Our Prime Minister, as Chairman of the National Finance Council, announced two important measures that are most important for assisting states to have a bigger share of national resources, which in my view, will give real meaning to the concept of shared prosperity. One, all water debts to the Federal government will be written off. In future, state water projects will be financed, not with Federal loans, but with Federal grants. This will certainly relieve states of th

Remember the Thirty Years’ War? From 1618 to 1648, Catholic and Protestant states under the Holy Roman Empire were embroiled in one of the most destructive conflicts in human history. As it evolved, though, the war became less about religion and more about which group would ultimately govern Europe. It changed the geopolitical face of Europe, and ended with the Peace of Westphalia. The treaty allowed the minority religion to be practised freely. It also established important

A recent newspaper opinion piece referred to Japan’s imperial history in defending Malaysia’s decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute. The premise of the argument is that Malaysians should not be so naive as to think that our royals are immune from being “hauled up” by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It cites Japan’s role in World War 2 and the position of Emperor Hirohito. Emperor Hirohito was Japan’s longest-reigning emperor (1926-1989), who ruled during the Show

I refer to the opinion by Datuk Dr Fauziah Mohd Taib, ‘All is not lost despite Rome Statute withdrawal’ (New Straits Times, May 12). The writer supports her defence of Malaysia’s withdrawal from the statute by referring to Japan’s imperial history. However, her historical analysis has some errors. Her premise is that Malaysians should not be so naive into thinking that our royals are immune from being “hauled up” by the International Criminal Court (ICC). She cites Japan’s ro

The coalition of groups bent on destabilising the Pakatan Harapan government is using post-truth politics and disinformation, targeting disgruntled and susceptible Malays. They are taking to the streets trying to hoodwink their own race that the king, religion and anything “Malay” are under threat. This group of Malays participated in mass demonstrations organised by NGOs like Ummah with the support of PAS and Umno members in December 2018, and the May 4 rally recently. Umno

G25 joins other civil society groups in welcoming the appointment of Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador as the new Ketua Polis Negara (IGP). We are encouraged that, as reported in the media, he has agreed to support the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), which has been a long-standing proposal to reform the Royal Malaysian Police into a respectable law enforcement agency. By stepping forward to support this important institutiona