I am very humbled to know that the book I recently co-authored is reviewed in the Journal of Public Administration Review, a hugely respected journal in the field of public administration. The author makes known that ” this is a must-read book which opens a window for seeing the efforts of bureaucratic change in Malaysia”…
China recently released a revised map staking its claims to the South China Sea. It is no longer a “9-dash line” but a map showing “10-dash line” that appears to be an expansion of the area it claims as its territory. China’s latest overtures is disconcerting. To critics this is yet another demonstration of China’s…
Thailand’s election on 14 May produced results few predicted. While Thai politics before the military led government revolved around the battle between the royalist (yellow shirts) and the reformist (red-shirts) led by supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party, the polls saw a new force in Thai politics, the Move Forward party. Led by young…
This is my latest book, currently in press. The book will be out perhaps end of this year or early 2024. This book comes up with the Contested Leviathan Framework to describe the essence of Malaysia’s political economy. The framework is developed from tracing Malaysia’s political economy over approximately 157 years (1800-1957) and tested against…
This is my latest article on political change; why change can be so difficult. As much as we want change and expect change agents who champion the promise of political change to deliver on their reform promises, we are usually left disappointed. This article explains that actors are not able to make the change because…
The Malaysian Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri, has just announced the dissolution of the country’s parliament, paving the way for the country’s 15th General Election. The move was much anticipated following weeks of speculation. In his address to the nation, the Prime Minister mentioned that the “people’s mandate is a powerful antidote for the country to…
Malayan Chinese muted response to the Malayan Union proposal in 1946 which promised common citizenship rights and equal opportunity to non-Malays have not been sufficiently explained by existing literature. This article suggests that such muted response is due to the presence of Chinese transnationalism that diluted and diverted the community’s attention from seeking a Malayan…
How does institutional quality dictate a bureaucracy’s ability to change? Should we see change as transformational? Or should we see change as incremental, one that takes place in small steps over time? Are institutional legacies great impediments to change? This is a newly released book that touches on various issues on Malaysia’s public policy and…
The recent tiff between France and Australia over the latter’s buying of nuclear powered submarines has created diplomatic tension. Australia’s about turn – choosing of the US nuclear powered submarines against the French-made submarines – has soured relations between France, UK and the US with the French accusing its NATO partners of “stabbing its back.”…
The bombings of four key US installations on September 11, 2001, by four commercial planes, are still etched in most minds. Twenty years ago, the world watched the event unfold, real time, with awe and shock as the two towers of World Trade Centre collapsed minutes after the second plane struck the South Tower sending…
