Greg Lopez

This book is an essential resource for legal scholars, practitioners, and policymakers seeking a deeper understanding of how legal systems interact and evolve in an increasingly interconnected world. It provides a comparative analysis of key legal domains, exploring contemporary challenges such as digital governance, climate justice, intellectual property, and human rights.Featuring contributions from leading international experts, the book offers a nuanced examination of how different legal traditions respond to emerging global issues. It delves into the interplay between common law and civil law jurisdictions, the impact of international treaties, and the role of technology in shaping legal norms.Designed for both academic and professional audiences, this book serves as a vital reference for those engaged in legal research, cross-border litigation, or international policy-making. With real-world case studies and interdisciplinary insights, it is an indispensable guide to navigating the complexities of modern law.

In July 2015 the Wall Street Journal revealed that nearly $700 million dollars from the Malaysian government-owned development company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had been deposited into Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s personal bank account. Subsequent revelations pointed to $4.5 billion in questionable allocations, as part of one of the worst money-laundering scandals in history, in a company with nearly $11 billion in debt that was founded on a Malaysian government guarantee. Over two years later, Najib remains in office, having appeared to weather the allegations of corruption and kleptocracy. Within Malaysia he has been cleared of any wrong-doing, and while internationally 1MDB legal proceedings remain on-going, Najib remains in power. In fact, his coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN, National Front), seems poised to win re-election in 2018, returning his party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), to power. While Brazil and South Korea have seen their leaders jailed for corruption, in Malaysia the leader survives, and arguably has emerged in greater control of the levers of executive power than before the scandal. Najib has shown himself to be of the political resilience mould long honed by his political party — at least so far…

Prominent scholars across the political divide and academic disciplines analyse how the dominant political parties in Malaysia and Singapore, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and the People's Action Party (PAP), have stayed in power. With a focus on developments in the last decade and the tenures of Prime Ministers Najib Tun Razak and Lee Hsien Loong, the authors offer a range of explanations for how these regimes have remained politically resilient.

On 8 March 2008 (GE 2008) Malaysians unexpectedly delivered a stunning blow to Malaysia’s long-standing ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN), at the twelfth general election. Although it won the election, BN lost its psychologically important two-thirds majority in parliament which allows it to change the Federal Constitution at will. The blow was all the more devastating as the Anwar Ibrahim-led informal coalition of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR/People’s Justice Party), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Parti Se-Islam Malaysia (PAS/Pan Islamic Party of Malaysia) managed to form state governments in almost all states in the developed western parts of Peninsular Malaysia with citizens of the two most industrialised states (Selangor and Penang), as well as Kedah and Perak, joining Kelantan (the poorest state on the peninsula) on the opposition side. BN was also wiped out almost entirely from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur with the opposition winning ten of the eleven parliamentary seats. All of these suggest that urbanites had deserted BN in droves. BN, nevertheless, was formidable in its birthplace, the state of Johor, and in the two resource-rich, but poor, states of Sabah and Sarawak while winning the states of Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, Pahang and Terengganu with differing margins…