Current Affairs

The MCA polls began yesterday with the contest to head the Youth Wing. Today top positions within the Women's wing are up for grabs, while tomorrow a three-way fight for the Presidency ensues. While struggling to maintain its position as the political voice of the Chinese community, the MCA by its own reckoning needs to set its own house in order. The question is what kind of mandate will the new president have to carry the party forward.

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The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) goes to internal party polls this weekend. After their dismal showing at the General Elections this year the party denied itself positions in the Federal Cabinet as well as in state governments controlled by the Barisan Nasional. Since then the party has been struggling to maintain its political relevance for a community it claims to represent. The problems of the MCA are emblematic of the dilemma for the community as a whole. We speak to Neil Khor, co-author of the book, “Non-Sectarian Politics in Malaysia: The case of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia”, on the future of Chinese politics.

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The situation of Shia Muslims in Malaysia is now making it to the international media. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that 2 Shia Muslims are scheduled to go on trial at a religious court in Perak this week. The two are a homeopathic practitioner and a restaurant owner. They were arrested in August and pleaded not guilty to having books on Shia teachings. The duo stand accused of breaking a Fatwa stating that Muslims in Malaysia should only follow Sunni teachings. The deputy president of the Islamic party PAS has also been accused of being a follower of Shia teaching. We ask what’s behind this accusation and the government's anti-Shia policies.

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The recent outcry over the destruction of an ancient temple in the Bujang Valley, and revelations in The Star newspaper of illegal sales of national heritage puts a spotlight on how we as a society view history. And controversy sparks a long-standing polemic about state-sponsored history in Malaysia, what it celebrates as central and what it marginalizes. Much of the on-going polemic feeds into anxieties about the erasure of non-Muslim – including pre-Islamic – histories. But what do these contests of the ownership of history miss?

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Human Rights organization Suaram issued its “Overview Report on Civil and Political Rights” and gave the Federal government a failing grade. The report focused on detention without trial and abuse of power by the police force. This assessment is consistent with the views of other critics that note the government's failure to ratify core human rights conventions as well as to establish a National Human Rights Action proposed as by the National Human Rights Commission.  We talk about the state's failing grade on human rights as well as a list of priorities as suggested by Saifuddin Abdullah, chief executive officer of Global Movement of Moderates, and  Denison Jayasooria,  secretary-general of Association for the Promotion of Human Rights.

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"While it is inevitable that the incident would be perceived by some as tarnishing the image of a safe Singapore, what would really be a blight on our good reputation is the unrestrained, race-based and over-the-top reaction by Singapore,” wrote former senior Singapore police officer, Devadas Krishnadas about the ‘riot in Little India’. We ask Singapore social worker, Jolovan Wham, if the incident that made world headlines is related to the condition of migrant workers and a liberal migration policy.

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Party President Najib Razak gets a mixed reception for his praise of his wife in his closing address, former Malacca Menteri Besar flip-flops on his view on Chinese voters during GE13 and attempts at brokering rapprochement between leaders of rivals Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat are the side-show at the conclusion of the UMNO General Assembly. We explore the issues.

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UMNO General Assembly dissected -- BFM's intrepid newsteam dives into the depths of the ruling party's inner workings after a week of fiery speeches and rambling debates, looking ahead to its plans for GE14.

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UMNO gets aggressive as the party's main general assembly hits full stride. As party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak asserts the party's place at the forefront of Malaysian politics, other top leaders talk about the need to vigorously manage perceptions about the party in order to win over voters at GE14. And Wanita UMNO chief Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil hints at a historic future leap for the role of women in the party.

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Wanita and Puteri wings work to define their roles within UMNO, and to complement each other. As the more established Wanita wing struggles to push to the forefront of the party and the political sphere, Puteri aims to provide a platform and a training ground to groom capable young women for the senior wing. Puteri's new leader receives a vote of confidence from her predecessors, as she pays homage to their previous achievements and sets the agenda for the wing.

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