Book newsletter highlights, January 2009 by Malaysiakini

The Politics of Hunger: When Policies and Markets Fail the Poor

"The Politics of Hunger: When Policies and Markets Fail the Poor", exposes the real issues and structural causes that initiated and aggravated the global food crisis and the continued hunger and malnutrition. The book provides an overview of the same policies: the speedy conclusion of the WTO Doha negotiations and support for corporate agriculture.

While these policies have benefited the corporations, the real losers are the small food producers i.e. the peasants, rural women, agricultural workers, indigenous people, pastoralists and the fisherfolk who continue suffer increasing hunger and poverty as well as loss of livelihoods and displacement.

Malaya's First Year at the United Nations: As Reflected in Dr Ismail's Reports Home to Tunku Abdul Rahman (Hardback edition)

Dr Ismail's writings and speeches, and his letters to the Tunku, covering a variety of foreign policy issues, are a valuable asset in understanding the unique role he played in the nation's history. He was without doubt the primary architect of Malayan (Malaysian) Foreign Policy. - Tengku Tan Sri Dato' Seri Ahmad Rithauddeen, Former Foreign Minister of Malaysia.

Not only was Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman Malaysia's first ambassador to the United States and permanent representative to the United Nations, he was also Foreign Affairs Minister in 1959-60. Later, as long-time Home Affairs Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and occasionally Acting Prime Minister, he played a decisive role in making neutrality the pillar of Malaysia's foreign policy.

This important collection of notes he wrote to the Tunku in 1958 and of his speeches made in 1957-58 at the UN are being published for the very first time. It gives us a window into his seminal thinking and makes us understand the contribution he made to Malaysian nation-building in the early years.

Tawfik Ismail and Ooi Kee Beng deserve kudos for compiling these into one volume and for providing elaborate footnoting that presents the reader with an intriguing picture of the Cold War year of 1958.

Click here: Malaysiakini’s Kinibooks book of the month.

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