Writer
Clive Kessler
Clive Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has been researching and writing about militant Islam, especially in Southeast Asia, since the 1960s.
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Malaysia: What’s Next with conviction of Najib Razak
After years of investigative exposés and legal wrangling, former Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty last Tuesday 28 July of serious crimes related to the 1MDB financial scandal. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. Indefinite Incarceration of Unrepentant Jihadis in Australia?
The sentences, some of them already further extended, of a number of militant Islamists convicted of terrorist conspiracy are about to expire. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. A Malay game of thrones (East Asia Forum)
As in earlier constitutional struggles in 1983 and 1993, Malaysia’s federal government under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is confronting the royal power and claimed prerogatives of the traditional rulers of the federation’s nine sultanate states. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. Daley’s Asian blunder … And beyond
Yes, Michael Daley’s Asian blunder was a bad choice of words —— and more. But when we have finished fulminating about his “racism”, consider this. What he is talking about to people in “the stressed and stalled lower middle” of Australian society touches upon a deep reversal in their, and most Australians’, long-ingrained attitudes, assumptions and expectations. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. Mahathir’s deep dilemma for 2019 (ASIAN NIKKEI REVIEW).
Can he win over the dominant ethnic Malays and halt the growth of Islamist forces? Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. New hopes or old fears for Malaysia?
Against the odds, and against most informed predictions, Malaysia’s 14th general elections in May 2018 produced a change of government. The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition under Najib Razak, which had been in power since 1957, was ousted by the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) consortium led by Mahathir Mohamad, a now second-time prime minister. What had long Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. Umno defeat in Malaysia. What now? (Malay Mail, 20.10.2018)
After its electoral repudiation by so many voters at GE14, Umno needs to think about its future prospects and direction. It now needs to look forward clearly. It can do so only by first looking backwards, honestly. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. “Western Civilization” in our universities: Killed off by its latter-day champions.
Who killed off the “Western Tradition” in our Universities? Its current neo-liberal champions and those who share their crocodile tears. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER Mahathir, Anwar and the Islamic threat.
Malaysia’s recent national elections either announced a new dawn or they simply mark the beginning of another dark and difficult time in the country’s much-contested political story. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. Malaysia’s electoral fantasy belies worrying reality.
Malaysia’s fourteenth general elections (GE14) have finally been called. For almost a decade Prime Minister Najib Razak has ruled on recurrent hints of a snap, surprise election; this is the second time he has let the Parliament run close to its full five-year course. On 7 April, Najib dissolved the Parliament, leaving it to the Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER. Old enemies reconcile as Malaysian elections near.
Malaysia’s fourteenth general elections are looming. This time, almost unprecedentedly, they will see the two great Malay political parties — the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) — working implicitly as allies, not rivals. Continue reading »
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Clive Kessler. A rage against history.
The Ottawa parliament, Café Lindt, Charlie Hebdo and so many others too: these are all separate incidents. But they are all part of the same global phenomenon. They are all expressions of a rage against history that lurks within modern Islam and animates Muslim militants worldwide today. It is a rage that has its source Continue reading »
