Rafizi Ramli: Between idealism and the art of realpolitik My position on Rafizi Ramli remains unambiguous: his success would be a political miracle; his failure, a tragedy. He is neither Malaysias first visionary nor its sole dreamer, but by embracing the electoral path, he bound himself to the systems unsparing rules. Intelligence and ideals alone are insufficientwhat separates enduring reformers from footnotes is the patience and skill to navigate realpolitik. Yet Rafizis chronic lack of ..

When the King must walk: A sad reflection on local council apathy in Malaysia It is a profoundly troubling and almost heartbreaking sight when the King of Malaysia, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, must personally take to the streets to witness the state of his own capital city. Today, the King walked 3.2 kilometers along Jalan Gallagher in Kuala Lumpur, only to find a scene that should never exist in a modern, thriving metropolis: ..

Gradually eradicating the daily misery of the poor Despite Malaysias reputation as a rapidly developing nation, poverty remains a visible and pressing issue. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the absolute poverty rate reached 6.2 percent in 2022, translating to hundreds of thousands of households living below the poverty line. The situation is even more dire for certain communities, and the daily struggles of the poor are exacerbated by rising living costs and systemic ..

I held back about the state of our national health services (Ministry of Health) because so many individuals have articulated opinions about it. But the limited solutions currently offered by the government require that we speak up. In the past 15 to 20 years when we discussed our national health service and people asked my opinion I said our national health services were dying. Many of us have spoken to senior management in the Ministry of Health (MoH) to tell them about the crisis we are ..

A Malay friend recently posed a rather interesting question to me: We Malays are constantly talking about a grand unity. Dont you Chinese need the same? I felt a pang hearing this, two distinct pictures instantly flashing past my mind: firstly, when the Chinese are shouting a grand unity slogan, the Malays invariably see this a threat; and secondly, will MCA and DAP, at odds with each other for decades, possibly put their grudges behind them and work together for the communitys well-being? A ..

Coming back from an extended conference on gross national happiness in Bhutan, which is one of the first carbon negative countries in the world, I became aware that intergenerational justice may be one of the most important moral questions we face today. If global private wealth is now estimated at over $450 trillion, is debt of $250 trillion seriously a problem? Wealth is not only concentrated it is concentrating as the rich get richer. So when GDP is rising and markets are hitting record ..

Reflections on Chinese education as the population declines For several consecutive weeks, Sin Chew Daily featured the issue of Malaysian Chinese population structure. The trend of declining birth rates among the Malaysian Chinese began over 20 years ago, which leads the community to become an aging society. Today, the entire demographic structure of the Malaysian Chinese community has changed. Changes in the population structure do not occur overnight. Even if we are powerless to reverse the ..

I remember when I was a child taking art classes, our teacher would always ask us to draw the national flag during the National Day month. Back then, the children might not have accurately sketched the actual design of the Jalur Gemilang, but with great enthusiasm, we poured our patriotic feelings onto the blank paper, each expressing creativity in our own way. In that moment, the childrens sense of patriotism was quietly awakened. They were bold and full of love for the country. No one would ..

Although the women's rights group, Sisters in Islam (SIS), had been labeled as deviant, many Muslim women would tend to disagree. In their experience, SIS was their only lifeline, a place they turned to for advice, for seeking information, knowledge and refuge, especially when others were reluctant to help them, for one reason or another. Althoughmen and womenare deemed equal in the name of Islam, in reality, that is not the experience of the majority of Malaysian Muslim women. If the laws and ..

Wheres fairness in education system for Chinese students facing marginalization? In Malaysia, education has long been regarded by families of all ethnic groups as a means to change their fate and improve social status. However, an unfair education system is hindering these dreams. With the release of SPM and STPM results and the start of university applications, the issue of inequality in the countrys higher education system faced by non- Bumiputera students has once again come to the fore. Many ..

When war in Iran continues, soft power of China and ASEAN increases When the United States and Israel bombed Irans fortified nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan in June 2025, they ruptured more than uranium enrichment hallsthey shattered the already fragile scaffolding of international law and global trust. Iran responded swiftly, closing the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow maritime artery through which over 20 percent of the worlds seaborne oil flows. The implications were immediate: ..

Endless wars, two Americas, one failing machine: The real stakes of US involvement in IranIsrael The Pentagon may not have declared war, but its machinery has long been moving. What remains uncertain is not involvement, but exposure. And what stands to be exposed is not just a fragile regional balance, but the broken architecture of global power itself. At the heart of this uncertainty lies a simple but devastating truth: the US is no longer a unified geopolitical actor. These two factions not ..

Nuclear wastelands and scientific ruin: Why bombing Irans enrichment sites is a global catastrophe When President Donald Trump greenlit coordinated strikesalmost certainly with Israeli backingon Irans heavily fortified nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan in mid-June 2025, the world was forced into a new phase of geopolitical chaos. But beyond the immediate spectacle of missiles and mushroom clouds, the deeper damage lies elsewherein the realm of science, human safety, and global norms. ..

Irans nationalism is inexhaustible: Sources of the collective concord when attacked Despite decades of internal unrest, generational divides, and growing public frustration with its clerical regime, Iran stands as a nation whose collective nationalism intensifies under foreign assault. This is not simply an allegiance to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or the Islamic Republic. Rather, it is a nationalism born of civilizational pride and a long memory of betrayalone that no foreign-imposed ..

