| Liew Chin Tong is the DAP MP for Bukit Bendera. |
Twenty-five years later, camaraderie in adversity
October 27, 2012OCT 27 — The collective adversity suffered by the DAP, PAS and civil society leaders in 1987 ironically built the steely resolve for change and the deep camaraderie to see it through.This day 25 years ago, October 27, 1987, was one of the darkest days in Malaysian history when 106 politicians and social activists were arrested under the Internal Security … Read More
The black swan
October 18, 2011OCT 18 — Nassim Taleb’s bestseller “The Black Swan” talks about a world shaped by highly improbable events. He argues that most of what that we take for granted after the event was considered impossible before the event.We know swans are white and that acquired common sense often stops us from realising that there are black swans too. We are not given to … Read More
Middle Malaysia
September 28, 2011SEPT 28 — Middle Malaysia is elusive but it is clear that whichever coalition that is able to win across the traditional fault lines of race, religion and regions takes Federal power.Barisan Nasional is now the world’s oldest elected government still in office. Its predecessor, the Alliance party, first won the Federal election for self-government in … Read More
Najib’s Pak Lah moment
September 22, 2011SEPT 22 — Like his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the ultimate challenge facing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is not an external one. It is internal. In fact, it is an issue of personality. He simply lacks conviction.A hundred foreign public relations firms doing a function similar to what the bright young advisers of Putrajaya’s fourth … Read More
Towards left of centre
July 24, 2011JULY 24 — The ultimate and only game plan of Barisan Nasional (BN) is to destroy the alternative, Pakatan Rakyat. Without a viable alternative, BN will be perpetually in power. But the moment there is a credible alternative, no one can rule out the possibility of a change of government.BN is attempting three very different acts at the same time: to put … Read More
The police’s long farewell to the Cold War
September 05, 2010SEPT 5 — The Cold War ended in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was not surprising then when the long undeclared war between the Malaysian government and the Communist Party of Malaya also ended with the Hatyai Peace Accord in the same year. However, 21 years later, the Royal Malaysian Police still operates as if the nation is still at war.The … Read More
The RM12b department
July 17, 2010JULY 17 — The Prime Minister’s Department’s allocation for 2010 is a whopping RM12 billion, not RM4 billion as some people may have perceived it to be. That’s a lot of money for one single department.In a parliamentary reply by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to Taiping MP, Nga Kor Ming, it was revealed that RM3.9 billion … Read More
Hilang arah kerana berpandukan peta lama
March 24, 201024 MAC — Kalau diberi perluang menyimpulkan masalah yang negara kita hadapi sekarang ini, jawapan saya dalam satu ayat yang ringkas adalah kita telah “hilang arah tuju kerana masih berpandukan peta lama”.Sudah terlalu lama Malaysia menantikan transformasi secara menyeluruh dan reformasi yang tulen. Sayangnya, kita hanya mendengar slogan demi slogan. … Read More
Our development over-planned, under-implemented
March 13, 2010MARCH 13 — Someone from Mars studying the structure of the Malaysian government could be forgiven for concluding that we are a planned economy a la North Korea.But luckily, although we plan as much as the country of the Kims, we do not act according.We definitely over-plan, judging from the multiple planning and coordinating agencies we have.Thanks to Tun … Read More
Missed opportunity
March 06, 2010MARCH 6 — A de facto two-party system emerged from the polling boxes on March 8 two years ago. The one-party state, however, refused to make way. Thus, Malaysia missed the opportunity to evolve into a real, normal democracy.Malaysians defied threats and overcame fear to vote for the opposition in Election 2008. About 51 per cent of voters in Peninsula … Read More