Penglibatan Malaysia dalam Konflik Bosnia dari tahun 1992-1995

Pembabitan kuasa besar sememangnya menjadi kebiasaan dalam sesuatu konflik kerana mereka mempunyai agenda yang tersendiri. Pembabitan ini lazimnya dikaitkan dengan kepentingan nasional kuasa besar tersebut. Jadi apabila sebuah negara kecil seperti Malaysia melibatkan diri dalam sesuatu isu, sudah tentu ia menimbulkan tandatanya apatah lagi apabila ianya seperti dalam kes Bosnia jauh dari negara ini. Apakah faktor pembabitan Malaysia di Bosnia? Apakah Islam merupakan punca pembabitan tersebut atau ada faktor lain? Apakah bentuk sumbangan yang mampu diberikan oleh Malaysia? Kajian ini cuba membincangkan aspek kepentingan nasional ini dalam pembentukan sebuah dasar luar Malaysia. Di samping itu tumpuan juga akan diberikan kepada usaha yang telah dilakukan oleh Malaysia dalam membantu Bosnia

Malaysia-Timor Leste’s Relations, 2002-2015

As a new state in the international system, Timor Leste requires partners and development models to enable the country to flourish. In this regard, Malaysia with its extensive experience dealing with international issues is seen as the most appropriate model in realizing this desire. Despite the fact that Timor Leste has no strategic economic value to Malaysia, as Timor Leste is seen as a poor and newly independent state, the writer argues that Malaysia has enormous responsibilities in assisting these new independent neighbours. Hence, the main focus of this paper is to evaluate how Malaysia who has a similar experience as a former colonised state and experienced nation-building process can assist the process of forming a newly independent nation thus contributing to the peace and stability in the country as well as and at the regional level. It discusses Malaysia's commitment to the development of the Timor-Leste, and at the same time it seeks to identify current cooperation and other strategic areas of interest for both countries

Isu-isu keselamatan di Sabah dan impak kepada Malaysia

Security used to be the domain of realism. The realists have been emphasising on power and the state as the dominant international actor. However, they have changed this concept during the last few decades. Security threats not only emanate from state actors but also from other non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, illegal migrants or environmental pollution. This article will analyse security issues pertaining to Sabah. Among the issues discussed in this article are the piracy issue, territorial claims, political development in the southern Philippines, illegal immigrants and the issue of loyalty. All the issues mentioned threaten Sabah’s security. This article is based on observation, interviews and data collected throughout Sabah. This article concludes that the new security threats are real and, thus, require the government’s total commitment in tackling the issues

Pengaruh Kepimpinan Dalam Dasar Luar Malaysia

The characteristic of foreign policy are determined by the leader of a country. The role of the leader, especially the chief executive of the state is very important in determining how a country’s foreign policy will be formulated according to its national interests. In this aspect, the character and perception of the leader are very important in influencing and determining the orientation of the policy or foreign policy of the state. This article focuses on the role of the Malaysia’s prime minister from Tunku to Najib in conducting foreign policy. Each of these leaders has demonstrated their enthusiasm and wisdom in conducting Malaysia’s foreign policy. This article concludes that from the Tengku’s pro-Western policy, Tun Razak’s non-align policy, the continuation of the policy under Tun Hussein, Mahathir’s confrontational posture, accommodative policy under Abdullah and Najib’s pragmatic policy, clearly indicate the crucial role of state’s leader in conducting Malaysia’s foreign policy and to pursue its national interests that has successfully projected Malaysia in international arena

The 14Th General Election (GE-14) and the Defeat of Barisan Nasional in Silam

Since BN/UMNOs entry into East Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak were often referred to as BN/UMNOs fixed deposit states following their victory during the 1994, 1998, 2004, 2008 and 2013 general elections. However, GE-14 saw the change in BN’s hold on Sabah when Parti Warisan came to power. In the Parliament Seat of Silam, BN lost 4-0 to Parti Warisan. This article looks into the factors that contributed to this defeat amongst which was the lack of attention on the squatter problems, nepotism, land issues, ESSCOM, rising costs of living and 1MDB. Qualitative methods such as interviews, observation, and secondary data i.e. newspapers, journal articles, books and internet were used. Interviews with contending candidates, political members from both BN and Parti Warisan, as well as the general community in Silam was carried out. The findings observed was the failure of BN to heed lessons from past elections whereby voters in Sabah would rationally vote to change governments if they were not satisfied with the government of the day, as was the case in 1976 (USNO), 1985 (Berjaya) and 1994 (PBS). It was this lack of attention to history which saw BN’s lost over its stronghold in Silam during GE-14

