As Malaysia heads into choppy political waters the question is will Prime Minister Najib Razak prepare Malaysia for a peaceful and legitimate transfer of power through free and fair elections or will Malaysia follow the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar experience of bloody popular uprisings?
Review of MisallianceKeith Weller Taylor argues that this new book is thoughtful, lucid, original, analytical, and readable
Read More
Review of Thailand’s Hidden WorkforceInga Gruß reviews a book about the work conditions of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand at this time of immense change.
Read More
Review of Gender, Emotions and Labour MarketsSri Ranjani Mei Hua reviews a book dealing with experiences of women in Southeast Asia.
Read More
Review of Authority of InfluenceScholarly treatments of gender in Myanmar, past or present, remain scarce. Jessica Harriden’s book thus fills a gap in our understanding of an important and controversial topic.
Read More
Review of The King in ExileDonald M. Seekins argues that this book is the story of a dynasty that belongs truly to Burma’s past.
Read More
Review of Buddhist FuryThis book explores the relationship between religion and violence in far southern Thailand, where Buddhist monks are a marginalized local minority.
Read More
Review of Revisiting Rural PlacesRevisiting Rural Places should become an essential reference text for researchers who work on social, cultural, political and economic change in Asia.
Read More
Review of The Institutional ImperativeDe-agrarianisation often isn’t very pretty, but economic disparity may well be the price to be paid for pursuing it as slowly as Thailand has over the past 50 years.
Read More
Review of Imagining Gay ParadiseThe creation of make-shift, idiosyncratic queer paradises provides shelter, community, and belonging for many who have refused to fit into standard narratives of Southeast Asia.
Read More
Review of The Fate of Rural HellThe models of eroticism and faith in the Hell Garden have been left behind by the robust urban bourgeois consumerist culture increasingly prominent across contemporary Thai society.
Read More
Review of Revolution InterruptedQuestioning received notions of revolution, this book offers a passionate and rigorous reconsideration of the period in Thailand between October 1973 and October 1976.
Read More
Review of Land and LoyaltyRead More
Review of The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical MonkRead More
Review of Saying the UnsayableRead More
Review of Economic Disparity and of Economic TransitionRead More
Is it really as clear cut as that? Malaysians have a lot more to loose financially than any of those nations at the time of their bloody uprisings. There would have to be an unprecedented abuse of power for an uprising to occur in Malaysia. People, we feel, will be more content to lose as underachievers for longer, than lose lives. Unfortunately for proponents of change in Malaysia, there have been many precedents for society to, let’s say, built up a tolerance for corruption…
“More corruption news tonight”
“So wat mah? Always corruption”
“True. Bersih protestor probably also quite corrupt probably”
“Ya, why protest if protestor also corrupt or protest for corrupt reason?”
“Ya…”
“Got roti yet loh? Man Utd play Liverpool tonight..”
Maybe you’ll all have to wait for Bersih 3.0 or 4.0. Giving it these 2.0, 3.0 numbers etc, might send the movement the way of the failed Shah Alam iCity…
Quality comment or not?
0 
1
Do not think that things will be as dramatic as an “up rising” Greg. There is a big difference between Phillipines and others you mentioned compared to Malaysia. The only danger is Najib going the emergency route if BN loses the election (for Federal control) I do not believe that BN will lose Federal this time round, maybe the one following, but not this round.
The middle class band is too large in Malaysia and are generally quite comfortable. For the time being, though high, the corruption level is still tolerable to the middle class. Despite all the bitching and moaning, live is still pretty good… and that my friend is the “core” issue. Anyway I personally believe anything is to be gained from an “uprising” – Phillipines is still in the “$@#*!”
Quality comment or not?
0 
1
Thanks Neptunian & the jolly crew of Sibeh Ah Beng for your views.
True that Malaysia’s history of civil society movement is not as violent as the others in the region, and that it has a large middle class population.
But I think this gives a false sense of security.
There are groups of people – supporters of certain political parties – with very strong ideology – which cannot tolerate this nonsense for long.
Quality comment or not?
0 
1
Another of the thousands of UMNO’s injustices: London will again elect their Mayor soon; in NZ and in all true democracies all mayors are elected. Not appointed by incumbent ‘majority’ Party or pushed through the back door, to help their dirty politics in Sarawak, and throughout Malaysia. Appalling! Crooked! Rotten system! All these must change and The Opposition, the NGOs and the people must push to stop this nonsense immediately, starting today!
PM Najib & Home Minister Hishamuddin weren’t even elected. So is the unelected Mayor of KL Fuad. In the KL Fed Territory 11 out of 12 MPs are from Opposition. Yet, the Mayor of KL is appointed by the PM as is the Minister of Fed Territory, Raja Nong Chik, not an elected MP got in through the backdoor ! The 11 elected Opposition MP’s have no say in the administration of KL! A rogue regime! I wonder who gave the order to murder and blow up Altantuya in 2006 with C4 plastic explosives ?
Quality comment or not?
1 
0
Bersih fell into the trap. Now it’s going down hill and Pakatan Rakyat will lose a lot!
Quality comment or not?
0 
1
Very true Nobi,
Ordinary Malaysians who wanted to peacefully express their legitimate rights walked into an BN/UMNO trap.
I’m not too concerned about how Pakatan Rakyat will do in the next general elections.
I am concerned that this is a government without any principles or morals – that would cheat and trap its own citizens, that would maliciously deceive its own citizens, that would beat and humiliate them – just to remain in power.
That for all its talks about reforms, about respecting the rights of all Malaysians, of making Malaysia a world class democracy, UMNO at the end of the day is no better than a petty thief.
I am confident that Malaysians will know what to do. Its just a matter of time.
Quality comment or not?
0 
1
RM33 million an hour! RM800million a day. Malaysia Chronicle: “For the first decade… Malaysia has lost a staggering RM1.08 trillion (US$338 billion = RM800million a day) in illicit outflows which is the fourth highest in the developing world…The Global Financial Integrity (GFI) reported in January that RM930 billion flowed out of Malaysia from 2000 to 2008. An economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore as saying that the Malaysia might have lost as much as US$100 billion since the early 1980s to corruption (RM300 billion = 300,000 million).
Alan Newman, NZ.
Quality comment or not?
1 
0
Can you tolerate another day an incumbent Gov’t BN/UMNO whose gratitude to you for electing them is: Manipulating, gerrymandering, hoodwinking, deceiving, controlling media and freedom, brutality, promoting racism, appointing & feeding cronies, massive purchases & projects with mulit-million kickbacks; plundering and mis-managed losses estimated to surpass US$100billion. US$100 billion is 100,000 million US$. All these for 55 years? No contest! Not another thought or word! Not another hour! Resign en mass or face prosecution! Or get voted out!
Quality comment or not?
1 
0
Azmil Tayeb, a doctoral candidate at the ANU’s Department of Political and Social Change, has this analysis of Bersih 3.0:
Quality comment or not?
0 
1