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Uncivil behaviour

Three incidents last week caught my attention. One was the clear, definite and unruly behaviour of our neighbours against our teams at the SEA Games. Second was the \”behaviour of the Sarawak Islamic Affairs Department\” in relation to the beauty contestants in Sarawak. The third is the capture of Saif Gadaffi and the potential trial […]

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Requisite leadership

Elliot Jacques is author of a book entitled ‘ Requisite Organisations: The CEO’s guide to creative structure and leadership ’. One of the most enduring ideas and thesis in his book is that human beings are born (yes, from birth) with different time horizons of thought and life perspectives. Therefore, for example, a person who is born […]

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\’I Am Local Actor 21\’

Last week I attended the inaugural Chief Secretary Forum organised by the Razak School of Government (RSG), jointly with Intan and others at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre. Mohd Sidek Hassan (left) , the chief secretary to the government, almost addressed the question I have asked him all these years: Why do civil servants need to sign […]

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Master-plans and paradigms

My first job was at the Implementation, Coordination, and Development Administration Unit (ICDAU) in the then-Prime Minister’s Department. My first boss was Clifford Francis Herbert. On the first day of work, when three of us reported to ICDAU at the PM’s Department, the administration officer assigned us to one shared room. The entire morning we […]

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The Agong and the national interest

I bid farewell to the sultan of Terengganu as Agong and welcome the sultan of Kedah, whose state I originate from. Crowned for the second time, he said in his first address: ‘The Agong is the umbrella (over) the people and the people (are) the pillars of the Agong. The Agong’s greatest role is to […]

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Civil but not servant-like

Someone sent me a crisp write-up which captures my spirit and heart about what traditional public services had become. We have been reduced to the lowest common denominator allowable. Therefore, as I watch “the PKFZ court case real-time movie” unfold before our very eyes, it has all the makings of the ‘Yes, Minister’ series but with the […]

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Truth matters and Theory R

I am a dreamer and am convinced that dreaming and communicating ideas and ideals about a better tomorrow will someday help someone else. That is also my personal public theology about life. Therefore, I write my thoughts and ideas and publish them for public scrutiny. Not so much to convince anyone else but with the […]

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My call to Ban Ki-moon

Today\’s mainstream theology believes that they are in the first world, there is a second world ‘out there\’, and the rest of us are from the third world. So, their theology goes. But, really of you think about it, we are from two-thirds of the world, often denigrated to the third; where one and two […]

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My Lynas concerns

My questions and concerns about the Lynas project to both the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) is: Why is the development of this particular rare earths plant of such a strategic interest to Malaysia, in the light of the failed Bukit Merah project? What kind of […]

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Why I\’ll be at the Bersih 3.0 sit-in

Prime ministers make promises. Prime ministers sell to the nation the future into which they want to lead the country. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has in fact promised and set us on a different route, with an improved trajectory through his leadership. Usually, if such change is begun at the centre, even if the […]

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