Between UMNO and a Hard Place

Between UMNO and a Hard Place PDF Author: Kee Beng Ooi
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian
ISBN: 9814311286
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Enough time has passed, and enough key events have taken place for the contours of the administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be apparent. While it has flirted openly with reforms, and has used phrases otherwise used by the opposition, its sincerity - and its capability - is still in doubt. More than that, it is not as yet clear how convinced the government actually is about of the need for institutional reforms, especially when the institutions in need of reform include the police, the anti-corruption agency, the judiciary and the dominant party, UMNO. With a new coalition opposing him in parliament, Najib comes to power wedged between his own coalition's aged traditions and the restive spirit of the times. Whether he can squeeze his way into a comfortable spot and stay in power is the question the coming years will answer.

Between UMNO and a Hard Place

Between UMNO and a Hard Place PDF Author: Kee Beng Ooi
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian
ISBN: 9814311286
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Enough time has passed, and enough key events have taken place for the contours of the administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be apparent. While it has flirted openly with reforms, and has used phrases otherwise used by the opposition, its sincerity - and its capability - is still in doubt. More than that, it is not as yet clear how convinced the government actually is about of the need for institutional reforms, especially when the institutions in need of reform include the police, the anti-corruption agency, the judiciary and the dominant party, UMNO. With a new coalition opposing him in parliament, Najib comes to power wedged between his own coalition's aged traditions and the restive spirit of the times. Whether he can squeeze his way into a comfortable spot and stay in power is the question the coming years will answer.

Catharsis

Catharsis PDF Author: Ooi Kee Beng
Publisher: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
ISBN: 9814818917
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Malaysia pulled itself back from the brink on 9 May 2018. That day the majority of its voting population decided to topple the Barisan Nasional government that had been in power for over 60 years and that had come to be seen as corrupt beyond redemption, and incompetent to boot. Lined up against the unpopular administration of Najib Razak was a coalition led by former strongman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who at the age of 92 had decided to return to Malaysian politics to stop the rot which many believed had begun during his earlier period in power, in 1981-2003. As the oldest prime minister in world history, he is now setting about creating structure that he believes will lead to a Malaysia that will achieve the Vision 2020 that he first propounded in 1991. This vision dovetails with the ideals of the highly influential Reformasi Movement which was ignited by the sacking of his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, in 1998. This compilation of insightful analyses is Ooi Kee Beng’s seventh, and discusses key events from the last five years leading up to 9 May 2018 and beyond. These seven books together cover the strange period we may come to know as the Inter-Mahathir Era, and the present volume discusses some of the challenges facing the new government, and the Malaysian population in general, now that the Barisan Nasional has imploded.

In Lieu of Ideology

In Lieu of Ideology PDF Author: Kee Beng Ooi
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian
ISBN: 9814311316
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
Born in Malacca in 1918, Dr Goh Keng Swee reached maturity at a time when European colonialism was breathing its last. By the time this keen-eyed Malayan Became self-governing Singapore's first Minister of Finance in 1959, he had made a name for himself s the colony's foremost social scientist, having carried out groundbreaking surveys on urban poverty and housing. He immediately initiated pioneering projects that laid the ground for the island's economic success. When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, Dr Goh took charge of building an army from scratch.

Serving a New Nation

Serving a New Nation PDF Author: Ooi Kee Beng
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
ISBN: 9814345423
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
The story of Dr Baey Lian Peck should be well known, but it is not. Not even among Singaporeans, and especially not among the young. This tells us a lot about a Singapore caught in pathological haste and prone towards ignoring values that do not add to the financial bottom line. The innovativeness of Dr Baey did not only make him a very wealthy man before he was forty, it also made him an indispensable actor in the implementation of urgently constructed national policies. Political leaders such as Dr Toh Chin Chye, Lim Kim San, Chua Sian Chin and Dr Goh Keng Swee picked him to solve pressing problems such as skyrocketing inflation in the early 1970s, the crisis in prisoner ward in the late 1970s, and the drug addiction epidemic in that same latter period. His one condition for taking on public positions was that he should not be paid. It was exactly this independent trait that made him so highly effective.

LIM KIT SIANG: Defying the Odds

LIM KIT SIANG: Defying the Odds PDF Author: Ooi Kee Beng
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd
ISBN: 981467737X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Lim Kit Siang has been fighting on the forefront of Malaysian politics since the late 1960s. Uncompromising in his mission to pull the country away from systemic race-based politics and all the ills that stem from the sustainment of these over five decades, he was jailed twice without trial. His persistence saw him and his followers well placed to participate in the surprising resurgence of political opposition over the last 15 years. Since 2008, his Democratic Action Party has grown greatly in strength, and together with its allies, has been able to seriously challenge the ruling coalition. This book captures the spirit of Lim’s life, and describes the grim yet gratifying journey that his refusal to compromise on his political convictions forced him to take. It is the tale of a man who felt he had no choice, and consequently, whose impact on his country’s history is great. In that sense, his story is also a narrative about a country that has yet to fulfil the great promise that it holds

