Come and Buy These Stimulating Books!

Arts & Literature, Current Affairs, Development, Economics, Environment, Globalization, Indigenuous，Labour and Migrant Workers，Memoirs，Oral History，Politics and International Relations，Religions and Cultures，Social Science，Women and Gender Studies，and many more……

Books from: Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Phillipines and other countries

Memoir Perjuangan Politik Syed Husin Ali

by Syed Husin Ali

Memoir ini merupakan kenangan hidup penulis tentang perjuangan politiknya untuk menegakkan keadilan, kebajikan dan kebenaran bagi rakyat. Ia menceritakan mengenai penyertaan, kegiatan, pengalaman dan pandangan beliau terutama berhubung beberapa peristiwa politik yang  melibatkan rakyat. Pengalaman semasa kecil, pengaruh ibu-ayah serta suasana kekeluargaan, pendidikan, kegiatan akademik serta luar akademik diceritakan kerana sedikit sebanyak mempengaruhi sikap hidup penulis, terutama terhadap bidang politik yang lebih setengah abad diceburinya. Soal politik yang ditumpukan di dalam Memoir ini berpusat kepada catatan-catatan tentang penyertaan dan pengalaman penulis serta sikap, pandangan dan fikirannya terhadap beberapa isu, perkembangan, peristiwa dan kontroversi politik yang berlaku dalam parti dan negara. Memoir ini memberi latar belakang dan menjelaskan beberapa perkara, seperti: apa berlaku selepas kemenangan parti-parti pembangkang di lima negeri, pembentukan PAKATAN, percubaaan UMNO-BN untuk menjatuhkan Kerajaan PAKATAN, terutama Selangor, percubaan Anwar yang dianggap gagal berkaitan 16 September dan sebagainya. Memoir ini mendedahkan banyak juga hal mengenai pertimbangan yang tidak diketahui umum tentang mengapa dan bagaimana sesetengah keputusan politik telah diambil.

An Uncommon Hero: M.K. Rajakumar in Politics and Medicine

by Tan Pek Leng (Editor)

Many witness momentous events in their lives, but few participate, much less leave their mark. Dr M.K. Rajakumar, on the contrary, left an indelible mark at every phase of his eventful life. As a medical student at the University of Malaya in Singapore, he co-founded the University Socialist Club and later landed himself in court on a sedition for an editorial that condemned Western imperialism and aggression in Asia. The victory of the eight students responsible for the club’s organ, Fajar, in the trial propelled them to fame, drawing them further into Singapore politics. Rajakumar was invited by Lee Kuan Yew to join in the preparations for founding the People’s Action Party (PAP). Even after his return to Malaya to practise medicine, he was associated with politicians, trade unionists and activists detained without trial in various mass arrests, notably Operation Cold Store, and was involved in the Malaya-Singapore merger debate, the establishment of the Barisan Sosialis, etc.

Time:        2.00 pm – 6.00 pm

Venue:    The KL and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall

1, Jalan Maharajalela

50150 Kuala LumpurCreative Writting Workshop

Fee for attendance: RM100.00

Fee includes refreshments and handouts. Paper, pens or pencils will be provided.

Objective of the Seminar

IF YOU want to inform and inspire, to find your true writing genre, style and voice, to meet and network with fellow developing writers, then this is THE creative writing seminar for you to attend.

Outline of the Seminar

• Each participant introduces him/herself and reads a piece of his/her work, entitled, “Why I Write.”*
• Feedback on each participant’s work by facilitator Dean Johns.
• Dean Johns’ presentation on certain key aspects of writing including ‘creativity,’ writing techniques and learning resources for writers.
• Q & A and general group discussion.

(*Each participant to bring a piece of writing up to 500 words in length on the topic, “Why I write.”)

The Facilitator – Dean Johns

Dean Johns’ work needs no introduction in Malaysia. He is a weekly columnist for online political newspaper, www.malaysiakini.com and author of Ad Nauseam: Confusions of an advertising man, Mad about Malaysia, Even Madder about Malaysia, Missing Malaysia and 1Malaysia.con. Dean Johns has 30 years of experience as an advertising copywriter and creative director with ad agencies in Australia and Asia on many of the world’s great brands. He has also taught copywriting, freelance journalism and creative writing at colleges in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. He currently tutors creative writing at Sydney Community College.

