By Ooi Kee Beng For ISEAS Perspective, Singapore 10 June 2013. Also published as Cover Story of Penang Monthly June 2013 as “After the elections: A new game beings”. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The only change in government following Malaysia’s 13th General Elections was in the state of Kedah. Nevertheless, some fundamentals in the country’s political … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng In The Edge 26 June 2013 The elections are now over. However, it is not to what degree the promises made by politicians in desperate moments are kept which should concern the Malaysian public as much as the political disputes, and whether these will now revert to the race-baiting that we … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial in Penang Monthly, May 2013 Let’s face it. Whatever the election results, certain things will not go away easily. For one thing, Malaysia will be ruled by a coalition for a long time to come yet. That is a direct reflection of the impressive diversity of the country. Now that … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng | 9:49AM May 2, 2013 For Malaysiakini.com These critical days, if one reads – and believes – the Malaysian mainstream media, which seem to have thrown off all pretense of being anything other than BN propaganda machines, one must draw the conclusion that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s presidential style election … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng; in The Edge Kuala Lumpur, 22 April 2013 BN at the brink In early April 2009, top leaders of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) succeeded in dismissing Abdullah Badawi as president of the party and thus, also as prime minister of Malaysia. This was exactly one year after Abdullah had … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial for Penang Monthly, April 2013 It’s April now, the month at the end of which the Malaysian Parliament has to be dissolved to make way for general elections to be held, and within 60 days of that dissolution. Technically, elections must be held by 28 June. But in any case, … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For The Straits Times, 16 April 2013. MOST analysts think the Malaysian general elections will be close. Although Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to retain a slight edge over his nemesis, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the social tide, even if significantly weaker, is still with the latter. How then to … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, For The Straits Times, 13 April 2013 WHEN an army becomes restless, the general must fly into decisive action to signal that the waiting is over, and that battle plans are in place. Wearied by months, if not years, of waiting for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to dissolve Parliament and … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE, Malaysia, 1-7 April 2013 ABOUT 2,500 years ago, the great Greek Heraclitus famously noted in one of philosophy’s greatest truisms that “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. (No doubt, several Chinese … Continue reading
[Malaysia’s Changing Political Landscape] By OOI KEE BENG for The Straits Times, 29 March 2013 While waiting for the 13th general elections to be declared, campaigned and decided, one should step back and consider how much Malaysia’s political culture has actually changed over the last five years. In fact, the palpable mood of apprehension and … Continue reading