Compromise politics and the battle for the middle ground

By Farish A. Noor

And so, after what appears to have been a rather long meeting that stretched beyond four hours, the Pakatan Rakyat coalition has come to a compromise, of sorts.

That the result of the compromise may not be to the satisfaction of everyone is to be expected. But nor should anyone expect such a discussion to lead to definite results with one side surrendering all its claims to another. That’s the nature of coalition politics and anyone with any experience or knowledge of coalition politics in Western European countries like France, Germany, Holland, Greece or Italy would know that as well. Furthermore it ought to be noted that in some countries like Italy where compromise politics has been the norm for decades, there has been no negative result as far as the economic performance of the country is concerned: Italy remains a G20 player despite the fact that since World War Two there has hardly been any instances when one party came into power with total control over the Parliament. So why worry?

Obama's Rosh Hashanah message omits Palestine mention

President Barack Obama's videotaped message for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, includes plenty of tough pro-Israel talk, but drops references he's made in prior years to settling Israel's differences with its Palestinian and Arab neighbors.

In his new message, Obama speaks in vague terms about advancing the goal of peace, but suggests this can be done chiefly by steadfast U.S. support for Israel. He makes no mention at all of the Palestinian statehood bid causing a stir at the United Nations or of the push the U.S. and others are making to get the Israelis and Palestinians to re-open peace negotiations and ink a deal by the end of 2012.

Eac: Penampang Leads In Civil And Environmental Activism

Nilakrisna James,
EAC Head

Penampang, Sabah—Head of the Environmental Action Centre’s (EAC) Toilet Cleanliness Campaign 2011 and member of the EAC Management Group and Steering Committee, Nilakrisna James, said that NGOs in the Penampang district have some of the State’s leading civil and environmental activists.

The campaign took place Wednesday in the public toilet adjacent to the tamu ground in Donggongon town with 30 students specially selected from SMK St. Michael, SMK Bahang and SMK Datuk Peter Mojuntin to participate in the toilet cleanliness awareness seminar and the cleaning demo project.

S’pore’s exit nullified Malaysia Agreement

The Malaysia Agreement, signed in 1963, has lost its legitimacy among its entities.

By Joseph Wilfred Lakai

The Malaysia Agreement 1963 is a binding treaty that was signed by several representatives from the five parties, namely United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore.

The main objective of this agreement relates to the formation of Malaysia.

Perjanjian Malaysia 1963 Perlu Disemak Semula

Oleh Kapten Joseph Wilfred Lakai
Perjanjian Malaysia adalah satu perjanjian yang terikat yang telah ditandatangani oleh beberapa perwakilan daripada lima pihak iaitu United kingdom of Great Britain, dan Ireland Utara, Persekutuan Malaya, Borneo Utara (Sabah), Sarawak dan Singapura. Objektif utama perjanjian tersebut adalah berhubung dengan pembentukan Persekutuan Malaysia di antara Malaya, Borneo Utara (Sabah), Sarawak dan Singapura sebagai rakan kongsi yang sama.