Sign-up procedure

For further enquiries, contact Gerakbudaya 03-7957 8342/8343 or Peck Lin 012-3736743

Registration Form – Creative Writing Seminar

Name: ………………………………………….………………………………………………………………..

NRIC: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Tel: ……..……………………………………….. (O), H/P: …………………………………………………….

Emergency Contact Person and number

Name: ………………………………………. Tel: ……………………………………………………………..

Email Address: …………………………………………………………………………………………………..

《关键时刻》作者柯林•亚伯拉罕在本书中提出了一个重要的论点，认为马来西亚的殖民主义是在1989年合艾合约之后才真正结束。合艾和平协议是马来西亚历史发展的关键时刻。他在讨论那场反英独立战争的缘由及评估马共所扮演的角色对国家独立的巨大贡献时，提供了一个值得赞赏的观点，即合艾和平协议最终成功的结束了英殖民主义统治遗留下来的问题。

柯林•亚伯拉罕以社会科学观点及历史论据，来挑战把真正为国家独立而斗争的主角们恶魔化与边缘化的官方说法。这本书挑战我们，去回顾我们的历史，并让我们理解为何我们马来西亚人，距离我们所追寻的一个“马来西亚民族”，仍然那么遥远。我国历史长期来以掌握政治权力者的观点为依归。对历史的诠释产生了诸多偏颇。独立54年后的今天，是我们重新检视历史的时候了。从紧急状态到和平协议的那段历史时期，对我国政治发展及社会形构产生了重要作用，值得我们深入探讨。

《关键时刻》售价RM20，现可在国内各大书店购买，包括大众书局和MPH全国各门市，和吉隆坡双峰塔Kinokuniya、茨厂街商务书局与上海书局，或向批发总行文运企业邮购，电话03-7957 8342，电邮是gerakbudaya@pd.jaring.my。如有任何疑问，可联络张永新016-379 7231，或蔡尚群019-352 3864，谢谢。

You are cordially invited to attend

FORUM UMUM / Public Forum

PERJUANGAN KEMERDEKAAN MALAYA:PERANAN GOLONGAN KIRI

Malaya’s Struggle for Independence: The Role of the Left

Tarikh/Date:                 15 September 2011 (Khamis/Thursday)

Masa/Time:                  8.00pm—10.30pm

Tempat/Venue:          Auditorium Dewan Sivik, MBPJ, Petaling Jaya.

Penganjur/Organisers: SIRD, Jawatankuasa Kempen Sejarah Malaysia Sebenar (KemSMS), &

Free Public Forum Malaysia

Ahli Panel/Panelists:    1. Dr. Khong Kim Hoong (author of Merdeka!)

2. Dr. Mohamed Salleh Lamry (academic, writer)

3. Dr. Rohana Ariffin (academic, Vice President of PRM)

4. En. Hishamuddin Rais (social activist)

5. En. Said Zahari (ex-journalist, writer)

Moderator :                  Dr. Abdul Halim Ali

SYNOPSIS

Baru-baru ini Peristiwa Bukit Kepong sekali lagi menjadi topik perbahasan yang hangat dalam masyarakat kita.  Peristiwa serangan balai polis Bukit Kepong pada Februari 1950 oleh segolongan komunis telah diketahui umum melalui coretan dan catatan dalam Sejarah Malaysia. Dari semasa ke semasa, sebuah filem tentang peristiwa Bukit Kepong ditanyang di rangkaian-rangkaian media awam terutamanya menjelang Hari Kemerdekaan. Sebuah novel yang menceritakan peristiwa itu hasil tulisan Ismail Johari juga dijadikan sebagai bacaan rujukan untuk peperiksaan SPM dalam subjek Bahasa Melayu. Hampir semua bahan sejarah daripada pihak rasmi telah mengetepikan atau mengecam peranan golongan nasionalis radikal  dan  Parti Komunis Malaya kerana mereka menentang British secara bersenjata terutamanya pada sepuluh tahun sebelum dan selepas merdeka.

