefore this personal open letter to Dr Hassan Ali, from whom I may have expected more. The premise of the detractors\’ argument is that non-Malays cannot or will not implement government policies related to bumiputera ownership. Is this a true statement or belief system? Can we accept this as […]

\”Change we can,\” said Barrack Obama. Change they can, and, I believe, change they will. He also said, \”We are the change we want.\” And change they did, for only the second time in more than 200 years, Americans have taken the risk again in electing a young and unfamiliar non-pedigree for a president. The […]

My mother’s name is Grace. The grace of god is a fundamental and important concept in all religions. Grace is ‘an undeserved pardon’ in common parlance. Grace is when we get more than what we deserve to get in very human terms. Grace is also when we get love instead of punishment. Grace is when […]

Why is the Inspector-General of Police called as such? And why would I instead call him an ‘Interpreter-General of Police’? The word ‘inspector’ defines all of the most important functions, duties and responsibilities of the police force. The police force lives and dies by the evidence they collect, examine, evaluate and prosecute. But is it […]

In management and organisational theory, there are at least three principle dysfunctional behaviour present within all groups. Whether one calls the group Umno proper, or Wanita Umno, or the nation state, theorists would argue that one can observe similar dysfunctional decision-making behaviour in all groups most of the time. The first kind of dysfunctional behaviour […]

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was absolutely right during the Riz Khan interview on Al-Jazeera recently. He said he is Malay and not an Indian, to a question about his origins. After all, this concept of an ‘Indian’ is one of national identity and not an ethnic category. Therefore, neither Riz nor Mahathir is really an Indian. Who […]

The premier said “Enough”, after seeing the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide and hearing about the four fatalities. But my question to him and the federal government is whether mere words from the PM are enough to prevent such tragedies? Dr Benjamin George, a survivor of the Highlands Towers incident was recently quoted as saying: “The politicians […]

In traditional terms, based on the original social contract of 1957, Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. That meant we had a constitutional monarch and we were a Westminster-type democracy. The role of the monarch was defined by the federal constitution, and which even originally included the doctrine of ‘the king can […]

The New Straits Times , in a column last Saturday called on the people to ‘Sing the national anthem and renew your vows’. My retort to the writer and the NST is, who will sing for the nation and spill blood for her? Allow me to explain my question and then offer a reflection. In 1999, while […]