Malaysia

Flattening the curve and other "mitigation" strategies to battle COVID-19 are dangerous routes for governments to follow, argues Malaysian socialist and doctor Jeyakumar Devaraj. 

Green Left's Peter Boyle spoke to Socialist Party of Malaysia deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan (Arul) about the latest political developments since the meltdown of the Pakatan Harapan government.

After a week of political crisis, betrayals and rapidly shifting alliances, former MP and Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) chairperson Jeyakumar Devaraj shares some reflections with Green Left's Peter Boyle.

Less than two years after being elected, a split-off from the Alliance of Hope has reached out to corrupt former MPs to try to form a new government in a move widely denounced as a “backdoor coup”, writes Peter Boyle.

Twelve men were detained under Malaysia’s Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) on October 11–12, among them two state parliamentarians from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), part of the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition.

Nearly 100 Malaysian environmental and civil society groups have demanded that Australia stop exerting "bullying" diplomatic pressure on Malaysia to accept half a million tonnes of toxic radioactive waste piled up at Australian corporate polluter Lynas’s rare-earth refinery in Gebeng, near the Malaysian city of Kuantan.

Since it began operating its controversial rare earth refinery in Malaysia in 2013, Australian company Lynas Corp has produced about 450,000 tonnes of radioactive waste. Peter Boyle interviewed Malaysian environmental and residents’ rights activist Jade Lee from the Stop Lynas Campaign about the latest developments.  

The Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) contested the Semenyih by-election in the state seat of Selangor on March 2. Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Zakaria Hanafi defeated Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate Muhammad Aiman Zainali. Green Left Weekly’s Alex Salmon spoke to PSM’s campaign media coordinator Nalini Elumalai about the campaign and result.

The Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) is contesting the Semenyih by-election in the state seat of Selangor on March 2.

Below are three statements from the Socialist Alliance (Australia), the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) and the Philippines-Venezuela Solidarity (Phil-Ven-Sol).

US Hands off Venezuela!

By Socialist Alliance National Executive

January 24, 2019 — The Socialist Alliance strongly condemns the actions of the United States President Donald Trump in backing an attempted coup against the democratically elected government of Venezuela.

In recent days, Malaysia attained international notoriety for caning two women after their being convicted in a religious court of attempting to have sex in a car.

In striking contrast, on September 6, the Indian Supreme Court held that section 377 of their penal code, which criminalised consensual acts between adults of the same sex, was unconstitutional. That is a mature decision that gives 1.2 billion people in India the freedom to have consensual sex.

The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), several other trade unions and the Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) have slammed as “humiliating” and “beggarly” the new Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) federal government’s announcement that it would increase the country's minimum wage by just RM50 (A$17) a month to RM1050 ($350) from next January.

Unions are considering calling a mass workers’ protest.

Pakatan Harapan had promised to raise the minimum wage to RM1500 within 100 days if it won the May 9 general election.