Tibalah masanya kita berbicara dan  berdiskusi mengenai sejarah kita dengan lebih lanjut dan mendalam. Beberapa orang penganalisa politik dan sarjana yang berpandangan dan berpendapat bebas telah dijemput  untuk mengupas dan membicarakan isu ini. Mereka akan berkongsi pengetahuan dan hasil kajian mereka dengan semua hadirin. Semoga melalui forum ini masyarakat akan lebih faham dan jelas  tentang sumbangan tokoh-tokoh dan golongan-golongan pelbagai aliran dalam memperjuangkan kemerdekaan terutamanya golongan kiri yang selama ini dipinggirkan dan dimomokkan bagi menenggelamkan peranan mereka dan menaikkan nama dan peranan pihak lain..

The Bukit Kepong Incident has been the subject of considerable public debate recently. The communist assault on the Bukit Kepong police station in February 1950 is a relatively well-known event in the Malaysian history. A film on the Bukit Kepong incident is periodically screened on government television channels, in particular around the time of Hari Kemerdekaan celebrations. A novel based on the incident and written by Ismail Johari is also the subject of study by secondary students for the SPM Malay-language examination.  In most if not all of the current official versions of that troubled period of our history, the role of radical nationalists and the Malayan Communist Party has been given little attention or has been condemned for the armed struggle which they waged against the British.

In response to the public interest in the subject, the forum will bring together various political analysts and scholars who are not normally featured in the official media so that they can share their knowledge and assessments with the public. It is hoped that arising from the forum discussions, there will be a better understanding of all the major political actors and forces that were in the forefront of efforts to secure the country’s independence from the British, and their respective contributions – in particular that of the left wing, which has been marginalized in the official historical narratives.

Forum ini dijalankan dalam dwibahasa. Datanglah beramai-ramai. Masuk percuma.

This is a bilingual forum. Free admission.

For further information, please contact

KemSMS Secretariat (Ms Chin Mei Chi): 03-2272 3594 or SIRD: 03-79578342/3

If you are a person who …

• Likes books and is interested in the book industry
• Has good interpersonal skills
• Has a good command of English and Bahasa Malaysia (Mandarin would be an added advantage)
• Has a driving license
• Has the skill to work with computers and office software applications (e.g. Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.)

… then think seriously about joining us!

Applicants with relevant work experience will have an advantage, but fresh graduates are also encouraged to apply.

If you are interested, kindly write to Mr Chong Ton Sin at sird@streamyx.com or gerakbudaya@pd.jaring.my and tell us about yourself, giving your contact number.

Please feel fee to pass this notice on to friends who may be interested.

Thank you.

策略资讯研究中心（SIRD）与雪华堂联合主办并诚邀每个关心白小事件和社区运动的朋友，踊跃出席于2011年7月2日（六）下午2时正假隆雪华堂楼上讲堂，举办的《庙里的课堂-八年白小保校抗争记》新书推介礼。推介礼邀请到雪州议长拿督邓章钦和隆雪华堂会长陈友信担任推介嘉宾，并同时安排一场讲座谈“马来西亚10年来的社会运动”，那将是一场的难得交流会。

白小事件是在2001年爆发，而经过8年的抗争才成果获得重新启用；当中还有其他的社区运动正在进行中如万挠新村反对高压电缆事件等及最近的反对稀土运动还在继续抗争中。这场座谈会希望可以从这些社区运动中来探讨马来西亚10年来的社会运动发展和走向，并可进一步讨论运动的组织运动。策略资讯研究中心（SIRD）邀请著名时事评论人潘永强博士、雪华堂执行长也是前白小保校工委会顾问陈亚才和《庙里的课堂-八年白小保校抗争记》编者庄白琦主讲。

编者庄白琦在白小关闭初期担任白小保校工委会执行秘书负责策划，推展各项宣教活动及动员组织人脉等，2003年开始加入工委会委员。《庙里的课堂-八年白小保校抗争记》除了记载编者本身的心路历程之外，此书详细的叙述白小保校运动的来龙去脉、例常运作的具体状况、各项主要活动的开展、与教育部官员和政治人物多次交涉的攻防战，以及保校工委会解散和白小基金转化为〈白小保校工委会大学贷学金〉的曲折过程。
《庙里的课堂-八年白小保校抗争记》售价RM30， 可以在国内各大书店购买，包括大众书局和MPH全国各门市，和吉隆坡双峰塔Kinokuniya、茨厂街商务书局与上海书局，或向批发总行文运企业邮购，电话03-7957 8342，电邮是gerakbudaya@pd.jaring.my。如有任何疑问，可联络张永新016-379 7231，或蔡尚群019-352 3864，谢谢。

