The Bernas story revisited

Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday (READ HERE) that the original intent to privatise Bernas was to ensure the fulfillment of the nation’s growing rice requirement through management of

Only when politicised

I sometimes wonder whether Malaysians are really concerned about corruption, abuse of power, wastage of public funds, and whatnot, or whether they just want to politicise issues to gain votes and win…

Asabiyyah: a scourge according to PAS

The only way to end asabiyyah would be for, say, Indonesia to invade and conquer Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc., and create a new Muslim empire a…

Chinese still the kingmaker

This would mean (if it was 10,722 Malay votes for PAS versus 10,655 Malay votes for Umno) the Malays are still split 50:50 like what Nazri Aziz told me five years ago. And this would also mean that…

The chess game of Malay politics

If I were a Malay voter in Sungai Limau I would vote Barisan Nasional so that Mukhriz would become stronger and hence Najib would always be under threat from Dr Mahathir and his team. Giving the seat…

What the newspapers do not report

In or about 1998, Musa Hassan and Gani Patail were implicated as having fabricated medical evidence in the “Black Eye” incident involving the assault and injury while in police custody of the then…

Old politicians never fade away

Raja Petra Kamarudin“Mahathir’s attacks fuel talk of comeback,” said Leslie Lopez in the Singapore Straits Times on 26 April 2006. Well, I got news for you Leslie. Dr Mahathir never left. He may have…

A crisis of credibility

Raja Petra KamarudinLet there be no misunderstanding about this. Politics is about the attainment of power, plain and simple. If anyone tells you otherwise, then he or she is either a bad politician…

The mark of a true reformist

Raja Petra KamarudinThere are just so many reformists. Almost every country has at least one. Some are still living. Most died a long time ago. Some have been reduced to legends and we no longer know…

There’s no future in the past

Raja Petra KamarudinParti Keadilan Rakyat, or keADILan for short, celebrated its anniversary a few days ago. It was seven years old on 4th April 2006. Conspicuously absent from the birthday…

Power perceived, power wielded

Raja Petra KamarudinI remember reading -- it was many years ago, I think in The Star -- about a foreign dignitary wanting to meet the First Prime Minister and Bapa Merdeka (Father of Independence),…

Georgetown, we have a problem

Raja Petra KamarudinAnwar Ibrahim was released from jail 18 months ago and since then has been based at Georgetown University in Washington DC. In May, Anwar, now a professor, will be coming home for…