Murray Hunter
Hat Yai, Kawthoung
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Im still doing things people gave up years ago. Also educator, columnist, entrepreneur, researcher, farmer, hack of a runner, wannabe philosopher, & author.
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Articles by Murray Hunter
The growing concerns over UK charities
OpinionBusiness & Finance 11 Nov 2026 • 8:35 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter CHARITIES based in the United Kingdom (UK), especially those with privileged Royal Charters or Royal Patrons, were considered some of the most ethical organisations in the world. However, recently the Malala Fund made the news, smearing the immaculate reputations of British charities.
Vietnam’s Path To Innovative, Equitable Growth Requires Youth Enterprise Creation - Analysis - Eurasia Review
13 hours ago Your company fits in a laptop bag. You can open it anywhere in the world and start serving clients the same day, with no office and no physical location. Your skills and ideas are ready, yet the picture in your head of a company still has a lease, a front door and a payroll. What if your company …
Vietnam’s Path To Innovative, Equitable Growth Requires Youth Enterprise Creation – Analysis
Vietnam’s low overall unemployment coexists with 9.07% youth joblessness (Q3 2026) and ~1.6 million NEET youth, driven by skills mismatches and AI-driven hiring shifts that formal FDI and corporate jobs cannot fully absorb. Existing formal entrepreneurship programmes remain institutional and lecture-heavy; the proposed grassroots model instead uses short, practitioner-led modules via Youth Unions and local networks to convert NEET youth into micro-enterprise founders.
Can Najib Break Madani? – OpEd
On 6 November 2026 UMNO lawyers paid former prime minister Najib Razak’s RM50 million fine, fulfilling a key condition of the 18 September conditional royal pardon that allows him to serve the remainder of his reduced SRC sentence under house arrest until 23 August 2028.
Can Najib Break Madani? - OpEd - Eurasia Review
Data Centers 1 hour ago Alphabet's $15 Billion Investment in Malaysia Data Centers Shows That Midterm Results Won't Stop the AI Boom The Motley Fool - Marc Guberti • 1h Fears of midterms slowing down the AI build-out are overblown, much like all things with AI over the past month.
Why Malaysia Lacks Progress In Geo-Thermal Energy? – Analysis
Singapore’s 2024–2026 survey estimates technical geothermal potential at more than 60 times its annual 60 TWh electricity consumption, with boreholes recording 122°C at 1.76 km and a feasibility study for next-generation systems now under way. Malaysia has over 100 hot-spring sites, including a stalled high-temperature project at Tawau that once targeted 100 MW, and recent research-level activity, but still has no operating geothermal power plants.
How Mookiah Forced A Change In Thai Criminal Court Guidelines – OpEd
Malaysian lawyer Selva Mookiah, a former MIC legal adviser linked to 1MDB investigations, is accused of arranging a Thai criminal defamation complaint against a writer that resulted in arrest at Suvarnabhumi Airport, overnight detention and passport seizure despite no criminal finding in Malaysia.
Israeli Voters May Have Voted For Their Own Demise – OpEd
After the inconclusive October 2026 election, Netanyahu’s bloc holds about 53 seats to Eisenkot’s 48 and the Arab parties’ 19, leaving him as caretaker prime minister with control of security and foreign-policy levers while talks continue.
Israeli Voters May Have Voted For Their Own Demise - OpEd - Eurasia Review
Joe Rogan 8 hours ago Joe Rogan Sounds Alarm on Trump’s ICE ‘Snatching Up’ US Citizens Newsweek - Jason Lemon • 8h Podcaster Joe Rogan criticized President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies on Saturday, warning that masked federal agents were … Mojtaba Khamenei 20 hours ago Iran's supreme leader orders "maximum" response to any U.S. attack Axios - Barak Ravid • 20h Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei told the country's top three military commanders that a renewed attack by...
Are The Sarawak’s Snap Polls An Opportunity To Ride The State Of Peninsula-Based Parties? – OpEd
The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly was dissolved effective 26 October 2026 after Premier Abang Johari Openg’s announcement, clearing the way for the 13th state election within 60 days, well ahead of the natural term end in early 2027. Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which Abang Johari chairs, enters the contest holding the vast majority of the 82 seats after winning 76 in 2021, with only two DAP seats remaining as the sole peninsula-based foothold.
Who Is Really Behind The Indonesian Fires? - OpEd - Eurasia Review
Who Is Really Behind The Indonesian Fires? - OpEd - Eurasia Review Key Takeaways: Indonesian NGO Walhi’s 2026 analysis linked 21 companies affiliated with Malaysian business groups to active fire hotspots or incidents …
Who Is Really Behind The Indonesian Fires? – OpEd
Indonesian NGO Walhi’s 2026 analysis linked 21 companies affiliated with Malaysian business groups to active fire hotspots or incidents between January and September, contradicting Kuala Lumpur’s claim that no Malaysian plantation firms were involved.
