IS activity in Southeast Asia

The increasing number of recruits from Indonesia and Malaysia to Islamic State reflects the evolving security threat to Southeast Asia. The emerging pattern bears lessons for countries in the region

Taking Shape: New Global Financial Architecture

The declining influence of Western-dominated institutions such as the IMF and World Bank has led to the rise of regional alternatives like the AIIB. They will likely complement each other to provide global 'public goods'

Deconstructing political Islam in Malaysia : UMNO's response to PAS' religio-political dialectic

The politicisation of Islam has become a key feature of the Malaysian political terrain in recent years, and has found dominant expression in the so-called "Islamisation race" between UMNO and PAS. This paper studies the religio-political dialectics and responses that continue to define UMNO-PAS rivalry, focusing primarily on the strategies and flaws of UMNO's attempts to out-Islam PAS. It suggests that UMNO's representation of PAS as conservative fundamentalists belies the fact that the struggle to define the role of Islam in contemporary Malaysian society has created fissures within UMNO itself, resulting in an incoherent strategy that has prevented it from undermining PAS's burgeoning popularity

Continuity and change in Malaysian politics : assessing the buildup to the 1999-2000 general elections

Given the emergency of the reform movement in Malaysia, speculation has been rife that as Malaysia prepares to take to the polls, the increasing popularity of the reform movement will see the opposition parties blocking the National Front from winning a two-thirds parlimentary majority. This paper argues that because of the current nature of Malaysian politics, the signs of economic recovery, the disorganized nature of the opposition coalition and the ability of the incumbent to use the entire state machinary to support its position, such a scenario seems unlikely for this upcoming election. Nevertheless, the prospect of a two-thirds majority victory for the National front cannot hide the fact that Malaysian politics may be undergoing some changes, and these changes might pose challenges for the ruling National Front to contend with