What Does the Future Hold For Sri Lanka?

In 2022, Sri Lanka plunged into its worst economic crisis since independence, triggering widespread protests and a popular uprising that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office. The crisis exposed deep-rooted failures in governance, public finance and economic management, eventually pushing…

MADANI Government: Yay or nay?

It's been almost four years since the MADANI government formed after the 2022 General Election. As we know, while Pakatan Harapan won the most seats, no coalition or party reached a simple majority, so parties that had spent years on opposite sides of the political divide found themselves governing…

What Can We Learn From Indonesia’s Development Policies?

For decades, many developing countries have relied on exporting raw materials to drive economic growth. But when countries export commodities without developing the industries to process them, how much of the wealth actually stays in their economies? Indonesia is attempting to change this through …

Why is Voting Important?

Voting is often seen as the cornerstone of democracy, giving ordinary people a say in who governs them and the direction their country takes. But what does it mean to participate in politics beyond casting a ballot every few years? And how much can voting actually change when political parties must…

Gender Gap Report 2026 - Women are Highly Educated but Severely Underrepresented

Since 2006, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report has measured how far countries have come in closing the gaps between men and women across four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. This year marks its …

Will Ideology Help Us Navigate the Problems of the 21st Century?

We live in a world grappling with growing inequality, political polarisation, a climate crisis and rapid technological change. From socialism and liberalism to nationalism, conservatism and fascism, political ideologies offer different explanations for what’s wrong with society and how we might fix…

Does Budget 2027 Address the Needs of Regular Malaysians?

Last Friday, the MADANI government unveiled Budget 2027, proposing RM459.8 billion in spending for the year ahead, up from the revised RM444.1 billion for 2026. With plans to raise the minimum wage to RM2,000, expand cash assistance and increase tax relief for individuals, the government says it wa…

Making Sense of the Rise of Far-Right Movements Globally

Over the past decade or so far-right parties and leaders have moved from the fringes to the forefront of global politics. Figures like Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Giorgia Meloni, Narendra Modi and the BJP, Nigel Farage in the UK, AFD in Germany and more who’s views were once seen as outliers or sh…

What Do Malaysian Indians Need From Budget 2027?

Budget 2027 will be tabled in Parliament this Friday. In the lead-up to it, former Klang MP Charles Santiago who also runs the think tank Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization (MSN), has been calling for the government to put household prosperity at the centre of its economic policy with stron…

World War III, Climate Crisis, AI: Is the World on the Brink of Collapse?

We’re living through a period of enormous uncertainty. Great power tensions are rising, from the US and China to Russia and Europe. The climate is warming, bringing more extreme heat, floods and disruption. And AI is developing at a pace that has left even the people building these systems debating…