(SIRD)

Takes pleasure in inviting you to the book launch of

THE MAY 13 GENERATION

&

THE MIGHTY WAVE

Kuala Lumpur Launch

Date: Saturday, May 21^st 2011

Time: 2:30pm- 5:00 pm

Venue: Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (1^st Floor), Kuala Lumpur

Speakers: Tan Jing Quee, Tan Kok Chiang, Hong Lysa, Loh Miaw Gong (Loh Miaw Ping), Poh Soo Kai

Special guest: Dr Syed Husin Ali

Penang Launch

Date: Sunday, May 22^nd 2011

Time: 7:30pm- 10:00 pm

Venue: Continental Hotel (6^th floor), Penang Road, Penang

Speakers: Tan Jing Quee, Tan Kok Chiang, Hong Lysa, Loh Miaw Gong (Loh Miaw Ping)

Special guest: Tan Kim Hong

Please join us to celebrate and share with some of the authors and editors of

these fascinating books that will provide you with a better understanding of

the historical events of Singapore in the 1950s.

Admission is free and refreshments will be served. Join us!

For more information please contact Chong Ton Sin  016-3797231 or Anthony Lam  016-2209419

Or email us at: sird@streamyx.com or gerakbudaya@pd.jaring.my

Please find enclosed, copies of the event invitations, which you may circulate among your friends and colleagues.

Dengan anjuran bersama Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) dan Civil Rights Committee, KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (CRC), Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD) akan melancarkan buku Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor kawasan Hulu Kelang YB Saari Sungib, yang bertajuk Sengsara Kem Kamunting: Kisah Hidup dalam Penjara ISA. Dijemput semua teman dan pelanggan untuk hadir ke majlis pelancaran bagi memeriahkan lagi majlis tersebut di samping melibatkan diri

dalam diskusi ‘Siapa di belakang ISA?’

Tarikh  : Selasa, 3hb Mei 2011
Masa   : 7.30mlm – 10.30mlm
Tempat: Dewan Seminar Tingkat 2, KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall,

No.1, Jalan Maharajalela, Kuala Lumpur. (Sebelah Stesen Monorail Maharajelela)

Program
- Kata-kata aluan GMI
- Ucapan oleh Pengulas Buku YB Chang Lih Kang (ADUN Perak kawasan Teja)
- Pelancaran Rasmi dan Penyampaian Cenderamata

Diskusi Panelis: Siapa di belakang ISA?

Ahli Panel:  1) S. Arutchelvan (Setiausaha Agung Parti Sosialis Malaysia, PSM)

2) Hishamuddin Rais (Aktivis Sosial, Seni dan Penulis)

3) YB Nurul Izzah Anwar (Ahli Parlimen Lembah Pantai, KL)
Penjualan buku dan tandatangan.

Sengsara Kem Kamunting ditulis menurut getaran hati dan denyutan perasaan Saari sebagai seorang yang telah dibebaskan daripada penahanan akta kejam ISA. Buku ini merakamkan imbauan pengalaman penulis dan rakan-rakan bagi tahun pertama ditahan ISA, iaitu dari April 2001 hingga April 2002. Ia mengenang apa yang dilalui semasa berada di bawah tahanan SB selama dua bulan sebelum penulis dihantar ke Kem Kamunting. Penulis berkongsi perihal apa yang dilalui, dirasai, direnungi dan pengalaman-pengalaman orang lain yang dihayati, khususnya pengalaman mereka yang melalui nasib sama dipenjarakan atas motif politik. Ia merakamkan dengan terperinci pengalaman penulis dan rakan-rakan melancarkan mogok lapar sempena tahun pertama ditahan di bawah ISA. Buku ini tamat sebaik sahaja ia mengkisahkan bagaimana kempen mogok lapar berakhir.

Sebarang persoalan sila hubungi Chong Ton Sin 016-379 7231 @ SK Chua 019-352 3864 @  Cik Nalini 019-375 8912 @ Secreatariat GMI or 03-7784 3525

Tolong sebarkan jemputan ini kepada rakan-rakan anda!

