MALAYSIA: Raids are Rewards for ‘Right Livelihood’ Winner

Volunteers at Tenaganita, a leading rights group that works with migrant workers, cheer when grim-looking authorities pay them a visit. They see harassment by officials as an unmistakable sign that they are on the job.

RIGHTS: Malaysian Anti-Terror Laws Get Tighter Despite Protests

Malaysian authorities have extended the imprisonment without trial of nine terrorism suspects, detained since June 2001, for another two years, angering human rights activists who have vowed to launch demonstrations to force the government to either release or charge the suspects in court.

RIGHTS: Court Gives Tribals Place Under Malaysian Sun

One hot August day in 1996, several smartly dressed men, escorted by police, walked into Bukit Tampoi village about 80 km south of the capital and told Tukas Anak Siam that he and other Temuan tribesmen must vacate some 38 hectares of forest land because it was needed for a road link to the new international airport.

RIGHTS: Murder of Thai Imam May Spark Exodus To Malaysia

The assassination of an imam (Islamic religious leader) in Thailand's restive southern Narathiwat province has already spooked a group of 131 Thai Muslims to flee across the border into Malaysia's Kelantan state.

MALAYSIA: Independence Day Observed as Melting Pot Boils

''A melting pot of peoples, cultures and traditions, Malaysia thrives on its diversity and is indeed the epitome of the adage that variety is the spice of life,'' was how the official BERNAMA news agency concluded a special feature for Malaysia's 48th Independence Day on Wednesday.

EDUCATION: No Colonial Hangups as Malays Rush to Learn English

It is three o'clock in the afternoon on a normal weekday in this small town, about 110 kms south of the national capital, and Hafsiah, 9, and her brother Badrul, 12, are tearing up the stairs of a three-storey shop house to enter a room full of students eager to learn English.

ENVIRONMENT: Indonesian Infernos Reduce Malaysians to Prayer

As anger mounts among Malaysians choking and spluttering over smoke and haze, from uncontrolled forest fires in Indonesia wafting across the narrow Malacca Straits, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has asked citizens to pray alongside other measures.

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: Don’s Sacking Fuels Charges of Racism in Academia

It took the intervention of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi before Universiti Malaya approved leave for a prominent academic to take up a prestigious United Nations assignment.

RIGHTS: Malaysians Demand End to Terror Laws

Behind the gleaming skyscrapers and the wide, manicured highways with luxury cars gliding by - the symbols of Malaysia's vaunted economic success - lurks what one rights activist calls the 'White Terror'.

POLITICS: Badawi Ushers in New Era for Malays and Malaysians

A new man brings a new style. But beyond the style - softer, less parochial and more consensus-seeking - Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has also brought in a new vision for Malaysians.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Religious Deviance Gets Zero Tolerance

Probably because it was laughable, Ayah Pin's cult -that revolved around worship of a giant, two-storey high teapot - was tolerated for a decade.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Mahathir Modifies Retirement Plan

After ruling the roost with an iron grip for 22 years, few Malaysians really believed that former prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad would call it a day, handover power to a successor and leave the political stage he so dominated.

MALAYSIA: Badawi Shows Resolve against Graft, Jury Still Out

When Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi axed a high-ranking cabinet minister this month for vote-buying, it was seen as a move to appease backbenchers, opposition politicians and human rights activists.

MALAYSIA: Islamic Party Doffs Robes Dons Shirt Sleeves

Malaysia's opposition Islamic party, which frightened the ruling, western-educated Muslim Malay class and foreign investors with hefty gains in the 1999 election but lost it all in last year's polls, has embarked on a makeover of their formidable image in a fresh attempt to win support, especially from the nation's non-Muslims.

MALAYSIA: Gov’t Blasted for Bold Steps Against AIDS

Beneath the affluence, the sophistication and the Western trappings lies the soft under belly of Malaysia's Islamic conservatism - no sex education in schools, no holding hands, no kissing in parks, no visuals of condoms on television and, sometimes, even no cinemas.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Anwar Who?

Gone are the neck brace, the walking stick, the wheelchair and the tired, exhausted look that was Anwar Ibrahim after 1998, when he was sacked from the government and jailed for corruption and sodomy after trials universally condemned as unfair.

MALAYSIA: Jail and Cane for Legal Nepali Worker Raises Serious Questions

Nepali Mangal Bahadur Gurung, 30, came to the Malaysian capital two years ago, hoping that he would land himself a well paying job and make enough money to send home every month to keep his wife, children and grandparents alive.

DEVELOPMENT-ASIA: Non-Aligned Movement Takes on New Social Role

Most women in Afghanistan don't get a chance to grow old, Massouda Jalal told the elegantly dressed delegates at the inaugural Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Meeting on Woman and Empowerment that ended here on Tuesday. ''Many of them are dead before they reach old age,'' she added.

MALAYSIA: Freedom of Information Still Under Gov’t Prerogative

In a society where even the number of chairs and tables in a ministry is classified as official secrets, a U.S.-style Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) might seem to be the best way to force Malaysia's government to share information with the public.

INT’L LABOUR DAY-MALAYSIA: Stateless Clan Finally Gets Right to Work

Finally after a long and hard struggle for recognition, Jaafar Hussein, a Rohingya refugee from Burma, can afford to smile this International Labour Day, which falls on May 1.

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Lightning Did Strike Twice And Fear Now Grips Nias

''The government told us the next earthquake is 150 years away if at all. But look we have one big one every 100 days and many smaller ones everyday,'' said Rusli Gege, 72, owner of Lagundri Holiday Cottage, now abandoned and left to rot under the sun and rain.