"In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." -- Martin Luther King.

The continuing silence of Aung San Sui Kyi on the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma continues to confound and dismay all those who welcomed her return...

Malaysians cast their ballots in the most important election in the nation's history on Sunday. On Election Day, as had been predicted by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, reports of electoral fraud were widespread. Although the Prime Minister Najib Razak had just a few days earlier given his categorical assurance that...

The surviving Boston bomber has now confirmed to the FBI that he was influenced by Internet sermons of Anwar Awlaki, the American-born preacher who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. The same Anwar al Awlaki, who helped to motivate, directly or indirectly, the U.S....

A terrible injustice continues in Myanmar, a land that held such bright promise of democracy when Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize and the grip of the generals seemed to have eased, bringing hope to its beleaguered people.

Tragically however, the end of military oppression has seen...

As Labour left office in 2010, growth was over 2%, unemployment was falling, the deficit was down and bond rates were at a record low. Osborne's policies (and his dire rhetoric about the "danger" that the UK could become a North Sea Greece) stopped and reversed all that.

Each successive...

Malaysia has in reality been a one party state for over 55 years with the ruling UMNO party winning a string of elections without much opposition. However, with the stellar rise of Anwar Ibrahim, the ruling party is facing its most tightly contested election in its history. In the final...

The sentencing of British Muslim convert, Richard Dart, known as Salahuddin, at the Old Bailey for engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism is a chilling reminder of the extremist threat amongst us. Dart pleaded guilty to plotting to target Royal Wootton Bassett, the Wilshire town where mourners...

With an election in the near future, scheduled for May 5th, Malaysia's economy is under scrutiny. Is it really as good as the present government says it is in its campaign propaganda? The usual indicators look good -- growth is 5 percent this year, inflation is low at around 2.5...

The master of tone has misjudged the tone

Retired Presidents and Prime Ministers have traditionally stepped into the role of elder statesmen, making benign speeches, opening libraries and foundations and generally avoiding direct criticism of their successors. Not so Tony Blair, who has recently attacked Labour leader Ed Miliband for...

Secretary of State John Kerry began his first official world trip on February 24, 2013. A notable stop will be in Saudi Arabia, and one wonders what sort of lavish gifts he will receive along with the red carpet and the military band. Beyond the diplomatic niceties however, Kerry

Last week, a civil suit was filed at the High Court of Malaysia by a number of very disgruntled investors. They are alleging that Doxport Technologies Sdn Bhd solicited their investments based on false invoices and fraudulent documents and have misappropriated funds of about $4 million.

When their...

It is an accepted cliché that power corrupts and is usually in reference to a country's leaders and their ability to amass private fortunes at the expense of their electorate. But the real tragedy is how corruption corrodes civil society. It creates cynicism, anger or voter apathy, with people losing...

Just after the U.S. election and just before the Israeli election, Israel has decided to escalate attacks on Gaza.

Relentless air strikes have killed 46 Palestinians, 15 of them civilians and injured more than 400 civilians, in retaliation for three civilian deaths so far in Israel. "Surgical" Israeli...

There have been a lot of loose definitions of "moderate" Islam in the media recently and in the wake of violent protests throughout the Muslim world, the word is starting to mean simply -- non-violent. The deaths in Libya and many other Muslim countries have been a disturbing counterpoint to...

President Obama's recent address to the UN (September 25, 2012) referred to change in the Middle East and North Africa saying that "the path to democracy does not end with the casting of a ballot".

The President went on to deplore the convulsion of violence in the last two...

The Nobel Peace prize is generally awarded in recognition of achievements; or as inspiration to help mobilize international pressure to support human rights activists in countries where reform is urgently needed. President Obama's Peace prize in 2009 was for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" and...

The announcement that Mitt Romney has chosen Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate created a media storm in the United States, one that will rumble on from now until Election Day in November.

The battle lines are now drawn with the Republican ticket unequivocally to the far...

The recent allegations against PTI chairman, Imran Khan, suggesting that he misused Shaukat Khanum Hospital funds in a failed real estate deal is a smokescreen typically raised by opposition political parties. As Imran Khan's popularity grows with the restless Pakistani electorate, accusations against him will only increase; it is deplorable...

Here's a familiar story -- a minority religious group is persecuted and its members killed for their beliefs, with early records of massacres dating from 1050 AD. Religious intolerance against dietary laws and discrimination, sometimes violent, continued over the centuries until by 1930, riots were common, with great loss of...

Social exclusion is a concept which refers to a breakdown of society's systems that should guarantee the social integration of the individual or household. These include civic integration through the democratic process and legal systems, economic integration within the labour market and interpersonal integration through the family and community. It...