Dark Spring: Essays on The Ideological Roots Of Malaysia’s GE-13

Azly Rahman s Dark Spring is a book about evolution. He has strived to take us out of the shadows of Plato s cave, into the freedom of an emancipated Malaysian society free of hegemony, repression, and suppression. However, as Azly has eluded, there is so much to do in Malaysia if the country is going to re-vegetate the barren lands that have been stripped for decades, and regenerate the Malaysian mind to face the emerging national and global challenges ahead. Malaysia must move from a rent-seeking feudal-cracy benefitting the few, to a modern and progressive society where sustainability and adaptation rather than corruption and the rape of wealth from the premise behind public policy and administration, by people who are truly altruistic and patriotic to the land we know as Malaysia. This Malaysian reckoning is avant-garde, but at the same time it is proudly very traditional, deeply attached to rewritten historical narratives of shared heritage. This is one of the most insightful contributions to the sociology of Malaysian society and should be read by all who have a stake in the country s future. -Murray Hunter International Advisor to the 4th Media, Beijing, China International Advisor to Diplomatic Insight, Islamabad, Pakistan Associate Professor University Malaysia Perlis