Articles by Vejai Balasubramaniam

In a desperate attempt to shed his image as the architect and representative of 'rentier' and crony capitalism which was ill prepared to counter the challenges posed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, prime minister Mahathir proclaimed Malaysia as a theocratic state last year. Knowing that this strategy may not work, he has now announced his retirement.

It has been contended that ASEAN's members have ceased to cherish the principle of non-involvement in one another's internal affairs. By way of illustrative example attention is called to the Indonesian and Philippine gestures of support for Anwar Ibrahim after he was dismissed from the Malaysian cabinet. Noting that such clashes among ASEAN members only take the form of phases of rhetoric and arguing that the rhetoric is rooted in old history, this article attempts to demonstrate that non-involvement is very much alive.

Expedient and the Necessary Vejai Balasubramaniam THE El Nino phenomenon to which the current water crisis affecting Malaysia and the suburb's of its capital, Kuala Lumpur, is attributed, indicates that the major challenge facing the Malaysian state1 (i e. the political elites in control of the federal government) in its drive to modernise (read industrialise) the country, comes not from the established opposition in the Dewan Rakyat (the lower house of parliament) but from the respective State governments. A federalist state by its structure provides State governments to challenge the authority of the federal government. As a country comprising two federalism', the ability of the state governments to resist the authority of the federal government in Kuala Lumpur varies.

had said that part of IMF loan of $ 1,2 billion released in 1992 was used for spot purchases of defence spares. The SIPRI report says that India imported arms worth $ 12.2bn between 1988-92. In other words, the full value of Indian spending on security-related items remains secret. Of course what is hidden from Indian citizens is fairly easily accessible to our bilateral and multilateral creditors and suppliers of military hardware.