Opinion - The Malaysian Insider

The language of liberty

Last week, a few Malaysians and I came to the United States of America for a five-week programme under the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative. We will be academic fellows on religious...

Kerajaan yang kecil adalah kerajaan terbaik selain tidak ada kerajaan

Baru-baru ini, kecoh berita tentang Putrajaya akan memberhentikan seketika biasiswa pendidikan Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) apabila Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kewangan Datuk Seri Najib...

Sacrifice education last during financial crisis

A man has just lost his job and is on the way home to his family. He is feeling sad, confused and nervous. He doesn’t know how to tell his wife that he is now jobless. When he arrives home, he...

Kita mahu aman, kita mahu damai

Baru-baru ini di Jakarta, Indonesia, kita dikejutkan dengan kejadian pengeboman dan pembunuhan yang dikaitkan dengan militan Negara Islam Iraq dan Syria (Isis). Beberapa hari kemudiannya polis...

TPPA is food for cancer

In my first article on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), I said some opponents gave the impression that it is a disease like tuberculosis. After much reading, I’ve concluded that...

The stranger in the train

Last week, I took the train from the north back to Kuala Lumpur. As I was bracing myself for the five-hour journey, I saw a young girl got on the train at Taiping. She smiled warmly at everyone...

Jangan hanya tunjuk kebaikan TPPA, dedahkan keburukannya juga

Minggu depan, sama ada rakyat Malaysia sedar atau tidak ialah minggu yang amat penting kepada generasi masa depan memandangkan 222 ahli Parlimen akan berbahas serta mengundi bagi membuat...

Why Malaysia will be the next Isis target

First, one bomb went off. Then, another one blew. Soon after, they opened fire on civilians. Almost to the script, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) claimed responsibility of the...

How Jakim can help stop Isis

In an article published recently, the head of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) said that they were finding it "too hard" to stop the influence of the Islamic State of Iraq and...

Let’s tackle the wealth gap

At the forum “The World Economy in 2016” held at Sunway University, I raised a question to the two speakers, Professors Woo Wing Thye and Kuan Chung-Ming on whether we will see a widening gap of...

Isis datang berkunjung, bersediakah kita?

Apabila kita sudah hampir 40 tahun menanam pohon epal, takkanlah negara kita menjadi pengeluar buah pisang pula! Pohon dan ladang epal akan menjadikan kita pengeluar buah epal. Itu yang masuk...

Cabaran Pakatan Harapan

Seluruh ahli dan penyokong PKR, DAP dan Amanah perlu mengambil perhatian kenyataan Presiden Parti Amanah Mohamad Sabu, hanya Pakatan Harapan yang akan berdepan dengan Umno/BN dalam pilihan raya...

Isu SJKT dan masalah ‘kamar gema’

Saya tidak menyangka makalah "Persoalan kempen SJKT Pilihan Kita" yang disiarkan The Malaysian Insider pada 12 Januari 2016 bakal menjadi viral sehingga pelbagai pihak melabel saya “pengkhianat”...

The case for a single stream in education

Last week, a fellow TMI columnist was bombarded with hate mail and had police reports lodged against him for an article he wrote pertaining to Tamil schools. In that article, the writer...

We need leadership to overcome cost of living crisis

2015 was, by all accounts, an eventful year. The one thing that stood out – besides the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) controversy and the sackings of the deputy prime minister and...

Mindset change on mental illness

One of my resolutions for the New Year is undoubtedly to read more books. And my problem with that has always been with ones written by professionals. They often become too technical and boring...

BN can always count on votebank

According to Wikipedia, a votebank is a loyal bloc of voters from a single community, who consistently back a certain candidate or political formation in elections. Such behaviour is often the...

Denial of hungry students reveals our ignorance

The issue of students going hungry was one of the most talked topics last week. It all originated from a survey conducted by the Muslim Volunteer Malaysia Association where the findings shown...

If we sign the TPPA, will we give up our sovereignty?

In this, my third article about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), I'll summarise what I've learned about the answer to the question: "will we give up our sovereignty if we sign the...

Di sebalik bom Jakarta, kesakitan Melayu-Islam

Tiada apa yang lebih mengejutkan apabila melihat gambar serangan tembak menembak dan bom berhampiran Gedung Sarinah di Jakarta Khamis lalu. Mana tidaknya, Gedung Sarinah dan kawasan berhampiran...