News from Malaysia
Prime Minister Badawi stated last week that intends to seek re-election as the leader of UMNO, the governing party, in December. Then reports came that one of the smaller parties in the ruling coalition planned to call for a motion of no confidence, mostly due to frustration over rising gasoline prices. However, they failed to submit the motion in advance as required.
There’s an interesting post by Rachel, who is back in Malaysia, after she attended a “a book launch by three academic specialists on Malaysia” who wrote the book, Sharing the Nation: The book tries to understand how the various racial and religious communities that comprise Malaysia can ’share the nation’. In particular, it seeks to address the conceptual foundations of the Malaysian constitution, particularly the exact nature of the so-called ’social contract’ between the major races. Amir Muhammad, in the The Malay Mail, wrote a review of the book, and the underlying tensions that exist in Malaysia