Over 400 Rakhine Returnees From Malaysia Held In Military Custody In Yangon Amid Growing Scrutiny Of Bilateral Ties – OpEd
Of the 1,476 Myanmar nationals returned from Malaysia in early October 2026, roughly 429 ethnic Rakhine remain in military custody and under surveillance in Yangon facilities weeks later, with limited family contact and reports of questioning about Arakan Army links despite receiving replacement ID cards.
Malaysia’s Criminal Defamation Used As A Soft Lèse-Majesté Law – OpEd
The Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court sentenced activist Chegubard to four months’ imprisonment for criminal defamation over 2024 remarks about the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, with a stay pending appeal, illustrating the use of ordinary defamation and sedition laws to shield the monarchy.
Malaysia’s Criminal Defamation Used As A Soft Lèse-Majesté Law - OpEd - Eurasia Review
Just like Tokyo. Which is why it was the perfect host city. PoloFest Exceeded Everyone’s Expectations - Valet. Just like Tokyo. Which is why it was the perfect host city. Polofest 2026 Tokyo my experience Men's …
Will Iran will be Trumpís Vietnam?
Seven months into open hostilities with Iran, the conflict shows no clear path to any resolution. What began with a miscalculated attack on the Iranian leadership has been dragged into a grinding campaign of attrition, retaliatory strikes, and diplomatic deadlock. Comparisons to Vietnam are no longer fringe commentary, they appear in strategic analyses and political debate. Whether the analogy holds depends on which side of the argument one finds more persuasive.
Will Iran Will Be Trump’s Vietnam? – OpEd
Seven months into open hostilities with Iran that began after a miscalculated strike on Iranian leadership, the conflict has settled into attrition, retaliatory strikes and diplomatic deadlock, prompting comparisons to Vietnam that critics see as an open-ended quagmire and supporters reject as defeatist.
The Fifth Estate is becoming the only trusted truth
For almost a century the media stood as the "Fourth Estate," charged with keeping governments honest by exposing what those in power preferred to hide. It brought a measure of transparency and accountability to both parliamentary and presidential systems of government. The Fourth Estate exposed Watergate, the realities of Vietnam, the false premises of the Iraq war, and the tortures carried out in American military prisons.
The Advance Of Video Journalism: When Watching Becomes Easier Than Reading – OpEd
Lower cognitive load has driven a shift toward video, podcasts, and independent digital channels for news and opinion, with many former legacy journalists such as Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Bari Weiss building direct-to-audience operations that often match or exceed traditional ratings and generate multi-million-dollar revenues.
Japan on the road to remilitarization
For the first time since the end of the Second World War, Japan has formally signalled through its annual defence white paper that it is prepared to remilitarise in response to what it describes as an increasingly complex and dangerous regional environment. The document, Defense of Japan 2026, marks a clear departure from the post-war constraints that confined Tokyo largely to a defensive posture.
Malaysia’s K-Shaped Economy: Growth Without Shared Prosperity – Analysis
Malaysia’s respectable headline growth of around 5 percent conceals a classic K-shaped economy in which high-tech exports, data-centre investment, asset owners and formal-sector professionals advance while SMEs, the informal sector (nearly 20 percent of employment), B40/M40 households and peripheral regions stagnate amid stagnant real wages and high household debt.
The Fifth Estate Is Becoming The Only Trusted Truth – OpEd
The traditional “Fourth Estate” that once exposed Watergate, My Lai, Abu Ghraib and NSA surveillance has, the article argues, become increasingly co-opted by intelligence and political interests, with trust fracturing further during the Covid era and prompting the growth of independent platforms.
New Paradigms In Community Development Needed In Malaysia – OpEd
Malaysia spends heavily on hard infrastructure and formal education yet leaves communities underserved, with 520,300 unemployed (including 167,300 university graduates), youth unemployment at 10.2 percent, roughly two million skill- or time-related underemployed, and over six million earning below the poverty line, while no integrated programme nurtures local entrepreneurship.
Malaysia’s Innovation Shortfall Occurs From A Structural Phenomenon – Analysis
Malaysia has not shifted from commodity and OEM dependence toward proprietary technology and dense private ecosystems, as Japan, South Korea and China did; its GDP remains weighted toward consumption, commodities and electronics assembly, while government-linked companies crowd out private risk-taking and most of the roughly one million MSMEs stay low-productivity and local.
Japan On The Road To Remilitarization – Analysis
Japan’s 2026 defence white paper under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi marks a formal post-war shift toward remilitarisation, describing the current security environment as the most severe since 1945 and positioning Japan as a more assertive actor against regional threats.
