Current Affairs

The hudud controversy has now returned in the media after Kelantan announced it was setting up a special committee to look into the implementation of hudud law in the state.

Malik Imtiaz Sawah, a human rights lawyer, activist and current president of the National Human Rights Society (HAKAM) explains what Hudud law is, how it will affect all Malaysians and why this issue keeps creeping into the public sphere.

- Hudud is part of the Shariah: Hudud law refers to those specific crimes and their related punishment which have been categorically mentioned in the Quran. The crimes which cannot be charged under Hudud fall under the purview of ta’zir wherein the punishment and mode of proof is open to discussion and debate.

- From a legal standpoint, there is no real controversy over this, as matters of crime should be left to Parliament and should be made to apply across the board to Muslims and non-Muslims. To have a double system is discriminatory. There is also the possibility that a Muslim suspect could be exposed to double prosecution and punishment.

- Malik believes the issue tends to creep back into the public sphere whenever an election swings by. He says "Conventional thinking is that in order to appeal to Malay votes, you have to appeal to religion. And in order to appeal to religion, you have to take a very stern position on complience with religion."

- The politicizing of religion and race is very worrying.

- He discusses if Pakatan Rakyat is in danger of breaking up over this issue.

- Malik also brings up the arguments of modern Islamic scholars who believe Islam to flourish, it needs a secular (neutral) space. 

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Karim Raslan, chair of the World Economic Forum's Regional Agenda Council on Southeast Asia, discusses the socio-political relations between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Karim talks about the relationship between between the two countries and the perception each has of the other. He also discusses Malaysia's competitiveness compared with Indonesia's, in terms of FDI, and why for MNCs, size does matter.

He also touches on Indonesia's efforts to stamp out corruption.

On the issue of Indonesian workers in Malaysia, according to news reports, an average of 50 maid abuse cases are reported annually. However Jakarta has disputed this figure, saying the actual number of abuse per year is 1,000 maids. Karim puts this in perspective, saying the figure is relatively small compared to the size of the Indonesian worker population in Malaysia, He explains that in any social group of that size, crime and abuse are bound to happen. 

Finally, Karim looks at Indonesia's national indentity and compares that against Malaysia's racial indentity. 

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On October 7th 2011, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak proposed a RM232.8 billion budget for 2012, with goodies galore for the poor, civil servants, pensioners, policemen and even taxi drivers. Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Chief Executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) discusses the key points of the Budget, while he explains why one-off handouts are NOT the answer to the country’s problems, yet it is still what Malaysians expect in a pre-election Budget. 

The education sector has emerged as the clear winner as the PM announced the abolishment of payments for primary and secondary education, making these free for the first time in our history. 

However Wan Saiful pointed out that while the measures were welcome, he considered the tax incentives for private school operators is slightly one-sided, as parents who send their children to private schools are paying private school tuition fees as well as taxes that go into the public education system. 

He also equated the handouts to be similar to the "giving a man a fish", as opposed to "teaching a man to fish". However this is what Malaysians have come to expect, in a pre-election budget. 

The Shadow Budget by Pakatan Rakyat mentioned abolishing monopolies and dismantling cartels that hurt consumers, something which the Prime Minister's budget did not address. 

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Yeo Eng Ping, Executive Director for tax at Ernst & Young, expects a fiscally prudent budget and one that focuses on the needs of the poor.  

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From October 3rd to October 5th, Malaysia plays host to the SIFE World Cup, which involves university students from more than 40 countries competing on their best social entrepreneurship projects. 

Kris Balderston, Special Representative of Global Partnerships in the Global Partnership Initiative (GPI) , under the office of the Secratary of State in the US State Department, was in town to catch the SIFE World Cup in action and learn from the event.

In the following interview, Balderston talks about why GPI believes in public-private initiatives are key to establishing social entrepreneurships, as seen in its flagship partnership, 'Investing with Impact'.

He also delves into the challenges faced by GPI in making these public-private alliances happen, the support systems American social entrepreneurs enjoy in the US, what challenges social entrepreneurs encounter. He also gives his view on why SIFE is an example of what the Malaysian government can do to facilitate a more conducive environment for social entrepreneurs.

