University of Malaya Association of New Youth (UMANY)

Yesterday rumours about the possible declaration of the State of Emergency raise an uproar in our society with many people and opposition parties criticized how the state of emergency possibly issued by our Prime Minister, Muhyiddin bin Haji Muhammad Yassin, would damage our democratic system in the long run. However, that is what we have already expected even if our government intends to promulgate a state of emergency. Our political system has already lost its principle since the quarrels between the ruling and opposition politicians in the Malaysian political arena. Like the 'party-hopping' norm, the state of emergency is only a drastic measure for the politicians to fight for their power. It takes two to make a quarrel. The prevalence of dirty political measures this year was not caused unilaterally by either side of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) or the Barisan Nasional (BN). Many of the then opposition MPs 'hopped' to the ruling party after the Pakatan Harapan govern...

Since the military coup on the 22nd May 2014, Thais have been forced to live under the repressive military junta for six years. Prayut's regime has arbitrarily undermined the constitution by persecuting and intimidating pro-democracy activists. Those who made tart remarks on the junta and the royal family could not escape the fate of living in the shadows of these uncontrollable giants. In February 2020, hundreds of students protested after the Constitutional Court dissolved the Future Forward Party (FFP), a party favoured by Thailand youths. However, further protests halted after the government ordered to shut down the campuses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the evening of the 18th July, the group Free Youth led more than a thousand demonstrators to gather in front of the Democracy Monument. They asked for three core demands which are the dissolution of the parliament, to end intimidation of the people, and the drafting of a new constitution. Later, on 10th August, the United Fr...