Malaysia’s 2027 Budget is a steady one: people-oriented continuity rather than bold reform
LocalBusiness & Finance 10 Oct 2026 • 8:03 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Budget 2027 is a measured, continuity-focused document that prioritises targeted support for households, modest fiscal consolidation, and maintenance of existing systems over sweeping structural change.
New paradigms in community development needed in Malaysia
ONE of the major deficiencies in national development is the lack of direct focus on enterprises in communities. Much of the budget (RM90-100 billion) is spent on hard infrastructure and formal education, while communities are left out. The responsibility for community development in Malaysia runs across a number of ministries and agencies. These include the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW), Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), and the Ministry of National Unity.
Two major issues Malaysia must solve: Food import dependence and population decline
6 Oct 2026 • 7:59 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter MALAYSIA faces two interlocking structural challenges that receive far too little sustained attention. These are the heavy dependence on food imports and a rapidly falling fertility rate. Both threaten long-term economic resilience, national security, and social stability. Neither can be fixed with short-term subsidies or slogans.
The Russian Oreshnik Could Replace Intermediate Nuclear Weapons – OpEd
The essay presents Russia’s road-mobile Oreshnik, derived from the RS-26, as a conventional intermediate-range missile with a stated range of 3,500–5,500 km and speeds above Mach 10, first used at Dnipro in November 2024 and later near Lviv and Kyiv, and on duty in Belarus by late 2025.
AI: A Godsend for those with dyslexia in education and careers
TechnologyHealth & Fitness 4 Oct 2026 • 2:34 PM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter ACCORDING to the Ministry of Education’s Special Education database, around 314,000 primary school students—or 17 per cent—show some form of dyslexia. Many more go undiagnosed. Children are too often labelled “slow,” “stupid,” or even slightly autistic. The real neurological condition remains unaddressed.
The socialist tinge running through Malay society and politics
4 Oct 2026 • 7:57 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter A CONSISTENT thread of light, humanitarian socialism, the social-democratic and developmental variety, has long run through Malay society and politics in Malaysia. It appears in traditional cultural traits, interpretations of Islamic social ethics, the policies of major Malay parties including UMNO and PAS, and the structure of the modern economy.
AI: A Godsend For Those With Dyslexia In Education And Careers – OpEd
The column cites Malaysia’s Special Education database: about 314,000 primary pupils (17%) show some dyslexia, with many undiagnosed and mislabelled; it defines dyslexia as a sound-to-symbol processing difficulty, not low intelligence, often alongside dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or ADHD.
The Socialist Tinge Running Through Malay Society And Politics – OpEd
The essay traces a durable “light” social-democratic strand in Malay politics to kampong gotong royong, communalism, high acceptance of hierarchy, and Islamic ideas of zakat, adl, and anti-riba—not Marxist abolition of property. After 1969, Tun Abdul Razak’s NEP, FELDA settlements, and MARA, plus PAS welfare rhetoric, built a mixed economy of private markets inside Bumiputera targets, GLCs, and state guidance still visible today.
The persistent appeal of an Islamic state in Malaysia
3 Oct 2026 • 7:55 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter A SIGNIFICANT segment of Malay Muslims believes Malaysia would be better governed if ulama (Islamic religious scholars) held greater authority or even direct leadership.
Prolonged Negeri crisis could potentially crack monarchical institution
2 Oct 2026 • 7:53 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter AS of late September 2026, the constitutional and customary crisis surrounding the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan shows no sign of resolution.
Intelligence agencies, AI, and the new battlefield for public opinion
Artificial intelligence possesses a dramatic capacity to learn. Regular users already notice how chatbots attune their responses to the patterns and preferences revealed in conversation. What begins as a neutral tool quickly becomes attuned to the data it encounters. This adaptability is now being exploited in a systematic manner. Intelligence agencies and entities closely aligned with them are treating AI's learning functions as a new domain for influence operations.
The three ‘wild cards’ in the coming general election
28 Sep 2026 • 8:00 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter MOST pundits believe that PAS and UMNO will gain most of the seats in the peninsula in the coming general election, and negotiate to form a new coalition government with the Borneo-based parties. PAS could improve upon its position of 43 seats in the current parliament and rise above 50 seats.
AI: the regulators want a kill switch, the investors want to restrict competition
Investors are calling for AI development to be closely monitored and slowed down. They are demanding that the state regulate AI. The public is being sold a story about the dangers of AI to create a fear factor. Meanwhile China is undercuting the cost of using Anthropic by a factor of a hundred. The fate of the AI surge is in the balance. Even Bill Gates has joined the chorus.
