I would argue that Asean has been instrumental in driving both economic growth and political development, and that there can be no clearer example than its relations with Myanmar.

For many years, Myanmar's leadership was largely shut out from the world of international diplomacy.

Over the past months and years, divisions have opened up in Malaysian society. Now it is time for all of us, in government and beyond, to put the bitterness behind us.

People willy-nilly borrow for consumption. Civil servants willy-nilly borrow for consumption and then wonder why they don't have enough money at the end of the month.

Because you basically won a close re-election, your first task is to unify the city. And it's done not with words but with actions, by reaching out, to the supporters of your opponent as well as to reassure your own supporters.

The government would have preferred not to take a stand, but the constant presence of the Israeli-Arab conflict on our television screens made it an issue that could no longer be avoided.

It's been my experience in politics that you can try and plan it out: 'I'm going to hit the three ball which will hit the eight ball.' You've just got to go run and try to do everything right. And then have a little luck.

The candidates before you know that the IFP has set up a system of deployed IFP national and provincial leaders who are not only monitoring the performance of candidates during these elections but will also do so after these elections.