“Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are.”

- José Ortega y Gasset

COMMENT | Every year since I started writing for Malaysiakini all those years ago, I have put forward my top five newsmakers and news stories list.

With the ascension of Anwar Ibrahim to the throne of Putrajaya, it would seem that Malaysia’s next year is as perilous as years went by.

A virulent strain of fascism personified by Perikatan Nasional and led by PAS threatens to destroy the failing democratic structures of this country.

Whether PN succeeds depends on how committed and how agile this unity government is when it comes to policy and...