Private enterprise and the social character of insurance: The demise of community
Dr Chan Chee Khoon

Feb 12: Now that the 1999 general elections have been "safely if not satisfactorily" concluded, healthcare reform has re-emerged as a reportable issue in the mainstream media. On January 18, 2000, the Star's front-page headlines announced that the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) had entered into an agreement with the Life Insurers Association of Malaysia (LIAM) which would allow for "the estimated five million active EPF members [to] use their savings to sign up for a health insurance scheme [beginning] this June. [Full Story]

One nation, two audiences?
Farish A Noor

Feb 12: By now a nationwide boycott of two mainstream national newspapers (New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia) and one commercial television channel (TV3) has begun in Malaysia. This boycott has been organised and orchestrated by the leaders of several opposition parties, civic organisations and NGOs, and is intended to last until April 2000. [Full Story]

Islamic state or Islamic laws for Muslims?
Saifuddin Morat

Feb 12: Most political analysts and observers concluded that the main factor Barisan Alternatif failed to win the non-Muslim vote was due to the mainstream media playing up two major issues: racial riots and an Islamic state. But what is an Islamic state? Does an Islamic state ever exist? Is there a necessity for an Islamic state (i.e. is an Islamic state part of Islamic law)? [Full Story]

Lessons of the East Timor struggle
Dr Kua Kia Soong

Feb 12: What can Malaysians learn from the East Timorese people’s struggle for self-determination? Why is it that the Malaysian government vociferously supports the Palestinian, Bosnian and other causes but conspicuously colluded with the Indonesian government in its suppression of East Timor? If we are to avoid the mistakes and follies of the last century, we need value the same principles of truth and justice wherever they are threatened and no matter how uncomfortable that may be. [Full Story]