By Hafiz Noor Shams
I had one unconventional history tutorial as an undergraduate long ago. Sitting in a chair in a depressing basement classroom during wintertime, the tutor, instead of engaging on material discussed during lectures, was asking what-if questions. What if, instead of what happened in the history books, things took a different turn. What if Germany had [ ]
The internet was supposed to be a wonderfully liberating medium. A force for good that equalized power by circumventing gatekeepers of all kinds: information wanted to be free. Almost all internet-based companies was a social crusader out to right some wrong when it all started back in the day. Google’s motto was ‘Don’t be evil’. [ ]
It is natural to make a list of countries one has visited before. Sometimes, that list comes in the form of emoji of flags. Sometimes, it comes in the form of map with the countries visited highlighted. But is the list truly accurate? Have you really been to Russia if all you have visited was [ ]
Yesterday, the World Bank updated its database to include the new 2025 datapoints. The updates also redefined the institution s income classifications. The data shows what is expected: Malaysia has indeed made further progress towards attaining high income status. In fact, Malaysia is now the closest it has been to being reclassified upward. In 2025, Malaysia’s [ ]
Malaysia has dreamed of joining a class of rich industrialized economies since the 1990s. Initially, it was an aspirational goal with nebulous metrics in the form of Wawasan 2020 but by the late 2000s and early 2010s, the World Bank’s definition of high-income economy was adopted as something concrete. During the 2010-2014 period, it felt [ ]
I am a proponent of an early general election for Malaysia. A distracted ruling class with a damaged reputation is working in a lame duck period There are several reasons why I am so. The factor that I would like to highlight today is that we are entering a lame duck period as those in [ ]
When the government in Putrajaya highlighted its policy of warmer air-conditioned office temperature as part of the drive to save energy, Malaysiakini exaggeratedly called it an austerity drive.[1] It is not at all but several weeks later, the government is carrying out a larger spending adjustment exercise by cutting what the Finance Ministry calls non-critical [ ]
The song Begawan Solo used to play regularly on Malaysian television. It is an Indonesian serenade in the form of keroncong describing the longest river in Java. Solo is one of the great rivers of Southeast Asia and when I think of great Southeast Asian rivers, the Salween, the Irrawaddy and the Chao Phraya would [ ]
The Malaysian government has stirred after a short period of complacency. While the charge of complacency is warranted (and the measures appear milder than it should have been in light of the severity of the problem we face), a slower-than-promptly approach does have its benefits. One of the benefits is the avoidance of knee-jerk reactions [ ]
I am worried at the way the Malaysian government is handling the supply crisis emanating from the latest war in the Middle East. Complacency While neighboring economies have quickly engaged in some kind of mitigating measures, Malaysia appears to be carrying on with business as usual. The latest business-as-usual approach the government has taken is [ ]