AUKUS AND NUCLEAR-POWERED SUBMARINES – SHOULD MALAYSIANS WORRY?

The recent Aukus pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States has caused much anxiety globally, more so in Southeast Asia.

Many see this as a form of military escalation with mixed reactions towards the move, depending on which side of the fence one is on, with strong support and protests by various governments. Many feel that this move will lead to another nuclear arms race, only this time, in the South China Sea.

But is there real cause for concern? Do Malaysians need to worry about Australia having nuclear-powered submarines?

The Global Tax Reform and How it Affects Malaysia

A key development emerging from the G7 Finance Ministers meeting which took place on 5th June 2021 was a communiqué centred on principal design elements for international tax reform for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development’s (OECD) countries. The purpose of this move is to gain higher tax revenues by addressing the long-standing issue of multinational corporations (MNC) taking advantage of loopholes found in tax systems.

The communiqué proposes the introduction of two pillars to reshape the global tax system by addressing the digital economy and to ensure that companies pay taxes where they operate.

Spurring Malaysia's Productivity and Growth After the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Malaysian economy, like all countries around the world, was severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic onslaught which prevented business operations and caused wary consumers to shy away from the market. In response to this, the KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific (KSI) and the Economic Club of Kuala Lumpur (ECKL) organised the Malaysian Economic Summit 2021 bringing together leading economists and industry captains to discuss ways to spur the economy.

Mainstreaming Human Rights and Preserving National Unity in Malaysia

Human rights have returned as a major agenda for Malaysia’s foreign policy with implications for its domestic policies. As Malaysia seeks a place as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the 2022-2024 term, it has released a set of voluntary pledges and commitments. Here, Malaysia made promises to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) towards the commitment of human rights domestically as well as globally. On 31st December 2020, Malaysia joined another 105 countries to sign the UN General Assembly resolution for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, and the comprehensive implementation of and follow-up to the Durban Declaration. Malaysia has also issued its Voluntary National Review (VNR) during a United Nations (UN) high-level political forum on the SDGs. Among those under review is SDG 16 on Peace, Justice, and Inclusive Societies. Another related development is the launch of a new publication by Professor Datuk Dr. Denison Jayasooria, Understanding ICERD in the Wider Context of the Federal Constitution, Human Rights, and Malaysian Society at the Human Rights 365 Group meeting which was hosted by UN Malaysia’s country team and KITA-UKM. With a high foreign policy reference to human rights, building inclusive societies in preserving national unity, Malaysia must review its human rights commitments with a special focus on addressing racism both domestically and globally.

PRESS RELEASE: KSI WELCOMES THE REOPENING OF PARLIAMENT

We welcome the Parliament session from 26th July to 2nd August and thank His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for calling for Parliament to meet and the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for fixing the dates for this Parliamentary special session.

We believe this special session of Parliament will be essential to ensure good governance, integrity, transparency and accountability. We call on MPs on both sides of the House to prioritize the people and the nation and to put aside political divide and rivalry to ensure we can all combine efforts and resources to win the war against the invisible enemy we are fighting- Coronavirus.

Submission to People's Scorecard Process

The Malaysian CSO SDG Alliance was invited by Action for Sustainable Development (Action4SD) to participate in the 2021 People’s Scorecard process. This is a CSO assessment of the national delivery of the 2030 Agenda in Malaysia. This process provides a valuable platform for CSOs to provide their analysis at the national level and then compare the data across countries around world.

This National CSO Report on the 2021 People’s Score card is undertaken as a collaborative effort by 15 core CSO leaders and academics in Malaysia. This report is divided into three parts with Chapter 1 providing general overview of SDGs delivery in Malaysia. Chapter 2 is on the summary of scored card assessment of the 17 SDGs while detail comments are included in the appendix 2. Chapter 3 is the focus group discussion findings. This is Malaysian CSOs input to the global People’s Scorecard process which will be launched on July 8, 2021 at a side event at the High Level Political Form (HLPF).

KSI Profile February 2021

As an independent non-profit think tank, KSI is Asia Pacific’s
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