Maajid Nawaz (Pic courtesy of Quilliam Foundation) BRITISH-BORN Pakistani Maajid Nawaz , 31, is director and co-founder of the London-based Quilliam Foundation, which describes itself as the world’s first counter-extremism think-tank. Based in London, the foundation was founded by “former leading ideologues of UK-based extremist Islamist organisations”. Once a member himself of the international pan-Islamist […]
Exclusives
Keeping PR together
By Deborah LohDatuk Zaid Ibrahim DESPITE flare-ups in PAS and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is on track to becoming a formal coalition, says Datuk Zaid Ibrahim who was tasked with developing a common manifesto for the opposition coalition. PR’s application to be registered with the Registrar of Societies was submitted last week, and the […]
Politics and imagination
By Deborah LohIOANNIS Gatsiounis is a freelance journalist from New York who has lived in Kuala Lumpur for the last six years. He has written about Malaysia and the region for publications such as Forbes, Newsweek, the International Herald Tribune and The Wall Street Journal Asia. Stretching his writer’s muscle, Gatsiounis recently wrote 10 short fictional stories […]
MCMC: “We’re just doing our job”
By Ding Jo-AnnMohamed Sharil Mohamed Tarmizi IT has been more than a month since the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) investigated Malaysiakini for putting up two video reports — one about the 28 Aug 2009 cow-head protest and the other depicting the home minister’s defence of the protesters in a press conference. No charges have been […]
Land rights key to survival
By Koh Lay ChinTHE problems the Penan and other indigenous communities face can sometimes seem overwhelming and complicated. In this interview with The Nut Graph conducted via e-mail in late September 2009, Koh Lay Chin speaks to anthropologist Kelvin Egay, whom she met while visiting the Orang Ulu in Sarawak. She asks Egay, who has researched these communities […]
Umno reforms “not good enough”
By Koh Lay ChinTAN Sri Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas isn’t just a member of Umno’s disciplinary board. He is also Malaysian Institute for Corporate Governance (MICG) president, and former Transparency International (Malaysia) executive council member. Megat Najmuddin has been outspoken about corruption, even describing political corruption as “the mother of all corruptions”. He is also a firm proponent […]
Upholding diversity in Islam
By Deborah LohDr Hamidah Marican SISTERS in Islam (SIS) has a new executive director, Dr Hamidah Marican, who took over the helm from Zainah Anwar on 6 July 2009. Over the past 21 years, the outspoken organisation which promotes justice and fairness in the name of Islam, has often been targeted for attacks by those who deem […]
Sidelining Pakatan Rakyat states
By Deborah LohDr Xavier Jayakumar ARE federal earnings funded by taxpayers in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) states returning to benefit the public in those states? What’s clear in the case of Selangor is that funds are used for development but are not channelled through the state government. That has become clear in Penang as well, where promised funds […]
The furore over Hindu temples
By Deborah LohTHE cow head protest over the relocation of the Sri Maha Mariamman Hindu temple from Section 19 to Section 23 in Shah Alam shows, on one hand, the existence of racial and religious bigotry. But it also points to a deeper, more systemic neglect by town planners to adequately provide land for non-Muslim places of […]
Islamic vs liberal values
By Zedeck Siew“MALAYSIAN society is faced with a collision of values,” says new Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) president Muhamad Razak Idris. “There are two elements in this conflict. First, the rise of commitment to living according to Islamic religious values. Second, the increasing influence of liberal ideas, due to globalisation.” Razak, a lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan […]