Isu penyeludupan di Pulau Sebatik, Malaysia

Makalah ini membincangkan penyeludupan yang berlaku di Pulau Sebatik, sebuah pulau yang dikongsi bersama oleh Malaysia-Indonesia. Tumpuan diberikan kepada penyeludupan dadah, senjata dan teroris serta pemerdagangan manusia dan pendatang tanpa izin (PTI) yang berlaku di pulau tersebut. Kedudukan Pulau Sebatik yang sangat ideal membolehkan penyeludupan dilakukan oleh pihak sindiket mahupun individu serta ditambah lagi dengan beberapa faktor seperti rasuah, kurangnya kawalan pihak keselamatan Malaysia, jaringan sosial serta kejauhan jarak antara Pulau Sebatik (Indonesia)-Jakarta. Dengan menggunakan kaedah kualitatif, data diperoleh melalui temu bual dan pemerhatian di lapangan serta rujukan buku, tesis, artikel jurnal, akhbar di samping laman web agensi kerajaan. Dapatan kajian mendapati dadah yang di seludup melalui Pulau Sebatik hanya sekitar 10 peratus sahaja, namun kemudiannya disebarkan sehingga ke Sulawesi Selatan. Pulau ini digunakan sebagai laluan bagi aktiviti kumpulan radikal di Indonesia mendapatkan latihan serta menyokong pihak yang tertindas di selatan Filipina di samping menyeludup senjata dari selatan Filipina ke Indonesia; dan sindiket pemerdagangan orang dan PTI mengambil peluang kerana menyedari ramai rakyat dari Indonesia yang mahu masuk ke Sabah untuk bekerja

Barisan Nasional (BN) Hegemony in P188 Silam: analysis from GE11 to GE14

The BN Hegemony of Silam, including Sabah started when UMNO succeeded to spread its wings to Sabah in 1994.The climax of Sabah hegemony happened when it was able to save BN from drowning during the political tsunami that was detected since 2004. However, issues related to the increasing cost of living, unemployment among young people, the problem of kleptocracy among politicians and the explosion of social media have changed the political landscape and witnessed the collapse of BN hegemony in GE14. Thus, this paper reviews the success of BN in maintaining its hegemony in Silam and how this hegemony was put to an end by non-BN parties especially Warisan. To explore this case, election results and press releases beginning GE-11 were analyzed. In addition, field surveys were conducted to confirm and strengthen the findings. The results of the analysis show that the factors maintaining BN's hegemony prior to GE-14 were heavily influenced by the national factor and the strength of BN’s machinery, as well as government agents who were successful in promoting a good impression of BN. However, during GE-14 BN failed to secure victory at P.188 Silam including the three state constituencies in N.49 Tungku, N.50 Lahad Datu and N.51 Kunak.The reason of this failure is due to anti-BN social media that managed to give negative perceptions of the issues faced by the government, resulting in a change of attitude in people, especially young voters in channels 3, 4 and 5

The illegal immigrants in Sabah: Why do they come back?

The numbers of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries of the Philippines and Indonesia is said to have reached an alarming figure. Recent statistics estimates that the number of immigrants in the country is approximately half a million. Such noticeable presence of the immigrants has been a major concern to many. Although, the immigrants may have profoundly contributed to the economic development of Sabah, their contribution is not without its cost. While providing cheap labour to timber, construction, plantation and domestic sectors, they are also seen as a threat to the society as a significant numbers of them are also involved in criminal activities. In order to negate negative effects, the government responded by taking several measures inter alia canning and deportation. Nonetheless, those measures failed to completely hinder them from coming back. Based on interviews and observations carried out in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau, Semporna, Kunak and Lahad Datu, this paper seeks to verify the reasons of their returning. This paper concludes that the immigrants will continue to come back regardless of whatever measures taken by the government for as long as job opportunities are abundantly available in Sabah. In addition, the availability of ‘shelter’ provided by their relatives who are locals is also a crucial factor