Is Najib for real? Or is all this talk of reform just a pre-election ploy?
Here’s something I wrote for Asia Times, together with another correspondent Simon Roughneen.
The Malaysian government must immediately clarify a statement on the website of the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Office alleging that Bangladesh citizens have been given voting rights in Malaysia.
Half a dozen years ago, to mark Singapore’s 40th Independence Day in 2005, a Singapore website invited me to write an imaginary news-report about Malaysia exactly 20 years into the future i.e. 9 August 2025.
Another indicator that elections are around the corner. The PM apparently has “seen the light” and has morphed into a “democrat” – just two months after his administration used heavy-handed tactics to crack down on the Bersih 2.0 rally.
A couple of fascinating images of Chulia Street, showing early modes of public transport. A trolleybus turning out of Chulia Street onto Penang Road passing by Leith St Police Station, circa 1926 - Postcard photograph provided by Ric Francis, from his book Penang Trams, Trolleybuses and Railways
Stop Lynas campaigners have staged a creative protest outside the Perth office of the firm responsible for the construction of a rare earth refinery in Gebeng, Kuantan.No smooth road to Gebeng: Protesters performed a skit in Perth depicting a van 'decorated' to represent Lynas Corp being blocked by a wall of protesters lying on the road (Click twice on the photo to expand to full-screen view)
The granting of extra density of 1500 homes “over and above the maximum permissible density” for S P Setia’s projects across Penang Island sets an extremely worrying precedent.
