Photo: Lisa Marie David - Pool/ Getty Images In November 2022, Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the democratic movement Reformasi, finally became prime minister of Malaysia. At 75, Anwar spent 8 years of a 20-year struggle in prison for “sexual offenses”—accusations he...
Photo: Rohd Rasfan/ Getty Image Malaysia’s state elections, held in six states on August 12, followed an uneventful campaign and led to little change to the status quo. The three northern states of Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu were retained by the opposition...
Photo: Rohd Rasfan/ Getty Image With six state assemblies dissolved in advance of elections to be held within the next couple of months, the ruling and opposition coalitions are in order of battle. The Negeri Sembilan assembly was dissolved on July 1, the Kedah,...
Photo Credit: Facebook/Anwar Ibrahim Malaysia has long been portrayed as a peaceful mosaic of cultures and a fascinating example of Arab, South, and Southeast Asian creolism, as shown in the work of historian Sumit K. Mandal. However, the combination of nearly 90...
Photo: Rohd Rasfan/ Getty Image The historic alliance between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) to form government last November has left many voters in both coalitions confused. With no less than six state elections to be held by July (in Kedah,...
Photo: Annice Lyn/Getty Images After two decades of struggle for democracy, Anwar Ibrahim finally became the 10th prime minister of Malaysia last November. His election comes with very high expectations on human and civil rights reforms. However, after more than 100...
Photo: Rohd Rasfan/ Getty Image Now that the first 100 days of Anwar Ibrahim’s government are over, the democratic path that the iconic leader of the Reformasi movement had promised to set the country on remains extremely sinuous. Stuck between his allies in the...
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim addresses a session of Parliament on March 29, 2023. Credit: Twitter/Anwar Ibrahim Having finally scaled the pinnacle of Malaysian politics, will political compromises undermine Anwar’s dream of a genuinely democratic Malaysia?...
Three years after being booted from office amid a global financial scandal, the disgraced former leader’s brand, and that of his Umno party, is resurrecting Najib’s second coming has parallels to Mahathir’s messianic return. In his case it is based on an appeal to...
The country has a new prime minister in Ismail Sabri, but its cabinet is mostly the same as Muhyiddin’s – signalling a return to conservative Malay politics The former premier’s position heading the National Recovery Council is another sign of his survival instinct....