European Studies in Asia

European Studies in Asia PDF Author: Georg Wiessala
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136171606
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
As countries across Asia continue to rise and become more assertive global powers, the role that Higher Education has played, and continues to play, in this process is an issue of growing pertinence. Furthermore, understanding the relationship between Europe and Asia fostered by historical and contemporary knowledge transfer, including Higher Education, is crucial to analysing and encouraging the progress of both regional integration and inter-regional cooperation. With a specific focus on international Higher Education, European Studies in Asia investigates knowledge transfer and channels of learning between Europe and Asia from historical, contemporary and teaching perspectives. The book examines a selection of significant historical precedents of intellectual dialogue between the two regions and, in turn, explores contemporary cross-regional discourses both inside and outside of the official frameworks of the European Union (EU) and the Asia--Europe Meetings (ASEM). Drawing on extensive case studies based on many of his own teaching experiences, Georg Wiessala addresses key questions, such as the nature and construction of the European Studies in Asia curriculum; aspects of ‘values’, co-constructed learning and adult pedagogy in the discipline of European Studies in Asia; the politics of Asian host cultures, the ‘internationalization’ of Asian Higher Education and the experiences and expectations of tertiary sector students of this subject in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In doing so, the author articulates a range of outcomes for the further development of Higher Education cooperation agendas between Asia and Europe, in the discipline of European Studies, and in related fields such as International Relations. This case study-led book makes an original and novel contribution to our understanding of European Studies in Asia. As such, it will be of great interest to students and scholars of Asian Education, Comparative Education, European Studies and International Relations.

Gender Politics and the Pursuit of Competitiveness in Malaysia

Gender Politics and the Pursuit of Competitiveness in Malaysia PDF Author: Juanita Elias
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429602871
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
This book is concerned with how the pursuit of national economic competitiveness by states has come to be intertwined with a globalised gender agenda—one in which women and the household economy are seen as ‘untapped’ resources. In many East and Southeast Asian economies, competitiveness and the dangers of the middle-income trap dominate economic policy agendas: states’ commitments to gender equality goals are frequently framed around ‘business case’ logics in which women’s empowerment and women’s increased engagement in the productive economy is linked to the national economic project of building and enhancing competitiveness. This book looks to the case of Malaysia in order to assess how the increasingly dominant view that gender equality is ‘smart economics’ plays out in practice. Drawing upon extensive case study research and interview data, the book hones in on the complex gender politics that are at work within government initiatives that seek to enhance competitiveness via increasing women’s labour force participation, efforts to strengthen marriage and family life, and attempts to boost women’s entrepreneurialism and status within the corporate world. Providing an account of the gender politics at work within ongoing processes of state transformation in Asia, this book will appeal to researchers and students in gender studies, Southeast Asian studies, International Political Economy and public policy.

Tragic Orphans

Tragic Orphans PDF Author: Carl Vadivella Belle
Publisher: Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.
ISBN: 9814620955
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
In 1938, noting that the bulk of the Indian population formed a "e;landless proletariat"e; and despairing of the ability of the factionalized Indian community to unite in pursuit of common objectives, activist K.A. Neelakanda Ayer forecast that the fate of Indians in Malaya would be to become "e;Tragic orphans"e; of whom India has forgotten and Malaya looks down upon with contempt"e;. Ayer's words continue to resonate; as a minority group in a nation dominated politically by colonially derived narratives of "e;race"e; and ethnicity and riven by the imperatives of religion, the general trajectory of the economically and politically impotent Indian community has been one of increasing irrelevance. This book explores the history of the modern Indian presence in Malaysia, and traces the vital role played by the Indian community in the construction of contemporary Malaysia. In this comprehensive new study, Carl Vadivella Belle offers fresh insights on the Indian experience spanning the period from the colonial recruitment of Indian labour to the post-Merdeka political, economic and social marginalization of Indians. While recent Indian challenges to the political status quo - a regime described as that of "e;benign neglect"e; - promoted Indian hopes of reform, change and uplift, the author concludes that the dictates of political discourse permeated by the ideologies of communalism offer limited prospects for meaningful change.

Eurasian Core and Its Edges

Eurasian Core and Its Edges PDF Author: Ooi Kee Beng
Publisher: Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.
ISBN: 9814620971
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
With China's transformation into a republic after two millennia as an empire as the starting point, Ooi Kee Beng prompts renowned historian Wang Gungwu through a series of interviews to discuss China, Europe, Southeast Asia and India. What emerges is an exciting and original World History that is neither Eurocentric nor Sinocentric. If anything, it is an appreciation of the dominant role that Central Asia played in the history of most of mankind over the last several thousand years.The irrepressible power of the Eurasian core over the centuries explains much of the development of civilizations founded at the fringes - at its edges to the west, the east and the south. Most significantly, what is recognized as The Global Age today, is seen as the latest result of these conflicts between core and edge leading at the Atlantic fringe to human mastery of the sea - in military and mercantile terms. In effect, human history, which had for centuries been configured by continental dynamics, has only quite recently established a new dimension to counteract these. In summary, Wang Gungwu argues convincingly that "e;The Global is Maritime"e;.

Ethnicization and Identity Construction in Malaysia

Ethnicization and Identity Construction in Malaysia PDF Author: Frederik Holst
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415699134
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
"Provide[s] an in-depth and multifaceted study of the processes of ethnicization and identity construction in Malaysia, from the colonial period until the present"--Publisher's description.