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Global Lessons When Military Power Faces Scrutiny

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The decision to place Malaysia’s Army chief on leave pending investigation is far more than a routine administrative manoeuvre. It represents a moment of institutional reckoning that reaches into the foundations of governance, accountability, and civil–military relations. At stake is not merely whether misconduct occurred, but whether the state is prepared to subject even its most powerful and traditionally insulated institutions to the same standards of scrutiny that apply elsewhere. This question is not uniquely Malaysian; it echoes a global struggle over how democracies reconcile military authority with the rule of law. For decades, Malaysia’s armed forces have occupied a distinctive place in public perception. They are widely regarded as disciplined, professional, and largely untouched by the scandals that have undermined trust in political and corporate elites. This reputation has reinforced public confidence and legitimised the military’s role as a stabilising institution...
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Malay Coalition Realignment and DAP’s Exit – Part 2

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Recent political manoeuvring suggests that Malaysia may already be witnessing the early formation of a new governing alignment: one that quietly transcends the formal boundaries of the Madani government. The evidence does not lie in dramatic announcements or formal declarations, but in patterns of behaviour that, taken together, point toward a strategic recalibration of power. UMNO’s sustained pressure on DAP, PKR’s strategic silence, PAS’s calculated restraint, and the quiet normalisation of cross-party cooperation all suggest that a new coalition logic is being tested in real time. PAS’s conduct is particularly revealing. Despite positioning itself as the principal opposition force following GE15, PAS has noticeably softened its rhetoric against the Madani government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The party’s attacks are selective, restrained, and often focused more on symbolic issues than on direct challenges to federal authority. This restraint should not be mis...
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DAP Under Siege in Madani Government – Part 1

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The Madani government emerged from GE15 as a political necessity rather than a coherent ideological project. It stitched together long-standing adversaries under the language of stability, reform, and national reconciliation after a hung Parliament left no single bloc with a clear mandate. While this arrangement succeeded in averting political paralysis, it also produced a coalition built on compromise rather than conviction. Nearly two years on, those compromises have hardened into structural fault lines. Among all its component parties, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) has become the most visibly weakened: politically constrained, strategically isolated, and repeatedly targeted particularly by UMNO, with little meaningful defence from its own Pakatan Harapan (PH) partners, PKR and Amanah. This weakening is not accidental nor episodic. It is the cumulative outcome of sustained political pressure, much of it publicly orchestrated, revolving around Malaysia’s most sensitive fault...
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Malaysia Must Not Ignore Weather and Water Warfare Threats

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The idea that wars could be fought not only with bullets and missiles but through rain, drought, and manipulated rivers may sound like science fiction. However, history and contemporary conflicts demonstrate that environmental systems have long been viewed as strategic tools of warfare. Weather modification and water weaponization challenge established norms of international law and ethics, while posing serious risks to civilian populations. For Malaysia, a country increasingly exposed to climate volatility, flooding, and water stress; ignoring these unconventional forms of warfare would be a strategic blind spot. One of the clearest historical examples of weather warfare was ‘Operation Popeye’ during the Vietnam War between 1967 and 1972. The United States conducted a covert cloud-seeding programme aimed at extending the monsoon season over key supply routes used by North Vietnamese forces. By inducing heavier and prolonged rainfall, the objective was to turn roads into mud, flood...
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Safeguarding Malaysia’s Sovereignty Amid Rivalry - Part 2

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If Malaysia’s first challenge is recognising the nature of modern espionage, the second and more complex; challenge is responding without sacrificing economic opportunity. The intensifying rivalry between the United States and China places Malaysia, and ASEAN more broadly, in a strategic bind. Both powers are indispensable economic partners. Both supply capital, technology, and access to global markets. Yet both also operate intelligence systems that view global data access as a strategic necessity. In such an environment, neutrality cannot remain a rhetorical position; it must be operationalised through policy, regulation, and institutional discipline. Malaysia’s development model has long been built on openness. Foreign direct investment, export-oriented manufacturing, and integration into global supply chains have driven growth for decades. Today, technological integration from advanced semiconductors and cloud computing to smart infrastructure is central to national competitive...
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DAP Marginalised: Sabah’s Tsunami and a Coalition in Crisis

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The Nov 29, 2025, Sabah state election delivered one of the most dramatic verdicts in Malaysia’s recent political history: DAP, once confident in its Sabah foothold, lost all eight seats it contested - a devastating wipeout from the six seats it held after the 2020 state election. This was not a narrow loss but a sweeping rejection, even in urban Chinese-majority constituencies that were once considered DAP strongholds, such as Likas, Kapayan, and Luyang. To understand the broader national implications, this electoral collapse cannot be viewed in isolation. It is both a symptom and a catalyst of deeper strategic realignments within the Madani government, one where DAP’s political appeal appears to be eroding just as its PH partners, particularly PKR and Amanah, have refrained from robustly defending it against UMNO’s public pressure. The Sabah Election as a Litmus Test Sabah voters sent a clear message: dissatisfaction with federal parties that are perceived as detached from ...
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Technology Laws Reshape Espionage and Power - Part 1

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The defining feature of twenty-first century geopolitics is not simply the return of great-power rivalry, but the profound transformation of how power itself is exercised. Competition today no longer relies primarily on military confrontation or overt diplomatic pressure. Instead, it unfolds quietly through data, technology, and legal authority. Espionage, once episodic, covert, and human-centric, has evolved into something far more pervasive: systemic, continuous, and embedded within the digital infrastructure of everyday life. Power now resides not only in armies and alliances, but in servers, algorithms, software updates, and statutes. Modern espionage is no longer primarily about stealing classified documents or recruiting human agents. It is about access, aggregation, and anticipation. States seek persistent visibility into how societies function, how economies operate, and how infrastructure behaves under normal conditions. Cyber intrusions, supply-chain manipulation, cloud...
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