Democracy

By Wan Saiful Wan Jan

1 July 2009: The Erdogans in PAS must come up with a coherent reform agenda, or they will eventually be portrayed as having quietly admitted mistake and defeat. This will make it very difficult for others in the party to speak up for decades to come. The Erdogans will eventually become the latest evidence why speaking up in public is bad and does not work for PAS.

By Wan Saiful Wan Jan

16 June 09: It is only when these ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ flourishes that PAS can benefit from a healthy competition of ideas. Let the internal groups compete in the open so that the party can then make an informed decision on what is the best way to proceed. This will push the party forward and make it a more credible political force.

By Keith Leong

4 June 2009: I have always had mixed feelings about PAS. The party has been painted as the ultimate bogeyman by the establishment media and pundits to my demographic group, often with general success. Incidents like their periodic campaigns against alcohol consumption and teenybopper music only served to heighten my discontent towards the brand of politics that they practiced.

by Wan Saiful Wan Jan

1 June 2009: I think the British royal family is far more transparent that the British parliamentarians. Their accounts are published annually and can be easily accessed on their official website. Perhaps one of the many Malaysian royal families can show leadership in this area, and publish their royal accounts first like what their British counterparts are doing.

19 March 2009

By Tunku 'Abidin Muhriz

That is why it is essential that not only the original party of freedom, of our Merdeka – but all Malaysian political parties – democratise themselves, subjugate themselves to the grassroots, and decentralise decision-making while ensuring any new bodies are subject to the same legal force that they are. If the parties don’t abide by the rule of law then there is little hope that they will promote it in government.

4 May 2009

By Tunku 'Abidin Muhriz

Reversing our situation will require some enabling reforms, including academic freedom and some competition in school curricula. In the meantime we should take comfort in the growing interest in family history, which is easily the number one resource for alternative accounts of the past, and I’m an avowed fan of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? and the Photos for the Future spots on History International. But it is difficult for Malaysians to challenge official accounts. The textbooks and encyclopaedias say that one my ancestors arrived in Negeri Sembilan in 1773, but recent discoveries show that this is probably rubbish. It pains me that I cannot put this right in the textbooks, and I imagine it offends countless Malaysians who have first-hand accounts from ancestors that the story of our nation has been raped for the sake of academic laziness and political expediency. But if we truly are patriots then we ought to know what really happened, and that is why I keep repeating the mantra that history began way before 31 August 1957.

19 May 2009

If the obduracy of the parties continues to lengthen this debacle, the costs to taxpayers and to democracy will spiral further. Though I maintain that the root cause of all this is the insufficiently democratic method in which candidates are selected – which weakens their loyalty to their constituents – all our noble institutions have been besmirched. I read what my childhood political figure living in Ampang says, and perhaps geographical proximity is no longer the only reason to support him.

Syed Haizam Jamalullail and Tunku 'Abidin Muhriz
13 March 2009

The Conference of Rulers, a unique gathering of monarchs with origins in the Durbar of 1897, convenes for the 216th time this week since its first meeting in this format on 31 August 1948. Throughout its history it has made many important decisions as required by the Constitution, and has acted as a check and balance in the interplay between the branches of government. In addition to their independent roles in their own kingdoms as Heads of State, the Conference enables them to act collectively on matters pertaining to the federation as a whole.

Tunku 'Abidin Muhriz
6 March 2008

I’ve been getting emails from friends who intend to “celebrate” 8 March on Sunday, but I think the appropriate gesture would be merely to reflect upon what’s happened since that date in 2008.

Date: Wednesday 11 March, 2009, from 6.30 to 8.00 pm
Venue: St. Stephen's Club, 34 Queen Anne's Gate, SW1H 9AB
Theme: "Islam and Liberal Democracy: How Muslims Can Combine the Two"
Featuring a presentation by Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi (author of Who Needs an Islamic State?) and comments by Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Director General of the Malaysia Think Tank.