PROPERTYMalaysiakini :: MGG PILLAI
- All is not well in united Umno
- Abdullah Ahamd Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak need each other as Umno leaders. But MGG PILLAI says there is inner anger, compounded by an inept and unwise move to prevent contest in the upcoming party polls.
- A royal screw-up
- The Malaysian Armed Forces fail their supreme commander-in-chief, who is none other than the King himself, on his official birthday. MGG PILLAI tells why.
- All are not equal before ISA
- The case of BSA Tahir, accused of being involved in a nuclear syndicate, reveals that while all are equal before the Internal Security Act, some are more equal than others. MGG PILLAI tells why.
- 'The object of torture is torture'
- It's that simple, torture means torture, insists MGG Pillai who reveals that he has not met a single ISA detainee who was not tortured in detention.
- The will of the people
- It is a rare country where free elections and democracy is believed and the results accepted and honoured. MGG PILLAI says this becomes more difficult in the age of globalisation, which accepts as an article of faith, that the world must be made in the image of the Hollywood village.
- The tide has turned in Iraq
- There comes a time, says MGG PILLAI, in every colonial and military occupation, when a simple act of defiance puts it on notice. It is downhill after that.
- NS - cash cow for the connected
- Malaysia's national service scheme is intended to reduce racial polarisation and build character among youth. MGG PILLAI says it is probably achieving the exact opposite of the intended effect.
- Flawed polls put Pak Lah on uneasy throne
- EC chief Abdul Rahman Rashid's call for a royal commission to probe flaws in the recent elections and the prime minister's rejection of the suggestion could turn out to be a big blunder, says MGG PILLAI.
- Erasing the past
- What is unfolding in the Middle East and in much of Africa now, says MGG PILLAI, is a revised version of the genocidal havoc the Western colonial powers inflicted before World War I.
- Oil, violence and a tussle for influence
- new The roots of the present violence in southern Thailand reach deep into history and economics, writes MGG PILLAI, who says there is a solution.
- Irreversible Malay divide in religion, culture, politics
- While Barisan Nasional is euphoric over its best showing ever in a general election, there may be unintended consequences especially for Umno, writes MGG PILLAI.
- General election 2004: Crossing the Rubicon
- All this election decided is that the Malaysian future is an Islamic one brought in not by discussion and negotiations with the multiracial Malaysia but as a political tit for tat for the Malay ground, says MGG PILLAI.
- What justice for Saddam?
- The spontaneous celebration after Saddam's capture is not in Iraq but in the United States, and that one is Christian and the other Muslim, underlines the widening divide of culture and civilisation in this globalised world.
- EC as an employment agency
- The EC as an Puteri Umno employment agency is a scandal to all but EC chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, says MGG PILLAI. But is everything really above board as claimed?
- Official corruption is as Malaysian as nasi lemak
- Why? Because one is official food, the other the food of the masses. MGG PILLAI says corruption has now got out of hand and nothing works without a liberal dose of corrupt money.
- The rise of private political armies
- Ambitious politicians believe they need a mass following backed by a goon squad to achieve their political aim. The shadowy Federal Special Forces of Malaysia is one, says MGG PILLAI.
- Water talks: Malaysia's brilliant but needless response
- Singapore must ask for the stalled water talks to be resumed, argues MGG PILLAI. But she would not without some guarantees from Malaysia.
- What is Singapore up to?
- The issue over the water agreement is not about the accuracy of data or with details but with the confidentiality of documents, and the secrecy sensitive talks demand.
- Water Talks: Pot calls the kettle black
- Even when Singapore came up with a booklet and broke confidentiality of negotiations on the water issue, it is still unwise for Malaysia to counter with a similar publication.
- The last hurrah?
What a speech it was! MGG PILLAI feels the fine form of Dr Mahathir Mohamad who did not disappoint but let loose his feelings.
- Trapped in a legal storm
- Former chief justice Dzaiddin Abdullah had tried his best to turn the judiciary around while at its helm. He failed. MGG PILLAI explains why.
- The war on terror: A year later
- Thirty minutes of horror and a year's worth of soul-searching have not brought the United States any closer to dealing rationally with terrorism. There are fears that its reactions may spark wider repercussions.
- English as she is not spoke
- Unable to rebut well-reasoned opposition to the English issue, the government is forced to look for red herrings — "Chinese extremists" being a favourite. MGG PILLAI brushes that aside and argues instead that the new lease of life given to English must start amongst policy makers before it is applied to the nation.