"One of my favourite quotes by an American president is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who --  in the depths of the terrible Great Depression in the US -- encouraged people and the government to pursue 'bold, persistent experimentation'. He wanted people to try things. If we fail, that's fine, give up and move on to the next. That's something that is very American that I hope we dont lose, and there's this structure thats been put in place to create this bold persistent experimentation," said Balderston.

Having worked with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the past 10 years, he shares his personal take on working with not just with one but two Clintons. Balderston served former President Bill Clinton as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet from 1995 to 2001. Prior to his current role, he was Hillary's first Legislative Director in January 2001 and Deputy Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2009.

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On September 16th, the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak announced his intention to repeal the Internal Security Act 1960 or ISA, as well as three emergency declarations. Critics are saying that the Official Secrets Act or OSA, should be repealed as well.

Masjaliza Hamzah, executive officer at Centre for Independent Journalism, believes it is unlikely that the OSA will be abolished anytime soon, unless there is a change in how people view information - what should be kept secret and what should be open to public scrutiny. There has been a "regime of secrecy" in the ruling power, which further curbs the likelihood of a OSA repeal.

In the following interview, she talks about how the OSA has been detrimental to freedom of the press and the rakyat's right to public information, why the government continues to perpetuate the Act, and whether the Freedom of Information  Act -- which was enacted by the Selangor State government this year -- is a viable alternative to the OSA.

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Dr. Greg Fealy, Professor of Political and Social Change in the College of Asia & the Pacific at Australian National University in Canberra, spoke about Indonesia's soft power and the perception of Malaysia from the other side of the Malaysia-Indonesian divide. He discussed border disputes, the ongoing debate over cultural heritage, the perceived mantle of being a role model for the Middle East as the 'democractic Islamic country' in ASEAN, the treatment of Indonesian workers in Malaysia and recent survey results showing that Indonesians disliked Malaysia more than any other country.

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Rajiv Rishyakaran from the Association For The Improvement Of Mass Transit (TRANSIT) discusses the issues surrounding the My Rapid Transit project, such as the alignment of the MRT line, making public the feasibility reports, as well as the controversy over the need to acquire privately-owned land for the project.

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Recent figures make for grim reading: An average of 41 Malaysians go bankrupt every day, many of them young adults under 40, and mostly due to credit card debt. Overspending has now become a national concern.

Datuk Paul Selvaraj, CEO of the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (FOMCA) discusses some of the measures taken to address this growing problem. 

He talks about the how there is a need to coordinate the current efforts between government agencies, the private sector and NGOs. Without coordination, it will be have to measure results and could also lead to wasted resources, if they are targeting the same group. 

Financial literacy is still very low, even among working adults. Datuk Paul suggests making financial education a formal subject at the school level; teaching children from a very young age basic financial knowlegde -- like what it means to save and borrow money, what banks do, interest rates, etc. 

As people are living longer, retirement planning is crucial. Depending on EPF is not enough, espcially when you factor in inflation and the rising cost of living. 

Financial education must go hand-in-hand with bank and finance policies. Regulators can help formualte preemptive policies that can help curb the problem of runaway spending; such as simplifying the legal terms in loan documents and revising the cap on credit card limits for a certain level of income. 

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It was recently reported that more than 1,000 out of 11,000 NS attendees from last year’s batch were found to be illiterate, and will be taking remedial classes. This is consistent with Pemandu figures, which stated that 15% of the population last year was illiterate, with the goal to achieve 100% literacy by 2012.

Last year, the Literacy and Numeracy (LINUS) programme was launched across primary schools nationwide to identify children in Year 1 that lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. 

To date, based on the two screenings done in March and June, Primary 2 students have already exceeded their 95% target for literacy and numeracy. Primary 1 students have also shown some strong results, achieving a literacy rate of 83% and a numeracy rate of 90%.

Tengku Azian Tengku Shahriman, director of Pemandu's Education NKRA, discusses what steps LINUS is taking to address the weaker students - those with learning disabilities, or those who come from vernacular schools, Orang Asli schools and rural schools, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak. She also talks about how the education system has not catered for children with learning disabilities, why there is a lack of special education teachers, as well as the efforts to improve teachers' command of the language.

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