I will be there tonight. Partly to get my complimentary copies, but more so to meet the other authors face to face. My contribution was small, but it was good to have some space to share some thoughts.
The Nut Graph has a review for those who want to have a taster of what is in there. Tricia Yeoh the editor gives a bit more of the background and content of the book with a dose of excitement thrown in :-).
So, I edited my first book!
This was something that I thought up sometime end of 2009, when it was nearing the two year mark of Pakatan being in the Selangor government. I was sure that the media would be hounding us on what exactly had been going on for two years, so I embarked on two projects for 2010 (apart from the other work of course). The first was a compilation of Selangor’s policies and programmes over its first two years of being in government. The second was this book 🙂
You can read the introduction in the book itself, and why this was important to us, but basically it was a way of encapsulating the efforts of the Selangor government but done from a more interesting, independent perspective. Seen from the eyes of independent observers, how would Selangor fare exactly? The book is a compilation of 22 chapters over 4 topics namely politics, economics, society and culture. It’s meant to be a fair assessment of how the Selangor government has done, and I do believe the chapters have allowed a rather balanced view of its performance, in the sense that the authors have done a superb job in being critical and also fair to Selangor’s achievements and failures. Ultimately, all this is done with the intention of identifying the problems and existing roadblocks to solutions and the reform agenda. It’s necessary to understand what’s wrong, with the intention of thereafter improving the situation and constantly making corrective measures. I believe this is a healthy, self-reflective exercise we should engage in.
The best way to know more would be to buy it from bookshops – it should be out by the end of this week. Alternatively, *drum-roll please* you can come for its launch at the end of the month. Details are below:
Date: Monday 27 September 2010, 7.30 pm
Venue: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya (next to Taman Jaya LRT Station)
Organised by: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD)
The Road to Reform is the first comprehensive introduction to the reform experience in Selangor following from the general election of March 2008 in which Pakatan Rakyat took over from the Barisan Nasional state government. Organised around four core aspects of change – politics, economics, society and culture – the authors focus on both the achievements and the enduring difficulties in delivering on Pakatan Rakyat’s ambitions. This concise and accessible book should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned with the policies and politics of change and the state of Malaysia at a critically
important crossroads.Programme:
Welcome by Tricia Yeoh (Research Officer to Menteri Besar Selangor)
Speech by YAB Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (Menteri Besar Selangor)
Official Book Launch and Presentation
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Ismail Gareth Richards (SIRD)
Panelists:
. Dato’ Ambiga Sreenevasan (Chairperson of BERSIH & ex-President of Malaysian Bar)
. Edmund Terence Gomez (Professor of Faculty of Economics & Administration, University of Malaya)
. Ibrahim Suffian (Director of Merdeka Center for Opinion Research)
. Jacqueline Ann Surin (Founder and Editor of The Nut Graph)
The contributors confirmed to attend this book launch are: Abdul Aziz Bari, Wong Chin Huat, Andrew Khoo, Syed Husin Ali, Tony Pua, Gurmit Singh, Barjoyai Bardai, Fahda Nur, Colin Nicholas, Ong Kian Ming, Ahmad Farouk Musa, Sivin Kit and Mavis Puthucheary. Others authors include Yeo Yang Poh, Khalid Samad, Dzulkefly Ahmad, Mustafa Kamal, and Sieh Lee Mei Ling.
For queries please contact Chong Ton Sin 016 379 7231 or SK Chua 019 352 3864
This is the map to Singgahsana Hotel, Petaling
