New Mandala

On November 9, Mr. Najib Razak, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, announced at the Multimedia Super Corridor implementation council meeting that Malaysia was aiming for 9 per cent average annual GDP growth rate until 2020. Realising later that the numbers were absurd, the government went into damage control mode. Immediately, the local media edited [...]

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This posting is a follow-up on civil society movements attempting to create a more just Malaysia – especially in reversing racist government policies. The online media had been at the forefront in providing news and views from diverse groups – especially those marginalised by the mainstream media. By providing an avenue for intelligent debate, the [...]

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That Malaysia is a divided nation is now beyond doubt – a product of its history and deliberate policy of the colonial regime and the post-colonial government that has been in power since independence. Despite its rhetoric of a Malaysia for all Malaysians, the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) and its ideology of Malay (or more [...]

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New Mandala’s recent post “Crimes against the state: a long lost manuscript” triggered an important question: to whom do we owe our allegiance as citizens – country, the royalty, political party, our race, religion, or individual politicians? The movie Valkyrie (2008) probably answers it best – we owe our allegiance to our country – nothing [...]

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Over at Asia Sentinel, Pavin Chachavalpongpun provides some tips for royal endurance in Southeast Asia:
[T]hese guides to longevity of the monarchies in Southeast Asia do not automatically offer a rosy picture for their future. New factors emerge periodically to challenge the integrity of their rule. Using illegitimate weapons, such as manipulating the legal system to [...]

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Malaysians of Indian heritage are currently in a unique position. Not since the pre-Independence days in the 1950s has their influence has been courted by so many. Sitting imperviously on the proverbial political fence, the average Malaysian Indian voter is now getting very comfortable with the kingmaker pose.
But there needs to be a reality check [...]

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The Malaysian government is again embroiled in a corruption scandal, this time with an estimated taxpayer cost of RM4.6 billion (A$1.53 billion). Rather than implementing reforms to improve transparency and accountability, in the usual pattern of Malaysian politics the government continues to shift blame and shuffle paper. This scandal comes amidst promises by Prime Minister Najib to [...]

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In case you have not noticed, there seems to be a full scale blow-out by Indonesians against Malaysians — and not between the governments but, instead, between the people.
Of course, the countries have long-standing conflicts related to disputed borders (read here and here). Furthermore, abuses of migrant labour in Malaysia (with Indonesians making up the majority of the foreign [...]

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Web censorship regimes in mainland Southeast Asia are a regular topic of discussion here at New Mandala. Of course, anybody who spends time in Burma gets used to the government’s relatively consistent effort to block potentially subversive online material.  And, jokes aside, since the coup of 2006 Thailand has also beefed up resources to clamp [...]

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Malaysia Day  is celebrated every 16th of September to commemorate the founding of Malaysia – when North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak on the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) together with Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia. It was under intense circumstances that this occurred as Indonesia under the charismatic Sukarno opposed this formation and launched a [...]

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