Until legal reforms are introduced to allow local government elections, we should focus on appointing good people to local government authorities, writes Ch'ng Teng Liang.

The obvious starting point for Orang Asli empowerment would be their exercise of control over their customary lands. Unfortunately, this is not at all apparent from the government's proposed land policy for the community, observes Yogeswaran Subramaniam.

T’is the season of betrayal. In our cover story, P Ramakrishnan says forces are at work to subvert the voters’ choice in the last general election while fringe groups are playing up emotive issues of race and religion for political ends.

Hishamuddin Yahaya says racial sloganeering could become irrelevant if a new government takes over that is better able to promote democracy and socio-economic and cultural justice.

The Federal Court’s ruling on 25 February 2010 that it had no jurisdiction to review its own decision is utter nonsense. The three judges who came to this conclusion on Rule 137 of the Federal Court Rule -  Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff and Heliliah Mohd Yusof - were referred to by the former Court of Appeal judge,  N H Chan, as “incompetent judges – perhaps they were clowns as their statements were laughable.”