Paradise Lost takes a critical look at Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s role in Malaysia’s political evolution and his ultimately destructive legacy of corruption, racism and religious extremism. He inherited a nation pregnant with promise and left it mired in division, uncertainty and instability, a grand kleptopia, a terrible kakistocracy. It also examines the role Mahathir played in Pakatan Harapan’s stunning 2018 electoral victory and his subsequent betrayal of the coalition he was entrusted to lead. The end result is a nation in deep crisis, adrift in a sea of uncertainty, unable to come to terms with its past, unwilling to make the compromises necessary for its future. Paradise Lost makes for sober reading. Intensely provocative, it challenges long-established shibboleths, spotlights the dangers now confronting the nation and argues that Malaysia’s only hope for redemption lies in embracing and harnessing its unique multicultural identity. This timely book will engender much needed public dialogue about the future of Malaysia.

Summum Bonum (The Ultimate Good) presents the life, experiences and reflections of former Court of Appeal judge, Dato’ Mahadev Shankar. It contains stories which are absorbing, some even tantalising, as readers travel with the author down memory lane and immerse in the unfolding of a life well lived. From early Malaya to WWII, England, family law reform and the pebbled road from Bar to Bench, this book is peppered with the struggles and aspirations of one man on his legal journey. A must-read for members of the legal community, this book brings to life the roots and rich history of the legal community in Malaysia.

This book serves an intimate account about culture, family and one man’s life-long encounter with the law. The author provides insight and colourful perspectives about a Malaya that needs to be remembered, and about the journeys of many brave and resolute men and women who blazed the trail for the Malaysian legal profession.

A deeply moving and often colourful memoir, with its share of humour and historical figures from Malaya, England and Singapore, Summum Bonum will greatly interest the different stakeholders in the legal profession as well as the society at large. The author shares powerful lessons about the law, our collective history and the evolution of a nation much beloved. The celebrity anecdotes included will certainly be a great bonus to the readers as this book which explodes with extraordinary verve about key legal and historical personalities.

SCRIPT stands for Sustainability, Care & Compassion, Respect, Innovation, Prosperity, and Trust – six Malaysian values at the core of this living document which both lays out Anwar Ibrahim’s vision for a stronger, better Malaysia and provides a method of developing policies fit the contemporary and increasingly complex world in which we live. This book builds on Anwar Ibrahim’s more than four decades of experience in public service heading key ministries in the Malaysian government, leading various international development and peace organizations, and his time educating at leading universities around the world. Anwar Ibrahim has taken this experience and synthesized it with the thoughts of some of the greatest minds from around the world, and the input of the people of Malaysia he has listened to and learned from throughout his career.

Contents

7 – Introduction

23 – Our Vision

25- The SCRIPT Narrative

26-SCRIPT Policy Framework

34- SCRIPT Drivers & Policies

35 – Sustainability

51- Care and Compassion

65- Respect

79 – Innovation

95 – Prosperity

109- Trust

124- SCRIPT for a Post- Covid Malaysia

138- SCRIPT for Navigating Cost Of Living

152- Priority Policies for a Better Malaysia

157- Epilogue

159- Acknowledgements

161- Sources