Deterrence unscripted: What the IranIsrael escalation really revealed From the outside, the latest IranIsrael escalation looked like a tightly controlled spectacleone more episode in the long tradition of geopolitical theater. Symbolic strikes. Calibrated optics. Narratives exchanged more than missiles. But something disrupted the performance. Someone, somewhere inside Iran, broke the script. All signs point to the conflict being originally designed as a limited, performative escalation, meant ..

With rapid urbanization, a growing middle class, and increasing energy demands, Malaysia faces both unique challenges and opportunities in transitioning from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to EVs. Governments worldwide recognize the need to mitigate climate change and reduce air pollution, placing EV adoption at the center of policy discussions. EVs are often hailed as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but their true environmental impact depends on the ..

Malaysias remarkable 11-spot jump in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR)from 34th position in 2024 to 23rd in 2025is more than just a statistical victory. It is a powerful testament to the effective implementation of the Madani Governments economic reformsincluding fiscal, industrialandsocial. For context, the WCR assesses the ability of economies to foster an environment that supports business competitiveness, productivity and economic growth, across four main categories: Economic ..

With President Lee Jae Myung now in office, one of his most eye-catching campaign pledgesintroducing a 4.5-day workweekis facing questions over whether it can really work. I cant even describe how much I hope this happens, said Kim Ji-eun, a 39-year-old office worker in Seoul. Right now, I leave work exhausted every Friday evening and have barely enough time to rest, let alone enjoy life or take care of my kids. Just half a day more would mean a real chance at balance. Kims view is widely ..

Old friends, new forces: The Chinese story in Timor-Leste Timor-Leste is often framed as Southeast Asias youngest and most fragile democracy. Yet behind that oft-repeated narrative lies a far ric

Reordering the world: From ruins to renewal through Islam-Confucian ethical dialogue In an age where the international system teeters between chaos and irrelevance, the worlds political and diplomatic ramparts appear visibly worn. The post-Cold War architectureonce anchored in the promise of multilateralism, liberal values, and institutions like the United Nations and Bretton Woods frameworkshas been rendered ineffective against global pandemics, climate change, rising wars, and nuclear ..

After every major crash, an investigation is conducted, with the police, Road Transport Department and other relevant agencies. Remedial actions would have been proposed. Despite the recommendations, the frequency and fatality of accidents continue. So, were these remedial actions actually implemented and rigorously enforced? Malaysians continue to ask, "How many more investigations, tragedies, deaths, emotional trauma, economic and social upheaval, disruption to individuals, families and ..

Wars, economic shocks, planetary heating and aid cuts have worsened food crises in recent years, with almost 300 million people now threatened by starvation. Clearly, inadequate food due to population growth cannot explain persistent hunger. Yet, the number of hungry people has been rising for more than a decade. So, why are so many hungry if there is more than enough food for all? The multi-stakeholder 2025_Global Report on Food Crises_ (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high ..

Trumps antagonism toward France weakens G7 unity at a time of global crisis As global tensions spike over a potential Israel-Iran confrontation, the recent G7 summit in Canada should have been an opportunity for unified diplomacy. Instead, it revealed growing fracturesmost notably through US President Donald Trumps public rebuke of French President Emmanuel Macron. The summit took an awkward turn when Macron hinted that Trumps early departure may be linked to behind-the-scenes efforts to ..

The fierce exchange of attacks between Iran and Israel, following Israels illegal airstrikes on Iran in the early hours of June 13, is pushing the Middle East and the world towards a dangerous precipice. Reportedly, during the early hours of Sunday, both sides launched fresh waves of attacks on key cities, fueling fears of a full-scale, protracted war, with heavy exchanges now entering a third consecutive day. Iranian missiles struck northern Israel late on Saturday and into Sunday, killing at ..

Sarawak Governor saddened by mounting road fatalities There is something about Malaysians which we all know but hardly emphasized or talked about, until tragedy or calamity strikes. Its our humanity, being humane and it shines like a beacon, touching others in positive ways, as it should be. Despite political divisions, racial and religious differences and various societal grievances, Malaysians have consistently demonstrated a strong sense of empathy and solidarity in the face of tragedy. Im ..

Ways to increase government funds apart from SST expansion Rather than expanding the SST tax, the Madani government must reach an agreement with our ASEAN neighbors to collectively and gradually increase the corporate tax on our FDIs (foreign direct investments) as well as the wealth tax on the T20 in our respective countries. Imposing such taxes on the wealthy classes is far more effective than expanding the SST which will certainly worsen the socioeconomic status of the B40 and M40. one way ..

Zionism at the edge: The terminal overreach of a fading project Discussing the collapse of Zionism, as is becoming increasingly self-evident, requires revisiting **how it began**, for **its very foundations were always unstable**, both morally and politically. Though often romanticized, particularly in the West, as a movement of liberation, Zionism was in fact a European political project. It chose Palestine not because it was uninhabited, as logic and justice should have demanded, but because ..

North-South relations under Lee Jae-myung administration Lee Jae-myung was inaugurated as the 21st president of South Korea on June 4. This is the first change in government in three years. A notable feature of this new president is that he has little interest in the North Korean issue, unlike previous progressive presidents. His brief inaugural speech did not propose a North- South summit. This contrasts sharply with Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, who were activists in the democratization ..