The rising tide of autism in Malaysia
LocalHealth & Fitness 27 Sep 2026 • 8:01 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter THE number of registered autism cases under Malaysia’s Social Welfare Department has surged dramatically, from fewer than 7,000 children in 2013 to over 53,000 by 2023, nearly 59,000 children by the end of 2024, and total autism registrations among persons with disabilities climbing to around 90,000 by early 2026.
The Rising Tide Of Autism In Malaysia – OpEd
Registered autism cases in Malaysia have risen sharply—from under 7,000 children in 2013 to about 59,000 by end-2024, with total disability registrations near 90,000 by early 2026—driven largely by awareness, M-CHAT screening, and wider services, though causes remain mixed. Families face long public waitlists, costly private therapy, therapist shortages (worse in Sabah, Sarawak, and rural areas), and schools that lack trained staff and a full range of placements.
The Negeri Sembilan crisis: Oaths broken, authority challenged, and silence from law enforcement authorities
25 Sep 2026 • 8:01 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter THE constitutional crisis unfolding in Negeri Sembilan has escalated beyond a dispute over customary succession into a direct confrontation with the state’s Yang di-Pertuan Besar. On 15 September 2026, the state Executive Council (EXCO) endorsed a proclamation by certain Undang purporting to remove Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir and install Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar in his place.
Over Six Million Malaysians Are Earning Salaries Below The Poverty Line – OpEd
Official household poverty looks better (absolute poverty 5.1% in 2024; average PLI RM2,705), but the author says DOSM’s 2025 wages survey shows the typical individual worker is elsewhere: semi-skilled (55.6%) median RM2,223, low-skilled (7.8%) RM1,758, skilled (36.6%) RM5,057. Citizen median RM2,940, mean RM3,803; about 6.6 million of 10.38 million wage earners sit in the two lower skill bands.
BN planning for a ‘walkover’ in the coming Melaka election?
24 Sep 2026 • 7:55 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter AFTER a long wait, the Melaka chief minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh has called a state election, due within 60 from September 23. The Melaka state election should have been held before Johor and Negeri Sembilan, but the chief minister waited for the most opportune time.
How Feudalism Is Still Capturing Malaysian Society – Analysis
The author treats Negeri Sembilan’s fight over the Yang di-Pertuan Besar as proof that Malaysian power still runs on adat and elite custom, not statutes: four undangs elect the ruler under Adat Perpatih, not primogeniture.
AI: Regulators want a kill switch, investors want to restrict competition
TechnologyOpinion 22 Sep 2026 • 8:02 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter INVESTORS are calling for AI development to be closely monitored and slowed down. They are demanding that the state regulate AI. The public is being sold a story about the dangers of AI to create a fear factor. Meanwhile, China is undercutting the cost of using Anthropic by a factor of a hundred. The fate of the AI surge is in the balance.
2006 policy may force tuition centres to possess 30% Bumi equity
20 Sep 2026 • 11:59 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter TUITION centres have long filled a critical gap in Malaysia’s education system. Parents, particularly those whose children struggle in national schools or seek an edge in competitive subjects, turn to these centres for supplementary teaching in mathematics, science, languages, and increasingly specialised fields like AI, coding, music and art.
Tuition centres face forced 30% Bumi equity
20 Sep 2026 • 11:59 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter TUITION centres have long filled a critical gap in Malaysia’s education system. Parents, particularly those whose children struggle in national schools or seek an edge in competitive subjects, turn to these centres for supplementary teaching in mathematics, science, languages, and increasingly specialised fields like AI, coding, music and art.
Anutin’s first year: Restoring Thailand’s political status quo
19 Sep 2026 • 8:33 AM MYT The Vibes Featuring breaking news & latest stories from every side. By Murray Hunter ONE year after Anutin Charnvirakul assumed the premiership, Thailand’s government has settled into a familiar rhythm. The diverse coalition he leads, backed by Thaksin Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai Party, has restored a sense of “normality” that the country has long known. Friendliness toward nearly every major stakeholder has become the administration’s defining operating principle.
The story behind Tugu Negara
By Murray Hunter THE idea behind Malaysia’s National Monument came from the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who was reportedly inspired by the US Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) during his visit to the United States back in 1960. Tunku saw the bronze sculpture by Austrian-born American sculptor Felix de Weldon, which depicted the flag-raising on Iwo Jima and decided that Malaysia needed a comparable national monument to honour its fallen heroes.
How cascading crises are testing Saudi Arabia’s foundations
By Murray Hunter EVENTS in the Middle East can shift with startling speed, much as the Arab Spring demonstrated how localised triggers can rapidly erode long-standing regimes. In September 2026, a sequence of military, economic, and diplomatic setbacks has placed significant pressure on Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
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