This is an important book for specialists in the legal fraternity, so too for political analysts of Malaysia. Anwar on Trial is virtually a metaphor for “Malaysia on trial.” While the book, by one of Anwar Ibrahim’s lawyers, is openly partisan, it has been written in a lucid style and packed with all the facts that one needs to know about the first trial of Anwar Ibrahim in 1998, which lasted 76 days in the months of September, October and November. The book then is about Anwar Ibrahim’s so-called “corruption trial.” In a nutshell, Anwar was accused of using his political clout as deputy prime minister to direct his subordinates to conceal evidence regarding his homosexual behaviour, and this constituted an alleged act of political corruption.

Marican provides us with a detailed account of the charges, the proceedings, including the cases of the prosecution and the defence, the appeal to the Federal Court, the final judgment of the court and the postappeal review. There was then the second, perhaps even more sensational, trial of Anwar, the sodomy trial, which lasted 118 days, in which Anwar was tried along with his adopted brother, Sukma Darmawan Sasmitaat Madja, in 1999. The book is not about this second trial although important details of this trial are found in the appendix. At the second trial, Anwar was sentenced to nine years jail, but in May 2004, Anwar and Sukma were acquitted of those charges. At the point of acquittal, he had served out his sentence of six years jail time from the first trial.

Marican’s book is important for a number of reasons. First, it is the only full account and complete record of Anwar’s first trial. Second, by reporting clearly the manner in which this trial was conducted, the evidence of witnesses for the prosecution and the defence, and the respective final submissions, readers can judge for themselves the merits of each case. Third, without question, there are significant implications stemming from this highly charged political trial with regard to the functioning of the Malaysian legal system and Malaysia’s practice of the rule of law. Marican has argued that Anwar’s trials epitomize “the emasculation of Malaysian’s democratic institutions” and that “the rule of law was flouted” (xvi). It is best, of course, that readers decide for themselves if this was the case and certainly the book provides enough details for anyone to form such an opinion.

The political character of the trial was never in doubt. On 2 September 1998 Anwar was dismissed as the deputy prime minister cum finance minister of Malaysia by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He was subsequently arrested and detained under the country’s draconian Internal Security Act. In jail, Anwar was beaten unconscious by the then inspector general of police, Rahim Noor, who was later convicted in 2000 for this act. Prior to Anwar’s sacking, in early 1998, a political tract entitled “Fifty Reasons why Anwar should not become Prime Minister” (written in Malay) was widely circulated. Among other sensational allegations, this dubious piece of writing contained innuendos that Anwar was a homosexual. Soon after the tract’s release, Mahathir declared that he could not countenance a homosexual to be a leader of Malaysia. Social scientists could certainly also draw on the facts surrounding the case to illustrate the international repercussions of the Anwar trials. A rendering of such reactions is found in chapter 5.

The relevance of the book today is that Anwar’s new trial, dubbed Sodomy II, is almost a carbon copy of the first—an instance of déjà vu. In February 2010, Anwar was again in the dock on the allegation that he had sodomized a 24-year-old political aide, Saiful Bokhari Azlan, sometime in 2008. The circumstances surrounding this new trial are again highly charged and have more than a hint of politics. Anwar Ibrahim, now leader of the opposition in Parliament, had just led with great success the new oppositional People’s Alliance in a general election on March 8, 2008, which saw the egregious collapse of four state governments and the denial of the two-thirds parliamentary majority of the ruling party, the National Front. Saiful, Anwar’s accuser, admitted meeting with the Prime Minister Najib Razak to discuss his liaison with Anwar. Will history repeat itself? Many think it will. At the point of writing, the trial is ongoing.

Finally, it should be mentioned that since Anwar’s first trial many of the main personae involved have passed on: the former attorney general, Mohtar Abdullah; the High Court judge, Augustine Paul; the lawyer Christopher Fernando; and Anwar accuser Khalid Jafri. Anwar sympathizers may see this as poetic justice, as Anwar’s own presence in Malaysian politics remains larger than life.

Johan Saravanamuttu

Institute of Southeast Asian Affairs, Pasir Panjang, Singapore

Source: Pacific Affairs: Volume 84, No. 1 – March 2011